#people always show Star Wars and sci fi and as a father son thing but Star Trek will forever be a daddy daughter show

[disneyfan4868]

So my dad convinced me to watch SNW and like holy shit. Not expecting it to be as good as it is. I had little confidence in new Trek and like oh my gosh it GOT ME. I’m crying.

#star trek strange new worlds #star trek snw #I just watched the Elysian Kingdom #it killed me #people always show Star Wars and sci fi and as a father son thing but Star Trek will forever be a daddy daughter show #that episode reminds me of when my dad showed me the episode of tng where data makes a daughter #this franchise has been my dads life long special interest and it was one of mine

[rise-my-angel]

I think the creators think people watch and hype the show for its place in the Star Wars timeline when in reality, all we want is a family sci-fi drama surrounding Din and his short green son.

Putting under a cut because people who enjoy this season seem to be getting irritated with critical posts about the shows current trajectory. If you like it, that's great I wish I did too.

But maybe this post isn't for you.

I think something people forget is a major aspect of why The Mandalorian worked. The Star Wars sequels were not critically successful, and had jaded it's fanbase. People were tired of feeling like the traditional star wars features were the thing that mattered, when it was always just good characters and emotional story telling.

For a long time coming there was this idea brewing that the star wars universe is actually very small and there is very little you can do outside of that that isn't x wings, stormtroopers, lightsabers, ect. But then The Mandalorian came along and it stood out. Why?

Because it was not a star wars story. It was a western that existed in the star wars universe. I could take season 1 and 2 and turn it into a straight Western with no sci fi elements and the story would work just as well. Because it understood that the charecters is what drove the story, and it was the quiet emotions of a father son bond that kept us invested.

I'm not invested in this new season, because it is not telling a story that has been set up. It is deciding to tell a new story that was not presented to us before it already begun, and it is a story that includes so many Star Wars elements for you to catch their references.

I don't know if it's just pure greed, or if it's the writers having a massive misunderstanding of what the auidneces enjoyed and why. But this is now a star wars show, not a show set in the star wars universe. And that's the problem.

The Mandalorian did not present itself this way and expecting us to suddenly accept dramatic tone and focus shifts that were never previously set up in a proper manner is not good story telling.

These charecters are not people anymore. They are props. We move them to the place we need to be and it doesn't matter if it makes sense because they no longer have personalites that matter.

Many people like this season, and that is perfectly valid.

But this is not the show I fell in love with, and it's sad that I'm actively disregarding it as canon because it feels that out of character.

#the mandalorian #the mandalorian spoilers #the mandalorian season 3 spoilers

[shytastemakerthing]

Well now I’m curious and I’d like a matchup too! (Romantic would be preferred but platonic is good too! Do what you’re comfortable with!)

I am an asexual person (she/they) who is very timid and honestly a bit jumpy. I can put my foot down when I feel I need to as I don’t like taking bs from people, but I’m more likely to avoid conflict than to instigate. I like to draw and while I’m a bit out of practice, I like to sing a bit too! My music taste ranges between techno pop, hard rock, soft and sweet little love songs or heartbreak songs, and touches on a lot of other genres here and there. I love me some good fantasy, whether it’s a game, anime/manga or movie. I also like sci-fi and a little bit of horror every now and then. I get tired easy and like to nap a lot, so someone I can trust to let me sleep peacefully or even join my nap would be super nice. I like hugs, like I’m a big hugger if I like you, but I won’t be overbearing if it’s something someone isn’t comfortable with. I know what it’s like to just not want to be touched and I won’t knowingly make someone that uncomfortable. Personal space and privacy are important but so is physical touch. It’s not always easy to find a middle ground… I try my best to hear out and understand people’s perspectives on things but that can also lead to me asking a lot of questions. I also really like the stars and the night sky. I could stargaze until I fall asleep if I really felt safe enough to do so.

I hope that’s not too much! Tysm! :)

Hi! Thank you so much for your request! I'm finally getting these rolled out so thank you so much for your patience! I do hope that you enjoy your matchup, Anon!

CW: None

I match you with.......

Lilia Vanrouge

🦇 He knows that you're jumpy.... and he uses that to his advantage. Man is a chronic prankster, whether that's all just him personally or his fae self kicking in, we may never know (it's a heavy mix of both, he just can't help himself). He will show up at the most random of places at the most random of times just to see you jump. It makes him chuckle every single time.

🦇 The first time you put your foot down and told him off about him spooking you like thay far too many times for your liking, he was honestly and surprisingly impressed and stunned (and he honestly found it extremely attractive). Now, he is a seasoned war general who has seen many atrocities committed, some even by him. But seeing you like that, it honestly intimidated him a bit.

🦇 Man raised a chronic sleeper son (who wad also cursed with such a spell to case these bouts of sleep), so he does not mind when you need a nap, he'll even join you. After all, he needs to rest those old bones of his. He's also a snuggler and no one can change my mind. He will welcome you into his dorm room, and you can both lay in bed, all nice and cozy under the covers. He'll even tell you stories about all of his adventures if that helps you.

🦇 It is Canon that this man plays games. And if you're looking for some good fantasy, he has plenty of recommendations for you. If you want one to read, he's been around for centuries, and he can get his hands on some of the best books there are no matter the year. He once gifted you a book of such a genre (the best in his opinion), that wss well over 150 years old.

🦇 Please join him at the Light Music Club, please. Honestly they would all love to have you there. There is such a mixture of music that all your music desires are met. And if you sing for them one time, Lilia is smitten and is extra cuddly. He just loves your voice.

🦇 By extension, you get Silver, Malleus, and Sebek. Silver begins to love you like a parent and is always making sure you're alright, thank you over and over for making his father so happy just by being there. Malleus has never seen Lilia so happy when he is with you. There is a difference between the familial love that he holds for his boys and the romantic live he has for you. Sebek is fiercely protective of you, almost on the same level of Malleus, and this is only because your with Lilia. But he will admit he is fond of you over time. He just likes that Lilia is happy.

🦇 Lilia does not mind all the questions that you will ask, actually, he promotes it. He has been around for so long so he will quite possibly have a lot of answers that he will be able to give to you. He just loves to be able to tell you things. To have someone ask him all of these questions, to show such interest, it warns that old heart of his.

🦇 The bat fae has seen so many stars in his long life. He's lived under them, mapped them, traveled by them, all of it. He has even seen some come and go. That means more knowledge that he can share to you. He will bring out the old maps that he used to use and he will gladly share them with you. If it's one of those nights where you're both just laying on a blanket staring out at the stars, he will also gladly just hold you close, thanking the stars above for blessing his life with you. If you happen to fall asleep, and it stars getting just a bit too cold, he can and will pick you up and carry you back (maybe even reverting to his true form for this moment) to his dorm, tucking you in all nice and warm.

🦇 Overall, Lilia honestly feels like he has been blessed when you showed up into his life. So much of his life was filled with pain and war and death and destruction. To have you, here, alive and well with him, loving him for all of who he is, it has brought him to tears more than once. He makes sure that you never have to hurt, that you always feel loved. You get someone who is respectful of you, who respects your boundaries, and loves you as you are.

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #twst #matchups #twst imagines #disney twisted wonderland #romantic #twst lilia vanrouge #twst lilia x reader #twst lilia #lilia vanrouge x reader #lilia x reader #lilia vanrouge #shy answers #shy writes

[unexpectedreylo]

Yes, It’s Been Half A Decade Since TFA Was Released

Five years already?  Geez!

If you’ve been following my humble Tumblr blog since the beginning, you’ll know I was not truly a Reylo until I saw TLJ.  Before then, I was dealing with a movie that left me with a lot of mixed feelings.  Why?  I missed George Lucas for one thing.  He has an indelible style that few can match and few really cared about that universe and its characters as much as he did.  I was very unhappy to hear a month before TFA’s release that Disney tossed out his story and came up with something he didn’t really like very much (as later confirmed in Bob Iger’s memoir).  As a long-suffering prequels fan I didn’t like either the vaguely anti-prequel tone the pre-release hype took.  Whatever you do in life, don’t disrespect the man who created the GFFA. 

The post-release hype probably annoyed me even more.  Remember the doofuses screeching on t.v. that it was the best SW movie since TESB?  LOL.  (No, that would be ROTS and the only thing that came close since was TLJ.)  I hated that a movie I felt was flawed not only got passes from the media that really trashed Lucas and everybody who worked on the prequels, but also got lavish Best 10 lists and award nominations.  I was one bitter chickie for a while and later got a good laugh out of the backlash.

I thought it would be funny to post what I thought at the time, with added commentary:

Oh yes, the movie. My mother called it…it’s good, we all enjoyed it and were entertained, but Lucas’s touch is definitely missing. The romantic epic sweep of Eps I-VI, the goofy and whimsical touches, the feeling of being immersed in another galaxy, and Lucas’s gift for aesthetics aren’t there. The visuals don’t have that beauty and some of it is kinda ugly. The creature designs just aren’t as good. It’s not the kind of movie you watch dozens of times to catch little things. Even John Williams doesn’t have a knockout track like “Duel of the Fates” or “The Imperial March.” But it’s hard to think of how this was ever going to live up to any of it any more than I’d expect Suzanne Collins to write a Narnia book as good as C.S. Lewis. We lost those things when we lost Lucas.

I like the visuals a lot more now but TLJ’s cinematography rules the ST.  Still feel the same about creature design; I see better aliens and creatures on The Mandalorian.  One weird thing about the ST is how the filmmakers seemed to have avoided putting in anything at all that we’ve seen before.  No Jawas, no Togrutas, no Twi’leks, no Zabraks, no Quarren, etc.. Just Chewbacca and Admiral Ackbar.

The music didn't leave much an impression on me at the time but now I love “Rey’s Theme,” “Kylo Ren’s Theme,” and “March of the Resistance.”

As long as we’re on that note, I’ll get to the film’s flaws first. The movie has a lot of snappy, arch, and funny dialogue but you can tell the script was cranked out in a hurry. It lacks the careful structure of its predecessors and cribs a little too much from ANH. Poe disappears and you are led to believe he’s dead then he suddenly shows up healthy and hale with no explanation. Abrams’s first Star Trek film was riddled with unbelievable coincidences and unfortunately this movie has some of those too, such as when Han and Chewie just happen upon the Falcon in space. The film does very little to set up what’s going on and why, such as why the hell is the Republic fighting the same a-holes after all of these years. Abrams prefers instead to keep the action going instead of doing much exposition, which is pretty much what he did with the Trek films. Those little moments in Lucas’s Star Wars films don’t happen much here. Things must always be occurring, which dumps all of the responsibility for character development and world building on Rian Johnson and Colin Trevorrow. I have no idea why they decided to be all teasy-weasy with who Rey’s parents are instead of just telling us. (I suspect Luke is her father.)

LOL!   I guess the adoption by proxy thing at the very end of TROS proved me right or...did it?  Yes, my first assumption after seeing TFA was that Rey and Kylo Ren were cousins.

As for the rest of it, I still feel the same.  Rushed script, borrows too much from ANH, precious few explanations/set-up, not as good structure but still full of humor.

BB-8 is a charmer, Finn and Rey (who are so going to hook up) HA!  But remember I thought Rey and Kylo were cousins! have some charm and potential growth as characters, and it was great seeing our old crew again even if not under ideal circumstances. (Personally I would’ve preferred NOT to have broken up Han and Leia.) Hux had some mustache-twirling moments and Abrams was at least smart enough not to kill off him, Ren, or Snoke just yet. Finn and Poe have a good rapport (maybe they’re going to hook up).

Stormpilot definitely pinged the slash-dar.  It was completely unsurprising to find fans shipping them.

Abrams seemed to have avoided the mistake James Cameron made in “Avatar” when he killed off his most threatening villain while planning sequels. As you might have guessed, I was really shocked at Snoke’s death in TLJ.  I wasn’t expecting that until IX.  I was also really shocked at the casual, quick-get-rid-of-him ways both Hux and Ben were killed off in TROS.

The most compelling aspect of TFA for me was the Skywalker family drama, which made me wish it was more up front rather than a subplot. Ben Solo/Kylo Ren is a conflicted guy with a huge chip on his shoulder and it makes you wonder exactly what happened to him because I think he may have mental issues. Leia knows there’s still good in him but can a guy who commits patricide be saved? (RIP Han…I so knew this would happen because I figure it was the only way Ford would’ve done another film). Can his cousin/half-sister or whatever Rey save him? Would she want to? With Luke back in the picture and Artoo activated again, what will happen next? Even though they split up Han and Leia I liked the banter between them; it’s sad because they clearly still loved each other.

This is still true for me.  A few days after posting this it struck me just how nihilistic TFA was because I found Han and Leia’s split unnecessary (had Han gone out for Chinese food or on a mission for the Resistance instead of just being a loser smuggler, it wouldn’t have changed anything that happened in the film) and what I thought was Kylo’s certain fate to be a narrative bummer.  TLJ made me think they weren’t going on that direction only to be proven right in TROS (sadly).

I’ll dispense with the stupid Snoke is Plageuis theory and my dad wondering if Finn was Mace Windu’s lost son or something, though I’ll give him half a point for Finn turning out to be Force-sensitive after all.

I don’t know why people have said this takes them back to the ’70s because the film really is a 2015 movie made for an audience reared largely on the MCU, YA flicks, and other staples of contemporary geek culture. It is what it is and we aren’t going to get back the films of George Lucas and his influence. TFA might not be an awesome Star Wars movie but it is at least a good sci-fi action flick.

I still stand by most of this.  Time and TLJ made TFA a better movie in my eyes.

#tfa #star wars #sequel trilogy #reylo #kylo ren #ben solo #rey #jj abrams

[kinetic-elaboration]

November 13: 1x23 A Taste of Armageddon

Feeling pretty tired now, and it’s been a rough day, but I did rally to watch, and enjoy, an episode of Star Trek.

A diplomatic mission today. The Enterprise comes with friendly intentions!

I don’t entirely get this Ambassador or the back story here. They want to set up diplomatic relations with this solar system, because Federation members somehow get killed there a lot. But the Eminians don’t ever leave their solar system, so if the Federation is having problems with them it must be because the Federation is messing around in their space. So perhaps you could just no go there?

Mmm love Kirk being A Captain. “I’m thinking about this ship, my crew.” He’s not a fan of Ambassadors or people usurping his power.

And Spock seems very interested in all of this.

Aw yeah another cool 50s sci fi background! There are more of these than I remembered.

All of the interior hallways, as well as the exterior painting, are all nice and bright and multi-colored for those new color TVs.

It’s hard to pinpoint why, but I feel like this is an effectively Alien culture. Like maybe it’s the weird hats or the colorful hallways or the initial mysterious nature of them, but they just feel very not human, in a way ST alien guest stars don’t always manage imo.

Those annoying colonists lol. Sent them to a new planet and now they’re attacking us.

“If this is an attack... where’s the attack?”

Everyone in Star Trek does a lot of scanning and surveillance.

“Our civilization lives--the people die--but our culture goes on.” Literally America’s COG plans.

“I do not approve. I understand.” I love Spock so much.

The target has been “classified destroyed.” Kirk is confused and rightfully so.

Hmm, is Spock meditating?

Oh, there’s McCoy! Guess he didn’t get the memo yet that he and everyone else is dead.

Scotty know when Kirk’s voice isn’t Kirk’s voice. I love Scotty also and appreciate that he’s getting a bigger role at this point in the series.

I guess Spock is still a “Vulcanian.” Ngl... kind of wish they’d stuck with that. It has a certain ring. I feel like this is the first mention of their telepathic abilities--aside from the mind meld specifically. And they’re “limited” abilities. But not so limited that he can’t control that dude’s mind without touching him--and through a door. Mom suggested the ability is stronger with touch, which makes sense, especially as they do have psychic bonds with each other. But still. That looked pretty powerful to me.

Kirk is so apologetic about possibly being forced to kill.

“I’ll cover you.” It’s probably because of STXI that that affects me so much lol.

I can’t believe “there’s a multi-legged creature on your shoulder” worked! I remember seeing this ep for the first time and just completely losing it at that.

No one’s even gonna talk about the Prime Directive today, I guess.

So it’s already escalating as Anan said: real weapons used to destroy their weird suicide machines, now real weapons to attack the Enterprise.

Scotty’s not impressed by their fire power though.

If only Spock were here to be reminded of his father.

“The best diplomat I know is a fully activated phaser bank.” But they’re not military lmao.

Kirk is so turning up the charm again with Mea. But she’s not very susceptible to it and he’s getting kind of impatient, so it’s like Aggressive Charm.

I feel like this ambassador isn’t very smart. He’s too trusting, doesn’t seem to have great instincts. As opposed to Scotty, who is also Brave and Good, taking a stand.

“The haggis has hit the fan.” Please tell me that is not a real Scottish saying.

I know Kirk and Anan are supposed to be, like, tense and dangerous and threatening in this scene, but it’s reading almost flirty. “Would you...like a drink?” Kirk’s little finger crook thing.

You can tell he already has a plan at this point, which is kind of unusual in terms of Star Trek structure imo. Like usually you’re more with Kirk as he develops a plan, and here you’re watching him hint at the plan. “I don’t need my ship to destroy your whole planet” and so on.

“A man like that would have preferred to die fighting.”

How’d the diplomats get down to the planet? I thought the shields were still up.

They’re really giving Fox the Cliff’s Notes version of their society, huh? “Nice to meet you, you’re off to die now, sorry, really.”

Spock’s like “Oh, no, an Ambassador being killed?? How terrible...”

“Keep her from leaving. Sit on her if you have to.” Unexpectedly hilarious like wtf kind of order is that. And then the Yeoman like trying to look all fierce and Mea’s like “Yeah, okay,” eye roll.

“I’m practicing a peculiar variety of diplomacy.” Spock is such a bad ass. And he’s having a good time being action hero.This is why Vulcans think he’s weird.

Now he needs to find the Captain!

Kirk and Spock both using schoolyard tactics to win fights: tripping someone, the old spider trick. And they’re effective!

Quite possible even better than the spider scene is this ‘Spock comes to rescue his boyfriend and Kirk already has two guns trained on the room’ scene. “I thought you needed help.” / “Oh, I need the help.”

“We’re not going to kill today.” Honestly this one speech is deeper than all 7 seasons of the 100. Also more optimistic and nicer.

Kirk versus the computer again lol. This time, with firearms!

“A feeling is not much to go on.” IT IS IF IT’S A SIMPLE FEELING AMIRITE FELLAS?

“You almost make me believe in luck.” / “You almost make me believe in miracles.”

Honestly where the fuck is EITHER of those things coming from? Like no one was talking about luck and they definitely weren’t talking about miracles!! No one mentioned any miracles, Jim!!

He always gets so flirty after the danger is over, though. Every single time. ��Ah, yes, all is well, now time to say something romantic or suggestive. As a treat.”

And then they play that weird comical music over Spock’s confused face as if that made it less queer.

So anyway this isn’t the official Vietnam War Episode but it’s kinda giving me Vietnam vibes. (According to the amazon trivia, I’m right: the computer tallies of the war dead was inspired by Vietnam causalities being shown on tv at night.) From an American perspective, it’s far away, it’s largely invisible, but it’s also long, it seems to exist for its own sake.

Also interesting that no one ever mentions why the two sides are fighting--probably because after 500 years, they don’t know. They just continue on in this mechanized, unceasing way.

That was a really good episode, and even though the actual danger of computer isn’t really what they predicted, I think it holds up regardless, in a different way.

I mean first of all technology has done a fair bit to sanitize war--the use of drones, for example, that allow the aggressors not to see their damage.

But also, and this is like only a half-thought really, but... One thing I think about a lot that the show didn't predict is that the internet allows us to see so much more than any other group of people in history. everything is very close, and there are pictures and videos and so on, from all over the world, available to you at any given time. I think this is very hard to deal with psychologically. So thinking about that in relation to this...it's a different balance but for the Eminians, war was both very real and close--it's constant, and people die all the time in huge numbers--but also very far away, because it's happening essentially hypothetically. So the dichotomy doesn’t line up in the same way but it still exists, imo.

And wow, that “we’re not going to kill today” speech. That was an interesting little wrinkle: that part of why the Eminians continued warring was because they felt like it was just inherently who they were. Their nature. Same philosophy espoused by all the grimdark showrunners of today. “I’m smart and brave and deep because I’m showing a mirror to humanity!! A MIRROR!”

And then here's Kirk, a Classic Hero, coming in and saying, "Yeah, wow, deep, you've determined that your species has a violent history. That's cool and all but have you considered that every single day you can consciously choose to make different, better choices?"

This was a good Kirk ep, a good Spock ep, and a good Scotty ep. It bums me out that he’s seen as comic relief now I guess... as my mom said, Scotty liked a joke but he was never comic relief.

I think it would be interesting to hear more of Spock’s thoughts in this ep, though. He’s the son of an ambassador and his people also had a warlike history that they dealt with in a way different to how humans do. But the method of problem solving of the Enterprise Captain and crew today was very martial, much more about brute force, and strategy as well, than peaceful talking--an overall plan I doubt many Vulcans would like. It would be interesting to hear how he thought of it all to himself.

Anyway, it’s getting late! Next up is a very decidedly good Spock ep, This Side of Paradise. Might be watching it on Wednesday so..not too long to wait!

#the year 2020 #2020: star trek #2020: fandom thoughts #star trek tos

[turquoisephoenix]

A long time ago, in a wonderful decade known as "the 90's", three mad scientists were working on a shared thesis. This theory, created by NASA astronaut, married man, and father of four Rex the Gecko (his mom was an iguana but his dad was a gecko, you see), theorized that all of the fabric of TV and movies ended up in a separate dimension parallel to ours called The Media Dimension. While these three scientists were working their separate jobs, they were also all working on this in secret, hoping to rock both the world of science and the world of media with their discovery. However, this was tragically cut short when Rex ended up in a space shuttle explosion involving a band-aid and tapioca pudding. Shortly after this accident, his two best friends who were also working on the experiment, Dr. Mutz Von Schweinstein and Dr. Brian Skully, mysteriously vanished without a trace, taking all of their experiment notes with them. I'm sure nothing bad happened. I'm sure Mutz and Brian weren't dragged into the Media Dimension and reconstructed into horrific monsters by the cybernetic remains of their best friend, who was now going to use the Media Dimension to control Earth. That'd be just nutty, and very convenient for a video game plot! The Readmore has some extra headcanons for a video game platformer not many people talk about!

-------- Dr. Mutz Von Schweinstein Species: White Yorkshire pig Dr. Mutz Von Schweinstein is a strict individual who immigrated from Germany who looks scary and tough on the outside but shares a deep friendship with Rex and would defend him to the bitter end if he had to. No one knows how he met Rex, and the story always changes whenever you ask Rex about it. He has minor arthritis in his joints, especially in his legs, so he has minor problems getting around, usually using a cane for assistance walking. Because of this, Mutz has often joked about swapping his legs out for a fresh, new pair.  He seems humorless, but when you catch him laughing, his laugh is said to have an almost maniacal oinky tinge to it. His current status is unknown, but if the rumors are true, he found a new pair of legs in exchange for his sanity, courtesy of his best friend. Favorite movies: Horror movies, especially intense slasher films. Current alias: Mooshoo Pork Dr. Rex the Gecko Species: Iguana Rex is both a wonderful husband and a wonderful father of four kids, but he was closest to his eldest son, Gex. While he was working on the Media Dimension as a side project, he was joking around with his son that, if he ever figured out a way to open a portal between the dimensions and enter the Media Dimension, he would do all he can to make Gex the mascot of the Media Dimension, the very face of this brand new world. These words would later come back to haunt his son. Rex was already experimenting a bit with making contact with The Media Dimension on the side while working at NASA - gotta completely nail the whole portal thing right before making an announcement to the world after all - so when he took a chance and opened up a portal to The Media Dimension to escape the massive spaceship explosion that everyone assumed took his life, he fell in a lot of liquid static along with a bunch of spaceship parts and globs of burning tapioca. Well, that's fine. Rebuilding his body with spaceship parts is fine. Maybe he could fix this somehow, but he needs his son to help him. Maybe he'll start building an empire. Everything's good. Everything's f̨į̼̺n̷̦̱e̠̠.̹̣̹ ́E̱͔͝v̨͍̗er̻̲̯y̫͚̥t̵͈̺hi̸̠̘n̪̫͖g̰̥̲'̩̰͠ṣ̝̪ ̸̞̖s̵̱̙w͓̬͓ȩlḷ̀ͅ.̹ Favorite movies: Star Wars Current alias: Rez Dr. Brian Skully Species: Stump-tailed skink Dr. Brian Skully is a fun-loving little lizard who believes that the 70's never ended and doesn't find joy in any movie or TV show that has the latest special effects. His goofy nature and very fluffy afro (that he refuses to trim down) hides a powerful brain that helped give him his NASA job, and he was a very cherished family friend of the Gecko family. Probably the least evil of the three of them. Probably. His current status is unknown. I'm sure he wouldn't turn himself into a giant floating head that spits fire or anything, that'd be just ridiculous. Favorite movies: Cheesy sci-fi films Current alias: The Lizard of Oz --------- Yeah, this was a thought experiment that went on for way too long, but I had fun creating character designs for these three bosses. Plus if I'm going to go with the "Rez is Gex's father" theory, I might as well have a fun dad design for him and explain where some of his scary-looking bosses came from. I almost made him a gecko, but honestly, iguana seemed like a funner choice and something that can rock the Rez colors a bit better. I know technically this breaks the rule of "but you see Gex's family in a photograph in Gex 1!" but honestly none of this is canon anyway, so I'm bending the rules a bit here with my Gex worldbuilding and saying that maybe he was at work when that photo was taken. Maybe Gex has some siblings that are also iguanas who knows.

#gex #gex the gecko #gex enter the gecko #anthro #lizards #character design #rez #mooshoo pork #the lizard of oz #Rex the Gecko #Dr Mutz #Dr Brian #Turquoisephoenix's art #reptiles

[sasuhinasno1fan]

Finding answers and trust- Klance Month Week 1

So this kinda ended up being pre-klance. When I was thinking of the prompt, I thought of this Star Wars Clone Wars rewrite I’ve been reading and when they did the episode when the Chancellor sent Padame to the middle of a fight and she got captured and when she was stuck on the train, Anikin told her to trust him and jump and there was this part where she was like, she always trusted him no matter what, and I was like, I want to do something like that, but with Klance. Don’t think I fully got there, but close enough I guess. Hopefully next week will be better. Anyway, thanks to those who liked the fic, it made me feel good after the last time I did @monthlyklance prompts and didn’t get any likes or anything, which made me feel like my writing wasn’t any good. Maybe once the month is over, I’ll feel confident enough to upload to AO3. Dawn/Trust

“Lance-san? Lance-san? Lance-san?”

“Ow!” Lance jolted out of this thoughts when a sudden pain flared on his hand. He dropped the cat teasing toy from his hand and looked insulted at the Ragdoll standing in front of him looking insulted herself. “Blue, what the hell?”

“To be honest, you weren’t paying attention to her.” Lance looked up from his slightly bleeding hand to look at Romelle. He stared at her trying to figure out why she looked so odd when he realised she had pulled her flowing locks into braids, styling it in a way that she looked like the stereotypical picture of a German country girl. “Are you ok? you’ve been acting strange.”

How could he not? It seemed like ages ago he found out the guy who was essentially his boss was the same guy he’d spend nights chasing around, literally putting out his fires.

Fire Fang. His boss, Akira ‘Keith’ Kogane, was Fire Fang. Maybe. All Lance saw was a message. With the symbol of Fire Fang as the background picture. he’d been so stunned by the revelation, he was a dazed mess the whole meeting. It was amazing he was able to translate from Spanish to Japanese, which was hard enough to do into English, not to mention how he’d actually be paying attention then. He didn’t even bother asking about what he saw. He just bowed, thanked him and ran out under the pretence of writing up a report on the meeting for him.

He avoided even going near his office at the risk of him somehow knowing and deciding to roast him on the spot. Though, to be very honest, he wasn’t scared of Fire Fang. Definitely thought he needed to be caught and taken in, but he strangely knew that as much as he got fire balls lobed at him, they were never really aimed at him. It was more of to keep him away. Except for the time the office building was set on fire, Fang never really aimed for building that still had people in it. Surprising for Japan, but Lance never read anything about causalities. A few scares and injured if people were in there, but thanks to him following Fang and putting out his fires, they injuries never head to deaths.

Lance just didn’t understand how someone like Keith, who was practically the head of his department would go around setting fire to the place he worked for. It didn’t make sense.

“I’m fine, just a weird day at work.” Yeah, weird day alright. He was actually hoping Fang would attack tonight. As much as he didn’t want to be around Keith when he was at work, he felt a bit more confident about facing Fang to get answers. He hoped.

                                                     ______________

Lance had begun to think Fire Fang would never show up, as it got closer and closer to when he’d call it a night when he heard the explosion. He went sprinting towards it, hoping to find Fang, but he found someone else instead.

There was a marina that was close to a field of warehouses, a good majority of them belonging to Galra Industries and Altea Corp. Being near such a large body of water should of made Lance feel safe, but not when his opponent was Prince. He’d only faced the masked opponent once when he spent the sunrise with Fang, but there was something about the guy that felt unhinged, dangerous. he’d been ready to kill Fang that night.

Altea Corp warehouses were on fire and others near it were catching on fire as well. Lance focused on the water when a yell pierced through the air.

“Where are you mangy cat?! You think you can take what belongs to me and not face the consequences I’ll destroy you, you traitor!”

Yeah, definitely unhinged. Lance watched Prince stand in the middle of a burning warehouse, screaming for Fire Fang and using his power – which seemed like telekinesis just judging from how things would move and Lance’s experience with sci-fi movies – to destroy the buildings around him, like a child having a tantrum.

“If you won’t show yourself, then maybe I ought to take care of your little dragon friend.”

Dragon? He didn’t mean….?

Lance got his answer when he felt like a vice grip took hold of his throat and lifted him into the air, cutting off his own. He struggled, scratching uselessly as his neck, the air disappearing more and more. When his vision started going dark, he saw the red of fire as the grip was released and he went falling towards the ground. Something grabbed him around his waist as they approached the ground, taking the first hit as the went rolling across the floor. Lance was more concerned with breathing again than anything, so he barely heard the questions directed to him until he was yanked from the ground and shoved between two warehouses.

He looked up at Fire Fang, who had him pressed against a wall, glancing out into the open.

“Hey-” his words were cut off by a hand over his mouth. Lance tried not to focus on how warm Fang was, even with gloves on.

“Quiet.” he ordered.

Lance narrowed his eyes. Ok, so maybe this guy was his boss, the voice sounded too familiar for it to be a coincidence, but that didn’t mean he could order him around. Not during this time.

Lance grabbed Fang’s wrist to pull it away from his mouth when his grip tightened and Fang glared his purple gold eyes down at him.

“McClain, I’m warning you.”

That gave Lance move than enough incentive to yank his hand away. “You knew?”

“Of course I knew. You don’t do much to hide your face. Of course I didn’t expect to find the guy who’s been after me since-”

“Since the fire! You almost killed me! If it wasn’t for my own powers, I would have been dead. You work for Galra Industries. Why the hell are you attacking them?” Lance yelled.

“Do you know who that guy is?” Keith snapped back.

“Someone who clearly doesn’t like you.”

“That’s Lotor Sincline! Galra Industries has been building illegal weapons and experimentation on people like us. Altea Corp has been looking for information to have the company shut down. that’s why I’m working there. Of course, his boss, aka his father, seems to think a guy who works in the Translations Department can do better than his own son, hence why he wants to rip my head off.”

“Well maybe you deserve it! Why should I believe you?”

“McClain, on the few times we’ve spoken, have I lied to you? I let you take my tablet, the one I use to talk to the people back in Altea, knowing if you saw it, you’d figure it out. If I was truly evil, you think I would of let you take it?”

Lance didn’t know. It felt like things were being thrown at him and he didn’t know how to react.

“Come here you mangy cat!” Prince – or Lotor – yelled, already using his powers to crush the warehouses near them.

Keith grabbed his hand and pulled him down the path, weaving around the different paths.

“We need to get to Altea’s main office. I know you don’t believe me but Lotor will figure out who you are. All he has to do is go over the people I’ve interacted with for the past few months and he’ll find you as easily as I did. Once we get there, you can decided if you want to help us or not.”

“What happens if I say no?” Lance asked, still trying to make sense of what was going on.

“We get you transferred to a different office or go into hiding, your choice.”

Leave Japan? Leave the place that had become his home? Lance couldn’t, not after everything he did to even get here in the first place. If Keith was telling the truth and Galra Industries was the evil company that fit into his comic book style life, didn’t that mean he had to help stop them? He wanted to, if it meant he didn’t have to stay out and chase after a fire wielding cat and have a normal sleep schedule again amongst other things he wished for himself.

Keith yanked him around a corner. “We’ve got a boat waiting for us.”

“A boat? wouldn’t that be easy pickings for this guy?”

“Not when it’s a boat made by Pidge. Trust me we’ll be fine.”

Trust. Did he trust Keith? When Lance was chasing him across the city, he did speak with him a little. he’d pointed out how Fang never attacked buildings with people in them and was given the reply that after going too far one time, he didn’t want to be considered a murder rather than a disturbance. How the people who worked at the destroyed buildings weren’t going to lose their livelihood. Lance heard rumours on how those people were then hired to work at Altea Corp not long after the attacks. Other than attacking Galra Industries buildings, Lance never saw much other than a guy with a dislike of a popular company. But was it enough that he trusted him?

The two let out screams as the ground from under them broke and took to the sky.

“If you won’t come to me, I’ll drag you here myself!” Lotor cried from wherever he was.

“Over there!” Keith pointed out down to the open water, which was much closer than Lance thought. If they hadn’t gotten caught, they would have been able to get away. “That’s the boat. We need to jump.” he said, pointing at the large shining object floating in the water.

“Jump?”

“We’ll be fine, but we need to do this now before we get any higher. Do you trust me?”

Lance squeezed Keith’s hand.

“Yes.”

When it came down to it, he did feel like he could trust Keith. The guy who sat with him on the roof so he could watch the sunset. The guy who learned from his mistakes and bettered them. The guy who was risking a lot to even save him.

He followed Keith’s lead and jumped off the rock. The sparkling thing was the roof of the circular vehicle sitting in the water and it opened, allowing the two of them to hit the almost soft floor. It still hurt, but they were safe as the roof went back over and Lance could feel the boat speeding off.

“Bring a stray with you Keith?” a feminine voice from the front asked. Lance was still trying to catalogue what really hurt.

“Just get us out of here Pidge. Hey, are you ok?”

Lance looked at Keith who had pulled of his metal mask. It was going to take some getting used to to see his boss in the clothes in what he considered to be his biggest problem for the past couple months.

“I’m trusting you because you haven’t given me any reason that I shouldn’t. I really hope you don’t plan on betraying that trust.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

Somehow, Lance knew he was telling the truth.

#monthlyklance #klance #revealed identity

[benisasoftboi]

In Which I Explain The Entirety of Star Wars, Despite Being Very Much Unqualified To Do So

I have only seen one Star Wars movie - it was The Last Jedi. I saw it, with no context, two years ago in theatres when it first came out. I was very surprised to find out that it made a lot of people very angry, because I quite liked it, as did the friends I saw it with. I can’t say I remember much though.

All the rest of my Star Wars knowledge comes from its generally inescapable nature in the pop cultural zeitgeist. I might have seen a bit of Episode 6, which I don’t know the name of, when I was round a friend’s house once, but I was very tired, and it was about a decade ago anyway.

That’s just some context for my lack of qualifications to do this. My friend said I should still do it anyway. I will not be looking anything up as I write this, so all spelling mistakes and other general errors are mine. 

So anyway - The Entirety of Star Wars:

Original Trilogy 

There is a guy called Luke. He is played by Mark Hamill and he is George Lucas’s self insert. He lives on a planet where there is only sand, because in this universe all planets have only one terrain, I think. He drinks milk. The milk might be blue.

A guy played by Liam Neeson finds Luke. I think this guy’s name is probably Obi Wan Kenobi, but I might have that wrong. At some point he will die tragically and it will be formative for Luke, but then he will also come back as a ghost. Ghosts exist in this universe. 

Possibly Luke has known this guy for a long time or possibly he is a stranger, I am not sure. Somehow they end up on a spaceship.

Luke needs to learn how to use magic powers called the Force, which seems to be mostly telekinesis, and also lets him use a really fancy but probably impractical sword called a lightsaber that shoots blue or sometimes green or sometimes red light. This is called Jedi training. Jedi Knight is a religion. You can claim to be one on the census in the real world. They seem to be really serious people despite having a silly name.

Everyone also has guns that go ‘pew pew pew’ and nerds get really mad when you make fun of that.

Luke will meet many colourful and interesting people on his journey. These include:

A woman played by Carrie Fisher who is also his twin sister but he doesn’t know that until after they kiss. Her name is Leia or maybe Laia. She has silly hair. At one point she wears a slave bikini because she’s enslaved to a gelatinous blob because that’s just how it goes when you’re the woman in a 70s sci-fi movie

A guy called Han Solo because he is Edgy and Does Things Solo. He and Leia have a romance and it’s Drama. He also has a spaceship that people will build very impressive lego replicas of. He dresses like a cowboy. I’m 90% that he is played by Harrison Ford

A bunch of walking teddy bears called Ewoks who can kill you and live in a jungle

A guy called Lando Calrissian who I think wears fancy clothes and that’s all I know about him, he might actually be a villain I’m not sure. He might die?

A little blue robot who hid behind some rocks one time and then in the re-release he hid behind more rocks than before and the fans got Mad

A big gold robot who is nervous and gay and might be gay for the little blue robot, like they might be married but that also might be a meme I’m not certain

A weird green goblin thing called Yoda who makes Luke carry him around and speaks in broken English that annoying people have spent the last thirty years imitating. He dies, but then is a ghost so it doesn’t matter really

A guy called Boba Fett who is a bounty hunter. I genuinely have no clue how he fits in to all of this. He might not actually be from Star Wars, maybe I’m mixing him up with something else. 

Luke is also trying to fight the Evil Darth Vader who works for an Evil CGI Emperor of the Evil Empire. They live on a big spaceship called the Death Star and it looks like a moon but isn’t and people think it’s funny when you point that out for some reason. They are the Dark Side, which makes them easy to root against because they’re just cartoonishly evil I guess. I think they are also bureaucrats. They have Stormtroopers, who might be brainwashed people or might just be robots, or might even be clones. They all wear identical white armour with helmets so people don’t care when they get shot. Kinda like fencers.

Darth Vader is actually Luke’s father and this is a twist except not anymore. This means he is also Leia’s father, I’m not sure if she knew. Also Luke loses his arm. Darth Vader gets redeemed and then dies but also takes down the Evil CGI Emperor with him.

I don’t know what happens in any of the movies, but I know that the first one ends with them getting plans for or from Leia, not sure, the second one has the dad twist, and the third one has ghosts. Also they blow up the Death Star by shooting a garbage chute really hard. 

Prequels

These movies are widely disliked. The first one has too much bureaucracy. They are about Darth Vader’s backstory. He used to be a guy called Anakin. He will Become Evil. He will also meet many colourful characters. They include:

His love interest, who is called Padme. She wears a silly hat and dies of a combination of Childbirth and Sadness. I saw this bit happen one time when I was a kid and I was stuck round my mum’s friend’s house and her son was playing through this part in the LEGO game. It was sad

A guy with a red face whose name might be Maul and has robot legs? 

A guy called Jar Jar Binks who everyone seems to simultaneously hate and feel a desperate need to make sex jokes about 

Angry Jedi People

Probably some robots

Anakin hates sand and is pretty but grumpy. His hatred of sand is what will prevent him from finding Luke in the original movies. He falls in a volcano and gets turned into a robot man and it’s very dramatic. He has an angry red lightsaber. He murders a bunch of children by executing Order 66. Or maybe that was in the first set of movies I don’t know. I’m not sure how they made three of these movies, there doesn’t seem to be much to them.

Also there is something called ‘mitoclorians’ and I don’t know what they are but they make nerds Very Mad.

Expanded Universe

There was an expanded universe, but Disney said it wasn’t canon when they bought the rights, so now it isn’t. If I were a Star Wars fan, I would not take this lying down, because what right does Disney have to say what’s canon? Why is it up to the copyright holders? They are a corporation, not a writer. Expanded universes are always really fun and full of wacky nonsense that would never get put in the mainline stuff. I don’t like it when people try to dismiss them. 

Stand Alone Movies

When the new trilogy started, they also made some stand alone films. They were called Rogue One and Solo. Rogue One is about a woman named Gin or Jinn or Jin or Ginne or - I wish I hadn’t restricted myself to not looking anything up - Urso. The spelling doesn’t matter because she dies. So does everyone else. Then Darth Vader shows up.

Solo is about Han Solo and his friends and they have an adventure and there’s a robot who wants robot rights but she dies so no one has to address the slavery thing. Also apparently it was going to be a comedy but got reshot as a drama. I hope I never watch it because that sounds terrible, even as much as I like Donald Glover who I think is in it probably. I think his character might have been in love with the dead robot.

Sequel Trilogy

These movies are about a girl called Rey. She makes nerds mad by existing and being the protagonist. She is Space British. She is a scavenger and is friends with a really cute little orange robot. Somehow she ends up in space. She starts hanging out with Older Leia’s crew, which include a pilot named Poe Dameron and a guy called Finn, but I don’t know why he’s there. People ship them with each other, and also with Rey. 

The other person people ship Rey with is Kylo Ren, who I call Space Zuko because when I saw The Last Jedi, he showed up and I was like ‘oh, it’s Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender but in space’, because he has bad hair and is angry about his Daddy Issues. I hope in the next movie he gets better hair and fewer Daddy Issues like Real Zuko did. A lot of people get really angry about Rey and Space Zuko being shipped together, but they’re still the most popular ship on AO3. So no matter what happens in the next one, nerds are going to be mad about it, and I am not looking forward to it.

Kylo Ren killed his dad, Han Solo, because he was radicalised to be evil for reasons I don’t know. The guy who runs the New Evil Group, which is called the First Order, is an ugly CGI guy called Snoke. It was apparently a Big Twist that Kylo kills him Last Jedi, and it made nerds really mad. I don’t understand why people were surprised, because when I saw the movie, I saw that guy and was like ‘oh he’s gonna get killed by Space Zuko because that would be Drama and also from a production standpoint having a guy who needs lots of special effects is much more difficult than just having Adam Driver wear a scary mask’ and then I was right so maybe I’m smarter than all the nerds. 

There is also a guy called Hux and he is a ginger. I think he is evil.

The other thing people got really mad about was that Rey’s parents were not established characters. People wanted her dad to be Luke, I think, who is in Last Jedi. I was happy about this because I like Mark Hamill. He spent the movie teaching her about the force while they hang out on an island with a race of merchandising opportunities called Porgs. He dies at the end but he might be in the next one as a ghost anyway. 

Also there was a girl called Rose and people decided that not liking the character meant they could be mean to the actress, which is not true and everyone who was mean to her should be ashamed. There was another woman as well, but I don’t remember her name, she had purple hair and was serious and I have no idea if she was good or evil. 

Kylo Ren’s real name is Ben which is not very sci-fi. Maybe that’s why he changed it.

Though come to think, Luke isn’t a very sci-fi name either. 

Anyway, that’s everything I know about Star Wars.

Feel free to ask me questions about Star Wars and have me try to answer.

Do not, under any circumstances, try to actually explain Star Wars to me. I’m much happier as is, thank you very much

#star wars #long post #misc #long essays about niche topics #luke star wars #leia star wars #oh they have surnames #luke skywalker #leia skywalker #han solo #kylo ren #rey star wars #darth vader #anakin skywalker #yoda #hux star wars #and others #i guess #i dont know #obi wan #obi wan kenobi #is that all the important ones? #poe dameron #finn star wars #last jedi

[charminglatina]

Riverdale Characters as That 70′s Show Characters. ⚡️

Eric Albert Forman is the main protagonist of That '70s Show. He is portrayed by Topher Grace. Eric was born on March 5, 1960 to Red Forman and Kitty Forman. Eric is the youngest child in a family of four, consisting of his strict, war-veteran father, Red, his doting mother with impending separation anxiety, Kitty, and his evil, promiscuous, troublesome older sister, Laurie Forman. He also becomes the foster brother to his best friend, Steven Hyde, after Hyde had been abandoned by his own mother. Eric is the front-man and ringleader of the circus, but is rarely respected. He is the one who comes up with the plans and schemes, often trying to break free of his "square goody-goody rep." But such plans often do backfire in one way or the other. He is often left holding the bag (his friends abandon him) and he is then ridiculed by them for getting in trouble. Eric is a nice guy at heart, who is geeky and somewhat clumsy. He is a smart-aleck teenager, with a lightning-fast wit and a sarcastic, deadpan sense of humor. He is also quite brave and somewhat scrappy. Eric is often picked on for his slight stature and is likened to "Opie" (for the character Opie Taylor, from The Andy Griffith Show), and Archie Bunker by his friends. Unfortunate nicknames include "Foreplay" (by Casey Kelso), "Foreskin" (by Donna), and "Zitty Stardust" (in reference to him being unable to take a zit-free yearbook photo). His girlfriend Donna is physically stronger than him (and everyone else in the group, really---except for Randy). However, when incensed enough, Eric will stand up to anyone, even his father, whom he tells off when Red handles Kitty's apparent pregnancy badly – Eric tells Red to be a man for her. He stands up to both of his parents in his insistence on marrying Donna, despite their repeated attempts to stop him. He threatens Casey Kelso with serious injury if he hurt Donna, and even defends his father by breaking another teen's nose, when the latter says that Red "should have been smart and planned ahead, like my dad". Eric also beats a Green Bay Packers fan up during a game, after he insults Eric for wearing a Chicago Bears jersey, which has Red proudly comment that his son has the "Forman Rage". The Forman Rage is the trait that all people of the Forman clan have. It causes people to have extreme feats of anger with the promise of hurting someone in the process. Red is most famously a proponent of losing his temper, yelling at people or threatening to shove his foot one way or another up someone's ass especially Eric's in particular. Eric has had many typical teen-age jobs over the series. He has worked at the fictional Fatso Burger, Price Mart, a dog food factory, and at the Holiday Hotel as a waiter. At the beginning of the series, Red vehemently opposed Eric's trying to get another job during the second season citing that it would interfere with his school work and make it harder for him to get into a good college far away, and Kitty supported Red by designating Eric's job as being her "precious baby boy". In season seven he was much ridiculed by his father when he took a year off from school and work to contemplate his future and enjoy being lazy. Eric enjoyed this being another one of many thorns in Red's side. Eric is a well-known fan of sci-fi, such as Star Trek and especially when it comes to Star Wars, which is cause for much ridicule at the hands of his exasperated family and friends. He is known to keep a collection of Star Wars models and figurines. Eric has a large collection of G.I. Joe figures and has stubbornly refused to give them up over the years. Red never liked then and referred to them as "those dolls" whenever they came up in conversation. From Red's comment that the G.I. Joes lost the "Dumpster War of 1979", which is one of the things he says to Eric when Kitty sends him a tape of them and his friends to Africa, it is safe to assume Red threw them out. Eric likes bands such as Led Zeppelin, KISS, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Styx , and Rush. He is also a Beatles fan and has been known to liken his group of friends to them, accusing Jackie of "breaking up the band" with her romantic entanglements with Kelso and Hyde. It is also hinted that he is a Spider-Man fan, having Spider-Man bedsheets and a considerable amount of comic books, most of them bearing the Marvel Comics logo with the titular character on the covers, and when he fought a fan at the Packers game, he tells Red that he learned his moves from Spider-Man (coincidentally, Topher Grace starred in Spider-Man 3 in 2007). Eric is usually very supportive of his friends, even though it is usually not reciprocal. On several occasions when the gang found themselves in a predicament as the result of a prank gone awry or some other unforeseen circumstance, the rest of the group take off, leaving Eric to absorb the brunt of the trouble, after which the gang (particularly Hyde) hassle and tease Eric for getting into trouble (as in Stolen Car, Eric Gets Suspended, Eric's Hot Cousin and Rip This Joint). This has much to do with Eric's trusting nature and indicates that what he lacks in physical strength and courage, he more than makes up for in strength of character. Eric however, has been known to get his revenge on his backstabbing friends from time to time, such as when Kelso took the gang on a Dine and Dash without telling them, and eventually stranding Donna and Eric alone. They garnered revenge by making some "Special Brownies" which the group occasionally enjoyed, however in this case, Eric had made them with laxatives. This was a huge hindrance for Fez, whose girlfriend had arrived to make amends just as he ran for the bathroom. At times, however, Eric's friends will come to his aid when he is truly at the end of his rope. His less morally-inclined friends are quick to take advantage of this and also take it for granted, however Eric is also quick to stand up for himself to them and set things straight whenever he feels wronged by his friends' actions. Eric is the best friend and foster brother of rebel Steven Hyde. When Hyde's mother left town at the end of the first season, Eric tried to persuade his parents to do something about his best friend's living conditions and thus Hyde was invited to live with the Formans, which he does for most of the series. And when Red was quick to throw Hyde out after an arrest for possession, Eric actually attempts to come to his rescue. Eric's relationship with his parents centers around his trying to prove his maturity and independence to them. Eric's father Red is a well-known authoritarian and often refers to Eric as "dumbass" and "boy". He frequently threatens 'to put his foot in Eric's ass.' Red finds Eric lacking qualities he feels a grown man should possess including physical strength, sportsmanship, and interest in manly pursuits like hunting, fishing, etc. Oddly, Eric is in many ways a younger version of his father. Both display a dry sense of humor and tend to be the sanest people in their circle of friends. Eric's mother Kitty typically supports Eric against Red and often scolds Red for being too hard on Eric. However, she also does not consider Eric to be a man and often refers to him as her "precious baby boy." Eric appreciates his mom's support but her overblown displays of affection often leave him feeling embarrassed. At times, Kitty's love for Eric borders on Hitchcockian. His mother is often insecure about being replaced by Donna as the woman in Eric's life. Their rivalry is played up in many episodes (often comically, but sometimes to the point of it being a problem). In theory, she is okay with a sexual relationship between Donna and Eric, even pressing the two to discuss it with her, but in reality she goes into a depression after learning that Eric and Donna had sex and considers Donna a harlot who stole her baby boy away from her. Eric assured Kitty he would always need her because, "Dad's going to be riding my ass for the rest of my life!" When Eric tells his parents about his plan to teach in Africa for a year, his mother is less than thrilled. This is most notably, and comically presented when, the morning after his announcement, Kitty fixes everyone at the breakfast table a smiley-face breakfast with eggs and bacon and then hands Eric a plain pancake with, "nothing smiling up at you, nothing." Even with a couple days before his departure, Kitty reveals that she hid mailed notifications that Eric must receive certain vaccinations before his departure. Eric protests his mom's actions but she still tries to dissuade hims stating that the needles used for the vaccinations are really large and will hurt a lot. After Eric disobeys his parents' orders not to go forward with his marriage to Donna, Red finally deems Eric a man and offers his blessing while a devastated Kitty turns on Red for allowing her "precious baby boy" to get married. Eric's relationship with his older sister Laurie is based on mutual ridicule and compliment or more ridicule based on the execution and content of their mutual mockery. Eric continually rides his sister for being a whore while she chides him for being weak and less favored by their father. On several occasions, Eric and Laurie have tolerated each other and shown a brother-sister bond. When Eric saw his parents having sex, Laurie tried to comfort him, including hugging him and stroking his hand. In the middle of a fight between the two, Hyde tried to break it up, and the two teamed up on him, complimenting each others insults. Eric once even defended Laurie from Red. After discovering that Laurie moved out and was living with a man, Red started insulting her and pushing her away (now that he had to see her for what she was), to which Eric defended her saying that Red was being too hard on her. Laurie once told Eric and Donna to move away after they got married and even cried during her apology. Eric first had to taste the tear, and, deeming it legitimate, Eric replied "I have a sister!" and hugged her. She somewhat cleaned up her act, but then sunk back into her old patterns of screwing around. Eric seems to dislike Jackie the most out of the gang. This is especially noted when, in an early episode, Red says to Eric that Jackie is his favorite out of his friends, and Eric points out that she is not one of his friends. Jackie is generally demeaning towards Eric due to his effeminate qualities and physical weakness, and believes him to be unworthy of Donna (despite the fact that she does not think much of Donna either), leading to his dislike of her. In the episode "Time is on my Side", Eric is about to fall off the water tower, Jackie refuses to help him, saying "Eww, you touched Pee-tos". (Fez had early found Cheetos in the woods and said they felt damp and Kelso jumped to the conclusion that something peed on them.)However, as the series progresses, it is shown that they develop a tolerance for and eventually a friendship with each other. As early as season 2, after Jackie breaks up with Michael Kelso, Eric stands up to comfort her. Eric is the first person Jackie told when she suspected she was pregnant in the first season, and they have been known to occasionally help each other out. In the episode "Jackie's Cheese Squeeze," Eric admits that they are "friends," as long as they do not refer to each other as such in public, and in the season 7 finale, Jackie calls Eric from Chicago and admits that she is always cared for him and considers him a good friend. Throughout the series Eric had one steady girlfriend – Donna. They have been on and off throughout the series but for the most time they are together. Eric and Donna have been next door neighbors ever since they were children.  When Donna first moved in and first met Eric, she punched him in the stomach for looking at her funny. It was at that moment that Eric fell madly in love with Donna. They later became the best of friends and hung out with each other all the time. Eric's love for Donna continued on and on, but he didn't admit his love for her until they were 16 in 1976, when Eric Forman takes his car out of town when explicitly told not to, and impresses Donna who decides to give him their first kiss. They don't start going out immediately, but take their relationship slowly, unsure how to show their interest in each other and getting advice from their friends on how to act now that their relationship has changed. When the gang goes to a disco, Eric doesn't dance with Donna, but later admits that he hates disco and went because he likes her, which is the first time he tells Donna how he feels about her. They go on to discover many firsts together, like making out at the drive-in and what it means to be exclusive as teenagers, when Eric kisses another girl.Meanwhile, Hyde is still competing for Donna's affections and they both give her Christmas gifts, while Donna in turn, give both the guys Christmas gifts, although she signals her interest in Eric by giving him the watch he wears for the remainder of the show, while she gives Hyde socks. They go on their first date on Valentine's Day and during the date, Donna unexpectedly becomes intoxicated, which only makes the experience more uncomfortable than it should have been, for Eric especially, as he wanted to give her his class ring. Despite Hyde showing up and professing his feelings for Donna one last time, Donna chooses Eric. Their relationship becomes very public when Bob accidentally finds out that Midge put Donna on the pill, then Kitty and Red find out, although Eric and Donna aren't sleeping together. They go to the prom together and consider sleeping together for the first time, but feel that the timing is off. Eric at times gets insecure about how the world views their relationship, as he himself has trouble seeing his own worth and value. This comes to the fore when a guy Eric hates hits on Donna, and when they go to a disco but only Donna is let in at first and Eric is the last to be let in. Eric is also continually insecure about Donna falling for Hyde, noticeably when Donna's parents start fighting and she suffers from it, confiding in Hyde instead of Eric.Eric and Donna's relationship gradually grows and Donna confesses to Eric that she loves him, only for him to respond that he loves cake. Eric gets his act together after many attempts and tells Donna that he loves her as well. After Donna's parents renew their vows, Donna expresses to Eric that he was the inspiration for her vows and they have sex for the first time. Eric believing he has brought Donna much disappointment by, "Being lame in the sack", is reassured by Donna that sex can only get better from their first time. Their relationship appears to only have become stronger, yet it gradually starts falling apart, when Donna becomes more serious about her work as a DJ at WFPP, which irritates Eric as Donna is very content focusing on her job. Eric feels that she isn't taking their relationship or him seriously, as she would blow off dates to work. Donna tries to make Eric see how important her job is to her, and that, regardless of all the rock stars she may encounter, she is mad at him for not trusting that she is faithful to him. A lot of their strain in this time stems from Eric's continued insecurity that he's never going to be 'good enough' for Donna or who she really wants to be with later in life. This was already evident when David Milbank hit on Donna and she berated Eric for not trusting her. Eric tries to hold on by giving her a promise ring and Donna returns it to him saying she can't make those kinds of promises, which breaks Eric's heart and he ends their relationship, breaking Donna's heart. Eric and Donna stay separated, but manage to figure out a way to stay friends. This is shown when Eric goes to pick up Donna to go to the prom, but stays with her while there are tornado warnings in their town. Donna develops a romantic interest in Casey Kelso (Kelso's older brother), which everyone but Eric (and later Michael) seems to approve of. When Casey and Donna break up, Donna runs to Eric to be consoled only for Eric to tell her he wasn't going to be a rebound for her. Distraught, Donna chooses to run away to California with Michael (who on the other hand is running away from Jackie). Eric realizes how much of a mistake he made after talking with his parents and leaves to find Donna, deciding to lay on her bed until she returns, only to find out later she ran away to California with Kelso. Eric goes to California at the end of summer to tell Donna how much he loves her and that he wants to be with her and they reconcile. Eric decided that he wanted something big for him and Donna and he decided to propose to her on the Water Tower. Their engagement was disapproved by many especially Eric's father Red, who felt Eric wasn't being wise. Eric took Red's cruel punishment and received his blessing for doing so. Eric and Donna decided to move to Madison to start their life together and want to do so but are held back after Red suffers a heart attack. Donna is still moving away to college, but stays until the last bus to spend Eric's 18th birthday with him. But she proves that she can't leave him because it is too much of an adjustment to her life. Donna and Eric go through premarital counseling because of their pregnancy scare and this is where they decide to stop having sex until they are married. Eric and Donna go through all the premarital events like wedding shopping and even Eric destroying Donna's wedding dress. As the day approaches, Eric begins to have second thoughts after a dream he has. When it was time for the wedding rehearsal, Eric was a no show only to leave Donna in anger. He comes back to explain his cold feet and Donna explains her cold feet as well.Donna and Eric remain together even after their called off wedding. In the end of Season 7, Eric moves to Africa to teach kids in order to pursue his dream of helping people. In almost every episode Eric somehow makes a mess in his relationships with Donna, then makes it worse and near the end of the episodes wins back her heart. Eric even cared for Donna throughout Season 4 when they broke up and when she ran away to California. Later he proved his love to Donna in the beginning of season 5 when he went to California to bring her back. Later that season he proposes to Donna with the idea of a secret marriage which later became known to everyone. Eric later breaks off the engagement in fear that he is holding Donna back and that she will leave him. He later comes back to talk to Donna in the middle of the night and she decides to forgive him and they just return to a regular relationship. When Eric left to Africa in the end of season 7 he and Donna grew apart. He came back in the series finale and the two shared a kiss. Eric made peace with her and the two got back together at the end of the series.

Being the show's main character for the first seven seasons, Eric appears in many storylines. The show opens with Eric, a scrawny, socially awkward 16-year-old, dealing with his ever-evident and growing crush on the girl next door, Donna Pinciotti. During this time, Eric obtains the signature 1969 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser and takes it out of town, despite his father's warnings not to. This, evidently, impresses Donna and leads to the pair's first kiss. The next episode, Eric's Birthday set on March 5, 1976 (originally making him born in 1959), sees the pair dealing with their kiss as well as Eric's long-awaited 17th birthday. As the series progresses, Eric's friends' influence over him begins to surface as he finds himself arrested due to Kelso being caught driving a stolen car while he was a passenger, due to an earlier ban on his Vista Cruiser. Eric and Donna soon share a first date, but all goes awry as Donna becomes intoxicated due to a mix-up with the drink order, causing an awkward and uncomfortable experience for Eric. During the high school prom, the two decide to rent a nearby motel room for after, though ultimately decide not to engage in intercourse after receiving the attention of fellow students. Coinciding with the beginning of his relationship with Donna, Eric must deal with killing his grandmother when he screamed at her, sharing a rare bonding moment with his father Red, and his best friend Hyde's abandonment. It is Eric who ultimately decides that Hyde should move in with them. Season 2's episode, "Halloween" revealed that it was Eric who causes Hyde's downward spiral to rebellious stoner due to Eric framing Hyde for the destruction of a classmates school work. The pair end up in an argument, but all is resolved as they choose to forget it ever happened. Eric is suspended from school for smoking on school property after taking the blame but is allowed to return to school when the truth is later revealed. He also received his first steady job from his father at PriceMart and Donna and Eric lose their virginity to each other at Midge and Bob's renewal wedding vows. Throughout season three, the pair's relationship holds a steady foundation despite Eric's constant awkward antics, such as accidental sexism and pantsing Donna. However, things take a turn for the worse as Eric's offer for a promise ring is rejected by Donna and he decides that if she doesn't see a future with him they should break up. Despite it being his decision, this leads him to spiral into depression, dreaming at one point what it would be like if he had never dated Donna. He is angered on several occasions as Donna deals with their breakup and the downfall of her parents' marriage by acting insultingly toward him, even publishing in the school's newspaper a story that parallels their relationship. He is also resentful of her relationship with Michael Kelso's older brother Casey, who is offensive and smug. When Donna begins acting out due to Casey's influence, Eric becomes concerned but refuses to take her back the evening Casey breaks up with her. Regretting it instantly, Eric goes to find her to once again reconcile, and learns that she and Michael have taken off for California where they spend the remainder of the summer. Despite his parents foreboding, Eric takes off after Donna and they reconcile instantly and continue their relationship. Later, Eric contemplates in front of his friends the idea of proposing to Donna, something they all instantly point out the idiocy. However, the two do get engaged as he proposes, somewhat awkwardly, atop the water tower. After taking the SAT's he realizes he got the lowest score of the group, even getting a worse score than Kelso,[9] prompting him to work harder in order to marry Donna. Eric also thinks hard about his future, choosing to move to Madison with Donna. In the fifth season, Eric and Donna become engaged, despite widespread discouragement (and anger, in the case of Red). Eric caused Red to have a heart attack as a result. However, they refuse to call off the engagement and remain engaged until the end of the sixth season. Eventually, they both begin to experience pre-wedding jitters and Eric, acting upon these feelings, skips his wedding rehearsal. He then returns in the next episode and Donna forgives him. After spending much of 1978–79 lazing around, Eric eventually decides he needs to do something with his life. This prompts many attempts to find a long-term career. It is not until a conversation with friends that he realizes his passion is in teaching. However, Red has spent Eric's college money on his muffler shop, but the guidance counselor at Eric's former high school offers him the choice of a fully paid education if he first spends a year teaching in Africa. Eric accepts, much to his mother and Donna's dismay. After a few weeks of preparation and receiving the cold treatment from Kitty and Donna, Eric packs his bags and prepares to leave. With the blessing from Red and forgiveness from his mother and Donna, he drives off with the Vista Cruiser to a hearty farewell. Eric's family includes his doting mother, Kitty Forman, who has impending separation anxiety and menopause, his crabby father, Red Forman, who is a strict Korean War military veteran, and his older sister, Laurie Forman, who is a promiscuous blonde who uses her looks to get what she wants. Eric's best friend, Steven Hyde, who was essentially abandoned by his parents, later becomes his foster brother. Eric was the show's protagonist from seasons one through seven until he was written out due to Grace's departure from the series. However, despite Eric's absence, he is mentioned at least once in all 22 episodes of season eight. He makes a brief cameo appearance in the final episode titled "That '70s Finale." Due to Eric's departure from the show at the beginning of its eighth season, Eric was no longer the central focus of the show, though his character was still heavily used to influence elements of it, and he's mentioned in every episode of the season. Picking up a month after the seventh season's finale, Eric is revealed to have successfully become accustomed to his job teaching in Africa. As Donna's relationship with a new character Randy begins to intensify, it becomes apparent that Eric has broken up with her yet again. Eric returns home on New Year's Eve to reconcile with Donna, welcome the new year in with his friends and continue his teaching career. 

A nice guy at heart, Eric is a stereotypical nerd/geek, scrawny and somewhat clumsy. He is not at all athletic and shows little interest in sports. He is a smart-aleck teenager with a lightning-fast wit and a sarcastic and deadpan sense of humor. He also lights "incense" with his friends in his basement. Eric is also known to screw things up a lot, which is parodied throughout the series. Eric is often picked on for his slight stature and other characters have likened him to "Opie" (for the character Opie Taylor, from The Andy Griffith Show), and Archie Andrews. Other unfortunate nicknames include "Foreplay" (by Casey Kelso), "Foreskin" (by Donna), "Zitty Stardust" (in reference to him being unable to take a zit-free yearbook photo), "Scrawny Little Neighbor Boy" (by Hyde), and "Dumbass" (by Red). His girlfriend Donna is physically stronger, smarter and larger than he is, a fact which is cause for many jokes by all who know them. Donna is seen beating everyone individually on more than one occasion. Though physically weak, Eric can show a surprising amount of courage and even physical power when necessary. When incensed enough, he will stand up to anyone, including his father and during these moments he can be surprisingly eloquent. He stood up to Red when he was troubled about Kitty's apparent pregnancy and told him to be a man for her. He also stands up to both of his parents in his insistence on marrying Donna, despite their repeated attempts to stop him. He threatens Casey Kelso with serious injury if he hurt Donna and even defended his father by punching another teenager (David Milbank) who had informed him that Red will eventually lose his job at the auto parts plant. He also beat a Green Bay Packers fan up during a game, after the fan (along with Red) repeatedly insult Eric for wearing a Chicago Bears jersey; however, Eric turns to violence only when the fan insults Red for telling him to stop arguing once the game was over, as Red only saw the argument as being appropriate banter between opposing fans during the game. This made Red proud enough to remark that his son had the "Forman Rage." Eric's best friend is rebel Steven Hyde. When Hyde's mother leaves town at the end of the first season, Eric tries to persuade his parents to do something about his best friend's living conditions and thus Hyde is invited to live with the Formans, which he does for most of the series. When Red is quick to throw Hyde out after an arrest for drug possession, Eric attempts to help him by proving Red's hypocrisy. Of his group of friends, Eric seemed to dislike Jackie the most in the beginning, though as the series progresses, they develop a friendship. Throughout, the two have a clear "frenemy" relationship. They demonstrate their annoyance with each other, but show compassion for each other many times, and through it all, are close. At the series' beginning, Jackie admits to trusting and liking Eric, confiding in him that she might be pregnant. In "The Pill," for example, she says to Eric's surprise, "Look, I've always been able to trust you—and, god, you are such a nice guy." Later in the episode, once Kelso threatens to break up with Jackie, Eric yells at him, having developed protective feelings towards her. This proves that their burning of each other throughout the show is only for laughs and friendly bickering, as none of their hostility is ever serious. Eric is consistent in ignoring Jackie as an object of sexual desire, but this changes in "What Is and What Should Never Be" where Hyde helps Eric realize that Jackie is "hot." After this, Eric has shown to have a sexual attraction to her, as shown in many episodes. Jackie is, at times, demeaning towards Eric due to his effeminate qualities, dorkiness and physical weakness. They have been known to occasionally help each other out. In the episode "Jackie's Cheese Squeeze," Eric admits that they are "friends," as long as they don't refer to each other as such in public, and in the season seven finale, Jackie calls Eric from Chicago and admits that she's always cared for him, and that he was always very special to her. Eric is a well-known fan of science fiction, such as Star Trek and especially Star Wars, in which he compares himself to Luke Skywalker. He is also known to have a large, beloved collection of G.I. Joe. He listens to artists such as Led Zeppelin, KISS, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Deep Purple, Queen, Styx and Rush. He is also a Beatles fan and has been known to liken his group of friends to them, accusing Jackie of "breaking up the band" with her romantic entanglements with Kelso and Hyde (calling her Yoko, in reference to Yoko Ono). It is also hinted that he is both a Batman and Spider-Man fan, having Spider-Man bed sheets and a considerable number of comic books, most of them bearing the Marvel Comics logo with the titular character on the covers. When he fights a fan at the Packers game, he tells Red that he learned his moves from Spider-Man; coincidentally, Topher Grace starred as Eddie Brock, a character who obtains powers very similar to Spider-Man, thus transforming him into the monstrous Venom in Spider-Man 3 in 2007. Eric has had many typical teenage jobs over the series. He has worked at Fatso Burger, PriceMart, a dog food factory and as a waiter at the Holiday Hotel. In the beginning of the series, Red vehemently opposes Eric's attempts to get a job during the second season citing that it would interfere with his schoolwork and make it harder for him to get into a good college located far away. Kitty supports Red by saying Eric's job is being her "precious little baby boy." When Eric announces his marriage proposal to Red and Kitty, Red fires him from his job at PriceMart so he couldn't make the money to get married. Kitty costs him a potential job at a bank for the same reason. Red and Kitty even go so far as to revoke their offer to pay for Eric's college tuition in a final act of desperation to put a stop to the wedding but are unsuccessful. In season seven, Eric is ridiculed by his father when he takes a year off from school and work to contemplate his future and enjoy being lazy. Eric takes pleasure in the contempt Red has for this decision. Eric is usually very supportive of his friends, even though it is very rarely reciprocated. On several occasions, when the group find themselves in a predicament as the result of a prank gone awry or some other unforeseen circumstance, the rest of the group would take off, leaving Eric to absorb the brunt of the trouble, after which the group (mainly Hyde) would hassle and tease Eric for getting into trouble (as in "Stolen Car," "Eric Gets Suspended," "Eric's Hot Cousin" and "Rip This Joint"). This has much to do with Eric's trusting nature and indicates that what he lacks in physical strength and courage, he more than makes up for in strength of character. Eric however, has been known to get his revenge on his backstabbing friends from time to time, such as when Kelso took the group on a "dine-and-dash" without telling them and the group eventually abandoning Donna and Eric at the restaurant. Eric and Donna get their revenge by serving a batch of brownies which they referred to as "special" brownies. However, in this case, the "special" ingredient that Eric and Donna include is a chocolate-flavored laxative. This was a particular problem for Fez, whose girlfriend had arrived to make amends with him, just as he was running for the bathroom. At times, however, Eric's friends will come to his aid when he's truly at the end of his rope. However, Eric is also quick to stand up for himself whenever he feels he has been wronged by his friends' actions. Eric is also quite stubborn, which has on several occasions brings bad luck to himself. For example, when Donna calls from California and when Kitty tries to tell him, Eric refuses to even listen to his mother and (when he finds out the call) later scolds her for not telling him. Also, when Hyde is about to get kicked out of the Forman's house for his drug use, Eric tells Red that he also does drugs (despite Donna telling him not to), only to find out that Hyde is allowed to stay. Another prime example is during his first break-up with Donna: he refuses to see the signs that she is hesitant to say they will always be together, even when Hyde tries to explain it to him, and when faced with the truth chooses to end the relationship rather than accept Donna is not ready. (However, he would later on acknowledge it was unfair for him to pressure Donna.)

Eric's relationship with his parents is characterized by his attempts to prove to them that he is mature and independent. Eric's father, Red, is a notorious authoritarian and often refers to Eric as "dumbass" and "boy". He frequently threatens "to put his foot in Eric's ass". Red finds Eric lacking the qualities which he feels a grown man should possess, including physical strength, sportsmanship, and interest in manly pursuits, like hunting and fishing. Despite the fact that Red's strict parenting often prevents intimate father-son moments, Red truly cares for his son. On rare occasions, Red displays genuine fatherly love such as in "That Wresting Show" and "Street Fighting Man", as well as when he learns that Eric is a good hunter and chose not to shoot a deer because he didn't want to. Oddly, Eric is, in many ways, a younger version of his father. Both display a dry sense of humor and tend to be the sanest people in their circle of friends. Eric's mother, Kitty, typically supports Eric against the wishes of her husband and she often scolds Red for being too hard on him. However, she also does not consider Eric to be a man and often refers to him as her "precious little baby boy." Eric appreciates his mom's support but her overblown displays of affection often leave him feeling embarrassed. At times, Kitty's love for Eric borders on Hitchcockian. His mother is often insecure about being replaced by Donna as the woman in Eric's life. Their rivalry is played up in many episodes (often comically, but sometimes to the point of it being problematic). In theory, she's okay with a sexual relationship between Donna and Eric (even pressing the two to discuss it with her); however, in reality, she goes into a depression after learning that Eric and Donna had sex and considers Donna a harlot who has stolen her baby boy away from her. Eric reassured Kitty that he would always need her because, "[Red]'s going to be riding [his] ass for the rest of [his] life". When Eric tells his parents about his plan to spend a year teaching in Africa, his mother is less than thrilled. This is most notably and comically presented when, the morning after his announcement, Kitty fixes everyone at the breakfast table a smiley-face breakfast with eggs and bacon and then hands Eric a plain pancake and says, "nothing smiling up at you, nothing". Even with a couple of days before his departure, Kitty reveals that she hid mailed notifications that Eric must receive certain vaccinations before he can leave. Eric protests his mom's actions but she still tries to dissuade him, stating that the needles used for the vaccinations are "as big as sausages" and "will hurt a lot." In the episode "Eric's Birthday," the gang is acutely aware that Kitty has planned a surprise party for Eric, despite her claims to the contrary. This annoys Eric because he believes that surprise parties are for kids, which indicates that Kitty won't accept the fact that he is becoming a man. However, throughout the episode "Magic Bus," Eric expects Kitty to throw him a surprise party even though she and the gang constantly tell him that there is no surprise party. He becomes upset when he realizes that his mother is telling the truth. After Eric disobeys his parents' orders not to go forward with his plans to marry Donna, Red finally deems Eric a man and offers his blessing while a devastated Kitty turns on Red for allowing her "precious baby boy" to get married. Though Eric and Donna call off the wedding, they decide to move, which causes Kitty even more grief. She's even less pleased when she learns that Red is fine with it. Eric's relationship with his older sister, Laurie, is based on mutual ridicule and contempt. Eric repeatedly mocks Laurie for being a whore while she chides him for being weak and less favored by their father. On several occasions, Eric and Laurie have tolerated each other and have even shown a brother-sister bond. When Eric saw his parents having sex, Laurie tried to comfort him, which included hugging him and stroking his hand. In the middle of a fight between the two, Hyde tried to break it up, and the two teamed up on him, complimenting each other's insults. Eric once even defended Laurie from Red. After discovering that Laurie moved out and was living with a man, Red, having been forced to face reality about his daughter's behavior and reputation, attempted to alienate her. Sympathizing with her, Eric attempted to defend Laurie, saying that Red was being too hard on her. Laurie once told Eric and Donna to move away after they got married and even cried during her apology. Eric tasted the tear and, having deemed it legitimate, replied "I have a sister!" and hugged her. Laurie appeared to have turned a new leaf but soon regressed to her old habits of mean-spirited and lascivious behavior.

Donna Marie Pinciotti is a main character on FOX comedy That '70s Show. She is portrayed by Laura Prepon. Donna was born on February 13, 1960 to Bob Pinciotti and Midge Pinciotti. Donna is an intelligent, witty, red-haired (she later changed to blonde after her marriage to Eric was called off), tall (5'10), rather strong, athletic teenager with feminist ideals, who is outwardly confident and strong, sometimes to the point of coming across as arrogant or self-righteous, though usually laid back and easy going. She calls upon these personal qualities to deal with her personal issues, such as the shaky relationship between her father and mother, Midge & Bob Pinciotti, who had her when they were still in high school. However, she has some difficulty expressing her feminine side, for fear that displaying traditional feminine traits will serve as a betrayal of her feminism. She dons skirts and dresses for special occasions, but mostly wears jeans and pants in her day to day life. Donna has grown up one of the guys, hanging out with Kelso, Eric and Hyde since she was very young. She comes across as laid back, but is not afraid to give out to the guys when they are being idiots or sexist. She enjoys hanging out with the guys, but has outside interests such as writing poetry and short stories, and dreams of living in New York as a writer or a DJ one day. These dreams often clash with Eric's conservative views of what marriage is and what kind of future he wants for him and Donna, which is why they break up at one point. Hyde understands this, while Eric at first refuses to acknowledge their differences. Donna's job as a radio DJ, to Eric, takes priority over their relationship, as Donna blows off their dates. While Donna genuinely feels she is right to do this, as she is following her dreams of becoming a music journalist, her actions provoke a bad response in the normally even-keeled Eric, who feels Donna is not taking him and their relationship seriously. Eric breaks up with Donna when she returns his promise ring and much awkwardness ensued over rights to the basement and trying to get along while exploring new romances. Donna is bemused at just how many girls are interested in Eric and happily mocks his attempts at finding a new girlfriend, although when some of them work, she does not take it quite as well and later confesses it hurt her when Eric started dating.Her mother Midge leaving her father and moving to California, followed by her father's relationship with Joanne Stupac, does not help matters. Donna starts dating Casey Kelso, Kelso's older brother. Though flaky and rather older than her, Donna considers Casey a real winner of a boyfriend, seeming to her good natured, laid back, and easy going. Donna feels she is hit the jackpot with Casey and everyone else agrees – except Eric, who sees Casey for what he is: an oversexed frat boy who just wants to date Donna until he is bored. Eric tries to warn Donna but she ignores him. When Kitty and Eric witness Donna drunk in the middle of a school day at the Hub with Casey, Kitty rallies Red and Bob to bring an end to relationship with Eric awkwardly overseeing the proceedings while Hyde, Kelso, Jackie and Fez listen from the kitchen. Donna is more than ready and willing to fight for Casey, who she thinks loves her, but Casey is not ready or willing to fight for her and he readily agrees to break up with her when Red puts the pressure on. Casey lazily says that Donna is a great girl and fun to hang out with, but he stated the relationship has gotten to be too much of a hassle. The realizations of her own over-confidence, poor judgement and being dumped in front of the people who means the most to her come as quite a shock to Donna, who regards herself as an ideal feminist, but who had fallen for the exact kind of jerk she always swore she had never look twice at. Hurt, humiliated and heartbroken, Donna turns to the one person she thinks still truly cares for her - old boyfriend Eric Forman. Eric offers his sympathy, but when a shaken up, crying Donna tells him she wants to be his girlfriend again, Eric refuses believing that she did not really want him for who he is but simply wanted a way to feel better about herself and would most likely dump him when someone better came along. A tearful Donna pleaded with him to take her back but he refused to be her "second choice". Was he just a rebound? Unable to handle being rejected by her first love, an emotionally-wrecked Donna fled Point Place for California, where she crashed with her mother and tried to sort out her feelings. She decided she truly did love Eric and tried to call him but could not get hold of him; she suspected he no longer wanted her and moved on to another girlfriend and became rather depressed. But then, to her delight, Eric showed up in California looking for her, and the two reunited and returned to Point Place. Shortly after their return, Bob punishes Donna's disappearance without a word by transferring her to Catholic school for her senior year, which Donna despised, to put some distance between her and Eric. This only furthers the Romeo & Juliet aspect of Eric going to California for Donna, in their relationship and Eric ignores the objections of their friends and proposes to Donna at the Water Tower and she accepts. Once Red and Kitty find out about the engagement, they are shocked, Kitty in particular, who claims that Donna is trying to snatch her "baby" away from her. Despite enduring a great deal of flack from Red (far more than usual) Red eventually accepts his son had become a man and gave them his blessing. Donna and Eric prepare to leave Point Place after graduation to attend college in Madison. However, just as they were packing their stuff in the Vista Cruiser, Fez and Laurie announced their marriage. Red was so shocked he had a heart attack, and as a result Eric had to stay in Point Place and help support the family. Donna also gave up going to college in Madison so that she could stay with Eric. Eventually though, their wedding fell through at the end of season 6 when Eric, worried that marrying Donna would eventually leave him because this is not the life she wanted, did not to show up for their rehearsal.When Eric leaves for Africa, Eric and Donna are still together. However, Donna tells her friends that Eric had broken up with her, when Fez and Jackie suspect that she is cheating on Eric with the new guy, Randy. Donna tells them that Eric broke up with her three weeks earlier. There were hints leading up to the breakup when Eric called Kitty but not Donna, even though she was awake at 4AM waiting for him to call her. Also, when Donna was at the Formans' for Red & Kitty's 25th anniversary, Eric called his parents and Kitty gave the phone to Donna, but Eric spoke to her only briefly before bailing out, claiming he had to "go teach". Eric and her shared a kiss after he returned to Point Place for New Years Eve. Before this, she dated Randy after the break up with Eric, and then realized her relationship with Randy would interfere with her plans of seeing the world, and a possibility that she was still in love with Eric so she broke it off. Eric and Donna two got back together and get married in the future. Donna is last seen running upstairs to the living room in an effort not to call Red a "Dumbass". Hyde and Donna are in many ways a great match, which is displayed in their close friendship throughout the series – Donna talks to Hyde when her parents have problems, and leans on Hyde when Eric ditches her before their wedding. Hyde feels they would make a great romantic match as well, but Donna chooses Eric, which is later argued to be the right choice in Eric's subconscious by his guardian angel (which could be construed as the show shutting down any notion of Hyde and Donna for good). Hyde is very sweet in his pursuit of Donna at first, even having Kitty teach him how to dance so he can dance with Donna. Later, while Donna shows obvious interest in Eric, she also makes her disinterest in Hyde's blatant advances clear. Hyde and Donna are very similar: Both do not display vulnerable emotions often, although their good hearts often betray their sentiments, they are laid back, very intelligent and very direct and honest with their friends. The major difference, however, is that Donna comes from a stable, loving home, while Steven does not and even so, Donna needs the stability of Eric's parents when hers act immaturely and neglect to provide Donna with a 'normal' home life.  Eric and Donna have been next door neighbors ever since they were children.  When Donna first moved in and first met Eric, she punched him in the stomach for looking at her funny. It was at that moment that Eric fell madly in love with Donna. They later became the best of friends and hung out with each other all the time. Eric's love for Donna continued on and on, but he didn't admit his love for her until they were 16 in 1976, when Eric Forman takes his car out of town when explicitly told not to, and impresses Donna who decides to give him their first kiss. They don't start going out immediately, but take their relationship slowly, unsure how to show their interest in each other and getting advice from their friends on how to act now that their relationship has changed. When the gang goes to a disco, Eric doesn't dance with Donna, but later admits that he hates disco and went because he likes her, which is the first time he tells Donna how he feels about her. They go on to discover many firsts together, like making out at the drive-in and what it means to be exclusive as teenagers, when Eric kisses another girl.Meanwhile, Hyde is still competing for Donna's affections and they both give her Christmas gifts, while Donna in turn, give both the guys Christmas gifts, although she signals her interest in Eric by giving him the watch he wears for the remainder of the show, while she gives Hyde socks. They go on their first date on Valentine's Day and during the date, Donna unexpectedly becomes intoxicated, which only makes the experience more uncomfortable than it should have been, for Eric especially, as he wanted to give her his class ring. Despite Hyde showing up and professing his feelings for Donna one last time, Donna chooses Eric. Their relationship becomes very public when Bob accidentally finds out that Midge put Donna on the pill, then Kitty and Red find out, although Eric and Donna aren't sleeping together. They go to the prom together and consider sleeping together for the first time, but feel that the timing is off. Eric at times gets insecure about how the world views their relationship, as he himself has trouble seeing his own worth and value. This comes to the fore when a guy Eric hates hits on Donna, and when they go to a disco but only Donna is let in at first and Eric is the last to be let in. Eric is also continually insecure about Donna falling for Hyde, noticeably when Donna's parents start fighting and she suffers from it, confiding in Hyde instead of Eric.Eric and Donna's relationship gradually grows and Donna confesses to Eric that she loves him, only for him to respond that he loves cake. Eric gets his act together after many attempts and tells Donna that he loves her as well. After Donna's parents renew their vows, Donna expresses to Eric that he was the inspiration for her vows and they have sex for the first time. Eric believing he has brought Donna much disappointment by, "Being lame in the sack", is reassured by Donna that sex can only get better from their first time. Their relationship appears to only have become stronger, yet it gradually starts falling apart, when Donna becomes more serious about her work as a DJ at WFPP, which irritates Eric as Donna is very content focusing on her job. Eric feels that she isn't taking their relationship or him seriously, as she would blow off dates to work. Donna tries to make Eric see how important her job is to her, and that, regardless of all the rock stars she may encounter, she is mad at him for not trusting that she is faithful to him. A lot of their strain in this time stems from Eric's continued insecurity that he's never going to be 'good enough' for Donna or who she really wants to be with later in life. This was already evident when David Milbank hit on Donna and she berated Eric for not trusting her. Eric tries to hold on by giving her a promise ring and Donna returns it to him saying she can't make those kinds of promises, which breaks Eric's heart and he ends their relationship, breaking Donna's heart. Eric and Donna stay separated, but manage to figure out a way to stay friends. This is shown when Eric goes to pick up Donna to go to the prom, but stays with her while there are tornado warnings in their town. Donna develops a romantic interest in Casey Kelso (Kelso's older brother), which everyone but Eric (and later Michael) seems to approve of. When Casey and Donna break up, Donna runs to Eric to be consoled only for Eric to tell her he wasn't going to be a rebound for her. Distraught, Donna chooses to run away to California with Michael (who on the other hand is running away from Jackie). Eric realizes how much of a mistake he made after talking with his parents and leaves to find Donna, deciding to lay on her bed until she returns, only to find out later she ran away to California with Kelso. Eric goes to California at the end of summer to tell Donna how much he loves her and that he wants to be with her and they reconcile. Eric decided that he wanted something big for him and Donna and he decided to propose to her on the Water Tower. Their engagement was disapproved by many especially Eric's father Red, who felt Eric wasn't being wise. Eric took Red's cruel punishment and received his blessing for doing so. Eric and Donna decided to move to Madison to start their life together and want to do so but are held back after Red suffers a heart attack. Donna is still moving away to college, but stays until the last bus to spend Eric's 18th birthday with him. But she proves that she can't leave him because it is too much of an adjustment to her life. Donna and Eric go through premarital counseling because of their pregnancy scare and this is where they decide to stop having sex until they are married. Eric and Donna go through all the premarital events like wedding shopping and even Eric destroying Donna's wedding dress. As the day approaches, Eric begins to have second thoughts after a dream he has. When it was time for the wedding rehearsal, Eric was a no show only to leave Donna in anger. He comes back to explain his cold feet and Donna explains her cold feet as well.Donna and Eric remain together even after their called off wedding. In the end of Season 7, Eric moves to Africa to teach kids in order to pursue his dream of helping people. Jackie appoints herself as Donna's best friend early on, often giving her advice that sounds superficial and useless but often turns out to be unnervingly true (example: Eric would never want Donna to be his girlfriend if she kept beating him at everything, especially sports). The haughty Jackie genuinely thinks that she is better looking than Donna and that Donna is in general not attractive, interesting or popular--yet still thinks Donna could do better than Eric. Though they are as different as night and day, Donna eventually accepts Jackie and decides to keep an eye on her and keep her out of trouble, since Jackie does not always show the best common sense, but eventually around early season two the two become best friends.

Donna's relationship with next-door neighbor Eric Forman is often the main focus of the series. However, it is tumultuous at times, having suffered two break-ups during the show's run. Despite this, Eric and Donna often act as the "parents" of the group, being mature and responsible when their friends are not, for example in episodes like "Dine and Dash". Another episode that illustrates their parenthood of the group is when they have just broken up and Eric takes them all out and returns late. He and Donna engage in an argument because Eric gives Fez ice cream and Donna is angry because he wouldn't be hungry for dinner. When Fez is going to be deported, she and Eric become upset because "their" Fez is leaving. Eric is sometimes threatened by his feeling inferior to her, especially during the third season, when she gets a job as a disc jockey. Donna and Eric lose their virginity to each other in the beginning of season two, after many failed attempts. Their sexual activity is revealed in a very humiliating manner, when a policeman catches them having sex in the back of Eric's car and takes them back to his parents home, where Red forces Donna to tell her parents or else he would tell them. In the beginning of the series, Hyde is also interested in Donna along with Eric. Donna makes her choice clear, however, when she blows off her "study date" with Hyde to hang out with Eric. Even after the relationship between Eric and Donna is established, for a short time Donna usually goes to Hyde when she feels unsure about her relationship and needs to talk about it. In such circumstances, Hyde usually refers to her as the "hot neighbor girl" and Eric as the "scrawny little neighbor boy", or some variation of these. Though a romantic relationship between Donna and Hyde is never established, Hyde initially likes Donna and would have been interested in her if Eric had not kissed her first (as stated in the episode "It's a Wonderful Life"). Hyde still tries to win Donna in the beginning when she and Eric aren't together. There are even some comments by Fez during that season that mock Hyde over these failed attempts. When the group goes to Jackie's father's cabin for a ski trip, Hyde decides to kiss Donna and is slapped for his efforts, ending his infatuation but not their close friendship. Hyde never shows any significant interest in Donna again. Toward the end of season three, Donna's job as a disc jockey is taking priority over her relationship with Eric, causing her to cancel their dates. While Donna genuinely feels that she is right to do this and is simply following her goals through to their logical conclusion with wanting to be a writer and a newswoman, her actions provoke a bad response in the normally even-keeled Eric, who feels that Donna is not taking him and/or their relationship seriously. Unable to resolve the conflict, Eric breaks up with her in the third season finale "The Promise Ring". Throughout season four, much awkwardness ensues over rights to the basement and trying to find new relationships. Donna is a bit annoyed at just how many girls are interested in Eric and happily mocks him when his attempts at finding a new girlfriend backfires. When she finds out he dated another while they were apart (he kept it a secret), she is absolutely furious, believing he cheated on her. During the fourth season, Donna begins dating Casey Kelso (Luke Wilson), Michael Kelso's older brother. Even though he is flaky, a few years older than she is and against Donna's feminist beliefs, Donna thinks Casey is the perfect boyfriend, since he seems to be sensitive, good-natured, laid-back and easy-going. Eric sees Casey for what he is: an oversexed frat boy who just wants to sleep with Donna and move on to the next girl. Eric tries to warn Donna but she ignores him and he then threatens to hurt Casey if he hurts Donna. Donna ends up skipping school to get drunk with Casey. When Eric and Kitty witness this, they (along with Red and Bob) decide to intervene. In an animated discussion in the Formans' living room, Casey dumps Donna, deciding that his relationship with her is not worth the hassle, and admitting that he never loved her. The realization of her own overconfidence, poor judgment and being dumped in front of the people who meant the most to her come as a shock to Donna, who regards herself as an ideal feminist, since she had fallen for the type of man she always swore she would never be with. Hurt, humiliated and heartbroken, Donna turns to Eric, who offers his sympathy. When a shaken-up, crying Donna tells him she wants to be with him again, he refuses, believing that she does not really want him for who he is, but simply wants a way to feel better about herself and would most likely dump him when someone better came along. A tearful Donna pleads with him to take her back but he refuses to be her "second choice". Eric is unwavering in his decision, until his father and mother point out to him that he is being an idiot. Even Kitty, who normally dotes on him, calls him a "dumb ass". Unable to handle being rejected by her first love, an emotionally wrecked Donna flees Point Place for California, where she lives with her mother and tries to sort out her feelings. She decides she truly does love Eric and tries to call him but can't get hold of him; she suspects he no longer wants her and has moved on to another girl, leaving her rather depressed. But then, to her delight, Eric shows up in California looking for her, and the two very romantically reunite and return to Point Place. When Donna comes home from California, the normally easy-going Bob sends her to a Catholic school as punishment, an act that Donna deeply resents and hates for the remainder of the school year. This occasion also gave the writers/creators an opportunity to change Donna's common "lumberjack" attire as she now wore, for a few episodes, the school's uniform consisting of a plaid skirt, a white shirt and long white knee-high socks. Her new looks also provide openings for jokes from the boys about Donna's sexiness, which underlies their views of her throughout the series, no matter what type of attire she is wearing. In season five, Eric ignores the objections of their friends and proposes to her at the water tower, which Donna accepts. Once Red and Kitty find out about the engagement, they are shocked. Kitty in particular, reacts badly, claiming that Donna is trying to snatch her "baby" away from her. Despite enduring a great deal of flak (mostly from Red), Eric stays loyal to Donna and their marriage plans. Because of this, Red accepts that his son has become a man and gives them his blessing. Donna and Eric prepare to leave Point Place together and go to college in Madison. However, just as they are packing their stuff in the Vista Cruiser, Fez and Laurie announce their marriage so Fez can stay in the country after graduation. Red is so shocked at this, he has a heart attack. As a result, Eric decides to stay in Point Place and help support the family. Donna ends up putting off going to college in Madison so that she can stay with Eric. Eventually, their wedding plans fall through at the end of season six when Eric, worried that marrying Donna would hold her back, fails to show up for their rehearsal. After Eric's departure from the show between seasons seven and eight, it is assumed that they still keep the relationship intact. However, Donna tells her friends that Eric has broken up with her in the eighth-season episode "Long Away", when Fez and Jackie suspect that she is cheating on Eric with the new cast character, Randy (Josh Meyers). Donna tells them that Eric did this three weeks earlier. There were hints leading up to the breakup when Eric calls Kitty but not Donna, even though she is awake at 4AM waiting for him to call her. Also, when Donna is at the Foremans' for Red and Kitty's 25th anniversary, Eric calls his parents and Kitty gives the phone to Donna, but Eric speaks to her only briefly before hanging up, claiming he has to "go to class".Donna then begins dating Randy, seemingly without regard for her long-standing relationship with Eric. However, she ends the relationship when she realizes that things with Randy are moving too fast, and that she is using him as a substitute for Eric. This is further evidenced when Kitty catches Randy and Donna kissing in Eric's bedroom, and she accuses Donna of replacing Eric with Randy, departing from her usual rivalry with Donna over being the main woman in Eric's life.In the final episode, Eric returns to Point Place for the New Year and he and Donna kiss. They end up getting back together again at the end of the series and the end of the 1970s. Donna resides in the fictional Wisconsin town of Point Place, where she lives with her parents, Midge and Bob Pinciotti. Early in the series, her younger sister, 14-year-old Tina (played by Amanda Fuller), appears in the episode "Eric's Burger Job"[1] but is never seen again, nor do other characters mention her after the first season. At the end of the season 2 episode "Vanstock", this is made fun of when a narrator asks "Whatever happened to Midge's other daughter, Tina?" Donna also has an older sister, Valerie Pinciotti ("Eric's Birthday"). She is apparently in college as revealed by Midge. As Eric is turning 17, Midge shows Kitty a book of poems that helped her "when Valerie went off to school". These are examples of "Chuck Cunningham Syndrome" (see Happy Days). An intelligent, witty teenager with feminist ideals, Donna is outwardly confident and strong, at times to the point of coming across as arrogant, self-righteous, and overconfident. She calls upon these personal qualities to deal with her personal issues, such as her parents' shaky relationship and the revelation that they conceived her while in high school. She believes that she's had it the hardest out of the group until Hyde is revealed to have faced most of these problems and not once complained. The characteristics and physical appearance of Donna Pinciotti were actually based on a girl who grew up in the same neighborhood as Mark Brazil in Dunkirk, NY. Donna actually dated Hyde and never was with Eric, AKA Mark Brazil. Though despite her overly confident attitude, she herself has her own insecurities such as her big feet, her parents' screwed up marriage and her trust in her relationship with Eric. A prime example of this is in the episode "Eric's Panties". Eric has an attractive girl as his lab partner who has a reputation of being a slut. At first, Donna doesn't really care but she finds panties in his car and genuinely believes that Eric cheated on her. She shows a completely insecure side of herself and is more than prepared to hurt him. They are later revealed to be Midge's panties from when she and Bob had sex in Eric's car. She has some difficulty expressing her feminine side, because she views traditional feminine traits as restraining and outdated. She dislikes skirts, makeup, and dresses, and insists on wearing jeans at all times, but she will dress nice for special occasions and tried "being pretty" for her prom and for a trip to a nightclub, where the bouncer judged her "foxy". As another exception, after her wedding with Eric was called off, she decides to change her looks and dyes her hair blonde. Jackie Burkhart repeatedly calls Donna a "lumberjack" and a "giant", due to her penchant for plaid shirts and her tall stature. She even described Donna by saying "She's nice and all, but she kinda dresses like a trucker". She also teases Donna for her gargantuan feet, calling her "bigfoot" and saying things like Donna's shoes are big enough for Jackie to fit her own shoes into. Nonetheless, Donna still considers herself feminine, at times becoming insulted when people overlook it. When Kitty Forman needed two people with a "feminine touch" to decorate for Hyde's birthday party, she chose Jackie and Fez. An angry Donna wanted to "kick her ass" for that, insisting "What the hell? I'm feminine! Damn it, why can't anybody freakin' see that?!" This suggests that while Donna takes pride in her feminist beliefs, she still considers herself feminine, and simply doesn't want to restrict herself to "girly" activities. In several episodes, she is flattered at being perceived as an object of desire, especially when she becomes "Hot Donna" at a radio station. Jackie appoints herself as Donna's best friend in the early seasons, often giving her advice that sounds superficial and useless, but often turns out to be unnervingly true. For example, in the "Battle of the Sexists" episode, Jackie states to Donna that, "Eric would never want her (Donna) to be his girlfriend if she kept beating him at everything, especially sports". Jackie genuinely thinks that she's better looking than Donna, ever since their first meeting in junior high and that Donna is generally not attractive or interesting, yet still thinks Donna could do better than Eric. When angry or annoyed at Donna, Jackie will often refer to her as a "giant" or "Amazon"; when Donna goes blonde, she calls her "blonde tardo". Despite their differences, Donna eventually accepts Jackie and decides to keep an eye on her and keep her out of trouble, since Jackie doesn't always show the best common sense, and on more than one occasion, Donna has ridiculed Jackie for her stupidity and small stature, calling her a "midget" or "mosquito". All five of the boys have harbored sexual feelings toward Donna. In addition to Eric, three of the others attempted to sleep with her (Kelso attempts to seduce her after going to roller disco, Hyde at Jackie's ski cabin and Fez impersonating Eric in a Storm Trooper outfit; none of these attempts are successful) and four have romantic interest in her (Eric, Hyde, Casey and Randy). Despite many of the guys' obvious attraction to her, she only dated two of the main characters, with Jackie having the most boyfriends within the main cast. Donna is with Eric for six seasons, and she is hoping they could have been together, but as she says herself: "It was all Eric's fault for taking that stupid job."

Jacqueline Beulah “Jackie” Burkhart is a main character on the FOX comedy That '70s Show. She is portrayed by Mila Kunis. Jackie was born September 24, 1960 to Jack Burkhart and Pamela Burkhart. Jackie is the self-absorbed, snobby, rich girl and girlfriend of Kelso, Hyde, and then Fez. She is introduced in the pilot episode primarily as Michael Kelso's girlfriend. She likes to give advice which often sounds typically thoughtless and superficial, but turns out to be occasionally correct. She is rich, spoiled, conceited, and irritating, and is never really invited into the circle of friends--but believes she has a VIP pass into the group because she is dating Kelso, who is a member. Despite these characteristics, Jackie is popular at school, and has been voted Most Popular and Best Legs, and was the runner-up Snow Queen. She is also something of a Chatterbox, rambling on about things that no one has any interest in. She often is shown thwarting the affinity with others in the group due to her self-absorbed persona. While she can be very manipulating, she is shown to have her serious moments and be very kind. Jackie is also known to be very insecure about herself as when she dated Hyde, every time he made a comment about another lady she immediately became insecure about herself and demanded him to call that lady ugly. She is also insecure about having stuffed animals which later Laurie later teases her about.After her breakup with Kelso in Season 2, Jackie keeps hanging out in Eric's basement, a sign that her status has grown. These gradual changes make her character develop a defined character arc. However, she still heavily keeps part of her valley girl persona intact and she still looks at herself as the personification of what a woman should be. Even though by the last episode she has only kissed four people on-screen, she is made to sound like a slut. In the last circle Fez tells Eric, "I have kissed Jacqueline Burkhart" to which Hyde replies, "So has everybody else", although he may just have been referring to those in the circle, even though Eric has not kissed her at all during the show run. Also in another episode Donna mentions she got a job by "tying her shirt up in one of those sexy knots", to which Hyde mentions, "Jackie does that. We never pay to get into Six Flags!" She also like to dress in revealing clothes to show off her figure. During the first season, Jackie is in her sophomore year of high school, making her approximately 15 years old. She appoints herself Donna Pinciotti's best friend. Due to her extreme haughtiness, Jackie believes Donna is unattractive compared to herself, and also kinda boring - but as she states in numerous episodes, she believes Donna could do much better than Eric (though in the Season 7 finale, Jackie reveals that she has always cared for Eric as a friend, as Jackie calls to talk to Eric specifically for the first time ever). Despite their extremely different personalities, Donna decides to play big sister to Jackie and often tries to look out for her when she feels Jackie is making a mistake, more often than not due to her lack of common sense. Sometimes Jackie is the voice of reason for Donna, as evidenced in the Season 2 episode Kiss Of Death, the same episode in which Jackie realized that Kelso was cheating on her. After her father was sent to prison in the middle of Season 5, she moved in with Donna and the two became best friends. Jackie has mostly an acquaintanceship with Eric, though she has teased a close friendship several times. Eric is the only male friend out of the core four guys Jackie has not dated/kissed. She once told Eric she considered him a best friend and nice guy and he was the first person she revealed to that she was under the impression she was pregnant. She also called Eric before he left for Africa saying she was sorry she could not be there to say good-bye in person and she always thought he was a close friend. Although she is the favorite of Red's, Eric dislikes her, and makes no attempt to hide this. They became even less fond of each other when Eric blackmailed her (for kissing the cheese guy), and Eric continued to dislike her. They did have their moments, such as when Eric convinces Jackie she is right for Kelso (ironically, they break up soon after), and when he stands up to comfort her after she ends her relationship with Kelso. Jackie, according to Eric, makes fun of "us (he and Donna), fat girls, or me". During the course of the series, Jackie becomes an integral part of the "gang" and is considered a friend in her own right, as opposed to because of who she is with.Jackie also has a friendship with Red. Early on, Red remarked she was the favorite of Eric's friends (even though she is not Eric's friend) for her ability to hold a flashlight on a car. Jackie has run crying to Mr. Foreman's arms no less than three times, all of which he objected to. Red finds Jackie as annoying as everyone else, but does sometimes takes her side in arguments. However, in light of Red's doting relationship with Laurie and his tendency to side with Donna over Eric, and also how much he cares and tries keeping Kitty happy, it could be argued that he simply has a soft spot for women. In the beginning, Jackie is dating Michael Kelso, an attractive, but dim-witted, partyboy. The two lost their virginity to each other after Kelso and his friends got out of jail for riding in a car that was mistaken for being stolen. Jackie gets on Kelso's friends' nerves on a daily basis and Kelso repeatedly said that he was going to break up with her. But Jackie beat him to it and broke up with him after catching him kissing Pam Macy. However, they got back together in the very same episode. Jackie later broke up with Kelso again after a pregnancy scare, but they got back together later at the Junior Prom. The two's relationship is somewhat of a contrast to Eric and Donna's mostly steady union. The main difference between their relationships is that Jackie and Kelso's relationship was mainly based on mutual obsession and physical attraction while Eric and Donna's relationship was based on mutual differences of ideals and sexual attraction.In Season 2, Kelso began an affair with Eric's promiscuous sister, Laurie, about which Jackie eventually found out and subsequently broke up with him again. Following his subsequent breakup with Laurie, Jackie decided to test Kelso to see if they should get back together, which they did. Kelso remained loyal to Jackie after that and stayed with her throughout Season 4. However, when Kelso began to neglect Jackie as a result of his joining a modeling agency, she was caught by Eric kissing her boss Todd. Kelso eventually found out, and went to ambush Jackie's boss. However, Jackie's boss was a blackbelt and easily beat Kelso up. This event results in a period of discovery for Jackie and Kelso; Kelso realizes he cheated because Jackie always insulted him and made him feel bad about himself. For this, he felt very insecure and angry about it but could not do a thing about it because he never wished to break a woman's heart. Although, when he had said that he was going to break up with her, he had actually meant it and was going to it, but her impulsive and demanding attitude forced him to put his plans on hold. This, combined with Jackie always insulting him, caused him to cheat on her. As a result, he broke up with her because he felt he could not be with someone who made him feel like that. It did not last, as they got back together shortly after.Then in the Season 4 finale, Jackie asked Kelso to marry her, but Kelso freaked out and left for California with Donna. When he returned in the beginning of Season 5 he found out that Jackie had moved on to Hyde, which made him extremely jealous, and he spent the majority of the season trying to get her back. By the beginning of Season 6 however, Kelso had claimed to be over Jackie and was fine with just being friends with her. At the end of Season 7 however, Kelso drives Jackie to Chicago after her break-up with Hyde. He is later seen entering Jackie's hotel room in only a towel, making a comment implying he and Jackie were about to sleep together. Hyde soon shows up, however, and Kelso ran off nude. In Season 8, he considered marrying Jackie, claiming that he did still love her, before he was offered a job in Chicago, but Fez had already told her about his proposal, which made him feel he should do so, but she turned him down when he asked at Red and Kitty's anniversary, much to his own pleasure. Jackie and Steven Hyde were, from the beginning of the show, polar opposites and even enemies. While Jackie was girly, rich, and shallow, Hyde was lower in social class and a rebel in the group. They strongly disliked each other during the first seasons, but Hyde began helping Jackie after her break-up with Kelso in Season 2. This eventually led to a phase in which Jackie was infatuated with Hyde, but her feelings gradually faded and it was not until Season 5, when Kelso was in California, that their romance really began. After watching too much of The Price is Right, the two began making out. At first they did not want to admit that they were dating, but finally gave in. They dated for the most part of Season 5, but Hyde's jealousy caused him to cheat and they broke up. Jackie's relationship with Hyde caused her to be less self-absorbed, making her more likeable to the rest of the gang, and caused them to truly consider her a part of the group. At the beginning of Season 6, Kelso and Hyde were in competition to get Jackie back, because they both still loved her. She decided she needs time to think about it, and left them both hanging, but chose Hyde in the end. Their relationship went on for two more seasons, until Jackie was offered a job in Chicago. She went to Hyde and told him that she would stay if he gave her any indication they would eventually get married. Hyde did not have an answer, but when he did, she was already gone. Or so he thought. Jackie had no way out of Point Place, so in one last attempt to get an answer out of the man she said "meant everything in the world to her", she went over to the basement. Hiding his hurt and anger that she had "left" him, Hyde told her to have a good trip. But merely an episode later, Hyde had decided he was going to get her back. He hit a snag, however: during his conversation with Jackie, Kelso walked into the hotel room with a towel around his waist and a bucket of ice in his hands, making a comment that implied he and Jackie were about to have sex. Although Kelso frequently makes sexual comments to every female on the show, including Jackie and Donna, Hyde believed the two really were about to engage in sex, and drove off to Las Vegas. When he came back to Point Place, in the first episode of season 8 he discovered he had married a stripper, Samantha, which effectively ended his and Jackie's relationship. They still remained close friends, but their friendship resembled their frenemy relationship seen in the first two seasons as Hyde would often tease her and talk down on their past romance. This behaviour resembled their animosity in the first two seasons and completely disregarded the character and relationship growth these two had gone through. Throughout Season 8, Jackie remained single. Kelso proposed to her. While she admitted she loved and thought of Kelso as her soulmate, she refused. At the end of the season, Jackie realized Fez had all the qualities she was looking for in a man and they kiss in the finale. But at first when Jackie realized she loved him he said no to her because he thought it only would last for a week and then she would go to another guy. The words he said were "I don't want to be your sloppy third". And the episode after that, Andrew came from the north side of the same island as Fez and he decided to move back to his home country, so as to never have to see Jackie again. Despite this, they get together in the second to last episode of Season 8, but they did not kiss until the last episode, atop the water tower. 

Jackie is a self-centered, spoiled, vain member of a wealthy family. She is generally insensitive to the needs and feelings of others, although regarded by many as attractive and fashionable. She is one of the program's most conceited characters, and she can behave quite selfishly. She looks down upon those of lower status in her school and has been said to treat them unfairly, and on the occasions she has treated them with respect, she has not continued to do so for very long or only did it knowing that she could be rewarded for behaving in such a manner, such as when she ran for the title of "Snow Queen" but was utterly disappointed when she loses the election. For the most part, Jackie only cares about herself, and fashion is one of the few other things that she is concerned about. She believes herself to be very beautiful and appealing and has been involved in romantic relationships with Michael Kelso, Steven Hyde, and Fez at different points in the series. She starts to change when she starts dating Hyde and by doing so, becomes cemented as a member of the group. Even after her break up with Hyde, they remained good friends and she continued hanging around. She also becomes less shallow and cares about others. In the season 8 episode "Fun It", it is revealed she has had coulrophobia (an irrational fear of clowns) since her seventh birthday party. Jackie's friendships tend to be complicated. While people might be endeared to her good heart and her triumphs over major life upheavals, her habit of being condescending to others keeps them at a distance.Although she frequently criticizes Donna's dress, physique and feminism, she repeatedly calls herself Donna's best friend. Even though she thinks Donna is boring and unattractive when compared to herself, she believes Donna could do much better than Eric. Despite their extremely different personalities, Donna serves as Jackie's de facto big sister and often tries to look out for her when she feels Jackie is making a mistake, more often than not due to lack of common sense. After her father is sent to prison in the middle of season five, Jackie moves in with the Pinciottis after the Formans learn that she has secretly been living with Hyde in his basement room. Jackie is also defensive of Donna; she displays this often by insulting or kicking Eric for doing something stupid, for example Eric makes a sexist comment so Jackie kicks him in the shin in the episode "Won't Get Fooled Again". Although both girls often tease one another they show genuine friendship. In the episode "Squeeze Box" Donna shows how much she trusts Jackie when she runs in to talk about Eric. Jackie also demonstrates her level of care for Donna when she helps pay for Donna's wedding ring in the episode "No Quarter".Of the group, Jackie and Eric seemed to dislike each other the most in the beginning, though as the series progresses, they develop a friendship. She is more like a sister to him in comparison to his own sister, Laurie. Throughout the series, the two have a clear "frenemy" relationship. They demonstrate their annoyance with each other, but show compassion for each other many times, and through it all, are close. In the beginning of the series, Jackie admits to trusting and liking Eric, confiding in him that she might be pregnant. In "The Pill", for example, she says to Eric's surprise, "Look, I've always been able to trust you—and, God, you are such a nice guy." Later in the episode, once Kelso threatens to break up with Jackie, Eric yells at him, having developed protective feelings towards her. This proves that their burning of each other throughout the show is only for laughs and friendly bickering, as none of their hostility is ever serious. Eric is consistent in ignoring Jackie as an object of sexual desire, but this changes in "What Is and What Should Never Be" where Hyde helps Eric realize that Jackie is "hot". After this, Eric has shown to have a sexual attraction to her, as shown in many episodes. Jackie is sometimes demeaning towards Eric, as she is to almost everyone, mostly due to his dorkiness and lack of physical prowess. They occasionally help each other out. In the episode "Jackie's Cheese Squeeze", Eric admits that they are "friends", as long as they don't refer to each other as such in public, and in the season seven finale, Jackie calls Eric from Chicago and admits that she's always cared for him and that he was always very special to her. Early on, Red remarks she was the favorite of Eric's friends for her ability to hold a flashlight on a car. Jackie has run crying into Red's arms no fewer than three times, all of which left him baffled and uncomfortable. Red finds Jackie as annoying as everyone else, but she still loves him because he's the closest thing she has to a father.

When the show premieres, Jackie is dating Michael Kelso, a good-looking, brainless goofball. She decides to finally lose her virginity to him when he is released from jail after being mistakenly arrested for driving a stolen car. Jackie gets on Kelso's friends' nerves on a daily basis and Kelso repeatedly says that he is going to break up with her. However, in the first season it is Jackie who ends the relationship – twice. First, after Kelso is caught kissing Pam Macy (they get back together in the very same episode) and again after a pregnancy scare. However, admitting that they miss each other, they get back together at the Junior Prom. In season 2, Kelso is seduced by Eric's promiscuous and manipulative sister, Laurie, who later on begins a physical affair with him. Later in the season, Jackie eventually discovers his repeated infidelities and breaks up with him without realizing that Kelso has told Laurie that he is done with her since he only loves Jackie. After this breakup she is openly hostile to Kelso and many things clearly remain unfinished between them. She often insults him in front of his friends to get his attention and just for the sake of bringing him up. By season 3, she does eventually warm up to him. Following Kelso's breakup with Laurie, Kelso apologizes to Jackie for cheating on her because now he knows how it feels to be cheated on as Laurie cheated on him, except he states that what happened to him and Jackie was different because they were actually really in love. After this, Jackie begins to notice that Kelso has matured somehow, so Jackie devises a series of "tests" for Kelso to see if they should reconcile. He passes her tests and they get back together. Kelso remains loyal to Jackie after that and stays with her throughout season four, and they enjoy a happier, more loving relationship. However, towards the end of season 4, Jackie's father tells her that if she stays with Kelso, he will cut her off financially. She ends up choosing Kelso, and gets a job. Later, Kelso begins to spend less time with Jackie as a result of his joining a modeling agency and she is caught kissing her boss by Eric. This event spurs a period of discovery for Jackie and Kelso. After reading Cosmopolitan, Kelso realizes that the reason he cheated on Jackie with Laurie was because Jackie has always bossed him around and made him feel bad about himself. Following this revelation, he breaks up with her (true to form, the breakup doesn't stick and they reunite one episode later). In the season four finale, Jackie and Kelso both agree that they don't want to stay broken up. So, Jackie has Kelso choose to kiss any girl at The Hub to make things even between them and they can move on and be together again. Kelso surprises Jackie when he pretends to look around the room, but ends up choosing to kiss her. Jackie decides that it's time for Kelso to really choose her. Without warning, she brings up marriage to Kelso and decides that they're getting married. Kelso, feeling overwhelmed, runs away to California. When he returns in the beginning of season five, he (along with the others) is horrified to learn that she has begun dating Hyde. Jackie continues to date Hyde for most of the season, but when Kelso introduces Annette to the gang, Jackie finds herself clearly jealous and tells Donna that Michael is still supposed to pine over her. Later in the episode, she claims to not be jealous anymore, but the moment she sees Annette kissing Kelso, she screams, "Get off my boyfriend!" For the rest of the season, Kelso is clearly not over Jackie and doesn't realize that he's indirectly trying to win her back. Towards the end of season five, as Jackie comforts Kelso, he states that no one understands him like she does. In the finale, Kelso and Hyde make Jackie choose between the two of them and she chooses herself. By the beginning of season six, Kelso claims that he is happy and genuinely enjoying their new friendship. He spends the rest of the season trying to move on with his life, joins the police academy and impregnates a girl named Brooke and spends the rest of season 6 and 7 taking care of the baby. Towards the end of season seven, however, Kelso drives Jackie to Chicago after her break-up with Hyde, and Jackie asks him to spend some time with her before he leaves. He is later seen entering Jackie's hotel room in only a towel, implying that he and Jackie were about to sleep together, but runs off nude into the night when he sees that Hyde has come to the hotel to get Jackie back. In the beginning of season eight, with Hyde married to a stripper, Jackie figures out her own life. Kelso considers marrying Jackie and states that the happiest time of his life was with Jackie and claims he still loves her. When Fez tells Jackie what Kelso intends, she considers the proposal and decides that if he asks, she will accept. However, he gets offered a job out of town and realizes he can move on with his life, but Fez reveals to him that he has already told Jackie of the proposal. Kelso grows angry, and states that he loves Jackie and that he knows in the future, they will be together, but now is not the right time, but since Fez has implied that Kelso will lose all of his chances with Jackie if he doesn't propose now, Kelso ends up proposing at Red and Kitty's anniversary party, though, she turns him down giving practically the same reasons as Kelso, which is that she loves him, but he has a lot of maturing to do and she has her own life to figure out so now is not the right time for them yet. They both feel an unexpected relief, and end on good terms. Jackie and Steven Hyde are, from the beginning of the show, polar opposites and even enemies. She is disgusted by his poverty and crass behavior, he scorns her superficiality and materialism. They strongly dislike each other during the first season, but begin to form a bond when Hyde helps Jackie cope with her breakup with Kelso in season two. This leads to a brief period in which Jackie is infatuated with Hyde, but her feelings gradually fade. It isn't until season five, when Kelso is in California, that their romance begins. After watching The Price Is Right together all summer, the two begin making out every time they have a moment alone. When their friends discover the relationship, they each insist that they are not dating and that it is purely physical, but finally give in and admit that what they have goes deeper than just sex. They date for most of season five until Jackie sees Kelso kissing Annette and yells "Get off my boyfriend!" Hyde reacts angrily to this and grows suspicious of Jackie. When he sees Jackie holding Kelso in her arms, knowing Jackie and Kelso's long history and on-off relationship, Hyde assumes that something must be going on between her and Kelso again. Despite her pleas that she was only comforting him and that nothing untoward happened, he doesn't believe her and he takes revenge by spending the night with another woman. When he realizes that Jackie has been telling the truth, he confesses his infidelity. A heartbroken Jackie ends the relationship immediately. In the beginning of season six, Kelso and Hyde are in competition to get Jackie back because they both still love her. She decides she needs time to think about it, leaving them to wait and agonize, but chooses Hyde in the end. Their relationship goes on until Jackie is offered a job in Chicago. She is torn between her relationship and her professional ambition, but tells Hyde that she will stay if he can gives her the merest hope that they will eventually get married. Hyde has no immediate answer, and when he finally decides, he is upset to realize that she has already gone (or so he thinks). Jackie has no way out of Point Place, and in a final attempt to get an answer out of Hyde, she goes to the basement. Hiding his hurt and anger that she "left" him, Hyde tells her to have a good trip. Hyde decides he still wants her, and goes to her Chicago hotel to persuade her to take him back. During his conversation with Jackie, Kelso walks into the hotel room with a towel around his waist and a bucket of ice in his hands and implying that he and Jackie were about to have sex. Hyde goes to Las Vegas. When he comes back to Point Place, he has impulsively married a stripper named Samantha and she follows him back to Wisconsin. This effectively ends his and Jackie's relationship. Throughout season eight, Jackie remains single. She and Hyde, no longer together, have since remained good friends. However, their behavior regresses to how it was in the earlier seasons. Fez tells Jackie that Kelso intends to propose to her, and she decides that she will accept, but after considering it, she turns him down claiming that though she loves Kelso, he still has a lot of maturing to do, and now is not the time for them to be together. Feeling that she is in a low point in her life, Jackie decides to find someone that would be perfect for her and writes out a list of what she wants in a man. She is surprised to find out that Fez matches everything on the list. She denies this at first, but quickly comes around to the idea and decides to wait for Fez to come to her. Fez, however, is clueless of her attraction to him and is instead seeing other women at the time, which makes it hard for her. Jackie then chooses to go to him. She kisses him and asks if they can be together because he is the one good thing in her life right now, but Fez turns her down, feeling that she is treating him as a last resort, citing how she has already dated both Kelso and Hyde. Jackie then goes to the bathroom and cries, but immediately after vows revenge on Fez. She flushes his toothbrush, microwaves his lotion, and ruins his car with graffiti. To get back at Jackie, Fez dyes her hair green, and says that now she is ugly on the outside like she is on the inside. Hurt by Fez's words, Jackie decides to move out. However, she later learns through one of his friends that he loves her and wishes that he had never said those things. They eventually reconcile and in the final episode, Fez and Jackie finally get together and kiss atop the water tower.

Steven James Hyde III is a main character on FOX comedy That '70s Show. He is portrayed by Danny Masterson. Steven was born November 28, 1959 as the illegitimate son of William Barnett and Edna Hyde, legal son of Bud Hyde, and the foster son of Red and Kitty Forman. Hyde represents the adolescent of the seventies that was suspicious of government and organizations. In the first couple of episodes of the first season, Hyde was comparatively less intelligent than in later episodes and more "street smart". However, Hyde quickly falls into the role of the intelligent "tough guy". His intelligence is often undermined by his refusal to apply himself, but he is one of the smarter members, if not the smartest member, of the group. Hyde was actually a child prodigy, and might have gone on to do great things if not for a frame-up in elementary school where he was blamed for destroying a classmate's science project, which Eric had actually done. Hyde, like Eric, has a witty, blunt, and sarcastic sense of humor. He does not seem to take things seriously, but as the series progresses, the compassion, gratitude and love he has for those around him is evident. Hyde's advice is often sought by the members of the group because of his tendency to see things as they are, but his cynicism and his pleasure in seeing a good "burn" sometimes leads him to give his more gullible friends bad advice on purpose to watch their plans end in disaster for his own entertainment. Regarding more serious matters, Hyde shows compassion and empathy and gives his friends very good advice, showing he has a good sense of virtue. He gives the money he makes at the Fotohut to Red and Kitty to help them pay the bills. It is evidenced thus that Hyde has a sense of propriety and responsibility to rival that of his friend Eric's, yet is not proud of it as he is more accustomed to his stoner lifestyle. At the beginning of the first season, Hyde does not care for anyone around him and would much rather spend his time alone. He felt this way probably as a result of his father leaving him as a child and his substance-abusing, negligent mother. After the Formans take him in, and Eric and Hyde are considered brothers, he shows love and gratitude for the Formans and the rest of the group. When he moved in with Eric, he also did several chores around the house to show his gratitude. While Hyde enjoys his reputation as "the bad influence", there is some evidence throughout the show that some of Hyde's behavior had been influenced by his environment. His mother's own drug and police record is referenced throughout the course of the show. In one of the later episodes, Hyde is seen trying to give up pot and takes up exercising and cooking to get away from the habit, but it was his friends who actually pulled him back in, refusing to let him "ruin his life". Hyde despises authority. His displays of rebellion include smoking marijuana and cigarettes, drinking beer, and a devout interest in conspiracy theories. Though he may seem sarcastic and careless, as well as manipulative at times, over the course of the series a more mellow side of Hyde reveals itself through his show of gratitude towards the Formans for taking him in after his mother abandoned him, and his treatment of his significant others in his few relationships. Hyde almost always refers to and addresses his parents by their first names (Edna, Bud) or their initials (William Barnett). This practice of naming parents and other adults was frequently considered taboo in the 1970s, especially when addressing one directly. Eric Forman seems to have picked up a little from this practice, naming his parents when talking to others but not usually when addressing them directly. In contrast to this practice, Hyde usually refers to Kitty as "Mrs. Forman", but usually calls Red by his name, probably since it is a nickname (his real name is Reginald). Hyde holds a great deal of respect for Red and Kitty. His gratitude for them adopting him is very evident, and he tries his best to make them proud. One example of his respect for them is when he was arrested for possession of marijuana, Red was completely ready to throw him out of the house. While Kitty and Eric tried to persuade him not to, Hyde did not because he did not question Red's judgment. Though visibly disgusted with this decision, he simply replied that if Red does not believe that he is good enough to live in his house, or if they do not believe that he is positively influencing the group, then he will leave immediately without question. He was even about to leave peacefully until Red agreed to allow him to stay. Another example is when he is the only one to remember Kitty's birthday. Hyde is highly critical of organized religion. He tells an Episcopalian girl that she believes in "the exact opposite of what [he] believe[s] in". Also, in "Holy Crap!", he claims he does not go to church because it would make him a hypocrite. He specifically states, "While I respect the Judeo-Christian ethic, as well as the eastern philosophies and, of course, the teachings of Mohammed, I find that organized religion has corrupted those beliefs to justify countless atrocities throughout history. Were I to attend church, I'd be a hypocrite". Despite the fact that Hyde mentions God such as stating his hair was a gift from God in "Eric's Hot Cousin", he does not express any sort of religious affiliation.In contrast to the sensitive New-Age men prevalent in the 1970s, Hyde is very traditionally masculine, much like Red Forman. He does not voice or show his emotions often, a notable exception being when he has to tell Jackie he cheated on her in season 5, and other occurrences throughout their relationship. He does fake his emotions sometimes, like crying, but ends up sticking his tongue out and spitting. He does not worry about romantic relationships and women the way Kelso, Eric, and Fez do; he considers himself too "tough" and strong for that type of behavior. He generally acts as though he does not care for anyone, perhaps as a defensive mechanism; however, it is shown during the course of the series that he does care deeply about his friends and the Formans. He also shows compassion throughout the series, sometimes taking responsibility for other people's behavior, such as when Jackie gets caught by the police with marijuana, and when Eric breaks the television screen with a bowling ball. He was there for Jackie when Kelso cheated on her, for Donna when Eric broke his engagement with her, and when Fez was locked in a closet by a group of jocks, he told Fez to "come get him" if they bother him again. By the end of the series, the viewer is shown that although Hyde is not perfect, his morals and intelligence make him a good person. It's shown that Hyde is a deep person with good morals because he cherishes his friendships more than worldly or materialistic possessions. After Hyde's mother abandoned him, Hyde was forced to live on his own in his mother's house. Since he was so poor, he was going to sell the house and live on the streets. After Kitty and Eric saw how miserable Hyde was in the house, they persuaded Red to make his living arrangements better by asking Hyde to move in with them. In the episode "Hyde Moves In", Hyde moves in, but since there are no extra bedrooms in the house, he sleeps in the storage room in the basement on a military cot from Red's days in the war. Hyde finds a job working at the Fotohut for his burn-out boss, Leo, in order to pay his way for the generosity the Forman's show him. After Eric's departure to Africa, Hyde became more of the main character due to his relationship with Eric's parents (his foster parents) and marriage to Samantha. Hyde's best friend, and later foster-brother, is the nice, geeky Eric Forman The two share probably the closest friendship out of the group, shown by how they care and rely on each other and each others' advice. Eric and Hyde met in 1968 at age 9 when Eric asked Hyde to walk him home because he was scared of Donna, because she had punched him.Back then, Eric called Hyde, Steven. But Hyde told him that he goes by his last name Hyde. The two apparently hung out after Eric's mom forced the two to take a bath together. Hyde often calls Eric by his last name though has called him by his first name on rare occasions. Hyde developed a fairly close relationship with Eric's dad, Red Forman, who admired his toughness, lack of showing emotions, and traditional masculinity, all qualities his son Eric lacks. Red became the closest Hyde ever had to a real father after he moved in with the Formans. Red does occasionally feel that Hyde can be a bad influence on Eric, particularly due to his frequent marijuana use, and briefly kicked him out when Hyde was arrested. However, Red has shown more respect for Hyde than his own son, due to Eric's smart-mouth, inability to play sports, and lack of quality work habits.Red even offered a job at his muffler shop to Hyde and not Eric. Red and Hyde occasionally have a one-on-one man talk with each other, a famous one being in the episode "Hyde's Birthday" where Red opposes to Hyde's idea to move out when he was 18. Red states that if Hyde moves out, he is either going to end up at a dead-end job, or go to prison. Red also tells Hyde not to tell Eric about their talk, as Red will make Eric move out when he is 18. Hyde normally does what Red tells him and does not talk back to him, because he knows how much Red respects him. Hyde found a job working at the Foto Hut with his burned-out hippie boss Leo (Tommy Chong). Leo and Hyde created a friendship early on in Hyde's employment to the Foto Hut. In a season 2 episode, Hyde stated he never had a dad, and Leo stated that he never had a son. (Later in the series, however, Leo states that he does have a son.) Leo requests Hyde to be his father, and the two end up having a father/son relationship. In the episode "Magic Bus", Leo thinks of Hyde as the son he never had. Ironically enough, during his tenure in the Foto Hut, he was the more responsible worker between himself and Leo, even telling his own boss off for not doing his job. In season 5, Leo mysteriously disappeared from Point Place, leaving behind a note for Hyde that explains that he was only supposed to be in Point Place for a short while, but ended up staying for 6 years. Hyde was greatly upset by this, but Leo had left him some "film" and Hyde was okay. Hyde and Leo's friendship resumed when Leo returned to the series near the end of Season 7. Steven Hyde had a rough childhood. His step-father, Bud had abandoned him at a young age. Steven continued to be upset with him for years until he finally reconnected with him in season 3. In season 1, Hyde was abandoned by his mother, Edna Hyde who only appeared in the episode Career Day, and was heard in three others. Hyde and his mother generally do love each other but always argued worse than other families. In the end, Edna generally does love Hyde and admits that she was never a good mother. She apparently knew about Hyde's illegal doings, because it is hinted that she is the one that gave him his fake ID to buy beer. Hyde later discovers that Bud is not his real father and was somewhat surprised. Kitty discovers that Bud is not Hyde's real father. Hyde meets his father, William Barnett, who is a black man, making Hyde biracial. Hyde was mildly surprised but got around to it, as to him it explained a lot (his afro, his coolness, and suspicion of the man). He was also delighted to see he picked up some of his father's traits about conspiracy theories. There was brief tension since William believed he needed something from but they overcame it and went out for a drink. After that father and son got along better with the latter giving Hyde a job at his record store.Hyde later meets his half-sister, Angie, who one day dreamed of owning her own record company, but ends up working alongside WB in Madison. Hyde says that he knew Angie "wasn't right" ever since he heard her say that she was a math major. There was a 36,584/1 chance that Hyde's family would be black. Hyde and his sister had problems because she wanted to take over the business while he paid it no mind and had Jackie step in. Despite this, they got along better with Hyde even trying to defend her from being hurt after she started dating Kelso which left Angie touched as she really felt she had a brother. Much later, Hyde gave his blessing for them to date. Early on in the series, he was rarely interested in getting into a serious relationship, and was very cynical about the idea, as portrayed in some of his quips such as "Dating is prostitution, only you do not always get what you pay for". However, as the series progressed, he enjoyed a number of relationships. It was mentioned that his only girlfriend ended up leaving him for his uncle, and when Hyde and Fez make fun of Kelso for being "whipped" by Jackie, Kelso points out that he is the only one "getting any". Friends since childhood, Hyde had always liked Donna, a lot for her physical attributes. He had and still admires her femininity, masculinity, intelligence, and charm.When he noticed Donna was starting to have a thing for Eric in '76, he and him played mind games and verbally insulted each other to win over Donna, despite Hyde initially encouraging Eric to make his move on her.Eventually Donna chose her intuition and urge and went with Eric after Hyde was moving too fast (ex. kissing her unexpectedly) and Hyde not seeming like her ideal boyfriend, with Hyde quickly moving on from pursuing her, although he does compliment her looks and personality in micro and subtle ways at times, no matter if she is present or not. Donna still really loves Hyde as a good friend, wanting the best for him as she believes under his hard exterior, he is a good person deserving of love and happiness. Hyde also really loves Donna as a good friend and wants the best for her. In Season 5, he became paired with Jackie Burkhart. There is foreshadowing of their relationship throughout the series, most prominently at the Forman's Veteran's Day BBQ in Season 3, where Jackie's date Chip calls her a bitch behind her back. Hyde responds by punching Chip in the face, knocking him out. Later that day, after talking to Mrs. Forman, Hyde takes Jackie out for their first date which leads to their first kiss. Hyde also took Jackie to his junior prom in the first season, and he is the one Jackie goes to for comfort when she and Kelso encounter problems in their relationship, prompting him to ask, "Why does she always come to me?" Despite initially loathing Jackie for all that she represents (she is spoiled, shallow, and rich), he has his first real romantic relationship of the series with her. In the beginning of season 5, Hyde and Jackie both say that they are not together, it is just a meaningless fling. Hyde and Jackie's relationship was a very typical 'opposites attract' set up. Hyde tells Eric that he simply ignores Jackie's constant complaining and bossiness and focuses on how "hot" she is instead, although he does become more mature and caring as their relationship progresses. They came together during the summer between Seasons 4 and 5 when they found themselves bored with watching The Price Is Right. The relationship gradually grows into a surprisingly strong one, considering their past conflicts. However, they went through trouble when Hyde mistakenly perceives her to be cheating on him with Kelso. In response, he cheated on her. He sincerely apologizes, but Jackie ends the relationship. He even tells her that he loves her, something he has not said to anyone. The separation is brief, however, and they get back together at the beginning of Season 6. They remain together until midway through Season 7, when Jackie becomes insecure about their relationship and asks Hyde if he can see a future with her. His response, "I don't know", breaks them up briefly, but they reconcile after only a few weeks apart. However, when Jackie is offered a job in Chicago, Hyde allows her to leave. In the very next episode, however, he decides to follow her and propose. In the middle of Hyde and Jackie's conversation, Kelso walks into the room in only a towel, carrying a bucket of ice and making a comment implying he and Jackie were about to have sex. Although Kelso frequently makes sexual comments to every female on the show, including Jackie and Donna, Hyde once again believes the two really were about to engage in sex, and drives off to Las Vegas. Hyde wears an afro and sideburns, and his sunglasses, which he is almost always seen in. He regularly sports jeans, was once failed in PE for refusing to wear shorts, and also has many band t-shirts, which include: Santana, Judas Priest, Eric Clapton, AC/DC, KISS, Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Rolling Stones, Ted Nugent, Rush, Aerosmith, John Lee Hooker, The Allman Brothers Band, Blue Öyster Cult, Sex Pistols, Ramones, The Who, and the Grateful Dead. Contrasting with his tough guy exterior, Hyde was once caught on videotape dancing to Frank Sinatra singing. Additionally, following his first breakup with Jackie, he happened to hear B. J. Thomas' "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" and became a fan of country music. Hyde along with these many bands holds a passionate love of Led Zeppelin, the group he wears most frequently, and when once questioned by his father as to why he wears said shirts he replies "If god didn't want me to wear them so much he wouldn't have made them rock so hard". He also noted that he likes to watch Little House on the Prairie, because it "reminds him of a simpler time". He dislikes the music of Pat Boone, Styx (although he did tap his foot to their music), ABBA, Peter Frampton, Andy Gibb, and Little River Band. In fact, he once even broke up with a girl because she liked the Little River Band.

Hyde is abandoned by his mother, Edna (Katey Sagal), who only appears in three episodes, two of which feature only her screaming voice calling from inside Hyde's house. His stepfather, Bud (Robert Hays), had left some years earlier when he got back together with Edna but they didn't tell Hyde of their whereabouts. A half brother was mentioned once in a Season 8 episode, though not much is known about him. Hyde's best friend, and later foster-brother, is the nice, geeky Eric Forman. The two share probably the closest friendship out of the group, shown by how they care and rely on one another and one another's advice. When Hyde's mother leaves town at the end of the first season, Eric tries to persuade his parents to do something about his best friend's living conditions and thus Hyde is invited to live with the Formans, which Hyde does from season one until the series' end. He is adopted into the Forman family, and lives in the basement of their house. Since there are no extra bedrooms, he sleeps in a small storage room on a cot. When Red kicks Hyde out after an arrest for drug possession, Eric attempts to come to his rescue. Hyde found a job working at the Foto Hut with his burned-out hippie boss Leo (Tommy Chong). Hyde and Leo become good friends until Leo suddenly leaves town because he remembered that he was only supposed to stay in Point Place for a short time, yet stayed for eight years, leaving his family behind. During his tenure in the Foto Hut, he was the more responsible worker between himself and Leo, even telling his own boss off for not doing his job. Hyde and Leo's friendship resumes when Leo returns near the end of Season 7. He gives the money he makes to Red and Kitty to help them pay the bills. It is evident that Hyde has a sense of propriety and responsibility to rival that of his friend Eric's, yet is not proud of it as he is more accustomed to his stoner lifestyle. Hyde develops a fairly close relationship with Eric's dad, Red Forman, who admires his toughness, lack of showing emotions and traditional masculinity, a quality his son Eric lacks. Red becomes the closest Hyde has to a real father after he moves in with the Formans. Red does occasionally feel that Hyde can be a bad influence on Eric, particularly due to his frequent marijuana use, and briefly kicks him out when Hyde is arrested. However, he is often shown to have a deeper respect for Hyde over his own son and occasionally prefers Hyde over him (such as when he offers Hyde a job at his new muffler shop instead of Eric). In the season 6 finale, Kitty discovers that Bud is not Hyde's real father. Subsequently, Hyde meets his biological father, William Barnett (Tim Reid), who is an African American, making Hyde biracial. He later meets his half-sister, Angie Barnett who dreams of one day running her own store, but ends up working alongside Hyde in their father's store. After Eric's departure to Africa, Hyde's conflicts were front and center in the series, mostly due to his relationship with Eric's parents (his foster parents) and his short marriage to Samantha. He experiences conflict with Kelso, who he punches for attempting to sleep with Jackie in Chicago. He also struggles to maintain civility with Jackie and manage his career. Later in the final season, Hyde receives a letter from his father, William Barnett telling him that he is selling his chain of record stores. Hyde, angry at the vague letter, fears that he won't be able to continue the career he loves. This drives him to actually quit "the circle" (although he returns to it by episode's end) Later, Barnett shows up to Hyde's record store to tell him that he sold every store except for the one in Point Place and has granted him sole ownership of the last remaining Grooves. Hyde ends the series as the owner and manager of his Grooves record store. Hyde is a rebellious, distant, wise-cracking boy with no respect for authority and often makes it his main priority to defy as many policies or rules as possible, and seems to take pride in his own disobedience. He is tough, highly intelligent, supremely insensitive and seldom feels compassion for others, and often will make a sarcastic remark rather than show sympathy for somebody who is suffering. In fact, Hyde is easily the most intelligent member of the gang despite his bad upbringing and poor grades in school. It is revealed in the Halloween special that Hyde's reputation is first sabotaged in elementary school, when Eric Forman ruins another student's diorama and Hyde receives the blame, and has since then maintained a reputation as a troublemaker and rebel. Although he rebels against school and other educational activities, he is generally smart, as in the episode "The Crunge", Hyde scores second lowest among the gang, but does better than Eric without textbooks and without applying himself. When other members of the gang need advice, Hyde is usually the only one who gives them real advice. Also, Hyde is physically the strongest (and presumably the best fighter) in the group, although on multiple occasions Hyde has backed down from an aggressive Eric and rarely ever lashes out on Eric the same way he does with Fez and Kelso. On many occasions throughout the show, Hyde beats up Kelso for various reasons, and he is easily stronger than Fez, Eric and even Donna.

Michael Christopher Kelso is a main character on FOX comedy That '70s Show. He is portrayed by Ashton Kutcher. Michael was born on August 28, 1959 to John Kelso. Tall and lanky, he is the dim-witted pretty-boy of the group, coasting through life on his good looks. His behavior is very much in line with a stereotypical oversexed lunkhead. Michael has surprised many by scoring higher on a test than some of his other friends, leading some to believe that perhaps Michael is not dumb, but just naive.Michael is the oldest of the gang, having failed the first grade for his "refusal" to write in cursive and accidental murder of the class bunny. He has been lying about his age ever since. On a trip to potential colleges he claimed that he had been dropped on his head as a child. Michael is one of 7 siblings, including his older brother, Casey, at least two other brothers and a sister (whom Hyde says is an uggo; a term used by Hyde to describe someone who he does not deem attractive, which is somewhat ironic as Michael is constantly referred to as handsome, along with his brother Casey). Michael's interests mainly include watching cartoons, having sex, smoking marijuana, playing with "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots", toy dinosaurs, dreaming of becoming an astronaut, and incessantly boasting of his God-like complexion. Apart from acting incredibly stupid, Michael is also known to be quite sensitive. Michael is shown in a flashback as a 13-year-old, stating that he is lost all interest in school and academic aspirations, suggesting that he was not always as dumb as people believe him to be. Michael enjoys a good "burn", a painful humiliation to someone. He screams "Burn!" anytime anyone says a burn.Kelso appears to enjoy the music of Led Zeppelin, Foghat, Pink Floyd, Molly Hatchet, Aerosmith, David Bowie, Todd Rundgren, and Peter Frampton. Some of his secrets include being a fan of Styx and having a crush on Jackie Kennedy. Kelso loves dogs. In "Eric's Naughty No-No" he cuddles in the Foremans driveway with five dogs at once. Earlier in the episode he was confessing stuff to Jackie, one of the things which was that one time they were about to fool around and he said that he had washed his hands but he had just finished playing with six dogs. In "Holy Craps!" he is excited that the Petersons have just gotten a new dog, and encourages the gang to go with him to check it out. Michael has a long time relationship with Jackie, played by Mila Kunis, a popular and self-centered cheerleader (coincidentally Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis are married in real life). The two lost their virginity to each other after Michael and his friends got out of jail for riding in a car that was mistaken for being stolen. Jackie gets on Michael's friends nerves on a daily basis and Michael repeatedly said that he was going to break up with her. But Jackie beat him to it and broke up with him after a pregnancy scare. They got back together later. Michael loves a good burn as much as the next guy, even when the burn is at his expense, but generally he does not mean to severely hurt someone, which he often does but most of the time he hurts people by means of accident rather than on purpose. It is revealed on That70sShow.com that the astrological sign of both Michael and Jackie is Virgo. Michael has an affair with Eric's sister Laurie, which leads to Michael and Jackie breaking up again in Season 2. During the next season they get back together after Jackie devises a series of tests to see if Kelso has matured. But at the end of Season 4 Jackie wants to get married and a freaked out Kelso bails on Jackie and helps Donna Pinciotti run away to California. When they return in Season 5 Michael finds out Jackie has moved on and is now romantically involved with Steven Hyde. He tries to deal with it but can not and after Hyde cheats on Jackie, he thinks he has a shot but Hyde wants Jackie back too and fights with him over her. After discovering in Season 6 that Jackie chooses Hyde who will not take her back, Michael decides to help get them back together, and wishes them the best. In the Season 6 a plot-line was added that made Michael the father of a baby girl (conceived in a bathroom at a Molly Hatchet concert) with Brooke Rockwell. In Season 7, he gets involved with Hyde's sister Angie but she breaks up with him after she is transferred to another job (which he gets angry about, although he was going to break up with her anyways). In Season 8, Kelso leaves Point Place, but before he does, he proposes to Jackie and she rejects him (which he is delighted about). It is hinted however that Jackie would have said yes if Fez had not told her first, because she had always loved Kelso and thought of him as her soulmate. He then tricks the gang in the circle into thinking that he was leaving, but was really leaving the next day. Kelso is kicked off the force, making him happily accept a better job as a security guard for a Chicago playboy bunny club from the sleazy owner who is played by guest star Bruce Willis. He returns for New Years Eve and jumps off the water tower with Fez and Hyde (Fez and Hyde try to trick him but Michael's brilliant mind outsmarts their trick, although he then willingly jumps off the water tower anyway for the new decade). He then joins the last circle and calls Red a dumbass. He is also the last character to be seen as the show ends, grabbing the stupid helmet, as he makes his way up the basement stairs to call Red a "dumbass". 

Kelso was first introduced in "That 70s Pilot" as Eric Forman's lesser-intelligent, loudly obnoxious friend who is dating a preppy, younger student Jackie Burkhart. But later during the season the couple goes through multiple breakups. Much to his friends' annoyance, he frequently claims to be breaking up with Jackie but does not go through with it, in hopes she'll 'put out' eventually (but instead, Jackie breaks up with him first). Because of her, he misses out on a Todd Rundgren concert, instead spending the evening making out in the back of the Vista Cruiser. As the series progresses, it is later revealed that Michael cheats on his girlfriend (most notably with Pam Macy and Eric’s sister Laurie). At one point, Jackie finds out and banned Kelso from coming to her ski trip, though Michael still attempts to find a way there. Kelso also unwittingly gets his friends into trouble after driving them around in an apparently stolen car. They were arrested, though Eric's connections with his father got them out of trouble. Eventually, Kelso loses his virginity to Jackie, though they go through a scare that she may be pregnant, which turns out to be a false alarm.  Eventually, Kelso purchases a van which becomes the main focus of his secondary story during seasons 2 and 3. On one occasion, Jackie wishes to decorate the van resulting in it becoming temporarily covered in stuffed animals, though all were removed soon after. The van becomes the gang's main source of transportation on long distance journeys, such as Van Stock and to the Ice Shack. However, it ultimately meets its fate when it sinks to the bottom of a river. Like Eric, Kelso buys his girlfriend Jackie a promise ring to show how important the relationship is to him. However, while Jackie is overjoyed with her ring, Donna becomes unsure of her future with Eric, causing Eric to break up with her. The fourth-season premiere episode sees Eric envisioning a possible future with Donna, a woman he has not actually met. In this future, Kelso and Jackie have broken up once again only to consistently re-kindle their relationship for a one-night stand every time they reunite. Kelso also spends most of that season attempting to pry Eric from his depression, though ultimately chooses Fun Land over Eric in the second episode, only to get lost and brought back by a concerned mother. The mother, however, kicks him out of her car after he threatens her children following their insults to him, causing Kelso to walk home. Kelso is also elected for Snow King at the snow prom much to Jackie's disapproval. Class Picture is a flash-back episode revealing how each of the gang members met. Kelso and Eric's meeting is not explained thoroughly, though it is presumed they simply met in first grade. However, Forman's first impression of Kelso is remembered as Kelso showing up at the door without pants. After a quick reminder, Kelso exclaimed 'My pants!!' before rushing home. It is also revealed he is the only male member of the gang not to have seen Donna's breasts, though she allows him to see them after. Kelso later invented a day which he named 'Prank Day' where he attempts to prank his friends as many times as possible. During the Season 4 finale, Jackie misleadingly believes that Kelso is proposing to her, causing him to decide to run off to California. After meeting up with Donna, who had recently been humiliated by her then boyfriend and Kelso's brother, Casey, they both take off. When Kelso returns at the beginning of Season 5, he finds out that Jackie has moved on to Hyde, which makes him extremely jealous and he spends the majority of the season trying to get her back. Eventually, Kelso claims to be over Jackie and renews his friendship with Hyde, and begins a relationship with Annette (Jessica Simpson), a girl he had a short relationship with in California. Jackie, in the same manner as Kelso had, becomes jealous and even goes so far as to yell, "Get off my boyfriend!" when she sees Kelso and Annette kissing. Kelso responded positively to this and began to make a big show of it. Annette leaves him at the school dance, telling him he isn't over Jackie, and Kelso soon realizes that Annette is right.  So when Jackie breaks up with Hyde, Kelso does all he can to win her over, even competing with Hyde at some point. However, when Jackie chooses Hyde over him, he respects her decision and even helps to bring the two together again. From then on, Kelso and Jackie share a relationship as friends. In Season 6, Kelso is the focus of a major plot twist in which he accidentally impregnates a girl named Brooke in a bathroom at a Molly Hatchet concert. Brooke initially does not want Kelso in the baby's life, much to Kelso's relief. However, a pep-talk from Donna causes him to change his mind as he attempts to prove to Brooke he can be a father. In the seventh season, Betsy Kelso, is born. Brooke leaves for Chicago, giving Kelso permission to see Betsy whenever he can. Kelso becomes a policeman, albeit a bumbling one. He attempts to take his job seriously by growing a moustache and calling himself "Mike," and even going as far as flushing Hyde's marijuana stash down the toilet (in The Circle), but he quickly reverts when Hyde and Fez shave his moustache and made the moustache resemble the moustache Adolf Hitler was famous for. He eventually sets the police academy on fire using a flare gun, but even before then, had broken into the academy and gets his supervisor's squad car stolen by Hyde & Fez. At the end of Season 7, Kelso drives Jackie to Chicago after her break-up with Hyde. When Hyde follows her there to propose, he finds Kelso naked, wrapped in a towel, making a comment implying that he and Jackie were about to have sex. Although Kelso frequently makes sexual comments to every female on the show, including Jackie and Donna, Hyde believes the two really were about to engage in sex, and drives off to Las Vegas, effectively ending his relationship with Jackie. Ashton Kutcher did not renew his contract for the eighth and final season of the series but he appeared in a recurring guest role in the first four episodes of season 8 in order to bring closure to the character. The series begins with Kelso avoiding Hyde after he catches him about to have sex with Jackie in a motel room. When Hyde finally catches Kelso, he punches him in the face and then decides to resume their friendship. With this storyline resolved and the end of Hyde and Jackie's relationship, Kelso resumes his police work duties. However, when Randy and Fez decide to throw a bachelor party for Hyde after his marriage to a stripper, Kelso is fired due to misuse of police equipment and unprofessional behavior. This causes Kelso to wonder what he has going for him and decides that Jackie is the one for him all along. He decides to propose to Jackie, seeing as she was the one he has always loved. He later rethinks this decision, deciding against it after a job offer is given to him. However, Fez had already told Jackie about his plans. Feeling pressured to do something, and scared that he might lose all his future chances with Jackie, he attempts to propose, albeit with a balloon (which is how Jackie wants to be proposed to), at the Forman's anniversary, but Jackie says no, much to Kelso's relief. They both decide they have a lot of maturing to do, many things to take care of in their own lives and, even though they both admit to loving each other, agree that it is not the right time to get married. He then joins his friends for one final circle before his departure. Kelso does not appear in succeeding episodes, although he is occasionally referenced by the remaining characters. He returns, though, in the series finale to welcome in the New Year with his friends, much to their pleasure.

Among Kelso's most famous personality traits are conceit and sheer stupidity, performing a great number of idiocies on a regular daily basis. Despite his stupid nature, he shows moments of shining intellect, demonstrating the ability to do fast mathematical division and fixing Red's Pong machine. During a flashback scene, it is implied that Kelso used to be a bookish, motivated student until Hyde introduced him and Eric to marijuana when they were in junior high. Throughout the series, Kelso has made a large quantity of moronic quotes and performed many dimwitted blunders, and possesses numerous infantile qualities such as enjoying Christmas specials deemed childish by his peers and fussing when something is preventing him from viewing them. It also been hinted Kelso loves dogs. Like the other teenage male central characters of the series, Kelso also possesses an abundance of "horny" personality traits and appears especially fond of the idea of having sexual relations and the willingness to spoil his virginity results in the impregnation of a librarian named Brooke and the birth of a little girl named Betsy toward the end of the series. He fancies himself as quite attractive and capable of winning the affections of women such as Jackie Burkhart, with whom he has shared an on-again/off-again relationship throughout the course of the series. Kelso also likes bands such as Led Zeppelin, Foghat, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, KISS, Ted Nugent, Pink Floyd, AC/DC, The Rolling Stones, The Who and Molly Hatchet. It is revealed in the Halloween special that Kelso is a year older than the other teenagers due to being held back a year in the first grade, which angers Hyde knowing that all along Kelso is legally allowed to purchase beer for the teenagers. It is clear from Jackie and Kelso's relationship that Kelso definitely is not the one wearing the pants in his relationships; he is easily manipulated (Laurie pointed this out once and called him a "tool") and never fulfills his promise of breaking up with his girlfriend, although later it may simply be because he is afraid to break a woman's heart.[48] When he dates Annette in Season 5, he even remarks "It's good to be under someone's thumb again!" with a grin, suggesting he prefers his women to be controlling. After uttering this line, Fez asks him, "What did your mother do to you?" which Kelso answers with a stupid grin. In the Season 2 episode "Kelso's Serenade," he says, "I wish Jackie was still controlling me, I love being on a short leash." Kelso often remarks that he has an entire future planned out for him. He says this several times in the third and fourth season. This was apparently a way to convince others he was mature, but his friends viewed it as boastful and annoying. Kelso's only plan was to coast through his life on his good looks, and when he believes this might not happen, he greatly overreacts. He also has fallen off the water tower every year since Jr. High, a fact either explaining or explained by his idiocy. Kelso is naive and simple-minded compared to his other friends. Also, Fez describes him as being delicate and sensitive. However, as the series progresses, a slight growth and maturity can be seen in his character. It is revealed in the episode "Over the Hills and Far Away" that the origins of his stupidity was because he was dropped on his head as a kid. (which easily upsets him because everyone else had the grace to never mention it).

Fez is a main character on FOX teen comedy That '70s Show. He is portrayed by Wilmer Valderrama. Fez was born August 4, 1960. One of the shows running gags is that no one knows what country Fez is from. Fez is merely the phonetic version of the acronym FES: Foreign Exchange Student. His friends know his true name (the audience does not because when he says his name the high school bell is ringing), It is very long and he says the first five K's are silent. His friends say they are not going to remember it, as seen in a flashback episode so they decide to call him Fes(z) but Kelso suggested that they call him "Captain Poo-Face". What Valderrama was actually saying was the first names of the main actors who appear in the show. It was rumored that his mother and his true native homeland would be revealed in the series finale, but all were proved false. He once said he had Latin pride, which led Red to believe he was Latin. Fez retorted "No, only my pride is". He once said that he could speak Dutch in a job interview, and viewed this as "his strongest point". Also, Fez once claimed his country has never fought a war. In another episode, however, he alludes to the fact that his country "won the war" against Britain. In Stolen Car he referred to his country as "The beautiful island of-" but was interrupted. The last two indicate that he may be Indonesian. In another episode he tells the gang that his ancestors were not Mayan. Fez refuses to ever mention what country he is from.Another running gag for Fez in the show is his accent and slight lisp. Fez also tries to constantly pick up women flirting constantly with Donna, Jackie and even Laurie on a regular basis and he fails miserably every time. Fez's hormones and pervert like instincts always get the better of him and he resort to hiding in a closet like a pervert watching Donna and Eric having sex and has been caught on at least two occasions. Eric and Fez are pretty good friends, playing burns on each other, playfighting like the rest of the guys do, and complimenting each other friendly. Eric is especially helpful in keeping the peace following Red's heart attack over Laurie & Fez's marrying, to help Fez not get deported. Kitty Forman is basically the mother Fez never had. Very supportive, nurturing, smothering, and kind to him, Fez and Kitty have a very tight-knit relationship. Fez loves Kitty's upbeat and strong personality along with her protection of him while Kitty loves Fez's innocence, independence, happy go lucky, sensitive, and somewhat intellectual personality.Their relationship does take a bump in the road however towards the end of the series where Fez shouts to Kitty "You're not my mother!", exclaiming displeasure and disobedience in Kitty's demand for Fez to stop having one night stands. Kitty was very upset and disappointed over the whole ordeal and reminisced over their best moments as she was quiet for a while, which was unusual, especially for Red. Fez later apologized and the duo rekindled with open arms. Hyde and Fez start out by sharing the commonality of being more aware of how to romance girls than Eric and Kelso, while also being the competition to the latter two guys respective girlfriends, Donna and Jackie. Especially around Kelso, Fez and Hyde always share knowing looks and appreciate each other's burns where Kelso is oblivious. They also take to defend each other to the group or protect each other, such as when Eric and Donna post break-up fight over rights to the gang and Fez gets caught in the crossfire, or Fez attacking Kelso when the latter flushes their 'bag' stating that Kelso broke Hyde. Fez is also arguably the only guy not scared of standing up to Hyde and speaking his truth in the face of Hyde's potential retribution. However, this is one of Fez's common traits. The two start out as rivals for Jackie's affections, although she isn't ready to admit that she'd rather be with Fez until years later. Where Kelso is a complete schmuck when it comes to Jackie, and also cheats on her, Fez is suave, a great dancer and a romantic. Fez also tells Kelso straight up what he thinks of him and the two eventually bond over not being able to win Jackie (after Jackie and Kelso break up) and become close friends, although the two do have their moments, such as Kelso often looking down on Fez because he is a foreigner and Fez looking down on Kelso because of his ignorance. The friends have a secret somewhat man crush on each other but will never act on it. In the first half of the series, Fez longingly pined for Jackie Burkhart, worshiping her like a queen (although he was often just as annoyed by her as the other gang). Jackie either failed to realize his love for her or did not act upon it because he was too weird . They did share a kiss in one episode when he mistakenly thought Jackie was opening up to him. They shared another kiss when pretending to be dating to help Jackie keep her job. Michael Kelso, Jackie's boyfriend, quickly socked him in the face. Jackie revealed to her friend Donna that she did enjoy his display of affection. Other times that Jackie has shown a small interest in Fez include the time when he wowed her with his dancing moves at a Disco and when he helped her win at a Roller Disco contest.Jackie got drunk to celebrate her win and hit on Fez. After battling with his light and dark side (shown as two shrunken Fezs on each of his shoulders dressed as Batman and The Riddler), he decided to be a gentleman and not take advantage of her. The two did go on a date when Jackie broke up with Kelso, but Fez was let down when he realised that Jackie had not yet gotten over Kelso. He was also disgusted that she was engorging herself with food.Towards the end of the series, she finally realizes her feelings for him and kisses him but he rejects her. Jackie later sought revenge after being hurt Fez turned her down because of his assumption that she only wanted him because he was "a third base" to Hyde and Kelso. After Jackie's revenge's destruction is done, Fez gets even by ruining her hair and reminding her of all her previous rejections to him and calls her an awful person for hurting her actions. After brief tensions, he realizes his error but is turned away with this failure, he tries to go back to his country. Though after she is persuaded by his friend, she comes to see she genuinely likes him and stops him from leaving. In the Season 8 episode before the finale, the two finally confessed their feelings and become boyfriend and girlfriend.

#archie andrews #betty cooper #veronica lodge #jughead jones #reggie mantle #kevin keller #riverdale #that 70's show

[tomshufflepuff]

changed

pairings: peter parker x female!reader

requested: yes by @embrace-themagic, 

“Hi there! I was just wondering if I could please send a request?   The idea is a Peter Parker x Reader where either Peter is a bully and pushes the reader over the edge and she falls apart and he feels bad and tries to make it up to her, or he and the reader are good friends and he says a harsh comment about the reader to his crush and the reader overhears and he tries to make it up to her?  So sorry if this is oddly specific and it’s totally fine if you don’t want to do it! 💖💖 xx”

word count: 10.8k go me for writing a fucking novel for my first imagine, so sorry if the read more tab doesn’t work :(

warnings: peter’s an asshole, angst, you need a hug, peter needs a hug, language, loneliness, please let me know if there are any others!

---- means time skip

-- means different location

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

“Watch where you’re going,” a harsh shoulder bumped into Y/N, causing her to drop her binder. “Fucking moron.” The person muttered.

The teenage girl sighed as she leaned down to pick up her papers that scattered from the drop. Questioning herself for what seemed like the millionth time, what happened between her and her best friend?

Peter Parker and Y/N Y/L/N used to be the best of friends. The girl moved into the apartment above his when she was just five years old, her mother and father splitting up and going separate ways. Her mother wanted her young daughter to make friends, so did the aunt and uncle of the boy who lived on the other side of their wall. Y/N’s mom forced her to come with her as they introduced themselves to their new neighbors. Which was strange because they never really did that. But the pair saw the young boy and his uncle one day after Y/N’s mother got her registered into school. Her mother melted at the sight of the young, shy boy who hid behind his uncle’s legs after they stepped off of the elevator. Everyone knows how a mother’s heart melts when they see another small child. She just wanted to squish the boy’s adorable chubby cheeks but of course she didn’t.

As the girl and her mother walked by the boy and his uncle, Y/N’s mother gave him a small smile. Uncle Ben seeing the interaction as he waited for his wife to collect her purse and join him and the little boy on a walk to the park. He gave the young mother a smile and waved, Y/N’s mom returning the favor. The two dorks made eye contact, his shy brown orbs meeting Y/N’s exciting e/c orbs. The girl immediately flashed him a bright smile and a small wave. A faint red covered the boys cheeks as he clutched his uncle’s leg, a small no teeth smile evident on his face. Y/N’s mother unlocked the door to their apartment and Y/N bared a goodbye wave to the young boy. This time, he did wave back, a smile showing off his pearly baby whites.

Uncle Ben and Y/N’s mother saw the interactions between their little tykes and gazed at them with so much love in both their eyes. Her mother finally poking the girl’s shoulder and motioned inside of their apartment. Y/N frowned, not wanting to leave the young boy but her mother gave her a playful but stern glare. She let out a sigh of disappointment and gave the young boy one last smile before stepping into her home. Uncle Ben waved goodbye at Y/N’s mother before she did the same and shut the door.

Not long after that, Y/N’s mother met Aunt May as they were getting onto the elevator. The young mother frantically got on the elevator in their apartment building just before it closed, with the help of a certain, kind lady already in it. “Thank you so much!” Y/N’s mother rushed out as the doors closed. She was trying to catch her breath and just wanted to go home and rest as she hunched over from a hard day at work.

“Oh, it’s not problem.” The older woman smiled. “What floor?” The mother looked at the buttons on the console to see her floor number already pushed. 

“I actually live on the same floor as you!”

“Really?” May beamed, a chuckle escaping her lips. “That’s something.” The mother nodded in agreement as she picked herself up and stood straight, her arm reaching out to offer a hand to the young aunt. “I’m Y/M/N, Y/M/N Y/L/N.” Her lips turned upwards ina smile despite the obvious tired state she was in. May reached out with a smile and shook her hand. “May, May Parker.” 

After that, the women immediately became good friends. They both talked about their kids. Well, May’s nephew but he might as well be her son. The women tried getting their children to meet and become friends, taking advantage of the same age between the kids. 

Peter at first joked about Y/N having cooties, to which Aunt May scolded him and Uncle Ben laughed. “This girl is clean, Peter. Don’t worry.”

How could the two not bond? They both loved science and mystery. Bonding over solving problems and reading science journals together while watching Star Wars and other Sci-Fi thrillers. Young Y/N took a liking to Peter right away. She was eager to meet new people and the fact that he loved a lot of the same things she did was a plus. They were both young, but loved to solve mysteries and puzzles while pretending to play house and kingdom at the park. Peter didn’t know how to feel at first, he was shy and very guarded. But something the happy girl’s spirit drew him towards her and he loved spending time with her.

And once memes became a thing, the kids would not shut up about it. Adding that to the long list of things they bonded over. And then hell broke loose for May and ben Parker along with Y/N’s mother when Vine became a thing. It wasn’t a bad thing though, they just quoted and copied a bunch of stupid and corny vines every single day. They did hardcore parkour for about a week until Peter ended up spraining his wrist and Y/N broke her arm at the park.

They grew up together and went to the same schools, sharing classes together every year and annoying every teacher they shared together in each class. Some of the teachers would never admit it, but they found the pair endearing and absolutely adorable.

Peter was shy growing up, but around his best friend, he didn’t hide one part or detail about himself around her. He was happy, joyful, carefree, just enjoying his childhood and his teenage years with his best friend by his side.

But after his uncle Ben died freshman year, he changed. He was no longer carefree, he no longer had a spark in his eyes when he was surrounded by the people he loved. He felt dull, empty. For Uncle Ben was like a father figure to him. Y/N understood that everyone deals with grief differently, and that’s completely okay. She were there for him as much as he’d let her. Aunt May too.

Over the first couple of weeks following his uncle's death, he allowed his best friend to be there for him. He let her comfort him, he let her try to cheer him up with movie marathons, food and corny jokes, especially old and outdated Vines. He called her every time he needed someone, and she were more than willing to be there for him and help him get through this.

But after a month, he completely shut her out.

Y/N  thought it could’ve been a part of his grieving process. Instead, she checked in on him once or twice every other day, instead of five times a day. He needed space, he needed some alone time, which she understood completely. But she also asked aunt May how they were both doing every single day. Aunt May never told Peter though, sensing something was off between the two teenagers.

He also seemed to be working out. Y/N noticed his growing muscles under his usual sweater and jeans. The arms that once held her in tight hugs were more stiff and buff. Sure, she thought he was already beautiful and gorgeous. Now, now she thought he was hot, looking like the typical high school jock. But she wished he didn’t matter how much he was pleasing to look at. He was just fine before. But her and Aunt May figured that he was working out to distract himself, and/or stress.

But then Peter stopped hanging out with Ned. Oh Ned, his brother. Ned was someone the two best friends met when they were all in middle school. Flash Thompson was giving Ned a hard time, so Peter and Y/N defended Ned. Peter with words, Y/N also with words, but also her fist when Flash made a comment about Ned’s weight. Y/N got detention, but she didn’t care. After detention, she saw the two boys waiting for her on the bench outside of the detention room. The three of them instantly becoming a trio.

Ned, Y/N and Peter went to each other’s homes frequently. When one of them came home every day from school, the other two followed. They all had movie nights every Friday during the school year. Ned and Peter picking Star Wars 99% of the time it was their turn to pick a flick. Y/N joked how she was getting tired of Star Wars, which caused the two boys to playfully shun her until the movie was over. She started making them watch Harry Potter, them complaining but both ended up loving the films almost as much as Y/N did.

But around the same time Peter started avoided her, he avoided Ned too..

And he started hanging around people like Flash Thompson.

That was the thing the now duo didn’t understand the most. Flash picked on all three of them, but he always seemed to have it out for Peter more. Taunting him, making fun of his name, how he dressed, how he acted, just using any information he could find to turn and use it against Peter.

Now, Peter waltzn along the halls of Midtown High with Flash. They taunted their fellow classmates as they passed by them. Whether it was mocking something they said, tripping them, pushing them against a locker, judging from afar you name it.

Sadly, Ned wasn’t with the tired girl today. Of course, Y/N was sad he wasn’t there, but also thankful. Thankful that he wasn’t here or else Flash and Peter would’ve been assholes to him too.

She continued on picking up her papers. She silently thanked the universe for being on her side today. In the past when Peter did the similar thing to her, the mess seemed to get larger. She would lean down and try to collect more papers, while the ones she already retrieved fell out of her arms and onto the floor again.

Y/N sighed as she stood back up from your knees, tucking her hair behind her ears and meeting eyes with Liz Allen. She gave you a sympathetic smile with pity laced behind her enchanting brown eyes. Liz was also popular, but she wasn’t your typical cliche of a popular teenager. She was kind, patient, caring, easy to talk to. She welcomed the three of you to school at your orientation freshman year, Liz becoming an acquaintance to the three fo you.

She knew how inseparable the trio were. Especially Y/N and Peter. Anyone would be able to spot the certain look they had in their eyes whenever the other was in the same room or mentioned. Ned became annoyed with the two as they fell for each other but were too oblivious to the other’s feelings and too stubborn to accept that the other felt the same. The way Peter held her in his arms whether it was a hug or them cuddling, the way she would give him a wide and loving smile each time she finished laughing at a stupid joke he told, the way they would act, already extremely touchy and needy for the other. There were so many little things their peers would notice, especially the larger and more obvious things.Liz felt sorry for Y/N and Ned, but also for Peter. She knew that wasn’t the real Peter Parker. She knew he wasn’t an asshole who hurt others and found joy in it like Flash did. She wished he would just cut the stupid act as did everyone else who knew him before he changed.

Y/N was always jealous of Liz when Peter revealed to you and Ned that he had feelings for the upperclassman girl their first year of high school. But she could never not like Liz because of stupid jealousy, plus Liz was actually a good person. Ned noticed the jealousy too. She told Ned of her feelings she harbored for her best friend with deep brown eyes and chestnut colored hair. He wasn’t surprised, though. Everyone noticed her affections towards the kind boy. Everyone, except for him. 

Y/N didn’t know how to react to Liz seeing that. The pitiful look making her blink back tears as she looked at the ground and quickly shuffled to her next class.  Thankfully, that class not being with Peter Parker.

----

Lunch time rolled around and she sat by herself today. Well, sort of. MJ was sitting across from her, but she was silently eating an apple and reading a book. She were used to that behavior from her for a while now. Y/N and Ned befriended MJ shortly after Peter ditched the pair, her actually being the first to approach them both. Noting how observant she was, she pointed out Peter turning into a douche and offered to be there for her and Ned. It was weird in some ways. MJ didn’t know how to deal with emotions, or how to help someone deal with sadness. But it was still very kind of her. She tried her best to give the duo advice and distract them from Peter’s newfound attitude.

Peter Parker sat at the table ten feet ahead. Laughing with Flash over something that was most likely stupid.

There was a sense of loneliness and despair in Y/N’s e/c eyes. She gave him a longing look every day during lunch at least once. The brown haired boy catching her a couple of times, using that to make fun of her. 

MJ took a bite of her apple and glanced at Y/N above her book, her brown eyes immediately meeting her sad ones. MJ rolled her eyes, already knowing who the hopeless girl were looking at. She glanced over her shoulder at Peter laughing. She knew it was fake, she knew Peter wasn’t happy. But she never chose to talk to him about it. Him not being worth her time, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t try to tell Y/N  that.

“You know,” MJ paused as she turned back to her friend. Y/N shook her head, snapping out her gaze on Peter and looked at her. “He’s faking it.”

“Michelle,” Y/N  sighed, shaking her head and looking down. “Why do you keep saying that?” MJ already knew she was going to ask that. She was already to fire back, but Y/N said her full name instead of her nickname. That meant that she just wasn’t in the mood.

“Y/N,” she sighed, setting her bookmark in her book and putting it on the table and sat up. Y/N’s sad e/c eyes met her sympathetic look. “Peter isn’t happy. I can tell. You know how well I can read people. Even that jackass,” including that remark to make her laugh, and it worked. “He isn’t truly happy. He doesn’t have the, twinkle,” MJ shuttered at the cliché word making her chuckle again. “in his eyes that he had when he was doing something that made him happy. Or around someone who made him happy.” The pause directed at Y/N, causing a redness to appear on her cheeks but she shook her head as quick as it appeared and MJ continued. “Every time I see him push or tease a kid, he frowns. He frowns when Flash isn't looking. He’s so disappointed in himself for swooping down to that level and becoming someone who he hates. But he continues to do it. He continues because he’s lost and he’s fighting himself to stay this way. Something’s making him to hold back. That frown, that look of despair on his face every time he does something contradicting with his old self, he’s not happy. It’s an act. He’s faking it.”

This isn’t the first time she’s said something like this. But this is the first time she went into this much depth. Y/N’s heart was hopeful each time she mentioned this. Maybe some of the old Peter is still inside of him. His heart and his mind having an internal battle on how to treat other people, this occurring after Ben died  and he got his Spider-Man powers. He didn’t know how to process his emotions, it was too much. Thus started the battle between his mind and his heart, neither side surrendering.

The girl who was once friends with a now superhero never spoke her true feelings for her old best friend, to the girl sitting in front of her. MJ was smart and very clever, she already knew. So Y/N never bothered to say it out loud to MJ.

“You got all of that just from looking at him a few times?” Y/N joked as a small grin formed on her chapped lips.”

MJ rolled her eyes playfully, her mood brightening because her friend was cracking a joke in this hard time. “Well duh. I’m a fucking genius, you already know this.” Y/N’s smile widening as she shook her head as MJ continued. “Plus I heard him frustratingly scolding himself this morning after he purposely knocked into you once him and Flash separated.”

That was something Y/N never heard before, and she didn’t want to believe it. But MJ wouldn’t lie to her, especially on something like this.

Y/N shook her head in doubt. “I’m just done with this. I’m tir-”

“Hey there bitch!” A voice yelled at her.

The voice coming from the boy her heart melted for.

The voice coming from the boy who she would do anything for.

Even if he was a dick now.

The voice coming from Peter Parker.

And he was walking towards her.

He strolled towards the table the girls were sitting at, jumping on top of the bench MJ was sat on, landing right next to her on his bottom. He made himself comfortable as he wrapped an arm around MJ. She flicked towards him in disgust, elbowing his side in annoyance. He grunted, trying to play it off as a playful groan while clutching his side with his hand. “Wow, MJ, I’m hurt.”

“Shut the fuck up, Parker. What the hell are you doing here?”

“Woah, woah,” he held his hands up in defense. “Just here to say hello.”

His statement caused MJ to roll her eyes and before she could say something, he spoke up again. “And to say something to her.” His head whipped to Y/N so fast and he smirked at her. Her eyes widen, scared of what was going to happen while looking into his mischievous eyes. MJ stood still, not knowing what to say.

“Look, Y/N,” Peter sighed as he put his arms on the table, leaning on them. A serious look was on his face as he scrunched his eyebrows. This small action reminding her of the old Peter, her Peter. How his eyebrows always furrowed whenever he was trying to say something or figure something out.

But that quickly changed. MJ not being surprised at all.

He bursted into laughter. “What is with you?!” He shouted amusingly. “Why do you keep on staring at me? It’s creepy. It’s weird. Not to mention, with a longing look like I just ran over your dog and stomped on your heart. Seriously?! Are you that pathetic? Are you that lonely? Are you that sad that I left you?” He was throwing his head back in laughter as he kept on asking.

MJ’s jaw clenched as she burned holes in Peter’s head. If looks could kill, he would be worse than dead. But since looks can’t kill, she settled for shoving him off of the bench.

His ex best friend was already trying your best to not to break down right there, her heart already hurting and Peter was just making it worse. Y/N only gasped when MJ pushed him off of the bench. Of course she were worried to see if he was okay, the\ old part of her who is still his best friend was urging her to get up. But she couldn’t move. Her feet were glued to the ground, her bottom feeling like it fell asleep, her eyes looking at the scene in front of her with warm tears she was trying oh so desperately to hide.

Peter groaned and sat up, holding his head while sitting flat on his ass. But he jumped back up easily, like he tripped but caught his footing. And he backed up a few inches because he was frankly a little scared of her. Who wasn’t?

“Wow, that hurt.” He mocked as he looked at MJ, fear evident in his eyes that only she noticed and she quirked an eyebrow at him and smirked.

Peter rolled his eyes and continued, whipping his head just a smidge to meet Y’N’s sad e/c orbs again

Peter’s heart clenched, seeing his favorite girl in pain and especially knowing he caused it. He was so close to running to her side and pulling her into his arms. So close.

But he recovered. Hoping MJ wouldn’t notice his sign of weakness.

“Move on,” he growled at her. “Stop staring at me. Stop following me. Stop stopping by my house when I’m not home to talk to Aunt May.” She looked down, fiddling with her fingers. “Yeah, you think I didn’t know?!” The only reason he was because  keeping an eye on her himself. May didn’t tell him. Why would she? Her nephew was hurting the girl who was his best friend.

The girl he was in love with since he first laid eyes on her ten years ago. He didn’t know it then, he was a little kid with a tiny crush. But over the years, that crush turned into something much bigger.

MJ stood up furiously and was about to storm towards him as he ran back to his table with Flash, who was watching the entire time and laughing.

“Don’t,” MJ heard her friend croak and she turned back to her. There was a new look on her face  that Y/N finally allowed to reveal on the outside. Brokenness.

“Just,” she sighed as she blinked back hot tears and stood up quickly. “Just don’t.” She grabbed her belongings and exited the cafeteria faster than Peter could flick his wrist and shoot a web at her.

Liz saw what happened from her table. She saw as Michelle grumbled and grabbed her book. MJ stood up and grabbed her unfinished apple, walking quickly to Peter and Flash when they weren’t paying attention. She chucked her apple at Peter’s face, the red fruit hitting him in the eye as he groaned and clutched his head. Flash gasped and looked up at MJ, seeing her smirking in victory and walking away. She was still angry though as she walked out of the cafeteria doors.

Liz shook her head in shame as Peter was groaning at his eye. She observed Flash trying to aid to Peter, quietly laughing to himself when Peter was closing both of his eyes in pain and leaning his head back with his right hand covering his right eye.

“Let-” Flash muttered as he was trying to stop laughing. Of course Peter knew he was, he didn’t need his new senses to guess. “Just take your hand off of your eye and let me see.” He managed to get out while trying desperately to stop laughing.

Peter rolled his left eye as it was closed and reopened it while putting his head back down, carefully removing his hand. He knew it was bad. He would have to go home early since he healed fast and the mark would be gone in less than two hours.

“Go get an ice pack man.”  Flash laughed as he pulled out his phone and began to scroll through random things.

He didn’t need really need one. He needed to do something much more important before he went home so he grabbed his backpack and walked out of the cafeteria, already knowing where she ran off to.

--

Y/N sat in the library with her legs pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapping around her legs. Her head was in her arms as her hair fell down her elbows. Quiet cries left her mouth as she hid in the one section of the library that no student walked into. Let alone the section she was in.

She was trying to hide her whimpers as best she could, good thing no one was really in the library anyways.

Y/N’s heart was trying to find out where you went wrong.

When did she do to cause Peter to hate her with every single molecule in his body?

What did she do to cause him to snap?

Why did things go so wrong when before then she was his shoulder to cry on?

For fuck’s sake, what changed?

For fuck’s sake, what will make him stop?

Peter entered the library, Y/N heard the door open but she just assumed it was another lonely student or someone who was going to study. He heard her cries, even though he was on the other side of the huge room filled with so many different words that could describe how they were both feeling perfectly because they couldn’t.

He heard her sobs, warm water beginning to blind his sight. But Peter couldn’t let you see that.

A heavy breath escaped his thin lips as he straightened himself up, wiping his tears that slipped out of hi brown eyes. He couldn’t let Y/N see him like this. He just had to apologize. He wanted to show that he didn’t want to, but he knew he did. That was something his heart and mind could agree on. But he couldn’t let her see that. He wouldn’t let her see that. The new him saying if he’s going to do this, he’s not going to show he’s breaking.

His feet carried him in the direction of Y/N’s cries. Even if his heart didn’t belong to her, his feet would still bring him to her. They always would. And right now, his legs were shaking as he walked closer to the Ancient Egypt and Ancient Rome section.

She was always a sucker for history, he smiled.

Peter’s brain stopped his motions right before he was about to step into the aisle. Another deep breath escaped his lips and he realized he hasn’t taken a single breath since he entered the library. He sighed and his heart finally allowed him to take another step, flinching when his eyes landed on Y/N’s figure.

His breath caught in his throat as his eyes scanned her over. He almost choked back another sob. Almost.

But he did have to blink back tears and wipe the ones that managed to escape his eyes.

The girl with a damaged spirit heard someone breathing and looked up, seeing the last person you ever wanted to see.

But there’s also a part of her that was glad he was standing, what felt like so close to her heart.

The two broken hearted teens didn’t say anything. Y/N’s gaze looked so, broken. And his gaze, well she don’t know how to read him anymore, not since he’s changed.

He was broken though.

Peter cleared his throat, his eyes never leaving her own as he walked closer to the girl he grew up with. But he stopped once he saw that she flinched away from him.

That broke his heart even more.

But he couldn’t let her see that.

So he sat against the same shelf as her, about a couple feet away with his legs out and his hands fidgeting on top of his lap.

Y/N was shaking, hoping that he wouldn’t notice that. Or her heart beating so fast, it felt like it was going to jump out of her chest and make grabby hands towards Peter’s heart.

But he did notice. And he did hear. His own heart feeling the same way. But his wouldn’t just make grabby hands towards her’s. His would get on its knees, begging for your love again. (If you’ve watched the short film, “In a Heartbeat” on YouTube then you get where I’m playing at lmao go watch it if you haven't because it’s so good and cute).

Y/N unfolded her arms from around her legs, but kept her knees tucked into herself as she fiddled with her fingers.

She did that when she were nervous or when she didn’t know what to do.

The habit was already known to Peter, and he was glad she never grew out of it. She looked so adorable when she was awkward.

Y/N could feel the deep brown eyes of the heartbreaker boy, giving her an intense look. His doe eyes not burning holes into her, but just looking at her calmly.

But it was also sad if she looked up at him.

“I uh-” Peter stammered out. “I just wanted to say that that was uncalled for-”

Her head whipped around to meet his haze. But a new expression was in her tired e/c eyes.

Anger.

“What?” She croaked out, hating herself for sounding so weak and internally scolding herself for it.

“What exactly was uncalled for, Peter?” The harsh and it made Peter wince. And she noticed, but instead of immediately checking to see if he was alright like she usually did, she let out a laugh. “You’re wincing? Why! You don’t have a reason to!” She said harshly. “What was so uncalled for, Peter? What is it that you want to apologize for?” Her tone wasn’t meant to be harsh. But she couldn’t help it. She was just done with this ridiculous act of his.

Of course he knew what she were asking. But he continued to act stupid and looked down at his lap shamefully. “W-what I said to you back in the cafeteria. It was uncalled for and rude and, and-” his arm went to scratch behind the back of his neck. A nervous habit he still had and let show. “I’m, I’m sorry.”

You almost laughed, almost. But that was harsh. Even though he has hurt you so many times these past few months, even though your heart was still pulling you towards his, you couldn’t get a laugh out. Your heart not wanting you to hurt him no matter how upset and broken you were. Because you never want to hurt it. Even if he’s caused you so much pain. You just couldn’t. That wasn’t who you were.

Y/N sat in a cris cross position and let out a heavy sigh, playing with her fingers, trying to blink back tears and using her hair as a shield so the young superhero couldn’t see her trying to hide her pain.

Thankfully, he didn’t that time.

“Why?” She squeaked, looking up to meet hs unreadable brown orbs. “Why now? Why apologize now? It’s not like anything has changed.”

That statement and her harsh tone made Peter break down even more, on the inside. He was also questioning himself that.

Why now? Why did he rush to her without thinking twice?

“Uh-I” He looked back down at his fingers. “I don’t know. I just felt like I had to apologize and quickly walked here after I realized what I had to do. For you.”

“Okay well,” the young girl sighed, not knowing how to respond to the last two words he spoke. Her stomach flipped in a good way, but she also felt like she was going to throw up from the confusion. “Thanks for the apology.”

Those words made Peter’s head snap up and look at his old best friend. Hope filled his heart and entered his eyes once again. Hope felt strange, foreign to him because it hasn’t been apart of his wellbeing for so long.

“But I don’t know if I can accept it.”

And just like that, the hope quickly vanished faster than what felt like the speed of light.

“I can accept it in the future, just not now. My heart, my feelings, are still hurt from everything you did and said. But I do feel that I will be able to forgive you someday. But not this second. I want to, but can’t. I hope you can understand that.”

Peter nodded understandingly as Y/N sighed and got up quickly. His eyes never left her figure until she grabbed her backpack and he looked down at his lap, hearing her footsteps fade

Peter leaned his head back on the bookshelf in despair. His eyes were burning with the familiar liquid now. The boy sniffled as he wiped them away, cursing himself for breaking down. He quickly exited the library and ran straight for the men’s bathroom.

Not seeing MJ see him rush into the room and wipe his eyes.

----

It was the last class of the day. Robotics. To her dismay, she shared this class with Peter, but Y/N enjoyed this class and tried to avoid him as much as possible. But after his apology in the library, her heart didn’t want to avoid him completely. She didn’t know if it was sincere and she didn’t want to think about that right now. But her feelings were pushing her towards the boy who still owned her heart.

“What happened in the library?” MJ asked as she plopped down in her seat across from Y/N, causing her to jump to little. Ned was in their group but he wasn’t there today. She gave her friend a questioning look, causing the brown haired girl to roll her eyes. “Don’t play dumb with me, Y/N. I already know that’s where you ran to and I hate that it took me until after lunch to figure that out. I saw Peter running out of it in a hurry, his eyes were red and he wiped his eyes as he went into the boy’s bathroom.”

Y/N couldn’t believe it. Peter crying? After the conversation they had? Surely MJ was mistaken. She almost asked her friend if knew what she saw, but MJ was right 99% of the time.

“Maybe, um, uh- do you think you could be mistaken?” She stuttered. MJ rolled her eyes and gave her a glare and you threw your hands up in defense. “I’m sorry! But maybe this is the 1% of the time where you’re wrong. Because he couldn’t have been crying, not after-” she paused and looked down at her lap.

“Did you reject his undying love for you or something?” MJ teased and Y/N gave her a playful glare and the girl rolled her eyes for what felt like the thousandth time that day.

“No, we just talked. He actually apologized,” MJ raised her eyebrows impressed, but was going to deny his apology before Y/N interrupted. “I know, I know it’s weird. I know you’re gonna say he didn’t mean it. And I want to believe you. But the part of me that misses him, misses my best friend-” “The boy you’re in love with.” “Whatever.” MJ smirked and Y/N sighed. “I miss him. And that part of me just wants to forgive him and make things right, make this all disappear and go back to the way before all of this shit. But, I can’t trust him.” MJ put her hand on Y/N’s arm to comfort her as she continued. “I thanked him for his apology. But I told him I just can’t accept it right now. And I told him that maybe in the future I can forgive him. I just can’t right now.”

Y/N looked back up at MJ and she was giving her an intense look, showing her she was listening. “Good.” She lifted her hand from her friend’s arm. “I’m shit at emotions and helping other people with them. But you did the right thing.” She flashed you a small smile and you did the same in return.

Peter could hear every word shared between the two of them at his own table that was across the classroom.

--

School had just ended and that meant practice time for the Academic Decathlon team. Y/N always avoided Peter during your after school team meet ups. And he made it surprisingly easy. He barely even spoke to Flash during practice because he was very focused on the team and serious about team practices. Him being a mute and concentrating made it easy for them not to speak to each other.

But Peter still stole glances at the girl who owned his heart when she wasn’t looking.

Liz was getting her Decathlon coat from her locker, cursing herself for leaving it in there. “Hey Liz!” She heard the familiar voice and immediately rolled her eyes on the inside.

She turned to her left and flashed Peter a fake smile. She didn’t like him one bit. She did see him as a good friend the previous school year, but when he ditched his best friends this year and became a dick, she no longer wanted to be associated with him in any way.

“What’s up Peter?” Liz internally cringed at the fake chirpiness in her voice.

The sheepish boy flashed her a small smile, pain evident behind his eyes that she noticed.

He really wasn’t good at hiding secrets.

“I was um, just wondering” He stuttered as he played with his sweater. “If you wanted to maybe go to the movies sometime, with me? On-on a date?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Of course she knew he harbored feelings for her. She saw that last year but only saw him as a friend. Plus, she noticed he was in love with someone else.

She tucked her hair behind her ear nervously, “Um, that’s really sweet, Peter-” His face instantly dropped at her response, knowing what was coming next. “But, I just don’t see you like that.”

The new and cocky Peter took offense right away. “Why?” He demanded then saw she raised her eyebrows. “Wh-why? May I ask?”

Liz had enough with his fake attitude and rolled her eyes. “Seriously Peter?” Although, Peter already knew the answer. “Well one, you’re a major dick and a bully. You used to be so sweet, so kind and considerate to others, especially your friends. But then, this year you changed. And at first when you stopped talking to Ned and Y/N, I figured it was maybe a part of your grieving process and you just needed some space. But then you befriended Flash. Eugene fucking Thompson of all people! The boy who bullied you since what Ned told me, elementary school. And to make it worse, you became just like him, actually even worse. You abandoned your best friends, not to mention the girl who loved you with her entire heart, and you became a bully. You, Peter Parker, became a bully. That’s why.” She finished angrily as she slammed her locker door shut.

And of course, Peter had to fire back with something stupid. “Girl who loved me? You mean Y/N?” He said hopefully, but he tried hiding it of course but Liz still noticed.

“Yep, and the girl who everyone thought, you loved with all of your heart. But guess not.” She shrugged and she wrapped her coat around her.

Peter stood still, not knowing what to say or how to feel as he stared blankly at the locker next to Liz’s.

She couldn’t be serious? But that didn’t stop Peter’s heart from bursting with joy and a small smile to break out on his face. Most importantly, the twinkle. The goddamn twinkle in his eyes were back. He felt overjoyed, the girl he fell in love with since he first knew what love meant, loved him back? How? Why would she? He was just puny Peter Parker. Boring, plain, not interesting, and just an all around weirdo.

Oh Peter, if only you knew how much of that was untrue in Y/N’s eyes.

He had to cover himself up and get it together. But Liz noticed, only a fool wouldn’t notice his reaction to the possibility of his best friend loving him in the same way he loved her.

“You’re joking right?” He scoffed and Liz was so close to punching him in the face. For not only being an idiot, but for trying to cover his reaction up and bury it in the past. Past as in two seconds ago.

“You can’t possibly be serious.” Peter started laughing as Liz tilted her head at him and glared.

“Me being in love with Y/N? Y/N Y/L/N? Really? No! She was only my best friend. Key word, was. I can’t believe people thought I was in love with that girl? Above anyone else, people believed I had feelings for her? Ew, just, just gross.” He fake scoffed and Liz was deadass about to punch him square in the face, not caring about detention like she usually did. But, a figure caught her eye.

And it was the last person in the whole damn world who should be hearing him say these things.

Liz’s heart broke when she saw Y/N standing a few feet away behind Peter.

Liz knew the anger she felt towards Peter and the hurt she felt for the e/c girl, was nothing compared to how Y/N was feeling that moment and when she turned around, running away from the two.

Peter immediately whipped around to see the last person he wanted to her those hateful comments, running away from the pair, his whole entire being just completely breaking.

If he wasn’t completely done and broken this time. He sure as hell is now.

“You’re a fucking idiot. You better go after her, Parker.” Liz grumbled as she shoved Peter’s shoulder while walking past him.

Yeah he better fucking go after Y/N.

And he was going to.

Without thinking twice.

Tired of fighting the old him and his feelings for his best friend.

He was done fighting. He was done acting. He was done faking it. He was done acting like this was all normal.

And he ran after her.

----

Y/N didn’t go to the library this time. This time, her feet carried heart to the garden behind their school. It was small, cozy and comforting. The young girl loved it. She knew she should’ve went somewhere else. But her body collapsed onto the bench on the hard ground as sobs rocked through her stomach. She couldn't get up, she couldn’t go anywhere. She was frozen. Completely defeated and alone from the one person she thought would never intentionally hurt her.

Of course Peter didn’t check the library. Even though he treated Y/N like shit and abandoned her, he still knew her. Even if he wanted to forget everything about his old friend, he just couldn’t. He knew every fact about her. She never changed. Only he did.

She had many small areas on the school’s campus that she admired. But Peter’s improved legs did the thinking his mind couldn’t comprehend. And he felt like he was flying to the small garden area.

He heard her cries, the second time today making him hate himself more than he already did. She were laying on her back on the comfy bench. Using her hands to shield her face from the sun as she cried.

“Y/N-” Peter choked out as he saw her break. Anger flooded through the broken girl’s body. She was already hurt, ashamed, broken, but now, now she was angry. Now she livid. Not just at him, but at herself as well.

Y/N shot up from the park bench and stood up. What was the point of even hiding her face anymore?

“No! No- you can’t- you can’t just come here and talk to me with tears streaming down your face and a broken look in your eyes. You don’t get to do that, especially to me. Fuck you, Peter Parker. I hate you with every fiber in my being.” Her feet carried herself closer and closer to him as she said this. She would’ve said more. She almost called him a coward. Almost called him an asshole for what he did to not only her, but Ned too and everyone else he’s treated badly. The livid teen almost yelled at him in frustration, but she couldn’t. Her mouth wouldn't allow the harsh words to slip off of her tongue, no matter how true they were. But her finger pointing shamefully at Peter with every word that spit out of her mouth was just the icing on top of the well understood message. But she wasn’t touching him as much as she wanted to jab her finger into his chest, she couldn’t. And yeah, she didn’t hate him, but he didn’t need to know that as she walked past him angrily.

“Fuck it,” he cursed to himself as he turned and flicked his wrist towards the girl he loved.

Y/N felt a sticky substance wrap around her arm like a hand and she yelped as she was being pulled backwards.

She ran into the broken boy’s chest with a slam as he caught her in his arms, wrapping her in them. Y/N stared up and was met with the soft eyes she so absolutely adored. She noticed pain behind the captivating orbs now. She could usually spot it from afar but could never get a good look at them for the past few months. But being this close in proximity to him, not to mention his arms holding her like she would slip away at any moment, was enough to break her down more. She didn’t think she had any more left of her heart that could break. But seeing her boy broken, that ruined her.

Peter stared down into her e/c orbs that held so much loneliness and betrayal in them. He didn’t know what to do as she stared up at him blankly. Y/N was too tired to fight him, so she collapsed into his arms, her body loosening and completely letting herself fall into his embrace and he caught her.

He always caught her.

She leaned her head on his chest with tears running down her gorgeous face. Her best friend put his chin on top of her head. Peter took in her shampoo scent and he sighed, feeling like it’s been an eternity since the last time he inhaled her.

Tears were soaking Peter’s shirt, but he didn’t even care a slightest bit. He cursed himself in his head. For hurting her, for leaving her, for betraying her, and for breaking her heart. She was fragile but also strong. Peter has only seen Y/N cry this much once when her grandfather died. He was there for her during her time of mourning and was always there to be her shoulder to cry on. He was always there to make her smile. But now, he caused her this much pain. And he was never there for her. He just added onto the pain.

Y/N kept on muttering curses at Peter but she was so choked up, he could barely make out what she was saying. 

He pulled away from her a little, causing her to look up and meet his chocolate colored orbs. His smooth, warm hands met each side of her face as he gently held her like she was porcelain. “I’m s- so sorry,” he spluttered out with fresh tears in amber eyes. “I’m so sorry for everything. I’m sorry for the hateful words and harsh comments. I’m sorry for the mocking and making fun of you. I’m sorry for abandoning you and Ned. I’m sorry for shutting you out. I’m sorry for not being there for you. I’m just-” he paused as he closed his eyes, causing the tears to fall out faster. He looked down in shame and took a deep breath. “I’m, I’m so sorry, Y/N. I’m so fucking sorry.”

Y/N didn’t know what to say. She was going to question him about the webbing.

Was he Spider-Man? Did he make the webbing? Was he a copycat?

But there were more important things she had to discuss with him and question him about.

The broken girl shook her head as the devastated boy opened his eyes shamefully. “Why, why Peter? Why did you do all of- all of those horrendous things? Why did you leave me? Why didn’t you ever tell me what was really going on? You know I would’ve tried to understand and support you and be there for you,” she couldn’t help but raise her right hand onto the boy’s cheek. He immediately leaned into her touch with a soft sigh. “When did you stop caring about me?”

The defeated tone almost made Peter collapse right then and there. “I never stopped caring about, Y/N.” Peter croaked as he stared into her e/c orbs deeply.

“You said that earlier today, I don’t know if I can believe you or not now this time.” She looked down and their feet and Peter didn’t know what to say. He did apologize just earlier that day for one thing that happened and she didn’t know if he meant it, and he couldn’t blame her. Now he’s apologizing again, just hours later, but for everything. He didn’t blame her if she didn’t trust him or believe his words were sincere. He’s hurt her far too much.

Y/N sighed and wiggled her way out of Peter’s arms after he didn’t answer her for a couple of minutes. Well, she tried.

Peter snapped out of his gaze the moment she tried to wriggle out of his arms and he looked back down at her captivating, gorgeous face. He sore each time he looked at her beautiful face, he fell even more in love with her.

He just never showed it.

“Y/N please,” Peter pleaded as he tried to get her to look at him, and the h/c haired girl stared up at her ex best friend again.

“Peter, I don’t know if I can believe you.” She continued to squirm in his arms and Peter loosened his grip on her, letting her slip away.

She backed up about a foot from him before she was about to turn and run again. “Please just- just let me explain.” She hasn’t seen him look broken since his Uncle Ben passed.

She hasn’t seen him in this much pain since then.

She could see it in his eyes.

In that moment, she saw through his act. Peter didn’t try to stop her by forcing a fake glimmer or look of mischievous in his eyes. She saw that this Peter, was fake. 

This Peter, wasn’t who he truly was or who he truly wanted to be.

This wasn’t her Peter.

She closed her eyes and let a deep breath escape her dry lips as she stood there still, giving him permission to speak.

“This isn’t an excuse for abandoning you. I just want to start off with that.” He said as he motioned closer to her but stopped once she saw her flinch away.

He didn’t try to hide the fact that that action hurt him.

“I got, these powers shortly before Ben died.” He said as he rolled up his sweater sleeves to show her small web shooters. “I’m Spider-Man.”  She gave him a puzzled look. She may have looked broken, but she still looked gorgeous in Peter’s eyes.

“Okay, I don’t see how that made you want to leave me.” Her eyebrows furrowed, making her appear adorable to the young boy in front of her.

“I was bitten by a radioactive spider that day we went to Oscorp. I felt the changes inside me that night I got home and I woke up the next morning with a six pack.” He chuckled through his tears and Y/N smiled a little at him.

“Shortly after that, you became a little cocky.”

Peter cracked a smile at her small remark and nodded. “Yeah uh- not one of my proudest moments.” He scratched behind his neck and Y/N gave him a “duh” expression.

“I felt so confident with my new strength. But one night- I left the apartment and Ben, he-” He choked up causing Y/N to go into best friend mood and she rushed to the boy and hold his arm gently for comfort.

Even when he hurt her, time and time again, she was still there to comfort him.

“Peter, you don’t have to say.” She murmured as she gave him a kind gaze. He met her warm look and shook his head and looked back down at his feet.

“No, I uh- I have to.” Y/N didn’t bother to try arguing with him, she just rubbed his sweater covered arm. He was feeling cold, even in the sweater from the light fall breeze. But her touch on his arm made him feel warm again throughout his whole entire body and it gave him goosebumps at the same time.

“I left the house because of an argument I got into with Uncle Ben. He ran after me. I didn’t know he did. I wish I knew. I figured him and May would let me cool off but after the police showed up at our doorstep, I should’ve known he was going to worry about me and chase after my footsteps.” He took a shaky breath as a tear slipped down his cheek. Before he could wipe it with his sweater, Y/N put her hand on his face and rubbed his cheek, her thumb sliding underneath his eye to wipe it away.

She never removed her hand and Peter leaned into her touch once again as he continued on with the worst day of his life.

“I passed a robber along the streets. I could’ve went after him but I didn’t. It’s normal in Queens for people to get mugged yes, but I should've done something. Especially to him.” Another tear fell down his toned face and his best friend was quick to wipe it away. “Turns out, shortly after I avoided stopping him, Ben actually tried to.” Peter smiled at the thought of his generous uncle.  The chance of a weapon being on a robber in New York, was about 75% of the time. But Ben didn’t care. He’d always put others before himself. Even if it was just some stranger’s purse. He was the real hero who made Peter into one.

But Peter’s smile quickly faded as he recalled the horrifying events from the worst night of his life. “Witnesses say he was trying to get the purse from a man in a ski mask, but the robber pulled out a knife, and he-” Peter choked and completely broke down to the ground.

His knees were already wobbly and that was the final straw.

And this time, Peter collapsed into Y/N’s arms.

She pulled her best friend into her chest, his head above her breasts as he cried into her Harry Potter t-shirt and he wrapped his arms around her figure. Y/N held his face in her hands as her best friend sobbed in her arms.

They stood like this for about five minutes. Y/N running her hands through Peter’s hair  as that always kept him calm. His sobs started to get more quiet and she continued to whisper, “It’s okay, Pete, I’m here. I’m here, let it all out. I’m here. I’ve got you, Pete”

He missed the nickname that would fall from her lips.

“I’m sorry.” He said into her once he calmed himself. She shook her head and pressed a chaste kiss on top of his head. “You don’t have anything to apologize for, Peter.”

He lifted his head up and stared at her with a serious look in his eyes. “Yes, yes I do. Uncle Ben dying is no excuse for me abandoning you and Ned. His death is no excuse for my behavior and who I’ve become.” He let go of his best friend and sat him but she grabbed his hand for support as he sat out in front of her with his legs out. “Him dying, my powers fucking with my emotions already and messing me up. Me changing. God, Ben would hate me so much of he were here right now.” He whispered.

Y/N had enough. Yes he did hurt her and he was right about his father figure’s death not being an excuse. But he wasn’t right about his last statement.

“Now you listen to me, Peter Benjamin Parker.” She grabbed his face in both of her hands, making his baby fat squish up a little and she smiled at his cute face. “Ben would never, I repeat, never hate you. He would be disappointed in your actions, yes. Like any father world be if his child did something wrong” She rubbed her pointer fingers along his cheeks to calm him down. “But he could never hate you. He would never even try to bring himself to hate you. May wouldn’t either.”

Peter looked down at his lap, Y/N’s hands till holding his face.

“Peter,” she whispered as he looked up to meet her pleading eyes. “Please believe me. That man could never hate you. That man could never not forgive you. He does not blame you for his death. He doesn’t hate you for who you’ve become. He could never fucking hate you, Pete.” She flashed him a small, beautiful smile.

Right then, Peter knew he’d be okay. He was repeating the sincere words the girl who he adored spoke in his head, over and over again. Her smile, sincere, bright and stunning, meant for him, he knew he would be okay.

“I just, I couldn’t deal with his death and let myself become cold. I didn’t want to be close to you or Ned, fearing that what happened to Ben would happen to one of you. Especially with being Spider-Man, I have a lot of enemies. And if anyone ever find out who I was and used you, Ned or May against me, I don’t know what I would do with myself.” She gave her best friend a sad smile as he continued. “I would rather have you both hate me and be safe, than be close to me and get hurt. Ben getting hurt without me even using my powers urged me to push people away. I became Spider-Man shortly after his death before I left you and Ned. I vowed to never let anyone, especially those I love, get hurt in any way. And I vowed to never think, ;Someone else will take care of it’ ever again. I thought by you and Ned close to me, would put you in danger and I couldn’t risk it. I’m so, so goddamn sorry, Y/N.”

“Peter, hey Peter look at me.” Y/N said desperately as he began to break down again. Peter looked deeply into the eyes he loved and calmed his breathing with long breaths with the help of her. “I forgive you, Peter. I’m so sorry I didn’t try harder with-”

Peter right away shook his head. “No, Y/N don’t ever blame yourself for a second. This isn’t your fault. I didn’t want to be close to anyone, but I ended up hurting you anyways too.”

“Oh, Peter.” Y/N cooed as Peter closed his eyes at the feeling of her warm hands touching him.

I don’t deserve this.

I don’t deserve her.

“I should’ve never said or do those awful things to you and Ned, especially you,” he cried. “There’s no excuse for the harmful comments or taunting or me pushing you around. And I hope you know that.” A look of pure sincerity was in Peter’s eyes as he reopened them to look into Y/N’s eyes. A small smile appeared on the girl’s face as she nodded at her best friend. “There- fuck.” He sighed as he shook his head frantically with a laugh escaping his lips. Y/N removed her hands from his face and Peter found himself missing her home feeling.

“I was in love with you,” he mumbled and looked up at her.

Y/N’s eyes widen. How could he be in love with her> Especially after all of his remarks made her think the exact opposite.

The confused girl furrowed her eyebrows. “Pete, what? How were you in love with me-”

“I still am.” Peter pleaded as Y/N shook he head and stepped out of his embrace while running a hand through her soft hair. “It’s one thing to leave because you wanted to keep me safe, but that I understand. Why would you hurt me by saying all of those cruel things to me?” She questioned in disbelief.

“You were trying just hard to be there  for me like you always do. But I had to push you away somehow. That’s no excuse for me continuing on with it and becoming a dick and befriending fucking Flash of all people.” He stepped closer to her with every word he spoke. And this time, she didn’t back away.

His rough, warm hands met her’s and laced his right hand with her’s wanting to see her reaction. She almost made a comment about his rough hands. They’re usually smooth, but when he doesn’t take care of himself when he was going through a hard time, his skin became dry and rough.

“I was in love with you too,” Y/N whispered as she gazed up into his chocolate eyes. “And I still am. Even after all of this, I am still ridiculously in love with you, Peter Parker.” She chucked and a tera slipped down her cheek, Peter’s left hand going up to wipe it with his thumb like she did to him moments ago.

“You know one thing you said that really fucking ruined me?” Peter didn’t want to hear her answer, he would beat himself up more for every single thing he said that was hateful and mean to her.

“You made it sound like people assuming we were together, in love with one another, that it was just some repulsive thing you would never want to happen. Not only did my best friend hurt me, but so did the boy I feel so desperately in love with. Not only did I think he didn’t feel the same, but you were so disgusted by the fact of people thinking we have feelings for each other. And you said all of those- those gross things about me.” She shook her head and looked down. “You know if you didn't feel the same way, I wouldn't’ have been mad. We can’t chose who we fell in love with. We can’t chose who we have feelings for. I wasn’t hurt by that. Just you being repulsed at the slightest idea of us.”

Peter cursed himself inside his head while listening to her. “I know, I know and I’m so fucking sorry, Y/N. I don't’ know what came over me.” She looked back up into his honey eyes as he blinked back a tear. “I was trying to get over you and I figured dating Liz would help. I thought of I said those comments out loud, they would seem true. But they weren’t. The were the exact opposite of the truth.” Peter held her face in his hands.

She didn’t flinch away that time.

“I know it makes no sense, how I said I didn’t want anyone close to me because that would be outing them in danger. I needed so badly to get over you and just wanted to see if one date would Liz could help with that. But it wouldn’t even if she greed.”

“That sounds so stupid but understandable.” The girl chuckled through her tears. 

A small grin broke out on Peter’s face. His best friend’s smile being the most contagious thing he’s ever come into contact with.

“Yeah. Especially how when the words came out of my mouth, I realized that even with one date, I’d be putting Liz in danger. I didn’t think it through very well.” The heartbreaker boy laughed.

“I just needed to get over you.”

Y/N gasped at him in shook and she swore to the universe that her heart stopped right then and there.

“I don’t know if I can do this though. Us.” Peter bit his lip as he looked down and back up at her, nodding his head in understatement. “I just- my heart is still trying to piece everything together. I don’t even know if I can be friends with you right now.” His heart broke and he looked at her with sad eyes. “Maybe again, soon. We can go back to everything as it was the first time we got into a fight.” Chuckles escaped both of their lips as they remembered their first feud. “We can slowly build our relationship back together. I just need time.”

Peter grabbed her other hand in his. “You can take all of the time you need. I’ll wait for you, Y/N. Even if we don’t end up giving each other our hearts. I’ll still be so grateful to have you back as my best friend. Let alone my friend.”

----

ew this was so gross fsefjhsfdf i might do a part two for y’all if you like. It’s going to be in the future and we’ll see if these two crazy kids end up together ;)

Please give feedback! Even constructive criticism, especially when I’m actually trying writing again after over four years :) Don’t be mean about it though please lmao

Until next time my loves

tagging some nice people: @tomsfireheart @suddenlysmittenxwrites @wndrlstvbz 

#peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine #peter parker angst #peter parker fluff #best friend!peter parker #best friend!tom #tom holland #spiderman #spider-man: homecoming #tom holland angst #tom holland fluff #tom holland imagine #tom holland x reader #spider man #spider man imagine #spider man x reader #spiderman imagine #spiderman x reader #peter parker smut #peter parker #tom holland smut

[punkbirdwitch]

Sweet Mother Sappho

A longer poem about learning through history, self-discovery, etc. It’s a rough draft-- I’m not 100% satisfied with the storyline-- but, eh, here ya go.

---

Oh, Mother Sappho, though I’m not sure who you are,

I just found you in the trunk of my dad’s old beat-up car,

In a pile full of other stuff he used to want but doesn’t,

So I figured now would be the time to give myself a present.

I must admit that I’m not well-versed with verses,

Haven’t seen stanzas since Kwanzaa, and my rhymes could use work-- but!

Your face is on the cover and you look like you’re nice, so

I think I’ll come and read you-- only once or twice, I swear!--

And only when I’m curious about Aphrodite’s weaving,

Or carpenters and roofbeams or Gods who like deceiving!

I’d hate to be a bother with all of my incessant reading,

There’s just something ‘bout your passages I can’t help but find intriguing--

But maybe it’s just that my curiosity took

When I noticed finely scrawled within the tiny nook

Between the front cover and the page--

Faded some with age--

In graphite on the page, it reads, “Steph…

...

I hope you like the book.”

… My name’s Chris, by the way.

-

Oh, Mother Sappho, I know it’s only been one day,

But after our first meeting I can’t tear myself away!

And on top of that I realized that I’ve been a little flippant.

Dad always says that when I talk, my brain gets sorta distant.

My name is Chris, as I surely said before,

I’m 15 years old, born in the year Two Thousand and Four,

Which to you must seem like, I dunno, a billion years away--

If only you could see all of the stuff we have today!

My dad’s a docent-- uh, which means he works in a museum,

And I remind him he’s a nerd just about every time I see ‘im.

He takes folks ‘round to see the history, the time when you lived--

And money can be tight, so sometimes he works the graveyard shift.

I guess they save some headache by keeping the same guy

To glide across the floors by day and scrub ‘em by night.

But hey! I’m not complaining, and neither is he,

‘Cuz Empty Halls + Father/Son = Happy Memories.

I spent a lot of nights playing next to history,

Though how I (almost) never broke stuff still remains a mystery.

I played tag with the Huns, roshambo with Tommie Smith,

(A game I always won since he would always raise his fist).

My father told me tales from ancient times-- (Never quite PG)--

Then quizzed me on Mythology ‘til my mind was at its apogee!--

I’d hunt with Davy Crockett and paint with Vince van Gogh--

Might explain why a dead poet makes the second-best friend that I know. Ha!

But my favorite-- yes, the best-and-kindest figures of all

Were the warriors whispered about in the Women’s History Hall.

This was before they spread the female figures throughout the exhibits,

But in that hallway you could sense there was rebellious spirit.

Wollstonecraft and Curie, Shelley, Earhart and d’Arc,

I danced with Josie Baker, had some chats with Rosa Parks--

I fought entire wars with them as a tactician of sorts,

Then settled it with kindness, like you read about in books--

And it’s true that my childhood would have been less sleep-deprived

If I stayed at home while daddy made the money to survive,

But I’m a night owl through and through, a real child of Nyx-- (Still got it!)--

Which is why I’m sitting here with you at, like… 3:06.

… A.M. Yikes-- Mother Sappho! I’ve got to get to bed,

But thank you oh-so-kindly for the poetry I’ve read.

I hope that you don’t mind if this becomes a regular thing,

Like when I used to read soliloquies to Dr. Martin Luther King (‘s statue)--

God, with all that museum time, it’s weird I never met you.

But without further ado,

I’ll say good night to you.

… But Mother Sappho-- one thing keeps me awake,

A little shred of curiosity that I have yet to slake.

It pulls me in like the aroma from the master dish of a chef,

Oh, Mother Sappho…

… Who’s Steph?

-

-

Oh, Mother Sappho! Julie’s coming by tonight,

And whenever she comes over she just has to steal the spotlight!

Not that I mind-- I’m cool with being quiet at the table

While my childhood friend fills my open head with fables.

Our Hellish Elementary formed our crucible as friends,

And though it sucked, we only came out stronger in the end.

A nerdy girl, a “cissy” guy, playing sci-fi with dolls--

Didn’t really resonate within those tiny halls.

And of course I’d be remiss to not show her my new find--

I always try to have a new conversation topic each time

That she comes over-- Which she’s done quite regularly

Since she became my friend when no one else

Would hang out with me.

… But anyway-- She says she loves you, which is not a surprise,

It’s always been dead-dramatic ladies for whom she’s had eyes--

Not saying you’re dramatic, Sappho, I’m just trying to say,

That I’ve recently been wondering if you might’ve been gay?

I’m just saying! that’s the conclusion that I came to next

When the subtextual did floweth over into the text.

(O it makes my panicked heart go fluttering in my chest,

for the moment I catch sight of you there is no speech left

in me--) You see? You can’t blame me for thinking

That it was rainbow-colored nectar you and your friends were drinking.

 And while Julie’s father has a chat with my dad,

I tell my lifelong friend about the conversations we’ve had--

And I can’t help but hear our fathers talking in the afternoon air,

Two strong voices rising through wood and laughing as a pair…

Though what they talk about’s a mystery-- dad says it’s “Nothing much--”

It’s rare for friends to have their dads like each other this much,

Aaaand I just rhymed “much” with “much”-- I told you I’m rusty!

But I think I’m getting better, you’ll-- just have to… Trust me?

Ugh.

 -

-

-

 Oh, Mother Sappho, I’m addling my brain--

If I don’t find out who this “Steph” is, I might just go insane--

Short for Stephanie, I’m sure, but why is it in my father’s hands?

And why would he discard in the back of our sedan?

Is there some pain within my father’s past he’d rather I not know?

...

You know-- I never had a mother, Mother Sappho.

 -

-

-

-

 Oh, Mother Sappho.

Oh, Mother Sappho.

 I spoke with Julie today, Oh, Mother Sappho.

Sweet Mother Sappho.

I had something to say, “Oh--

“You know,” I said, “I think that I would like to be a girl,

Even if not for forever, I’d still give it a whirl.

I’m unversed in verses-- It’s hard

To explain in the wrong key

But I get the feeling that not everything

Is quite all right with me.”

And she turned to me and smiled and said “Silly-- you can be.”

 .

 Oh, Mother, Sappho.

Oh, Mother, Sappho.

I’m addling my brain.

There’s something here inside my heart that I just cannot contain.

It doesn’t feel right--

And yet

It doesn’t feel wrong.

It just feels like I’ve

Never quite

Belonged.

And now I’m not sure where I’m at or what to do.

Mother Sappho, I don’t know what to do.

Oh, Mother Sappho…

…

Sweet Mother Sappho…

 -

-

-

-

-

-

 (Oh, darling daughter, I hope you know that you are strong

And that as you sat there rambling, I was listening all along.

Please pardon my language-- I’m afraid I’ve not rehearsed.

In this meter, I’m afraid that I’m the one unversed.

 (You’re green and dainty, child-- what better thing to be?

And though your heart is violet, you’re as sturdy as the tree.

I hope you know I love you, no matter who you are,

For your soul is far more radiant than all the highest stars--

Now show them who you are--

My child, show them you are.

...

(And know

That you have nothing to fear.

You’ll know

When you understand how near you were

And are

To people just like you.

To people who love you.)

 -

 Oh, Mother Sappho, I hope you know you haven’t been misread,

And I think I found the meaning in that thing that you last said.

I realized what before I would not have believed in, ‘cuz--

“Steph” is short for Stephanie-- but is also short for “Stephen.”

 I think my dad and I might need to have a talk--

In the morning. It’s 2:04, and I’m still sort of in shock.

Maybe once I tell ‘im, I can help him get a date.

Ha! Maybe…

It’s late.

 Thank you, Mother Sappho, and just to set things straight-- (Which I guess I’m not, now, huh, Ms. Sapphic?)

You can still call me Chris-- it’s gender-neutral, yeah? It almost feels like fate.

Oh, Mother Sappho, I think that this feels right.

Thanks, and-- good night, Mother Sappho.

 -

(Good night.)

#my stuff #my poetry #sapphic stuff #ocs

[lydiaandarry]

{5 Cartoons That Could Possibly Survive a Live Action TV Remake}

Hello there!

My name is Arabella but you can call me Arry, if it’s easier. I don’t know about you but I basically grew up on cartoons. And it seems to be a new craze in television history for cartoons to be remade into new adaptations for a new audience. It doesn’t surprise me that cartoons are the main source for this as they are noticeable. Recently, Riverdale and Sabrina: The Teenage Witch have been remade into CW Television Shows. And while I find Riverdale to not be that great of adaptation and murder of character. I have heard more nicer things about Sabrina: The Teenage Witch yet never watched it. Despite this and me thinking this television shows have not survived their live-action adaptations. I will be listing five cartoons that I think could survive a Live-Action Adaptation and I will explain my reasoning and how it may be done and also issues that may be concerning. Let’s invade this topic!

(Scooby Doo)

      My favorite cartoon of all time, Scooby Doo. I am nineteen years old and I have yet to grow out of Scooby Doo and probably never will. It is reaching its 50th year anniversary this year and is still a cult classic. We have had four (not including Daphne & Velma) live-action films that have featured Scooby Doo but we are talking about television shows here. I personally think that Scooby Doo could do better as a live-action television show because you can get multiple mysteries, more monsters and the characters will receive more development. You can also have guest star characters such as The Hex Girls. Yet I have my doubts due to how poorly Archie has been transformed with Riverdale. I feel like Scooby Doo will help avoid stereotypes and forced diverse tropes. As the gang is one of the most diverse group of characters ever. It would be extra amazing if they added in the 60’s-70’s fun charm that the cartoon had. And of course, kept it light-hearted and fun yet aiming it for more young adults and less-so teenagers and children. This will open doors. After watching Daphne & Velma, I do have concerns with forced diversity that may murder the characters as Daphne and Velma did not portray either character accurately. In the name of forcing female empowerment yet ignoring the female empowerment that is there. Fred is the brave, kind-hearted, hilarious and slightly clueless jock who is friends with everyone. Daphne is the fashion-motivated, kick-ass and clumsy popular girl whose greatest value is how quick she finds out things. Velma is the intelligent, sarcastic nerd who is an equal to Fred and fits in perfectly. Shaggy is the hippie who is hilarious, a scaredy cat and athletic who has yet to use more than 1% of his power. And Scooby Doo is the animal sidekick who has character development and has an actual snack named after him. It would make a great television show if done properly and written great.

(The Jetsons)

      I promise, these are not all Hanna-Barbera shows. Except that all of them could be made into wonderful adaptations. The Jetsons is about a futuristic family who live in 2062 that includes George Jetson, a hard-working father. His wife Jane who shops and takes care of the house. His oldest child and only daughter, Judy whose a teenage girl and slightly rebellious. And his youngest child and only son Elroy whose an intelligent kid. And their dog Astro and robot Rosie. Non-surprisingly, The Jetsons is actually outdated and nothing like the actual future. This adds a lot of fun aspects with mixing vintage and newly futuristic ideas. While introducing new concepts into the already existing plot. The Jetsons unfortunately was limited due to animation budget and short-running time with only two seasons that they weren’t able to expand the universe. I feel as if, a new revival of the show could potentially expand the universe and make the characters a bit more realistic. As they are your average futuristic family who can go through relatable issues while keeping with the theme. They could also embark on making Judy more fashion-forward and gifting us unique character designs for the character. As I know that Judy was my favorite character and definitely someone that I could relate to. And of course, keeping the 60’s charm and having more humor. Less dramatics for TV Remakes please! Embrace the humor. And sci-fi is definitely still selling in pop culture and with the graphics we have nowadays, The Jetsons would look absolutely stunning compared to what would have happened if they had perhaps made one in the past. Again, it all comes down to casting and writing. The real-life aesthetics of The Jetsons would be beautiful cinematography wise. It may seem a bit more impossible due to how high a budget would probably have to be to achieve most of the futuristic aspects like flying cars and in the air scenery. Yet the best thing to take advantage of with The Jetsons is how vintage the futuristic aspects are, they can really use a retro futuristic vibe. The Jetson’s futuristic isn’t on the same level as Star Wars or even typical Sci-fi. The effects do not need to be overly complicated as it is mostly dependant on vibe and charm. They could very much go for an Indie vibe where it could be made with a low budget. Choosing style and substance over realism and overdone effects.

(The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy)

     Hear me out, as this is a weird one. I grew up with The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and I lowkey blame it for my dark sense of humor. Mandy was one of those unique characters whose clothes did not match her personality whatsoever. Billy was humorous with how stupid yet straightforward he was. And Grim is… I relate to Grim in my old age. This show was such a creative premise to young me that like I adored it. Of course, I loved all things creepy. But seeing that Billy and Mandy and the other young characters were only 9, it is a realization that it may be physically impossible to have a live-action show where the young actors could react in a way similar to let’s say Mandy and Nergal Jr. However after some consideration, I realized that as this will probably be a revamped version, that they could age up the characters. And we could see how Mandy, Billy and the rest have developed into older ages. This of course brings up a lot of new ideas and concepts, new plotlines, and new character developments. Aging them to be teenagers and even young adults can add a more mature theme while keeping the dark humor. It can be darker yet still keep the fun and theatrical side. As it would no longer be targeted to young children but more so, the audience who grew up with the show. Seeing how our childhood characters have grown up to be near our ages. This could bring up more conflicts, relationships, and dynamics. Especially because a popular ship is Mandy and Billy as they are older, so it would be interesting to see if that would come to screen and if they would be compatible being at least ten years older at most. And of course, the graphics would absolutely fantastic since we have ways to make CGI look realistic and would bring on the creep factor. And perhaps, they could even give Nergal Jr more of a character and more humorous scenes. It could survive a TV Remake in this sense because it would be more so, a sequel and they would be working on newer material and not trying to perfect older material which may come in handy with writing.

(Totally Spies)

     If anyone asked me what my three favorite girl-based cartoons were as a child, I would always respond with, “Powerpuff Girls, Bratz, and Totally Spies”. Totally Spies was my ultimate dream television show, they were my Charlie’s Angels before I discovered Charlie’s Angels. Even in my youth, they were relatable. And I don’t care what anyone says, Totally Spies was ahead of its time and very diverse. You had Clover, the fashion-forward girl with a sassy personality and although her flaw was being shallow, she usually always learned her lesson. Sam, the introverted and intelligent one of the group who figures things out quickly yet is too quick to trust others. Alex, the hilarious and tough one who has problems with being invisible. They were feminine and kick-ass and taught me that I shouldn’t be ashamed to be into clothes or hair or makeup as I could still kick ass. I think Totally Spies has the diversity that Hollywood is looking for as they will not have to force anything into the mix, it can be a relatable and humorous show about three girls who are best friends and spies. They can have awesome character designs, great dialog, and mix realistic issues into the fictional issues of being a teenage spy. While also showing girl power and how to handle evil people. While also bringing back former fashion trends, especially the 70’s that Totally Spies is known for. With cool costumes and cool gadgets. This would be a kick-ass show when given the right humor, writing, casting and charm. No one can prove to me otherwise.

(Daria)

    I am ending this on a rather tricky note as this television show really depends. With the other ones, they’re classics but changes can be made. Daria was ahead of its time and has relatable humor that even fits now. I remember discovering Daria when I was fifteen and going through a tough time and she really learnt to accept myself and my sense of humor. Now while Daria is being rebooted and I have lots of issues with the reboot before it has even come out like the fact it’s called “Daria & Jodie” when Jane Lane was a bigger character than Jodie yet they just ignore her because diversity. I do think if they were to reboot Daria properly, a live-action television show could be great. It will give a new element to the already great show. Of course, casting Daria would be rather hard as you need someone who can remain likeable yet still have a sarcastic aura. And Jane, the slightly more expressive witty best friend. And of course, Trent, the hot older brother of Jane who should have gotten with Daria! Daria is a great show for all ages, especially teenagers to young adults as it really shows the humor of common high school stereotypes. While keeping the complexity of each stereotype in its sense. A lot of Daria’s quotes still hit a string with me to this day. Especially the one where she is at college open-house and responds to the woman asking what goals she has, “My goal is to not wake up at 40 with the bitter realization that I’ve wasted my life on a job that I hate because I was forced to decide on a career in my teens”. That quote still stays by me as I am nineteen now and it’s like my life motto at the moment. And a live-action Daria could play off the nostalgia and have a lot of older watchers which will make it more money than a reboot that may destroy the characters for the sake of diversity. And forgets the true importance of Jodie. I would rather watch a live-action television show than a reboot cartoon as reboots never go well in cartoons.

    Well, that was five cartoons that I feel can survive a live-action remake and how they could. Keep in mind that everything you just read is my opinion and I am not asking Hollywood to look at my post and make all of these into live-action television shows. As the thought of that frightens me. Yet I feel like with the right cast and writers, it can be done. Thank you for reading my post. If you like my post, feel free to follow our Tumblr as I write posts on every Wednesday and Saturday similar to this one. And also feel free to like or reblog the post. I’ll see you on Wednesday! Peace out!  

#television shows #live action remake #post #scooby doo #the jetsons #hanna barbera #the grim adventures of billy and mandy #cartoon network #totally spies #girl power #female empowerment #daria #my opinion #cartoon characters

[raisanenwrites]

StarCon Or Bust

“Aliens can't really exist, can they?” The emphasis of his last two words essentially canceled out the man's skepticism. Already, his paradoxical nature was apparent. The fact that they were on their way to a sci-fi convention should have denoted a certain willingness to believe in such entities.

Earlier, LaJohn had seen a man standing in front of a car on the shoulder of the road, and he wouldn't have stopped if the man hadn't been holding a cardboard sign which proclaimed “StarCon or bust!” Pulling over easily onto the shoulder and stopping just a few feet before the man who was now jumping in place from apparent giddiness, LaJohn rolled down his window. By the time his window was down, the slightly overweight white man was already there, panting his thanks and making his introduction.

“Hey! Thanks for stopping. I was on my way to StarCon when my car stalled out and I had to pull over.” Without giving LaJohn a moment to speak, he continued. “My name is Steve Dreiberg. Pleased to meet ya.”

Periodically glancing in the rear-view mirror at Steve, LaJohn took in fully the details of the man he had picked up on the side of the road.  Almost a stereotype, he was a Caucasian with slightly curly brown hair that, if straightened, would most likely go down to the middle of his ears; his face was freckled around his cheeks and on his forehead, which actually formed a kind of frame around the frame of his horn-rimmed glasses. He had on a yellow shirt which read “StarCon '06” which told LaJohn that Steve was a regular.

He was also the type of person who rambled on and on about every little thing, but mostly trivia. Already in the last ten minutes he had covered a few topics, from what he had done after his car stalled to previous conventions he had attended, and finally to Star Trek and Star Wars, which had prompted the question of belief.

Finally, after being asked such a question, LaJohn looked over to his son in the passenger seat, and even though he seemed to be blocking out the conversation by staring out the window, he had no doubt that Jordan was still listening.

“You know what?” LaJohn replied. “I think it's entirely possible for aliens to exist. Look at how many stars there are. Each star has its own planetary system, and at least one from each of them has to be similar to Earth. The mathematics about this don't lie, you know?” He looked into the rear-view mirror again, seeing that Steve was eating it all up. “Even if there aren't other planets like Earth, I'm sure that life would find a way to make up a race to live.”

“Yeah, I've heard that before, but I wanted to see where you stand on the issue. Like, sort of a test, man. I mean, can you believe how many people watch shows like Star Trek and don't believe in even the possibility of aliens?”

  LaJohn wasn't thrilled at the prospect of being tested on his willingness to believe in aliens, but he figured that Steve was harmless. Jordan had shot his father a look that suggested he thought the guy in the back might be crazy, but LaJohn ignored it. He looked into the rear-view mirror once again to the sleeping man directly behind him.

Atith, LaJohn's best friend from work, had fallen asleep with his earbuds in and snuggled up inside his hooded sweatshirt, which concealed much of his face. Atith was about ten years younger than LaJohn, but they had become friends relatively quickly over science fiction shows and fantasy games. LaJohn envied Atith his sleep and continued down the highway.

Several hours, and several conversations, later, they finally made it to the off-ramp to Sacramento, where the convention was always held. Atith awoke while they were still on the highway and had introduced himself to Steve, and he didn't even seem bothered by the man's distinctive personality. It was early dusk when they finally arrived at the hotel that they were staying at. Steve hauled his belongings out of the back of the van, said his goodbyes with promises of meeting up during the convention, and went to the front desk to check into his room.

LaJohn and company followed suit a few short minutes later.

#prince of new york #prince of new york: god eater #time fracture saga

[exxar1]

Chapter 13: Ambassador Kosh, The Smoking Caterpillar, And Six Months Saved

3/16/2021

            One of my favorite sci-fi shows from the 1990s is Babylon-5. It takes place on a space station in neutral territory between various warring alien and human empires in the mid twenty-third century. One of the alien characters, Ambassador Kosh, is fond of asking those around him, “Who are you?” Kosh is a Vorlon, a mysterious, cryptic species who’s true physical nature is hidden from others by an elaborate encounter suit. No one has ever been to their homeworld, and the Vorlons rarely interact with other species around them, so when one asks “Who are you?”, it’s a significant question that implies a need for an honest, significant, soul-searching answer.

           That is a question I’ve been asking myself a lot these past few months. This week is the six month anniversary of my salvation. Looking back, it feels like I’ve crossed a gulf wider and deeper than the Grand Canyon. September 17th seems like almost a lifetime ago. And yet, it also feels like it was just yesterday. So much has changed in my life, and yet so much is still the same.

           The other day I was looking back over my previous log entries from this new journey. The one from October 10th leaped out at me as I reread it:

            “I just recently realized how much we change throughout our adult lives as we get older. Those passions and desires and things that interest us and consume our time when we’re in our twenties are not necessarily the same passions, desires, and things that we care about in our forties, or our fifties, or our sixties. We as people are not just flesh and blood. We are conscious, thinking, emotional, intellectual human beings, and the parts of us that make us who we are are those passions, desires, interests, and things that we care about. It’s what makes me me.

             Some of those qualities can be defined as hobbies or interests, the things that I do in my spare time or what I’m passionate about in life. The fact that I have always been a science fiction fan, for example, or my writing. Other qualities can be emotional, or intellectual, or parts of me that aren’t necessarily physical. The fact that I’m gay, for example; or that I love to read, or that I’m an introvert, or that I once used to be an Atheist.

           In other words, those things that make up who we are as an individual human being, that define us to the world and to other people around us, are not always constant or unchanging. And that’s what I had never realized until now. I have always been happy living my life on my own, by my own terms, and I found peace in being alone. I have never felt the need to have that “special someone” in my life, but now, for reasons I cannot explain, I’m no longer content with that. I think this is why so many people at this point in their mid-lives have a crisis. They buy a new car or get divorced or change careers. Perhaps my loneliness is nothing more than a mid-life crisis?”

           At the time, I was attributing all my recent angst and internal unrest to aging, but now I recognize this for what it really was – and still is: sanctification. (or maybe it’s a little of both.) 2 Corinthians 5:17, one of the first verses that I had memorized long, long ago in Sunday school, says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” It’s one thing to know about a process, but quite another thing entirely to actually experience that process firsthand.

           Who am I?

           My name is Neal Timothy Jones, I was born on June 4, 1978, I currently weigh 205 lbs., stand at a glorious height of 5’5”, have blue eyes, brown hair – which I’m very slowly but surely losing (more than in the back than the front, I’d say), and a goatee that is now more silver than brown. My favorite color is blue. I’m a brother, a son and an uncle, but not a father or a husband. I was born and raised in Twin Falls, Idaho, and I’m an introvert. I’m often shy, quiet, used to have a hard time speaking up for myself and was afraid to be myself for fear of ridicule and shame. I’m a sci-fi fan (Star Trek in particular) and an avid Super Mario Brothers player. (If that was an Olympic sport I would hold a gold medal for most games conquered and exceptional fire flower skill.) I also read a lot, and, lately, I have a very hard time shutting off my brain. I’m always overthinking, overanalyzing, and overly critical of both myself and those around me.

           My favorite food is Italian, especially pizza and pasta (hence the 205 pounds), and I despise coconut. I mean, like really, really hate it. Whoever decided that shredded coconut should be a topping on desserts should be strung up by their apron strings and crucified in their kitchen. Coconut – especially shredded coconut – has absolutely no taste for one, and for two, it has all the texture of grass. It’s vile and disgusting.

           I have type 2 diabetes, and I’m a good twenty-five pounds overweight. I’ve always hated exercise. Yes, I enjoyed running around the playground and being outdoors in general when I was a kid, but I hated organized sports. I suffered one year of soccer in 7th grade because my parents insisted I needed to get out and do something besides always being alone under a tree with a book in between classes. (I think they were worried about my anti-social behavior far more than they actually let on.) That one year led to a life long revulsion of sports in general. Seriously, I don’t get it. Running up and down a field, chasing a ball or trying to make a goal – *yawn*. So overrated.

           Also, for that matter, is competition. I’m probably the least competitive person anyone knows. I really couldn’t care less whether or not my coworkers beat me in upsells and product promotions. I don’t give a damn if my friends or family make more money than I do. I have no desire to rise the corporate ladder and be king of my local branch. I don’t really care what my house looks like on the outside compared to my neighbors. Nor do I give a rat’s ass if my car is the nicest one in the neighborhood. (And, frankly, given the neighborhood I currently live in, I most definitely do not want a super nice car that would attract nearby thieves.) I really do just march to the beat of my own drum, and if you’d like join me, great! If not, oh well. You do your own thing, and you be you. I’m not going to care one way or the other.

           Who am I?

           I’m gay. Or, rather, I was. Or maybe I still am. I honestly don’t know. And that’s been my problem lately. Clear back in September, right after I was saved, I was sure of two things: one, that I was saved and new child of God, and two, that I was gay. In just six months, though, I’m not so sure of that latter one anymore.

           It’s funny how we sometimes take one thing in our lives – our marriage, our job, our sexuality, or maybe that one hobby or spare time interest – and we build our whole self-identity around that. For me, it was being gay. That was who I was, and I centered my entire self-identity around that one thing as soon as I left high school. After I left the Army, after returning home to Twin Falls and enrolling at the College of Southern Idaho, I immediately joined the Gay-Straight Alliance on campus. I spoke up for gay rights, and I even helped organize a petition for a gay float in the local Western Days parade. (I honestly can’t remember if we ever really accomplished that or not. I do remember the city council not being very happy with our little request.)

           I watched pretty much anything on TV that had gay stories and/or main characters. Shows like Will & Grace, Queer As Folk, and Six Feet Under were my favorites.  Same for the movies. Hollywood was my religion, the local cineplex my church. Celebrities like Ellen Degeneres were my idols, and I did my best to follow their wisdom and lifestyles. Throughout college and my early adult life afterwards, whenever I introduced myself to new friends and co-workers, I was quick to let them know I was gay. I was proud of that, and anyone who disagreed with that or tried to tell me I was wrong for living that way would quickly get shut down by my new, independent spirit and debating skills. I bought t-shirts with slogans like “I don’t even think straight” or which just had the symbol of the rainbow flag on the front.

           Everything else was secondary, and when my life moved online to social media, I made sure to put my sexual orientation front and center on all my bios. I connected even more to the greater national gay community by joining Facebook pages that promoted gay rights, and I followed many gay activists and celebrities on Twitter and Instagram. In recent years, especially after moving to Las Vegas, I did quiet down a little with the in-your-face attitude, due more to aging than anything else. It was no longer that important than every single new friend or co-worker know right away that I was gay. Instead of announcing it with the first handshake, I let the subject come up organically in regular conversation. I also purchased Apple watch bands made in rainbow colors or plastic bracelets of the same design to wear as a silent testimony of my proud lifestyle.

           Who am I?

           One of my favorite scenes in Disney’s Alice In Wonderland is the one where Alice is confronted by the smoking caterpillar. He repeatedly demands of the young, lost and confused heroine, “Who. Are. You?” (Each word is punctuated by a perfectly shaped ring of cartoon smoke.)

           In recent weeks and months, there have been days when I have stood in front of the mirror above my bathroom sink, looking at my reflection with puzzlement and curiosity, asking that very same question. Some days, I have felt like a true warrior of God, leaping from bed, excited to rush into the world and live the truth of Christ. Other days, I have felt small and weak, and conflicted, and wondering why I have kept giving in to the old lust of the flesh and breaking my vow of celibacy. (Yes, even just giving in to old desires and lusts in the mind’s eye are a sin in the presence of God. It doesn’t necessarily have to go as far as an actual, physical act with another man.)

           One evening, about three weeks ago, as I got ready for bed, I was reflecting on my day. It was one of those mediocre days, not too bad, but not really exciting or exceptional either. I was feeling a little down and discouraged, but I couldn’t say exactly why. I sat on the edge of my bed, lost in thought, and tracing absently with my right index finger the outline of the tattooed cross on my left bicep. Since the tattoo was barely a week old, most of it was still one large scab, and I had been fighting the recent urge to pick at it. I glanced down and saw the plastic rainbow bracelet on my right wrist, right next to the other bracelet with white stars and a blue strip on a black background.

           As if by some spiritual instinct, I reached out with my left hand and pulled that rainbow bracelet off. I held it up, examining it for a few moments, and then I opened the drawer of my nightstand. I tossed the bracelet inside and shut the drawer. I sat for a minute or two, thinking about what I had just done, and then I got up and marched across the hall into my office. I opened the bottom left drawer of my desk and rifled through the several dozen Apple watch bands that have accumulated there over the last few years. I pulled out all the ones that were rainbow striped or rainbow colored. I threw them in the trash. I also threw away the bag of rainbow bracelets (they had been 20 for $5 on Amazon). I turned out the light and shut the office door.

           I went to bed that night feeling more at peace than when I had first asked Jesus into my heart just a few months before.

           The next day, during my lunch break at Walmart, I went through all my social media accounts and removed the word ‘gay’ from my bios, as well as any emoji symbols such as the rainbow flag. That, too, felt right. I was now just ‘Christian’, not ‘gay Christian.’

           I’m still honestly not sure what this means. Part of me has felt utterly terrified, as if I’m erasing more than just part of who I’ve been for all my adult life. The one thing that was the core of my self-identity has been essentially wiped away, as if God was one of the workers in the amusement park of Westworld, another of my favorite shows. In that not-so-distant future setting, the human-like androids are often re-programmed by the park’s engineers to change their personalities or even their entire character to match whatever new story is going to be enacted for the park’s biological visitors and tourists. Ever since my salvation, I have often felt that God is reprogramming me in the same way, erasing parts of the old sinful self and rewriting new software, giving me a new core identity. Right now, that process of sanctification has only just begun, and, hence, there are days when I don’t quite know what to call myself. Yes, I’m a Christian. Yes, I am a child of God. But I feel like there should be more than just that. I feel like the loss of my old identity means that that I also have nowhere to belong; there is currently no new community in which I can plug myself in order to have the same sense of friendship and comradery that I once had with my fellow gays.

           And yes, I know what you’re already saying to your phone or computer screen as you read this: “Neal,” you say, “just being a child of God is enough. Just calling yourself a Christian is enough. That is the new community that you now belong to.”

           Yeah, I know. But, at the same time, I still feel incomplete. Don’t ask me why. I feel like those Lego sets I used to play with as a kid. My favorites were the spaceships, especially the really big ones that came with about two hundred individual pieces. I liked those the best because I had the choice of either building the ship pictured on the front of the box, or I could assemble a different ship entirely using the same pieces but fitting them together in different ways. I feel like God is doing that with me right now. He’s completely disassembled me from the inside out, and his Spirit is slowly and gradually reassembling me into something totally new.

           Part of me wishes He would just hurry the hell up and get to the finished product already! Why is He taking so long?? But the other part of me – the part that I am slowly coming to recognizing as the voice of the Holy Spirit is gently, firmly reminding me that this process can take a lifetime; that I need to learn to be patient and wait upon the Lord.

           Who am I?

           I am ALL of those things that I listed above – yes, even the homosexual. God hasn’t changed that completely. But that particular Lego piece is now on the worktable with all the others. And I no longer feel a need to advertise to anyone and everyone that I am still gay. For now, I am just ‘Christian.’ And I’m looking for a church family where I can truly belong.

           I recently finished reading a book that dealt with this exact topic. The author is Greg Coles, someone I’ve mentioned before in these posts. The book is titled No Longer Strangers: Finding Belonging in a World of Alienation. There are many, many lovely and beautiful passages in the book where Greg gives his own testimony of finding his place in his particular part of the world and his church community after coming out as a gay Christian in 2017. But there are two passages, specifically, that I found most inspirational in my own journey of trying to find the church family in which God wants to place me. I’ve already posted them on my social media, but I’m going to quote them again here.

           The first is from Chapter 5: Hide and Seek:

            “But God—the real God—has only ever been interested in loving us, in redeeming us, in transforming us. He has no interest in an army of clones, a horde of wax figures and cardboard cutouts sent to approach him in bold unanimity while his heterogeneous flesh-and-blood children crouch in the shadows.

Those of us who love Jesus are indeed called to find our paramount identity in him. Every other identity is placed in submission to Christ, upturned and radically reordered by the logic of the kingdom of God. But our particularities are not erased in the process. We are not recycled paper, blended into a pulp and recast as a blank sheet. We are a painted canvas in the hands of a master restorer, painstakingly cleansed and healed and remade until we finally become the irreplicable artwork we were always intended to be.”

           That ‘irreplicable artwork’ is what I cannot wait to see! That’s what I’m eagerly waiting for – that finished masterpiece. But I also know from the testimonies of my parents and Pastor Mark, as well as ones that I’ve read online from other Christian authors, is that there is a real possibility that I might never see that completely finished work; that God, in His infinite wisdom and grace, is never entirely finished with us. And that’s okay too. That’s what I need to recognize and reconcile with right now. The old saying really is sometimes true: it’s the journey that matters more than the destination. But, along the way, God does not want me to just melt into His crowd, to be one more clone in the Christian army. Instead, as Greg points out, God wants each of us to stand out, to share our unique gifts and talents with the body of Christ and with the world around us. We need to shine for Him, and we can’t do that if we just hide away, afraid to be more than just another smiling face in the crowd.

The other passage, the one that brought me to tears, was the final paragraphs of the book:

             “I am my Beloved’s. He is mine. We belong in one another, with one another, to one another. We always will. We’re not going anywhere.

             I’m not the only one making these vows with heaven, to be sure. A symphony of voices joins mine in the air. The song includes married folks as well as celibates like me, straight and gay and everything else. Our choir represents every race, every language, every nation.

             But despite the grandeur of the choir, Christ still hears and responds to each individual voice. He isn’t content to declare his affection for us in form letters and megaphone announcements. He whispers to us one by one, into your ear and mine, exchanging promises of love. As long as these promises remain true—as long as our fragile memories can hold them—home will never be further than a whisper in our ears, never further than an ink drop beneath our skin. We are loved. And because we are loved, we belong.”

           I have re-read that passage so many times over the last couple weeks, savoring it like piece of gold, a treasure of beauty and real wisdom. Greg’s completely right. Not only does God want us, just as we are, no matter how broken, how lost, or how sinful, but He also wants for us to belong in Him, and Him alone. This small piece of wisdom seems at once so simple and yet so complex. I have had to remind myself almost every day, especially those days when I’m feeling lonely, or a little lost, or discouraged because the church that I had hoped was going to be my new home didn’t work out after all, that I am first and foremost a child of God. I belong only – and solely – in Him. I need to understand that that is all that matters right now. The rest will come in time. Perhaps once I have understood and fully absorbed this first and important truth, then God will begin providing unto me the rest of his desired blessings and, especially, belonging within a new church family.

           As a result of these blog posts, I have had the immense blessing and pleasure of reconnecting with old friends who had once taught and reared me when I was that stubborn, contrary, rebellious kid who gave out more sass and disrespect than a Las Vegas drag queen in a nightclub. One of those friends shared a quote by Leonard Ravenhill with me a few days ago that immediately touched my heart. I printed it off and taped it to the bottom frame of one of my computer monitors in my home office.

“Great eagles fly alone; great lions hunt alone; great souls walk alone – alone with God!”

             The friend who shared this helped me to see that same truth that Greg pointed out in that second passage that I quoted above. It’s okay for me to stand apart from the crowd – Christian or otherwise. It’s okay for me to continue marching on my own. The only difference between my old life and this new, blessed one is that God is now marching beside me. He has changed the beat of my drum, and He has “…begun a good work” in me, as Paul says Philippians 1:6, and that work will not be completed until “…the day of Jesus Christ.” But, if I’m honest, I will say that, on most days, I don’t feel like the lion or the eagle. Not just yet. I feel more like a church mouse from a Beatrix Potter tale, crouching in the shadow of my Lord and Savior, and letting Him do His thing on my behalf.

               One of my other favorite quotes that has had a special significance to me these last few months is by Socrates. He once stated, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” I think God would agree, and the best form of self examination should always start with the following question:

                Who am I?

#Christian #spirituality #gay #personal growth #sanctification

[the-desolated-quill]

Black Panther - Quill’s Quickies (No Spoilers)

Going into this movie, I had mixed feelings to say the least. On the one hand, I was excited because we’re finally getting a Black Panther movie. I read some of the comics when I was younger and remember really enjoying them, plus the character was one of the best things about Captain American: Civil War. On the other hand, I was a little apprehensive because... well... it’s a fucking Marvel movie.

It’s no secret how much I’ve grown to dislike the Marvel Cinematic Universe over the years due to how homogenised and formulaic their films and TV shows have become. I thought Marvel’s offerings last year in particular were pretty dire. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 I personally thought was about as entertaining as tripping over and breaking your jaw on a doorframe, Spider-Man Homecoming has got to be one of the most shallow and vapid movies I think I’ve ever experienced, Iron Fist was a boring and convoluted mess, The Defenders was a total waste of time containing more padding then a king-size mattress, and The Punisher I basically just lost interest in about halfway through.

In my opinion, Marvel has become a giant soulless sequel factory, churning out more and more mediocre crap as if it were on a conveyor belt rather than actually putting in the effort to create content people might actually want to see (I mean seriously, who the fuck is actually interested in Ant-Man And The Wasp? The most positive thing I’ve ever heard anyone say about the first movie was ‘meh, the shrinking scenes were okay, i guess’). Not to mention all the other shady and bigoted bullshit that goes on behind the scenes (coughDoctorStrangecough). So did I have reason to believe they would fuck up Black Panther? Yes, I think so. Which is why it came as an overwhelmingly pleasant surprise to find that not only did they not fuck up Black Panther, but it could also be my new favourite superhero movie of all time.

Let’s not beat around the bush any longer. I LOVE this movie! Hell, I practically worship it! And there are multiple reasons for that. For starters, there’s none of the usual crap you normally get in Marvel movies. No pointless fanwank. No mention of those poxy Infinity Stones or any of that other convoluted rubbish that I’ve long since stopped caring about. While this does continue certain thematic elements and character arcs established in Civil War, Black Panther is largely a standalone entity that works independently from the rest of the MCU clusterfuck. But I think what makes Black Panther stand head and shoulders above the rest of its brethren is that, unlike most recent movies, this one actually has something important and worthwhile to say, and it does it in a very unique, intelligent and compelling way.

I almost feel guilty for not having more faith in Ryan Coogler going into this because he’s done an exceptional job as director. The level of care and attention to detail is truly extraordinary. When I got my first glimpse at Wakanda on the big screen, I gasped. It’s so breathtakingly beautiful. Plus, rather than going down the generic sci-fi route like Guardians Of The Galaxy and Thor have done, Coogler has actually taken the time to really expand and intricately construct this society. This same level of care has also been applied to the characters, who feel like real people as opposed to one dimensional, joke spewing machines (coughAnt-Mancough). You can tell that Coogler and everyone else involved in this film are really passionate about what they’re doing and that they want to give us more than just the standard good vs evil plot we’ve seen done so many times before. Black Panther isn’t your average superhero movie. It’s an introspective character piece that utilises the Afrofuturism sub-genre to explore what it means to be black in the modern world, dealing with themes such as oppression, isolationism, freedom and autonomy.

Chadwick Boseman gives yet another great performance as T’Challa as we see him struggle with his new-found responsibilities as King of Wakanda as well as his residual feelings of grief over his father’s death (without giving away too much, sons trying to live up to fathers’ ideals play a big part in this movie and is quite possibly the main driving force behind the narrative). Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis reprise their roles as Everett K Ross and Ulysses Klaue respectively and give predictably good performances, as does Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya as W’Kabi and Winston Duke as M’Baku.

Do you know what else this film has that most MCU movies don’t? Strong black women! Oh thank the Maker! You’ve got Angela Bassett as T’Challa’s mum Ramonda and Danai Gurira as royal bodyguard Okoye, and both are incredible. Lupita Nyong’o plays Black Panther’s love interest Nakia and she’s brilliant too. She’s not just a prize for the male hero to win at the end. She actually has her own arc and character outside of just being the girlfriend, which is nice. But the breakout star is Letitia Wright as Black Panther’s sister Shuri. What a great role model for black girls! She’s funny, bubbly and insanely clever, crafting a lot of her big brother’s tech. Wright injects so much personality into the part that you can’t help but love her. I hope this film leads to bigger and better things for her in the future because she is truly amazing.

Finally there’s Michael B Jordan as the film’s primary antagonist Erik Killmonger. Now Marvel has always had a bit of a villain problem. Most have been generic, uninspired non-threats that simply aren’t interesting to watch. Killmonger feels like a breath of fresh air. Not only is he not a generic baddie, the film also takes the time to really get to the heart of this character. There are moments where we get to see Killmonger at his most vulnerable and sensitive, and while his actions are both shocking and violent, they come come from a very raw and emotional place. It’s hard for me to really convey why I love this character so much without going into spoilers, but trust me. He is one of the most unique and compelling antagonists ever to come out of the MCU, and Michael B Jordan does an incredible job bringing him to life.

There’s so much I want to talk about, but I really don’t want to spoil the film for you. If you haven’t already, you NEED to watch Black Panther as soon as possible. It’s one of the most powerful and intelligent comic book movies I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching, and the fact that it’s come from Marvel of all places makes it all the more remarkable for me. It reminds me of why I love cinema and storytelling as an art form so much, and I’m so happy that this incredible film has given black people vital and empowering representation in the cinematic landscape as well as providing a much needed voice for them. This is one of the most culturally significant movies ever to come out in recent memory and you’d be a fool to miss it.

#black panther #marvel cinematic universe #quill's quickies #no spoilers

[aion-rsa]

What Star Wars Games Can Learn From The Mandalorian

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The Mandalorian isn’t just one of the best TV shows in recent years and the best reason to subscribe to Disney+ this side of The Simpsons. For many fans, it’s a show that has reinvigorated their love of Star Wars.

As someone who has previously lamented the decline of Star Wars video games over the years, it’s that aspect of the show that fascinates me most. What has The Mandalorian figured out that recent Star Wars games still haven’t? What is it about The Mandalorian that turns even jaded fans into believers?

While The Mandalorian may not hold all of the answers, Star Wars video games could still learn a few things from the live-action TV series when it comes to how to tell exciting modern stories in the galaxy far, far away.

Please Use Jedi Responsibly

Early into The Mandalorian‘s run, there were heated discussions regarding whether or not the show should feature Jedi. A similar debate has been going on in the gaming world for years following the cancellation of titles like Star Wars 1313 and Project Ragtag, which promised large-scale Star Wars adventures with hardly a Jedi in sight.

As The Mandalorian‘s latest episode (the appropriately titled “The Jedi”) showed us, the debate on the use of Jedi in Star Wars stories isn’t always an “all or nothing” proposition. That episode featured a notable Jedi in a prominent role but used the character in a way that took full advantage of both their individual motivations and the greater role of a Jedi in this universe.

Too many Star Wars games have treated Jedi as convenient video game protagonists in a medium often obsessed with action. The Mandalorian shows how you can feature Jedi that feel impactful without needing to always be the focus.

Tell Intimate Stories That Don’t Depend on Easter Eggs

The Star Wars universe really is a blessing and a curse. It’s both one of the most complete and fascinating mythological creations in Western pop culture and an albatross that burdens storytellers with unreasonable expectations.

The Mandalorian has (so far) found a way around this issue by telling stories that could honestly often work even if they didn’t take place in the Star Wars universe. When the show does dive deeper into Star War mythos, it often uses them to spice up a story you’re inherently invested in rather than trying to stretch those flavors into an entire meal.

There may not be a universal solution to the Star Wars universe problem, but if there is, it lies in telling stories that benefit from being in the Star Wars universe but don’t always depend on it. The story of a father and son on a journey of self-discovery is universal, whether it be in samurai adventures like Lone Wolf and Cub or seminal video games like God of War. That emotional core is the show’s true strength, not the fact that it’s full of easter eggs and references to the old movies we love.

Keep the Tone Grounded (But Not Necessarily Dark)

There’s an increasingly popular belief (at least among the most vocal online fans) that the only “mature” storytelling is “dark” storytelling. For them, anything not packed with violence, adult language, and perhaps even a dash of nudity is handling us with kid’s gloves.

Yet, The Mandalorian tells what feels like one of the most “mature” Star Wars stories in years while sticking within the confines of a TV-14 rating. How? It’s all about the way the show keeps its tone grounded. Fantastical things do happen in The Mandalorian, but all within the confines of the show’s own logic.

Mando isn’t a larger-than-life hero like Luke Skywalker, or one who is even completely all-good. He’s still a bounty hunter and a mercenary and showed at the start of the series that he’d work for the Empire if the job paid a good deal of beskar. Mando’s world isn’t governed by the good vs. evil conflict that ties the film saga together. There’s a lot more gray area in the Outer Rim, and that’s what makes this story feel unique.

1313, which starred Boba Fett, and Ragtag, a game about a band of thieves, seemed poised to explore this grayness before they were cancelled. Maybe this is a direction Electronic Arts could revive now that it’s told several stories about good vs. evil?

Give Us a Protagonist Who’s Easy to Love

This may sound simple enough, but it’s a concept that’s eluded so many modern Star Wars games that it feels like someone should just spell it out. I really liked Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, but it’s the prime example of a Star Wars game that featured a protagonist whose most interesting quality was being a Jedi. You could replace him with a mannequin and lose very little of what makes that game work.

The Mandalorian‘s two main protagonists remained nameless for much of the series’ run, yet were complex, well-developed, and, above all else, fundamentally likable. There’s no guidebook for creating a likable character, but it’s time to stop settling for Star Wars game protagonists that are little more than functional. Being a Jedi doesn’t immediately make you interesting.

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Look Towards Star Wars’ Real Roots

You don’t have to know much about Star Wars‘ history to know that the original film was heavily influenced by serial sci-fi adventures, Westerns, and the films of Akira Kurosawa. Unfortunately, too many modern Star Wars stories have spent more time being self-referential, with endless callbacks to classic Star Wars movie moments and characters, to bother saying anything new about the universe.

The Mandalorian goes back to Star Wars‘ real roots by telling a tale that is paced and presented more like a Western or samurai movie than a sci-fi epic. That approach stands in stark contrast to recent Star Wars games like Battlefront 2, Jedi: Fallen Order, and Squadrons, which do vary in quality but generally rely more on the inherent appeal of the Star Wars universe rather than cool new uses of classic genres. We need a modern Star Wars game that feels less like a virtual tour through Galaxy’s Edge and more like the visual embodiment of those backyard Star Wars adventures we constructed as kids that went hand in hand with being a cowboy or samurai.

Explore the Non-Traditional Parts of the Star Wars Mythology

You can’t call the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy an outright failure. After all, it made billions of dollars at the box office. But if you do consider it to be one, you can’t blame all of its shortcomings on any one element, although many fans tend to agree that the most recent Star Wars trilogy relied too much on the Skywalker story.

Maybe that was the trilogy’s responsibility to a degree as a continuation of the Original Trilogy, but as recent episodes of The Mandalorian have proven, there are so many well-established corners of the Star Wars universe that are unfairly overlooked due to a misguided belief that most people just want stories that remind of them of the original movies. Nostalgia is inherently part of the Star Wars experience but it shouldn’t be the whole experience.

While there are Star Wars games that have explored other areas of the mythology, few of them stray far from the imagery, characters, and plot points that made the franchise popular in the first place.

Hire the Right People Behind the Scenes

I can’t vouch for the filmography of every key creative member of The Mandalorian‘s team, but I can tell you this: most of them were perfectly positioned to make a great Star Wars show. New directors like Bryce Dallas Howard and Carl Weathers, for example, not only bring new voices but talented eyes behind the camera, and they clearly understand what makes this franchise tick.

The fact of the matter is that the right talent makes all the difference. For too long, Star Wars video games have been dictated by market research and what will potentially sell instead of exciting creative voices behind the scenes. Jedi: Fallen Order and Squadrons offered a taste of what’s possible when the right studios get to make a modern Star Wars games, but Respawn shouldn’t be the only team out there being given the privilege.

You could boil this point down to another rant about EA killing Star Wars video games, but the real takeaway should be that great Star Wars stories have typically come from passionate creators put in a position to succeed.

Keep up with all of The Mandalorian season 2 news here.

The post What Star Wars Games Can Learn From The Mandalorian appeared first on Den of Geek.

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