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gloomy-prince · 3 months

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Original vs New RAINBOW! comic comparison!! It's not completely exhaustive but I've given some insight on the original version, just because it's fun to compare and they actually still have a lot of similarities despite it all! There's going to be a lot of jumping around though as some things happen in a different order. This will be long too, so it's under the cut!

I will preface this by saying that even the newer pages are still a few years old and have been edited for the book release, but I couldn't be bothered to find where I saved them, so these versions are a little out of date. The most obvious difference is that Boo has pink eyes in them, where as now they are green. So, enjoy that tidbit I suppose.

Boo recalls why she was demoted from waitressing

She was demoted for the same reason, though in the original, Boo is explaining this to the audience as she talks about her job. The original version had much, much more internal dialogue from Boo. The way that our comics work is that Sunny writes them in a novel form and I adapt them into a comic, rather than them being comic scripts from the get-go. This allows us to both work our own creative muscles in the process. So originally, I had not yet learned that different mediums call for different means of storytelling and I just copied a lot of her thoughts outright and put them directly into the comic, where as in the new version, I add in her internal dialogue pretty sparingly. So get used to lots of Boo's thoughts in the original.

Also, fun fact, in the original Boo has spilled coffee on me, Sunny, and one of my friends @mxbloodybooart on the left.

Boo daydreams of dancing with a prince

Her daydream is much shorter and less immersive in the original version, only lasting a single panel. A lot of telling and not showing in the original due to getting so much of Boo's direct thoughts. She also bumps into Milo, but doesn't cause him to drop anything as she does in the new version.

Mimi shows up at the cafe

In the original, this is Mimi's first appearance, where as now, Boo has already seen Mimi punch someone and her imagination has gone completely haywire over her, so she is pretty nervous to interact with her. Since Boo doesn't have any of this context in the original, she is merely intrigued by someone who has a style that stands out as much as she does, even if it's in a different way.

Drunk Debbie sleeping on the couch

Our first style change in the original version! Really a style evolution though.

Technically this page is pretty similar, but with a much more devastating line from Boo in the new version along with several cans around to imply Debbie probably passed out drunk, where as in the original you really only see her asleep on the couch. Boo also still has the same cute little teddy bear backpack in the original.

Boo takes the bus to school

Boo is implied to be bullied in the new version and utilizes her imagination to drown it out, while in the original she merely talks about feeling different. The bunny head on her shirt is a callback to the bunny shirt she's wearing in the original. Sunny and I are cameoing in both versions as the students sitting in the seat in front of Boo, featuring egg!me in the original version as I was probably 15 when I drew it. It also still apparently rains on her way to work in the original version, although this is never seen because she takes the bus to work rather than bike as she does now, so who knows why she called that out.

Boo daydreams in class

Boo daydreams that her classmates are monsters, though in the original, she also dreams that she is a princess. Some of the monster designs were kept. She doesn't get in trouble for calling her teacher a witch (even though she does still say that, it's only in her imagination) but for laughing and spacing out during class instead.

Boo sees Mimi at school

Originally Boo does not see Mimi punch another student, but rather hears her arguing with the principal after the fact about why she did it and then sees her leave the office. This is also not the first time she's seen Mimi, so she recognizes her, where as this is Mimi's first appearance in the new version.

Boo meets with Mr Dahl

Since she was not a witness to the altercation between Mimi and the other student in the original, her visit with Mr Dahl is much shorter, only concerning her getting in trouble in math class. Mr Dahl is the same character, but in the original he was the principal, and now he's the dean. Also Mimi apparently KNOCKED SOMEONE'S TEETH OUT in the original, where as now she just gave him a bloody nose, so let's just hope Boo is exaggerating here.

Boo mistakes another student in the hall for Mimi

Pretty similar, though the student she bumps into is more of a jerk in the original.

Boo is plagued by daydreams of Mimi

Pretty good example of how the over reliance on internal dialogue diminished the actual story. Originally there is only one shot of Boo seeing Mimi at school, which very well could have been the real Mimi, and Boo simply saying she was seeing her when she wasn't there, so we have to take her word for it. In the new version, she might plausibly think she is seeing her at first, only to start seeing more and more of her to the point of seeing multiple Mimi's in the same place, making it clear that they can't all be real, or that possibly none of them are real. The only dialogue is Boo expressing confusion.

and oh, look at that! another cameo of egg!me and Sunny in the original, waving at each other in the hallway! I am also cameoing in the new version as a student sleeping at the desk in the fourth period panel, but Sunny is not.

Milo tries to cover for Boo

Art style change again! You might notice this one is finally starting to look more similar to my current style than the previous ones, as it all evolved from here...

Originally, Milo accidentally scares Boo and causes her to drop some plates, where as now, Boo bumped into Milo while having her princely dancing daydream and made him drop the plates. Clarice was originally pretty eager to accept Milo's lie and allow Boo a second chance at waitressing while now, Clarice asks Boo to admit the truth before she is willing to give her any chances. Clarice now is also dressed in green to differentiate her as the owner/manager.

Boo gets to be a waitress again

An obvious homage to the original version, the layout is almost exactly the same, and even some of the customers are the same. Another really good example of how much internal dialogue there was in the original compared to now.

Boo serves Mimi her coffee

This one is not all that different aside from the fact that originally, Boo was already delivering the coffee before she knew who it was for, just which table, where as now, Boo knows beforehand that it's for Mimi and is nervous the whole time. This is the final page in the original version, so I made the final panel in the new one as an homage to it. The color scheme was also finally really starting to expand on this last page compared to the colors in the beginning.

#RAINBOW!#RAINBOW #webcomic #webtoon #webtoon canvas #tapas comic

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phantaloon · 4 months

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okay okay im finally finished with both eps and here's my genuine opinion

the cast is 10/10, every single one of these kids knows exactly what they're doing and WHO they are, i can't imagine anyone playing each character better than them

the slight change in Sally and gabe's dynamic gave me a bit of whiplash at first, but the second time watching it, i kinda really dig it better than the books

the way they're portraying percy's feelings of inadequacy and the whole "i know I'm broken, i don't need you to make up stories for me"? fucking devastating, but it fits so fucking well (i can't remember if this is shown as deeply as it's shown here)

sally jackson is the most badass mfer and i fucking love her she is the godly parent fuck poseidon

it's been said before but sally calling percy perseus when she wants him to listen >>>

LOVED how they gave us the impression of percy having riptide while facing the minotaur, only for them to take it away (not really but percy didn't know that) and having percy face the minotaur book style rather than movie style

ANNABETH SAYING PERCY MUST BE THE ONE I SCREAMED

i am fucking loving the way they're doing percy's rage, like maybe it's bc i don't remember it as clearly in the books, but it's so raw, and walker does an amazing job portraying it, but the whole part where he offers food (a thing meant to be for gods) to SALLY, king behavior fr, and that monolog about making his father see them?? actual goosebumps

leah does such an amazing job portraying annabeth's indifference and apparent arrogance, i can't explain how much i love her, like she does it so subtly, it's just little gestures, but she IS annabeth chase (this felt especially cooler after seeing her in interviews, where she's actually really shy irl)

im not going to lie here, and like im sure it was done on purpose anyway, but i am feeling it kinda rushed, and I get it really! they won't waste time in the many chapters spent during camp introducing the world to us, when they've got few episodes, and the whole quest to showcase instead, but like, i would have loved to see percy training with luke (and besting him) and annabeth showing percy around camp (second time we've missed that) and idk just some fun little details, but like i said, i understand why they HAD to rush the intro, so I'm not upset about it or disappointed, just smth to notice

having said that, i really did love the bit of luke guiding percy through several activities trying to figure out his "calling", the callback to percy's horrible archery skills is 10/10

annabeth's yankees cap is fr a yankees cap and im crying

i nearly forgot, but im loving the nightmare sequences, i love how they're keeping the "voice" so faceless and shapeless, but just a light in the darkness of a nightmare, and really it's a great figure, bc a light in a nightmare is usually a good thing, it's the thing you run towards, and it's usually smth that helps you, but here, the light in the darkness is anything but good (quite literally) and he literally taunts percy, and fuels his fear and bitterness, and ugh I love it

the whole capture the flag sequence is 10/10 as well, i can't explain how much this healed me, just like annabeth leaving percy to be bored to death on his own, when she was right there, the transition between luke's "percy's got this" and percy doing the fucking floss dance? cinematic masterpiece, and like the fight sequence was really well done and crafted much much better than many others that rely on slow mo or weird angles, like the fight with clarisse and her spear was gold

dior's scream as percy breaks clarisse's spear alone deserves an emmy

leah portrays annabeth so effortlessly and naturally, I've said it before but i love her

i got like 10 seconds of annabeth interacting with percy and i can already see them together forever ahdjdj

overall 10/10 will rewatch again and again and again bc I'm in fucking love even if it does feel a bit rushed at times and there was the same lack of the hellhound as the movie

#pjo #pjo show #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo tv show #pjo tv series

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taetaespeaches · 1 year

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“When the hell did I do this?”

jungkook x reader (oc) genre: fluff word count: 1.3K

a/n: Hi lovelies! Here’s just a dumb little thing about Jungkook discovering he left a few ‘marks’ on Holly’s neck. He helps to cover them but not without being flirty and annoying. Also this features references to “I don’t actually dream of sexy vampires” which is shockingly still stupider than this current fic lmao. It’s not necessary to read that other fic to read this one but I hope for those of you who have read it, it’s a fun little callback. Anyways! Thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoy :))

p.s. Happy birthday, @holdinbacksecrets! Here’s some dream boy for you. I love you so much, pal. I hope you enjoy! 🧡

The moment Jungkook walked into the bathroom and appeared in the mirror behind you, you sighed harshly and shot his reflection a glare. “What?” He asked, his eyes wide in confusion.

“You’re a menace,” you accused, ignoring how cute he looked with those damn doe eyes.

“What did I do?”

Pulling aside the neck of your t-shirt, you waited for him to see the red mark seared onto the skin of your collarbone. You watched as he pulled his eyebrows together, scrutinizing the small blemish in the mirror, having to walk closer to you to figure out what it was that you were showing him. His eyes finally popped open even bigger, a true deer in the headlights, as he bit back a smile while his gaze bounced between yours and the hickey.

“Menace,” you again scolded, grabbing the liquid foundation as a giggle escaped his lips. Guiltily, Jungkook wrapped his arms around you from behind, nudging the side of your jaw with his nose.

“I’m sorry,” he smiled, peering up at you through the mirror. “In my defense-”

“Don’t.”

“You did enjoy it!”

“I can’t go out like this!”

“But you did,” he defended himself further.

“That’s besides the point,” you whined, glaring at him in the mirror. “Dude, look,” you extended your neck and pointed to the side of it.

“Holy shit,” he giggled, his eyes popping wide open as he ran his thumb over a second red mark. In protest of his amusement, you nudged him in the abdomen with your elbow as you bit back a grin of your own. “You know, I have a solution for this.”

“Don’t tell me to not go-”

“You could just not go out,” he spoke over you with a bratty smile planted on his pretty face. You had planned a night out with friends, and knowing those girls they would never let you live down having not one but two hickeys on your goddamn neck. You could practically hear their vampire comments now, especially after Jimin and his girlfriend caught you and Jungkook all sparkly following your post-photobook Twilight joke. The girl had of course told Yoongi and Taehyung’s girlfriend, and you refused to give those two more ammo.

“Jungkook,” you whined, trying to push him away from you, only for the man to tighten his arms around you.

“Wait, wait, ok, let me help. Ok? I can fix this,” he informed you, pressing a kiss to your cheek. “Look at me, baby. I’m the golden maknae,” he boasted proudly. “I can do anything, I got you.”

Turning around and shooting him a skeptical glance, you stared into his bambi eyes that would have looked innocent enough if you had been naive to his innate mischievous nature. Sighing, you handed over the makeup. “I don’t trust you,” you remarked, earning a wide victorious smile from Jungkook.

“Yeah, yeah, sit here and let me get to work,” he directed you, helping to lift yourself onto the counter. Planting himself between the v of your legs, he shook the foundation bottle. “I got you, baby.”

It had been several minutes since the man got to work, and you were honestly having too much fun watching his round eyes focus on the job as he repeated the dabbing motion of the makeup blender against your neck. Lost in the task, he mindlessly hummed the post-chorus of Beyonce’s Cuff It, repeatedly.

Holding back a smile, you ran a hand through his fringe, breaking his focus on your neck so his gaze met yours. “Cause I feel like falling in love,” you quietly sang, grinning when a smile cracked his stern expression, followed by a deep sigh. “How’s it going?”

When he huffed in frustration, you giggled at his expense, and well, your own expense. “Why is makeup so hard?” He groaned. Golden maknae, my ass, you thought as Jungkook stepped back and looked at his work with a frown line etched between his eyebrows. “I think this one is done though.”

“This would not be an issue,” you started, Jungkook already trying to shush you by pushing a finger against your lips. Dodging his hand, you continued, “if you could control your-”

“You liked it,” he said again, cutting you off as he enunciated the words deliberately.

“I have that song stuck in my head now,” you whined teasingly, changing the subject and making Jungkook smile cutely at you. “We gon’ fuck up the night,” you sang, Jungkook doing a little shoulder dance in response to you. “Bet you you’ll see far, bet you you’ll see stars, bet you you’ll ele-” you continued until Jungkook cut you off by kissing you suddenly, his lips gentle but needy. When he opened his mouth against yours, a soft moan escaped from your throat, making a smile curve on Jungkook’s lips.

You threaded your fingers through the strands of hair at the back of his head and tugged in a teasing manner, triggering Jungkook to trail his lips down to your jaw. His touches went lower down your neck where he nipped at the skin lightly. It was then that you realized what he was doing, gasping and shoving him off of you, only for him to look up at you with a bratty grin.

“You’re an absolute pest,” you complained through a giggle, smiling at his teasing. “Knock it off,” you whined, Jungkook laughing in amusement at his own action.

“I’m practically a pro at this,” he stared at your collarbone.

“That does not mean you should leave more,” you giggled, shoving at his shoulder as he smiled.

“Now granted, it’s not totally invisible but…” he trailed off, cocking his head to the side as he inspected his work. “If the room is dark.”

Rolling your eyes, you hopped off the counter and turned to look at the mark in the mirror. Surprisingly, it did seem to be mostly covered, only visible if someone was really gawking at you. Jungkook stepped behind you once again, his hands dragging down your forearms that hung by your sides. His fingers traced the bones of your wrists before they slid over your palms and interlaced with your own fingers, holding your hands by your hips. He slotted his chin over your shoulder, his doe eyes staring at your reflections.

“I did good, right?” He asked, seeking praise for a job well done.

“Shockingly,” you joked with a small smile. “Just one more to go.”

Groaning, he spun you around so you faced him yet again, abandoning your reflection so you could appreciate each other’s images in the flesh. He dropped your hands, allowing you to settle them on his shoulders as he placed his palms to the sides of your waist.

Dipping his head, he planted kisses down your throat once again, making you smile as you pretended to protest his affection. “Jungkook,” you warned while he chuckled into his soft pecks, the vibrations from your voice and his laughter meeting on his lips in gleeful love-filled buzz. “I swear to god if you leave a single mark.”

“I won’t,” he whispered against your skin, his teeth barely nudging against you as he smiled. Lifting one hand between you, he dragged down the neck of the baggy shirt you wore with one finger, revealing more and more of your chest. His lips trailed after the digit, leaving soft sweet kisses to your warm skin. Pulling away from you for a moment, he gazed at the newly exposed flesh until his eyes popped wide open, his jaw dropping slightly.

“What the-” he started, dropping off as he stared at you. Pulling your chin towards your chest, you peered down at yourself just as Jungkook let out a breathy chuckle mixed with a scoff. “When the hell did I do this?” He asked, a hint of a smile appearing on his mouth as he gawked at the red mark on the top of your breast, just to the left of your sternum.

Gasping in realization, you turned toward the mirror yet again and examined the mark in disbelief. “Fucking hell, Jungkook, my dress has a scoop neck.” Watching you cluelessly in the mirror, he waited for you to elaborate on what exactly that meant. “This is gonna show,” you bit back a smile, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of amusing you. “This affects you too, those girls are relentless.”

Sighing, he ducked his head toward the floor for a moment before grabbing the makeup off the counter. “Alright,” he exhaled, spinning you toward him once more. “Let’s get it.”

#jungkook fluff #jungkook x reader #jungkook imagine #jungkook scenario #jungkook fic #bts reactions #bts fluff #bts x reader #bts imagines #bts scenarios #bts fics #bts oneshot #jungkook oneshot #jungkook fanfic #bts fanfics #jungkook drabble #bts drabbles

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howlingdemon13 · 1 month

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You could use a buddy~!

Guys, you have no idea how happy I am that this is complete! You know I'm gonna be supper obnoxious now that I can turn into a demonic ghost with mommy issues. 🤪 Anyway, some notes and thoughts on this cosplay that no one asked for and no one wants~!

First and foremost, this cosplay is sort of a clonesona. I feel like (if given the chance), Beetlejuice would play around with how his clones look. Obviously on stage it’s impossible to find actors who look identical to the lead, but I like that the fandom has embraced BJ being unable/unwilling to create clones that are a 100% physical match. If that’s the case, I’m sure he throws in a more fem-presenting clone once in a while.

This doubles as a feminine-presenting form for Beetlejuice himself, too (Toonjuice has no issue changing his gender presentation at will in a bunch of scenarios, and I like to think that Musicaljuice would be the same/similar). I guess a version of Beetlejuice that’s female would be fun, but I prefer the idea of BJ shapeshifting to look and present the way he wants to (or to have fun with unsuspecting victims).

Even from the early development of this cosplay all the way back in October, choosing between a dress and a suit was like pulling teeth. I love the suit an unhealthy amount, but I wanted something distinct from other interpretations. That, and I was hesitant to lean into the hyper-sexualized looks I’ve seen from officially licensed offshoots of the character. Beetlejuice, while a self-proclaimed sexual being, doesn’t read as the kind of entity to go from generally masc-presenting all the way to hyper-sexual fem-presenting. Also, where the hell is the grime on all these fem designs???? Why does she look clean? Cowards!

I think BJ would settle on a fem-presenting form in a suit, but I also think he’s just as comfortable in a dress regardless of the pronouns/physical characteristics he’s using at any given moment. He likes his dresses and we love him for it.

Anyway-

I wanted a dress that felt “old” but not dated,so I settled on a shirt dress. They came about in the 1920’s, but didn’t become super popular until the 50’s. The cut of Beetlejuice’s suit is somewhere between modern and a style that would have been popular in the 50’s, too.

I also think shirt dresses are pretty “neutral” in that they aren’t form-fitting and they read more like a shirt from the waist up. I didn’t want anything dainty, but I wanted some movement to the fabric, and a dress does that a bit better than a suit imo. It’s why I love Beetlejuice’s first 15 minutes on stage in the trench coat. I know it’s a callback to when we first see him in the movie, but it adds a ton of secondary movement and looks cartoony when coupled with very exaggerated movements typical of a stage show. It’s why I love watching Collette especially bounce around on stage because istg he knows this (or that him growing up with the cartoon make him really lean into over the top body language and the trench coat just adds to it).

Like, look at that! Are you seeing what I’m saying? If I could animate, that would be a dream shot!

Oops, can’t go 15 minutes without thinking of the silly.

All that is to say that movement and form in an outfit, especially one for a character as chaotic as Beetlejuice, was super important to me. It’s also why I settled on long, curly hair, kept the tie, and added a bow. All of that breaks up patterns, adds movement, and is something I can put moss on. Anyway, this cosplay has a lot of little nods to the musical, cartoon, and film (but is mostly based off of the musical).

Cartoon: bugs!! Toonjuice is sometimes seen with small beetles chilling on his suit (which he inevitably snacks on). I love the idea of Beej being covered in bugs, so I felt compelled to include them on the dress and hat. It's a subtle reference, but one that I really wanted. They’re made out of scrap polymer clay and painted. Here are a few:

Film: The guide hat! It's iconic. I know that the hat made it into very early versions of the musical and promotional materials, but how it got thrown by the wayside is beyond me.

Musical: the grime and disrepair! I was heavily inspired by an early suit that is absolutely covered in moss!

I also added a lot of grime to the shoulders and hem as a callback to later versions of the suit and especially the tour version of it. I also added some x stitches since I really like the way they look on the current tour suit!

Oh, and the banjolele! Can't forget my favorite prop!

Miscellaneous: I love giving supernatural characters pointy ears and fangs, so you best believe I’m going to do the same for BJ. Slightly related, but I love the tour makeup so much. The makeup artists really lean into Beetlejuice being corpsey and I’m here for it (I essentially combine the tour and film makeup to get the look I’m after).

Oh! And snap bracelets! I remember hardcore stimming with these as a kid to the point of destroying them (then it was goodbye snap bracelets), and you cannot tell me Beetlejuice, neurodivergent-coded demon ghost, wouldn’t be the same way. Full disclosure, I had to wrap them around metal bands because these snaps are rubber and the texture is a nightmare for me, but I was determined to include them. They’re also a substitute for Beetlejuice’s watches in the film.

God/Satan, that was a lot of rambling. If you survived all that, thanks for reading!

#beetlejuice #beetlejuice the musical #beetlejuice cosplay #cosplay #howie’s cosplay

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wellhalesbells · 7 months

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Ummm was that a dinosaur I spotted in those Meg II gifs??? At first I thought it might have been a crocodile but after absolutely no scrutiny I was like: dinosaur.

I might need to actually watch this. Do I need to watch Meg I for it to make sense? Even if I don’t should I watch them both anyway? I’m not going to lie those gifs make it look incredible…

That is, in fact, a dinosaur because Meg 2 was like: well what's better than a seventy-foot shark? And the answer was watching a seventy-foot shark eat a Tyrannosaurus Rex. And they were right.

Yes, you 100% need to watch this and join me in my delusional fantasies - I have now watched this three times in three days, dialogue skeletoned a 5+1 fic and need to find time to watch it yet again so I can make sure my gestures and content are pitch perfect.

You do not need to watch Meg the first for this to make sense, it will just deepen your affection for the legacy characters, which is never a bad. Plus, there are a few callbacks (that make it more of a gay underwater romance) that I missed the first time I watched it (which obviously did not hinder my enjoyment) and on day two, I watched both back to back and caught them. (3.5. This is a movie about sharks eating dinosaurs, underwater research bases, giant carnivorous octopi, Fun Island, and two dads coparenting a teenager who can run circles around them - so just to note: it also does not need to make sense.)

That said, I absolutely recommend watching Meg the first. It was a hoot and it makes Meg the second more fun because once you start off that strong, you have to go wackier, right? Once you get to two, you're like: okay, I know why we are at this level of wacky and you have my stamp of approval.

It is, in fact, incredible. JOMING 5EVA (I gave them a ship name, I think I can do that when - at least last I looked, which admittedly was last week - I've got the only fic going [granted, it is unposted but nOT FOR LONG] and there are less than ten of us, haha.)

#meg 2 #meg 2: the trench #the meg #at least less than ten people have engaged with my exceedingly rambling and obsessed posts about jonas and jiuming lol #though that could just be a lot of smart people with good taste (for many reasons) steering clear of the unhinged girl #i do totally recommend this series though - they are a good time! also dads coparenting at 25000 ft below sea level??#WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE??#i'm about to go on vacation for a week and a half so hopefully that'll give me some rewatching/writing time #also sorry for the public reply - i usually go non anon private i know - but like EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH THIS SO #!ask

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lets-try-some-writing · 5 months

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reading all your amazing OP and BB HCs of Bee growing up, now makes me wonder if Bee ever went through a rebellious teen phase in smaller ways [Love your writing, keep it up always dear]

He absolutely did have a rebellious phase and Optimus laughs and laments it.

━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙ ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙

Being at war does not change the fact that sparklings grow up. Bumblebee was raised during war, all he knew was wartime code and contract. Despite that, wartime habit did not stop the inevitable for all young mecha beginning to edge into adulthood. Bumblebee couldn't remain a sparkling forever, and eventually, he reached his rebellious phase.

Bumblebee began to have a bit of an attitude. Being at war made it so that his attitude wasn't anything too terrible, but he took to treating those above him in rank more flippantly. No one particularly minded considering Autobot high command all but raised him, but it was odd nonetheless. Bee marching in and using base glyphs to refer to individuals was new, and it did leave Ultra Magnus disappointed beyond words, but it was nothing to be concerned about. Optimus found it more than a little amusing to be called "Sire" outright. Bumblebee stopped doing that once he was old enough to comprehend that they were at war. So he genuinely found it to be a nice callback to better days even if the others in the room weren't the most fond of being called "Uncle", "Grandpa", or most notoriously, "Old cogger".

Then Bumblebee moved onto talking back. It took most of high command by surprise considering Bee had always been very obedient and soft spoken when he was young. However when Optimus came back from the battlefield and went to visit his ward, Bumblebee was lounging around and more bitter than not when asked to go on watch. The first time he snapped back at Optimus, the Prime was shocked enough that all he did was kneel down and ask what was wrong. Not even Bumblebee really knew. Ratchet however didn't take any slag. The moment Bumblebee called him an old bag of bolts, Bee found himself with cleanup duty for the next stellar cycle. Prowl similarly did not put up with being called "Robo-cop" and promptly landed Bee a position mopping the hall for a few deca-cycles.

The rebelliousness only amped up when Bumblebee went out with a few other younger bots on patrol and came back with engravings all over him, absolutely none of which were appropriate for the army. Evidently he went into neutral territory with his group and decided it would be a great idea to get engravings done for fun. The other younglings weren't much better off looking. Bumblebee and his companions were greeted by a power washer and very disappointed looked from most of high command. To his credit, Bumblebee did not attempt getting engravings from strangers again. His blacking was marked in smudged colors and plating deep grooves that took almost a vorn to fully fade. Ironhide mocked him for his decision on the daily. Sometimes mockery is just the best way to get a point across.

There was a singular time when Bumblebee decided to act like an adult and steal some high grade to try. He'd seen the elder bots indulging occasionally and wanted to know what all the fuss was about. It didn't help that at the time, Bumblebee was still bitter over the whole engraving incident. As such, he felt only a marginal degree of guilt when he took a bottle from Ratchet's personal stash and smuggled it away to his hab. But of course, not having ever been involved with high grade before, Bumblebee didn't know when to stop. He was found sloshed beyond words the next cycle, and no one could even be mad at him. Ratchet laughed until he fell over and Optimus did his best to not let his strangled laughter reach his ward as he moved to drag Bumblebee out. Bee was not at all happy to be put on messenger duty while drunk. But it was his punishment and all of high command laughed themselves half to death watching him stumble along with piles of datapads. Bee was angry about the whole thing for a while, but he got over it fairly quickly once a few stories of the other's first attempts at drinking were shared with him.

Bumblebee was not as rebellious as anyone expected, and so a rather large number of the mecha involved with Autobot high command were waiting for the other shoe to drop. When it did, they were both prepared and panicked. Bumblebee, in his infinite wisdom, thought it would be a great idea to try and backtalk. He had a rather bitter argument with Optimus over being asked to do his job as a soldier. The argument resulted in Optimus actually getting mad at him for the first time and giving him a punishment that Bumblebee didn't expect to hurt so much.

"Bumblebee, I have asked you to go do your patrol three times now. I will not be asking again."

"I didn't ask to be brought into the army! Why should I have to go out and fight?!"

"Because you are an Autobot. You consume fuel that is provided, you recharge in a berth that is secured by us, and your education has been given by fellow Autobots. It is not much to ask for you to stand guard for a few groons."

"That's a bunch of slag! I could have raised myself! I never NEEDED YOU!"

"Bumblebee-"

"If you had just left me where you found me, I would have joined the neutrals and never been part of this stupid war that YOU WON'T END ALREADY BECAUSE OF YOUR RIDICULOUS EMPATHY TOWARD MEGATRON!"

"Enough. You are done."

"Wait, I didn't mean that-"

"What is done is done. If you do not believe you need a Caretaker, then so be it. For the next stellar cycle, you are not my ward. I am your superior officer and you will treat me as such."

"Sire, I'm sorry-"

"You will refer to me as your Commander starting now. I expect you to follow orders soldier."

Optimus left with a sour expression that none in high command had seen him bear since he became Prime. Bumblebee for his part went to Ratchet and cried. The medic was consoling in his own gruff way, but all of high command could do nothing as Optimus kept his distance, trying to make his point. The punishment ended early when Ratchet and Jazz cornered Optimus and gestured over to his crying ward and pointed out that his punishment was a bit extreme and reeked of functionalism.

Things were a little tense afterwards, but everything worked out in the end. Bumblebee got over his rebellious phase once the war amped up and he lost his voice. Part of high command missed his little quips after the loss of his voice, but in the end, it was likely for the best that his desire to act out of line came to a close suddenly. In the army there is no room for disobedience.

#transformers #maccadam #transformers prime #optimus prime #ratchet #bumblebee #the life of bumblebee #yes this is a tag now #I refuse to elaborate right now #but lets just say I am working on a thing.#father son relationship

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kess-in-the-perthchimzone · 6 months

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Roleplaying: the greatest callback of them all

The incredible scene that ends Dangerous Romance builds on a pattern that we’ve seen play out between Kang and Sailom since episode one. Kang and Sailom regularly adopt different roles and personas with each other. And this is usually led by Sailom — who often is a more flirty and confident version of himself when he does so.

In the bullying era, here are a few of these scenarios:

If you watch back — particularly the Tutor Sailom scenes — Sailom’s entire demeanor is different. He even has a dedicated tutor voice.

And Kang seems to fundamentally understand that adopting a role brings comfort to Sailom. Look at how get gets Sailom to snap out of his trauma stare.

When they become friends, this continues. In the scenes below (and many more!), Sailom is playing “Tutor Sailom”. It’s more than just tutoring. He’s cockier. He once again pulls out a dedicated voice.

Most of their adventure in episode 3 involves various levels of role playing (they are in costumes! They speak another language!). And this is when they start to grow close and Kang opens up for the first time:

(I’m already scared I’m going to run out of images so I won’t put the alley kiss but I would argue that should count!)

This line, which we have gotten many a callback to, is the first time we’ve had Kang try to initiate a scene between them. Sailom just isn’t willing to play along (until later when he can use it to torture Kang).

Once they admit their feelings they only get more into it.

They have fun with the wind/windmill dynamic.

Kang in particular starts using roles to flirt with Sailom or get Sailom to go along with things he might not otherwise. He seems to sense that Sailom feels more comfortable playing someone else sometimes.

They start using these roles to explore the financial difference between them and their feelings for each other. In fact, they make love for the very first time on the heels of fantasy scenario.

And Sailom when looking to pamper Kang the morning after, plays the role of a hotel staffer offering a “special room service”.

Even here they are role playing. They are going through the scenario of Kang buying him because they both desperately want to be touching each other and don’t think they can otherwise. Plus, it briefly offers them a bit of a shield against all of their swirling hurt and fear and grief.

So all this said, the absolute best conclusion for me of their story was them getting to fully play out roles and be 100% on the same page.

In this part they get to be happy and in love and doing something they both genuinely enjoy while also working through some of their past hurt and regret in a space that is safe for them — one that offers them separation from themselves in case negative feelings do come out.

As they reenact some of their worst moments together, this time it is fully consensual and rooted in their trust for each other. Together, they are making a new memory to erase the bad.

Kang and Sailom have consistently used roleplaying as a tool in their relationship - it’s a space where Sailom in particular feels more confident and more comfortable sharing his feelings (and Kang loves making Sailom happy).

These two boys are only going to keep role playing in the years to come. And if they’re this good at 18, I can only imagine how much better they get with time.

#kanghansailom #dangerous romance #dangerous romance the series #kess babbles about dangerous romance

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ltwharfy · 3 months

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My "Bob Actually" inspired fics

Today is the anniversary of the airdate of "Bob Actually". It is probably my favorite episode of the series for a number of reasons (not just the Roudise kiss!), but it feels even more important to me now because without it, I probably never would have been pulled into this larger world of "Bob's Burgers" fandom. Literally. It inspired my first fic. And inspired or co-inspired several more.

So, for any of my fellow Louise/Rudy fans out there who need just a little more Roudise love after rewatching the episode, I thought I would compile my fics inspired by it:

"Surely It's Okay if I Just Tell Pancake?"- After getting his first (non-parents and grandmother) kiss from Louise at the end of “Bob Actually”, Regular-Sized Rudy goes home and talks about the day’s events and his feelings for Chloe and Louise to the one friend he knows will keep it a secret- his stuffed flounder, Pancake. (My very first "Bob's Burgers" fic and first piece of fiction writing in over a decade!)

"Old Friends/Bookends"- In their early-20s, Louise and Rudy are moving in to their first apartment together. They unpack a box that was in storage at Rudy's dad's and find Rudy's beloved stuffed flounder, Pancake. Unfortunately, he is not in the best shape. (The quasi-sequel to "Surely It's Okay If I Just Tell Pancake?")

"The Barbash Inquisition"- When Louise is assigned to work on a class project with Chloe Barbash, she ends up confessing a secret to the last person she’d want to. For Roudise Week 2023, Day 3 Prompts: Jealousy/Crush. (Set a few weeks after "Bob Actually" and features Louise and Chloe discussing the episode. My least fluffy story, but it's really fun trying to see Louise and Rudy's relationship from Chloe's POV and just somewhat humanizing Chloe in general.)

"Happy Anniversary (Whenever It Is...)"-Fifteen-year-old Rudy gives Louise a gift to celebrate the first anniversary of their first date. Louise does not agree that it is their first anniversary. Written for Flufftober 2023 prompt Day 13 “wrong”, in this case “wrong anniversary date” (My framing story for a Roudise "clip show"! I love making callbacks to episodes and by my count refer to eight different Louise/Rudy adventures in this less than 3,000 word story- and at least two of my favorite non-Rudy episodes. "Bob Actually" most definitely comes up!)

Hope someone enjoys this! I just wanted to try to do something to celebrate the anniversary of this episode that means so much to me!

#bob actually #regular sized rudy #louise belcher #roudise #louwheeze #fic stuff #bob's burgers #bob's burgers fanfiction #blatant self promotion

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itsclydebitches · 10 months

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I’m screaming Clyde, what WAS that epilogue?! Also since semblances were just a discussion did you notice the moment when the guy tripped and Qrow caught him THEN we see the pin? Which is probably calling back to the mine incident where he tripped and Clover caught him? But now he’s kinda in the unique position of causing both. Looks like Qrow did indeed get a semblance upgrade without explanation. Maybe that’s why he’s so dang happy lol

Oh man you're right! That callback didn't occur to me, but it seems too big a coincidence to not be a callback. Yeah, I'm wondering now if we're meant to take this as further evidence that Qrow's semblance has evolved into a kind of...equalizer? The man near him still trips (bad luck) but now Qrow, in a mirror of Clover and his own good luck semblance, is able to catch him with a smile. I mean yeah, we could simply chalk that up to Huntsmen reflexes, but it seems a little too on-the-nose to not be meaningful, particularly after the miraculous save on the airship. That begs the question though of what this actually means for Qrow moving forward. I mean, if he has good luck and bad luck now, don't they just cancel each other out? That's just normal luck. Congrats, your semblance makes you like everyone else where some good things and some bad things happen in your vicinity.

Ngl, after RWBY semi-canonically introduced the concept of some semblances severely impacting mental heath via Ironwood, my mind immediately jumped to the possibility of Qrow's upgrade coloring his reaction to everything. Not that I think this is actually happening in the story (and not that I'd want RT to attempt such a story-line), but from a fun AU possibility my brain went, "Qrow is acting all content and optimistic after everything in his life has gone to shit. Salem won back in Atlas, she's two steps closer to destroying the world, a whole Kingdom is dead/displaced, his nieces are presumably dead and at some point he's going to have to tell Tai that... and yet he's smiling. Not even in a 'I'm holding it together through extreme denial' way, but acknowledging that yes, he's actually, surprisingly happy. That doesn't make sense! I wonder if this spontaneous upgrade that presumably revolves around generically Good Things is fucking with his head somehow." In more nuanced and respectful hands, it might be interesting to explore what it means for a magic-based power to influence someone's mood. Can it be equated to medication? Is it seen as an "unnatural" version of who they are (something that, again like meds, could be a bias the show works to unpack)? As events unfold, is it revealed that his semblance simply gives him a stronger, more optimistic will for shouldering such tragedy, or does it become clear that he's not reacting appropriately to what everyone recognizes as—formerly for him—crippling emotional blows? There's a difference between, "My semblance keeps me from sinking back into my self-destructive depression. No, I'm not like who I was before and that's a good thing" vs. "Ruby? Yang? Uh... sure. I guess I miss them? I recognize that I'm supposed to miss them... but I'm fine! Why wouldn't I be? They did a good thing, those girls, trying to save the world and all, but now it's time to move on. Chins up, everyone! :)"

In my attempts to work through Qrow's everything from the epilogue, I'm also dying to know how long has passed. This is one of those times when a firmer timeline makes a huge difference because it can make or break our acceptance of these characterizations. How long did it take for them to accept that Team RWBY aren't coming back? How long passed after that when Qrow goes to wipe dust off the grave? If it's, say, a few days or weeks then I'm like hey wtf they should still be DEVASTATED. If, however, we've jumped forward six months, a year... that at least makes a little more sense. I don't like that we've skipped over all the cliffhanger conflicts of Volume 8 as well as a long-term grieving arc for every character that would fundamentally change who they are and their approach to this war... but I find that slightly easier to swallow then Qrow strutting around the new slums with a smile on his face, happily telling the ghosts of his dead family that he's doing surprisingly good during the end of the world.

Also, in the realm of skipped-over character growth, I saw someone point out that Oscar's tiny smile at the group's arrival... might not be Oscar's. Or might not be Ozpin's. God knows the writers have proven that they don't know how to write the merge on screen—they just keep insisting it's happening without either of them changing in any meaningful way—so this would be the perfect opportunity for them to just skip over all the important bits and land on the final product, a la Oscar getting over his crisis in Volume 6. If we hypothesize based on what RWBY has shown us before (ha) we should expect for Ozpin to be gone for good and Oscar is now in control, but with mannerisms and knowledge that he's never displayed before; a fundamental shift in his personality. After all, we never got to hear Ozpin the host. The show acts like Ozma existed on his own after a certain point, a body without a voice in his head anymore, but living as a, you know, merged version of himself and whoever was last with him. Which I hate! And Oscar hated it too, as evidence by him understandably freaking out about it, but the story never bothered to let him work through that. (Or just solve it with the magical aura machine + android bodies that have already been introduced.) As a favorite of mine, I'm not looking forward to being told that they've merged now. It's not Oscar. It's not Ozpin. It's someone who sounds like both at times, but really the characters you enjoyed are gone... without fully being gone. Combined with worry that Ironwood might come back—someone commented that the "Don't come back" was directed at Weiss, though that doesn't make any sense to me?—if we do get Volume 10 I can't help but think that, like Penny, the writers aren't going to leave these characters alone, despite them supposedly having left the story.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

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suckishima · 5 months

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man i love this sequence so much—and tbh their dynamic in general which i feel like we don't talk about enough

on paper they seem like such opposites—and they kind of are—with tanaka being a mood maker and morale stabilizer for the team, he's loud and boisterous and never holds back what he's feeling ("dial down my feelings?? what does that even mean??"), while tsukki barely speaks on the court, openly admits to disliking loud and excitable people, and seems to calculatedly hide his emotions away. you would think they wouldn't like each other and wouldn't work well together, but i think every interaction we see between them is a positive one

we see them kinda partner up to roast other teams or their own teammates, but also tanaka is one of the few senpai that tsukki seems comfortable openly making fun of directly. but then tanaka doesn't even ever seem mad by tsukki's taunts—occasionally he'll even pass judgement on how successful tsukki was with his comebacks. and tanaka will just throw a jab back easily, which tsukki doesn't really seem bothered by either—tanaka never gets under tsukki's skin the way kageyama does, for example

and then we get a great little sequence like this one that's deliberately pointing out their differences and then using them to emphasize something more, and it's just so effective??

what tanaka goes through in the first set of the inarizaki match of feeling like he's not doing enough and having it shoved in his face that he'll never be the best, is like a speedrun version of what tsukki has been going through since he was in middle school when he found out his brother was lying about being the ace. there are these little subtle callbacks too—with the dichotomy of being lame vs cool (yamaguchi calling tsukki lame for not trying and tsukki thinking yamaguchi is cool for saying so), and furudate even uses the same visual metaphor of a never-ending staircase

it took tsukki years to realize he might be looking at things in a destructive way, and then months more after that until he actually saw the merit of trying—and then even here we can see that he doesn't find any of this easy. and tanaka basically does all of that in thirty minutes or so.

and while tsukki seems perturbed by this, he isn't mad at all. you can feel the respect tsukki is veiling behind his words in the first panel of the page when he calls him "ridiculously mentally tough." it's "frightening" to him because it's something that doesn't come naturally to him personally, when it obviously does for tanaka

of course it's important to note that the situations are completely different in terms of the catalyst for those feelings, tanaka didn't have some world-shattering event he's been struggling with since he was a pre-teen (that we know of). he just had an off day. but what i like is that the emphasis here isn't really about the circumstances, it's about their attitudes, how they each react to feeling down about themselves

and i just love the way furudate put this page in here. we just had this awesome sequence of tanaka scoring a well earned set point by doing a move he's been practicing for months after he spent all match feeling inadequate—sounds a lot like tsukishima winning set 2 vs shiratorizawa with a stuff block that was preceded by months of extra practices from him, but the reader (rightfully) isn't thinking about tsukki at all. until furudate gives us this conversation and we're reminded (not specifically or directly of tsukki's moment but) that this feeling is something other players, other people go through too. like, furudate didn't have to put this page in here, the chapter and tanaka's moment would have been just as epic without it, but i feel like it just adds this extra little emotional grounding to it

it just, it feels so human. getting down, being hard on yourself, feeling or even knowing you'll never be the best, everyone can relate—it's a storyline we've seen in haikyuu before but furudate always manages to make it feel not only fresh but satisfying because of how they present it to us with a new lens every time. tanaka and tsukki are so opposing in their character and actions that it makes their moments feel different and new, so it's just as cathartic for the reader every time, even though the underlying message is the same

whether it's hard or not, it's always cooler to try

#..i wrote an essay again... i always think i have one (1) thought and it turns out a thought is worth 1k words #fun fact ive been collecting screenshots of tsukki and tanakas interactions this whole reread to eventually do *shrug* something with lol #tanaka #tsukki #hq #hq meta #what more do you need #2021 reread #x #long post #if only i could write my fic at these speeds lmao #ugh and this post touches on a ton of themes im trying to integrate into current fic too and its just been. not working lol

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inventors-fair · 4 days

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Castaways: Cast Trigger Commentary

I'm honestly a little surprised at all the cards that we got this week, and I'm overall quite happy with the variety of the cards that I saw and the range of strategies employed. It was hard to choose winners and runners from this mix, and the commentary was quite thought-provoking. Overall, I'd say that with much of these cards, complexity had to be tempered in order to get the most powerful results.

Cast triggers are nuts. The ability to have an uncounterable effect (sort of) that uses the stack can lead to some strange encounters, and there are still some folks learning MTG that have difficulty understanding what it means to "cast" a spell. Lord knows that explaining it to my students can be quite strange, and they're used to things being played just by themselves. When does this happen? How can I respond? What are the best responses? And it's not just about the responses, but how the cards interact on board that shows their design chops. Lots of cards this week made me want to brew, and I love contests like these.

There are quite a few Judge Picks this week. These cards have specific aspects I want to highlight for some reason or other, so pay close attention. With this many contenders of this strength, choosing the top cards was incredibly difficult, as I'm sure you can imagine. Read on!

@aethernalstars — Ash-Cannon Goblin

I think my favorite part about this card is the flavor text. It doesn't grok perfectly, but it's playful and enjoyably goblinesque. As far the card idea, the idea is solid enough. What's bugging me is the fact that this is essentially kickerless kicker. The cost is an optional part of casting, and yet the trigger is also part of the casting. There would be no need for this kind of wording unless this started as a kicker idea and was shifted into a cast trigger, which it honestly doesn't need.

As an ETB effect, I would've liked this card a lot better. The cast trigger here isn't doing anything that an ETB couldn't or wouldn't do, if that makes sense. If you want to keep this design, I think that spending your graveyard to smack face/creature/planeswalker is totally fine; honestly, this could be a decent uncommon, because it's a single-use kind of card. Graveyards are great resources and limited resources. For this specific contest, examining the 'why' of cast triggers may have led to other considerations. At it stands, I still like this card and would suggest a couple wording revisions, perhaps. Also make sure that you avoid run-on sentences!

@brookeuwo — Spitefellows (JUDGE PICK)

You've got a Horizons-y mindset here, don't you? Bet you think you're clever? Well, you are, and I initially was going to be wishy-washy on this card for the name being a reference but that's what a good chunk of Horizons cards are sometimes. And you know what, I'm down for it. The trick is making the homage feel like an homage, and in that I think you succeeded. In terms of power, this card's also got a lot going for it. As much as I worry about the power of cast triggers, this card's got decent power going for it.

Most importantly, it's a blowout that's pretty much only a blowout in limited. It's a five-mana 2/2, which is...very bad comparatively, even if you get two of them. So essentially you're making two bodies, right, but then the evoke cost is where the blowout removal happens; I'd say that nine times out of ten you're just going to clear a board with this card, or at least make an incredible impact. You're clogging MODO with triggers, but I mean, high complexity is fine if it's warranted. I think that as a Lorwyn callback and a Horizons power-level card, this is pushing it but not so much that you'd have problems except at really high-skill levels. Phenomenally fun card and a great idea overall.

@cthulusaurusrex — Wavebringer (JUDGE PICK)

Attaching the cast trigger inside is an interesting move, and ultimately, I think it works quite well here! The lord-body is one of those ones that can go into any Elemental deck, but the callback to Master of Waves has not gone unnoticed. It's also interesting how you've made it so that this card wants more of a spellslinging deck whereas the Master wanted a permanents-matter deck. Could you run them both? Well, perhaps, if you managed to get them on board and then start slinging like nobody's business. What I'd want to do is play this card with Quasiduplicate effects and then really get things going.

What I'm trying to say in the end is that this kind of card is the kind that makes me want to play it and makes me understand why it exists. I don't know if it's necessarily breaking new ground, being a callback, but it's doing a number of things differently, and I think that if absolutely nothing else that this card is overwhelmingly good. The chops are there and the rationale is there and the play style—you guessed it, it's there. If I have any reservations, I suppose I'd like an inch of flavor text, but even then, is that necessary? Arguably, doesn't have to be there; the AD makes it pretty clear what the coming storm would be. So maybe all that good stuff is worth commending on its own, you know?

@curiooftheheart — Bellowing Boars (JUDGE PICK)

I really want to like this card's power level, because it's actually quite striking. A late-game ramp deck that can get eight or even twelve lands can absolutely run away with this card. On turn four, getting two 3/2s with trample and haste isn't anything to shake a stick at, and the ability on turn eight to get three of those AND have four mana left over, potentially, is fascinating. It makes one focused on the late-game potential of stompy decks, and that's pretty darn cool overall. The more I think about this card, the more I find the design tech actually really great for limited.

And I mean, I have to assume that all that thought went into this when you designed this card, because it's actually completely unique as far as I can tell from a cursory search. The only real grumbling I have is in the overwrought flavor text. Paring that down to maybe two lines would've suited the rest of this card's strengths well. Does it have a specific setting, something that Vivien observes that's fascinating for her? A lot of adjectives hamper down the writing here and I do wish I could be less of an expletive—but it's honestly really distracting. Look: this is ultimately a card design contest wherein presentation matters. This card is substantially well-made for the nature of this contest and everything else is a me problem. Where is this going? I swear I had a point what wasn't a half-assed pseudo-apology. Ah well. Damn boars, running through my consciousness.

@dabudder — Gracie, Substitute Teacher

This is definitely a commander-oriented card. I'm looking at its applications, and honestly, I'm not sure I'm convinced I see the upside? Drawing into cards would be nice, but the benefit of casting one spell into another feels a bit wonky. That said, there are mechanics like Escape that make the benefits fun, and with prowess you've got a bit of a nice beater sometimes. What's the shell that really wants this card, though? I can imagine that you could have fun with Suspend cards... Ooh, actually, imagine: turn 2-3, plot a couple cards, then turn 4 play Gracie and cast some stuff from exile. Trigger, cast Ancestral Vision/Profane Tutor, etc.

So it's not that I don't see the combo appeal! I think this card isn't a card for me specifically. Getting cards back from wherever you're casting them can be fun—command zone as well, considering you can get your commander to hand fairly easily. In limited, I think building around this card would be weird, and explaining that the initial spell getting cast wouldn't resolve is also weird, but hey, it's what it is. I feel that this card has strong "fun" application. Practically, this is a card for someone who's not me, in a format that's probably not a premier set. But who knows? As a side note, I think you also captured a lighthearted Strixhaven feel quite well. I substitute myself and lemme tell you, it's not half as magical...

@feyd-rautha-apologist — Demon of Final Moments

As a small note, I recommend in your art direction that you have the focus on the demon, because I totally was digging the focus on the mage until I actually saw what the card was. That said, damn effective work there. As for the card, you are looking at some weird weird weird stuff here. By "weird" I mean that this card is a combo piece whereupon you cast it and win the game. how so? Let us count the heckin' ways. Thassa's Oracle is the most obvious one, but Laboratory Maniac plus any draw effect is there, as is an Inexorable Tide with exiling extra turn effects like Karn's Temporal Sundering and the lot. Cast this spell and you win—there really isn't any other reason to play this card.

In limited, I wouldn't imagine that this card does much good if the removal in the set is worth its salt. Play it and bam, it's removed, you lose instantly. There are so many ways that you lose with this card, especially if it gets countered; it's fragile as all get-out. A design that either wins instantly or makes you lose just as fast is... Well, not exactly what I'd call good gameplay, I'll say that much. Additionally, if you cheat this card out, you have the situation where you can just play the game normally and encounter loops with said extra turn shenanigans (assuming proliferation of time counters). I'm afraid this one goes into the "busted" pile. Side note: I feel that the flavor text could have been one sentence with "his last" coming after a colon, but I'm down with the concept.

@fractured-infinity — Curse's End

Reading up on what the Curse of Wandering was/is on Amonkhet, I'm uncertain that this card is vibing with that flavor. The Curse is an aspect of the plane, and so is this card saying that the whole shebang is now over? What had caused it in the first place? If it predated Bolas, what's going on with the mystery? I feel that this card is saying that the Curse is an actual curse with a source and a way to end it, which... Eh, I don't feel the meshing, but regardless. the card itself is a great mythic with only a couple minor issues.

Firstly, there's the question of how this card would function if this contest didn't have a cast trigger. I would imagine that instead of a cast trigger, the better design would just be to exile all creatures and all creature cards from graveyards. While this does have the benefit of putting a bunch of ETB triggers on the stack, there are better ways to go about the exact execution. Besides, why not have a deck that uses this cast trigger then counters the actual spell itself? That kind of defeats the purpose of the card, I think, a little cheatsy-shenanigans that feels like a workaround rather than a function of the card itself. Maybe if there was an additional cost or caveat, I would buy it, but I'm not convinced at this iteration.

@greensunzenith �� Swarm Vanguard

The short answer is that this card is funny, funky, and probably not that broken. As for whether or not it's common, that's a rough one. Cast triggers at common are...odd, too. The best one I can see is, oddly enough, Supernatural Rescue (as a rarity-to-complexity comparison). I think this should probably be an uncommon, because copies of permanent spells becoming tokens doesn't exactly grok as well as we'd think, especially when you consider that you're going to have many, MANY copies of this card in your deck. After a point, how easy/hard would it be to keep track of on paper? Probably easy if you used things that didn't resemble actual copies of the Vanguard, but whatever. At least it's a vanilla creature.

When you have an effect like this, one must ask: would this have been more easily grokable as an ETB trigger? Honestly, I think the answer is yes, and it's unfortunate with a design that tries to go for this amount of elegance at common. Entering and making an insect token for each card with the name Swarm Vanguard in your graveyard would've probably been fine and scalable without the casting complexity. Flavor's nice, though, and the concept is solid.

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes — Zarderek, the Folkslinger

I am willing to meet you halfway on some of this. Having a spellslinging GW commander isn't exactly on-flavor, but they've had Magecraft across colors before. Technically, I don't think there's anything out-of-pie that excludes it. But you have to roll with me and agree that it feels a little off to have GW be the one for Magecrafting without naming it? You know what, I'll insert an honorary piece of trinket text in front of that trigger just for my own peace of mind.

As it stands the card would play pretty normally and would make limited decks pretty nasty. Having a protective backup spell to get more bodies and get more counters would allow for Zarderek to run away with games quite easily but not without too much power by itself. I think that it does just what the colors want to do and, without feeling too weird, is a reasonable card. I don't think you could've made it any other way; RW would've been the next-best choice, I believe. Perhaps the flavor could've spoken to the world on which we see this character, something about why GW has this kind of magical expansion? Looking pretty generic for the moment, captain.

@khyrberos — Atraxa's Command

This card probably functions exactly how it's intended to function. I think the possibility of having a card where the modes function in this manner is pretty cool and, depending on the life paid, would make for an interesting setup. It's reasonable to assume that swinging in would get you all that life back, too, but regardless: this card doesn't really function as a command, or at least not in the way that commands are meant to function. This card is essentially a one-off that feels like a one-off, a function of itself that has no bearing on the rest of a set. What environment would be able to play this card, or want to? What limited environment could spawn it? Honestly, what preconstructed environment would have it, either?

Commands function on their versatility, and this card has none—which is fine if it wasn't technically a command, kind of? Even then, it doesn't have the "command" feel, and turning all your creatures into Atraxa for free is... I'm not gonna say that it's not fun in concept, but for lack of a better term, this card feels like it was designed for itself without a greater reach in mind. Even a five-color command with an Obelisk of Alara feel could've done the job as a "Praetor's Command" with different modes. That said, playing with Phyrexian mana is playing with fire as-is.

@misterstingyjack — Facesnatcher Ghoul (JUDGE PICK)

I think this card is doing everything it needs to do, and it's doing it quite well. Exiling and/or returning creatures will turn it on, and those are the most common ways to interact with creatures in graveyards at lower rarities. I love the notion that you can drop an Emrakul and then instant-speed exile it to turn the Ghoul on, but that's not happening in limited; most likely, you'll have a couple moments where you'll cast return spells and you'll be doing just fine. This card is for sure a constructed card.

And again, constructed cards are fine, because we need cards of every rarity to make things work! When I look at submissions, the first thing I think is what would happen if I opened this out of a booster pack while drafting, or something to that effect. ... Maybe it's not the first thing, but it's one of the things I think about for sure. And this card would be quite fun to build around if you can make it work, but more likely than not it's going to be a pet card, and that's perfectly fine. Targeting cards in graveyards with spells is one of those very specific things that you can't repeat much. Honestly I think "cast a spell or activate an ability" would be better for gameplay. Did you think about that and relegate it to casting because of the contest? If so, I get it, and if not, I honestly think that that would've been acceptable, just because the card itself is so tightly designed.

@nine-effing-hells — Panoptic Predator (JUDGE PICK)

Was this an intentional callback to Hydroid Krasis? I mean, I can imagine so, because it's got similar-ish casting capabilities, but the bodies that it can make are really nasty. I think getting a bunch of fliers can be extremely rough for limited, but it is a mythic, and getting bodies isn't the worst thing in the world. Drawing cards as well is a nasty little thing. The whole notion of perfection and eyes feels like it fits well, and ultimately the question of whether the cast trigger is necessary is pretty reasonable, because, well, it wouldn't be very strong otherwise. Five mana for, say, two 1/1 fliers and a 3/3 on the ground? Yeah, mythic-worthy, and upping that cost if pretty strong itself!

What I like about this card is the fact that it doesn't get continuously stronger. Once you cast it, that's it. There's no flickering shenanigans, there's no proliferation or +1/+1 synergy—what you see is what you get. The self-balancing aspect means that the really horrible part of going against this card is the draw power that you get after being pinged in the air a lot. But, they are only 1/1s, and those little eyes squish pretty easily. Honestly, I thought that this thing itself had flying, and the fact that it doesn't makes me feel better. Overall I'm a fan! We need more eyes in the world. The flavor of Phyrexia being gross and all-encompassing checks out too.

@real-aspen-hours — Tachyon Blast (JUDGE PICK)

This is a weird little idea and I have to commend it for how strange the interactions must be. I think that it has to be appropriately costed with that cast trigger, because the uncounterable Shock ain't worth nothing. What a strange little card! I feel that, in a limited game, this would be a pretty worthwhile removal spell, but the cost is somewhat prohibitive. Comparing it to cards like Trick Shot, I feel that this could've been a four-mana Instant spell that did double Shocks instead.

Well, even then, "double Shock" is a bit of a misnomer. Triggering and then shocking is pretty strange; targets being chosen on cast plus a trigger that also targets would mean that there would be a lot of rough interactions when it came to protecting and hexproof-ing. But hell, now you can take out that two-toughness Goyf without worrying about too much, right? There's a lot of thought that went into making this spell as simple as possible, and I appreciate that. The flavor is pretty neat as well, and checks out with how the Izzet work. Honestly, the flavor feels so on-point that it's almost hard to comment on, and that's a good thing. You've blended it in to the world quite well.

@reaperfromtheabyss — Phyrexian Glutton (JUDGE PICK)

How much consideration was given to Phyrexian Ingester when it came to this card? That said, I actually see where you wanted to make this one distinguished. I feel that you should have actually blended the first and second abilities into one paragraph. Looking into similar effects, I think someone's first notion would've been to have this be an "As ~ enters the battlefield" effect, and yet, I can see why that would've been the wrong choice with flicker effects. Man, this is a tricky one! You mitigated a lot of the ways in which this card could've been broken. One other thing I like about it is that it's not an optional ability, so you'd have to exile one of your own creatures and/or planeswalkers if there were no other options.

As a control card, or even a midrange anti-control card, I like it a lot. The way that it's both a removal spell and a finisher is pretty strong without being overwhelmingly annoying. It enters without the ability to Shock it, which is nasty as well. And yet, on-board, it's not the hardest to chump. It sure as hell ain't the easiest, but it's designed to be difficult without being impossible to deal with. Certainly a contender, and I'm a fan! What's with folks and designing Phyrexians this week? I'm not complaining, but hey, it's something curious to note.

@ship-of-skitties — Machi Avel, Master Planner

When we have references in real life, I think Magic's rule of thumb is to have a pseudonym of some kind instead of... Well, "parody" is the best name for it, but this card feels like an homage way more than that. I'm not the biggest fan of the name, but you have the plot and you've not lost it, that's for sure! This card's a strange one but you have all the pieces. Plotting plus the trigger is obvious but you can also cast cards with impulse draws and t works like the Aftermath Pia Nalaar, which checks out! I love the "this turn" on the middle ability; I originally felt that you could've put the two together, but actually, the third ability works with cards that just have plot naturally, so I get why you separated them.

Man, ultimately this card is just a crazy engine, and I respect it. Plotting forces a long game when you consider that you can't plot and cast cards in the same turn. I want to point out that the flavor text is a little squished in there and that "nonland" is one word, but besides those two things and the name, you've made a pretty gnarly card and I respect it immensely. Plotting has proven to be really fun for gameplay and this card's doing it quite well. Yeah, little to no notes otherwise! Good job.

@sombramainexe — The First Stone

Don't forget that when you submit a card via text or via an editor that doesn't have a specific rarity indicator, you need to note a card's rarity. I wouldn't worry about that for the moment, though, because we should talk about this card first. I know where the name is coming from, and yes, the concept of casting the first stone and all that is theoretically funny. Functionally, this card's pretty middling, because in an interactive game you can have only one that you'll maybe use assuming you've not interacted beforehand, or it will literally be a dead draw. A single removal spell that only works if you haven't performed a set-specific game action just isn't the kind of card that stands up to scrutiny.

That's not to say that we don't appreciate seeing funny cards here from time to time, and I do assume that to some degree this card was supposed to be humorous. (BTW, for everyone else reading that doesn't understand the joke, it's based off John 8:7, a Biblical reference that's entered the common lexicon). With that said a degree of functionality is still preferred to go along with it. This card is probably narrower than you might think at first glance.

@stupidstupidratcreatures — Biogenesis

There are quite a few options on this card. I think that the fact that you have to choose between counters and life is pretty bunk, and I actually thought before rereading that you would get both counters and life. If the second part of the card was "You gain 1 life and draw a card. Put a +1/+1 counter on up to one target creature you control." would've been just fine to me. There are plenty of effects like this in green and there's no shame in pushing it just a little bit.

Is this a cast trigger, though? I suppose in a roundabout way it is, so I'll let it skirt the contest a little bit, but this is very technically a trigger on the sacrifice rather than the actual cast. At the same time, it's important to make that distinction because it shows the complexity of a card's internals. The trigger wouldn't be possible without the cast, so there's all that, but no matter, the card's perfectly reasonable as is. I think the generic name/implied flavor isn't pushing me into any particular direction, but I'll commend this card regardless for being more in the realm of Plumb the Forbidden rather than the other green cards in the Greater Good variety that we see riffs on.

@tanknspank — Kami of Impending Victory (JUDGE PICK)

So this would trigger off itself, right? Six power for six mana is a good start. I like the idea that you can ramp up to a couple more bodies just by itself, and a six-mana 4/4 in white is still pretty good. I know in your notes you mentioned storm and stormlike capabilities, and honestly, I wouldn't worry about that. The ability to look at other cast spells and to make something based on those spells is reasonable for the trigger without being too powerful. What's there to say otherwise? I dunno, this card feels just plain great in limited and decent-ish in commander; bodies are bodies, no matter the format.

Victory, well—that's an odd one, but I suppose the flavor is justified if something terrible happens, and lemme just check the wiki real quick... Oh wow. I actually had no idea that that happened in the story. WELL then. I guess that places the timeline now, doesn't it. Yeah, this card checks out on all fronts. White doesn't usually get the storm capabilities, but ramping up to a multi-spell turn would be pretty fun, and even then you get to play some fun tide-turning power on turn six regardless. Overall, it's solid! It's not breaking any new ground but it's doing all the work that it wants to do fairly and firmly. I do like the fact that it'll get you a Samurai even if it gets countered. Feels important for some reason.

Whew. Well, that's all set and settled. Thank you for all your entries, and see y'all next week. @abelzumi

#mtg #magic the gathering #custom magic card #inventor's fair #commentary #cast trigger contest

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