I am not immune to Running Up That Hill 💃

(also more rambling about ST in the tags, mostly positive)

i'm so mad about stranger things s4

like... i was annoyed last night when i finished watching it but then i got on here this morning and saw everyone being like "here are all the reasons this season was bad"

and y'all... they have some points. to me it boils down to the duffers doing too much with the plot and not enough with the characters. there was something going on every fucking second plot wise but no time for the characters to talk with each other about all the shit going on, how they had changed as people, how they're relationships had changed.

i also think this was made so much fucking worse by that damn time jump!!!! how tf are you going to make a two hour and twenty two minute episode and have maybe four minutes of resolution (that made no sense by the way). at the end of s3 we got to see max's reaction to billy's death, eleven finding out hopper was gone, we got to see the characters talking and explaining and grieving. why, pray tell, were we robbed of that this season when we needed it 1000x more?????? everyone was so hyped for the finale specifically because everyone was split up the whole season! we thought we were going to get a huge reunion when everyone needed it most and then we just... didn't? eleven not asking a single question when hopper showed up??? ... ok.

speaking of eleven, yeesh. wtf is up with her being the only one who is possibly able to do anything ever? why have the hawkins gang make a plan just for her to swoop in and save them?? let other people help and fight and be heroes!! why couldn't max help fight vecna or at least be the one to remind eleven how loved and important she is (she would have done a better job than mike... that's all i'm saying. her memories with eleven were even her next happy memories to hide in that she had queued up after the snow ball)!

i mean seriously, the duffers screwed everyone over this season. not one character got some helpful, healthy growth (or even some pain that caused them to change!) will, robin, steve, nancy, jonathan, the sinclairs!!! erica and lucas deserved so much better, my god.

the last thing i'm going to say are the deaths (or lack thereof) were... bad. i was actually happy with brenner's death! i thought it was done well and it was very necessary (honestly, i thought the whole nina storyline was pretty good). i don't even think i need to talk about eddie's death because every third post on here is about why it sucked. i think the deaths felt so disappointing because the cast and crew had all been hyping up that this season there were going to be real deaths. like, main characters, not just killing off the newest character AGAIN (bob and alexie). we kind of needed a main character death! what happened to robin, steve, and nancy all getting strangled by vines for a solid half hour?? eddies death felt like a total cop out.

honestly, i need s5 to be good. i've seen some posts on my dash saying, "they've already started filming season five and they just had to cut this season short" (the noah in a harness photos). i hope so, man. i hope the reason this finale sucked was that they could not for the life of them figure out a good way to wrap this season up because they had such good wrap-ups planned for next season. i mean, there were parts of this season that were great! dear billy was incredible! it was a good comeback, they handled the gang being so split up pretty well, the plots were (mostly) good, and st lowkey never misses with it's music or villains. i just think the finale fucked up really bad, and i hope st redeems itself with this last season. i predict that there's not going to be much of a time jump between s4 and s5 like there is between most seasons because of what we saw happening in hawkins with the flowers and the dust, so hopefully it doesn't need a ton of exposition. ok, this is officially long as fuck but i don't care because i needed to rant!

Ok so this may seem random but I just binge watched bobs burger, all 10 seasons of it. And I had always heard it was like American Dad or family guy, hell when I googled "what to watch if you liked Bob's burgers" or looked for shows similar American Dad and family guy came up. Now I hated family guy and American Dad growing up, my dad watched it and I just never enjoyed it. But I watched a compilation on YouTube of Bob's burgers and it seemed decent so I decided to give it a shot and im glad I did. Unlike American Dad or family guy, two shows that have the goal to offend people, and who's humor heavily relies on steriotype or references, Bob's burgers doesn't feel dated, doesn't rely on steriotype, it bases it's humor on putting these likeable character that you love into different scenarios and having them reacting to the world around them. And unlike a lot of shows, like I said watched all 10 seasons and it never really got repetitive or boring or annoying I honestly enjoyed every episode, every episode felt new and fresh, even if the idea has been done before. Now there are several things I enjoy about Bob's burgers and I just kind of felt like talking about it so

First, they all, not only love eachother, but also actually like eachother. Now I feel like a lot of people don't quite get what I mean by that. I personally love my mom, I do not like her, I don't like the way she thinks or acts, I always say that If I had met her at school or at work or something and was not related to her I wouldn't like her. I've seen many siblings who love eachother, they'll defend eachother and take care of eachother but for the most part avoid eachother especially if they're at the same school, they don't go out of their way to talk or hang out with eachother. This family all seem to actually like eachother though.

Which leads me to my next point. The Belcher siblings are personally my favorite part of the show, I was actually confused when I first started seeing them all together, because most shows seem to have that sibling relationship of love but not like, and while that's fine and can be realistic, I don't very often see a show that shows a good healthy sibling relationship of siblings actually liking eachother which can also be realistic and is a good thing to teach kids. The Belcher siblings are great, they of course defend eachother and take care of eachother but they're also friends. They walk together in between classes, theyre all in the same friend group, they go out of their way to hang out with eachother and play togetherand have fun together, they eat lunch together and scheme together. Of course they also spend time by themselves and will hang out with their mutual friends without their siblings and have friends outside of the mutual friend group, and of course they get into arguments and disagree with eachother a lot, what siblings don't? But for the most part they get along very well. You won't see any of them embarrassed to be seen with their younger siblings in or out of school, even Tina, the teenager of the group who's going through a lot for the typical teen problems including being embarrassed often and caring a lot about what others in her grade think, will hang out with her little brother and sister, and take part in their mischief, and eat lunch with them and doesn't have a problem with it.

The kids aren't the only one with a uniquely healthy relationship when it comes to these types of shows, we also have their parents, Bob and Linda. Bob isn't the steriotypicaltypical husband that's often portrayed in these types of shows, Bob isn't the husband that complains about how his wife is always nagging or jokes about how being married is awful. Linda isn't the steriotypicaltypical wife, Linda doesn't complain about how her husband can't take care of himself, or seem disgusted by her husband or seem exasperated by the kind of person her husband is. Strangely enough they seem to actually love eachother, and support and encourage eachother and care about eachother and enjoy spending time together and enjoy working together. They enjoy making small fun competitions with eachother and having fun and laughing together. They seem to bring out the best of eachother. And yes they aren't exactly in their honeymoon phase, and may not have that "spark" they first had when they first got together, and they're not exactly the pinnacle of romance, they are however a good representation of a happily married couple who genuinely love and like eachother and have been married for years. And of course they each have their flaws and they have their disagreements and arguments but who doesn't?

And the Belcher kids love and like their parents as well and enjoy being with them and involve them in their antics as well.

And they love and like their kids as well. And given each of the children it would be expected in a show like this for one or two of the children to be considered "disappointments" or "not as good as the favorite child" there's usually a kid who's clearly the favorite and one or more kids who's looked down upon by the parents and everyone else in shows like these, however Bob and Linda genuinely love and are very proud of each of their kids and they both have good relationships with all of their kids. Even in the episode where they spent the entire time showing just how much of a screw up gene was, Bob took gene aside and said that while gene could get distracted and could mess up at times that he was still very proud of him and loved him.

Bob and Linda support their kids in everything they do, even in the episode where gene got interested in "table setting" and got into a competition and his parents didn't quite understand it or understood why someone would enjoy it they still helped and encouraged him and expressed how proud they were that he found something he enjoyed doing.

It's a very healthy family and it's enjoyable to watch.

The show itself, although it has 10 seasons, doesn't ever get annoying or repetitive, every episode seems fresh, like I said binge watched the entire show and was actually pretty sad when I got the final episode and realized I was done and couldn't watch anymore, although the first season was great it got better over time, and personally I thought each season was better then the last.

I like that all the characters seem realistic, their was several episodes with the Belcher kids where I could imagine my younger self and my friends and brother doing similar things. And like I said the parents though loving also seemed like a realistic couple that have been married for years.

I also liked the consitancy. A lot of characters over time will become an exaggerated version of their former selves. For example a character like Patrick star or homer Simpson or Cosmo from fairly odd parents, who start off the show kind of dumb and clueless but not annoyingly so and are still enjoyable, over time will become so damn moronic that you wonder how they've managed to go this long without accidentally killing themselves and it becomes annoying and frustrating and they're no longer likeable.

None of the characters in this show have a character flaw that becomes so extreme they become unlikable, in fact all of the characters in the belcher family are likeable, and stay consistent, thats the point, you want to see them go through these things and want to see them win and come out on top because of how likeable they are. Louise is mischief, she's a prankster, but it's never to the point where she's unlikeable, she's still a good kid who usually doesn't go to far and when she does shes quick to see her mistake, apologize, and try to make it right, if anything a lot of times her pranks are to help defend other people or "bring justice" to people who have been wronged.

She may be a bit extreme but she's still a good kid and you want to see her come out on top. Gene can be loud and extreme and not really get hints, but he wants to befriend people and wants to help people, even though he can be gullible and a bit clueless and as a result can easily get roped into stuff, he tries to help people and make things right when he sees things going south, he's a sweet kid.

And Tina can be innapropriate, and can be selfish at times and not always see the big picture, but like gene and Louise when she sees that she's messed up she immediately tries to fix it and make things right, she has a stronger moral compass then either of her siblings and usually the voice of reason and helps people out whatever situation they're in, including her siblings who can often end up in some pretty bad situations, and is willing to take the fall for the sake of others.

Bob can by cynical, and a bit extreme about things he cares about (work, turkeys, Thanksgiving in general) and when he gets extreme he won't think things all the way through he'll just react, but he means well, he cares about his family and will put aside his obsessions for his family and is willing to sacrifice those things for his family. Hell one of the things hes obsessed with is Thanksgiving, he will make sure everything goes PERFECTLY and will get very upset if they're not perfect and will go crazy trying to make it perfect, but the reason Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday and the reason he cares so much is because of his love for his family and because Thanksgiving to him is being with your family. And even he is willing to sacrifice his Thanksgiving to be there for his friend, teddy, who's alone and without his family.

Linda can also be extreme and not think things all the way through but like bob, she means well, the times she gets extreme is typically when it involves her family and trying to do everything in her power to make them happy, and to do what she considers the morally right thing to do, even if it means going a little crazy and taking things a bit to far while doing so. I think a good example of this was when Louise got in trouble at school for causing problems, she was causing problems because a couple of kids were picking on a smaller kid and she was attempting to defend the kid, Linda thinks it's morally wrong to punish Louise for defending a kid and breaks Louis out of detention from the window (also breaking the school's AC in the process) to get her some ice cream all while having to avoid mr.frond, the school counselor who's around the same area. It's a good example of how it makes for a funny episode and flawed characters because of how extreme they can get but how they're motivation and reasonings makes them likeable and makes you root for them.

Anyway. I know this is kind of random it just kind of bothered me that I don't really see bobs burgers being talked about very often and I see it being compared to American Dad and family guy when, from what I've seen of the two shows, it's not really similar at all

Title: Between Close Friends

Rating: General Audience

Chapters: 1/1

Relationship: Ted Lasso/Rebecca Welton

Summary: Ted is bad at social media, but is that a bad thing?

Ted, what the fuck are you doing????

Ted peers at his phone, rubbing sleep from his eyes and reads the message again.

He scrolls down and sees he has twelve more texts and three missed calls all from Keeley Jones. He turns off his nighttime notifications with a few exceptions for emergency contacts, so it’s not surprising he slept through the messages.

He scratches at the stubble along his cheek and checks his clock. It’s seven o’clock here in Kansas, so it must be . . . early afternoon in London. He thinks through the last day, but he can’t remember anything interesting enough to have Keeley on the case.

Henry came over to his extended-stay hotel, they went to an American football game, got a late dinner in downtown Wichita, and watched a movie before bed.

They did make it on the Jumbotron for the Lasso-off, the team’s half-time dance contest, but his moves weren’t especially embarrassing. At least not in his opinion. Unless one of the moves was actually an insult to the English in which case, oh jeeze, he needs to get on this quick.

The call barely connects before Keeley’s voice echoes in his ear.

“Oy! Ted!”

“Keeley, I am so sorry for whatever I did to offend the great people of the United Kingdom. I am ready to make a statement and an apology tour as soon as you tell me which dance move I need to retire immediately.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I need you to log out of the AFC Richmond Instagram account. Like, now.”

That stops Ted in his tracks.

Does he even have access to that? He remembers a post-it note of accounts and passwords from Beard on their first day with Richmond.

There was an account run by the previous manager, but Keeley had taken it over long ago, converting it to the official team account. She had also made Ted a personal Instagram for his own use and brand development, but he never posted publicly.

He puts her on speaker phone and opens the Instagram app. She’s right. He’s logged into the team account with all 25 million followers. Well, shoot.

There are about a dozen stories posted from last night. All of Ted and Henry’s day together. There’s puns (“having a cow” at dinner with an image of Henry holding up a beef rib and screaming his head off), Ted and Henry singing at a dueling piano bar, the two brushing their teeth together in the bathroom mirror.

“No offense, but I think this may delay the Tom Ford deal you asked me about.”

“Yeah. I get that.”

“It’s just, you know, dads aren’t quite their brand. Or our brand. I mean we’re not anti-dorky dad, but you know with the whole comeback narrative during the season hiatus . . .”

“No I get it. You’ve put a lot of work into rebranding this team and I just undermined that.”

She sighs, but it’s fond.

“Sorry, Ted. It’s not like what you posted was bad, it’s rather sweet actually. It’s just a little different from the posts I had scheduled.”

Ted nodded. It wasn’t the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to him, but he felt bad for making Keeley’s job harder than it needed to be.

“No, I’m sorry Keeley. I swear, it won’t happen again.”

****

“Can you believe what Ted did last night? I’ve never seen someone so bad at social media.”

Rebecca has no idea what Keeley is talking about when she walks into her office. She flops onto the couch, feet splayed on the coffee table, clearly exhausted by whatever Ted has done from 4,438 miles away.

“So many puns. Which, don't get me wrong, I love word play more than most people. But I don’t think it’s right for the team right now.”

Rebecca shuts her laptop.

“You’re right about puns not being part of the team plan, but what’s this about Ted? What did he do, exactly?”

Ted hasn’t posted anything in at least 24 hours. Not that Rebecca is keeping track.

“Oh he managed to switch to the team account on Instagram and posted about his entire evening out with Henry. It was quite sweet, actually. The ones that made sense,” but then she pulled a face.”He’s like, really, really bad at social media.”

Oof. Well that isn’t great, but Rebecca doesn’t think there’s anything particularly terrible about Ted’s social media use normally.

“But everything seems under control? No big PR actions needed.”

“It’s fine. I had him log out and wrote a post about Coach Lasso’s surprise social media takeover from America.”

Rebecca nods. Okay, so it was all sorted. Keeley has things totally under control.

But she reaches for her phone anyway. She opens Instagram, taps through the AFC Richmond stories, and snorts at the image of Henry with the rib as big as his head.

“Are people at least being kind?” Rebecca hopes Ted logged out without seeing any messages about Henry. Not that she could see any reason for it, but people were shitheads on the internet.

“Well, wanker is still the most common response. But many of them are wanker with a little heart at the end, so I think it’s fine. We actually got a lot of responses, proper engagement and all that,” she looks up at the ceiling, considering it for a moment before rolling her head to look back at Rebecca.

“If we weren’t trying to present the team as a badass phoenix rising from the ashes, I’d say a Ted takeover isn’t a bad idea. He just needs some supervision. Maybe a phone with a better camera.”

Rebecca is only half listening as she taps to the next story.

“Aw, they went to dueling piano night. That must have been fun for Henry.”

She’s smiling at her phone when Keeley asks, “Dueling piano night?”

“Yeah, you know at Jim Bob’s Bar.”

Keeley is looking at her blankly.

“Fine. I know it’s not really Jim Bob’s bar. It’s probably not even a bar if Henry’s there. But I can’t remember the real name off the top of my head.”

She’d looked it up once, after Ted first posted about the dueling pianos. For some reason she started calling it Jim Bob’s. Ted didn’t seem bothered and had even started calling it that himself.

When she looks up again, Keeley is staring at her, eyes narrowed.

“What are you talking about?”

“What do you mean?”

“How do you know so much about some bar in Kansas?”

That gives Rebecca pause. She isn’t sure what Keeley means by the line of questioning.

“It’s not some totally random bar. Ted posts about it whenever he goes for dueling pianos.”

If he gets to the bar early or she has a particularly late evening, Rebecca catches the story before going to bed. When she does, she always asks him to put in $5 for Wannabee by the Spice Girls. She owes him a small fortune by now, but it’s worth it to see the bar explode with cheers and jeers.

Some nights she misses the story, but he puts money in anyways and she wakes up to a shaky video of, Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want.

Rebecca thinks this is a good enough explanation, but Keeley is still staring at her.

“I’ve literally no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Keeley, you know social media is not my thing. All I know is that sometimes Ted posts about this bar on his tiny friends list thing,” she waves her hand around, trying her best to describe it. “The one with the green ring around it.”

Keeley leaps to her feet, eyes wide.

“Am I not on Ted’s Close Friends list??”

Before Rebecca can say a word, Keeley is halfway out the door, texting furiously.

“Roy, better not be on there, if I’m not on there. Ted knows how I feel about being left out!” she shouts over her shoulder. “Sorry Rebecca, I need to do some investigating, asap.”

Oof. She may have just created a problem. It’s probably best to give Ted a heads up before Keeley gets through interrogating Roy.

She drafts a text once, twice, then deletes it and presses call instead.

“Hey Boss, let me guess. Keeley got a hold of you?”

It’s been a while since they’ve chatted, what with the time difference. It’s bizarre how familiar his American accent has become.

“She just left my office, yes.”

There’s a loud crack in the background and a metal clang.

“Where are you?”

“Oh, just the batting cages with Henry,” he says, cheering loudly. “Hey, do you guys have a sport called baseball that has nothing to do with American baseball? You know, like football and football?”

She chuckles, “I don’t believe we do. However there is always cricket.”

He hums, considering it.

“Now Ted, I think there’s something you should know.”

“Lay it on me Boss. I know I caused a headache this morning, what’s the damage? What do you need me to do? I am at your disposal or I’ll lay really, really low as long as you need me to.”

“It’s not that Ted. It’s Keeley.”

“Keeley?”

“Yes, she’s on a bit of a mission at the moment. It seems you left her off your Close Friends list? I think that’s right. On Instagram?”

“Huh. How did that come up?”

“I was telling her about Jim Bob’s. Apparently she had never heard of it and realized you had a whole social media life she was unaware of.”

“Right . . .”

“So do what you will with that.”

“You haven’t talked to anyone else about this yet, have you?”

Rebecca is confused by this new direction.

“No. Why? Ted, is something wrong?”

It takes a long moment for Ted to respond.

“What can I say, I’m just really bad at this social media stuff.”

It's a non-response and an overly folksy one at that. But Rebecca can’t be fooled by the aw shucks routine—not anymore. She tries again.

“Ted. Who is on your close friends list?”

“Uh. Not a lot of people.”

“That doesn’t answer the question.”

“What can I say?” He huffs, a little frustrated. She would feel bad for prying, but she can't help herself. “The list of people I want to share silly life things with is small.”

“How small?” she wonders.

“Very small.”

The line goes silent and Rebecca swears she lost him. But then she hears him take a deep breath.

“It’s you. You’re the list.”

Rebecca feels flush. That’s not where she was expecting this conversation to go.

“I know that might be a lot. You don’t have to say anything. I just, that’s the honest truth and I’d like to get ahead of it before Keeley harangues the entire team.”

It’s a lot to take in, but it makes sense. Sometimes when she’s watching his posts, she wonders about his audience. Who else cares about his biscuit recipe improvements or Broadway Sundays (a recent development that’s turned into a shared movie night.)

“Rebecca?”

She realizes she’s been quiet for a while. The moment feels tenuous and she worries about saying the wrong thing, sending him running faster than Keeley during a social media snafu.

Finally she settles on, “You know, you’re welcome to text me silly life things. It wouldn’t be a bother.”

She brushes invisible crumbs from her desk, listening carefully to his breathing on the other end of the line.

“Yeah?”

“Yes. Maybe I can send some, too?”

Rebecca can hear his smile from across the Atlantic.

“Well, alright then.”

****

That night, Ted’s phone pings and he rolls over to see a text message from Rebecca. It’s a picture of the sun rising over her garden wall.

Something silly to start the day.

But it doesn’t feel silly. Not at all.

Hi I saw the Halloween prompt list you posted, and I wanted to ask you to do Camping with Bob saginowski. If you don't mind I love the last one you did with him. If you could add some smuttyness I would be so happy but if your not comfortable with it that's fine whatever you come up with will be great I'm sure.

//I used the same OC as last time. I hope that’s okay

            There were many things to be thankful for in such a season of being thankful and being around people you loved. Bob felt especially thankful for Rosie being in his life. Secondly, the bar was doing so well. He expected a good season, but not as good as it had been.

            It had been going so well, in fact, that Bob was able to take an actual vacation for the first time in years. Not just a couple of days off, an actual leave-town-and-relax-vacation. Rosie and he had been planning for about a week or two. They decided to step outside of their comfort zones and go camping in upstate New York.

            They packed up Bob’s truck and headed out early one morning for Cranberry Lake. It would be off-season enough that it wouldn’t be too crowded. A perfect, secluded getaway.

            “Did your parents ever take you camping?” Bob asked as they started the three-hour drive.

            “Nah, they were city folk through and through. Central Park was wilderness to them.” She smiled. “Did yours? I mean, are we going to be totally hopeless out there?”

            He chuckled. “Yeah, my pops took me out a couple of times. We’ll be fine.” He promised, putting a hand on her thigh.

            It was thrilling, to say the least, to see each other outside the confines of the city. They weren’t going to the same coffee shop, the same few places for lunch, they weren’t sharing a quick dinner together at the bar in the middle of happy hour. They weren’t going to run into the same people they knew. No one would be talking about their relationship out of earshot. They were their own people. Just two people in love.

~~~~~~~~~~ 

            The fresh air was the first thing that Rosie remarked about. “Doesn’t have that lingering New York smell, does it?”

            Bob laughed as he pulled the cooler out of the truck to hand to her. “No, the real stuff out here.”

            They were in good spirits as they made camp near the lake. They decided to take it easy, relaxing with a couple of beers and talking.

            “There aren’t bears here are there?” Rosie asked as she was looking over the map of trails. Bear mountain stuck out to her.

            “I don’t know,” Bob admitted.

            She gave him a look that made him laugh.

            “It’ll be okay, they won’t bother us.”

            She folded up the map to whack him with it. “If a bear comes into our tent, I’m using you as a human shield.”

            “Fair enough.” He stretched out his legs and looked over the lake. The sun was starting to set and it looked like something out of a postcard. Fiery colors reflected off the calm waves lapping at the boat launch.

            Rosie brought out a blanket to wrap around their shoulders as a chill began to rustle through the trees. Bob pulled her close to keep her warm.

            Neither realized they weren’t talking for a long time. They were just content on enjoying each other’s company. There was no place for words in a beautiful setting. No place in their tight embrace.

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

            It wasn’t until the sun disappeared that they made a quiet agreement to retreat to the tent. Though neither of them was especially tired.

            Rosie kicked off her boots and slipped off her coat as she got comfortable. “I think you need to tell some spooky stories to make it really feel like we’re camping.”

            Bob gave her a funny look. “This isn’t enough camping for you? Last week you were a bit worried ‘bout sleeping outside.” He reminded her.

            “Well, right. But I guess I just want an excuse to get really close to you.” She grabbed him by the shirt to pull him close.

            “Didn’t think you needed an excuse.” He replied.

            “Then zip up the door and turn off the lantern. We can skip the stories for now.” She murmured before pulling him for a deep kiss.

            Bob complied once she let him go. It seemed the fresh air had put her in some type of mood. But he wasn’t going to complain one bit.

DuckTales 2017 – “Friendship Hates Magic!”

Story by: Francisco Angones, Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Bob Snow, Rachel Vine

Written by: Rachel Vine

Storyboard by: Stephanie Gonzaga, Victoria Harris, Vaughn Tada, Brandon Warren

Directed by: Matthew Humphreys

No ponies here, headless or otherwise.

While we've seen a conclusion of at least one part of the Della plot, one other little thing from the season finale hasn't really been elaborated on outside of the occasional mention of Magica De Spell. Specifically: while we know whatever happened to Della Duck, and have a clue on whatever happened to Donald Duck, we never really found out whatever happened to Lena since she became Webby's shadow. Needless to say, it's a long story.

This is the episode where that plot continues. I will say this: Lena plots don't have good track records with me. I liked Jaw$, and The Shadow War was great, too, which was pretty much a foregone conclusion since it was the season finale. However, there's also Terror of the Terra-Firmians and The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck, two episodes I almost gave a Disgusted Donald to. Granted, neither are because of Lena in particular, but still. Which column will this episode fall in? We're about to find out.

Our episode begins with Webby going to the library, because she loves the smell of thinking in the morning. Gotta get that reference out of the way. Oh, and Lena is here now, as an invisible, unhearable shadow being. While nobody else can see or hear her, the audience sees her as this black and green version of herself. Lena says that she's fine with her current situation, though it's quite clear from the tone of her voice that it's more in comparison to any alternative.

Webby doesn't want to do that even if she could hear Lena, so she's continuing her impossible mission to find a book at the library that can teach her about the shadow realm. Yami Yugi is nowhere to be seen, but we do get Mrs. Quackfaster. I guess Scrooge isn't paying her enough so she has to double as the amount of libraries she works at to get that sweet retirement at Birdaydos. Er, Bird-baaaaaay-dos. She tells her that she can't offer the particular book she's looking for.

It's because this new character already checked it out. Webby is shocked, because this book is only in Ancient Syriac, but this "odd girl" happens to know a lot of ancient languages. She introduces herself as Violet Sabrewing, and, after bonding over knowing conversational Akkadian, she offers to stay at her place, possibly overnight. In other words, and eventually Webby's: a sleepover.

Webby, of course, accepts, but Lena does not.  It's almost as if she's read Disney Now's description of this episode, which refers to her as this "suspicious new friend". Then again, it may be because of the way Webby's last sleepovers ended. She wouldn't be the only one to remind her of this.

As Mrs. Beakley gives us the excuse for why we're not going to see Scrooge or the boys in this episode, they're busy in the office for Bin-ventory Day, Webby barges in and tells her grandmother she's having a friend come over for a sleepover. Mrs. Beakley is proud that her granddaughter wants to do another sleepover after the last two ended with money sharks and unicorn fights in the other bin. Gotta love those casual previous episode references that could still work as fantastic off-screen adventures to those who don't know.

Lena is excited that Mrs. Beakley could talk her out of this, and tries to jinx Webby again by saying "cancel the sleepover." Needless to say, that jinx doesn't work out like the library one, as Webby has a different idea.

Instead, Webby decides to have the most normal sleepover ever, as she tries to hide everything that is supernatural in the house, and try to just be normal. Mrs. Beakley attempts to say that the best way to make a good impression on her new friend is to be herself

Mrs. Beakley: ...barring from that summer undercover in Paraguay.

Webby brushing aside what is most likely the origin story for one of her parents, hey, we were all thinking it, she tells her Granny that she's not like her, because she needs friends. After Webby walks away, she tells her to name one person she doesn't get along with.

Enter Launchpad McQuack, inept pilot and ruiner of any plan to make this the first DuckTales episode with only female characters. To disprove Webby's accusation, she decides to invite him for a "sup", and spends a little more time than she wants explaining what she meant. Lena episodes sure seem to love the B-plots that, for the most part, never really seem to converge with the A-plot. This will be another one that fits with the "for the most part".

Going back to the other planned meeting, Webby is all done storing magic rocks in the attic, and her new friend has arrived for the normal slumber party for normal people. She tells Duckworth to get the door, and then realizes that ghost butlers don't help out at slumber parties. Surprisingly, that's not one of the Bailey School Kids books.

After slicing Duckworth's ghostly form in half, him not appreciating it in the slightest, she opens the door to Violet and her totally normal pie. As Webby shows her awkwardness with this whole situation, Lena is not amused, saying she isn't buying it. See, I didn't pull that out of nowhere, Lena hates this girl. I mean, maybe it's a bit convenient that this girl happens to have the same shadow realm-related interests as Webby.

Violet is then brought to Webby's room, and Violet looks around to see all the places that clearly used to have mysterious objects in them. She just says it looks clean, but I can imagine she did not miss that.

Meanwhile, Launchpad tries, and struggles, to drink pea soup from a straw. Mrs. Beakley tries her best to deal with this.

One section she was focused on was this section about Tulpas, an actual concept in the world of mysticism. This whole concept sort of reminded her of that one time all the shadows came alive and...

Webby: Who wants Baggle?!

Violet actually does want Baggle, but wants this obvious distraction some other time. Webby responds that it's just her way to get to know each other a bit more, and suggests asking some ice-breakers. Violet's first icebreaker:

Violet: What do you know about Magica De Spell and the Shadow War?

Lena, feeling completely vindicated, tries to tell Webby that she said the "M" word! I wouldn't say she forgot that nobody can hear her; she's like those people who yell at the characters while watching TV. Heh, nerds. Webby has a different "M" word in mind: makeovers! Violet is clearly not buying this at all, but goes along with the makeovers anyway.

Violet ends up leaving her backpack behind, fully opened, and Lena notices something that definitely shouldn't be in there if she was an ordinary girl who just happened to really like shadow people: Magica's amulet! She runs off to try to warn Webby, and...okay, maybe she still thinks she can hear her, even though she never once acknowledged her existence. She does end up at least finding Webby, except she's now a zombie, complete with one of her eyes falling out.

That fake-out turns out to be Violet and Webby's idea for a make-up session. Webby praises her best friend's make-up, saying that she looks just like the demon named Rakshasa. She's definitely a great friend, I don't know a lot of people who would take kindly to being told "you look like a demon!" Webby should know what Rakshasa looks like, because she met him in a previous adventure, and she has proof...that is definitely not in the attic. Oops.

Webby relents and lets her into the attic, as this cover was completely blown. She was obviously interested in these things, so she doesn't mind that Webby happened to have some magic rocks. They never really explain what those magic rocks are, and I'd like to think I am a little beyond the obvious joke there. She also notices some ectoplasmic energies from that friendship bracelet.

The scene switches from their point of view to Lena's in a neat way, where Lena still thinks she can alter anything here. Sadly for her, Lena is also intangible. Thankfully for her, Webby distracts her from that bracelet, and offers that game of Baggle again. Violet agrees on one condition: they need to use Demogorgan runes. I don't want to reveal that I'm just looking up every one of these words on Wikipedia, so I'll be quiet.

Meanwhile, Launchpad tries, and struggles, to color a coloring book, and then eventually tries to get Mrs. Beakley to get into Darkwing Duck. Mrs. Beakley tries her best to deal with this.

...okay, maybe I shouldn't just brush this off for this running gag, since this scene has quite a bit of lore to get into Jim Starling's eventual big role in The Duck Knight Returns...but maybe I'll wait for that one.

Back to this game of runes, it just so happens that book has the right chant to make those dice-like runes glow green. Lena tries what might be her 50th attempt to actually affect anything as a intangible shadow person. She's shocked to find that it actually worked this time!

She then tries to rearrange the runes to spell out a message. Unfortunately, since these people are nerds, they think it's the writing on the runes that have any meaning, and not how this layout is shaped like the words "don't trust her." Not getting anywhere with these mysterious messages about rat messages, Violet tries another shadow spirit summoning trick: humming this melody. It works...but only Lena can see these white spirits ominously creeping out from the dark. She has to think of something.

She tries to manipulate a white sheet in a form of a ghost. This actually works, because of ghost cliches that even Lena is aware of, but it doesn't solve the "they can't hear me" problem. Violet decides to use a weapon against the one evil spirit they can see, and it turns out this weapon happens to be Magica's amulet. One side effect is that this amulet allowed her to actually see and hear Lena for a second, which is enough to clue Webby in on what is really happening. However, that is only the second most of her worries.

The main side effect is that it finally gets Webby to realize that maybe this girl may not be what she seems. Just like Lena wanted her to, she starts to question their future friendship, and asks everything she knows.

It’s here that we finally get her backstory, or at least her claimed backstory. She was just an ordinary Muggle, having no interest in magic or anything else of the sort. Then, everything changed when the Shadow War happened, and. Oh, and she just stumbled across Magica's cane, which turned back into the amulet. That's pretty much it. We don't know if she's completely telling the truth...

...but Webby buys it completely, to the disappointment of Lena, and they start to do a seance. You see these shadow beings that look like the shadow of Magica De Spell. This, of course, gets Lena to attempt to grab them again.

I hate to spoil this, but I will say that this seance does lead to Lena being able to drag Webby and Violet into the shadow realm. No, not that one, thankfully. We get a big reunion, but this hug doesn't get to last long, as Webby and Violet finally get to see those white shadow ghosts.

That was spoiler enough, so I'll run through this: a big chase scene happens here, and it all leads to a good conclusion to this episode. Even the "tulpas" from the earlier scene comes up, as that turns out to be a little bit closer than one might guess from the opening of the scene. Here's a hint: they don't just stay in this Magica-like form.

In a sort of fake-out transition from that mayhem, we see what is the conclusion to the Launchpad trying to get Mrs. Beakley into Darkwing Duck plot. Turns out, they both got really excited over a cliffhanger ending. Unfortunately, in this universe, that was how Darkwing Duck ended, with a Woody's Roundup-esque cliffhanger. I usually don't talk about future episodes, but this will be given more detail in The Duck Knight Returns.

What were those shadow beings? Will Lena ever learn to trust Webby's new friend? Should Lena ever learn to trust Webby's new friend? Most importantly, while we got the reunion, will it last? At least some of those questions will be answered by watching the episode. It was a treat to see one of those answers in the end, something I thought I wouldn't see until the end of this season.

How does it stack up?

This episode didn't give me anything to dislike, and a lot to like. The biggest challenge this episode had was introducing this new character. I'll say this, without spoiling anything: while she doesn't have any Earth-shattering twists like Lena did, yet, she has potential.

I kind of skipped over the Launchpad bits, I can admit they're all pretty funny. Obviously, it wasn't going to be something as big as the A-plot, but just something minor and maybe even a little bit cute.

In the end, it's definitely in the Jaw$ column.

Next, I actually find a way to talk about The Powerpuff Girls...and not those ones!

← Raiders of the Doomsday Vault! 🦆 The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee! →

Jarrett. Give us the tea my dude

Jarett: Describe your worst boss or teacher you've ever had.

my time has come,, 

this is obscenely long, apologies

okay so I used to work at a credit union (it’s basically a bank but they push this concept of “community” and “we’re not like the banks” except that they are, do not be tempted by their honeycomb claims, they’re as fragile as they are sweet) and I worked in the quality assurance department

we were tasked with everything from balance inquiries to opening accounts to being the equivalent of loan servicers (without the capacity to actually craft the loan agreement for underwriting, because then what would the loan officers do)

my boss, we’ll call him Bob, had two assistant managers, we’ll call them Jenny and August, who were probably the pacific northwest equivalent of Stepford Wives, with Bob being the superficially-agreeable gentleman that welcomes the unaware into the compound for assimilation

so anyway I joined this job through a temp-to-hire position and it was great for the first six months or so (as it turns out, even jobs have honeymoon periods), I made friends with coworkers, I established a presence and something of a reputation for being the friendly-and-decently-quick-learner, which I would later find out was to my detriment, because they took the “quick learner” concept and thought that translated perfectly to “teacher,” and about a year in they gave me a temp to train

the temp was never a problem, although she did sometimes like to be on her phone when we were in the middle of a call, but I’m just an employee that’s giving pointers, I’m not a boss nor am I her mother, so I don’t bother to give her too much hassle about it. she still manages to keep decent call times for a newbie and is able to navigate our systems after a little bit of repetition

this was the beginning of my issues with Bob, as he wanted me to be more strict and adhere as closely his own inflexible schedule as possible. problem is I can’t force a person to learn faster, nor had I asked for the responsibility of training someone in the first place. why hadn’t they asked someone with more experience? sure I’d learned the ins and outs of the programs okay, but i hadn’t developed the tools to quickly de-escalate angry callers yet, hadn’t even been given access to several systems I was expected to use to train this temp, but being behind was my fault no matter what I said

I’d already been dealing with some subtle snideness and condescension from Jenny and August on top of that, and it took me ages to realize it’s because I was the only person that didn’t engage in makeup culture (partially bc I can’t afford that shit lol) and that was literally the reason why: I wasn’t “put together” or “company ready,” even though I never personally interacted with members or anyone on site beyond people in my immediate department

so a year and a half of this, of subtle underhanded remarks and difficult demands, of having constant rising expectations and quotas, told at every turn that our goal is to have as many new members as possible, all the while a broken record of lie, just repeating constantly that “sales don’t matter, it’s about the community” 

(EXCEPT GET ALL THE ACCOUNTS DON'T LET THEM SLIP THROUGH YOUR FINGERS YOU FUCKING FAILURE YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN THEM 3 ACCOUNTS YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN THEM A GOOD RATE ON THE NEW CREDIT CARD IF THEY JUST SIGNED UP BUT REMEMBER WE DON’T WANT TO SELL THEM ANYTHING)

finally it’s Christmas time and I’ve been busting my hump for the whole year and it’s my second year so I’m eligible for a bonus and I’m literally gonna burst I’m so happy... until Bob and Co. announce that, despite all our stellar efforts this year, despite that we are ahead of company projections by a 15% margin across all departments, despite that I personally (and by proxy our department) was responsible for the acquisition of an account worth over 1.3 million, we were told our Christmas bonuses were actually going to be a bit sparser than they were the year prior, my first year, the year I got a $75 Fred Meyer gift card in

I had been looking forward to a cash bonus and had worked my ass off for it, had been damn near guaranteed it during a number of team/personal reviews with the managers, but surprise! three days before christmas, all I have to look forward to is $50 to a place that I can reasonably get a single pair of shoes from (and maybe some socks)

it’s a month or so later that the Big Change happens, and the entire building of employees moves across town to a new location. some people get let go in the shuffle, including one of my close friends I’d met there. financially stressed though she was, I could see how much happier she was to be out of that place, and I started to get inklings of leaving as my mental health began to deteriorate. another result of this change is that the parking availability for employees is cut down to a third of what we used to have, except it’s even less because most of the spots at the new building are intended for members, so everybody’s carpooling or riding bikes or bussing

side note: carpooling is all well and good in a green initiative, but do you have any idea how difficult it is to coordinate more than two people for a carpool? either you can make us carpool or you can have us in on time, you can’t have both

a bit of advice for anybody new to the job circuit or who might have trouble deciphering “appropriate” social gestures: no matter how open they say you can be, no matter how friendly or amenable they appear to be to mental health struggles, don’t fall for that trap and think you can show any moment of weakness. it’s true that not everyone will react the way my managers did, but don’t take the chance if you can help it. on the surface, they understood. on the surface they said they were with me.

i would go on to walk in on those same people mocking my symptoms and talking about how it can’t be that bad, that I must be trying to get attention.I was labeled unprofessional, and no matter how much they encouraged open communication and preached how “life happens and things get rough for people,” I was still an acceptable target. 

so I took my complaint to HR, who at first seemed taken aback at the notion that, of anybody, BOB could be engaging in such careless and callous behavior. “Oh, he’s such a nice man! I’m sure he didn’t mean those things.” and because he wasn’t the one saying them, but rather laughing along with them, and because it was my word against theirs, it was unlikely to go anywhere

time crawls on and it’s about march or so when everything finally snaps in my brain. getting out of bed feels like selling my soul and going to work feels more like torture than a paycheck. on The Dawn Of The Day That Broke My Back, I was up and ready, out in front of my apartment and chain smoking to keep myself awake, when I realized that no matter when my carpool shows up now, we’re going to be late

I try to keep myself in decent spirits, not be a grumposaurus on the way in. I feel prepared for the day, got my coffee and my lunch in a bag and a nice outfit and I feel like maybe today won’t be as bad as the rest of the month has been, even though we’ll be late

we arrive about 10 after, but I’ve got Jenny and August’s numbers in my phone, so I’ve sent them messages ahead of time to let them know that the carpool was a bit late because traffic has been troublesome. I don’t remember how true it was, but the point is I did my part to let them know ahead of time that we weren’t no-shows, just a bit delayed. as I’m walking in (mind you, following and followed by a number of other individuals just as late as me), Bob singles me out, pointing first at me and then another aggressive point in the direction of a closed office space 

fun fact: with the new change in locations, he no longer has his own office, in fact he now sits directly adjacent to me and close enough to hear me speak under my breath, something I had to be constantly aware of

he ignores the confusion on my face as soon as we’re inside and immediately begins to accuse me of slacking off, saying I’ve been skipping out on and coming late into work constantly, and I need to “get it together” or I’ll be out of a job. I try to express that I’m not trying to shirk my responsibilities, just that I’ve been dealing with a lot of personal stuff and it’s affecting my focus. He doesn’t care, his frustration continuing to escalate, and every time I offer a response or rebuttal to an unfair statement, he gets angrier and changes what he’s upset about.

Finally it happens. 

“You were late! 10 minutes late! You need to be in your chair at your desk and ready to sign in and be ready to take calls BY 8:00!!” 

I have grown tired of him yelling for no reason, and the backbone that had crumbled away over the last two and a half years suddenly snaps back into place hard as steel. 

“I would like to know why this is all aimed at me specifically, when you saw me enter with the remainder of my carpool, the carpool that you all made us set up in the middle of construction season, which of course is happening on the only road that leads here. 

“I would like to know how I’m supposed to control the environment or lives of the other people I am stuck riding with every day for this job that supposedly cares about us, even though it doesn’t seem to care about the extra expenses or time  crunch we now have to endure as a result of this change that miraculously doesn’t affect you. 

“I would like to know who put that stick so far up your ass that you thought it was necessary to yell at your employee about 10 damn minutes. If you don’t mind, I have a job to get to.”

And I go and sit at my desk. He fumes quietly in the office for a while before coming out to his desk, returning to whatever he was doing before he pulled me aside to treat me like a child.

Not a few hours later, I get a call from a member that had been working directly with Bob (big ordeal that needed a manager a few days prior, so he was the go-to for this particular account), and they wanted to speak with him, claiming it was urgent. I hold the call and stand up, trying to get Bob’s attention quietly since there’s other calls happening around me. I call his name quietly, saying “phone for you, it’s [member’s name]” but he doesn’t seem to hear me because he doesn’t respond. So again, I whisper his name, this time leaning more towards him to hopefully catch his eye with the movement, but he cuts me off before I can get the member’s name out

He starts yelling. Like, at the top of his voice, yelling. In a small room, to a person less than 5 feet away, audible to everyone both on a call and not (I would later find out it was also audible over the phone! a member asked what the yelling was about. but I’m the unprofessional one)

“CAN’T YOU SEE I’M BUSY? WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO BOTHER ME WITH CAN WAIT. GET BACK TO WORK.”

The resolve I’d summoned earlier didn’t stay with me, and this was the final straw. It’s one thing to be berated to and humiliated one on one, it’s another to be on the receiving end of it in the presence of 20 other people. I get back on the phone and tell the member, “I’m very sorry, he’ll have to return your call. He’s unavailable at the present.” and hung up, because I was about to cry and I needed to get out. I log out of everything, lock my computer, pick up my belongings and wave to one of my carpoolmates as I walk out and down to HR

they wound up convincing me to stay for a few more weeks, especially after they fired Bob (who it would turn out was going through a divorce, his second in four years, and I just happened to be the punching bag he needed that day), but eventually I left and never went back

[ Critical Role Ask Meme ]

VLD Analysis: Keith in The Feud

I know this scene has been analysed to death, but I just wanted to write a summary of my thoughts on it.

As well as talking about Keith in S7E4, I'm also going to analyse his character in general in season 7 (in relation to klance). And if you're wondering, yes I do think klance is endgame.

Lance's reason for choosing Keith was very obviously sweet and romantic, so there's no need to do any analysing there. In fact, Lance's character is generally easy to read. Keith, however, is always more tricky to understand due to the fact that he communicates through actions and struggles with social cues. We even saw this in his scene with Hunk; although he ended up delivering an excellent pep talk, at the beginning of the scene he folded his arms, had a grumpy expression and said he's not good with talking to people.

So about this scene in The Feud (the scene where he chooses Lance to escape)- a key thing which I haven't seen anyone mention is that he's looking at Bob when he delivers his answer.

Every other character, when explaining their choice, looks directly ahead, looks at the person they chose, or a combination of both. Keith is the only character to look Bob in the eyes when giving his answers.

This is important because if Keith was looking at LANCE with that irritated/grumpy expression, it would come off as mean, as if he was annoyed at Lance. But because he looks at Bob, it makes me think he was more annoyed that he was being forced to justify his choice- part of his annoyance, if not all of it, is directed at Bob. This is supported by his line at the end of episode about Bob- 'the guy was kind of a jerk though, right?'. Makes sense he'd look like this at a guy he thinks is a jerk.

Another reason why Keith looking at Bob is important is that it shows he felt embarrassed and uncomfortable enough to avoid eye contact with Lance. This ties in with another way his body language differs from everyone else's; every other character stands with their arms by their sides, showing they're relaxed (Lance slumps over the podium, but his body language is still relaxed and open). Keith stands upright with his arms folded across his chest, creating a barrier, and not looking at the person he's talking about. This SCREAMS insecurity, embarrassment and discomfort, not anger or annoyance.

I do think Keith was annoyed by how Lance got so many answers wrong, which explains the grumpy expression (old married couple, anyone?). But his reason for picking Lance was a lie, not because he was annoyed. It's canon that Keith finds Lance endearing. Just look at his face here:

He made this face when Lance said 'I'm not a goofball, I'm like the cool, ninja sharpshooter' to which Keith responded with 'are you joking?'. This whole exchange including the facial expression shows that Keith DOES think Lance is a goofball, but he's fond of him for it.

I won't lie, I do think part of the reason they had Keith answer that way in The Feud was because if he said something nice about Lance, it would be far too obvious klance is endgame. So instead, they played into Keith's character flaws and insecurities. They're dragging out this miscommunciation and angst in their relationship for as long as possible.

Now let's talk about Keith in season 7 as a whole. I find the klance dynamic in this season very interesting.

First of all, Keith is still pining. A lot of people think pining Keith is gone, but he isn't. Season 7 was just action packed, and Keith is able to put his feelings aside to concentrate on the mission- similar to how Lance and Keith used to put their rivalry aside when they had to work together.

Keith is pining because he chose Lance and lied about his answer, formed the wings of Voltron with Lance, didn't snap at Lance when when he went space mad and yelled for Lance twice when Red didn't respond to him.

The reason their relationship felt tense is because Keith is trying to reject Lance before Lance can reject him.

We've all agreed that Keith got a crush on Lance after the bonding moment and fell deeper for him around season 3, although it's hard to tell when those feelings became love.

Keith is fully aware of Lance's feelings for Allura. A lot of people forget that in the bedroom scene, Lance literally told Keith he doesn't want to take Blue away from her- that would definitely have assured Keith that Lance has feelings for her, strong feelings. Also, Keith saw Lance and Allura standing together when he called the castle in season 6 (it's possible he also saw their hug, or at least saw them pulling apart). It's been suggested that the animators had Keith interrupt the hug to foreshadow Lance moving on to him, but in hindsight I think it was so Keith would see that they were in the middle of an intimate moment and become jealous.

Also, Keith is more insecure than people give him credit for. It's evident in his scene with Hunk that he doesn't think he's good at talking with people, and he IS socially awkward. Now think about Lance. Lance is outgoing, sociable and great at connecting with people. If you were in Keith's shoes, you wouldn't think you have a chance with Lance. Not in a million years.

Keith has technically been rejected by Lance twice. First, when Lance pretended to forget the bonding moment, making Keith think the moment wasn't important to Lance. Second, when Keith said 'must really be bothering you if you're coming to talk to me', to which Lance replied 'you're the leader now, right?'. This one is more subtle, but Lance essentially just told Keith 'no, we don't have a connection. I'm just coming to you because you're the leader and it's your job'.

Again, miscommunication.

Basically, in season 7 it's clear that Keith is trying to distance himself from Lance emotionally. He has his walls up. Ultimately, in season 8, it won't work and he'll be forced to confess or something because he loves Lance too much. (Pride and Prejudice, anyone?)

In S1-S3, Keith was very open (well, as open as Keith gets) about his affection for Lance whereas Lance hid his affection for Keith because he didn't understand it. In S6-S7, Lance is being open about his affection because after the S5/S6 love triangle and being seperated from Keith, he has a better understanding of what it is to like someone. Keith is now hiding his affection to protect himself from hurt.

As things stand in season 7, it's hard to imagine Keith and Lance as a canon couple. But that's the whole point. For an endgame couple to be successful, there has to have been rough patches in their relationship, there has to have been miscommunication and arguments.

If (hopefully when) Keith and Lance get together in the finale, it will be incredibly satisfying. Why? Because we've seen them argue with each other, hurt each other's feelings, be seperated from each other, see each other at their worst points and have near death experiences. And after all that, if they choose to be together, it will be powerful and will really assure the viewer that their relationship is strong and will last forever.

Vikings If You Don't Believe In Violence Get Ready To Hide Behind Someone Who Does T Shirt

I she and what basket shotgun glaze and in an online will will will and Mina are stored at entrée which I is because activity sheets will be as cheer at least it’s ringing in my the and bundled window displays a Vikings If You Don't Believe In Violence Get Ready To Hide Behind Someone Who Does T Shirt Christmas the have a team Christmas for me I read in a green Christmas in this so in the man in the nose. One John like a demon to pay less never forget the day for a couple of reasons the day started off in the firing of Bob Knightand ended with the Raiders coming back from a 21 point deficit to beat the Colts 90 still donned the Raiders return Sunday night at the RCA gone management company coming off a finally 63 section 137 Manning droppedand on Manning interception return for CD only four games 33 Raiders 29 third quarter Manning are on the ball the younger Mike Harrisand Helen Harrison see his feet in the two point conversion no good the Raiders let it funny to fit the home riding down 2318 Manning interception of the year that will retain rings in this one discussed in Manning face tells it all 23 the finaland Brown seven catches for about 45 3100 yard game of the year the answer to all of last season an important Manning nine this season have been returned for touchdowns including the play of the Raiders are now fineand one lifetime on the road against the Colts against the cold Sunday night just the Manning down fast losing playand then Jim Brown to be in the was one set up another school who knows what any of that means Manning get the goals in the game with two scoring passes the Marvin Harrison number 88 first was by design the other remarkably improvised by by mailing the foldsand you can get it tomorrowand you again for being surprised in the leg since 1988 the first time proving it along as a quarterback when you wear dress of a patriot what was your reaction when they said that they were going to make it defensive back I love playing quarterbackand I really felt like I was good enough to play National Football Leagueand he will be a quarterback I think the other thing is as I was smart enough to realize that having never played the position you have to go to National Football League training camp at the University Delawareand all of a sudden put on a different set itself as a different homeand go play defenseand a chance to make the football team work responded as the feeling that was the right thing Gannon did make the Minnesota Vikings as a quarterback despite flashes ofand availability to match the prototype of a full time starter like you had that season when you were 11and five take the team to the playoffsand they put into Sean Salisbury was about of the disaster having we developed a pretty good thing there in Minnesotaand I worked a long time to earn the respect of the out lineand the guys around meand to great start rate threeand I sat down at halftime against Cleveland_00 Denny Green never even came to me to tell me that I was employed second offense according me Symphony goes on to win the football gameand then the next week I never came to meand tell me was the start of the week I just think it was handled very well in our relationship there just deteriorated in the following years of the Kansas City is a mystery you can sit to take the team in the playoffsand then Alastair did you ever get a sense then rested is going on here I just all I wanted was a coat to believe in me to give me an opportunity to start week oneand see what I can do about through the course of the seasonand forcefully for me to take a while but I found that guy John Grudenand the Oakland Raiders not all is in back is like every disk describe your your meeting with John Gruden when you finally decided that our right to go with the Raiders this is the guy will play for well is a pretty interesting visitand we went to some Mexican join I would someone my favorite placesand we talked for a couple hoursand from there I guess it was time to entertain meand so is what would you want to do I guess there is an opportunity go to Warriors game at a little banquet or to stop at a 7 Elevenand pick up a sixpack of beer go back to his officeand was found so I chose the latter we went back in the we watch practice fell game fell we watched film until late into the nightand we started talk about the offenseand Rich want to keep talking footballand so I just as his enthusiasm game rich watching of one the ball okay they are separated by only two years of age 2 guys crazy about trying not to drive you crazy doing rich reruns of these have all this up is down off the throne we interviewed John about Rich is the most miserable person I have ever metand that’s what I love about you bicycle me Philly cabdriver I think he realizes I played a game with a certain chip on my shoulder I feel the way that I’ve been slighted by the National Football League on the long shotand I feel like I’ve lasted because had that Philly swagger that Rocky Countyand I think I use that to help me formand how the claim as me a lot of myself some ways that not see him have very little tolerance for anything but perfection of any let him know right away on the go down with you to fly together in the one the great competitors that the maybe I’ll ever have a chance to be around is a true that you had all of videogames taken out of the locker room because you felt was a distraction together some truth to that in fact my first visit to the facility I know I was getting the tourand can find this rumors a full table near the newest video games as I was shocked I really want one of the players have time to do this while lunch time in a civil land they want to fumble and if you work at IBM today have a play room at the last time I just went in there one dayand I took all the old stuff out there that the pool ballsand physically you get yourself a full open the boxand to my lockerand then that’s all that I took it that fed upon the come see meand unfortunately couple guys that come see me as we can set think that we need balls back but you know it’s amazing as it is those same guys that came to meand said that it along with her for about is that throughout a quarterbackand head coach are strict on preparation they don’t necessarily keep the same hours as honestly as possible be at workand I think he’s in there about 415 in the morning so I came one morning in the front of the there’s nobody around thereand think in him losing this opportunity to fail my work area left at 7 o’clockand so I looked up into the corner office there was a light on inside the silhouette when you get in on so I just looked for something to it is sentences so you are throwing rocksand jumpstarted what is superior gender can want to help me out was once think so may make a system was handed the keys to the offense Rich Gannon has gone the two straight programsand led the Raiders to the AFC championship think in your life is your biggest both my legacy is that I came inand still leadership in sizeand the team that I was downand outand I’m not to take all the credit but when I was with Kansas City we consistently gave those guys awoke to the belief in Kansas City that play with those guys kept the game close want to make a mistakeand they quitand I came there I made sure that everyone that they knew that so she felt about the Raidersand will will take them to work harderand to take to get the next level so that would be the case anymore in fact Rich Gannonand the Raiders beat the Chiefs for straight time now in his corner of Philly long shot has become the Raiders shot for an NFL type you believe the man I think that when your quarterback is nothing more important than to know that you got hit close the believing is gonna stick with you through thickand thinand always refer back to the piece that you guys did with Ron Jaworskiand Dick for me onand you know Jaworski shows interception comes this outline the thousand that they listen you my guy not to take yeah Americans are a blessing that piece really stuck them in my something I’ve always wanted in a head coldand theand never really had the 13 general national football league with Johnand a leader will is one of have that relationship believes in the in the to give me a chance to from different Raiders off last week enjoying freaking week. THAT AND THEN THERE LIKE YOU KNOW I’M I’M KIND OF BUT I’M KIND OF LIKE THAT I JUST LIKE A TOTAL CENTRIST I WAS KIND OF THE MIDDLE OF THAT DISCO LIKE I I WANT ATHEISM BY ITSELF I WANT ANYTHING EXTRA YEAH I YOU KNOW DURING THE WHOLE DEBATE THAT WHOLE DEBATE MAY BE QUEASY TO BECAUSE YOU KNOW EVEN THOUGH I REALLY AM A LIBERAL WHICH IS FUNNY IS A LOT OF INTERNET LEFTIST LAKES GOLF THE TERM LIBERAL EXTERNAL ALL THOUGHT WE HAD WASH ON OUR SHOW A BUNCH OF TIMES SAID IT’S FUNNY SO FAR AWAY MEET NEXT REFUELING AND BEYOND WITH VARSITY DIETS THAT YOU WANT TO ARGUE WITH BOSCH NO NO I SEE TO SEE WHAT DIVORCE DOES TO PEOPLE WHO ARE AND I ACTUALLY HAVE I DON’T ACTUALLY HAVE A LOT OF THINGS THAT I DISAGREE WITH HIM ON HIS TESTING PERSON BECAUSE HE HAS SO FAR IT IS VERY STRONGLY A LEFTIST I NOT A LEFTIST IN THE TRADITIONAL YOU SAY YOU’RE A LIBERAL OR PROGRESSIVE YES I’M I’M A LIBERAL PROGRESSIVE I WOULD NOT CONSIDER MYSELF TO BE A LEFTIST HOWEVER I FIND MYSELF AGREEING WITH DAMN NEAR 99

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I see in what basket shotgun glaze and in an old man will will and Mina are stored at entrée which I is I because activity sheets and will be in as cheer at least it’s ringing in my he and bundled window displays a Vikings If You Don't Believe In Violence Get Ready To Hide Behind Someone Who Does T Shirt Christmas see have a team Christmas for me I read in a green Christmas in this so in the hands of nose. All you know is not meant to be offensive to some demise this this is not just for Moses for everybody going especially in the season in our countryand our world Psalm 3144 be brave the strong don’t give up expect God to get your expectation expectation is the breeding ground of the miraculousand I think that with the new industries in the season number what you’re going to paint your heart ache matter what hurt my what you’ve lost access God through because has never failed is not to start with your was the next week or two more the next one I want you to give it to us because your mom epitomize this exactly so has a date with me I never her know I heard nobody nobody hardware was anotherand on letters so nice to me she is she’s not with us any moreand moreand right now than ever have on to see the end that you my my mom only had an seventh grade education her father said you have to quit school to help with pick cotton in the fieldand she was married at the age of 16 she had her first baby at 17 with four more to followand I’m sure to sound Mary Jason life is just really really hard that you never knew itand here’s this beautiful lady she she was a survivor she was hard worker she lives her her childrenand she would give you the shirt off of her back is a large family she was just the most precious woman that he with me she never met a stranger not she loved which will alwaysand aloha all the son in law to make them get out of the recliner whenever I came over the houseand I was also there is your easier to those growing up we were orand I appreciate that so niceand she saying she said you don’t have an 80 to look like 1 million now forget I was in junior highand it was back in the day where guests Dean Finch about culture the coverage why I know we can affordand suggests we lady knowing that I wantedand she wanted me to have aand how she did it I don’t know how she did this but she must went to Salvation Army CMIS went to Goodwilland she found they found the most undesirable you could probably wear gas engine proteins label often as she instantly got by me jeans from Walmart are good mail where we can affordand she was found in his labels onto the sceneand awareness to school not knowing anythingand just feeling proud but that’s him another way she was a wonderful ladyand wavelength you hit it to the second guess it wasn’t until later on it wasn’t until later on actually we were separatedand here I found myself in a single single mom on where trading in activities backand forth I’m letting them all I’m working I’m going to school it was hardand it will not matter all be set up that gave me such a deep appreciation for what she was the season they gave me a deep appreciation all because you never quit on us you never gave up on us I think off the quote successful mothers are not the ones who’ve never struggled there the ones who never give up despite the struggle I think you have epitomize that later mom epitomize that I love you so probably we see that I willand this it is the pills right into the word of God is the Scripture that often use them throughout this whole season is second Timothy chapter 4 verse five assesses but I want you to keep your head no matter what happens don’t give up when times are hard work to spread the good news do everything God has given you do each of us has a job during the seasonand and it is not to give up its to move forward is to keep going as the no matter what your stroke my hope is that this weekend while were given these points were having fun were laughing that that you will build the strength to just keep going despite the stroke Jesus never said you were in a struggle he said in this world you will have trouble. In our Cleveland operation they pivoted from as you’d said the Q tip style swab to a slob it’s been a have a plastic stick with a polyester tip so that they can be assembled into these kits are Cleveland team is done a wonderful job with this and I’m very they’re very excited to be able to help in this effort to thank you Mr Pres Mr present thank you Larry Marlowe CVS health and was just over a month ago that we opened up our first I drive through a test site I and since that time we have opened large scale testing facilities across five states in partnership with the administration and working with the governors of Rhode Island Massachusetts Connecticut Georgia in Michigan and these sites are enabling us to test approximately 1000 individuals a day with our real time results we now have a capacity to test about 35 000 individuals each each week and this afternoon we announced plans to expand that capacity even further I beginning in May we will install testing capabilities I and up to 1000 CVS pharmacies will See Other related products: shirts and shirt

DuckTales 2017 - “The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!”

Story by: Francisco Angones, Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Bob Snow

Written by: Francisco Angones

Directed by: John Aoshima

Storyboard by: Jean-Sebastien Duclos, Jason Reicher, Sam King

The calm before the shadowy storm...or is it?

Previously on DuckTales 2017, Dewey found a note on the back of a portrait that happened to have the same handwriting as Della Duck’s! While following the clues on it only led to a prank involving a hat that was meant for Donald Duck, Huey takes the note and uses a pencil to mark it. Apparently, that’s a Junior Woodchuck tradition, and not just another Adam West Batman style riddle solving!

It revealed these dates, and something that looks like the tip end of a spear. It even happens to be labeled the Spear of Selene! Clearly, unlike the ending of Other Bin, they didn't want to wait a few episodes before coming back to that! Surely enough, it will be brought up again in this delightful comedy romp known as “The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!”

...yeah, something tells me this won't be pretty.

The episode begins with a trip to the country of Monacrow, and everyone has their own reasons for enjoying the vacation. The boys, Webby, and Launchpad are interested in a convention called E.X.C.E.S.S., which has many star attractions, like...

Webby: Experimental racecars?

Huey: Lasers?

Launchpad: Aeroplanes?

Subtle! Mrs. Beakley also shows up to use up one of her stacked up vacation days on one of Monacrow's beaches. Who would have guessed they would use vacation days to not write off a character, but actually get one involved in a plot?

Scrooge, in particular, is more interested in the Maltese MacGuffin, which happens to be something of massive worth. It's both a reference to the trope, and a reference to one of the most famous uses of it. He also talks about how having the nephews around has made him more energetic than he ever was in a long time! Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmmmm.

They all aboard the plane, and right from the get-go, there's problems. After Mrs. Beakley is utterly shocked about the massive amounts of safety violations on a plane usually boarded by young children, including having a pilot known for crashing planes, Scrooge tells her there's nothing to worry about. He tells Launchpad to give Mrs. Beakley a tour of the ship. While he's away, he's going to take the wheel.

Mrs. Beakley tells him he doesn't know how to fly a plane, but Scrooge McDuck says that he he's Scrooge McDuck, and that seems like a good excuse for anything. Throughout most of this episode, his ego is through the roof, but why not? Right from the beginning, he seems like this invincible hero who can do anything.

Meanwhile, in a large wooden box, the boys and Webby piece together a bunch of pieces of a photograph that Louie snuck into the car, along with a few other things. Apparently, this all came from that wacky librarian from The Great Dime Chase.

While Dewey learned his lesson from the last episode, the theme of secrets still holds true for Scrooge. They feel that if Scrooge finds out about this, he'll shut down the entire operation. Much like Dewey, a lot of this is based on assumptions; if he wanted to shred these papers, clearly this has to be something Scrooge doesn't want people to know.

They manage to piece together almost all of the photograph, except for this one large piece that happens to be right in the middle. Half the episode becomes Dewey trying to get this one piece of photograph. Unfortunately, as soon as Dewey across towards this piece, the plane starts shifting forwards and backwards.

They go out of the box, doing some inconspicuous whistling when Mrs. Beakley asks them what they are up to. Well, the boys do, Webby just sings "inconspicuous whistling". They soon see what exactly happened, as we see Scrooge getting angry at the plane. He can't blame himself, he's Scrooge McDuck.

While Scrooge McDuck has many talents, flying a plane isn't one of them. It’s not a Launchpad crash, either, but a crash that ends up putting the plane on top of a "10,000 meter speedbump". Needless to say, this episode isn't going to end with racecars, lasers, or aeroplanes that aren't the titular Sunchaser.

Scrooge tries to get the plane out of this situation, because he's Scrooge McDuck, he can solve anything! That seemed to work for most episodes, but it does not work here, as anything he tried to do only made things worse.

Of course, the Sunchaser being on top of a small spire-shaped peak means that balance is absolutely everything. Unlike most episodes, there's no real villain in this episode outside of gravity. It's a high concept episode, there's no B plot happening anywhere else. Maybe.

For example, Launchpad accidently drives a car into the large door of the Sunchaser, causing the plane to lean backwards. Eventually, the door opens, and Launchpad is hanging on. We get to see some cool moments with Scrooge, having him jump up on a box that's sliding down and being able to rescue him from falling off. It's like an action movie.

Not that Scrooge gets all the fun, Mrs. Beakley gets a lot of great moments, too. Throughout the episode, she's trying her best to keep the kids safe, and arguing with with Scrooge about how he's endangering everyone. She really wants Scrooge to admit that he can't fix this problem, but Scrooge is having none of that. Under Scrooge, nothing bad is going to happen to the children! Or, as he accidently says...

Scrooge: Nothing bad is going to happen to her!

Mrs. Beakley: ...hmm?

Scrooge Er, kids.

This is our first big hint that Scrooge is not just acting the way he is in this episode because of his sense of self-worth or for the safety of his kin. This becomes far more apparent near the end of the episode. It's clear that this isn't just about Scrooge's war against Isaac Newton.

The kids eventually have to stick to one place, as much as Dewey really needs that one piece of the photograph.

Launchpad tries to give some in-flight entertainment with a nice nod to Darkwing Duck. Hopefully we’ll get to see him, or his actor, next season. Sadly, the tape only repeats the same section of credits over and over again due to damage to the VCR caused by the crash. They eventually start to sing the portion of the theme song. The lone exception being Dewey, who just can't take it anymore.

Huey gets an idea: go to the opposite way Dewey is going, keeping balance, allowing Dewey to get the piece of the photo. Eventually, Scrooge spots Dewey with the piece of the photograph, and asks what he has. Dewey, left with no choice, decides to give Scrooge that piece, only for it to blow away to the same spot where Launchpad crashed the car from earlier.

Dewey chases after the photograph, while Scrooge chases Dewey. It's the slowest chase scene ever, due to Mrs. Beakley ordering them to be careful to not to make the title fit. That joke would have been a lot better on shows that I actually judge the titles on, I realize. Scrooge is only trying to grab Dewey to save his life.

Scrooge: I'm only trying to save your life, so come back here before I have to end it!

Obviously, Scrooge doesn't mean this, but he's getting a bit unhinged.

Eventually, the box where the secret hideout was hits the door and breaks open, revealing the hideout and all the pieces of information that were nailed to its interior. Mrs. Beakley notices the paper in Webby's skirt, which happens to be the Spear of Selene picture from earlier. Her reaction to this seems to be telling.

Mrs. Beakley: Oh, children, what have you been up to?

She doesn't do anything else to the nephews and her granddaughter about this, mostly because what will happen a few seconds later will heavily, but this line read is a clear sign that whatever secrets that Spear of Selene holds is not going to be pretty.

While the paper with the Spear on it is taken, the little piece of the photo gets blown out of the window by a gust of wind. Of course, that doesn’t stop Dewey from leaping out onto the Sunchaser, chasing after it. Scrooge utters to himself, "no, not again". Anyone who's watching this show will know this is referring to his side of the Della mystery.

Dewey's reckless endangerment even scares the other nephews and honorary niece, and they ask Dewey to forget about this and love the family he has. Dewey is having none of that, and neither does the viewer; we're not going to have another cop-out. Scrooge eventually has to ask what he can do to get Dewey to listen to him. Dewey, in no uncertain terms, decides to ask him for the truth.

Dewey: (holding up photograph) Tell me about the Spear of Selene!

We saw this scene in the trailers, and that’s definitely something people would want to see Scrooge answer. Scrooge eventually nods his head, grabs Deweys hand, and gathers everyone together for the big story.

No, there's no cop-out here. The longer answer, as I said before, is that it is not pretty. The even longer answer should be figured out by watching the episode. I would stop here, but this is the kind of ending I need to talk about. This episode was already good enough that a cop-out wouldn't have made this a below-average episode.

However, I'm sorry to inform that this is not the twist you will be watching. The twist you are about to see is extremely unpleasant. If you wish to see a film about three bug-eyed freaks that beat the stuffing out of monkeys, I'm sure there's still copies on eBay.

← The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck! ☆ The Shadow War! →

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Alright, fine, in the immortal words of a Dark Souls soapstone message, "time for tears".

I honestly thought they were going to stretch the Della plot into the Season 2, but lo and behold, Scrooge manages to keep his word. He’s not a hypocrite, just like how he promised Webby that all she had to do to know about the number one dime was to ask, all Dewey had to do was ask. No need to keep secrets, we learned that in the last episode.

Even in this episode, it’s hinted that the Della situation is not going to be a bright and cheery one, and oh boy, oh boy. It all started before the nephews were even hatched.

She went on many different adventures across the entire world, until there just wasn't anything left. Eventually, she decided that. Donald was completely against this, because it's too dangerous. Scrooge decided the best plan was to buy the Spear of Selene, and keep it a surprise from both Donald and Della.

...that is, a big rocketship in the shape of one. Unfortunately, Della finds out about this surprise because she's that clever. Della takes the Spear, leaving a note.

Scrooge tries to get Della to abort the mission and come back home, but Della wasn't having any of it. After all, she was Della Duck! Needless to say, there's a lot of parallels between this and everything else in the episode. However, there is one big difference...

Scrooge: I couldn't keep her safe. The rocket and your mother were lost...in the empty abyss of space.

Major props to David Tennant’s performance here. I had no doubt that he would do well as Scrooge. Donald wasn't too happy when he heard about this, and they never spoke again until the fateful day the nephews met Scrooge. This is completely understandable, and I bet it's even more understandable that telling your nephews that your Uncle indirectly caused your mother's disappearance may not make them like you.

Dewey: Cool...so you're the reason why our Mom is gone.

My earlier assertion that there are no true villains in this episode except for gravity becomes not an opinion shared with any of the characters aside from Scrooge and maybe Launchpad after this story. Symbolically, the plane starts to teeter and totter as the boys accuse him of being a greedy person who didn't even try to save their mother.

Webby shares her two cents as well, and Scrooge immediately tells her to stay out of family matters, as she isn't family. It felt like she became this honorary niece a few episodes ago, so this is a stab in the heart. This earns the anger of Mrs. Beakley. The anger continues until the Sunchaser falls off the spire into a regular Launchpad-style crash. Did anyone forget about that?

On the bright side, Uncle Donald finally fixed that houseboat, and everyone else managed to survive and walked all the way back to Duckburg! Donald Duck shows off the freshly painted houseboat, which is fully repaired, and ready to go back to the Marina. The boys tell their not-a-rich-mother-killer uncle about what happened, and all Donald can say is, "oh."

While they are bummed out, the nephews are glad that they don’t have to live with that money-grubbing tyrant that caused their mother to get lost in space due to his greediness. Actually, that’s not bright at all. There's nothing but tears at this point.

As Scrooge is sitting in his chair, everyone leaves the Manor, even Duckworth. I wouldn't know if it's even possible for a ghost to leave the mansion he's haunting, and that never comes up again in the next episode as far as I can tell. We see another flashback, and it's even more heartbreaking than the first.

Unbeknownst to everyone else, he did try to use his riches to find Della. The Vulture Capitalists have to forcibly restrain him from wasting so much money to reverse his biggest mistake. Well, it’s also her biggest mistake, but nobody seems to blame Della for abandoning her kids before they even hatched. There's some moral ambiguity here, and whether they'll address that is up in the air.

We even see the money bin get smaller and smaller. I actually didn’t even notice that, even in this cartoon’s modern day, he never managed to get it back to the heights it was generally shown to be in previous iterations of the Scrooge McDuck mythos.

Actually, speaking of “the beginning”, this shot at the very end may take that way further than I thought at first.

This is a recreation of Scrooge’s very first appearance in the original comics, back when he wasn’t too far off from his namesake. It's a neat touch; it also references him before he met Donald, and this would be a horrifying bookend. Thankfully, there's another episode.

I was thinking that this episode was going to be the calm before the shadowy storm, but it turns out that the episode before was the calm before the storm. But after a storm, there tends to be a rainbow, and anyone can expect that the next episode would be that rainbow. But...how? I just couldn't wait to find out, and that's something an episode should be proud of.

How does it stack up?

I never thought I would spend any percentage of my day crying over Disney ducks, but here we are. It’s an action-packed thrill ride and a heartbreaker in all of the best ways.

This is the best episode of the series so far, and definitely something I want to see the conclusion to. We might not see if Della is truly gone or not, but maybe the “get the kids back together” plot. Oh, and that Lena plot, too. I guess that’s important. As much as this image is very unfitting for this episode...

Next, prepare to be drafted for the finale of DuckTales Season 1.

← The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck! ☆ The Shadow War! →

Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Mojo The Great”

Written by: Jake Goldman

Written & Storyboarded by: John West, Angela Zhang

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

No, he isn’t!

I was just talking about how I didn't think one character's portrayal in a reboot was as good as the originals, and this one is a far better example of that! I make it no secret that I am not a big fan of the reboot’s interpretation of Mojo Jojo. I mean, I get it; his manner of speaking was probably considered to be too close to broken English, but they could have found something else other than "silly monkey with a silly hat."

Well, aside from him dressing up in women's clothing, of course. Thankfully, this aspect was toned down in Season 2, and doesn't appear to exist in Season 3 outside of one tiny scene in Not So Secret Service. Season 3 is also going to try to improve his character, with a whole episode about him trying to be great.

He gets a good start, as the episode opens with Discount Jojo wrecking a city with his giant robot, calling himself the greatest villain ever. A tour bus drives on by, the tour guide talking about how he's one of the average villains of Townsville.

I can see this episode as a response to people who criticized Jojo's character in the reboot; throughout the entire episode, Discount Jojo is called "not so great", and I do not disagree with that. I mean, he's supposed to be the arch-nemesis.

Angered by this accusation of being average, Discount Jojo grabs the bus and throws it, only for it to be caught by the Powerpuff Girls, with Buttercup even threatening to break two of his legs if he doesn't surrender. Discount Jojo says he doesn't even know the meaning of the word, leading to a running gag about a word-a-day calendar so good, they used it for the title sequence.

After Buttercup crushes him with a torn-off top end of a skyscraper while Bubbles distracts him with cute pictures of hedgehogs, all planned by Blossom, we cut to a Breaking News segment hosted by Bob and Nick, the sportscasters from Derby Dollies who are totally not named after anyone in particular.

This is another episode where each of the Powerpuff Girls' distinct personalities come into play. Blossom’s excellent planning skills, which was mocked in the last episode, Buttercup’s incredible strength, as this show’s "interest" for beefy arms continues, and Bubbles’ undeniable charm, which, okay, I guess. Don't they all have super-strength? Don't tell this episode!

Discount Jojo is completely insecure about being not-so-great, so he decides to enact a plan, using his...

Voice-Change-A-Ma-Jig...♫♬By Mojo♬♫

That's one of the big running gags in this episode: Discount Jojo has his own jingle for his inventions now, which he will only use in this episode. He has three different settings on that thing: Professor, Mayor, and...Mrs. Keane? Okay, I can understand that Discount Jojo probably didn't look up if she's married or not. For the record, this show has her still being single in the episode after the next.

He puts it on Mayor and attempts to call Bubbles. I will be honest: I am surprised they did not just make Discount Jojo use a very unconvincing falsetto that Bubbles believes in to fit in with those "oh, that silly Blonde" jokes they do with her.

Instead, they do something a little bit different: Jojo, in a very unconvincing way of talking that isn't exactly the Mayor, an improvement to Jojo's character, tells Bubbles that his greatest foe is at it again. Bubbles starts naming villains that are not what Discount Jojo is expecting, as apparently there are far worse and/or notable villains than him. Who, exactly?

"Morbucks?" Of course Princess gets the first mention; the crew loves her for some reason! Nonetheless, she doesn't appear in this episode.

"Fuzzy Lumpkins?" Wait, he still exists in this reboot? This episode doesn't prove it.

"The Fashionistas?" Not them, it's not a good episode.

"Pack Rat?" Oh, that one villain that only appeared twice in Season 1 and never again, even though his last appearance has a still unresolved cliffhanger? Not him.

"Manboy?" No, not him. Three appearances is enough, really, and only one of them was anywhere close to good.

"The Gangreen Gang?" No, their leader is too busy with the best thing to happen to the Powerpuff Girls since McCracken left Cartoon Network.

"The Amoeba Boys?" Yes, the Amoeba Boys are considered bigger threats in this reboot than Discount Jojo. Sadly, we will probably never find out who they think is a good replacement for the late Chuck McCann. And if you think that's bad...

"Him?" Yes, it took this long for her to say Him. One would think the series' equivalent to the devil should be #1, but he's put below the Amoeba Boys somehow.

"Silico?" I wish; that cliffhanger with the virus robots really needs an actual conclusion that doesn't make him a complete joke.

"Allegro?" Oh, don't remind me.

Discount Jojo decides not to let this gag continue forever, because it sure feels like it, but Bubbles has only a slightly higher opinion of him than everyone else in this episode: he's good, but not great. Using the Mayor voice, Discount Jojo leads the Powerpuff Girls to a dark alley and zaps them with a ray gun.

Buttercup wakes up in a glass chamber, only to find that her sisters have become grossly out of their character, and far more than usual this time! Blossom is now a stupid girl that only talks about her love for corn dogs. Bubbles introduces herself by burping and talking in a stereotypical Italian mobster accent.

Discount Jojo shows up outside of the glass, and Buttercup can't wait to break through it and give him those two broken legs she's been talking about.

Unfortunately, Buttercup can’t get through the glass; she can't even lift a stool to break it! See, this is to show the one thing that makes Buttercup Buttercup is her super-strength, which nobody else in the show has! If anyone else in that glass had super-strength, this plot would have been over far too soon!

He reveals that he managed to steal all of the things that made the Powerpuff Girls great with his Trait-A-Ma-Jig ♫♬By Mojo♬♫, all one of them each. Discount Jojo can do plans now, even though he was able to do those just fine before. He has Buttercup's incredible strength, which, again, features gratuitous muscles. And, he has Bubbles' cute charm, which he barely uses outside of a montage.

With a montage, of course. He sings a song about how great he is, while using his traits of super-strength to break an armored car, enough charm to steal candy from a baby without anyone hating him for it, and ability to play chess very well. If this was going to lead to a message where the only way for him to be great is to be himself, I would appreciate this a lot more, but they never get there. That might be because there isn't a lot of "himself" in this reboot.

Despite all of this strutting, Buttercup calls him great...in a sarcastic way. He decides the next step is to destroy Townsville, because that would make him a great villain. It's definitely more Mojo than wanting diamond tiaras and stealing lipstick.

Rain-A-Ma-Jig...♫♬By Mojo♬♫

One of three times this jingle joke pops up. I wouldn't say there's any real payoff to this joke, it's just there. This Rain-A-Ma-Jig fires a laser at the clouds, causing it to rain hard enough to cause Townsville to flood. He is so obssessed with wanting to be great, he doesn't even think of a way to save himself, but he never figures that one out even with Blossom's planning.

It even interrupts what looks like the usual newscaster, who was trying to sing "Singin’ In The Rain". He gets interrupted by the flood as soon as the crew realized they would have to pay royalties to MGM if he sang one more syllable.

Buttercup has to find a way out to stop this rain from happening, and she has the bright idea. Oh, so they do know the other girls have super-strength; it's just that being stupid and having no charm makes you forget that! She convinces Bubbles that Blossom said that she couldn't break through the wall, and this leads to a long scene where Blossom repeatedly gets bashed into a glass wall, saying that she's okay. See, it's funny because Blossom is getting hurt.

While that's happening, Discount Jojo’s plot turns into a Noah's Ark plot, where Jojo tries to save two of each animal and puts them on a boat. No, the context doesn't make this any less out of place. There's only one joke here: he cruelly disallows another rabbit from entering his boat because he already has two of them.

The Powerpuff Girls show up and immediately get hit by the anchor. At least here, it's not just stand still for ten seconds, even if that would fit Blossom's character at that point. Buttercup then tells him that he's not great because he can only beat them because of the power-stealing, and Jojo responds by giving back their traits. Even with Blossom's ability to make plans/brains, Jojo was able to make a critical error. At least that's consistent!

To be fair, that's actually a good way to tie into the episode's themes: Buttercup ends up using Jojo's desperate need to be great as a way to get him to give back their traits. I try to find the positive in everything, and this ending kind of counts. It only took them until the end of the episode.

The newscasters give the show a break from actually animating anything by slideshowing everything else that happened. They drained the water with a comically large drain, and destroyed the Rain-A-Ma-Jig.

In the end, Jojo looks at that all-important calendar to see that the word of the day is "doofus". Huh, Doofus Jojo. It has a nice ring to it; it certainly fits someone who doesn't even know how to use a word-a-day calendar. The episode ends with nothing changing, nothing satisfying, and nothing that makes me want to call him Mojo. I am not surprised.

Does the title fit?

He never proves himself to be great, even with the one trait he steals from each Powerpuff Girl.

How does it stack up?

This episode can only work based on a severe misunderstanding of the characters, and while that's normal for the reboot, this episode loves to remind me of that. Mojo the Great, more like Episode the Terrible.

Next, Princess raps, and the Puffs sing. No beatbox solo this time.

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