#alonzos a bit older but still a bit less 'mature' than plato | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sevenkittensinatrenchcoat · 3 years

Text

Cats 1998 What Is Kittens Part 3: Bustopher Jones

Bustopher Jones is staged in a slightly odd way. Before this point, everyone of every gender participated in everything. This number shoves the women to the side. Jenny, Jelly, and Bomba sing and have their moments, but the other queens have to sit on the sidelines. The man focus of the song is the toms. They’re the ones scrambling around in the background. Because of this, I don’t have much to say about the girls here. This number provides a bit more information about the toms, however. Because Mungojerrie is still absent, and probably banned from interacting with Bustopher anyway, George, Mistoffelees, Plato, Pouncival, and Tumblebrutus are the ones doing stuff.

I just had to include a picture of Pouncival on Plato’s shoulders, because it’s adorable. Moments like this also make it clear that Plato is probably older than Pouncival. He’s taller and he’s acting like a big brother here.

Bustopher goes to greet the toms and they’re all excited. Pouncival does a little salute and George is his usual :D self. But, Alonzo seems to be concerned about this, putting a hand on his shoulder to pull him back if he does anything stupid in his enthusiasm. Last time, we decided that George is the oldest of the younger cats, but he’s still younger than Alonzo by enough for Alonzo to treat him like a hyperactive child.

But, though George’s interactions with Bustopher are limited, Misto’s are not, even though he’s probably younger.

Of course, Misto tries his best to be a gentleman, but none of the young toms are rude to Bustopher. They’re clearly excited, but they behave. Pouncival’s little salute is an imitation of what some of the adults are doing, meaning that he’s trying to behave like a grown-up. In some productions, the kittens mess around, trying to play, and get in trouble with the adults. Misto often goes into this category, but he’s less “trying to play” and more “kind of obsessed with Bustopher to the point that Skimble worries about him”. 1998 Misto is the same level of obsessed as his counterparts in those productions, but there’s a key difference:

Misto can do whatever he wants. Even when he’s not behaving maturely, he’s never scolded for it. The idea that George is getting a bit too excited puts Alonzo on edge, but Misto can pull on Bustopher’s tail and Munkustrap, who is right there, doesn’t care. I think Jellylorum might be giving Misto a Disapproving Look here, but most of the adults either aren’t paying attention or aren’t concerned about Misto possibly upsetting their important guest. Unlike with the other younger cats, they all seem certain that Bustopher won’t be offended by whatever Misto does, so Misto can behave more like a kitten than some of the kittens who’re kept away, and it’s fine. This implies that Misto has a unique status in this situation.

Misto is not the only young tom allowed to be around Bustopher. George and Plato are allowed to gather around for his solo. Bustopher’s solo is The Big Table at Jellicle Thanksgiving, using the analogy Jacob Brent used. Misto, Plato, and George are old enough to be at The Big Table.

Which girls are old enough to be at The Big Table? I don’t know. All the women have to sit on the side.

Pouncival and Tumblebrutus are not allowed at The Big Table, though. They’re not considered full adults yet. Though Plato and George are friends with them, they’re older by enough to not count as kittens in this scene.

Misto is offended, not wanting the kids to mess things up for him. But, Munkustrap actually has a very similar expression here.

And even more so here! Munkustrap is very much an adult, more mature than Misto, but at heart, he’s as excited about Bustopher’s visit as he is and it brings out a younger side. This younger side might be why Misto has the Free Pass to Be Kitten that he has here. Munk’s in charge and he can relate. Why that doesn’t apply to anyone else, I don’t know. I think Munk and Misto are just very close. It would explain why, in the last scene, the other boys were allowed to mess with Grizabella, while Misto was the only one of them kept away. Munkustrap and the tribe as a whole are more protective of the girls than the boys, but in that one moment, Misto was an exception. Out of the young toms, he’s the one closest to Munk and Munk stills feels very protective of him. He can accept that the other young toms are growing up, but Misto is different.

I said I didn’t have much to say about the girls, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have anything to say about them. After Bustopher’s solo, nearly everyone, male and female, salutes him. But, Etcetera crawls forward while she salutes, like she wants to be seen. She saluted Bustopher earlier as well, so it seems that out of all the girls, she’s the one who most wants to be included. The other girls are pretty content sitting in the corner and watching everything, but Etcetera wants to be part of the action. She admires and respects Bustopher just like the boys do and she isn’t handling being stuck in the corner very well.

On an unrelated note, Pouncival, wtf are you doing? You look like you’re exposing yourself. That probably wasn’t the plan, but you should really be more careful...

But wait. If Etcetera likes Bustopher, then why is she so grossed out here? Etcetera’s not grossed out by Bustopher. She’s having the sort of reaction teenagers tend to have when they see their parents flirting. Jenny has an obvious crush on Bustopher and she’s at the age where “old people crushes” are yucky.

Meanwhile, Victoria turns to Cassandra, smiling. She’s been acting like a proper young lady this whole time. Like the adult queens, she finds Jenny’s crush amusing, but she’s not being childish about it. She’s probably a bit older than Etcetera.

Or Jemima, for that matter. Tantomile’s also making a face, but it’s more “oo!” than “ew!”. She’s having fun.

So, what have we learned?

The toms can be divided into a Kids Table group and a Big Table group. George, Plato, and Misto are big boys, while Pouncival and Tumblebrutus are at the Kids Table. Munkustrap, at the very least, doesn’t consider them mature enough to get too close to an important guest, even though they’ve both been on their best behavior. Misto actually misbehaved more and he got away with it.

Combined with what we learned in the previous scene, the toms, minus Mungojerrie, can be sorted into three age groups:

Oldest: George

Middle: Mistoffelees, Plato

Youngest: Pouncival, Tumblebrutus

As for the girls, Victoria is older than Etcetera and Jemima. This doesn’t factor in Electra and it isn’t clear where they stand relative to the boys.

Up Next: Probably Old Deuteronomy

#cats 1998 #pouncival #cats plato #cats george #mr mistoffelees #tumblebrutus #cats etcetera #cats victoria #cats jemima #bustopher jones #smash the patriarchy cettie

39 notes · View notes

sybright · 4 years

Text

My Favorite Cats Ships

Okie dokie, @whitmerule wanted to know my main ships/pairings and I knew I’d have to make a post dedicated to this at some point so here it is lol (also sorry this is so long). My “main” universe, which is what all of my main pairings are in, is based on the ‘98 film for the most part (although really all of my universes are based on the ‘98 film, just with alterations here and there).

Edit: My preferences have changed somewhat, so I’ve edited this list to reflect my current feelings towards certain pairings. This means that I’ve deleted some pairings that I don’t like much anymore, and have added some new ones :). All of these ships are in no particular order btw.

Main Pairings:

Tuggoffelees

-I know it’s super popular and there’s loads of content on them, but I still stan. I don’t love them AS much as I used to, but they were my first ship in this fandom, and therefore are still very important to me.

Demebombastrap

-In terms of individual pairings, I really like Demelurina and Bombastrap on their own, but I like them best all together. I used to be quite fond of Demestrap by itself, but I’ve gotten pretty tired of that ship over time personally (obviously nothing against people who like this pairing a lot, kudos to y’all who love Demestrap ^^), so I’m not that big a fan of them on their own anymore. In order of the individual pairings I like best: Demelurina first, Bombastrap second, and Demestrap not so much.

Skimblegus (Skimbleshanks/Asparagus Jr., NOT Gus the theatre cat, I see the two of them as separate characters in most productions).

Jellydots (Sweet lesbian grandmas <3).

Tumblejem

-This is my self-projection asexual pairing, leave me alone lol. They give me bestie vibes and I love that for them <3.

Platoriateazer

-This is a bit of a rarepair, but it is one of my main ships, I see Teazer and Plato as platonic partners and Tori as their mutual gf. Alternatively, I like Victeazer and Platoria on their own as well, although I like Victeazer a bit more than Platoria, but I prefer them all together.

And that’s about it for my “main” pairings, here’s a list of my alternate pairings/rarepairs that I love too much for my own good.

Alternate Pairings/Rarepairs:

Demandra

-No longer my main blog’s url, but they have their own blog now and therefore are still ridiculously important to me XD. This is my fave rarepair, and might also be even MORE of a self-projection asexual pairing for me than they were before. I’ll say it once, this is my ultimate comfort pairing.

Plonzostrap (Plato/Alonzo/Munkustrap, alternatively, I like Alonzostrap and Plonzo on their own as well, although I haven’t put that much thought into Munklato on its own).

Platoricopat (Cats Zurich got me obsessed with this concept, and @whitmerule’s gifs are are just *chef’s kiss*).

George/Etcetera/Electra

-I don’t really have a ship name for this, and also this particular pairing is very complicated and I’ll try to explain it as best I can. George and Etcetera are romantic partners, Etcetera and Electra are queer-platonic partners (I see Electra as aromantic), and George and Electra are platonic partners. This is technically a main pairing for me, but it’s sort of rare and complicated in its dynamics so I put it down here. Also, I adopted the hc that George is a Pollicle btw.

Oh and just as an aside, I also really like Elecctera and Etceorge on their own, but I probably slightly prefer Elecctera, I just love the queer-platonic besties vibes of them <3.

Mungocavity (This is in a scenario where Macavity is less evil and more of a dumbass, but I really like this pairing. It would be one of my main pairings if my main universe Macavity wasn’t complete shit).

Jemtoria

-One of my newer ships, I usually see Tori and Jem as being somewhat far apart in age, so this is in a scenario where Jem’s a bit aged up and Tori’s a bit aged down. I love everything about this pairing. Considering how much Jem and Tori interact with each other in the show, this ship has so much potential to me. They’re just so soft and they make me really happy <3.

Tuggoffeleteazer

-Once upon time I didn’t think I’d ever ship Tugger or Misto with really anyone but each other, but times change. Initially, I got very interested in the idea of Rumpletugger (which I still quite like on it’s own), but then later became intrigued by the idea of Mistoteazer (and all the shenanigans they’d get up to, both being mischievous and chaotic), so of course this led to me just putting all three of them together XD. I love this trio so much, they just give “bestie vibes ONLY” type of energy, and feel like a super chaotic friend group, and that makes me really happy.

Bombbella

-I’m not even sure how to explain what led me to becoming so attached to this ship XD. I had seen people mention it being a neat concept in passing, but I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who actually truly ships them. I basically got into this ship through my “Jellicle leader Griz” au thing, which is an au where Griz is the oldest of Deuteronomy’s children and was expected to become the next Jellicle leader. She’s much younger in this au than how I typically see her, so the newer Griz design fits well in this scenario. I just got really into the idea of Griz and Bomba being tragic ex-lovers.

They dated for a long time in their teens, broke up for a few years, and then got back together again when they had matured, and then Griz went and abandoned the tribe (as well as Bomba) to see the world and pursue her dream of being a star. Griz returned eventually, but the damage had been done, and Bomba was far from ready to forgive her. In the end though, she does forgive Griz, as does everyone else, but then Griz goes on to be reborn, and they miss their chance at happily being together. It’s just all in all a really fun concept for me to play around with, and has so much angst potential.

Jellycass

-Not a new ship, quite the opposite actually. This is a ship that I usually don’t think much about (hence why it wasn’t here when I first made this list), but whenever I do, I always feel at peace inside lol. I can’t for the life of me find the post that got me into this ship (trust me, I have searched ALL over tumblr for it, I looked through both Jellylorum’s and Cassandra’s ENTIRE tags and still couldn’t find it), but I saw a post when I was first getting into the Cats fandom that talked about how Jelly and Cass would be this sort of “odd couple” that the tribe didn’t really understand, but clicked super well with each other for some reason.

Even though I only ever saw that one post on them for a long time, I grew really attached to the ideas it presented for Jellycass. I like the age gap concept in particular, with my personal idea of it being Cass in her late twenties to early thirties, and Jelly being in her late thirties to early forties. It really heightens the “odd couple” energy of them, and I can see Cass getting along really well with someone older. Troika provides me all the rights for this ship <3.

Some Extra Stuff:

Even though I like Platoria as an individual ship, and ship them to a degree, I’m not super interested in them. They’re a bit bland for me if I’m being honest. I like seeing them on my dash, but I won’t actively seek out content of them, so please don’t tag me in stuff surrounding them if you don’t mind (obviously this doesn’t apply to their poly equivalent). I used to include Demestrap in this section, but now I’m really not all that fond of them, I really only like them together in a poly scenario, like Demebombastrap or even Demelonzostrap.

There’s a bunch of ships that I categorize as “I like it, but I don’t ship it,” and that’s where ships like Munkujerrie and Alonzoffelees fall. They’re ships that I enjoy as concepts, and that I would probably read fanfic about if given the opportunity (and like fanart of), but I don’t necessarily ship them. So you don’t need to tag me for them.

The only ships that I just straight up don’t like, although I have nothing against people who like them, are Tuggerlurina, Mistoria, Skimbledots, and Jellygus, Tuggerlurina being the one I dislike the most. I just scroll past content of them if I see it on my dash, I thought I should probably list them here cause idk, might be useful to @whitmerule to know which ships I really don’t like.

Note: I don’t see any of the characters I listed here as being biologically related, some people hc Deme and Bomba as sisters, or Etcetera and Electra as being twins, I don’t see this personally (In fact I have a whole bunch of family hcs that I’ll probably save for another post, if anyone even wants to read that lol).

And now for my favorite 2019 movie pairings (which I also don’t see any of them as being biologically related), because they’re sort of relevant since I’m listing pairings and stuff so I feel like putting them here too:

2019 Movie Main Pairings

Mistoriastraps

-This is the ONLY scenario where I like Misto and Tori together. I only like it when it’s in the 2019 movie, and only if it’s with Munk, those are my two requirements lol. I think Munktoria and Munkoffelees are really cute too, but I don’t care for them that much, I like them best all together.

Demandra (I see their relationship very differently in the movie, and I prefer their stage-show relationship, but as always, I love them).

Tantojerrie

-I know they don’t really interact in the movie, but I saw people talking about them as a ship on here, and I just think they’d be really cute. Technically Tanto is implied to be kitten age in the movie, but I imagine this as a post-movie, next Jellicle Ball type scenario. I see Tanto as being on the cusp of adulthood, where she’ll probably be an adult at the next Jellicle Ball, and I see Jerrie as being a very young adult, so they’re not far apart in my mind (plus I see Jellicles, being cats and all, aging differently than humans, so this isn’t as odd to me as it might be to other people).

2019 Movie Alternate Pairings:

These are just my alternate pairings for Misto, Tori, and Munk if Mistoriastraps doesn’t happen lol:

Tuggoffelees

-I’ve adopted the hc that they’re ex-boyfriends in the 2019 movie, and I like to imagine that they’ve sorted things out post-movie and got back together.

Victeazer

Skimblestrap

That’s about it for my ships. Thank you for reading if you got this far lol.

#my rambles #cats the musical #cats ships #q word mention #cats ships masterpost #long post #cats 2019 #cassmeter #really happy with my current ship list #I've had time to narrow down the pairings that I REALLY like and felt it was time to update this list

26 notes · View notes

sevenkittensinatrenchcoat · 3 years

Text

Headcanons: The Ages of Cats

After giving it some thought, I arranged the Cats in the 1998 Film from what I see as youngest to oldest. I’ll give their ages as “like a human at around X years old”, though I’ve tried to calculate it in years a cat might’ve actually lived as well.

I mostly wanted to write this to demonstrate how Cats shows every stage of life as a sort of theme:

Jemima: 12-13

I consider the Jellicle Ball to be a sort of PG-13 event that very young kittens usually don’t attend. They’d have difficulty staying up all night for it, even if they slept during the day. Even adult cats in their prime sleep a lot and kittens need even more sleep than adults do.

So, Jemima is just barely at the minimum age to attend. She’s not as far along in puberty as the other kittens, though she has the same crush on Tugger that the other girls do. It’s not quite as sexual, more about how cool he is.

Jemima contrasts with Grizabella by being the very youngest, a child with a full life ahead of her. She’s at the beginning of the cycle that Grizabella’s at the end of.

Etcetera, Pouncival, and Victoria: 16

These three all come from the same litter. They all have a bit more of a connection to Jellylorum than the other kittens do, so they’re her litter. They’re maturity varies, but they’re all hormonal teenagers, while also sometimes still acting like children. They’re also close enough to Jemima in age that she can fit in as one of their group.

Electra and Tumblebrutus: 17

I don’t know if they’re the same litter or not, but they’re a step ahead of the others. Electra and Etcetera are often seen together, as are Tumblebrutus and Pouncival, so they can be compared. In the female pair, Electra is quieter and more behaved than Etcetera, who is often a bit out of control. In the male pair, Tumblebrutus can talk Pouncival into doing stupid things (most of which involve bullying Grizabella). Electra and Tumblebrutus are still very much kittens, but they feel slightly older than some of the others.

Plato: 18

Out of all the kittens, he’s the only one whose kitten status is up for debate. I basically see him as being like a high school senior who’s already turned 18 while his classmates are still 17. Victoria is the junior whom he invited to the senior prom. They’re still both kids, but there’s a slight difference.

Mistoffelees, Mungojerrie, Rumpleteazer, George: Late teens or early 20s.

These four are all old enough to be considered adults, but they act like kittens half the time anyway. Your average college undergrad is only slightly more mature than your average high school senior. George isn’t very prominent, so I can’t say much about him, but, Mistoffelees is the sort of Barely Adult who really wants to prove that he’s an Adult™, while Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer weren’t ready to grow up when it happened and would rather just be kids.

Alonzo, Cassandra, Coricopat, Tantomile, Tugger: Mid to late 20s.

These five are a bit more established as adults, but they seem a little less mature than some of the other adults. Alonzo basically acts as Munkustrap’s apprentice, still looking for someone older to take the lead. Cassandra, as his love interest, I would assume to be his age. She is kind of immature in the way she treats Grizabella. Coricopat and Tantomile, despite their wise mystic status, when they’re doing anything other than being psychic, they’re a bit silly. Coricopat is on the same level as Mungojerrie when it comes to girls. When Munkustrap is hurt while fighting Macavity, Tantomile is the only adult nearby and she freezes up. Also, during Macavity’s number, she reacts to some of what’s said as if she doesn’t know who Macavity is.

As for Tugger, he’s an adult who’s still young enough to be the Obnoxious Little Brother of the tribe, but he demonstrates maturity when it’s needed. He knows How to Adult; he just usually doesn’t bother.

Bombalurina, Demeter, Macavity, Munkustrap: 30s

They’re just adults, neither young nor old. Bombalurina is a bit immature, enough to fit in with Tugger, but I hc her as Demeter’s sister, who’s closer in age to Munkustrap. She also knows more of what’s going on with Grizabella and Macavity than the five mentioned above.

We don’t see much of Macavity, so he’s hard to place, but I also try to put him at Demeter’s age. Munkustrap and Macavity are good and evil twins, basically.

These four are the youngest cats that might possibly have children.

Bustopher Jones and Jennyanydots: 40s

These two are mature cats, clearly on the older side of the cast, but Bustopher is, at least by his own standards, still in his prime and Jenny is very busy and active. They’re old enough that their age is starting to show a bit, and Bustopher’s obesity might shorten his lifespan, but it also might not.

Asparagus Jr. and Jellylorum: 50s

They seem more obviously middle-aged. Jelly’s most recent litter of kittens, which probably wasn’t her first, will probably be her last, though cats don’t have menopause, so who knows.

Honestly, I can’t figure out much about Asparagus, but he seems to be Jelly’s age.

Perhaps the casting of the 98 film is what makes me see Jellylorum as a bit older. I don’t know. But, she carries authority, enough to seem to be involved in Munkustrap and Old Deuteronomy’s conference to make the Jellicle Choice! She’s also reached the age where parents and adults that were adults when she was a child are beginning to get old and die off. She spends a lot of time with Gus, knowing that there isn’t much time left.

Skimbleshanks: Early to Mid 60s.

You might be wondering why I made him older than the other mature cats. Well, there’s something I noticed about Skimble that I haven’t seen anyone else point out: He’s retired.

The lyrics to his song are all in the past tense, talking about not just individual incidents, but the general routine of the train as being something of the past. He speaks of the railway in the same way that Gus speaks of the theatre, just with more energy. He’s young enough to still have that energy, but he’s not working anymore. He might’ve retired so he could spend more time with his family. The middle-aged cats, too old for physical labor but too young to be considered old, are the ones who raise the children. Perhaps that’s how Jellicle society works. “Working” cats who retire become homemakers and look after the kittens and seniors.

Grizabella: Late 60s or Early 70s.

Grizabella is old enough to be considered old, but she’s closer in age to Skimble than to Gus. She’s in worse physical conditions than Gus, because Gus is well taken care of and Grizabella has been living alone on the streets. She’s old enough to have lived a long life, but she’s also been prematurely aged by circumstance. Because of her health, she gets bumped ahead of Gus on the list for the Heaviside Layer.

Gus: 80s or 90s

Gus is old enough that he needs to be taken care of and shows signs of dementia. He’s had the chance to live a long, happy life, though. Hopefully, he’ll make it one more year to be the next Jellicle Choice.

Old Deuteronomy: So ancient that no one would dare to guess

He basically transcends the laws of age.

So, in conclusion, the cast shows us childhood, puberty, coming of age, taking on more responsibilities as an adult, aging, retirement, old age, and eventually death and rebirth.

#cats musical #cats 1998 #i did an essay #i don't want to tag every single character

76 notes · View notes