#And i tried to make my comic about my own character Sally. She's living in galactic Cybraen. I'll show it soon until I'll make it. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

beholdthemem · 1 year

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Popped back into tumblr to discover that @thestuffedalligator had tagged me to list one favorite character from ten pieces of media- thank you so much! This was such a fun (and unexpectedly challenging, only ONE character from each?? You're killing me here) thing!

1) Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano from the Percy Jackson books. I loved her from the first chapter she was introduced, and years later I still do. ¡La reina de mi corazon!

2) Eddie Bloomberg/Kid Devil/Red Devil from DC comics. I first encountered this dude at age 11 in a stack of comics somebody had donated to the library, and just kind of imprinted on him- I used to secretly imagine him as like, the big brother I didn't actually have, but desperately wanted. Now matter how bad things sucked, no matter how mean people were, no matter what was going on with him behind the scenes, Eddie always tried his damndest to be the nice, goofy friend that everyone needed while keeping the sinking ship that was the 2003 Titans run together.

Growing older than him was the weirdest thing. 'Oh shit, now I would be his big sister. I would have to, like- drop by the tower all the time to affectionately call him a dipshit, and secretly make sure his teammates weren't being dicks."

3) Syb Rook from NADDPOD's Eldermourne. Their gender is fantasy greaser, their pronouns are they/them/bastard (probably), and they have my undying affection. I love this criminal-with-standards, what-kinda-loser-doesn't-sit-like-A.C.-Slater, multiple-cigars-at-once ass jerk. I miss them so much. Either I need to get wiser about picking plot related favorite characters, or Brian Murphy needs to stop being so good at making side characters to get attached to.

4) Chrissy Cunningham from Stranger Things.

My brave, brave girl.

We saw Chrissy for one episode, and in that time she managed to leave a handprint on my heart the likes of which I have never before experienced. Kudos to her actress, I was living under the impression that I am a stone-cold bitch, and unfortunately it turns out I am NOT. I think what grabbed me most about this girl is that she is silently going through hell, has absolutely nobody she feels that she can safely admit that to, is surrounded by people who love the person they THINK she is and the life they THINK she has, while having never once noticed one real thing about her...

...and she still tries her hardest to be kind.

If she wanted to be a bitch to people, if she wanted to start smashing windows, I would get it. I would probably have done worse in her position. But she doesn't. She's like 'That's my problem, it's nobody else's fault, I don't have the right to take it out on anybody else,' and really tries to back that up. She's genuinely disappointed in herself when she can't remember the name of Eddie's band from six years ago, and makes an effort to try and recall it. When she remembers at last, she's as delighted as Eddie is. She was just... a sweet girl in an awful, lonely situation, and I wanted more than anything to watch her heal from her mother's abuse, recover from her eating disorder, and find people she could be honest with. Who'd be there for her when her family never was.

I would've liked that.

5) Glenda Sugarbean from Discworld, and you CANNOT IMAGINE how hard it was to narrow this down to just one character. What I love about her is that she carries on the grand Pratchett tradition of furiously caring about people when the world hasn't, but unlike Vimes, or Granny Weatherwax, Susan, she has no special power- magical or political- to do it with. All she has is her own two hands, common sense, an unparalleled gift for cookery, and a spine of steel- and she makes it work. She's my hero.

6) Ash Campbell from Sally Face.

A fact about me, which rarely serves me well but has nevertheless been true for as long as I can remember- is that in a fictional friend group that's All Guys, One Girl, I am always going to be ten million times more interested in the girl than I am the dudes. There's tons of dudes. They're interchangeable. You can swap em all out for each other, who cares, talk to me about HER.

What drew her there? What's her relationship like with the others? What's SHE like, period? I wanna know!

The thing with Ash is that intentionally or not, I think she was set up to be a pretty interesting character. We get a lot of offhanded tidbits of information about her that aren't really explored or followed up on, but- when put together- end up painting a very intriguing picture. We know she has difficulty expressing her emotions openly- she has a social, friendly front that might not be a complete fabrication, but that ends up being almost the only one anyone sees publicly. She'll get angry at times, she'll threaten violence and vengeance on her friends' behalf, but when someone's upset rather than angry, she doesn't know how to react. She's got nothing in her emotional toolkit for this.

We know that she doesn't feel comfortable showing a vulnerable side in front of other people, no matter WHO those people are- in chapter 4, she mentions her brother accusing her of being 'some kind of soulless monster' over her lack of tears during their grandmother's funeral. She tries to play this off like a joke, like this was a ridiculous thing to say, but the fact that she brought it up at all seems to indicate it genuinely hurt her. But she still can't say that, even to Sal, who she trusts a lot. She just has to trust that he understands.

Why? Was she always like this, or did something happen to make her feel this way?

We know she has family members in Nockfell, but we never actually see them. She mentions them a lot throughout chapters 3 and 4, but in 5, they never come up- even during the apocalypse. Did they cut contact with her over her years spent trying to prove an alleged murderer was ill instead of malicious? Did she cut contact with them? Were they among the townspeople "replaced", and she doesn't have the luxury of mourning them?

We don't know.

I love her for her potential, because exploring characters that canon didn't care enough to flesh out is my favorite thing to do.

7) Pete Conlan, from Dimension 20's The Unsleeping City. I adore this motherfucker. He is a disaster of a man, trying his level best to be a better person. He desperately wants to be in love, but has the worst taste in women and an undying attraction to English accents/things that are bad for him. As soon as he realizes a small child looks up to him, he immediately starts trying to model himself into a Good Big Brother despite the fact that this small child is probably thousands of years older than him. Irrelevant. Pete wants to be a better role model. I want nothing but good things for him, and someday I'm gonna have to get Dropout and find out what happens to him in Chapter 2.

8) Robbie Reyes from Marvel comics 2015 Ghost Rider, MARVEL, IF YOU DON'T GIVE MY BOY A REGULAR SERIES AGAIN, I SWEAR TO FUCK-

He loves his little brother more than anything else in the world. His parents died, and he stepped the fuck up as a young teenager to make sure the kid would never want for anything. He has an undying passion for nice cars. He only ever indulged this once, for the sake of providing for Gabe while doing one of a limited amount of things he feels he's actually good at it. It almost cost him everything, and all he could think about while facing death was 'I'm so sorry Gabe'. One of his classmates pretended she needed a calculus tutor to trick him into spending a night doing something fun with her because she correctly assumed that the only way she could get him to relax and do something for himself was if he thought he was doing it to help somebody else. He deserves the world.

9) Kohaku from Dr. Stone. She has an incredibly strong sense of justice, she's five foot nothing and still manages to be the group's undisputed tank, and when she heard somebody say he intended to marry her high ranking, chronically ill sister for power and then leave her to die because he didn't feel like taking care of her, she immediately tried to kill him in front of a live audience. A girl after my own heart.

10) Kaldur'ahm from Young Justice. I loved him in middle school, I love him now. I am very happy he now has a relationship with somebody who puts him first, but every time I see his boyfriend I can't help but be like 'Bro, are you SERIOUS?'

'WERE GARTH AND ROY BOTH BUSY?'

'If that's what you want, fine, but I PROMISE YOU HAVE OTHER OPTIONS-'

If you guys are up for it, I tag @sandpancakecat @grimmalkerie @oreozfox @humble-wayside-flower @alwaysatomicconniseur @kyonite @faithluvscabadre and... pretty much anyone else who wants to!

#ed mention #ed cw #like it's brief but i don't wanna blindside anybody #thanks again! this was fun.

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franki-lew-yo · 3 years

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Zero’s Journey: A Synopsis + review

I finally finished reading all of the Nightmare Before Christmas continuation manga series, Zero’s Journey. I’d bought the first volume back in 2018 but forgot about the rest. UNTIL NOW.

As 90% of all disc and previews for this book are just rehashed promo blurbs saying the bare basics of what the comic’s about, I thought it’d be a good to give a brief, but thorough enough synopsis about the plot as well as my overall take and thoughts on it ((spoilers, it’s goooood :> ))

Plot Synopsis

Jack is busy trying to make a single portal between all the holiday worlds work via a weird transportation-portal thing. Zero bothers him until Jack gives in and has Zero fetch one of his ribs. Zero and the rib end up conking into one of the transportation doohickies Jack has lying about and it activates, sending Zero and rib to the Halloween holiday tree circle and falling through the Christmas door.

Jack stops all Halloween production because he misses his little dog (I relate, Jack). Sally finds out Zero is in Christmas Town but the Mayor doesn’t want Jack to go again. Lock, Shock, and Barrel volunteer to retrieve Zero and Jack caves under the pressure and let them go in his place.

In Christmas Town we find that apparently each holiday world has it’s own holiday tree circle, though Christmas Town’s Halloween door doesn’t seem to open for Zero when he tries to return. Zero ends up befriending an owl, named Howly, and his old-lady-elf-supremacist-owner Joelle.

Outside of being weirdly condescending towards other holiday folk (RUDE), Joelle, for some reason, has a book of Christmas Town lore with the implication that Christmas land knew about the existence of other worlds where Halloween was in the dark.

She recommends Zero find Santa so that he may hitch a ride on Santa’s sleigh that coming Christmas eve, which is a few days away.

Zero flies about town for a bit, looking for Santa but being distracted like all doggies would, when he angers a living gingerbread cookie who traps the ghost inside a pot (somehow). The cookie belongs to a HotTopic-tastic emo boy elf who hates Christmas, called Mr. Myzer.

Myzer’s sad because his dog, One, was accidentally ran over one Christmas by some elves on a snow mobile and he blames the holiday for his misfortune. Zero manages to cheer him up by pretending to be his dead dog, and Myzer isn’t incensed by this and lets Zero go.

MEANWHILE Lock, Shock, and Barrel arrive in Christmas Town and, true to their characters start causing trouble instead of attempting to find Zero. Lock overeats on Christmas candy canes, Shock terrorizes elf children in a sleigh, and Barrel does nothing wrong and appears to be assaulted while under the mistletoe...by an ADULT elf.

The kids eventually catch up to Zero but also find their way into the Christmas Town toy factory. We learn that Lock, Shock, and Barrel love toys and want them for their own (makes sense), but amazingly enough they seem to mesh well with the worker elves and join them in a song. Then the foreman elf comes in, angry that the workers aren’t working as fast as they should and -

Hypnotizes them with a chant until the elves become working zombies of themselves.

You guys ever heard that one song from Hadestown? You know, this one.

Oh yeah, also Lock, Shock and Barrel also get hypnotized and begin mindlessly working as if they were elves.

Zero gets Santa who takes time out his double-checking the Christmas list to play with a little dog. I can relate, Santa. He follows Zero onto the work floor where the foreman elf’s spell stops and Lock, Shock, and Barrel return to normal.

Santa is understandably traumatized to see his kidnappers again but just as quickly changes his tune when he finds out that Lock, Shock, and Barrel don’t understand the difference between right and wrong. So he invites them and Zero to the annual Christmas eve banquet the town throws every year before their flight. It’s pretty adorable. That is, until Santa declares that Zero - not his lead reindeer, Clementine - be the one to light the star-candle atop the Christmas tree. Clementine, enraged, takes the torch from Zero and tries to light the star herself. But in the scuffle, the whole tree and then the factory catches fire.

While Lock, Shock, and Barrel take the opportunity to steal more presents, Zero and the reindeer work to put out the fire, saving the factory and Christmas in record time.

However, the elves are short the small supply of presents the Boogie’s Boys stole. When Zero goes to look for (and finds) them, Lock, Shock, and Barrel make Zero pull their escape sleigh ala Max in How the Grinch stole Christmas.

Back in Halloween Town, Jack gets impatient and refuses to work until he gets Zero back so finally heads to Christmas Town himself along with Sally, Bat Boy, Igor, and the Thing-from-under-the-Stairs.

The Halloween king and his posse end up not doing much of anything as it’s the reindeer who again come to Zero and the Boogie’s Boys rescue when their sleigh goes out of whack. No matter. Jack is reunited with his doggie and Zero is declared a hero in Christmas Town. As a reward, Zero gets to lead Santa’s reindeer team that Christmas. Zero flies about, with all the faces he met during his journey happily waving by to him, while Jack’s just happy his dog could be such a help.

End tastic time!

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Style, storytelling and VISUALS

I’m not a fluent manga reader, sadly. Getting used to the right-to-left reading is tough, not gonna lie. Something that’s both a hindrance and also kinda helps this format, however, is that Zero’s Journey is a musical comic. The elves of Christmas town speak in rhyme and there’s little sections that imply songs. I recommend against doing this in comics unless it’s a song literally everyone knows, but it’s sweet and appropriate for Nightmare. Some of the dialogue is a little strange, most likely because of direct translation from Japanese.

Now onto the art.

The art is strange...but I actually kinda like it. A LOT of the way the Halloween Town characters are drawn gets really fugly, but strangely enough I don’t mind it. I do love how Christmas Town and Zero himself is drawn though, even if there are quirks like how Zero has a tongue (???) and Santa always looks a little spaced out and angry. It doesn’t take me out of the comic, so I can’t complain.

Colors are mostly fine, though I don’t like Sally being that bright blue and red in the skin and hair. Oh well.

The backgrounds are STUNNING. I really like the aged, warm look everything has in Christmas Town and the chalky texture of the line work in both worlds. Here are the biggest visuals which stand out to me or catch my eye:

Who’s this supposed to be? Is there another scarecrow person in Halloween Town besides Jack?

Christmas Town has illustrations in their books of Santa that look more like the olden Victorian Christmas illustrations (i.e. more realistic) than the Burtonish look of the characters. I like this! Reminds me of 2012 Frankenweenie where the animated characters are watching live-action films. It just kind of works given the content we’re dealing with.

Jewel appears behind Dr. Finkelstein so thank god at least ONE continuity didn’t forget her.

Jack and Sally’s faces are a give-or-take of quality. The faces on the Halloween citizens on the other hand? Pure. GOLD. THEY’RE HILARIOUS.

There’s a grave for Oogie Boogie in the cemetery that feels like a purposeful callback to the deleted concept of Jack’s ‘headstone’ the citizens of Halloween were going to make for Jack in the original film, before being scrapped for time.

This bit where Jack, Sally and Igor have a high five. It brings me joy:

I think this is supposed to be Mr. Hyde but it looks more like Salad Fingers got lost in Halloween Town:

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Content and characterization

This comic is so cute. I’m so happy it’s a simple story and not some big epic tale ala Oogies’ Revenge. Nightmare’s best followed up with smaller stories than big epic continuations. As a franchise, it shouldn’t have follow-ups or sequels which repeat the plot of the original. ((really, this is a rule for all sequel franchises, but Nightmare’s been especially bad at it in the past)).

But Zero’s Journey doesn’t just stay in character with the Nightmare cast, it expands upon them! Yes really! Jack’s story is not only well-and-done-and-wrapped-up in the film, but by making him leave and be angry at Halloween and floored with Christmas, it means his character’s written to be an idiot who can’t ever escape the status quo and is always unhappy. In the film, that’s what endears you to Jack. However in Oogie's Revenge and the Kingdom Hearts series, Jack is thick-headed, annoying, and never learns his lesson so you don’t like watching him. ZJ makes Jack out to still be a child, but a sad, forlorn child than a privileged brain-dead moron. In fact he’s rather reasonable. It’s...it’s character growth! It’s the tiniest but SO IMPRESSIVE bit of character growth I’ve been waiting for YEARS.

- Oh! While Sally doesn’t appear much in the comic, I’m happy to say they didn’t write her out or have her and Jack’s relationship be ‘two-ghouls-sittin-in-a-hottub-five-feet-apart-cause-they’re-not-an-item’. Sally hugs Jack, kisses him, calls him her love, and he seems to talk to her more so than others...it’s just, y’know his dog’s kind of missing he’s not really in the mood to get all lovey-dovey. It’s so cute when he chooses her to help him get Zero in the last few issues. You just knew he was gonna do that regardless.

Dunking on older Nightmare expanded universe stuff again - Oogie’s Revenge and Kingdom Hearts made Jack and Sally’s love not only non-existent but feel like a bad match as Jack CONSTANTLY ignores her advice. It makes sense for the movie where Jack doesn’t really know Sally until the end where he realizes what she’s been doing and falls in love with her, but when he’s pulling the same bs while also ignoring her, it makes Jack out to be a terrible boyfriend. I’m also happy to report there’s no word of Sally still living with Dr. Finkelstein. THANK GOD.

TL;DR: I like the small bits of Jack and Sally in this comic, both as their own characters and as a couple. It wasn’t much, but the small bits we see confirm what I wanted their relationship to be; that is, it’s puppy love with an I’m-dating-my-best-friend-vibe to their dynamic. I approve.

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They give Christmas Town such an appealing feel in this comic - you really get to know and love it more. It’s a great comic to put you in the yuletide mood.

The best character in the expanded Nightmare Before Christmas stories is Santa Claus. My sister and I can attest he’s amazing in Kingdom Hearts and he’s even better here. Santa as we see him in the movie barely gets any love, with some mouthbreathers even complaining that he’s too mean or grumpy to be a good Santa. ((how DARE he be so angry when he’s been kidnapped, tortured and almost eaten on his biggest day of work?))

This comic shows ‘Sandy Claws’ to be the very best kind of Santa there is. He’s loving. He’s sweet. He’s flustered and busy but also kind. HE FREAKIN FORGIVES LOCK, SHOCK, AND BARREL FOR KIDNAPPING HIM. And all because he somehow recognizes that they’re still children who don’t understand right and wrong and just like having fun. That he can be that forgiving of them is so charming and Christmasy ho-mahgawwd.

As for the rest of Christmas Town and it’s newer characters it’s a give or take:

The elves around town seem alright. I was worried they’d be annoying but outside of the creepy lady at the Christmas Town diner who gives a child a kiss under the mistletoe, they’re pretty okay.

I will congratulate this comic on making new Nightmare Before Christmas characters at all and making them not just fade into the background or take over the narrative. Howly the owl is cute but his owner Joelle...I don’t know I just don’t like her. Maybe it has something to do with her saying her holiday is better than Halloween and Easter….and by that I mean it definitely does. Screw you, Joelle.

Myzer’s design kinda irks me. I know it’s supposed to stand out but it looks way too much like a fan character, in that he looks like he belongs in Invader Zim, not Nightmare Before Christmas. BUT, his bit is the most emotional part of the comic. I was really happy he didn’t take over the story or was a Halloween-obsessed freak who wanted to go to Zero’s world and take over. Such a twist would be too obvious and really distract from Zero’s story. Thankfully, he’s none of those things. He’s just a sad lil scene-kid who misses his dog and has an evil cookie to do his bidding while he drowns in Christmas angst. I can relate, Myzer.

Then there’s the elf-foreman who I think is TNBC’s version of Boss Elf from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. ((You know him! Remember?)).

Design wise, I love him. It’s hilarious and I hope he and the Mayor get into a magicalgirlanime fight someday. But then...um...he apparently hypnotizes his workers when they aren’t working hard enough for him?

Like, it’s a twist and a joke that’s totally in-character for TNBC. Burton would be proud. But like, it’s never touched upon again and Santa doesn’t seem to complain or hold anything against him. Whuuut. Does Christmas Town regularly do this?

It’s not resolved by the end of the comic. Also it really didn’t look like the elves singing with Lock, Shock, and Barrel were slack-offs, they were just whistling while they worked. It’s a bit disturbing.

The best new character is the reindeer, Clementine. She’s a diva-deer who first hates but then gets along with Zero. AND SHE’S ADORABLE. My love for Christmas reindeer aside, she appears to be a descendant of Rudolph. She’s another name for the reindeer hall of fame that I’d proudly own a plush of if they made one. What a delight! I so don’t ship her and Zero.

But now onto the main characters of the comic: Zero and the Boogie’s Boys!

Zero doesn’t talk but they made him such an endearing little dog. He’s a ghost pup of simple tastes - all he wants is food, fun, and to make his owner happy. You really do feel and emote with him. It’s also interesting to see his interests. After first arriving in Christmas Town Zero seems to dislike Christmas, associating it too much with that time he was shot out of the sky. As the comic goes on you see the lil doggy find himself in the holiday more and more and even gets the honor of leading Santa’s team that year! Yes, ZERO HAS AN ARCH. Woah.

But, what’s even more surprising (to me) is the thing that’s gonna no doubt thrill most fans about this comic, and that’s the plotline with Lock, Shock and Barrel.

Confession time: I’ve NEVER liked Lock, Shock and Barrel.

I didn’t hate them growing up, but I find their song annoying (tbf it’s supposed to be annoying) and I didn’t find their torture of Santa a riot like other fans do. They were evil little children things and that’s kind of how I always wanted them to stay. Jack and Sally were my favorites and I always felt as though Lock, Shock and Barrel were the fandom’s way of channeling Invader Zim/Billy and Mandy into their Nightmare when they didn’t need to. But again, I didn’t hate them.

Then Oogie’s Revenge came out. THEN, I hated them. Oogie’s Revenge ruined Lock, Shock and Barrel’s characters. I HATED them in that game and I don’t think their fans were crazy about them there either. They never got any comeuppance for what they did; the sounded awful; they were dragging, detestable little villains; OR-style Lock, Shock, and Barrel are a curse upon the fandom, sorry not sorry.

Zero’s Journey did the impossible and that was make these three little monsters endearing! I’M DEAD SERIOUS!

This comic confirms that they are indeed children, not just child-like demons. All they know is trouble and they mess up everything in Christmas Town in a way that is totally in character and still comes back around to bite them. They get away with as much as they fail at doing, and that’s far more interesting to read about. On top of that you learn that causing havoc is how they show their love and interests in things. They genuinely love Christmas and toys and food but they’re still Lock, Shock, and Barrel so they’re brand of holiday spirit is still gonna be bratty.

Easily the best scene in this comic is when the Christmas Town factory elves sing their song and that bratty-attitude vanishes from Lock, Shock and Barrel, who really are lost children that have fallen straight into the heart of Christmas. They’re wowed and fall in love by what they see in a similar means to Jack in the original film. It’s GLORIOUS.

IT’S SIMPLY GLORIOUS!!!

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Zero’s Journey is good. It’s waaaaaay better than Oogie’s Revenge and has actual effort, creativity, charm and love for Nightmare put into it. You may or may not like it yourself, BUT YOU GOTTA READ IT! At least once.

Final observation: I like how Santa clearly respects Sally, loves Zero enough to have him pull his sleigh, and even gives freakin LOCK, SHOCK, AND BARREL some love after all they put him through last year - but he still seems cautious around Jack, the one character who’s a total fanboy around him. Jack’s put in the Santa-zone for being the one to organize his kidnapping and for having such a terrible character arc in the games. Justice is served.

#review #Franki's Features #writing #the nightmare before christmas #nightmare before christmas #Zero's Journey #Nightmare Before Christmas Zero's Journey

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madlilsongbird · 3 years

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Watching The Amazing Spidernan movies so that I’m all caught up before No Way Home. Will add my thoughts as I have them. Note I am not some big Spider-Man fan nor have I read the comics so if my thoughts sound kinda stupid they probably are.

First movie:

That’s a good trick with the broom. Making a mental note as we speak.

Actually seeing Peter say goodbye to his parents is horrible and I would like to never experience it again

SALLY FIELD IS AUNT MAY?! Why does this one have the good cast? (not good as in better but good as in more well known)

The sexual tension in “good morning flash…good morning Peter” (this is a joke I’m not shipping him with his bully)

Jesus roid rage much?

Shut your blinds! I don’t know who would be looking in your window at this exact moment but close them anyway!

First careful, you never know who is watching what you search (when did I become this person)

Second…curt connors is ableist.

Poor Rodrigo Guevara

Oh internalised ableism. And that is the only comment I will make going forward because my disabilities do not include limb difference and I dont want to overstep.

Stop following the man, you are not subtle…wait wtf how’d he do that?!

This is where he gets his powers right?

Okay but when would 5 men make that much of a fuss over a woman that only 1 of them seems to know?

Same. (This is in reference to smashing the alarm clock)

Oh my god is it really necessary to show all the different kinds of spider bites.

Actually just going back to the internalised ableism thing…he is allowed to feel whatever type of way about his own disability that is his right. But insinuating that all disabled people are weak and wanting to breed out the weakness is eugenics and just kinda gross. THIS is the final comment I will make on the matter.

No but seriously he is way more aggressive than regular teen boy aggressive so either he’s on something or he’s overcompensating for something

The way he looks at him doe (again all jokes am not shipping flash and Peter)

Why is this so awkward? And not like teens navigating a crush awkward just genuinely awkward. I feel no chemistry between them.

I like the song, it’s an interesting choice for this scene but I like it.

Stop does uncle Ben die now? Like I know uncle Ben dies at some point but I was really kinda hoping he just wouldn’t in this iteration. I was going for a ninth doctor moment “just this once everybody lives”

MOTHERFUCKER

God Sally is incredible

Don’t show me moments of Flash being human I might accidentally start shipping them for real and that simply can’t happen.

Oooh he’s a fashion designer

I just really enjoy how he takes the piss out of his victims? Arrests?

Is Gwen aware that the school nurse can’t cure everything? Both legally and just like generally doesn’t have the knowledge to cure everything. She suggests going to the nurse a lot.

This family gives me bad vibes

This is a long movie…it’s not even half way through

Well that’s one way to tell her

NOT GEORGE FOYET!

I think with what I remember of SpiderTobey and what I know of SpiderTom, Andrews Spider-Man is definitely better with the people he’s rescuing. Smoother, good bedside manner.

His sons name is Jack. Why does that make me angry?

So he’s just not gonna rescue the other people hanging off the bridge?

It’s almost poetic that the son of the man tried to stop him the first time will be the one to stop him now

Now how is he getting enough power in the sewer

No means no Peter

Does she die in this one or the next one? I don’t imagine her dying will help captain stacey see him as a good guy

Stan 🥺

This movie is exhausting and I don’t know if I mean that in a good way or a bad way.

MoThEr HuBbArD aRe YoU sErIoUs

He managed to get three whole words out and you didn’t think to ease up on the trigger a little to hear what those words might be?

She’s very clever and I will be sad to see her go

That wasn’t her scream. Or it was but from a different take.

Foyet about to be coming in clutch

I’m going to cry.

He’s so ugly. Some lizards are really cute but lizard + human, kinda gross looking.

Well shit. I didn’t know that happened. I guess what I said about him being upset with Peter about Gwen is irrelevant. Unless it isn’t, like if you believe in the afterlife, imagine how pissed he’s gonna be when Gwen arrives.

He finally got the eggs 🥺

As someone who’s boyfriend at the time didn’t go to her fathers funeral I feel ya Gwen. I mean I don’t care now but at the time it sucked.

Dr Connors was just in a silly goofy mood. He seems to show genuine care for the boy (this is mostly sarcasm).

Second movie

Oh we’re going back to peters dad.

How do they have access to a private jet?

Miss Honey is badass

Ngl I’m actually quite relieved they both died before the plane crashed. Stil devastating though.

Okay so this is first up on the list of potential mystery villains in No Way Home…he looks like a tool.

HeLLo PeDeStRiAnS

He really just let Spider-Man put his hand on his tongue. Sir do you know where his hand has been? Not to mention just in general the feeling of spandex on your tongue. I feel ill.

No respect for the proper care of plutonium.

Please don’t ever say “come to daddy” again 😂

I’m kinda sad Jamie Fox becomes a villain, his character seems kinda sweet so far from the 2 seconds I’ve seen of him

You mean to tell me he missed his girlfriend’s fathers funeral AND her valedictorian speech?!

Stan x2 🥺

Because you can’t lose me you’re going to lose me? 😂

I love her jacket

Why are they still pretending like she doesn’t know?

I may have spoken to soon about Max

See I would be speeding up daddy’s death if he told me he’d passed down a genetic disease and just decided not to tell me.

Friendship.

Okay max is still a little bit nutty but you gotta feel bad for the guy. He must’ve been so scared.

Don’t smile that’s not cute, if he was a regular boy you’d file a restraining order.

Oh I see Spider-Man is gonna fight him which will make him turn and become the “bad guy” whether he will actually be a bad guy is still unknown.

This scene is actually kinda just making me angry (the time square scene)

Cops suck man. Peter was talking him down just fine.

Did nobody teach these people not to touch metal when there’s electricity about.

Interesting that I didn’t pick up any chemistry from them in the first movie weren’t they an actual couple for a while?

Another good song with an interesting placement

I’m sorry did the caller ID not say Mary Parker? How was it Harry on the phone?

Run Gwen!

This version of Harry is kinda creepy I’m sure the actor is swell but the character is terrifying. Original version Harry was swell whereas the actor is…

“Maybe everyone has a part of themselves they hide” gives him the eye

This movies shorter or at least it feels shorter

An excellent show of what happens when you tell a rich daddy’s boy no for the first time.

This makes me very sad. She’s so excited for the possibility of Oxford.

As much as Harry disturbs me, I want him to burn his entire team.

His daddy really did love him!

I think it’s mostly his eyes, his behaviour can be explained by trauma (why I find Harry creepy)

Okay most of his behaviour. The taking joy in killing people that’s just him being nutty and not a trauma response.

This is fucked up. And where is Peter? he is off chasing a girl who has broken up with him twice now.

PLANES NEED THE POWER!

I really like SpiderAndrew, the movies are fine but as a character I thoroughly enjoy him

Sorcerers apprentice who?

Captain Stacy can’t blame him! She’s clearly stubborn as hell and her own free woman

I quite literally stopped breathing (in reference to the almost plane crash)

Is this why they made it Gwen and not MJ so that he could kill her and be an actual bad guy? From my little knowledge of the comics and what I’ve seen from the movies Harry would never hurt MJ so it had to be someone else important to Peter but not super important to him for him to a real bad guy

I like that Harry actually looks like a goblin.

What was the disease he’s supposed to have?

This poor family. I know I said they gave me bad vibes in the first movie but nobody deserves this.

He looks less like a tool with his suit on…but only slightly less

Baby you better get back behind that baracade!

Nobody talk to me I’m very emotional. This child looks very much like a magical mix of all 3 of my brothers put together and seeing him stand there so brave but so scared is doing something to me.

Final thoughts:

So I think SpiderAndrew might be a close second favourite for me. I like the relationships of the original the most, the comedy of the mcu version the most but this one was like a nice in between. Im a little disappointed there won’t be a third not cos I think I would have enjoyed it just cos the original had 3 movies, the mcu version will have at least 3 movies and this one is left out with 2. Don’t think I would have loved Shailene Woodley as MJ though so I dunno. I think the only thing I would have wanted from a third movie is to know who fedora guy is…and for Peter and May to acknowledge that they both know that he is Spider-Man. Apart from that it was fine and I now feel fully prepared for No Way Home.

#the amazing spider man #the amazing spider man 2 #the amazing Spider-Man #the amazing Spider-Man 2 #the amazing spider man spoilers #andrew garfield #emma stone #sally field #criminal minds #george foyet #spider man no way home

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Ducktales: Terror of the Terra-Firmians! (Lena Retrospective) (Commission by WeirdKev27): Launchpad Looses his Last Brain Cell and I Loose My Patience

Welcome back Weblena Warriors to the second part of my look at everyone’s favorite Emo Teen Shadow Lesbian Duck... and probably the only one but hey, semantics, Shadow Into Light, which was made possible by viewers like you, the ultra humanite and a commission from WeirdKev27. Picking up where we left off, we have our first episode that has a different intended order than airing order.

As most of you probably remember, but some of you who joined later might not be aware of the broadcast order for the first half of season one is, in the academic sense, pretty fucked. It’s not Darkwing Duck’s entirely fucked by a web of badger spiders and a queen snake on top to make it some sort of train situation, but by just sorta airing whatever episodes they wanted to, Disney messed with the character balance so Huey got less focus, not that he got a ton of focus this season but still, as well as leaning into the episodes focusing more on the kids with less involvement from the adults which gave the wrong impression about the series. While it IS very focused on the triplets and webby, the show isn’t entirely about them, but as Frank has mentioned a few times, Disney Channel apparently has this WEIRD thing where they assume kids won’t like stories starring the adult characters.

Yeah I’ve been wanting to talk about this for a while. Mostly how it’s so dumb I could swear Pauly Shore was an exec at Disney Channel. And he might be I don’t know what he’s doing these days and i’d like to keep it that way. For starters, the Scooge comics, while barely published in the US these days, are still popular globally and have appealed to kids and adults for generations and are mostly focused on him, with the kids in a supporting role and Ducktales, you know the thing your directly remaking here, was also mostly about him with the triplets supporting, if a bit less than the comics. Most of the Disney Afternoon was about adult characters, with any kids in side roles in the main cast. And it comes off entirely hypocritical of them to say this when the MCU is easily marvel’s biggest cash cow at the moment, and marvel properties have appealed to both kids and adults, like the duck comics, for decades. And if it’s because the marvel cartoons weren’t doing well , I’ll let you in on a little secret: Those didn’t do well because they looked bland and from what I’ve seen of them felt kind of bland, though I haven’t seen enough to fully judge. Kids LIKE adult characters as much as kid characters, and also like teen characters despite not being teens. Focusing on either is valid and while I LIKED Disney’s youth starring shows I also want another X-Men cartoon before I turn 50, and I bet kids would like that too, with the last one only failing because you bailed on it because you were throwing a hissy fit over fox having the movie rights, and do not get me started on that. Point is this argument is horse shit and should stay in the stables.

So yeah I do think this episode came too soon and it’s placement effected it at the time and as such it dosen’t have the best rep with the fandom aside from the Lena bits and that includes me. The fact it was very early in the series and the characterizations hadn’t yet sunk in really hurt this episode in places but is it really that bad? Join me under the cut to find out

We open at the movies! Which scrooge apparently hasn’t been too since the 1930′s or seen any on video despite Della existing and being really stubborn.

A rant for another episode. But the kids just got out of a Mole Monster movie, along with Lena, Beakly and Launchpad. Their reactions are as follows: Lena, Webby and Dewey really enjoyed it, Huey found it unrealistic... says the boy whose uncle fought a dragon made of gold a month or two back but we’ll get to that, and Louie was bored and felt it didn’t have enough of the ultra violence, kids these days it’s not about the gore it’s about the tension. And Beakly.. is just pissed Lena tricked them into seeing this and said it was educational. And the more I think about it the more this sounds like BEAKLYS fault than Lena’s. BEAKLY is the one who likely bought the tickets, who saw it was likely an r or pg-13 and who as we’ve seen HAS A PHONE, and ulnike scrooge probably isn’t so stingy she wouldn’t spring for a smart phone, so she could’ve just googled it, or whatever bird related pun is in this version.. gandered it.. yeah let’s go with that, gandered it, and SEEEN it wasn’t appropriate or walked htem out of the theater and ate the cost if she was that bothered by it. Sitting through a Horror Movie you didn’t research, didn’t pull the kids out of and dind’t bother to even check the poster for or use basic common sense is YOUR fault. And this could’ve worked fine, had Lena talk the kids into begging for it or had launchpad take them and have Beakly find out after, having driven to pick them up as she didn’t trust launchpad to take them home. Instead it makes the former super spy look REALLY stupid and feels really out of character for a SPY to not to do research. And it wasn’t like they decided on this later, Bentina being a spy was part of the character’s backstory from day one and its made clear as early as episode 2 in both airing orders. This is just lazy writing to justify the episode and I expect better from this crew.

But an argument errupts between Huey and Webby over the Terra-Firmians, a hidden race of rock people living in Duckburg’s discontinued sewer system, allegedlys. So Lena suggest simply going down which gets a disapproving look from Beakly, despite you know this being their bread and butter, and the fact that if she had a problem with Scrooge not being involved.. she could just call him. Exploring fabled rock people is something he’d be into. I mean there’s a low profit margin but it also costs him almost nothing to walk to the theater or have launchpad swing around and pick him up. Just gas which given how much he pays for jet fuel isn’t a big ask. But Beakly soon gets distracted by Launchpad whose convinced the film is real and is attacking the poster a grim sign of things to come as while Beakly annoyed me in this one on rewatch, especially after realizing the above... Launchpad annoyed me both times and for VERY good reason we’ll get into. This provides a distraction and allows the trio to escape. Cue titles.

After the title sequence, our heroes head deeper underground, there’s too much panic in this town... I mean props to Donald for trying something new but he really needs to rethink his cologne choices. Sex Panther is just.. not a good smell on.. anyone.

So our heroes journey through the depths of the subway system, and we find out part of why Huey’s so skeptical, as he finds anything that isn’t in the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook to not exist, though the cracks in this already show as he’s added anything that does. We’ll get back to this later but as you can tell the basic dynamic for 24 minutes is Webby being a wholehearted True Believer and Huey being a Skeptical Sally. And Lena is just sorta “Eh gives me an excuse for shenanigans” about it. We also get a peak into webby’s mind as we see her notes .. which really just come off as Terra-Firmian fanfiction involving a war of succession between two sides, the terra’s and the firmies, something based on previous media, and also some doodles of a fictional candy called webby-dings and herself as a superhero, both things I want to see.

But yeah the first third of the episode is pretty simple, just them journeying, the occasional shift in the firmament, and it’s not bad, and there are a few great bits: Huey nerds out about rocks, and finds them way more interesting than a possible rock monster.

Which leads to the best gag of the episode as when Huey tries to pick up a big sample Webby, annoyed at his hyperfixation on the JWG, asks him to ask his book for help.. which he does by reading it and actually manages to pick the large rock up. This is halted though when Lena screams.. though she really just did it to draw them to an abandoned subway car full of glomgold posters for glomgold products because of course a failed subway project has his name plastered over it. You can’t spell glomgold without failure.. the failure is silent. Glomgold is not.

The fun is interuptted though by a livid Beakly who had realized they were missing in an earlier scene, after telling the Manager that McDuck Industries would pay for the poster.. and then found out Launchpad also destroyed the toilets “They come up thorugh the sewers!”. Launchpad that’s CHUDS, Ninja Turtles and Rats who raised Ninja Turtles like their own sons, mole people dig or use old mineshafts. It’s basic mole science. Also Beakly really shouldn’t sweat it, I just assumed the city has had a runnig bill witht he company for “McDuck Family and Employee Related Accidents, Mayhem and Shenanigans”. I mean he’s had Gyro on his payroll for at least a decade and a half by the series start, Gyro has leveled whole sections of city in an afternoon more than most giant monsters. Of which several have destroyed Duckburg. It got better.

Point is she’s livid about them sneaking off with Lena pointing out their some sort of adventure family and Beakly.. saying she won’t see them again, or at least implying it hard. I’ll put a pin in this, as the train buckles and a bit of seismic, or rock men, activity means their stuck. So they divide into teams: Beakly will go try and unhook the train car from the busted cars so they can ride out, Launchpad will go try and fix it, and we get this lovely exxchange as a result

Launchpad: Cool never crashed a train before Beakly: Can’t you try driving it without crashing it? Launchpad: Wha?

His face in that scene is priceless. He takes Dewey along. More on that in a second. Webby, Huey and Louie are told to stay put with Beakly only bringing Lena along because she dosen’t trust her. So since we have three split plots for a second... let’s split up gang, starting with the most aggrivating, middling with what you all came here for and why this is part of the retrsopective, and ending with the plot that directly heads into the final part of the episode.

Launchpad and Dewey: GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Okay starting with the most infamous plot and easily the worst part of this episode, probably the worst plot in any Ducktales 2017 episode. That’s not hyperbole it’s really that bad and really pissed people off, as fans of the original launchpad felt they made him overly stupid. This is where the airing order’s a problem as putting an episode with a subplot where one of your characters is obnoxiously dumb right up front means they assume this is his charcter and not just one poorly written chapter in a very dumb but very loveable characters life, likely because the writers hadn’t figured out how to properly scale his stupidity with comptience.

So as a result we get a good 3-4 mintutes if not agonizingly more of Launchpad assuming something he saw in a fucking movie film was real. That.. that’s his actual plot. Need I remind you, he’s in his late 20′s early 30′s. He’s not much older than me. While other episodes have him as dim this one claims he CAN’T TELL FACT FROM FICTION.

There are lines you have to keep with your characters to keep the audience from hating them. They crossed it about 80 times with this plot and make Launchpad into a gibbering dunderhead who can’t do anything right versus a regular dunderhead whose good at one or two things and loveable enough for us to like him and not care about his numerous safey violations and child endagerment charges. Thankfully this is the ONLY episode that gets this bad and they clearly learned from this, but it dosen’t make it any less of a tough sit.

Dewey spends most of the subplot with a look on his face that just screams that he’s as done with this bullshit as we are, as Launchpad assumes he’s a mole person and brought along a pipe to presumibly bludgeon him, because wanting to cave his best friends skull in over stupidity is a GREAT look> Thankfuly he does not. And when the lights come back on Launchpad.. assumes he’s a monster because of bright light, GAH, and locks him out before they end up outside and the plto resolves itself by Dewey pointing out by Launchpad’s utterly baffling logic that he could be a mole monster, so Launchpad.. assumes he is.

The subplot’s later buttoned up as he claims “I love being a mole monster”, again diffrent subteranian creature launchpad, she says he’s not and my suffering is thankfully at an end. This plot just sucks, it’s bad, overly stupid and dosen’t work with an adult character. Someone like say Ed from Ed, Edd N Eddy, or someone who belivies in weird conspiracy stuff like Dale Gribble or Stan Pines. with either of them this plot would’ve been fucking great. I could buy it from Dale and it just comes off as his normal paranoid weirdness. With Launchpad it comes off like he seriously needs help because the episode frames it as if he can’t tell ficton from reality, and his splotlight episode later would directly contridct this and make this episode even more aggrivating, as he’s a fan of Darkwing Duck, and KNOWS it’s acted out by an actor, so why wouldn’t he get this? It’s just....

It sucks, it sucks and I thankfully get to move on to a better subplot

Beakly and Lena: What You Are in the Dark

Beakly tells Lena she’ll never see Webby again after this.. then chastises her when she won’t help despite you know having just said she’s going to force their friendship apart, which Lena points out. She then gets mad at Lena making a sarcastic comment at her. Okay she’s lived with Louie for at least a week in airing order and a month or two in actual order. She has to be used to this by now. She’s insolent.. because you show her no respect, blame her for something that while sure she talked you into, you should’ve known better, and top it off by saying you want to keep her from the kids because they have bright futures and come from good familes and asks who rasied her and her face.. well.

Yeah wheras Launchpad and Huey, more on that in a second, were hurt by this being some of their earliest big roles, Bentina wasn’t.. until later when we found out just HOW bad Magica is to Lena and how much she dosen’t care about her other than as a tool to use. At this point we didn’t know just how much Lena was playing webby, how much she was only manipulating her, and even with her heroic act here we didn’t know if she only saw Webby as her way to break free. The next episode makes it clear she dosen’t and genuinely does care, 100%, so in hindsight it makes Bentina come off as ghoulsih for horribly asssuming about a girl she dosen’t know, and even if she did know about Magica wouldn’t know the full story, just like us, and then BERATING her after already saying she’s going to rip her away from Webby, which itself is PRETTY bad as she’s the only friend the girl has and sh’es doing so on... talking them into a horror movie, which as I outlined was more Bentina’s fault than Lena’s, and leading the kids into a dangerous place whicha gain, Lena pointed out is something she lets Scrooge do. And trust me i know that she actually knows Scrooge, and we later find out, as we’ll cover next month, that she isn’t ware HOW dangerous things are with Scrooge. It dosen’t change the fact she knows they do dangerous stuff to a point and that Lena may just be acting out. It also dosen’t change the fact she drove three children, yes including launchpad, down here with her instead of sending them home with Launchpad.. granted that option isn’t the safest but it’s safer than taking her with them thena cting like it’s ALL lena’s fault when three of the children, again including launchpad, are down there because of HER. Not Lena, HER. I’m harder on her because she’s older, wiser and was “raised properly” apparently. Though given the way she treats a random teen off the street she again knows nothing about and dind’t bother to ask... it begs the question.

IT’s a good question. I could see the classism coming from being raised in 40′s and 50′s britain, judging by the timeline.. but even then she’s seen the world, and while her nature is supscious, the classit bullshit makes no sense after presumibly working with, and later spymastering for, various agents of various backgrounds. How has she not dropped this in decades. Scrooge very clearly dropped the racisim and homophobia of his time, so it still stands on her for not dropping this. And Lena’s hurt shows under hte mask for the first time, that beneath the snark and secrecy.. is just an abused teenager with nowhere else to go and no way out being bullied by an older woman whose cutting off the only light at the end of the tunnel nto for good reason but out of classist, overprotective mallice. My issues, which to be fair probably were intentional in the episode but sitll are a bit overblown, aside we do get an absoluttley tremendous moment later as a car falls on top of Beakly.. and Magica, speaking once more urges Lena to leave her, let her die and let their plans progress. And while that iself is.. dumb, what if someone finds her or her corpse later, especially since Scrooge would likely perosnally want to retrive the body to give her a proper burial as she’s his only friend at this point, or the rest of the family questoin the story?, it fits Magica’s lack of foresight we see throughout the season. But Lena... saves her. While she later gives an explination, and a valid one at that, it’s clear from her expressoin, her actoins and how she does it... that this is her. Part of it is defiance, as she glares at Magica before doing it, her own stubborn nature mixed with her hatred of her “aunt”, meaning Magica just made it all too easy for her to do this. But the real reason is clear: It’s the right thing to do. While pissing off her aunt and getting away with it is the cherry on top.. the real reason is that unlike Magica.. Lena is not a killer, not a monster, and not a heartless vacum ofa person. Even if she doesn’t like Beakly, for good reason.. she can’t, she WON’T leave her to die and leave Webby an orphan again. She loves Webby too much to do that to her and while she may deny it.. she’s too good a person to leave someone to die for something so petty. Even if she never sees webby again and the plans ruined. It’s better than the weight of knowing she let someone who wasn’t trying to harm her and whose actions, while terrible, were out of misguided protection of her granddaughter, die like this. She saves her. And as we’ll see it pays off.. but before that.

Huey, Webby and Louie: Into the Unknown This plot’s a bit shorter, as Webby and Huey continue their argument, with Louie eventually making it clear, and not even hiding it when directly asked by Huey, that he’s playing both sides with a delighted expression on his face as the movie was boring but this, this is interesting. Which it is. But it’s interupted by dings on the roof and while Huey assumes i’ts just a regular rock, it moves while their not lookiung.. and soon red eyed, horrifying beasts look out at them and the kids flee back to the car. This dosen’t pan out as the car starts to shake and is clearly going to collapse.. and while Webby and Louie are prepared to flee, rock monsters or no, Huey, in an utterly heart shattering image.. stays in place, terrified of moving.

This is where this plot goes from mildly aggrivating, as Huey’s Skeptic shenanigans can get on the nerves.. to BRILLIANT. See at the time this was more annoying because it was assumed the skepticsim would be a part of Huey’s character and we’d get more episodes of him being annoying only to be proven wrong, as he semeingly dosen’t learn his lesson at this point, looging the terrafrimians in the guide book. But on rewatch.. this plot is amazing. For starters the plot subtly introduced the defening characteristic of Huey’s personality, one that’s become more prounounced in Season 3: His need for Order. He needs things to make sense: He solves stuff because he likes there to be order in the world and something he can understand, he can put in a box in his head. Like a lot of neurotypical people, myself included, he struggles horribly when the clearly defined boxes of his life and things he undestand have wrinkles or complexities he can’t get. I for instnace easily got it when I was introduced to the concept of trans people or being non binary.. they just make sense in hindsight: given how our brains are messya nd complicated it makes sense some people would be born in the wrong ones, and tht with all the science and medicine we have to correct that, should be allowed to transition if they so choose. It makes equal sense that some people just don’t have a gender or are gender fluid, being both or neither. Despite struggling with non binary prounouns due to force of habit.. I get the concept with no real difficulty. But when it comes to accepting I don’t have to apologize for everything and that everyone is not angry or that anger is natural and people sometimes get mad and you can’t and shouldnt’ fix it.. it’s something I STRUGGLE with even knowing it’s not right, because my brain is just wired that way.

That’s how Huey’s struggle comes off here.. he reveals he’s willing to stay and die.. because he’s SO scared of the unknown, that the idea of dying from something he at least knows what it is versus something he dosen’t.., so paralizyed by his own brain he can’t figure out the obvious.. it takes Webby reaching out to him figuratively and literally, to show him that sometimes you have to face the unknown. The unknown is fucking terrifying.. but it can be good and it’s better than sitting there, scared and unable to move. You have to try, to grow and take that risk that things may not go well to really LIVE.

So he does.. and they reunite with the rest of the group.. and soon find the terrafirmains.. who as it turns out once we get some light on them... are actually just goofy looking, brightly colored, each one matching one of the kids, kids themselves, and Huey reaches out and touches one, which by ET logic means their friends now, and the terrafirmians help them get out. And this lesson sticks. While sure Huey catalogues it and it seems it didn’t.. he’s never this skeptical again. This douchey skepticsim was only for one episode, his fear of the uknown replcaed with boundless curosity and from here on he’s CURIOUS about new stuff as long as it’s not trying to kill him. He loves taking in new experinces, maybe not to webby levels but he does actually try them and study them instead of just fearing them.

Before we wrap things up, obviously we need to talk about the JWG not having entries on a lot of stuff. This would be corrected next season as it returns to being a big book of everything, but dosen’t completely contridct this as Timephoon! shows there’s stillcgaps.. which i’m fine with. While it knowing EVERYTHING was fine for the original series here, with things being slightly more groudned, it’d just be an obvious plothole if Huey didn’t use it every single time they ran into something and that’d get boring. Instead it’s simply that it dosen’t know everything, and really in the comics at times it didn’t and the triplets found out new things. It knew almost everything mind you, but having some gaps for dramatic tnesion is fine with me and Seasons 2 and 3 decided on that instead of just having it being a scouting manual which wa sfor the best. And even by later in the season hit has guides to getting a small buisness loan, so they already course corrected.

So everything’s wrapped up and while Magica berates Lena for disobeying her.. Beakly interputps, thankfully not seeing magica and admits she was wrong and invites Lena for pancakes, even taking a crack about if their actually pancakes or english muffins with syrup, which sounds like my own living hell, in stride, having clearly grown. And Lena explains to Magica that this was the better approach: now she’s got the in theyw anted, and is above suspcison for now. Still not so much that an obvious act won’t be detected but enough that she dosen’t ahve to work actively around her anymore. Magica scoffs.. and while part of it is probably rage.. part of it is deep down both of them know she did it out of defiance.. and only Lena knows that she did it for the right reasons... she just dosen’t get why. She probably justifies it as playing the long game.. but deep down she knows something’s changing about her.. and she’s not sure if that’s a godo thing or not.

Final Thoughts: This episode is as you can tell a mixed bag. It’s 2/3 of a good episode, with the Lena plot, my issues aside, being excellent and the Terra-Firmian plot likewise fun, even if Huey can get grating the payoff is worth it, and the jokes are really high quality. It’s just bogged down by that fucking launchpad plot that just crushed my soul in it’s palms every time it came back. I went on at length why i hated that one but boy oh boy was the hate of that subplot warranted and I stand by calling it the worst plot of the series. It is: it’s not funny, it makes no goddamn sense, and it drags down what’s otherwise a pretty solid epsiode.

Next Time on Lena: Jaws the shark, lurking in the dark, in the depths of the bin one day of a lark decides to get rowdy, get real violent takes a vacay out to Duckburg er.. Island.. also Scrooge faces his greatest Nemesis.. a PR Tour to clean up his image after an unfortunate giant Beanstalk Incident. Be there and be hip to be square.

Next Time on This Blog: I Tackle a DCOM for the first time for another commissioned review as we take a look at racisim, specifically Apartheid and breaking indoctrination, with The Color of Friendship. See you next Rainbow.

#ducktales #ducktales 2017 #lena sabrewing #webby vanderquack #weblena #bentina beakly #launchpad mcquack #huey duck #louie duck #dewey duck #terror of the terra-firmians!#disney channel #disney xd #disney plus #disney #disney ducks #comissions

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mostlysignssomeportents · 3 years

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All the books I reviewed in 2020

I know it's a little late for Xmas shipping, but I'm FINALLY getting around to publishing a roundup of all the books I reviewed in 2019!

Part 1: FICTION FOR ADULTS

I. AGENCY by William Gibson: A sequel to The Peripheral for the Trump years, about seductive bitterness of imagined alternate timelines, filled with cyberpunk cool and action.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2020-01-24/agency-william-gibson

II. RIOT BABY by Tochi Onyebuchi: An incandescent Afrofuturist novella that connects the Rodney King uprising with contemporary struggle, pitting supernatural powers against dire politics.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/23/riot-baby/#Tochi-Onyebuchi

III. OR WHAT YOU WILL by Jo Walton: A metafiction about the desperate attempt of a character to pull his writer into a fictional world to save the both from human mortality.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/07/little-bro-with-snowden/#metafiction

IV. A BEAUTIFULLY FOOLISH ENDEAVOR by Hank Green: Sequel to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing - a madcap and sometimes brutal tale of social media influencers, alien invaders, disinformation, and runaway capitalism.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/08/absolutely-remarkable-thing/#carls

V. FAILED STATE by Christopher Brown: A legal eco-thriller that imagines the end of capitalism without imagining the end of the world - cyberpunk meets ecotopianism, with anarchist jurisdictions, show-trials, and rewilding.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/12/failed-state/#chris-brown

VI. AFTERLAND by Lauren Beukes: Eerily well-timed road-trip novel set after a prostate-cancer plague wipes out nearly every man on Earth, except for the protagonist's teenaged son, who is now being hunted by the (all-female) US government.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/28/afterland/#XY

VII. BALLISTIC KISS by Richard Kadrey: Sandman Slim confronts the worst demons of all - his own trauma and self-doubt.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/25/anxietypunk/#bk

VIII. SQUEEZE ME by Carl Hiaasen: Hiaasen was writing comedic whodunnits about improbable Florida Man types decades before the memes, and his Mar-a-Lago gator plague novel is a hectic and hilarious tale for our times.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/05/florida-man/#disappearing-act

VIII. The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson: KSR says it's his last novel and I say it's the book he's been training to write all his life. If you like your climate fiction wrenching but still uplifting enough to move you to tears...

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/03/ministry-for-the-future/#ksr

IX. SET MY HEART TO FIVE by Simon Stephenson: An absurdist robot-romp in the mold of Kurt Vonnegut about a robot who catches the disease of emotions and tries to treat it by moving to Hollywood to write screenplays about robots.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/01/cant-pay-wont-pay/#robot-rights

Part 2: NONFICTION FOR ADULTS

I. A PUBLIC SERVICE by Tim Schwartz: An incredibly practical, detailed guide for would-be whistleblowers (and journalists who work with them) to staying safe while spilling the beans.

https://memex.craphound.com/2020/01/08/a-public-service-a-comprehensive-comprehensible-guide-to-leaking-documents-to-journalists-and-public-service-groups-without-getting-caught/

II. THE MONSTERS KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING by Keith Ammann: A sourcebook for RPG game-masters explaining how different kinds of monsters can use a variety of combat tactics that add depth, texture (and challenge) to your games.

https://memex.craphound.com/2020/01/10/the-monsters-know-what-theyre-doing-an-rpg-sourcebook-for-dms-who-want-to-imbue-monsters-with-deep-smart-tactics/

III. SNOWDEN'S BOX by Jessica Bruder and Dale Maharidge: The incredible, true tale of how trust among friends allowed Snowden's leaks to safely transit from his home in Hawai'i to the hands of Laura Poitras and the journalists who reported the story.

https://memex.craphound.com/2020/03/31/snowdens-box-the-incredible-illuminating-story-of-the-journey-of-snowdens-hard-drive/

III. ABOLISH SILICON VALLEY by Wendy Liu: A personal journey from a fully bought-in believer in Silicon Valley's meritocracy to a ferocious critic who demands tech to serve humanity, not a human race in service to the tech industry.

https://memex.craphound.com/2020/04/14/abolish-silicon-valley-memoir-of-a-driven-startup-founder-who-became-an-anti-capitalist-activist/

IV. THE CASE FOR A JOB GUARANTEE by Pavlina Tcherneva: A fierce little book setting out an economic program to rescue the nation and the planet from a system that insists we can't even hope for a better world.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/22/jobs-guarantee/#job-guarantee

VII. SUBPRIME ATTENTION CRISIS by Tim Hwang: What's worse than having our lies destroyed by surveillance to manipulate us with ads? Having our lives destroyed by surveillance in order to fuel a fraudulent market in ad-based manipulation.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/05/florida-man/#wannamakers-ghost

VIII. MONOPOLIES SUCK by Sally Hubbard: There are plenty of *great* books about monopolies and the resurgence in antitrust, but Hubbard's is the most practical, providing the reader with excellent advice for actually *doing something* about monopolism.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/27/peads-r-us/#sally-hubbard

IX. BREAK 'EM UP by Zephyr Teachout: The most lucid, readable, infuriating, energizing book on the rise of monopolies. Teachout never loses sight of the systemic nature of the problem, even as she uses individual stories to tell the tale.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/29/break-em-up/#break-em-up

X. BOUNDLESS REALM by Fox Nolte: There has never been a better book about the Haunted Mansion (indeed, this is one of the best books ever written about environmental design in general). Nolte goes *way* beyond trite wisdom about "storytelling."

https://pluralistic.net/2020/11/09/boundless-realm/#fuxxfur

PART 3: GRAPHIC NOVELS

I. YEAR OF THE RABBIT by Tean Viasna: A graphic memoir of Viasna's harrowing boyhood during the rise of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. It's a tale we've rarely seen through the eyes of a child, and brilliantly realized.

https://memex.craphound.com/2020/01/22/year-of-the-rabbit-a-graphic-novel-memoir-of-one-familys-life-under-the-khmer-rouge/

II. FEMALE FURIES by @misscecil: Castellucci uses an obscure and anachronistic all-woman cast of DC Universe b-characters to tell an incredible, smart, pitiless story about #MeToo, comics, solidarity and betrayal.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/29/female-furies/#apokolips-now

III. LONELINESS OF THE LONG-DISTANCE CARTOONIST by Adrian Tomine: A memoir of intensely felt impostor syndrome, a forceful reminder that comparison is the thief of joy - and that the traits that keep an artist going at first go toxic over time.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/21/the-thief-of-joy/#tomine

IV. CONSTITUTION ILLUSTRATED by R Sikoryak: The Trump years were an unhappy crash-course in Constitutional law, but Sikoryak's genius adaptation of the Constitution in the style of dozens of cartoonists is a pure delight.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/27/ip/#r-sikoryak

PART 4: KIDS AND YA

I. SEND PICS by Lauren McLaughlin: A YA novel that's a thrilling revenge-play about "revenge porn," a cyber-heist novel that's also a sneaky and forceful book about teen girls' sexuality.

https://memex.craphound.com/2020/04/21/send-pics-ripping-brutal-amazing-novel-about-teens-sextortion-revenge-and-justice/

II. IMPOSSIBLE MUSIC by Sean Williams: A YA novel about a music-obsessed kid who loses his hearing is the frame for a book about ability, adaptation, music theory, family, Deafness and what dreams are really for.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/30/deafhood/#impossible-music

III. HARD WIRED by Len Vlahos: A 15 year old discovers the truth behind bizarre dysfunction of the world around him: he's an AI in a sim, and the guy he thinks of as his long-dead father is actually the research scientists who created him.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/31/ai-rights-now/#len-vlahos

IV. ADVENTURES OF A DWERGISH GIRL, by Daniel Pinkwater: Like every Pinkwater novel, it defies description, it is brilliant, and it is his best to date. Ghosts, Revolutionary War fleshbots, papaya juice, and supernatural beings from the Catskills!

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/25/dwergish-girl/#you-are-a-pickle

V. WITCH by Finbar Hawkins: A beautiful debut novel about a pair of 17th century sisters who avenge themselves against the witchfinders that murdered their mother. A superbly told historical.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/01/the-years-of-repair/#witch

FINALLY: I published *four* books in 2020!

I. POESY THE MONSTER SLAYER: My debut picture book, about a little girl who turns her toys into weapons and torments her parents by hunting monsters all night, with wonderful art by Matt Rockefeller:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627

II. LITTLE BROTHER/HOMELAND: My multibestselling YA novels were reissued last summer in a gorgeous package with a (fantastic) new introduction by Snowden.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583

III. ATTACK SURFACE: A standalone, adult sequel to Little Brother and Homeland. The New York Times called it "vocal and unflinching" and "ultimately optimistic"; the Washington Post called it a "riveting techno-thriller."

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250757531

IV. HOW TO DESTROY SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM: A long pamphlet/short book that makes the case that Big Tech manipulates us and spies on us because they have monopolies - not because they've developed devastating, data-driven mind-control.

https://onezero.medium.com/how-to-destroy-surveillance-capitalism-8135e6744d59

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beevean · 4 years

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SEGA and the eternal issue of “Sonic’s girlfriend”

[Translator’s note: here is the original article written by @latin-dr-robotnik, originally written on the 18th of May 2020]

Today we’re going to talk about one of the aspects SEGA is more secretive about: Sonic’s relationships.

[Translator’s note: this article was written to celebrate Seaside Hill Paradise’s 200th entry. If you’re fluent in Spanish, I highly recommend you to check it out! And if you aren’t, go follow Latin’s Tumblr blog if you haven’t already and you’re into Sonamy, analyses, gushing about music and shitposts.]

This article concludes my Sonamy trilogy, and I recommend you to read the previous two articles: “SEGA and the eternal issue of the Sonamy dynamic” and “’I love you’ – forbidden words in Sonic”. This means this is a shipping article – if you’re not interested into another essay about the love life of a blue hedgehog, I can redirect you to other articles such as “Sonic and speed: are we misunderstanding them?” and “What went wrong with Classic Sonic’s music in Sonic Forces?”.

Everybody else, welcome to today’s article!

It should be noted that this article focuses more on the semi-official and strictly official aspects, since there is really not much to say about the fandom. Nowadays the fandom has a relatively peaceful coexistence, creating art, fanfics and more, for all kind of ships; sometimes there’s an occasional fight between ships or a ship that clearly is not appropriate… but besides that, everything seems relatively calm, at least in my experience and compared to other fandoms.

Too cool for relationships...

Few things are as mentioned and yet silenced by the official SEGA media as the fateful words “girlfriend” and “Sonic” put together. In official terms, Sonic has always been this young, cool hedgehog, with a pure love for nature and never too worried about life, but with a moral code that makes him fight against injustices. During his first years, Sonic was almost impatient and a little emotionally distant, although as it was the ‘90s and things were not so clear for the young SEGA star, different interpretations would take the character through different paths - some more radical than others. As the years went by, and going through many redesigns, certain aspects of his personality would be perfected, exaggerated, or even flanderized. His position on relationships, on the other hand, would remain relatively constant over the decades, with a few particular exceptions.

The this is that Sonic, in the words of his own creator Naoto Ohshima, has always been considered “a young man with a child's heart”, which has helped to substantiate and understand why the character would remain relatively distant from his feelings, and much closer to his own interests associated with the life of adventure.

... or is he?

Despite everything I just said, they tried in many occasions, if not succeeded, to give Sonic a girlfriend, with various results.

As carefree as Sonic is, and as much as SEGA tried to clarify this point over and over again, the people behind his character have always tried to introduce one or more relationships into his life. Even Naoto Ohshima himself has made his own suggestion as to who might be a hypothetical partner for his character. The different interpretations I’ve mentioned have tweaked Sonic’s character to make it more apt to certain types of dynamics, and the cultural gap between the East and the West (which I analyzed a few years ago with the first article of this “trilogy”) also has a considerable impact on the type of relationships that would be established for Sonic from very early in his history until today.

Author’s note: the concept of “Sonic + human woman” of 1990 wasn’t completely forgotten, no no, it was brought back 16 years later, in… well… the worst way possible.

Let’s see an example. Going back to his very origins, in his pre-Sonic 1 sketches Sonic was often depicted with a stereotypical damsel in distress, Madonna, his own “Princess Peach” that ended up being scrapped for many reasons, including the similarities with Super Mario. As the years have gone by, this concept has not disappeared, but rather the writers and directors of the series have taken it down different paths over time. While Madonna was too cliché, other candidates for the role of “Sonic’s girlfriend” would quickly appear to try different dynamics, directly or indirectly endorsed by SEGA.

Sally Acorn

For many years, Princess Sally was for Western fans the first person who came to mind when they thought of “Sonic’s girlfriend”. Since 1993, and for 2 more decades, her relationship with Sonic has gone in many directions, but fundamentally the most amazing thing about this whole situation was that she was Sonic’s official girlfriend (at least in the Archie Comics canon). It was also one of the many headaches for SEGA in the last decade.

Originally a fellow fighter against the macabre Robotnik from the 1993 animated series Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic and Sally’s relationship was always marked by their opposite personalities; while Sally tends to plan ahead and is much more focused on the seriousness of the task, Sonic was the type to destroy robots first and think later. “Opposites attract,” they say, and by the (premature, I might add) end of that series both were already more than friends. They had already kissed a couple of times.

At the most critical moment in their relationship, Sonic, after a year of being missing in space and presumed dead by everyone, returns to Mobius only to end up back in potential danger, decides to ignore the wishes and warnings of Sally, who’s clearly emotionally traumatized and stressed by both the general situation and the responsibilities she had to carry out for her kingdom in the absence of her parents. The result of this explosive cocktail was one of the most infamous scenes in all of Archie Sonic, "the Slap", where Sally finally reacts violently to Sonic's selfish statements. The hedgehog's response? Well, a long exposure to the screams about her experience - also traumatic - up to that point. In the end, both end up screaming and crying in front of virtually everyone.

What followed in the next decades was an expansion of that original SatAM canon in the Archie Comics, in which its various writers introduced varying degrees of drama and increasing conflict to demonstrate the strong bond between them, destabilizing or even stabilizing it again, multiple times. They would be together for some time, then they would be apart, eventually rekindling the flame of love passionately, until a final sacrifice on their part and the eventual resetting of the entire Archie Sonic canon.

In their last years, after the Super Genesis Wave, Sonic and Sally’s relationship went back to being platonic. a good friendship with the advantages and disadvantages of their personalities - Sally’s leadership and Sonic’s extreme confidence - while the focus was put on the flourishing relationship between Sally and her best friend (and old computer!) Nicole.

Regardless of the way their relationship ended, it's undeniable that Sally has left a huge mark. Being a product of the West, her existence was never really accepted by the Sonic’s Japanese creators, but because the bulk of the fandom is here in the West, Sally's presence has been strongly associated with Sonic, the Freedom Fighters, the comics... and also the ship wars between her and the character we’re going to talk about next. Her very existence was a living contradiction to the Japanese central canon, an official girlfriend who broke all the ideas that existed for Sonic in terms of his conception of relationships and lead him through unique paths. Whether for better or worse, Sally broke the mold.

Eimi. Rosy. Amy Rose.

On the opposite side of the spectrum there’s Amy, a character that was originally conceived as the Minnie to Sonic’s Mickey, but with her own dynamic.

Despite Amy’s existence being strongly tied to Sonic’s, once again Sonic Team tried to avoid the classic cliché (in this case to copy Mickey and Minnie), opting then to establish Amy as the one interested in a relationship, while Sonic runs away from this idea. For this dynamic to keep working, Sonic’s feelings have to be kept hidden, with excuses like his “shyness”, which leads to ambiguity, or because, as said before, of his “child’s heart”.

The most interesting thing is that Amy kept her canonical status of “self-proclaimed girlfriend” since 1993, which makes her “official” and “not official” at the same time, but there are some traces left from the Sonic manga of 1992 (which in turn influenced Amy’s original design), where a prototype version of Amy (or, as it was spelled there, Emi/Eimi) played the role of Sonic’s girlfriend (or Nicki’s, to be more precise). With this detail in mind, Amy can be considered, at least in the East, the very first “Sonic’s girlfriend”, even before Sally – but her situation is much more complex.

Sonic Mega Drive (top) and Sonic Boom (bottom), representing some differences in different Sonic continuities.

In any case, the manga would be the first and only time Amy was officially considered “Sonic’s girlfriend”, because in the following decades and in several continuities the core of their dynamic shifted to Amy chasing Sonic. Both would get closer or further away depending on each case (in Fleetway, for example, Amy ends up marrying another character, while in Archie Sonic there would be only a few instances of potential interest, quickly overshadowed by convenience or other things directly or indirectly related to Sally), but generally no continuity would establish an official relationship. In some cases, such as Japan, it wouldn’t even be necessary to clarify the state of the relationship, since their cultures accept more easily the dynamic that Sonic Team proposed as an “official relationship”. Just looking at the artwork highlighted on Sonic Channel (run by SEGA of Japan) shows how much more accepted the relationship is, even though Sonic Team’s official artwork still avoids any kind of public confirmation. (Author’s note: I’ve written more about Amy according to the East and the West in the first article of this trilogy)

Unlike Sally, there is no “opposites attract” situation between Amy and Sonic, and, at first, there is no prior friendship from which a potential relationship could flourish. We witnessed their dynamics from the first moment they met, and it would not be until years later that there would be a minimal basis for interaction from which various official continuities would bring both characters closer together.

Technically Amy already knew that her destiny was tied to Sonic and the events of Sonic CD on Little Planet, thanks to her tarot cards (an element that has disappeared since then), but for Sonic it was just another day of adventure, and although we’ve seen how Amy's feelings have progressed, mostly in Adventure 1 and 2, Sonic has never reflected on his personal feelings; it’s an aspect of the hedgehog that to this day remains a mystery to the audiences.

Also unlike Sally, Amy has appeared in multiple continuities of all kinds and because of that her relationship with Sonic has been affected in various ways. The main videogames canon has remained ambiguous and unchanged for 25 years: Amy would stay close to Sonic and offer some good moments to reflect on her feelings about him (some of which I mentioned in my post about Sonic Unleashed and Amy’s emotional support), while Sonic would remain distant, uncomfortable, shy, and, more recently, potentially affected by her apparent loss.

Sonic X is the first official attempt (by Sonic Team no less) to offer an expanded view of our characters. There’s a lot of discussion about how Sonic is slowly opening up to Amy’s advances, and these developments follow a line that we discussed in previous articles of this trilogy, and how, during the 2000s, the Japanese writers of the series kept slowly deepening the interactions between the two, reaching very important symbolic moments like Sonic X Ep. 9, 52 and 76, among several others. I am purposely leaving out specific details to direct your attention to this fantastic thread by Yvanix Rose that highlights some key details about how this continuity worked the Sonic-Amy dynamic. [Translator’s note: the thread is in Spanish]

Sonic X, episode 76.

Another essential continuity for the development of this dynamic was Sonic Boom, since, despite having been a separate continuity with its own interpretation of the characters, its existence managed to influence the main canon in some way in the years that followed its original release in 2014.

Sonic Boom made two important changes in the dynamic: Amy did no longer externalize her feelings with the same frequency or intensity (speeding up a process that already started in the main canon in 2008), and Sonic was noticeably more nervous and insecure of his feelings for her, even being jealous in several occasions. These changes got the dynamic closer to the “friends who have secret feelings to each other but they’re too shy to admit it” trope, and in the second season it could even be said that there are signals of the “secretly dating” trope. Nothing was officially confirmed yet, but the changes to the dynamic offered a fresh perspective to work from: winks and inferences about a relationship that was not talked about but seemed to happen behind the scenes.

Sonic Boom S1E16.

Sonic Boom’s approach also opened the door to working a little more on the characters’ new personalities. Taking a little inspiration from the original foundations of Sally and Sonic’s relationship, Boom now presented situations where Sonic and Amy’s perspectives actively clashed with each other, leading to discussions and moments that showed a little more of the mundane details of the friendship they had, rather than appealing to more classic behaviors of the main canon, like Sonic leaving the scene in a hurry. Considering the way things turned out the last time we saw this kind of dynamic on screen, it was pretty safe to assume that their new opposites were now attracted; the implied secret dating and so on only helped to give it more sustenance - which the fandom would eventually take to the extreme.

And lastly there’s IDW Sonic, the comic series that replaced Archie Sonic after its cancellation in 2017, and the most recent arc that offers an interesting perspective. Starting its continuity from the end of the events of Sonic Forces (which at the same time took on certain characteristics from the post-Boom era, particularly as far as Amy is concerned), IDW Sonic didn’t waste any time in presenting the way in which it would carry out its dynamic between Sonic and Amy.

Amy makes her feelings for Sonic very clear, and he is surprised but unable to match them. However, Sonic doesn’t want to outright reject her, and suggests that she come with him; she refuses, claiming that she has duties to the Resistance, setting the tone for the rest of the series. (IDW Sonic #2)

“Sonic’s girlfriend” today

As I mentioned earlier, after the reboot Sally was no longer considered Sonic’s girlfriend, and her disappearance after the cancellation of Archie Sonic in general is a sign that we may not see her ever again, even as a friend. As of today, in 2020, only Amy has been left in her “unofficial, but…” state, with various minor events taking place both in the main canon and in IDW Sonic:

In 2018 the official SEGA shop wrote a description for a piece of Amy Rose merchandise that said “celebrate 25 years of Sonic’s girlfriend”; the mistake wasn’t immediately corrected, despite the fandom pointing it out immediately.

The video game canon has remained dormant, with Team Sonic Racing in 2019 featuring more of a regular friendship between Sonic and Amy, sharing rivalries and quiet moments alike.

On the other hand, since IDW Sonic and Sonic Boom laid their foundations, we've begun to see a certain shift in the way the two characters are presented. While we’ve talked about IDW Sonic already, Sonic’s social medias have done multiple “Twitter Takeovers” where Sonic characters answer questions from fans, and Sonic has always answered more like his version of Boom to the inevitable question about Amy and his “feelings”.

Recent official animations like Sonic Mania Adventures and Team Sonic Racing Overdrive have shown Amy flirting with Sonic in a more casual way.

The current dynamic seems to be pointing towards “Sonic’s hidden feelings”, and I think we are at a perfect point to change the approach. SEGA in general seems more open to the idea of bringing these characters closer, probably as a marketing strategy, but without yet separating themselves from the central ideas that defined the dynamic for the last two and a half decades.

Conclusion

The idea of “Sonic’s girlfriend” has been one of the most experimental and controversial in the almost three decades that this series has been around for. SEGA has opened the door to all kinds of ambiguities, developments and interpretations, all with their pros and cons, instead of settling on a definitive position. As iconic as these characters, conceived as Sonic’s “romantic interests”, have become, they have also had their share of criticism and controversy, especially in the fandom.

The presence of Amy as the only “official but self-proclaimed girlfriend” today says a lot about the control SEGA (specifically SEGA of Japan) regained over the characters, after decades of interpretations that offered different alternatives with various degrees of success. At her best, Sally represented an ideal relationship with Sonic, much more complete and profound than the back-and-forth game between Amy and Sonic. But at her worst, this same relationship represented everything wrong that could happen by associating Sonic with the emotional spiderweb of a romantic relationship. SEGA hardening its control over the characters seems to have put an end of this type of situation where Sonic ends up being involved in a romantic telenovela, but at the same time it has revitalized the flirting game and the implicit associations that give fuel to the fandom fire.

From my humble interpretation, I think we’ve reached a point where Sonic and Amy have shared enough stories and moments to solidify the core aspects of their personalities and their friendship, allowing them to take the next step, which is to play around with the idea of “something else”. 25 years ago it was hard to see how these two characters could work together beyond “it’s SEGA’s word”; today there’s enough of a story to find a rhythm and chemistry for them, and the series of situations they've put themselves in (e.g. IDW Sonic’s plot arcs) are increasingly helping this case. The topic of “Sonic's girlfriend” may be a controversial one for SEGA and the fandom in general, but the doors have slowly been opened for this debate to develop and be investigated with interesting results, and I think that, in this new decade of 2020, there’s a unique potential to explore this kind of discussion, without sacrificing in any way the central principles of Sonic as a character. Thank you for joining me in these 200 entries, and hopefully we’ll see each other for many more.

#sonic the hedgehog #amy rose #sonamy #translation #analysis #long post #happy birthday latin!#this one was so hard #i had to cut a lot of shp-related parts sadly #but this whole project was very fun and enlightening

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a-simple-complexity · 3 years

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Things about the creepypasta improv thing my close friend and I have been doing since 4th or 5th grade (maybe longer):

- My character doesn't really have a cp name yet but has been around for 401 years

- My character, when not at the mansion, is roomies with JTK (and he steals cheese its)

- Vivian's (the close friend) character is close to Slenderman and has a older sister bond with Sally

- Aside from the Jeff The Cheeze Itz Snatcher gag we have more running gags

- Such as Masky locking Toby in the closet when he's annoying only to turn around and see Toby standing there.... MENACINGLY (lol)

- LJ punts Mr Widemouth across the mansion weekly

- EJ is no longer allowed to cook for others after the barbeque of 2017. We miss you, Butler Bill

- Tuesdays and Thursdays Viv's character takes pets and children out the mansion for a playdate while everyone else has some fun

- Viv's Hidden Stash of Tuna TM

- My Hidden Stash of Vodka and Rum TM

- My character might have a problem but then again immortals aren't really affected by alcohol like most mortals are

- Speaking about my character: Holy. Pets.

- They have a bunch of guard dogs (despite them all being guard dogs they are pampered like you wouldn't believe)

- Pastas respect COVID stuff. Slender ordered everyone to scatter until it's mellowed out alot. Slender caught it at some point. They say get the vaccine and wear ya damn mask.

- There's a "Community Garden". It's just a few pitcher plants, some Butterworts, a killer cow plant (courtesy of Ben pulling some strings), a small patch of wither roses (courtesy of Herobrine), and a oran berry plant (courtesy of a few poke-pastas), rose bushes, etc

- Holidays are fun too

- Christmas time is filled with my character and Viv's taking Sally, Jane, Clockwork, and Nina out for a "girls" night

- Granted Nina only gets taken along bc despite the love-hate relationship between my character and Jeff, Jeff deserves time away from Nina during the holidays at least

- Also despite Jeff hating Nina he appreciates the knives she gives him (and return he gives her some sort of card)

- Due to staying in the vents constantly and stalking everyone my character gets everyone what they think they like would like

- Christmas lights everywhere. Splendor always gets Offender to put the star on top the comically large tree just bc

- Despite it not being Christmas music, everyone listens to Hotel California by The Eagles

- and watches Christmas movies (what was that Christmas movie with Tim Allen?)

- Everyone plays in the snow. Jeff decides to start a snowball fight and Sally makes a snow man.

- Everyone wears something festive and it's normally an ugly sweater thanks to Trender

- Spiked nog anyone?

- Thanksgiving includes everyone gathering together and having fun

- A small hunting trip is planned instead of a football game (the hunt takes place the day prior bc no one wanna miss the parade)

- Sally's favorite float is the Charlie brown float

- You know how the president pardons a turkey? Slender pardons a victim (and has been doing it since meeting Viv's character bc of a joke Viv made)

- My character makes mashed potatoes or some sort of really outdated dish from the 1700's

- The Slender Bros, Viv's character, Sally, Toby, Smile Dog, Jeff, and Nina all watch the dog show after the parade

- Nina is kinda allergic to dogs and doesn't really like them but bc of her lingering obsession with Jeff she puts up with it

- Offender and Trender argue over what dog they think should have won (funny to watch to grown immortal-ass men argue over this)

- Slender carves the turkey

- The pardoned victim is allowed to stay for dinner granted a majority of memories get changed (not really erased, just changed)

- My character, Jeff, and Ben all walk through the woods before dinner and get fucking plastered (and think no one notices....everyone notices)

- the week of Thanksgiving the tree gets put up (acceptable if it's the week of Thanksgiving, any other time then it's just weird)

- My characters mom, (considered the co-founder of Hell) pops in, steals a couple slices of pie, and leaves

- Halloween is celebrated kind of like Thanksgiving and Christmas

- My character decorates the mansion with various bones

- 31 Days of Horror Movies (at some point it's decided to watch Earnest Scared Stupid and some of the serious dog lovers opt out)

- The Slender Brothers dress up as the three musketeers. Splendor is Porthos, Offender is Athos, Slender is D'artagnan and, Trender is Aramis

- Jeff and my character do a duel costume by dressing of as Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer from Cats (musical not movie, duh) alternatively they dress as Rum Tum Tugger and Mr. Mistoffelees.

- Sally dresses as Carrie or a fairy princess

- Jane, Clockwork, Nina, Viv's Character dress up as four of the five muses from Hercules (Viv changes last minute to a cat due to her character having cat ears and a cat tail)

- Toby, Masky, and Hoodie originally wanted to dress as the three musketeers but after slender took that idea they decide to dress up as separate things. Toby dresses as Masky. Masky dresses as the phantom of the opera and Hoodie is a ghost.

- Smile dog dresses as a hot dog :P

- A small hunting trip is planned and Jane and Clockwork take Sally trick or treating

- Everyone finishes the month with A Night are Before Christmas (a classic)

- Not many celebrate Valentine's day

- It's really only the Slender Bros, Viv's character, My character, Nina, Toby, Masky & Hoodie, and Sally

- and by Sally I mean she just leaves candy from the candy bowl everywhere

- Masky and Hoodie make a day of it since Slender gives them holidays off. They eat cheesecake in the woods and just spend the day together.

- Toby spends the day alone but still celebrates in his own way. Eating waffles.

- Offender (in our improv thing he's not....yeah....he's just a hopeless romantic that does consensual hook ups) and my character spend his their leaving roses out at restaurants and going to bars for hookups. They have a bunch of stuff worked out.

- Viv and Slender spend the day in bed or lounging in the living room watching some cheesy comedy.

- Trender spends the day as a self care day seeing as he's alone at the moment. Every day is self care for him but it's even more on Valentine's Day. He goes all out and even treats himself to a fancy restaurant.

- Splendor likes going to neighborhoods and leaving cute little poems on people's doors then heading to the zoo for personal time.

- Nina harasses Jeff who, in return, leaves the mansion and heads to the apartment him and my character share.

- New Years is something everyone celebrates. While some have resolutions others have new quotas they're trying to meet.

- Sally tries to stay up and watch the ball drop (she's only seen it drop twice before falling asleep)

- My character and Viv's character get shit faced

- Jeff normally sits there with a beer in one hand and Smile Dog beside him

- that's really all that consists of New Years

More about our two characters:

My character:

- a 401 year old demon thing

- in our universe hell is ran by the 7 devil's as well as my characters mother. Hells more of a city than a pit.

- Has lived with Jeff as a roommate since late 2018

- Use to be with Herobrine but broke it off with him for unknown reasons.....they're civil and still good friends. He's one of those people that could make a good boyfriend but is best as a close friend

- On their 400th birthday a crackening happened in Hell that enhanced their powers and they were hunted by Zalgo. Luckily a truce was established.

- Has been by Viv's character side since her characters soul was first created. More in Viv's Character's section

- Y'know those dogs that were talked about in the beginning? They primarily stay at their mothers mansion in Hell.

- Also all cats go to hell but they don't get hurt. They like to watch. Sometimes if you're lucky you might get a celebrity's cat. That's how my character got their lovely (and kinda douchy cat) Delilah. She likes to pee all over people's suits just bc she's like that.

- They were born in 1620 but are progressive

- Still liked fashion through the ages

- Maybe not the health damaging ones

- Is able to fly and teleport but due to back pain and migraines prefers to stay grounded and rarely use teleportation

- Doesn't actually kill much but has had souls sold to them (job as a demon....doesn't really need one though....is Crossroads Demon)

- Had a one night stand with Trender about 240ish years ago

- Does have proxies....it's those souls they take and barter around for

- Souls in hell can be used for currency depending on whether or not they sold their soul

- Anyways, was at some point known for having an obsession with chainsaws and hoodies...still has a bunch of hoodies and a chainsaw but doesn't really use them much (is more of a flannel and gun person now)

Viv's Character:

- her character managed to get everyone's favorite dwarfed rag doll cat from the internet

- Her character use to be with Entity 303 and ended up Slenderman

- that makes two of us who were with a Minecraft pasta and ended up with a slender brother lol

- I think her character is called Kat or KC so for now imma call her character Kat

- Kat has an addiction to tuna and milk

- Also has cat ears and a cat tail which are both very sensitive

- when Kat's soul was created my character was created. Even though Kat has been through many many reincarnations my character has always been alongside her. Even though my character doesn't die they act as a guardian towards Kat.

- Has a tendency to sit up in the cat walks and within the walls of the mansion alongside my character

- Gets lost in the forest from time to time and needs help getting out

- Despite being with Slender she has her own room to store her weapons and stash her plans.

- If I'm not mistaken Kat also was with Toby for a short while but doesn't talk about it much. Imagine dating your ex-lovers boss lol

- Disappears for up to a week sometimes without saying where she's going and when she comes back she acts as if nothing happened

- When both Kat and my character started living in the mansion they shared a room for about a year.

- Kat had a personal garden that was completely wiped out by Zalgo before a treaty was established and she still hasn't forgave him

- The garden mostly had marigolds and a few small plants. The only one that really mattered was Audrey the Venus fly trap.

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gwasgy · 3 years

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Okay. So. Here’s an elaborate multiple days of brainstorming ideas as they come PracticalMagicnatural AU nonsense. Thank you.

- Bobby and Rufus would be the Aunts and they'd be bffs not siblings and would have Vibes but it would be... hm. This is not a Bufus story is what I'm saying.

- the Curse would be on the men and for the women they love of course (classic fridging :/)

- this works for Bobby, (Rufus,) John, and Sam. (Supernatural is bad)

- so this is where it's kind of. Hm. Bc Sally and Gillian are not one to one for either boy. Where Sally and Gillian BOTH have identities separating family and magic (family business), these ideas are inseparable for the brothers.

- alsooo dean and sam to BE dean and sam they would've had to be "raised" by john until they were at least near-grown, even if they had a home base at Bobby's house.

- John still kills himself with grief MAYBE but it's like /later/ and more through self destruction and revenge and alcoholism, leaving the boys to live their later teenage/early twenties in the Bufus household

- Azazel is the one killing all the Wives in this curse. And if they use The Resurrection Spell to bring them back, he is possessing them

- hmmmmmmmmm they need to still be hunters I think buuut what if. They also did witchcraft.

- Dean would cast the love summoning spell, making it so that he uses angel descriptors unwittingly or on purpose because he doesnt think angels are real and therefore cannot exist for him to fall in love with and kill (bc the curse)

- it would be fun and very cringe fail embarrassing for Dean if sometimes he thought about His Angel and accidentally occasionally prayed to Cas

- Anna could show up and be Dean's red herring

- Dean could be in an About to Die situation and think, as a joke or whatever, "fuck. I never even got to meet that hot angel chick that's in love with me," and Cas shows up (with wings bc hot), saves him, *handprints*, then leaves

- OR. There's a blinding light and screeching noise and Dean blacks out and wakes up with a handprint safe and sound

- Cas and The Guy From Practical Magic That's A Cop both bend the rules of their superiors for their person easily and pliantly. except for the initial pushback. Hm.

----

- it's weird bc in practical magic there's this whole vibe of I'm Done With Magic And You're Dragging Me Back Into This And Ruining My Life but sammy had gone away and rejected The Life THEN found the woman he loves and THEN tried to resurrect her mayyybeeeee wait wait wait it wouldn’t be Jess bc she isn’t evilll...

- DEAN would be the one with a bad boyfriend that they accidentally kill and have to resurrect... hmmmmm

- maybe it's like a Boy Best Friend of dean's like maybe he is on a hunt with Benny and he accidentally chops his damn head off and tries to resurrect him to cover it up

- and that fucks up something in the afterlife and Cas is sent to Fix The Problem of whatever the fuck happened to this guy's soul when they did this

----

- it's wonderful to think of the PTA mom shenanigans Dean and Sam could get into but I don't think that Dean would have any sort of kid in this besides maybe jack?

- I mean, it could be that Ben is still around and he was with Lisa but never Loved Her on principal, and left in time so the curse didn't fuck her up, but they're still friends and he will still pick Ben up from school sometimes

- I don't see how the phone tree could work into it but I don't think that it's necessary bc sam and dean and cas's version of this story does not and can not revolve around them being outsiders in their own community but overcoming it and accepting who you are and integrating into the community through girl power and witch magic

- BUT. the potential of sammy being possessed is yeah. It’s extremely. Yeah.

- They could have a nice bonding moment of I'm never gonna leave you you can do this like from Swan Song. Like Sally joining Gilly in the broom circle to help her while she’s being exorcised

- their brotherly bond is NOTHING like Sally and Gillian's, though. Like YES. they would no doubt help bury the body, but they aren't giggling about their love life under the covers together. They simply are not that type of girl

- also I guess there wouldn't be the tension of You're Ruining My Life That I've Constructed Just By Being Here between them.

- WELL.

- Dean WOULD say something shitty about cleaning up Sam's messes though. He is just that type of guy

----

- Dean can definitely be the one chopping and hacking at the rose bush and cas would DEFINITELY get distracted and heal him in the middle of his conversation with him

- Dean oh dean he and his close Boy Best Friends could totally fuck with the curse. Like-

- Dean: Oh my good friend Benny he’s the first person ive really allowed myself to get attatched to in a while but that’s fine! he can't die because i don't love or like him like that because he's a guy! Haha, I'm not gay! We are just guys being dudes just two bros hanging out :)

Benny: *dies anyway*

Dean: FUCK

- Sammy would totally make that new age witchy herbal shop that Sally had! that would be so fun. Also ft. periphery what the fuck is up with those people type locals

- maybe Rowena shows up still and Crowley is also there hmmmmm and Rowena teaches Sam magic stuff and it gets him to make the supernatural a part of his life again without having to do any hunting hmmmmmmm or it's just another tool in his arsenal and he just always deserves to have magic powers

- the supernatural ladies could work in the shop :) like Meg and Rowena and Ruby anndddd Alya :) Ava? The psychic hunger games MVP girl

- or all the kids work at that shop!! I miss those dang kids. Max, the twins, death lesbian, Jake, electric guy, and all them :)

- Rowena is like a witchy shop owner up in town that buys Sam's wares to sell in the city #CareerWoman #GirlBoss

- Jody and Donna can also hang out I guess. Since we're at Bobby's place

----

- Dean casts the love summoning spell after either Regular Heartbreak with Cassie, his first love, when he was 15 or whatever, OR after the behated Boy Best Friend death. Hmmmmmm

- it makes more sense for the story for dean to have someone die on him and apply to the curse. But I don't wanna kill Benny ):

- well I don't think he was ever In Love with Crowley or Benny like he was with Cassie (or even Lisa)

- when he was 15 or 14 and John was still around but had left him at the Bufus household he got hold of that love summoning spell and made sure it was impossible so he would never experience heartache again. He does so while crying teenagishly and 11 year old sam is like. Why the fuck are you summoning this weird monster girl to fall in love with you

- and Dean is like no no this kind of monster doesn't exist. Anyway they'd have glowing blue eyes and they're as big as a building and and they hear me whenever I call no matter far away

- Sam: that...... sounds like an angel, dean.

Dean, having already done the spell: WHAT. NO. NO IT'S NOT IT IS SO NOT LIKE AN ANGEL. ANGELS AREN'T REAL

- Cas in Heaven, a bunch of flower petals swirling around him: what the fuck is that. That's weird

- Cas like 13 years later when he sees a cajun zombie vampire demon: okay I'm already getting weird prayers from some guy down there I'm just gonna check that out

- by the time Cas gets down there they've killed it again and buried it and hmm

- It's weird because it's the opposite of Practical Magic here bc Cas is the one that needs to be believed about something supernatural BY dean

----

- what if they accidentally kill JOHN instead of a hot bf. Dean kills John bc John tries to kill Sam, and they panickedly try to resurrect him immediately

- yeah yeah yeah yeah and John, possessed by Azazel, gets killed again while still being possessed and is buried underground. There can still be a rose bush and frogs and whatnot

- I doon't know why Bobby and Rufus would just leave the brothers in their house if John was alive until then?

- Alright John's been missing for like 5 years and the boys have just been living there and assumed he's dead. Then he comes for Sammy bc Sam is Turning Evil or whatever and John's a huge loser about it

- so Bufus is like "you guys are acting insane and you aren't telling us what's wrong so we’re just going to leave and you're going to sort it out yourself." Like the aunts

- then, when cas shows up to track down the weird resurrected demon-possessed serial killer abomination Dean and Cas are EMBARRASSING like completely totally absolutely embarrassing cringe fail love where they can't talk normal with eachother and Cas keeps getting too close and staring but Dean forgets to tell him to back off or anything and he just stammers uselessly through thin dumb lies

- there aren't any children there to comically thwart Sam's plans to get rid of Castiel as he is investigating Dean and Sam but it could end similarly

- where Cas finds Sam making a small angel banishing symbol and is like "okay. You guys aren't to be trusted and you're doing something evil (and i don't understand what’s happening to me when i’m around Dean). I'm just straight up going to leave then" and boom he's gone

- the fight Sally and Gillian have right before Gillian gets possessed can play out pretty damn similarly with Sam and Dean, but it's a LOT different too

- like it's their DAD not some random serial killer bf. You can't choose your dingdang dad! So the part of "I cant keep cleaning up your messes" WHOSE MESSES who even says that to who whose mess could this even be

----

- Sam has a girlfriend that dies from the curse and it’s bc of being caught in the crossfire when Hunter Bullshit Happens. The Women of the Winchesters’ way. So he moves back specifically to get back into hunting and witchcraft to BREAK the curse hmmmmm.

- Much like Sally with Michael’s death. “I don't care what he comes back as. As long he comes back. Please do this for me. Please? Please? Please? Please?” :(

- I think Dean is an Of Course I’m Not Going To Fall In Love kinda character, like younger Sally before Michael. very pessimistic very self depreciating. He only confides his deepest darkest desires (to be loved simply and openly without fear of the Curse taking anyone. To be held and to take care of someone who will appreciate it) in his fakey fake pretend prayers to his imaginary angel (this turns out to be very cringe fail embarrassing when Cas shows up)

- Cas holds onto these prayers like Hallet (the cop from movie) does with Sally’s letter to Gillian, not knowing or understanding why he’s so fixated on them and why he can’t stop reading them/playing them back/listening in

- John… maybe he was pulling a Gordon and was killing all the psychic kids and was eventually going to have to kill Sam, and Cas was for some reason Put On The Case as an angel or was Allowed to Interfere or whatever bc it was fudging up God’s Plan

- and that’s how Cas justified being so fixated and taking notes on Dean’s prayers, like Hallet did with the letter. It was a good lead. It was about their father, and Sam seemed to be having psychic tendencies or whatever that could turn dangerous

----

- Okay okayokayokay so Sally and Gillian’s story is them escaping the ostracization they feel from the people in their physical regional community. The Owen’s family has always been outsiders, even before the curse came into being. They are persecuted for being witches (and sleeping around and being sexy).

- the sisters try to escape this either by just LEAVING: going to a place they can be themself without shame, or assimilating and abandoning a part of themself so that they can stay.

- the Winchester brothers are, I guess, ostracized by the hunting community because they are kept away from it and moved around a lot in the show. Okay okay okay okay okaywaitwaitwait

- Okay so the Winchesters feel alienated from both civilians and the hunting community, and they both eventually choose to do similar things to Sally and Gilly..! Sam LEAVES and assimilates, while Dean stays and just accepts his role his father gave him.

- Gilly and Sam LEAVE, while Dean and Sally STAY. Gillian and Dean embrace what makes them Different, while Sally and Sam reject it in favor of Being Normal

- The witchcraft/hunting thing especially doesn’t mesh well here though because Hunting is KILLING it’s literally murdering sentient beings. It’s war propaganda it’s desensitizing you to Even Though The Enemy Is Capable Of Good Individually They Are, As A Group, Evil And Should Be Slaughtered.

- Witchcraft in Practical Magic is just… a way of life that’s considered outside the accepted norms of society. It’s being openly queer, it’s being from a different country of origin, it’s being non-christian religious in a small town. Accepting witchcraft doesn’t have any moral good or badness, it’s just with or without the consequences of being “out” in your area. While accepting Hunting as a lifestyle is to accept putting yourself in bodily danger doing morally ambiguous/BAD things to protect people you can’t relate to or find a community in. Hmmmmmmmmmm

----

- Sam and Sally both have natural talents/instincts but don't want to use it in favor of being "normal"

#literally all i want to think about.#spn #my posts #like this is Just For Me but GOD.#if theres thoughts or feelings to be had please let me know #practicalmagicnatural #it ends in a whatever kinda way but let me tell you. This is not my final thoughts on this #pmn

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mtvswatches · 4 years

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Underrated rom-coms that I absolutely adore *chef’s kiss*

In no particular order. Click the titles to see the trailers.

The Truth About Cats and Dog - Uma Thurman and Janeane Garofalo star in this 90s gem. Janeane’s a radio host and vet who falls for one of her callers after helping him deal with his dog. Uma is her neighbor and ends up impersonating Janeane by her request because she is very insecure about her appearance. Meanwhile, she maintains amazing phone conversations with the object of her affection. First female masturbation scene I ever saw in movies. Female friendship is strong in this one.

Sleeping with Other People - A kind of homage to When Harry Met Sally if it was set in the 2010s and was much raunchier. After a chance encounter at university, Alison Brie has sex for the first time with Jason Sudeikis. They only meet again many years later and strike up a friendship in which they both dispense relationship and sex advice to the other. Each of them has their own hangups, and time and again rely on each other to get through stuff. The story does develop in the way you’d expect, but both leads deliver great performances and you can’t help but fall for them as they fall for each other. There’s a scene in particular that gives me a lot of feels and made me swoon over Jason Sudeikis, which had never happened before. (Spoiler alert: this scene.)

While You Were Sleeping - Sandra Bullock in one of her earliest, breakout roles. This is one of those movies with a #problematic lead whose behavior is probably criminal, definitely creepy and if you really start dissecting it, you realize that the heroine is actually the villain (My Best Friend’s Wedding, I’m also looking at you.) Anywho, Sandra is a lonely, single woman who works in the booth at a train station or something and daydreams about one of the daily commuters, Peter Gallagher. She ends up rescuing him after he falls to the rails. He ends up in a coma, and because of a misunderstanding, his family believes her to be his fiance, and she enjoys so much living out this fantasy that she fails to correct them. But his brother, a very swoony Bill Pullman, is suspicious of her and in an attempt to figure out whether she’s lying or not, they end up spending a lot of time together and well, you can figure out what happens later.

A Lot Like Love - I guess this one was a more deliberate attempt to recreate and modernize When Harry Met Sally. Starring Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet, it tells the story of a boy and girl who meet at the airport and end up spending a day together and forming a unique bond. Throughout the years, they keep crossing each other’s paths, and each time they grow closer and more intimate, although the timing is never right. You can guess the rest. It’s a very sweet movie with an absolutely amazing soundtrack.

Definitely Maybe - Raise your hand if you’ve loved Ryan Reynolds and watched pretty much everything he was in since you saw him in 1996′s Sabrina The Teenage Witch with Melissa Joan Hart. Anyway, if you’re a fan of love stories that span years and How I Met Your Mother but hated the ending, you’ll love this one. Ryan’s character, now divorced, retells his three most important past relationships to his curious daughter after she asks him how he met her mom. While that relationship obviously didn’t have a happy ending, reminiscing about his past love life helps him figure out that there may still be a chance to hold on to the one who got away.

The Wedding Date - With a plot seemingly straight out of fan-fiction - single woman hires date to go to sister’s wedding in England where she’ll run into former fiance - this movie is extremely tropey and predictable. Yet, it kind of works for me. Dermot Mulroney is extremely dreamy, and the UST between his character and Debra Messing is palpable.

Before Sunrise (and Before Sunset and Before Midnight) If smart dialogue and beautiful backdrops are a huge turn-on for you, this is your movie and your saga. While the plot is virtually non-existent - two young adults meet on a train in Europe and end up spending a day together in Vienna - this is one of those movies that are brilliantly written and in which the dialogue is the plot. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy play wonderfully off each other and you almost feel you’re watching the events transpire in real-time. There is something wonderful about watching two people slowly fall in love with each other as they talk and get to know each other in a way that people rarely do. There’s also the charm of knowing there’s an expiration date to their encounter and the desperation of not wanting it to the end. I adore this movie, this couple, this saga, this director.

Reality Bites - Yes, I do have a thing for Ethan Hawke. Sue me. This is 90s Wynonna Ryder at her best and Hawke at his broodiest, bad-boy-est. This is the quintessential Generation X movie (that’s actually the title the movie was given in my country...) in which you see twenty-somethings struggling to become adults in a world that keeps changing the rules. It touches on many issues that are relatable to young adults while at the same time giving you an insight into this group of friends who try to navigate adulthood while remaining true to who they are. Wynonna and Ethan have insane chemistry, and their scenes together still give me butterflies.

High Fidelity - A heartbroken John Cusack, who owns a record store and is obsessed with making lists, decides to make the list of his top five breakups, hunt down his exes and have heart-to-hearts about why they think their relationship didn’t work. He views these relationships and breakups as formative experiences that led him to where he is today and ultimately affected his most recent relationship, which he thought was the one. Great soundtrack, great cameos in minor roles, and John Cusack, for fuck’s sake, what more could you ask for?

Chasing Amy - Granted, this one probably doesn’t hold up so well in this day and age. I mean, comic book writer Ben Affleck falls for lesbian Joey Lauren Adams and actively tries to have her switch teams? Hmmm. Even when I watched this back then that part definitely felt ... wrong. Yet... I’ve always felt the message of the movie about sexuality - and ultimately about love - was that it is complex and it fluctuates and that we are kind of doomed if we keep slapping labels on ourselves and holding ourselves to the standards of said labels. There are definitely homophobic lines, but it’s a very interesting movie to watch mostly because of Alyssa’s character and her journey in the movie. Give it a try and tell me what you think.

Just Friends - Another Ryan Reynolds flick, arguably more of a comedy than a rom-com but feels underrated either way. Former fatty Ryan has made a name for himself as a music producer or something after he escaped his hometown and the friend zone (I KNOW) he inhabited during his highschool years. Having to take care of pop star Anna Faris (who is absolutely hilarious in this movie), he ends up accidentally returning to his town and running into his high school crush and best friend again. Now exuding self-confidence because of his looks, he decides he will get her to sleep with him to fulfill his teenage fantasies. As he attempts to woo her, he slowly reverses to his high school appearance, which undermines his confidence and brings his issues to the surface. It’s a silly, fun movie that doesn’t pretend or aim to be anything else, and both Ryan’s and Anna’s comedic skills are brilliantly displayed in it. You’ll laugh a lot, is what I’m saying.

#movies #romantic comedies #rom coms #romance #films #mine #also let me know if you would like me to do other lists like this?

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mobius-prime · 4 years

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202. Sonic the Hedgehog #134

Uh oh, that cover page doesn't bode well…

Home: Epilogue (Say What You Will)

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Jon Gray Colors: Jason Jensen

Everyone please welcome our newest penciller, Jon Gray! I wouldn't normally go out of my way to announce a new artist, but Jon Gray has perhaps one of the most heavily stylized and recognizable art styles of any other artist for this comic. You'll see what I mean almost immediately once I start showing panels. Anyway, a lot of this issue is devoted to Sonic simply catching up with family and friends, now that the immediate danger to Knothole is over and he can fully relax. When he and the others get back to the village, he's sent to Dr. Quack for treatment of his shoulder, and while there Quack scans him and notices the implant the aliens gave him to understand all forms of speech. Apparently it's bonded permanently to his nervous system, and Sonic panics a bit when he hears this, accidentally agitating his injury… which causes him to actually swear.

It wouldn't even be a big deal as the panel is fairly humorous and cartoony, but this actually makes Sonic one of only five characters in the entire comic who ever swear, at least that we ever see. Monk is one, Espio is another a few issues from now, and the fourth and fifth we have yet to properly meet. Anyway, yes, Dr. Quack lost an eye during the war while Sonic was away, and he's back to being a regular doctor, despite us never actually having seen him as a frontline medic. Sonic exits the hospital and meets with his family and Sally plus the queen, who inform him that there's going to be a huge celebration tonight to welcome him back to the land of the living. They exit the hospital and part ways with Sally and her mother, and are immediately blinded by a multitude of camera flashes from a press mob, all clamoring to ask Sonic a million questions about his year away. Somehow they manage to extricate themselves and head home, where Sonic is happy to see his old room exactly as he left it, his parents sadly explaining that after they thought he was dead they couldn't bear to change anything. He flops into bed for a nap while his mother fixes dinner, and wakes up to see his favorite pup, greeting him at the foot of his bed.

Sonic rushes out to confront his parents on why they didn't tell him such an important detail as Muttski learning to speak while he was away, but then realizes that his alien implant must be what allows him to understand his dog. Wait, so does this mean that Sonic can now understand any ordinary animal's speech? This is an amazing superpower! I would kill to have my own version of that. Sonic explains something else that he learned during his journey that he just remembered. Apparently, as he broke Ceneca-9009 out of prison, he had asked her why she deroboticized every Robian except for Jules, and she explained that due to the nature of Jules' injuries before his roboticization, reversing the process would bring back the same state of his body at that moment in time and ultimately kill him. This would explain why it took so much longer for him to be returned than the others - clearly Ceneca-9009 tried for a while to find a way to deroboticize him without killing him, but was ultimately unsuccessful. After dinner, Sonic heads to Knothole's airstrip knowing he will find Tails there, and they take a moment to catch up one on one before the party. It's not purely a social visit, though - Sonic has some important news for Tails as well.

This kid has never known his own parents, remember. His father disappeared the same day he was born, and his mother followed shortly afterward. Even when everyone else was getting their roboticized family back, he never looked for his parents, never seemed to expect to see anybody. Now he knows that he has two living and loving parents on the other side of the galaxy, waiting for him - and one day they'll be able to reunite once more. Something to look forward to, eh?

That night, the entire village celebrates, with Mina and her backup band performing for the crowd amidst flashing, colorful lights. Sonic takes the chance to hang out with all his friends, especially Sally, with whom he's resumed his budding relationship as though he never left. The king interrupts the festivities for a brief moment after Mina's set concludes, with an important announcement for the populace.

Mina happily runs to Sonic to hug him (with Sally looking slightly jealous behind them), informing him that in the course of the war she'd completely lost her stage fright and become a veritable pop star, singing and performing to keep morale up. As she introduces him to her stage manager (and boyfriend, as he gruffly informs Sonic) Ash the Mongoose, Sally's parents look at her from the edges of the party, with her mother expressing some concern about leaving Sally in charge while they're gone due to her seemingly fragile emotional state, evidenced by how she reacted when she saw Sonic take a hit during the battle. However, King Max says that he trusts her, as Elias never wanted to be king while Sally was born and bred to be a ruler from birth. Sally, for her part, seems to be eager to speak with Sonic about something, but they keep finding themselves interrupted by the arrival of more friends, this time including Knuckles and the Chaotix. Knuckles explains more fully why he's here, that while Sonic was gone Eggman invaded and captured Angel Island and he and his crew have been forced to stay here for a while as a result, helping the king in the war effort.

Rotor arrives with a rocket, and while he sets it up he explains to Sonic that he's since retired from active duty on the front lines to focus on inventing and science back home. Honestly, I always got the impression that Rotor was at least several years older than the others - like in his mid-20s or so - but apparently no, he's like eighteen, so "retired" seems like a bit of a strange word to use in this instance. But eh, whatever - he shoots off the rocket and it lights the sky with a barrage of colorful fireworks, including a special one that changes shape, taking the form of Sonic and Sally kissing and holding each other. Seems a little gaudy if you ask me, but Sonic is pleased, as is the crowd. Sonic then congratulates Geoffrey and Hershey on their impromptu wedding, and they say they're leaving Knothole for a while, to go on a secret mission for the king which will also double as their honeymoon. Fair enough for two people who live for the life of a spy, I guess! Sonic then gets to chatting with Bunnie, and asks her why she and Antoine broke up and where he got the facial scar from.

Ouch. That's not the Antoine we know and love. I'm sure we'll get more answers later on, though. After one last interruption, from a reporter looking for a photo of the royal couple, Sally is finally able to pull Sonic aside onto the now-empty stage for a talk. She informs Sonic that since she'll be acting ruler while her parents are away, she wants Sonic to stay away from the fighting and rule at her side while they're gone, ultimately retiring himself from the life of a front-line fighter. Sonic is surprised at the request and begins to try to argue, but Sally suddenly snaps at him, saying that she doesn't want him risking his life anymore if they're going to be together. Her outburst gets the attention of everyone at the party, who are now staring at them up on stage. Sonic seems sad as Sally reminds him of how she already lost him once, but firmly sticks to his guns, telling her he simply can't stop fighting while they're in the middle of a war. And thus, we have our lead-in to perhaps one of the most infamous panels of the preboot.

And with that, Sally runs away sobbing, yelling that Eggman can have Sonic all to himself.

Now, I definitely have some things to say about The Slap and everything that surrounds it. The reaction of basically every fan I've ever seen is that this is totally out of character for Sally, and one hundred percent a result of bad and biased writing on the part of Karl Bollers. I both agree and disagree, to an extent. Let me defend my position. I do agree that this is out of character for Sally, and not at all like what the Sally we've always known from before Sonic's space adventure would act like. However, I don't think that this is necessarily a case of bad writing as a whole. See, grief will make people do strange things, things they would normally never do. Please keep in mind that Sally, at this point in time, is all of sixteen years old, and, on top of what you would expect from teen mood swings, is dealing with the immense pressure of being a princess, and being ruled over by her parents after eleven prior years of being mostly free to be herself. And then, to add to all of that, she lost her closest childhood friend just as they finally admitted their long-standing feelings for one another that they'd repressed their entire lives, and proceeded to watch him die in front of her eyes. After almost an entire year, he's made a miraculous comeback, only to appear to die once more, again in full view of Sally who was in no position to be able to help. She's had the voice of her parents in her ear for this past year telling her that she mustn't put herself into danger anymore as the kingdom's future ruler, and likely been estranged to some degree from the other Freedom Fighters as a result. Yes, this is not how Sally Acorn would act - but I think that's the point. A running theme in this arc is that given time, people change, and not always for the better - and that's ultimately exactly what we're seeing here.

Furthermore, all that aside, I also think that this works from a plot standpoint in general. Think what you will about "will they won't they" type plotlines, but they're popular for a reason - they create drama between characters. Normally I myself am not a fan of that type of dynamic, but I do think it works in Sonic and Sally's case just because they're such different people from each other, so opposite in personality in so many ways that I can definitely see them struggling to find a balance as they work through their teenage years and try to figure out where they'll ultimately stand with each other. I mean, think about it - it would be a bit bizarre if they just stayed together from here on out, never disagreeing or having difficulties resulting from Sonic's stay in space, and there were no more avenues to explore regarding romance and relationships. We can't just have a happy ending where Sonic returns from space, reintegrates right back into his social circle without any problems, and continues his engagement to Sally without a hitch. The story and the world simply wouldn't work properly that way - it would feel too sugar-coated, too easy. One of the things I've always loved about the story that's told in the Archie Sonic preboot is that nothing is ever truly okay - at its core, the story of the comic differs so greatly from the stories in the games and anime because it's the story of a war, and how the youth of this world react to living in one. Even when things look like they're going well, there's always something else, something that once again shatters the fragile stability that everyone has worked so hard to build. Having everything be hunky-dory once Sonic gets back just wouldn't fit the type of story that's being told.

So ultimately, as much as I know a large portion of the fandom disagrees with me, I don't have a problem with The Slap. I feel that taking everything that has happened in the story up till now into context, it makes sense for Sally to start breaking under pressure like this, and leaves the story open to further character interaction and conflict that we otherwise wouldn't get to see if they stayed together. (Keep in mind as well that I am a big fan of Sonic and Sally as a ship, so this isn't coming from a selfish place of not wanting to see them together or something - it's more a case of me thinking it wouldn't make sense yet.) Ultimate I think there much better (or worse…?) examples of instances in the comic where characters behave out of character due to bad writing. Such as…

Mobius 25 Years Later: In Transit

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Steven Butler Colors: Jason Jensen

…this abomination of a story arc! Seriously, this is one instance where I totally agree with the rest of the fandom on how bad it is. Granted, today's story isn't as egregious as some of the ones in the past or other ones to come, but even so. We open right where we left off, with Knuckles and Rotor discussing serious matters of world annihilation and such while two horny teenagers listen in. They accidentally cause a twig to snap, and Knuckles whirls around to find the source of the noise.

Now, see, this is actually an interesting plot point! Science has advanced enough in this world where if one loses an eye, they could easily have it replaced through cloning, and yet Knuckles has willingly chosen to forego such an option in favor of keeping his cybernetic eye instead. And surprisingly, I actually find this totally in character for him. I think Knuckles, in any canon, if he lost an eye, would likely choose to keep a cybernetic replacement in favor of cloning himself another organic eye - if not for the enhanced vision it could give him, then as a point of pride, perhaps feeling that he should live with the cybernetics as a reminder of past mistakes and failures that can spur him to keep moving forward. But we don't get to focus on the eye! Instead, Knuckles takes his leave of Rotor for now and heads to Haven Two, which is (obviously) the replacement for Haven after it was destroyed in the past. He greets his fellow Guardians and asks them a favor - to fire up the ol' hidden camera system across the island so he can follow the two teens who were spying on him and Rotor in the park. Apparently, he promised Julie-Su in the past that he would never spy on family, so he's never made much use of Haven's surveillance system, and this is something that Spectre feels he's being foolish about given who Julie-Su's half sister is. And, as it turns out, that's exactly who we're going to be spying on today! Knuckles tunes in in time to see Rutan and Salma being confronted by Lien-Da about their late-night excursions, and Knuckles explains Rotor's suspicions about the weather to the others while Lien-Da gets ready to scold her son after they take Salma back home.

Well well now! So Rotor and Cobar have intercepted the feed from Haven, huh? That's quite a feat - and quite suspicious of them, at that. Rotor then makes a comment about all this likely not surprising King Sonic… as apparently, Sonic doesn't like echidnas, and especially not Knuckles!

…what?!

So this is a really stellar example of what I was talking about earlier, about having better examples of out of character behavior! Apparently, in this timeline, Sonic and Knuckles actively dislike each other, going so far as to refuse to speak to one another and resenting having to interact for even short periods of time. This is so far off the mark that I'm kind of stunned at just how wrong Penders has managed to get these two's relationship. I mean, just, what? Sonic and Knuckles regularly butted heads when they were younger, sure, but in every canon they both exist in, the two always end up as good, if volatile, friends, who would trust each other with their lives! I seriously can't imagine a future where the two would end up hating each other. We're going to be seeing the exact specifics of why they hate each other in future issues, too, so strap in guys, cause this is gonna suck.

#nala reads archie sonic preboot #archie sonic #archie sonic preboot #sonic the hedgehog #sth 134 #writer: karl bollers #writer: ken penders #pencils: jon gray #pencils: steven butler #colors: jason jensen

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freedom-fighters-unite-a · 4 years

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@welcome-to-chao-hub said: Which of your muses deserves better?

Asks for Multimuses | Accepting

//Depends on what you mean by “deserves better”. As you probably already know, both this blog and @of-honor-and-theives (which follows this blog’s canon) are canon-divergent and heavily headcanon-based. A lot of the Sonic muses I rp as were satAM/Archie Sonic characters and I think we all know how...weird the early Archie Comics were. In terms of the canon portrayal, I’d have to say that Julie, Dulcy, Saffron, Sally, and even Geoffrey all deserved to be portrayed better and while Sally was able to be portrayed much better later on, I had to take some creative liberties in terms of Julie, Dulcy, Saffron and Geoffrey (especially Saffron).

//Below the cut, I’ll explain who deserves better in terms of ic portrayal. Just a warning that there are dark themes ahead.

//As for who deserves better in terms of ic portrayal, I’d have to go with Marshalia Abadeer, my Adventure Time OC over at @thesecretsister. While all of the character I play have had rough pasts (i.e. Marsha was bullied in Knothole, Bunnie was half-roboticized, Sally and Elias lost their father when he was banished into the Special Zone, Lillian over at @chicagohxart tried to kill herself twice, etc.), it’s still nothing compared to Marshalia’s story. Marshalia lost her mother and was separated from her older sister, Marceline, when she was 2. She has a scar that goes over her left eye that she gained that day, temperately blinding her in said eye. She doesn’t consciously remember this day (or her mother in general) as Marshalia’s (and Marceline’s) father, Hunson Abadeer, used a memory spell to wipe the memory clean. From that day, Hunson would become overprotective of her, which leads to a great deal of Marshalia’s frustrations. In addition, with Marceline missing, Marshalia had come to assume that she was to become Hunson’s heir. So, despite being so very young, began to teach herself. She read books, watched documentaries that made her almost unfazable by horror movies, she even began to practice magic after practically begging Hunson to teach her. And while she became very knowledgeable, the demons of her father’s dimension would whisper to themselves about her.

//The one thing Marshalia lacked was a chaotic evil nature. She liked cute things, animals, especially ponies and unicorns, and her favorite color was pink. It were these interests that earned her weird looks and there were times, Marshalia recalls, that even Hunson gave her a weird look. As much as she tried, she could never seem to escape her father’s looming shadow.

//The older Marshalia gets, the more frustrated she gets. Frustrated over being treated like a baby. Frustrated over being second best. Her frustration, jealousy, and resentment leads her to pushing everyone away, including both Marceline and Hunson, who did genuinely care about her. Her jealousy warps her mind until finally, she goes on the attack.

//As the Nightmare Princess, she attacks Hunson and engages him into a magic duel. Just as it seems as Hunson is going to win, Nightmare Princess launches one final attack, using Marshalia’s soul as it’s power source. Hunson destroyed the attack quickly, but at the same time, destroyed Marshalia’s soul. After seeing what he had done, he turned to the only thing he knew that could fix this: magic. Through the power of dark magic and demon sacrifices, Hunson made a new soul for Marshalia and brought her back. She woke up a few hours later and it didn’t take long for her to figure out what had happened.

//Too scared to face Hunson after that, she ran away. She left a note on her bed, telling Hunson not to come and find her, but Hunson sent out several imp servants to find her and bring her back. But Marshalia refuses to go back.

//Being on the run in the Land of Ooo isn’t easy, and after a few years of running, Marshalia learned how to hide. And it had worked for over 900 years. She lives in a small cottage in the middle of a deep and thick forest, with her only frequent company being a corpse she animated. And while she has managed to make a living selling potions and hexes, she still lives in constant fear of being found out and brought back to her father.

//At first glance, Marshalia appears to be someone who just hates everything. She can be mean-spirited, short-tempered, and dour. But she’s acts this way to shield herself from being hurt anymore than she already has. In reality, she is still that shy, sweet and curious little girl she once was, but is too scared to show others who she really is. On top of this, Marshalia is also very socially awkward, having been mostly sheltered as a child mixed in with the fact that she has Autism and has a hard time knowing how to talk to others and has a hard time expressing her own feelings in a healthy way. Add on the fact that Marshalia has powers that are tied heavily to her emotions, then you’ve got a socially awkward, emotional mess of a person.

//She tends to think about Hunson a lot, too. Even though she left him a goodbye note, she never properly said goodbye or even apologized, even though she wants to. She feels like she is a huge disappointment to him and just an embarrassment to the Abadeer family name. Deep down, Marshalia still kinda looks up to Hunson and Marceline but at the same time, she very much jealous of both of them. Their success always makes Marshalia feel insecure about herself and being compared to them just makes Marshalia’s blood boil.

//So yeah, Marshalia has issues.

#🌰 incoming transmission (asks)#🌰 out of kingdom (ooc)#tw: long post #tw: death mention #tw: demon #tw: zombies #tw: autism #tw: suidice #tw: dark themes #tw: family problems #tw: familial death #welcome-to-chao-hub #//sorry this is so long

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toaarcan · 5 years

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I think you're putting too much on Fiona's "purpose" being in relation to other characters. A big complaint was that she wasn't really ANYTHING. She was resentful about Sonic and Mighty, and then next time we see her she's part of the FFs with no explanation or role. She was sometimes a medic, and then part of the Brain Trust for no reason (never really showing those skills), and then she was suddenly Sonic's gf...while he was still saying he and Sally were meant to be. Villain = direction.

I mean, there was an explanation for her, but it came almost two years after the fact: Her belief that Sonic was a selfish glory-hound was rattled by his selfless sacrifice to save the world, something that she personally witnessed, and therefore, she tried to make amends. Not only that, but it was a quick moment too, with her even attending Sonic’s “funeral” in Issue 125.

The problem with the story is that it was written by Bollers, and unfortunately that means that Penders completely ignored what happened in it no more than two issues later.

Bollers’ Fiona: Not interested in Sonic, but trusts him and respects him, though she acknowledges that he isn’t perfect and does have a selfish streak. Made aware of Tails’ feelings for her, and chastises “Sonic” for hitting on her despite that knowledge.

Penders’ Fiona: Very much interested in Sonic, completely unaware of Tails’ feelings, completely uncaring about the whole debacle.

Her position as a medic is likewise something that was there with Bollers, and then absent once Penders took over. Admittedly, a medic is a somewhat difficult character type to use in a book where characters don’t regularly get injured, so I can see why it could fall by the wayside, but one must keep Penders’ inability to keep anyone consistent in mind. When it comes to Fiona, Penders couldn’t even keep consistent with himself. Look at the very-obviously-preteen Fiona from the Knuckles book vs. the sixteen year old he portrays her as in the main title.

Believe me, I’ve done this song and dance many a time. There’s this perception that the villainous version of Fiona is automatically a better character because Ian did something with major with her, but the fact of the matter is that it’s entirely possible to do something major with her without taking a torch to everything except that one single issue of the Knuckles comic where she was kind of a jerk to Mighty for mostly understandable reasons.

It’s been a long while since I’ve reread any of the comic, and I’ve been immersed in the fandom’s perception of things a whole lot more than that, so I legitimately forgot a lot of what was there, but one thing that sticks out from seeing the old stuff again on Thanks Ken Penders is how compassionate Fiona is, she’s portrayed as very frequently being the one to voice concern for her comrades’ safety (A fitting trait for a medic character), and it jars so heavily with Ian’s decision that she should be a self-centred, “Survival of the best” character who cares about nobody except herself and her abusive boyfriend.

As I said in my post “Fiona Fox: Depth vs. Prominence”, summing up Fiona’s personality before she was sacrificed on the altar of Sleazy the Recolour takes a whole lot more than summing up her personality afterwards, and even then that relates more to her relationship with Scourge than it does to herself.

Now that’s not to say that Fiona as a villain couldn’t work. In my most recent post on this topic, I even said directly that she could’ve been a really darn good villain, if her status as a traitor actually mattered. A traitor should be an intensely personal antagonist, someone who can get inside the heads of the heroes and damage them emotionally just as much as they can physically. The interactions between her and her former friends should be brutal, knife-twisting, and send them reeling. The fact that Fiona’s villainy is arguably something that Sonic created can only add to that, as she is living proof that sometimes the hero can fail.

Buuut she’s none of that. Sonic is more bothered about her harming Tails than anything she does to him directly, and the second (and final) time they interact, Sonic dismantles her arguments without flinching and leaves her to run off crying.

Tails’ faith isn’t shaken at all by her, he finishes 172 stating unflinchingly that she’s wrong (And her philosophy never made sense anyway, so Tails is correct there), and within six issues he’s physically attacking Sonic primarily out of envy over the Fiona situation, and outright states that he doesn’t care that she went with Scourge.

Sally... never liked her in the first place, but gets no vindication from it. She neither gets a moment where she feels explicitly proven right, nor is frustrated that the others went to bat for Fiona and had that trust rejected. Like with Sonic, it seems to be way more about how Fiona treated Tails than it is about how Sally herself was affected.

Amy actually gets the most out of it, with Fiona’s mockery of her at the start of Issue 172 being used as motivation for her to train to be a better fighter... but... it’s all positive. The idea that the other FF don’t take Amy seriously is barely relevant, and it’s used as motivation for her to improve herself, and then that’s it.

None of the other characters get any word on it, save for Antoine using it as a prompt to skip over all that emotional development and reconciliation after a year apart and immediately propose to Bunnie, because Ian’s got to cram something happy into this set of issues before he blows up Knothole, plays the “Villain could win whenever he wants, he just doesn’t want to” stupidity card, and gives Charmy brain damage to make him more like SEGA’s version.

And that’s it. Fiona exists primarily to be Scourge’s girlfriend. In a way, it’s fitting that Amy is the only character that gets an appropriate “Hero vs. traitor” scene, because like the then-current official depiction of Amy, Fiona’s life is defined entirely by her relationship to her respective Sonic.

Ian’s Fiona is, in every sense of the word, a satellite love interest for Scourge. Even the sole arc she has apart from him is spent building a team to get him back.

She’s just Scourge’s girlfriend, despite him yelling at her, screaming at her, resoundingly failing to live up to his own promises, undermining her, and, if her reaction to his threats in Issue 190 is anything to go by, physically attacking her as well.

I won’t deny that Fiona, as a character, had become listless, and needed a strong new direction. She had a lot of substance to her, and a surprisingly uplifting story when stripped down to the basic structure, but she was being painfully underutilised.

I will, however, strongly oppose the idea that Ian’s decision on that front was the correct one. It was a lateral move at best, a step backwards at worst. He didn’t really fix her as much as make her a different brand of underdone, and that uplifting story was gone. Now all it said was “If you did bad in the past, you’ll always lapse back to it and nobody should trust you”, combined with none-too-subtle abuse (In a ship that Ian made popular with thousands of teenagers, very smooth) and a new design that sexed her up for no good reason.

Good Fiona had all the ingredients and not enough time in the oven, but villain Fiona was missing half the recipe.

#Sonic #sonic the hedgehog #Fiona Fox #Scourge the Hedgehog #CW: Abuse #Archie Sonic #Archie Sonic Critical

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hellyeahheroes · 4 years

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Post-OMD/Slott’s unused Spidey characters: Alpha a.k.a Andrew Maguire

So there was an ask about Alpha and it was about what happened to him, and yeah, it was just as @filipfatalattractionrblog, otherwise known as the admin, said, Slott got tired of him and dumped him on someone else where they got written into obscurity. And that is like a thing Slott or the writers of Post Brand New Day did constantly. He did it with Cindy Moon, he did it with a bunch of Spider-verse characters, he did it with Yuri Watanabe, he did it with Mr. Negative, Screwball, he did it with the entirety of Parker Industries and Horizon Labs. He even did it with Superior Spider-man. The moment Brand New Day started, Spider-man was tossed around a bunch of writers where they all started trying to race to create the next MJ love interest replacement. So there are even more characters that Slott didn’t create that are very under utilized. Not to mention characters created prior to One More Day/Brand New Day didn’t have much fucking screen time during this and thus did not receive any development. So characters like Liz Allen, Phillip Chang, Betty Brant, Flash Thompson(although he got to be Agent Venom), Randy Robertson, Glory Grant, Mary Jane Watson until fans complained, and even Aunt May which made the whole One More Day deal redundant.

Old school Spider-man constantly hung out with his clique. Post One More Day Spider-man didn’t seem to have many friends outside of his Spider-man persona. And the partnerships that he did make didn’t last.

So, this is where I will go back and detail those lost characters starting with Andy because he is the most egregious. Then I speculate if they can come back, what role should they have.

I fucking hate Andrew Maguire. And apparently, I am supposed to hate him according to Slott, but I believe that is a cop out. He wanted this character to work. Regardless, Andrew Maguire serves as the Peter Parker without any of the selflessness and virtue. “So...Eddie Brock?” No, not as cool as Eddie or as well written.

And subtlety is not a thing for Slott. If you noticed, the character is named after the two Spider-man actors at the time, Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield. People say it is a tribute, I personally think he was mocking them. My opinion, but you already know that.As you can see that the origin is pretty much a This Loser Is You trope which is weird because it’s insulting for fans of Spider-man, a character that is renown for being a superhero with everyman problems, to have a character who exists to say Peter is exceptional and you are not.

Andy goes on a Field Trip to Horizon Labs and meets Peter Parker who is about to unleash his newest discovery, Parker Particles. Which by the way, feels like an accomplishment for Peter, but Slott just had to twist the knife on that and have Reed casually say that he discovered it first and decided to leave Pandora’s Box be. Fuck Reed Richards. Anyways, as expected, Parker’s experiment went to shit and Andy decides to to perform his one solo act.

And Alpha is born.

Okay well, first, Horizon had to settle with Maguire’s parents to avoid lawsuits and Any became the mascot for Horizon labs and then Alpha is born. So they do a check on his powers to see what the kid’s got.

He has the strength to lift a ton which is weaker than any Spider-man, he is bulletproof, has enhanced speed,has energy projection. So if you are following those useless ass stat charts on Marvel wiki, his chart would be...

Intelligence: 2 Normal

Strength: 4 One Ton is his max

Speed: 3 It just says enhanced speed so I am going to assume he can’t break the sound barrier

Durability 5 Bulletproof

Energy Projection: 5 Long Range single energy type blasts

Fighting Ability 2 Normal

What we have here is a powerhouse. Oh and he has a caveat. He can only use one power at a time at the moment. And he is only growing more powerful because Mr. Fantastic points out, Andy is embedded with Parker Particles which are tied to the expansion of the universe. His powers are only going to grow. So Mr. Fantastic decides to place Andy Maguire under Peter Parker’s care. Thus making Alpha Spider-man’s sidekick.

Alpha because no one else in the world has self-control without an Uncle Ben dying decides to market himself as the next best superhero. He gets marketing deal with Horizon to market their inventions, and he also becomes a pop sensation and media darling. Gets the girl that he was pawning after, Chrissy Chen, who I do like btw. I mean he is living the life, amigo.

His new girlfriend even makes him a fan page.

And this is where there is some credence to the idea that Andy was meant to be hated because the comment section tears him apart with meta commentary. He is called a poochie which is a synonym for Scrappy, a term tor fan hated characters. Which, again, what is the point of a character that we, the fans, are meant to hate? It is counter intuitive and a waste of time. I mean people like Golden Booster, Slott. I just don’t get why bother with this? Of course, Andy’s set up in his origin follows the same beats as Slott’s other creation, Cindy Moon, who he wanted to be liked and cried racism when fans hated her as well.

This is endemic to Slott’s run as a whole. He doesn’t get Spider-man. He wanted to create Iron Man instead of making Spider-man stories. And when he introduces new characters, he doesn’t properly want to build them. Like Kamala Khan had 3 issues of character development before she became a superhero. Her origin was fleshed out. Miles had 5 issues and 14 issues to have a proper origin. Andy literally has just 1 issue that can’t even be considered an origin. It is not his origin story. It is just another problem for Peter to solve and that was the problem with Cindy Moon. She wasn’t a character but a replacement to Felicia Hardy who Slott went and tarnished to begin with.

So Alpha gets annoyed with those comments and decides to prove the haters wrong. Peter has been keeping track of Alpha the entire time so he intercepts him before he does anything wrong. Spider-man takes him under his wing and makes him his side-kick.

First, no. Spider-man has turned down sidekicks from Black Cat without super powers, Ollie Osnick, Sally Avril, and a few others. Miles’ isn’t his sidekick, student, or anything. Miles is his own hero who Peter feels responsible for and he sort of hangs out with.Spider-man doesn’t do sidekicks nor would he take them on if offered. He barely does team-ups and only out of propriety and necessity. So him donning Andy as such is out of character and kind against theme.

Second, the dialogue here does not match Peter’s tone.He is too sarcastic and cavalier about things. Peter is one of the most restrained heroes in Marvel in terms of his power usage. He knows what Andy is capable of. He wouldn’t be so casual. He would be on him like white on rice. He knows the seriousness of Andy’s situation. If he teaching Andy, he would refrain from fighting unless he has to. Peter was a teacher. He should know how teenagers are because he has dealt with them. It is like....okay.

Anyways, Andy being the ambitious little scamp decides to take over and do his own thing.

Okay, this is when I kind of knew that Slott would be an okay Fantastic Four writer.And he doesn’t waste any time reminding people that he is the most powerful hero of all time.

Ben is beside himself because the little shit used his catchphrase in public, Johnny is ribbing on Spidey because he created a monster, Sue is trying to keep the peace, and Reed is annoyed because of Parker’s terrible decision of telling a teenager that he is the most powerful being in the universe.

Reed tries again, and reminds Peter that Alpha is his responsibility. He has to essentially babysit Alpha for free. Meanwhile Alpha is letting his newfound success go to his head. He decides to two-time the girl that he was pining for...or he only liked because he felt that she was the best that he can get. You see, Andy is the guy who thinks as people as material to gain. He doesn’t mind using them, but once he outgrows them, he dumps them.

It is like Slott just wants to create the biggest asshole in Spider-man. And I guess that’s okay, but again, to what end? Is Andi going to be a bad guy? No. Is he going to be a reoccurring character? No. So why bother creating him if other writers won’t bother and fans hate him?

After this, Miles Warren aka the Jackal captures Andy easily and Peter has to find the little fuck because he is ,”Peter Parker’s responsibility.” Yeah, I am tired of that too.The Jackal wants to clone Alpha and repopulate the world with his own Alpha Males. No I am not kidding, that is what he calls them. Anyways, Peter tries to stop him but not before Miles Warren congratulates him of “out mad sciencing” him and creating Alpha.

....I am already bored with this comic so I will speed it up. Jackal unleashes the clones, clones don’t have the Alpha powers because the power is not tied to Alpha’s genetics, Alpha breaks free of the harnesses and kills all of the clones, and saves himself sort of. Well not before saying even more alarming shit.

This is it. This is where he will learn, right? This is where Alpha makes a turn and become the little scamp that we hope for.

Well...can’t say that I am surprised.

Peter gets fed up and conspires to take his power away from Alpha because the kid just can’t be trusted with them anymore. He is far too dangerous and honestly, Peter was right, but he was wrong the rest of the time.

Here is the thing: Alpha should have never been given these powers and allowed to keep them in any capacity.Peter should have suggested of taking them away from the very beginning and so should’ve Reed Richards and every hero who tested Andy. And I get it, it’s a little hypocritical of a blog about teenaged superheroes to say this, but there is a difference between the teens we usually cover and characters like Alpha. Alpha is in it for the glory and fame. He never has a redeeming moment. He is never humbled and is too self-centered to be humbled.Making him the strongest teen ever without proper guidance and knowing his parents were trying to mooch off of him and didn’t give a shit how much it effected his son, and only cared because of a profit margin should have been a dead giveaway. Someone should have spoken to his therapists or teachers and figured what kind of kid Andy was. It shouldn’t have taken issues of Spider-man testing it out because it was a bad idea from the start.

Alpha continues to use his power irresponsibly until the Avengers demand that Spider-man call him in to deal with Terminus. Alpha does so as he travels from Japan to Manhattan to deal a huge blow.

So good news is that Alpha got stronger. Bad news is that Alpha took out all of the airplane controllers in the vicinity so all planes are about to crash all over the New York area. So think 9/11 except on 30 buildings or so. The Avengers go into scramble mode and try to immediately rescue the civilians which by the way was the first rule Spider-man told Alpha. Guess who isn’t trying to save any civilians?

So Alpha utterly failed this day. He made a bad situation worse and it shouldn’t have taken this to finally bench Alpha. The moment he disobeyed Peter, was the moment he should have been stripped of his power. I am being serious. But whatever, Alpha gets stripped by Spider-man.

So Alpha got powered down and is normal again.

But wait, there is more. Otto took over Peter’s body and preceded to give Andy his power back, but only a little of it this time. Andy moves to Pittsburgh, his parents divorced, and becomes the new hero of the Burgh. But he accidentally kills someone using his Alpha power, his power has been shown to be cancerous and he unknowingly gave his mom cancer and he doesn’t know it, the person he supposedly killed comes back and becomes this huge cancerous alpha powered villain named Zeta, Alpha stopped Zeta, and then another criminal blackmailed him to stop Andy from fighting crime or he will kill his whole family. And that was it for Alpha.

Can this character be redeemed?

Yes.

Honestly, Alpha was saved in his mini in my opinion. I know, I didn’t post any pictures because that mini looked like shit. Again, however, the story wasn’t bad and did redeem him a little. He should have been in Miles Morales spot when it came to Marvel’s PS4. He was more suited for it and most of Marvel’s PS4 was Slott’s Spider-man run anyways. It had Yuri, Screwball, Mr. Negative, a sympathetic Doc Ock, and shit. All of these are hallmarks of Slott’s writing.

What would I do to introduce him back to the Marvel fold?

First, Alpha isn’t Godly anymore. He is like a low rent Nova. That stat chart that you saw in the beginning is where he is at now. So as long as he stays at that level, we are good. Second, his new predicament of being blackmailed by a criminal creates an interesting scenario. I would think a criminal would love having a bad guy under his thumb. So I suspect this bad guy, Boss Jimmy Cohen might think of expanding with his brand new super pet.Let’s say Alpha becomes his own enforcer and forces him to. Alpha’s mom dies of the cancer that he accidentally gave him and becomes Zeta 2.0.

So Andy after dealing with a ton of despair decides to come back and help Boss Cohen expand his empire in New York. He starts in Brooklyn, and you know where I am going with this. Andy meets Miles, Spider-man II. I am against having Miles inherent Peter’s characters, but Andy is basically an unused character. He might as well go somewhere so why not with Miles Morales who is getting an expanding list of rogues anyways. A reluctant fallen hero would be an interesting addition.

As for Chrissy Chen, I don’t like wasting characters at all, especially one that is just off the edge of Spider-man mythos. Chrissy still goes to Midtown High. And so does Lana Baumgartner. Instead of creating another character, just have her be Lana’s confidant just like Miles has with Ganke.

And that is all folks. Now I will be doing a bit more on the forgotten characters of Post OMD Spider-man. A lot of them aren’t teens, so I will cover them on my other blog. I hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading.

@ubernegro

#alpha #andrew maguire #spider-man #peter parker #dan slott #marvel #Marvel Comics #long post

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smuthuttpodcast · 4 years

Text

Name/Handle/Alias

rlogarbagech1

About how long would you say you’ve been rooting for Reylo?

I tend to dive into things intensively, so while I knew there was an intriguing dynamic to Rey and Kylo's TFA interaction and I enjoyed what was teased in TLJ when it came out, I think it was a random wading into Reylo fanfic circa Aug 2019 that really got me into the fandom in a deep way. (Throwback to me thinking: eh maybe I'll give Reylo oneshots a try? And BOOM four months later I'm in a daze wondering how I've read like 80 fics, ended up in a writing discord - shoutout to The Writing Den! - and have five stories cooking in my head at one time.)

I like that the fandom takes what was on film in TLJ and expands the contours of that universe, stretching it into all sorts of configurations that somehow still made sense thematically for what Rey and Ben were going through. Whether that's in the context of warring lawyers (eversoreylo), Kyril Ren and Irena (voicedimplosives), archaeology Rey and Ben (disasterisms), a Harry met Sally AU (slipgoingunder), or Canadian politics (saint_heretical)... the creativity of the fandom and how it grapples with SW themes through all these different lenses of interpretation blows my mind. IMO it shows how SW's story themes can be individually interpreted, yet utterly universal.

What did you think of the way Rise of Skywalker handled Rey and Kylo’s relationship?

It felt like a backstep/retcon to what had happened in TLJ. I think CT and JJ wanted to make certain narrative choices but couldn't fully commit to them for whatever reasons, and the story suffered overall in a big way 'cus of that.

TRoS clearly went into the enemies -> lovers arc but leaned way too far into 'enemies', making the arc to 'lovers' within 2.5 hours way very weirdly paced, so it didn't feel like it was earned. The reaction of the audiences I was in for both screenings validated that. At the first screening, there was awkward laughter because it felt so left-field in the context of the film. In the second screening, the GA people I was watching it with felt 'this is really unnecessary' which I can understand because of the lack of buildup in TRoS to that moment.

Reylo in TLJ was at its best because there was time for it to breathe. I rewatch the force skype scenes often and the complete silence, the subtle acting, and the framing of those scenes, is so unusual and bold for a blockbuster at that level. There was also so much gorgeous subtext in what was going on, you could read into it what you liked, but there was definitely an attraction or a pull there for both characters.

You could tell that Adam and Daisy were delivering equally layered acting work in 9, but it was extremely rushed and weirdly edited. The ensemble could also have been a greek chorus for the audience/a bellwether for how we should be feeling towards Rey and Kylo in 9 but they didn't really utilise them that way and Palpatine ended up overshadowing the entire story as the big bad. The more interesting choice obviously was Kylo as the conflicted big bad and a redemption arc, but maybe Disney just isn't ok with that or was pushing for a different direction.

Overall, 9 made me wish we had more time to live in the push-pull dynamic between these two characters and the longing they have for each other despite all the odds, but luckily we have fanfic and art for that, which is why it's so great. Just a shame the film couldn't line those pieces up well enough for a satisfying landing.

Do you think the film understood why you, and other people, felt like Rey and Kylo had something together? Did it get their chemistry?

I'm sure they understood it on some surface level but CT was the wrong person to write that story imo. And JJ on some level disliked RJ's choices so he was trying to wind it back to the TFA dynamic which was more enemies-enemies with a subtext of them being compelled by each other, but not necessarily with a romantic resolution.

I think it's testament to the intelligence of the fandom that we saw the train tracks being laid in ep8 for a more interesting ending, just that whatever story-wrestling/behind the scenes drama/ego was going on at DLF meant nobody was able to actually able to execute that story with the justice it deserved. Locking out the story group also seems like a huge mistake and would've avoided a lot of the larger plot holes they seem to have ended up with, the dissatisfying Reylo arc in ep9 being just one symptom of it.

What about the handling of Kylo’s redemption? Was it something you had to think through in your stories?

How I envision Kylo/Ben's redemption and Rey's response to it is summarised by a lot of the fic that's already out there! And in the fanfic thread I've pinned on my Twitter. e.g. Starstuff by voicedimplosives, Morning by disasterisms, Astrometric Binaries by pontmercy44, Tactical Surrender by Trebia... there are a lot of ways it could have gone. A recent comic (08 Jan?) by Miss Bliss is also a great example and she distilled it down to 15 simple panels, not to say she simplified the ethics of the redemption arc of course.

The biggest effect that TRoS had on me as an aspiring creator/writer is because the film DIDN'T give me the redemption arc, I'm interested to explore how that looks like in fanfic. So maybe that will become a theme in my writing. Let's see!

I'm still laughing about how they yeeted Ben into the pit though. Can't believe those leaks were actually true.

What did you think of where Rey landed at the end? There had been a lot of excitement around Star Wars having a female protagonist. Do you think she lived up to the promise of her character?

A lot of the discourse has already covered this but my take is: in TLJ Rey was the centre of the story, all of her actions were driving the plot and it was a female-centric story about incredible themes like self-discovery, belonging, loyalty, 'lightness', 'darkness', attraction, sexuality. And TLJ was very nuanced in presenting how Rey's role shaped the overall story, the symbolism in the film (all of which had meaning or at least tried to), and her clear growth through it.

With TRoS it felt like her needs took a backseat and were kind of ancillary to the action of what was happening. Or that she was a lot more of a passenger to the story. I guess that's how I would sum it up. If I think back to how TRoS ended I don't think there was a satisfactory character conclusion for ANY of them... and don't even get me started on how they did Rose completely dirty.

There’s criticism of the movie that argues it’s akin to “fan fiction” and that is has too much fan service. As fans and fan-fiction writers, how do you react to that?

It doesn't actually bother me that much. I think it comes from a place of negative stereotyping and misunderstanding of what fandom is all about, especially for the Reylo community – because apparently believing in romance, redemption, and love is meaningless, simple, and weak.

The people that are in the fandom and know it well know that the fandom has a lot of diverse views in it, different perspectives, and some of the most startlingly intelligent and thoughtful people across the spectrum including creators, readers, analysts, community organisers etc.

The fact that there's a WHOLE ECOSYSTEM with fanfic and fan art and discord servers and gift exchanges and comedy memes and metas and all of this stuff just enhances my enjoyment of it overall. And it's an ecosystem that despite critics' attempts to dismiss it since 2015, continues to thrive.

I challenge those skeptics to look at some of the novel-length Reylo work on Ao3, the detailed sketches and concept art, the hours of thoughtful podcasting and REVIEWS OF FANFIC and say this community's not worthy of credit or attention. Even if you don't like Reylo, there's a discussion worth having about why people want to engage with it on a deep level and the transformative work that's come out of it.

We are doing this for free. Out of enjoyment and fun and discovering meaning. The level of artistry and engagement in this fandom is really astounding in that way.

I wish people would talk more about *that* side of the Reylo fandom rather than dismissing it as 'fluffy romance 50 shades in space y'all are rabid crazy' or whatever.

TLDR the question of whether Rey and Kylo have/had toxic and abusive dynamics is an interesting one to ask and we need to continue having the discussion, because from my POV it wasn't 100% clear cut from TFA, and it evolved in TLJ and in TRoS. BUT it should be situated in the context of the broader fandom and the range of views within it, + the many other interpretations of the Reylo relationship through fic and art, which The Atlantic's article missed.

Are you still writing any Star Wars fanfic? Tell us about it! (Don't forget your Ao3 handle!)

I'm late to the game but am interested in writing SW fanfic as a way of exploring my own capacity to write and create, so yes! Did my first drabble in mid December and have a few ideas cooking, the first which looks like a two-chapter modern AU oneshot. Watch this space…

Thanks to rlogarbagech1!

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zach-the-fox · 4 years

Text

Furiends Episode 3: A Bad Idea

The library; a place of splendor and vast knowledge. Everything knowledge-seekers desire are within the fine pages of the books that are stocked neatly and orderly on the shelves, assorted in different types of colors. For many, it is a place of better learning and education. For others, a structure of solitude, housing quietness for those who look to get away from their problems and just relax while reading or browsing the internet. However, not many share this passion to be in a library.

Sally, Emmy, and Navy are all sat around a square table, slouching, head in paws, and sleeping while the fox is by the computers, browsing through for a source of income.

“How much longer?” Sally asks. “We’ve been here for a while, now…”

Zach looks up to her. “Sorry guys. It’s hard to look for work when you’ve got no experience and people dislike you… There are some I can apply to.”

“Hurry up, then… I can’t stand to be here in this “warehouse” for books… I’m going to die of boredom any second…”

“Come on, Sal,” Niji utters, turned to her as he stands by the book shelf in front of them. “It’s not that bad here. They have some cool comics.” He takes out a book on the shelf and opens it. Then, he giggles. “Oh my god, these characters are too funny.” Navy pulls out her phone and browses around on it, but it’s not enough to keep her in high spirits as the two boys search.

Emmy takes notice of a book on the shelf beside her. She reaches over and pulls it out. The title reads “The Dark Arts for Dummies,” and having a deformed face on the cover. “Interesting…” Emmy opens the book and scans through its contents briefly. “Very interesting…”

Sally moves her head behind Emmy’s shoulder to glance at the book. “What are you reading?”

Navy stands and makes her way beside the warthog. “Ooh, a book on dark magic?”

“Looks like it,” Emmy says. “Says everything about how to summon demons and conjure black magic.”

Navy gasps and smiles at the idea. “Oh, can we do this! Please?”

“I think we should,” Sally adds. “Maybe we can have a demon wreak havoc on that wolf for taunting Zach.”

“Not sure if that’ll be the case,” utters Emmy. “But you know what, it probably would be a way to kill boredom. Besides, what could go wrong?”

The fox in the blue bandana approaches the table with sheets of paper in his paw. “I’m done. I managed to apply to some places and print up some addresses and phone numbers. I doubt anyone will consider me except for fast food.” He notices the big book in the warthog’s hooves. “What’s that you’ve got there?”

Emmy closes the book. “Just something to keep us busy.”

“Niji,” Sally calls. The blue, rainbow-haired wolf turns and responds to her. “Come. We have to get back to the mall.”

“Okay!” Niji puts the book back and regroups with the others.

“The mall again?” Zach asks. “Is there something you guys need to get?”

“We need a couple of stuff,” Navy explains to him. “Something for what we’re about to do.”

“You need help getting these things?”

“I think we’re good,” Emmy says. “In the meantime, while we’re there, you could go apply to the places for a job. Kill two birds with one stone.” Navy flinches and backs away.

“Relax,” Sally tells her. “It’s just an expression. Now, let’s go shopping, again!”

***

Back at the mall, the gang wander around in search for their items, except for Zach and Niji, who go off to their own devices. The fox goes to apply to the stores and food places in the mall and Niji browses around at the plushies at his favorites store, while Emmy, Navy, and Sally search for the items they require for their list.

Navy picks up a box labeled “dinner candles” on it, taking it for the first item.

“Miss,” calls out a store associate. “We haven’t stocked those yet!” Navy continues walking up to the counter and prepares to pay, leaving the clerk with a look of dismay.

Emmy searches up and down the row of chalkboards, taking the erasers and chalk from the holders. “This will suit our need of chalk dust.” She picks up one eraser, but barely has a grip on it. “Uh oh!” Upon catching it, she hits the chalk boards on either side of her, emitting dust into the air around her. “Oh no…” Emmy’s mouth begins opening wider until, “Achoo!” The dust enters her nose more, causing an uncontrollable sneeze. “I must… achoo! Get out of- Achoo! Here…”

In the floral shop by the corner, Sally looks around for the last item on the list; black rose water. “Hm… If I were rose water, where would I be?” Her eyes are drawn to the bottle on the top shelf near the entrance. “Of course, it’s up there…” She looks around, yet sees no worker in the store. “And no one’s around to help… Guess I’ll just help myself then…” The dog reaches for the bottle, but her paw is only inches away from it. “Hugck! Come on!” She stands on her tippy-toes. “Come on, Sally! Almost there!” Her paw stretches out more and wraps around the item. “Got it!” Her weight, however, causes the god to lean forward into the shelf. “Uh oh! Whoa!” Sally is knocked into it, causing it to fall over. As the shelf falls, a vase of flower water tips and spills all over the dog. Sally gets up and sees the damages she’s caused. “Uh, whoops…” She quickly pulls out some cash and leaves it on the counter. “I’ll just be going!” She leaves the scene.

Everyone regroups at the entrance from where they came. Zach takes notice of several plushies the blue wolf has. “Looks like you have a thing for plush toys…”

Niji chuckles. “Lucky guess, huh?” He turns to notice the three girls. “Hey, what happened with you guys?” He sniffs the dog. “And why do you smell like fresh roses?”

“Don’t!” Sally utters. “Let’s just get out of here right now!” Emmy sniffles but sneezes again.

“Security!” someone shouts. “Security!” As the spectator yells, the girls rush out the entrance with the fox and wolf behind them, curious as to what happened.

***

The gang gathers at Navy’s studio apartment, where they set up for their “special event”. Sally draws along the floor, making a pentagram with a marker. Emmy takes sand and proceeds to encircle the pentagram, touching the points with perfection. Lastly, Navy places candles beside the points and lights them.

Sally looks into the picture in the book before viewing the shape in reality. She crosses her arms with a smile of pleasure. “Looks about right.”

“Yeah,” Navy adds. “And it smells nice, too!”

“Okay, let’s get started.” Emmy picks up the book and holds it in her hooves. “All that’s left is to recite the incantation.”

“Wait!” Sally interrupts. “What if whatever comes out of there tries to kill us?”

“Hm, good point. We should suit up and prepare for the worst.” The three girls rummage around Navy’s place for protective equipment and anything that could be used as a weapon. They manage to find gear and tools, preparing in five minutes. Navy holds a shovel close while donning a knight’s helmet, while Sally’s protects herself with football helmet, wielding a frying pan for her defense. Emmy’s head is covered with a pumpkin as a baseball bat leans up against her for her weapon. The warthog holds the book up. “Everybody ready?” Navy and Sally stand guard behind Emmy, ready to expect the unexpected. Emmy begins the incantation. “For thou who lives trapped in flame and clay, heed this call, rejoice and pray.” Navy’s wings tremble, shaking the shovel in her grip. “Gather upon thy mortal door.” Sally tightens her grip of her frying pan. “Break the gates, and emerge once more!” The candle flames enlarge, brightening the room as a portal opens within the center of the pentagram. One big, round ball shoots out from the entryway, followed by a second ball of fire, bouncing off the walls of the apartment. The three girls panic as the frenzy continues.

Outside, the wolf and fox walk toward the apartment complex where Navy’s apartment resides.

“Thanks for coming with me to fill out other applications, Niji,” says Zach. “I appreciate your company.”

“No problem,” Niji tells him. “Those didn’t take long.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think I’ll be considered, being a “flawed fox” and all…”

“You’d never know. It’s possible an employer will disregard all that and actually see what your skills are. Besides, shouldn’t be too hard to flip burgers, stock shelves, or even consult customers.”

“True… I’m just worried because of my reputation… I mean, if I was never with Team Rescuers, I would’ve-” As they get closer to the door, the sounds of crashing and yelling amble from within. “Huh?!”

Niji turns his ear toward the door. “What’s going on in there?!”

“Emmy, Navy, Sally?!” Zach reaches for the knob, twists it, and pulls the door open. “Guys, what’s going- Whoa!” The fox and wolf become shocked to see the scene unfold: the two big fireballs bouncing off the walls as the girls try to avoid them.

“Watch out!” calls Emmy. One fireball pushes its way out the door, knocking Zach onto the walkway, while a terrified Niji backs away to dodge. The second fireball follows the first and both leave the vicinity.

“Wow,” Navy utters. “That was sure something…”

Emmy runs over to help Zach off the ground. “You okay, Zach?”

“Ugh!” Zach grudges his stomach as he gets up with the warthog’s aid. “I’m fine! It’s not the first time I��ve taken a beating…”

Niji comes out from the corner he has ducked into and rejoins Zach on his side. He looks over his shoulder to see Navy’s apartment, wrecked and battered. Items scatter all over the floor. “What the heck happened in here?! It’s like a cyclone hit this place…”

“And where were you two?!” Sally demands. “We could’ve used your help when this place went to hell!”

“We stopped at some places along the way,” Zach explains. “I went to fill out some job applications. We didn’t expect to come here and see the whole place in disarray.”

“You should’ve been here when all that happened…” The dog grunts. “Now, there are two fireballs on the loose in Heroto…”

“We should find them,” Emmy suggests.

“Are you nuts?! You want to find the very things that tried to kill us?!”

“They could be the demons we summoned,” Navy adds. “I want to meet them!”

“Demons?” repeats Zach. “You two were summoning demons?!”

“It’s a long story,” Sally spurts. “And I’m not sure chasing demons is a good idea, especially after what we’ve just been through.”

“Come on, Sally.” Navy nudges her. “Don’t you want to see what we’ve summoned? Emmy and I do! Please?” Her eyes get bigger for better begging.

Sally lets out of sigh, submitting. “Fine… But, I have a question: How do we find our “demons”? We just let them loose…”

Zach turns and takes a couple of steps away from the group. “Just follow the trail…” The gang looks to see what he means, staring at the burnt marks in the road, the smashed cars, and the melted lampposts down the street at the t-intersection. “The trail of destruction…”

@rainbow-strike @emmy-the-absolute-goof @sally-the-pack-leader @pink-unicorn-boi

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