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deliciouspirateangel · 4 months

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just finished binging the entirety of high school musical: the musical: the series in six days and now i'm going to ramble about it for longer than anyone would care to read. it's gonna be generally positive but definitely nini and olivia unfriendly so if you dont wanna read that... dont ♥️♥️

so i suggested to my sister a while ago that i wanted to watch the show bc the videos that youtube commentary channel "pretty much it" did for it were hysterical. and she had watched the first couple of eps by herself and was like "i dont think you'll like it. its not as funny as they make it seem". but we finally decided to start it anyway

(also i dont know the entire casts' real names so i'll mostly refer to them as their character names)

season 1:

that first season was kind of rough. especially the pilot. it got better over time but its definitely my least favorite season over all. im not even a fan of high school musical so it lacked the nostalgia enjoyment for me

and i definitely did not like nini and her main character syndrome. and sorry to say but i think olivia is the least talented cast member over all. pretty privilege is so real like she didnt deserve to be the break out star she was just the most marketable. kourtney and ashlyn's voices were so strong and stellar, and they might not've been Dancers but they could definitely move. and gina was the best dancer in the fucking world and while i do think her voice wasnt as good, she could obviously still sing. nini's best talent moments were when olivia was shining thru imo (that one taking it for gra-a-a-anted song comes to mind first) but i was not here for the acoustic numbers and honestly i dont think she was a great actress

so i definitely wasnt a fan of the whole nini ricky gina ej love square. i know its a tried and true teen show staple but goddamn it got tiring. i just never liked rini and i didnt like how nini treated him right from the start asklfjlds. she was also rude as hell to everyone else, especially gina, being all passive aggressive towards her. literally saying she wanted to kick gina in the face bc gina is a good dancer and she's intimidated?? but also all the talk in general about gina being intimidating or aggressive or a bad seed like ??? the microaggressions were off the charts

not to mention the fucking macroaggression of kourtney's entire s1 "character". i think hattie mcdaniel had a more nuanced role in gone with the wind. it was so fucking painful to watch. she didnt exist to be anything other than nini's personal soundboard, cheerleader, stylist, life coach, and whatever else she needed in the moment. thank god they gave her a real character by s2 bc kourtney was way too talented, too gorgeous, too charismatic to be forced into the role of nini's handmaid the whole time

i dont really have much to say about s1 cause i wasnt into it at the time lol. it was okay. all the actors did a good job, it was kind of funny, the only song that really stood out was miss jenn's fantasy sequence song with lucas. the actually high school musical show they put on was painful to watch but thats high school theater for you babyyy

season 2:

this was such an improvement from s1 and my favorite season over all. there were a handful of eps in the middle where i was constantly like "this is my fave ep" "ok this is my fave ep" "ok now THIS is my fave ep" it was a delight. i love beauty and the beast and was so happy for ashlyn getting belle, and everyone else was very well cast. although idk why seb was chip and not cogsworth?? my sister said it was bc disney didnt want to confirm that they were gay 💔💔

the music was obviously better bc we've got fucking alan menken on the track. all the numbers from the show were perfect. i wish ej had gotten to sing the gaston reprise bc he didnt get to reach his full gaston potential and i think we deserved that 💔

the debacle with the whole rose song was sooo annoying. nini deserved to be that fork. she dragged the whole show down like it was always so much better when she wasnt there aklfjlksd

the rivalry with the other school was lots of fun. i liked all the new characters. my favorite original song was miss jenn's number with derek hough

season 3:

this season was likeee a pleasant mid for me??? idk it was fine and fun but it didnt have anything in it that blew me away. i think this season was screaming for extra episodes more than any other, since we were missing a chunk of the cast. we deserved to cut back to salt lake every now and again and see what the non-camp-goers were up to

kourtney and gina as elsa and anna was a dream. not the biggest fan of frozen but they did a good job. everyone looked so cute in their costumes and kourtney's solo was amazinggg. the new characters were fun but i dont have strong feelings towards them lol. but i loved getting to explore kourtney's character and her struggles with anxiety, that was very real

them filming a documentary was funny bc have they not been filming one this whole time? my headcanon was that the to-the-camera interviews were all in their heads and everyone was practicing for when they became famous lol but then ricky ruined that in s4 by acknowledging them directly rip 💔

i liked after their show ended and they all got sharpies and wrote their names on the walls back stage. that was definitely a potent theater kid memory and got me a lil teary eyed

i liked ej taking on the role of director and copying miss jenn's hand holding and high pitched singing at the first read thru. i liked ej and gina together i thought they were cute. it was disappointing that the show wouldnt commit to them for even a minute and they always had to be teetering on the edge between being a couple and not. that was frustrating

and girl just get nini out of there already. olivia wanted nini to be there as much as i did. she was sooo over it by s3

umm favorite original song was corbin bluh's basketball song

season 4:

very very fun season again. loved the chaos of filming the movie at the school while school is happening. as if every movie set in a real school doesnt shoot in the summer. oh well. gotta have a season!

there was too much mack for me personally. i dont think he gave wanted they wanted to be given. i needed more dani tho. her actress was so good at bad acting. she couldve been a much bigger comedic presence also she looked like a cross between sofia carson and emma roberts but sometimes just looked like a latina emma roberts ??? is that just me??

and still the lack of seb and big red at the beginning like ?? did they specifically piss off the writers so they had to banish them for nearly half the show?

loved that the little girl from camp was there. she stole the show. and maddox and jet are fine alskfjsldk i just didnt form strong opinions on them but i do like them

ashlyn's "i need to give her mouth to mouth! AS A FRIEND!" was the funniest line of the entire show hands down

so happy they finally had a halloween episode! it was lots of fun and everyone looked so cute in their costumes uwu. but that guy from camp that was stalking carlos??? that was so bizarre and it never paid off likeee what was the reason

and gina's mom was pissing us off so bad. she was acting wild this season. like gina has to focus on her studies so no boys but she can work from sun up to sun down on a movie lmao. and her mom had the nerve to be like "well i never came to your shows bc that was just high school theater but THIS is a movie" like wooow. and i swear it felt like she was about to sell gina off to mack bc he was famous. and when she started with that "porters dont wait around" mess and ricky cleared her with a quickness with that whole "well i seem to remember gina waiting around for you on opening night" like damn

and omg when mack was over for dinner and ricky came over with chocolates but saw him thru the window. i was like ugh fuck its gonna be the stupid thing where he sees this and gets the wrong idea and its gonna be a stupid wedge between him and gina that doesnt need to be there bc no one can communicate BUT THEN gina sees him outside and runs to him and i think i screamed bc i was so relieved aslkjskl but their kiss was very cinematic and cute ♥️♥️

and omg on sunday night im sitting there trudging thru s1 like "yeah starting this might've been a mistake" and by friday im bawling my eyes out bc the story is ending 💔💔 sofia deserved the whole fucking egot and a golden globe too for that scene at the end. and i was SO invested in her acting career and like pleading with the show for her not to pass on it and stay at school but fucking genius that she is found a way to do both!!!

and i honestly didnt know what i wanted miss jenn to do like i was rooting for her both ways but of course she staaayed. and the show ended and it had the "skip credits" button and my sister was like "oh there's something after the credits?" and then i saw "for good" listed at the end of the songs and i screamed again. and was bawling again when everyone was singing that. who knew this silly little show would have such a death grip on me by the end???

so over all it was really very good and not a waste of time. i liked pretty much every character and it was just a lot of fun! would definitely watch it again

my over all season ranking would be two, four, three, and one is dead ass last

my favorite characters from the start were gina, miss jenn, carlos, ashlyn, and big red lowkey alskfjdskl. kourtney got up there in s2 and beyond. and i do really like ricky, ej, seb, they're my secondary faves. (kinda wish ricky had more to do bc aside from his parents, i feel like every single one of his issues had to do with a love triangle and i just wish the character was granted a little more texture) and the camp kids were good, they were fine, they're like third-iary faves. and the only ones i dislike are gina's mom and nini lol

and i wasnt like screaming over any ships but generally i liked them all except rini. ej and gina was cute, i liked ashlyn and maddox, i liked ashlyn and big red, carlos and seb probably were my faves if i had to pick, i liked kourtney with howie (wish we saw him again) and jet, and yes by the end i was rooting for rina they just won me over this season and were super cute and im glad they ended where they did ♥️

#hsmtmts #high school musical: the musical: the series #high school musical the musical the series #disney #disney channel #disney+#angel watches #angel watches hsmtmts

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nightfurmoon · 1 year

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Okay, I hope you don't mind me doing this, but I wanted to talk about the USA English dub for HBO Max! I was a bit caught off guard by the new voice cast, I was expecting the same cast they used in the pilot on YouTube. The new cast isn't bad or anything, in fact I really enjoy them, but it's just not what I was expecting, and I think Penumbra & Sunblast in particular sounded a little strange. Again, not bad, just, off ... I would've perfered the Pilot voice cast. Also is it just me, or did it feel like the Animation was moving slightly faster than the voice over? Cause there was a few places where I remember the next scene would start as the last scenes Audio was still finishing. Maybe that's just a Glitch on my end. There was also a few moments where the audio just randomly dropped out, or was missing, like in the Pilot when 5.0.5 responds to Flugs warning not to clean the office his cute little, "Copy That!" Was missing. A few of the line deliveries sounded a bit strange, almost like they weren't said in the right tone, or mood I guess, like Flug really should've sounded tired when he said "Breakfast" to the Rookie hero being lowered into Dementias chambers. Not to mention how they changed a couple of lines from the original Pilot script, and a different English dub I watched that DID feature the Pilot voice cast. Most of them made more sense than the original or just sounded better, but a few were a bit weird. But altogether I loved it, and im happy to finally have Villainous available in the US without paying for an expensive VPN! ^^ sorry this turned into a bit of a rant...😅

Yeah they changed the cast a while ago! The English dub was released on HBO Max Latam with this new cast and script, I'm guessing you didn't catch on that. But yeah, they had to change the cast for union reasons and that boring stuff.

I think they sound better than the original! And yes some lines are weirdly missing like the 'copy that', but apart from that I think it sounds better. I reaaally love the new Flug and Miss Heed. It's also very normal for them to change the lines, and sometimes some scenes don't really align, but it's not much of a bother. I guess I'm more used to it since I watch shows both in eng and spanish and you can definitely see the differences in script, the tone and the timing. Each language is its own world, you can't really make all of them align perfectly

#nightfur talks #villainous

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jajanvm-imbi · 4 months

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Hey there! Not so much a question but wanted to reach out because I saw your post on Hazbin/Helluva. As someone who has followed both the shows and is still looking forward to watching Hazbin when it comes out I have to say, I’ve stayed in my lane and avoided the majority of the fandom all together and I’ve been having a great experience with it.

It does suck that that has to be the way I interact with this media that I’ve come to enjoy. Fandoms are great (at times) spaces where people should be able to discuss the thing they enjoy, as well as challenge it when needed with conversation. But the Helluva/Hazbin one has not seemed to bring great things to the table, so I’ve opted to simply remove myself from it. I could definitely say a lot more, but ultimately this message was just to say I’m one of the ones out here too who is just looking to engage with the media!

Ugh its so great to see other people just trying to have a good time with Hazbin and Helluva. I've been following both series since the pilots were released and I was genuinely excited to see them both become fully fleshed out.

Its a shame that both shows and their creator have been at the center of peak toxic Twitter purity bullshit culture for all these years, especially in these past few weeks leading up to Hazbin's release.

Thank God I deleted Twitter and Tiktok a while ago. Every day I go onto YouTube to find yet another controversy surrounding one of the shows or Viv, I can't imagine the piles of shit being thrown from both sides of the fence.

I'll probably make on more post critiquing Hazbin once it finally premiers and calling it a day but honestly just because I love analyzing media in general. I'm also thinking about making a post or series of posts critiquing Helluva Boss because even though I love it and find it entertaining, there are a lot of valid criticisms and I'd love to analyze those as well. (Again purely because I love analyzing the media I consume)

But its nice to see some positivity being spread around!! I am so so so excited for Hazbin's release! I'm also a musical theater enthusiast (have been since I was like 13 lmfao) and hearing so many Broadway stars in the cast has me vibrating with excitement. (Jeremy Jordan???? Leslie Kritzer?? CHRISTIAN FUCKING BORLE?????? Sign me up!!!!)

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kimberly-stocks · 2 years

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Warning. A long rant about Rory Gilmore ahead.

I was doing a research for a story I'm writing (it's literati fanfiction), and after watching a few clips on YouTube from the show I kinda got sucked into this whole realm of Gilmore girls content. There's literally a ton of videos, and a lot of them are uploaded recently. Which is so fascinating, considering the show aired 2 decades ago. And while I was going through vids on analysis of the show and its characters, I kinda got stumbled upon a whole bunch of them called 'the downfall of Rory Gilmore' and the likes. I watched some of them... And it made me feel weird. I mean, there were several valid points they made about her character, but at the same time, I tried to reconcile them with my thoughts on her the first time I watched the show because they didn't necessarily coincide.

I first watched the original series a year ago, meaning I was 32, just like Lorelai was in the pilot. So, I wasn't a kid watching it when it aired. I was a grown adult with some life experiences under my belt. So I didn't just get automatically sucked into what the creators of the show wanted me to believe. And I remember I kinda liked Rory in the beginning. She was this studious introverted girl, kinda like myself at her age. She had a great relationship with her mom which I could relate to. It was a very cozy show, homey, and it was easy for me to remember what it was like to be 16 again. I had a harder time identifying with Lorelai, even though we were the same age, because her personality is way different than mine, and also she often times annoyed me a little. And I could understand the logic behind everything Rory was doing. I didn't necessarily agree with all of her choices, but I could understand them. Why she stopped spending as much time with Lane when she met Dean, why she didn't tell Lorelai about Jess, why she was mad when she saw him with Shane, etc. I could even understand why she slept with married Dean. Like, it was bad, i get it but I also understood why she did it. She wasn't perfect, and I could see her logic behind what she was doing.

But as the show progressed, I guess I started having problems with Rory's character and have a lot of questions for her, because the more I watched (from the late season 4, and then season 5, 6), the only thought I had about her was 'god, what a waste! What a waste of resources, potential and time'.

Personally, I don't think having negative thoughts about a character is necessarily 'hate'. I thought the writers did her dirty. And here's why.

When I was in college I had two girls in my class who were straight A's students and basically stars of their local schools in their respective small towns. They graduated with honors and whatnot. And one of them, Angy, was like a perfect little girl, her mom was a teacher, she was a straight A's student, she participated in every shindig her school threw, everyone loved her, her picture was even posted on a special school board of best students or whatever. And when she first came into a big city and a big college (our uni had probably more students than her whole town's population combined), she expected everyone to treat her like she was a star just like she used to be in her school, and she acted accordingly. But in a big city and a big school no one gave a damn, nobody knew who she was and they didn't care. That was a serious reality check for her. I remember one time my friend and I passed the exam and we got A's, while Angy went before us and got a B. And when she found out we got A's she got so mad! And she literally threw a temper tantrum like 'why did THEY get A's and I didn't???? I'm gonna go back to that professor and demand a retake' and she said 'they' in such a tone which implied 'such losers', because, my friend and I, we kinda struggled, especially me, so getting an A was a big deal, we were by no means excelling. To her credit, Angy later realized that she had to earn her status all over again, and she kept up good grades, and was even helpful to her fellow students, and later she even helped me when I really stuggled with my math assignments. So, in the end, she realized she had to work to get what she wanted, and it wouldn't just be given to her because she was The Angy. Season 5 Rory hadn't. She met Logan instead.

I don't blame any of her boyfriends in her short comings, it was more her upbringing I feel like. She was a product of her environment really, if you think about it. Her whole town treated her like she was a special snowflake, a gifted super child. Lorelai herself said 'if you see a girl with a halo above her head and a book, that's my daughter, Rory'. Her grandparents told her she was smart and talented and whatnot (which I guess was better than the Christopher's parents attitude), but in the end it didn't really help her in the long run. It's hard to accept you're not as special as everyone told you you were your whole life. And even though Lorelai encouraged Rory to pursue her dreams and such, it seemed like she didn't give her any room for error or exploring the world on her own. Rory was always kinda sheltered and lived in a bubble.

Which in turn makes me question where did that dream to become an international correspondent even came from? I was so surprised to hear that when she told Jess about it in Teach me tonight. She was so introverted, she didn't make any new friends at Chilton. If Paris didn't pursue her from day one, she might not even had any friends at Chilton at all, because she had Lane, Dean, her mom and books. Then at Yale having Paris as a roommate also didn't do her any good. It was a safely blanket. Instead of branching out and finding new people she just stayed with Paris instead. She said she wanted to travel and see the world and be a journalist. But you don't have to be an international correspondent to travel. And sure, she's good at writing, that's great. But why Christiane amanpour? Wars and trenches, Rory? Really? She couldn't even handle her first day at Yale on her own without her mommy. Which was kinda the point of chosing Yale in the first place, and a dead give away of the fact an international correspondent is not for her. The signs were always there, but no one in Rory's circle took them into account.

And then the Mitchum incident. When I first watched it, I thought, "my god, you can't possibly take everything he says seriously. He doesn't want you to date his son just like the rest of his family, that's why he gave you the internship and then critiqued you, so not to be a jerk at first at that dinner, but then mess with you. Isn't that obvious? Am I the only one who sees it???" Why was her first reaction to steal a yacht and drop out of Yale? Would she do the same if she was covering a war overseas, and someone told her, 'there's no place for you here, go away'. And she what, would be like 'oh? Okay'. The first criticism in her life and instead of retreating and regrouping and fighting back, she just decides her career is over before it even started? Like wtf??? There's a lot of different kinds of jobs where you could apply writing. Even if journalism was not for her, she could've figured something out without dropping out, especially considering she was majoring in English, not in journalism. That's a lot broader category with more flexibility. Why wasn't her first reaction to prove him wrong?

I struggled a lot in college. Granted, I was a STEM major, so the experience is not exactly the same, but still, the amount of people who told me I wasn't smart enough, that I didn't have it, was astounding. If i listened to everyone who doubted me, I would've dropped out after the first semester, and would not have a PhD I have today. That's why that storyline was not relatable to me, and I did not agree with her decision. Frankly, it pissed me off. I mean, it's easy to just give up when you have rich grandparents to fall back on, when they're gonna pay for everything, and you wouldn't have to work a single hour to pay the bills. I personally didn't have that opportunity and privilege, maybe that's why it made me react so passionately about it, I was fuming when I watched that episode. I was like 'girl, please! Get you shit together, Gilmore!' Her grandparents and Lorelai are extremely stubborn, but Rory in that situation seemed like she didn't inherit any of the Gilmore stubbornness and resilience. Maybe it's flaky Christopher genes, I don't know. And from then on I kept thinking what a waste of money that was. I wondered if she would throw that away if she had a student loan, or Lorelai was paying for Yale from her own pocket, and not her grandparents who basically just gave her money for free, and refused her offer to pay them in installments when she gets a part time job (Which she never did).

I don't know what's the point of this whole rant. I guess I can kinda understand her story arc was realistic in a way, and her being nowhere near successful in her thirties makes her relatable to the audience, but I still think it was a waste. Especially when you think about guys like Marty who had to bartend to cover his expenses and couldn't pay $70 for a meal. Rory never had to do that.

I guess, it makes me sad that her character turned out to be written that way. And I have a lot of questions to Rory, and maybe to ASP. When I first watched the show, I didn't notice a lot of stuff because I binged it. But after reading a hell of a lot of fanfiction and watching all those analysis videos and reading fan theories and whatnot, I watched bits and pieces more closely, and noticed a lot of discrepancies, which made me question the show and Rory's character. And I wonder if those things were just a sloppy writers' job, or was it intentional, and they dropped hints on what Rory's trajectory would be like all along.

For example, it still surprises me to this day, that Rory only realised she needed extra curricular activities to get into Harvard when Paris told her about it in JUNIOR year!! Like, wasn't it your dream school since you were a little kid? You had at least a decade to do a thorough research on this school, and memorize everything about what kind of stuff and grades and things they were looking for in their potential students. How come Rory didn't know that having just good grades wasn't enough? Like, how? It seemed like Rory's dream of going to Harvard was exactly that, a dream, not a realistic plan. And she kept living in a fantasy world where she's so special and would get into Harvard no sweat just because Babette told her she was smart. How come she didn't have doubts? Also, Lorelai, who encouraged her Harvard dream, how was she going to pay for that if she couldn't even pay for Chilton? It was like Chilton price came as a total surprise to her. Didn't you know the cost before your kid applied to that school in the first place?

I understand that going to Yale was a plot device to keep Rory close to her mom, so that the show could still be 'Gilmore girls', not 'one gilmore girl is going to Harvard and the other opens an inn'. But I think, character wise, it would be better if Rory went literally anywhere else. Maybe not necessarily to Harvard, because I feel like it was more Lorelai's dream anyway, and she already dreamed about it for too long, which builds expectations, that the school might not meet in reality, and that would lead to another identity crisis. I think Rory should've gone to some school that was further away than Yale, so that she couldn't visit as often, and so that she would have a chance to do her own thing, without the pressures of constantly being a perfect unicorn child, or a perfect granddaughter, Lorelai 2.0, where she could just be herself, and try new things and meet new people, and just explore the world outside of stars hollow and Hartford and her grandparents house.

It makes me sad. I understand she had a lot of flaws and did some questionable things, and that made her character so realistic and appealing to the audience, but she had so much potential, and it makes me sad the writers wrote her the way she turned out eventually.

And I guess, it also bugs me that after all those vids it's harder for me to ship Rory with Jess, which I need to be able to keep doing for the sake of my story 😄🙈 because I can't get those mean things said about her out of my head. Also, Jess had the best character development on the show, in my opinion. Of course he did a lot of stupid shit too, and he was by no means perfect or better than Rory. But seeing her so helpless and flailing while he's going steady is disconcerting.

What I liked about the show is that the characters seem very realistic, they have real flaws and great treats as well, they act like human beings, that's why it's such a beloved series. Also, while I was watching i could mostly understand not only Rory's logic but everyone else's logic behind the things that they did. I loved the chemistry between Jess and Rory, and that's probably the reason i shipped them from the start, from the first episode he appeared. I was like 'ooh, this is gonna be fun' 😏 and it was super entertaining and I wanted more, and discovered a beautiful world of literati fanfiction. Which is the only outlet for fans to get Rory and Jess the relationship they deserved. I really hope I won't burn out, and finish the story I started after all. 🤞 Maybe I should stop with those analysis videos 😬

There are literally keyboard wars unfolding in the comment sections of those vids. The comments range from 'rory is the worst, i wish she died' to 'why is everyone hating on rory, she's so sweet'. I guess, my point of view is that I'm not a crazy Rory fan that would defend her no matter what kind of shit she does, but I don't hate her either. After reading so many stories about her and Jess, after discovering so many beautiful plot lines people came up with, where Rory still does screw up and make mistakes, but she learns from it, it makes me more disappointed in the original canon writing, more than anything. I mean, there are so many different ways ASP could've gone, and she chose to go with this? I mean, really? Dude!

I think she said something like she wanted the show to resemble life, and you not always get what you want, and not all of your dreams come true eventually, which is understandable. But the show started as this portrayal of mother-daughter relationship who had this amazing bond, and I feel like, a lot of people don't have that, so it was nice for them to watch that kind of close relationship. But then it turned out like Lorelai only loves Rory as long as she does everything Lorelai wants her to, but the moment she deviates, Lorelai flips out or stops talking to her. What is the moral in that? That motherly love is conditional? That you only deserve to be loved when you try to follow unrealistic expectations of perfection? That's not exactly nice and comforting. It's like the show digressed from being a sweet family show to a depressing therapy-needing mess.

Also, many people view the series as a comfort show, the one they watch to feel better. Of course, ASP didn't intend it to be a comfort show, so she didn't have to do what the audience wanted, but a happy ending, at least to a certain extent, would be nice.

Phew, rant over. I guess.

P.S. I also saw a lot of posts and comments saying that Rory gets way more hate than any other character on the show which isn't fair to her. I guess it's true, but at the same time, she IS a main character, next to Lorelai she has the most of screen time, hence the most of footage and material to analyse her behaviour. And it's a general knowledge everyone loves Lorelai and god forbid you criticize her in any shape or form. So, by elimination Rory gets all the shit, unfortunately.

#gilmore girls #rory gilmore #rant

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toonrandytalkstoons · 1 year

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Pony in the Spotlight: An “It’s Pony” Retrospective

Today, January 18, marks the third anniversary of It’s Pony – an unique original Nicktoon in which it’s mainly produced out of the United Kingdom instead of the usual Nickelodeon Animation studios in the United States. Created by illustrator, animator and writer Ant Blades, It’s Pony chronicles the antics of a talking pony and his human best friend who live in an urban farm on the sixth floor of an apartment.

In my mind, It’s Pony stood out from many other Nicktoons when it aired – while it did have its moments in wacky moments, it has an unique charm to it. It has its own brand of humor – probably because most of its writers are British and the Brits have their own sense of humor – and the stories themselves have their twists and turns. When watching the series, you’ll never know when the story would lead because of an unpredictable pony. And with any animated series filled with quirky characters, great music, hilarious situations, unique character designs and art style and heartwarming moments, I fell in love with It’s Pony.

Alas, with many other Nicktoons, It’s Pony didn’t last well. While it never achieved the same amount of success as SpongeBob SquareParents and The Loud House, Nick’s two current biggest Nicktoon franchises, to me it was a breath of fresh air when I was growing tired of the latter aforementioned series, and for reasons mentioned in the previous paragraph.

In this retrospective, we’ll look back at the series as well as its merits and highlights from all two seasons of It’s Pony. Let’s begin!

Having launched in 2012 and lasted until the end of the decade, the Nickelodeon Animated Shorts Program garnered so many pilots. For the 2016-17 season, a pilot called Pony made the rounds as part of a slew of submissions from the program’s international edition. Luckily, it got picked up for a full series. British-born Ant Blades has made a name for himself as a creator of various animated shorts. Among other things, he’s also the creator of the comic strip Bewley, about a family of blue-colored birds, that ran on the British newspaper Daily Express for a number of years. (The strip appeared on the website GoComics in the United States about a decade ago, but it's since removed as its rights have expired.)

Enter Nickelodeon a few years later. When Blades’ Pony got picked up, the decision was made to have the series produced mainly out of the UK. Blue Zoo, a renowned London-based animation, was known for its CG productions in the preschool programming field. Recently, they opened a 2D animation unit – and its first production was Pony, since renamed to It’s Pony. (Blue Zoo also produces the animation for 2019’s The Adventures of Paddington, which is also on Nickelodeon in the US, and they are also currently working with the network on producing the upcoming series HexVet, based on the graphic novel series.) While its artists and writers are mainly based in Britain, much of its voice cast are based in the US.

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So, how did I get invested in It’s Pony? In early 2018, during Nickelodeon's Upfront, the series was announced during the event. When Nick’s other announcements of a fourth season renewal of The Loud House as well as its spin-off The Casagrandes garnered so much attention within my friends and the online animation community at large, while I was fine with those announcements, one look at It’s Pony’s promotional image sold it for me. At that moment, I knew I’m for something special despite it being ignored from the beginning.

Since then I was counting the days til the day It’s Pony made its debut. However, over a year has passed by that time I became a little desperate as there was no new news about the series. Finally, during the holiday season in 2019, Nickelodeon announced that there will be a sneak peek of the series on YouTube on Christmas Day, with the series officially premiering on January 18, 2020. I was excited. However, Nick didn’t upload the sneak peek on Christmas as announced, only to finally appear on YouTube the next day. (If that’s the first time Nick attempted to mistreat a new Nicktoon before its debut, then I don’t know what is. :D)

The sneak peek was a 10 minute segment of an episode called “Plants!” I wrote my first impressions back then and I liked what I saw. After a few more watches of the same segment, however, “Plants!” became one of my favorite episodes/segments of It’s Pony. I laughed more and more. The upload wasn’t an immediate success, however: When I wrote about “Plants!”, its view count at the time was 188,000 – the video didn’t reach one million views months later. By comparison, the sneak peek of The Casagrandes’ first segment on YouTube a few weeks earlier surpassed over a million views within 24 hours. If my memory is correct, I think Nickelodeon promoted The Casagrandes’s sneak peek over It’s Pony’s, or they had promoted It’s Pony’s sneak peek but lots of people were only interested on The Loud House spin-off.

It kinda bothered me, because I wanted It’s Pony to succeed. But it doesn't matter. I was looking forward to the series premiere.

It’s Pony’s arrival came at a critical yet tragic time for me.

Several years prior, I got back to watching Nickelodeon. The Loud House was my main cartoon from the network during that period. But even then, Nick continued to can some other Nicktoons I also liked watching while putting so much attention to TLH – the last Nicktoon I loved by this time was Welcome to the Wayne. Secondly, I grew dissatisfied towards The Loud House and felt that its quality had dropped while it became a show that was unfamiliar to me, and I also dealt with an increasingly hostile fandom that took a toll on my mental health. Thankfully, a new animated series on Netflix called Archibald’s Next Big Thing brought me some respite from it all – I loved it so much that I even rewatched the first season multiple times.

The tragic part – and most important of all – is that while all of this was going on, my mom was dying and I found myself into heavy depression at times. A few weeks after Mom’s funeral and while I was coping with grief, It’s Pony arrived to bring me much joy. A half hour’s worth of silliness, great characters, and tons of heart to shield from the harsh realities of life, thanks to an unlikely pony-girl friendship and the hijinks that surround them.

I frequently brought up TLH here, but It’s Pony did have ties to the popular series: One, a handful of writers from TLH including Bob Mittenthal (also served as the series’ head writer) and Jacob Fleischer contributed to It’s Pony. Finally, Jessica DiCicco – the voice of sisters Lynn and Lucy – starred as Annie Bramley, while Grey Griffin (Lily, Lola and Lana), Yvette Nicole Brown (Mayor Davis) and Joe DiMaggio (Mr. Grouse) make frequent appearances in the series. Because of the TLH/It’s Pony connection, I often told people who love The Loud House to check out It’s Pony. Obviously, it didn’t work most of the time, but only a few people I know did.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that Josh Zuckeman, the voice of the starred character Pony, also appeared as Young Evil in the movie Austin Powers in Goldmember. The Austin Powers series is one of my favorite film series, and I was ecstatic when I found that out after I started watching the series. He’s great as Pony. Pony is one of my comfort characters – his character design as well as his voice are what makes him so adorable.

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What is the tone of It’s Pony? For starters, it features the antics of a talking pony who’s not only naïve, but also causing havoc throughout the city, which later came to be called Pickleton in the second season. Yet, Pony always means well and while he’s good – well, chaotic good mostly – he has always come through for the people he loves, including Annie and her parents George and Helen, and his friends.

As mentioned earlier, when watching the series you’ll never know when things would go when Pony’s around, and I think the writers worked so hard to make it happen and miraculously pulled it off. Pony drives much of the series’ comedy. When I noticed people who had tried to watch the series, they found Pony to be annoying. To me, it’s just a part of the series’ charm. I just love him and he has always made me laugh!

Amid all the chaos, however, It’s Pony can also be surprisingly laid-back. It gives the effect of the series to be soothing when it’s not in chaotic mode. The series’ soundtrack usually features a string instrument being heard, which I do think it helps give off that kind of vibe. It’s also appropriate given the fact that the Bramleys are a farming family.

And the heartwarming stuff, oh the heartwarming stuff. At the series’, um, heart, are Annie and Pony’s relationship. They’re the best of friends, they love each other, and they can’t imagine being separated from each other. A segment from season one, “Teacher’s Pet”, touches on this, with an emotional beat. There’s also Annie’s friends: including her closest human friend and rich but sweet Clara, sportster Heston, smart Gerry (whom Clara has a crush on), geek Brian, slightly-deranged animal lover Beatrice, weirdo Fred, and kinda dark yet sometimes frenemy Henrietta. Beatrice, Fred and Henrietta aside, the friends – despite some conflicts that appear between them every once in a while – they’re very supportive of each other. There are tons of other heartwarming moments in the series, which I’ll also mention in the episode highlights later in this retrospective.

In addition, It’s Pony came out in a time when the world was (and still is) already in despair, especially when the COVID-19 pandemic was in its beginning stages, with the pandemic arriving in the US nearly two months later after the series premiere and millions of people were ordered to stay home. The New York Times named It’s Pony as one of the new series for parents to watch with their kids. Nickelodeon’s Twitter account tweeted their article. It’s Pony seemingly was destined to move to greater things if good reviews and decent ratings were any indication. However, we all know what happened next…

----- I’ve talked about how the series came to be and my personal history with it. Now, we begin the brief recaps of my favorite episodes from both seasons! While it’ll only be about the episodes, It’s Pony also has a series of shorts available online – all of them are great!

Season 1

“Nosy Pony”

In the series’ debut segment, Pony does what the title suggests: being nosy. He really gets in the business of strangers and what they do. That, of course, causes problems and not only that, George and Helen need them to temporarily run their produce stand at the city market. After a fix to correct Pony’s nosiness, it worked…until Pony nearly got himself in danger. “Nosy Pony” is a great segment to start off the series, and it’s full of twists and turns.

“Plants!” I mentioned before that I liked this segment when it was shown as a sneak peek, but it has grown on me and it’s now one of my favorites. Pony being afraid of plants does sound silly from a bad moment he experienced. However, while hilarity ensues – including scenes where a therapist who’s helping Pony ends up with a phobia of her own – you can’t help but feeling sorry for Pony. He wants to go on a camping trip with his friends in a forest that is obviously full of plants. You may even end up cheering for him, including him saving Annie from certain danger. And there’s this gem of a line: “The plants are out to get me!”

“Distractions” This segment is so much fun, and it also best demonstrates how unpredictable It’s Pony can be. Annie agrees to help out Gerry on his science project. However, Pony keeps distracting her, and each time it happens it leads the duo on unexpected adventures – and a great heartwarming moment between the two aside from all the chaos. “Distractions” speaks to me because I am easily distracted at times. I’m set on doing something I want to do, only for me to do something else later on – or nothing at all.

“Gerry’s Birthday” It’s Gerry’s birthday, and his friends plan a surprise party for him. Pony stalls him, while Annie and the rest set up the party at the Bramleys’. Along the way Gerry gets hurt (Gerry always gets the worst, doesn't he?) and the planned surprise(s) ends up disastrous. However, while Gerry appreciates Annie and Pony’s gesture, he only wants a quiet birthday, even with a few friends by his side. I think it was this segment that Gerry has become one of my favorite characters on It’s Pony. Like him, I’m reservedly quiet. I have preferred quiet birthdays for years now, and I don’t like a lot of noise. However, I don’t mind having some people by my side. Also: “Pirate burglars! Call the police!”

“Loud Horse” A noisy neighbor is playing her tuba from Annie’s bedroom below, giving her a sleepless night – multiple sleepless nights to be exact. Having enough, she speaks to her neighbor, Marti, about her tuba playing – it turned out that she had to do it because Pony’s the one who annoyed her with his noisy antics. Annie and Pony proceed to rectify the situation – including a (sort of) marriage proposal involving Marti’s girlfriend Meg, and having Marti go on tour with her band so Annie can finally rest easy. It’s a fun episode. And this scene:

“Annie-versary” A special day has arrived for Pony that involves his best friend in the world. He drops subtle hints at Annie, but the problem is that Annie is having trouble with what the “Annie-versary” is about. Later, Helen shows her pictures from the past of Annie meeting Pony for the first time and their activities together. Annie is finally convinced that it’s the anniversary of the day their friendship was formed, but when she catches up with Pony he finally reminds her that it’s the anniversary of the very first day of them eating pizza together. A hilarious and heartwarming episode, and it’s also the episode that will forever remind fans of a touching scene showing a very young Annie and Pony.

“Bramley Holiday” In this Christmas episode, the Bramleys’ holiday tradition involves visiting George’s mother Ruth in her cabin up in the mountains near Clifton. However, their trip is thwarted after Pony’s mishap at the airport, leaving Annie behind while her parents have already taken off. George and Helen did return to a heartbroken Annie, who wanted to see her grandmother. However, an opportunity arises when the Bramleys disguise themselves as part of a troupe on a bus heading to Clifton. But Pony blew their cover and they found themselves stranded in the forest; and along the way they face obstacles including fending off a bear before they finally reach Ruth’s, and their Christmas tradition happily resumes.

While many Christmas episodes from various television series involve stories characters who are Scrooges or Grinches – or even what happen to their families and friends in Christmas if they don’t exist – “Bramley Holiday” involves a family heading to a relative’s for the holiday as well as the meaning of family. George has thought of Pony as a nuisance and it was the reason why he intentionally kept Pony away as the family headed to the airport. However, Pony has always been good to the family – Annie adores him and so does Helen. George realizes he does care for Pony deep down, and while he acted as a grump towards him early in the series in subsequent episodes he has warmed up to him. See the ending of “Teacher’s Pet”!

Season 2

“Annie vs. Pony”

Annie and Pony inexplicably found themselves competing against each other in a pet competition, which might threaten their friendship. And – spoilers – Beatrice was the one who started it all. She’s at her best here in the whole series – a great moment for her. I absolutely love the battle of the pets between Pony and a lizard he entered into the competition. Very Godzilla-like if you ask me!

“Second Best Friend” A crazy episode involving a fly that everyone needs to believe in to save the day, and also an episode involving second best friends. Pony introduces the fly named Michael, his second best friend, to Gerry, who mistakenly injures him while he was shooing him away. Suddenly the whole city stops and begins rallying around Michael, who’s being sent to the hospital. Unfortunately for Gerry (you still can’t feel sorry for him enough), he’s being attacked by a large swarm of flies as revenge. While the city has to believe in Michael to save Gerry, it takes longer for Annie to accept it, and Gerry is saved…but only to be dived into a pool of paint as it has always planned. This episode is just out there in terms of craziness when you consider that It’s Pony was normally laid back, but it’s really funny and sweet.

“Pony Car” A snobbish rich cousin of Clara’s, Barrington, invites her friends to a party being thrown at the pier, which they accept. Clara disdains Barrington’s rude attitude towards her friends and says their friendship is more important than any riches. Later, when Annie, Gerry, Heston and Brian need a ride, Pony arrives with a car he built, which is assembled of various parts presumably from the junkyard. And thus begins a seemingly never-ending ride of wackiness, with them passing by Clara and Barrington at the pier several times until it all finally ends. An amazingly funny episode, and I think this episode has some of Pony’s best moments, including when he pretends to be the car’s radio.

“Wedding Planners” A (scam) honeymoon is awarded to the Bramleys by mail, which excites Annie for her parents. The problem? George and Helen aren’t legally married as their marriage certificate is fraudulent! So Pony and Annie do what they do best: getting themselves into messy situations – in this case it’s in order to have their parents remarried. However, Helen got them as she revealed that she and George are legally and happily married after all and it’s all a ruse to trick Annie and Pony. Helen’s really a smart trickster, and here she did it because she knew the best buds would mess it up. But in the end they’re family and they’re happy together. Plus, Helen’s one of my favorite characters in the series – she’s really sweet, and even fun for a mother like her.

“Song of the Soil” I love “Song of the Soil” for two things: one, it’s an episode full of creativity and fun, and second it has a cute song! Annie and Pony take over tending to their urban farm because the backs of George and Helen break. And behind their parents’, ahem, backs, Pony decides to pull a Phineas and Ferb (!) and builds a giant roller coaster at the top of their apartment building. This temporarily sets back Annie and Pony’s job of harvesting their produce on time, but they complete their job before George arrives and Annie develops a green thumb through the song of the soil.

“Raiders of the Lost Cinema” Being the second Halloween episode (“Scarecrow” being the first), “Raiders of the Lost Cinema” not only has the usual Halloween hijinks but also, unusual for such a Halloween episode, there’s a heartbreaking (when you think about it) backstory of a man who secluded himself for decades after a love of his never arrived for a date – and a movie theater of his went with him, never to be seen again. And thus begins the journey of Pony and friends searching for the theater and its legendary display of (long expired) candies. But standing in their way is a group of high school kids who also want to get to the candy. “Raiders” is one of my all time favorite Halloween episodes, and it also comes with an awesome dance scene from Brian!

“City Pony/Country Pony” In another half hour episode, the Bramleys fear that Pony isn’t having a suitable life in the city due to the havoc he creates and decide that the country life should be perfect for him. George accepts a deal with his Uncle Fitz to stay at the apartment while the family is away at his farm. Upon arriving, the Bramleys face a rundown house (which terrifies Pony), and then they have difficulty adjusting to the country life. Pony, meanwhile, brings the city life of Pickleton to the country life. Everything’s back to normal for the Bramleys in the end, but it is a great episode.

“Annie the Influencer”

A fun episode but also a cautionary tale of sorts as a popular app appears in Pickleton -- and Annie’s hooked into it. The search for being popular and gaining at a lot of clicks by Annie cause a rift between her and her friends, and Pony’s concerned. Then suddenly, Annie finds herself on an island apparently without any modern conveniences, and tries to break free from her addiction. She eventually realizes what she did and makes amends with Pony and her friends, and the end of the episode reveals how she ended up on the island. This episode is notable for the fact that even though Pony is known for being naive, he’s being shown as the straight man, er, pony. It also brings the point that social media can be very addictive and also brings the worst out of people. I’m kinda addicted to social media, mainly Twitter -- but recently I made some strides to limit things that made me negative there.

“Bowled Over” While some episodes of It’s Pony gave hints that Annie may like Heston more than just a friend, in “Bowled Over” it shows her having a clear crush on someone for the first time. She tries to woo a boy named Theo at the bowling alley by trying to improve on her bowling skills. Meanwhile, Pony wishes that he has fingers and he did just that by taping some hot dogs into two of his hooves, giving them “fingers” of his own. But Theo’s constant belittling of Pony and Annie realizing that she put her friendship with Pony over Theo got her to dump him, and the girl and horse duo happily sing about their toes. It’s a favorite episode of mine for only one thing: Pony’s song about fingers! It’s so, so cute!

“Pony, Come Home” The penultimate segment sees Pony unlikely get himself in a new home thanks to a pompous wealthy kid. Annie and friends hatch a plan to get Pony back. This and the accompanying segment which also serves as the series finale “Special Sauce” (which has Gerry in Annie and Pony-style adventures with a pet rock), I feel, celebrates the series as well as the special relationship between Annie and Pony. “Pony, Come Home” features a flashback to a fun time the celebrated duo had from an earlier episode during a scene where Annie reminisces about Pony. (Despite these segments that make up the actual series finale, Nicktoons network premiered a holdover episode a week later, “Beachy Weachy Weach/Bee In a Jar”, presumably because it was close to the summer season at the time. Other countries had access to this episode about a year prior.)

Epilogue

Anyone who knows about Nickelodeon and their tendency to get rid of animated series that aren’t successful to them almost immediately. That’s what happened to It’s Pony despite showing promise. Nick gave up on it more than halfway through the first season, and after that two episodes only premiered throughout 2021 and then burned off the rest of the episode through the first half of 2022. I mean, there’s that and the fact that The Loud House and SpongeBob continue to get more attention. (In addition, by mid 2021 some It’s Pony shorts appeared on Nickelodeon while the main series was still on hiatus, though they were never advertised and other shorts were released online only.)

Like many fans of It’s Pony, I was disappointed but also not surprised. Was it like TLH or SpongeBob? Obviously no, but at the same time other Nicktoons that stood out uniquely from those that are now exist to be milked by the network. And there are lots of animated series I watch that have at least some flaws. However, I can’t seem to find any with It’s Pony in my view. It’s a great show for those who want to forget their worries for me. Like many series within a similar vein, it’s perfect for me to cheer up.

It’s Pony and its creator Ant Blades deserve better. The show and the fact that he’s also an illustrator is the main reason why I want to have a career as a professional artist. Blades’ illustrations are fun, energetic, and have a cuteness to them. Maybe one day he would announce a new project to the delight of his fans, and hopefully it would be much more successful, though It’s Pony deserves to have a lot of success.

I’m closing this essay to paraphrase Blades’ statement from the day It’s Pony had its final episode: the show may be over, but rest assured that Annie and Pony will continue to have their adventures in Pickleton with their special bond together.

Thank you, Ant, and to everyone who made the series for what it is. Happy Annie-versary!

#it's pony #nickelodeon #nicktoons #essays #cartoons #animation

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awesomephd · 2 years

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Watching Through My Collection: Day 16/36

I Eat Your Skin (1964) aka Zombies aka Zombie Bloodbath aka Voodoo Blood Bath

Day 15 / Day 17

Now, not only does this movie have so many names, but the 1964 date on my copy is actually when it was filmed. It didn't get released until 1971. Even still, with all the names it got after release, it was filmed under the working title Caribbean Adventure to keep potential investors from catching on that it was a zombie film.

So, truly, it's a painful gem of low-budget horror.

It even made it big in an episode of Elvira's Movie Macabre that I might just watch after this on Tubi. (The plain movie itself is on Youtube too, but I'd rather watch it with Elvira)

CW: 1960's sensibilities

While there were some enjoyable moments in this movie, it wasn't good and constantly felt like it wanted to be a different genre entirely. This is an adventure romance that just so happens to have zombies in it.

The main character is even an insufferable, womanizing erotica adventure novelist that we get introduced to absolutely surrounded by women beside a pool in Miami while he recites his own work to them.

If you want me to believe this many women are that interested in what he's saying, at least let him say "throbbing cock" instead of "throbbing temples" when we all know that's what it's supposed to be.

There's some admittedly funny dialogue here and then some unfunny dialogue that tries too hard and had me thinking this might actually be some kind of horror comedy. But it isn't. It's just weird.

They fly to Zombie Island (yes, that's the actual real name they call the island) and their plane runs out of gas so, naturally, our protagonist must take over for the Hispanic pilot to land them on the beach because he's so sexy and cool and suave. So sexy and cool and suave that he gets absolutely soaked through swimming in a river, but can still use the revolver he had stuffed in his waistband against zombies.

I'll give them credit for the makeup, though. It's fun.

The movie goes back and forth between poorly acted, dull scenes with our white ensemble and "voodoo" rituals that almost feel like they just told the extras to improvise and dance crazy for. Whatever sort of mysticism that does get built up in the movie gets immediately ruined when they decide that actually the thing that made all these not-actually-zombies-apparently was a doctor doing experiments with snake venom and radiation.

Because god forbid the zombies be actual voodoo or anything. Guess that would've been too much like White Zombie (1932).

Oh, also the doctor's daughter has no chemistry with the protagonist, but right after she almost gets kidnapped to be a virgin sacrifice they fuck so it's real love and she's ride or die for him.

I could probably go on all day about the nonsense this movie has happen.

The author, his publisher, and the publisher's wife are definitely swingers the way they all talk to each other.

The Hispanic pilot gets blown up in his stationary plane by a slow-walking zombie carrying explosives as if he couldn't have just gotten out of the plane.

The protagonist pulls a guy off a boat by his rifle, beats him in the water with it, and then tosses it off in the water instead of taking it himself! He has proven he can still use guns that have been submerged!

He then steals a flare gun off the boat because "it's better than nothing" as if he hadn't just had someone's rifle in his hands a minute ago.

The opening had an extended bit of him making out with a girl, getting caught by her husband and getting chased back to his publisher's car where they drive off laughing as the guy he cucked literally kicks his wife in the butt like some slapstick routine!

NO ONE'S SKIN GETS EATEN!

Feel like doing this after watching this movie.

#nick is a dangerous man #collection reviews #i eat your skin 1971 #the only good thing about this movie is that they have the genre awareness to know what zombies are

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thebigbadspike · 2 years

Note

38, 41, 99, 180, 188, 202, 213, 214, 227, 235, 236, 238, 239, 266, 268

38- do you wake up cranky?

Cranky? No. I'm usually just not awake enough after getting up to care about anything lol

41- share 2 habits

I stir my drinks with knives, not spoons

I never use people's names with them. I will use names in reference to people (when asked by another friend if I call her Buffy, my Buffy explained it pretty well. "To my face? No. In front of me? Yes." She also stated before "when Spike wants your attention he just gets your attention" when discussing with another friend that I don't use names like others do)

99- say 6 facts about your home town

1. It's small. Like... it's not technically a town. Or even a township. It's a charter township, we are technically one step above being a village

2. My hometown mostly consists of churches, liquor stores, and pizza places

3. The only thing to do there is go to the roller rink which is still the go to Friday night hang out for teens

4. Until very recently you had to drive into the city for gas

5. We have more stabbings than shootings

6. During one of the worst winter storms we were the only school district to not close, the surrounding areas made fun of us for years. And we didn't even have high enough attendance for it to count but they still made us stay the whole day

180- share a relationship story

While visiting their friends in CA for a con years ago we broke into an old abandoned zoo for cosplay pictures. We were doing punk!Lion King and even got some shots in the old lion exhibit

188- put your music player on shuffle and write the first ten songs that play

Doubt -Twenty One Pilots

Rise Above -Black Flag

Song for Ten -Doctor Who

Sleep Tight -Rhett and Link

What Do I Get? -Buzzcocks

The Devil You Know (God Is a Man) -Face to Face

Cretin Hop -Ramones

Blister in the Sun -Violent Femmes

Main Offender -The Hives

Sex and Violence -The Exploited

202- what is the first curse word that comes to mind?

Right now? Bollocks, for some reason

213- if you met me what would you do?

Tbh not much lol I'm not the most...friendly person meeting new people irl and tend to not say much, and I usually look intimidating which doesn't help put folks at ease meeting me

214: YOU have to leave me a random/ridiculous question:

What's the strangest thing in your fridge?

227- is it the thought that counts? Or is that phrase circumstancial?

Circumstancial

235- five words/phrases that make you laugh

I honestly don't really laugh much unless you wanna count those small semi amused exhales because that's usually all you'll get from me, there aren't any specific words/phrases that get me. Now if you want people who make me laugh I suggest you watch Mythical Kitchen on YouTube, Josh will make me genuinely laugh out loud

236- share a story of something that makes you smile

I got a cameo from James Marsters when we were doing OMWF and he starts it off with "I bequeath unto you the role of Spike" and it was super genuine and he talked about how playing Spike helped him deal with personal stuff and hoped it would help me the same way. He also said he was a bit jealous because I was getting to play Spike live and he never got to do that

238- what is something you used to enjoy, but was ruined for you? What's the story behind that?

Ok so you know Inkheart? The book by Cornelia Funk (not the movie that was rubbish) well I absolutely love it and had intended to read the whole series but my brother read Inkspell right before I was going to and as he was passing the book off to me he told me my favourite character gets killed. I refused to read it then and still haven't gotten myself to actually do it. I have the books...I just get so mad at my brother for telling me about their death every time I look at the books

239- describe one of the most awkward experiences of your life

In high school I was accepted into this special week long Shakespeare program where we worked for 1 week with professional Shakespearean actors from Stratford. At one point we had to do these bonding things and had to hug one of the others, you had to keep holding it until you were breathing together and say "I love you, [name]" we would mill about the room until they told us to stop and turn to the closest person and do this. I don't like saying those words and especially back then would basically refuse to say it to anyone, so having to say it was already awkward. We only did it twice but the first one one of the other kids was in the bathroom so I got paired with one of the instructors who I thought was attractive so that was awkward enough but then the second go I got paired with the girl I had a crush on 😬 the whole thing was real awkward for me

266- have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Honestly not sure how to answer this, I have a hard time figuring out if I have a crush on anyone really, it takes a lot of work for me to differentiate feelings like that

268- make a confession

I hate tiktok because so many people make their videos impossible for those with processing disorders to watch. I will watch the ones Buffy sends me (typically ADHD based videos) and have agreed to make tiktoks with her when I have my Hades cosplay ready, but I really hate tiktok in general

#asks

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watching-pictures-move · 5 months

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Movie Review | L.A. Takedown (Mann, 1989)

This is obviously nobody's favourite Michael Mann movie, but despite not being a hardcore Mann-head (nothing against the guy, I just haven't really dug in past a certain point), I did find this interesting to consider within the context of his career. This is obviously in the shadow of Heat, and you can see embryonic forms of the latter movie's iconic scenes rendered in a crisp, televisual style. But there's a fair bit of Miami Vice in this one's DNA, and I'm not just saying that because I've been obsessed with that show for the last few months. I mean, even the title plays like a response to that show. (If you must know, I just finished the entire series a few days ago. I suppose I should write something about the finale, but in any case, our long national nightmare of me bringing up the show at every opportunity is finally over... NOT!)

You get a neon-tinged nighttime driving scene like the famous "In the Air Tonight" montage from the pilot episode "Brother's Keeper", although the music choice here, Billy Idol's cover of "L.A. Woman", is a lot more on the nose. (I do think this movie makes better use of it when it recycles it towards the end, accentuating the verve of the final showdown.) But the visual style, with the extra dark interior and nocturnal scenes and sunburnt daytime scenes, brings to mind the look of the not particularly beloved (but still worthwhile, in my opinion) fifth season. Apparently Mann shot this unusually quickly, and he's understandably unable to give L.A. the same curated sense of visual identity he achieved through the extensive location scouting in Vice, but there is an interesting squarish sense of geometry to the movie. Obviously some of that comes with the realities of architecture (buildings and their fixtures only come in certain shapes), but the rigid angles extend to the screen composition and even the action, which is often captured either perpendicularly or directly aligned to us. Despite the relatively bloodless confines of network television, the violence here has a real kick.

And with Vice's casting director Bonnie Timmermann involved, you unsurprisingly get a season's worth of great character actors packed into this. Best is Xander Berkeley as Waingro, playing his character like a more deranged Bruce Willis. Worst, surprisingly, are Scott Plank and Alex McArthur in the Al Pacino and Robert De Niro roles, respectively. Obviously when you're put up against two all time great actors, it's hard to measure up, but you can just look at the coffee scene here to see just how much they come up short. Plank is doing a lot of the shouting that I assumed was Pacino's contribution, and absolutely not pulling it off. Especially bad are the shouting matches he has with his wife, played by Ely Pouget from "Junk Love", who despite her valiant efforts, is given nothing by Plank to play off of. While I haven't seen Heat in some time, I remember the relationship stuff being the worst part, and that's definitely the case here. I should note that the copy I watched on YouTube dropped the audio for a few minutes late in the movie, but it was during these boring ass relationship drama scenes, so I probably didn't miss much. At least when Crockett or Tubbs had bad luck with women, Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas could pull off the material, and there were often wild and highly entertaining twists to boot, like in "Definitely Miami" and "Little Miss Dangerous".

Apparently NBC offered to pick this up if Mann replaced Plank as the lead, which Mann refused to do, so it never went to series. I respect Mann's loyalty to his guy... but Plank sucks and NBC was right to want to replace him.

#film #movie review #l.a. takedown #michael mann

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spideyanakin · 3 years

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Bahrain

Charles Leclerc x F1 Driver! reader

Synopsis - Charles goes crazy when his engineer tells him you're the one who crashed / Instead of Grosjean crashing in Bahrain, you're the one who's car blows up on fire

Author's note - So I requested this to someone a while ago, and I CANT FIND THIS ACCOUNT. IM SO SORRY. So I don't know if they've actually done it because I can't find it under the Charles x reader tag and this an idea that's been clouding my mind for so long I have to get It out of my system 😭😭 so sorry if you've done it, but hey, here's my take on it.

Also I might have made Vettle's Ferrari be a HAAS? bare with me it worked for the fic💀

Masterlist 🧚🏻‍♀️

Charles Leclerc Masterlist 🌻

Can be read alone or as a part 2 to my blurb from white to red

You were a great pilot. The bright, young new addition to Ferrari.

With you and Charles on the team, Ferrari had become so popular in the media that even your boss had thanked you for the fresh new amount of instagram followers and supporters they had gained. You were an iconic power couple, and no one could deny it.

Even Ferrari used it to their advantage. Pairing the two of you in YouTube videos, interviews, making posters where you'd be closer together than the usual partner pics. Instagram posts, sneaky videos of you and Charles supporting each other in the paddock before a race when you thought no one was watching - or at least thought no one filming.

It made the fans crazy, and you were enjoying every part of it.

"So how are you feeling today?"

"Good to be honest." You jumped on your heels as you smiled to the camera.

"No thoughts about starting last?"

"Honestly I think I'll be able to catch up quickly, I'm not afraid of that." You chuckled. "That's why I didn't mind when they asked me. They wouldn't have changed the engine if I didn't agree to it." You nodded, looking at the paddock to greet some staff that I had just arrived.

"How about your rivalry with Charles?" The interviewer sent a cheeky grin to which you smirked. "You think he could take your place in the standings, with the engine penalty and all."

"If I'm being honest, I think he might. But I mean he's only like 2 points behind me, if I manage to catch up with him I should be fine." you smirked. "Hopefully I get to catch up with Norris by the end of this season too."

"Right, I forgot you're aiming to up star him too. Hope he isn't too mad."

"All friendly rivalries." You nodded.

"I also heard your engineer complain because Charles and you were sending each other messages through him." A loud chuckle escaped your lips.

"Yeah-" You nodded, a light blush passing by your cheeks. "He's probably sick of us by now."

"This doesn't distract you during races?"

"We don't do it during races" You shook your head. "Only before a race, like during formation lap, or if there's a red flag or at the end" You bit your lip. "I think we would probably get penalties if we did that, plus it would too distracting, as you said."

"Ready?"

"As always." You smiled before giving Charles a quick kiss.

"Hey, love birds time to race."

"Sorry!" You grinned "Love you."

"Love you too." He squeezed your hand one last time before letting you leave.

You shot a glare to Charles before putting your helmet on. He mouthed a good luck before shooting you a funny look that warmed your heart.

Before you knew it you were both in the car, starting on your formation lap.

"Hey can you send a message to Charles?"

"No."

"C'mon!" You laughed.

"What is it?" you heard the engineer sigh as you focused on the track, setting your mind to the race.

"That I hope he does well, and you can add an I love you."

"I'll definitely not add the I love you."

"As you wish" You chuckled before focusing perfectly on your turn.

"He says he loves you too."

"HHAHHA I KNEW YOU WOULD DO THAT!" You couldn't help but smile, feeling more than ready for the race to come.

"Yeah, yeah. Focus on the race now." You hummed a yes as you parked your car at the far end of the lot. You'd have to work hard to finish with a good score, and you were more than ready for it.

"Lights out and away we go!"

What you didn't know was that, when Norris skipped ahead to the Alpha Tauri of Gasly and Ocon's Renault, he quickly got stuck because of Bottas loosing places.

Ocon and Gasly who came back up made him stuck between the two of them, causing his front wing to take damage from the Alpha Tauri and slow him down. As Vettle in the Haas who was behind Norris headed towards the three cars in front of him, he unfortunately had to slow down, causing Lance Stroll to go off track and back again in front of him after turn 2. Luckily Charles had a good start and was ahead, you could barely see his Ferrari from where you were.

You had a good start too to be honest. Skipping through the Williams, you thought you were doing a pretty good job.

When you spotted Sainz and Vettle slowing down, your immediate thought was too the right, going inside Magnussen's HAAS to skip all the bunched up cars that had accumulated through turn 4.

But you missed Kvyat's Alpha Tauri who was heading the same direction as you.

It all happened so fast.

The second you turned and were ready to go for the straight line, you felt his wheel hit the back of your car, and before you knew it you lost control and headed right for the wall.

The car split in half, sending you fly against the broken railing. Everything exploded, something you had never seen in your driving years.

Back during the race, most of the drivers were starting to see the burning massive fire that started to rise.

At this point no one knew if you were ok, no one even knew who had crashed.

"So, red flag"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. This was a big one" Charles felt his heart thump in his chest, this wasn't an accident you experienced every race, and definitely wasn't something to take lightly. "This was a big one. Are they ok?"

"I'll get back to you." The Engineer suddenly felt a mix of compassion and fear flash right through him. Charles didn't know it was you, he didn't know if you were ok - he was bracing for worst.

"fuck-" Charles said again through the intercom and this didn't help the poor engineer who gulped. "I've seen it in the mirrors..." His voice trailed. "Who is it?" The feared question. He didn't know if it was you, it could have been, you starting from the back. "Is Y/n ok?"

There was a blank in the intercom. As if no one wanted to tell Charles who had crashed. He didn't say anything, too scared for the reply.

"Stay calm Charles."

'Fuck' he thought. If he was telling him this, it had to be you.

"It's Y/n." He felt his whole world crash on him. The sky could have fallen on him and he would have felt better.

"No- p- please" His eyes stung. "Oh- fuck, fuck, fuck me." He angrily made a turn. "S- Still no information?"

"Still no information I will let you know." The engineer choked.

Charles wanted to blame everything and everyone. Himself included. He was beating himself up even thought he knew he had no blame to take for your accident. No one did.

He started regretting every single thing he hadn't done.

He regretted not asking you out to that party when you were 17, and all those other times he wanted to ask you out. Because if he had, he would have gotten be to yours for longer. He regretted putting that vacation the the Caribbean off because of work. He regretted anything he had ever been angry with you about. He regretted everything he hadn't done with you that you always said you would do.

And most of all he regretted not marrying you.

If you didn't make it out alive, his life would be empty forever - and he didn't know how he'd even have the strength to pilot the car back to the pit lane.

In the mean time panic startled you, and every safety test you had ever taken in your life flashed before you. You were getting hot from the fire and your breathing was getting so uneven that for a second you didn't know if you were going to make it out alive.

You managed to unbuckle yourself, slipping through the seat and the halo, jumping through the barrier and out of the fire as best you could, grabbing the medical helpers hand with everything you had in you.

"You alright?" You heard echoes of voices all around you, but it was too hard to focus. You felt someone pull your helmet off as you got into the medical car, making you take as many grateful breath of cool air as you possible could.

"Pit lane, now you will go to the pit lane." Charles heard his engineers voice but could barely listen to it.

"S-Still no information?" He was so scared to ask.

"Still no information."

Silence. Dreaded silence.

"She's out of the car, she's alright." The breath he was holding disappeared into the air.

"Oh fucking hell, thank god" He wanted to cry, kiss you, hug you, anything to show you how much he loved you. He wanted to kiss the people who had designed your car and with enough safety regulations, he wanted to thank every single person and thing in this entire world that you were ok.

Because his world was alive.

You were alive.

Be added to my taglist

#Charles Leclerc #Charles Leclerc x reader #Charles Leclerc x you #Charles Leclerc x y/n #Charles Leclerc imagine #formula 1 imagine #Charles Leclerc fan fiction #f1 imagine #formula 1 #formula 1 fan fiction #f1 fan fiction

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alyona11 · 3 years

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French musicals recs (aka my previous special interests listed in one post)

Actually I wanted to make a post a while ago, since there're some nice musicals that mostly go unnoticed by tumblr even though they are really cool (and have a DVD records)! Before I start I wanna say that these are very different from what Broadway or West End usually stages, so I advise you to just relax and enjoy without purposefully comparing the two together. I bet this gonna be a pretty big post, so clock on "read more"! @machine-without-feelings, hope you'll have fun!

I'm a little extra so it took quite some time to write, so please join me in my weird interest leave a like/rb. Under the read more you'll find:

1) My excited rambles

2) Links to these musicals (proshots with English subs)

3) Some songs to vibe check whether it's something you'd enjoy listening or not

1) Notre-Dame de Paris! Gonna start with this one since it was one of the main reasons I've started to learn French. There was a time where I would watch it every single day. I probably watched it a millions of times by now and was obsessed with it for a good couple of years.

About: What can I say? It's a Hunchback of Notre Dame adaptation that sadly usually goes overlooked when English speakers talk about the book. Which is a shame! Cool French-Canadian cast, good grasp of the original, really nice lyrics and music. Love from the first song for me.

Where to watch: here with English subs, the quality isn't the best, I have a better one on my google drive so you can DM me for link. Plus there're some DVDs of different productions (notably Italian one) just waiting in the internet for free.

Songs recs (to get the vibe of the musical): Actually it's hard to choose, because I love the thing so much, but here're some.

Classic Belle, Le Temps des Cathédrales, Ma Maison C'est Ta Maison, Pretty Guys In Pants In The Background song, Song after which I became Daniel Lavoie fan lmao could add some more but you haven't got all day, just check the whole thing.

2) Le Petit Prince! I said that I wanna promote it and I will. As I said earlier I really liked Daniel Lavoie (aka the guy who played Frollo) and here he plays the pilot!

About: A very very very good adaptation of The Little Prince book. Literally quotes the book in most songs. The music is written by the same composer as NDDP, so it's good. The set and costume design is amazing! It's very colourful and inspired by author's illustrations. I cry each time I watch it cos it gives me FEELS. Also a good musical for beginner French learners imo, not as hard as NDDP, can be an addition to reading the original book. Wholeheartedly recommend, it's criminally underrated.

Where to watch: There's a playlist with English subs, French subs are also to be found on YouTube if you want them.

Songs: Dédicace, C'est un chapeau, Apprivoise-moi.

3) Well, cannot avoid mentionning Roméo et Juliette. Kinda a classic, to be fair. Was probably the 2nd French musical I've heard. More active in terms of music, some tunes gonna stuck in your head for days.

About: Well, it's obvious from the name. Kinda cool actually? Weird in some places but not in a bad way. Good musical to have a fun time (well. at least act 1 is fun, right?). The costumes are a bit cheesy, but that's not important. Still sad the pandemic ruined its tour I hope to see it live one day.

Where to watch: Actually it has two DVDs of different versions from different productions. Some songs changed, I vibe with the earlier version more, but the newer one is nice too.

Songs: Oh these slap, haut my mind since the second I first heard them. Kinda pop. But not that boring pop that modern French musicals have, it kinda has its style. Here're some of my favs: Vérone, Les Rois Du Monde, Aimer (aka the song I can listen for hours).

4) Starmania. Speaking about classic. To be fair, never watched it, only listened to the albums, but I mean it's still looks more like a concert.

About: deppressive cyberpunk and anti-utopia. A lit of bandits. Evil capitalist included. A classic. If you were interested in French songs you've probably heard some of these multiple times.

Where to watch: here

Songs: SOS d'un terrien en detresse, Le Monde Est Stone, Le Blues Du Businessman

5) Le Roi Soleil. Ok, I cannot explain why I like this one. Can't say I was obsessed with it, but I liked it a lot. I like the songs, enjoy relistening from time to time.

About: Louis 14. That's it, that's the musical. Kinda about his romantic relationships and king issues. A bit about La Fronde. But mostly about romance, lmao.

Where to watch: boop

Songs: Être à l'hauteur, Contre Ceux D'un Haut, Un Geste De Vous.

6) Mozart L'Opéra Rock. Was kinda hesistant to add it to the list because I mostly wanted to mention least well-know stuff and it feels to me that Mozart is kinda hype-ish? But I got that it may be not so well-known for the English speakers and it's worth checking out!

About: Well it's about Mozart and it's rock! The songs slap! probably will get in your head and you gonna whistle Le Bien Qui Fait Mal or something. Also Mozart and Salieri are pretty gay.

Where to watch: here! and the quality is great!

Songs: L'Assasymphonie, Place je Passe, J'accuse mon père, Bim Bam Bim Boum

Ok, I'll stop there cos this post took me a few hours to write, I could have added some other musicals, but I guess I need to rewatch them first, cos I barely remember them.

#me being me #musicals #french #french musicals #le petit prince #notre dame de paris #mozart l'opera rock #le roi soleil #starmania #romeo et juliette #my recs #i'd say that nddp and le petit prince are an absolute must-watch #others I like but these two are in its own league

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voltronfandomhag · 3 years

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Albegas/Gladiator Voltron Revisited

A few years ago I posted about Gladiator Voltron, the proposed third Voltron season which was to be adapted from Lightspeed Electroid Albegas. Ultimately it was abandoned in favor of producing another batch of Lion Voltron episodes. About a year ago Toei released the first two episodes of Albegas with English subtitles on Youtube. You can watch both episodes here and here.

This post is meant to be an update of my first Gladiator Voltron/Albegas post, with more detail about the characters and setting. I also briefly share my thoughts on the show based on the two episodes available.

SETTING AND STORY

In the future, the nations of Earth have been at peace with each other for many years. Our three protagonists, Daisaku, Tetsuya, and Hotaru, are talented students at Aoda School, which is famous for its robotics program and located near Mt. Fuji. Their lives are turned upside down when the evil alien Derringer Empire, who already rules the galaxy, invades Earth. Earth’s only hope against this threat is the super robot Albegas and the three teenagers piloting it.

THE HEROES

Our heroes are teenagers who attend Aoda School in Japan. Each of them created a robot for a school competition. Their bots were later improved and modified so they could combine into Albegas.

Daisaku Enjoji

Daisaku is brash, confident, loud-mouthed, and a total cad. Despite his bad grades, his skills in robotics are apparently superior to both Tetsuya and Hotaru’s. He comes from a working class family consisting of his painter father, stay-at-home mother, cheeky younger brother Jiro, and a younger sister. Both he and Tetsuya have a crush on Hotaru, though Daisaku is more blatant and perverted about it. His hobby is soccer. Pilots Alpha Robo (black).

Tetsuya Jin

Tetsuya comes across as more reserved than his two teammates. Like the others, he’s a student at Aoba School and skilled in robotics. It’s unknown what his grades are like, but at least one of his teachers, Ms. Danko Kibi, scolds him for his rebellious attitude. He and his sister grew up orphans with no other family to take care of them. Currently he lives alone in the school dorms. Tetsuya feels lonely and envies those who still have parents. What happened to his parents, along with the whereabouts of his sister, aren’t mentioned in the first two episodes. Unfortunately, he’s something of a slob; his dorm room is a mess. Like Daisaku, he also has a crush on Hotaru. However, he’s more subtle about it and expresses exasperation at Daisaku’s pervy antics towards her. His hobby is playing guitar. Pilots Beta Robo (blue).

Hotaru Mizuki

Hotaru is the daughter of Professor Mizuki; her mother isn’t mentioned, but it’s implied she’s been out of the picture for a long time. Beautiful, intelligent, and feminine, she’s the star of Aoba School and her class representative. Despite being adored by her teachers and the heartthrob of her male classmates, she’s bullied by her female peers. She also longs for a mother figure; there’s a scene where Hotaru outright tells her father and his assistant, Saeko Asabuki, that she approves of their relationship and hopes they get married so Saeko can be her stepmother. While annoyed by Daisaku’s caddish ways, it’s implied the attraction might be mutual. Her hobby is tennis. Pilots Gamma Robo (red).

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

The allies, family, and friends of our heroes.

Goro Kumai

HIS JAPANESE BLOOD TINGLES! A well-meaning but bumbling classmate of the main trio who serves as the show’s comic relief. Goro does his best to help defend Earth with his self-made gorilla robot but he’s simply out of his league. Daisaku considers him a burden while Hotaru pities him. He has an unreciprocated crush on Hotaru.

Professor Mizuki

A brilliant scientist and Hotaru’s father. His knowledge of robotics is second to none. After the main trio’s robots were nearly destroyed by invading Derringer, he not only rebuilt them, but made them much more powerful and able to combine into Albegas. He also serves as both a mentor and the voice of reason; he tries to encourage the trio to exercise caution and patience. However, his words often fall on deaf ears, and the trio’s insistence on rushing headlong into battle against his repeated warnings frustrates him. But he believes in the trio’s abilities. It’s implied he’s sweet on his assistant, Saeko Asabuki.

Saeko Asabuki

Professor Mizuki’s assistant and love interest. She’s soft spoken, beautiful, and lady-like. Hotaru wants her as a stepmother.

Ms. Danko Kibi

An overbearing, outspoken and strong willed teacher at Aoba School. She takes her job very seriously, is fiercely proud of the school, and believes it’s important her students grow to be strong, stout, and fearless. Despite not being the head teacher, she often gets her way through sheer force of personality.

THE VILLAINS

The villains aren’t very fleshed out, but given I only had two episodes, that’s not very surprising. Anyway, the Derringer are an evil purple-skinned alien race of conquers who have set their sights on Earth. They desire our planet for its beauty and consider humans primitive. Albegas is humanity’s only effective weapon against their superior technology. Their giant robot Mecha-Fighters are the Derringer’s most fearsome weapon.

Lord Deran the Great

Supreme ruler of the Derringer. We don’t actually see him in these episodes. The only information we learn about him is he desires all things beautiful as his own.

President Azass

The leader of the invading Derringer force stationed in a base orbiting Earth.

General Duston

President Azass’s top officer, at least during these first two episodes. He’s ruthless, prideful, and doesn’t take humans seriously.

General Catastra

Another army officer on President Azass’s orbital base.

Dyme

Yet another Derringer officer. He considers Duston an incompetent moron for not taking Albegas more seriously as a threat

LIGHTSPEED ELECTROID ALBEGAS

The three robots that compose Albegas (Alpha Robot, Beta Robo, and Gamma Robo) were not originally designed to combine together. Instead they were individually built by the main trio as entries into a school competition. When the Derringer attacked Japan, the three teens attempted to fight off the invaders in their robots, but were soundly defeated. Professor Mizuki, seeing the robots’ potential, both rebuilt and heavily modified them, making them far more powerful and able to combine together into multiple configurations. However, the three pilots, at first, don’t know and understand just how extensive the modifications were despite Professor Mizuki’s repeated warnings. Unfortunately, circumstances in the first two episodes have not given them time for proper training. As a result, the pilots are learning about Albegas’s abilities, and how to use them, in the heat of combat.

As stated, the robot comprising Albegas can combine in different ways, with each combination having its own specialization.

Denjin Dimension

Alpha, Beta, Gamma. This is the basic combat configuration. Can use the finishing move Denjin Sanbai Sword.

Sky Dimension

Beta, Alpha, Gamma. We don’t see any of its abilities, but I’m guessing it specializes in flight and/or aerial combat.

Professor Mizuki mentions four other modes: Space, Sea, Underground, and Rescue.

My Thoughts

Do I think American Voltron fans missed out by not having Albegas localized? Not really. Between this, Golion, and Dairuggar, I feel this was the weakest show of the three, and I don’t think it would’ve captured kid’s imaginations the way Lion Voltron did. Granted, in some ways Albegas has more elements in common with GoLion than Diaruggar: small number of pilots, planet bound, faster paced, and a simpler story. But, again, I only have two episodes to go by, so I could be wrong on some of those points. But I’m interested enough that I’d watch more episodes if they became available.

#albegas #lightspeed electroid albegas #gladiator voltron #tetsuya jin #hotaru mizuki #daisaku enjoji #voltron

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fruitless-nonsense · 3 years

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Okay, so I didn’t actually think anyone would care what I had to say. I just saw a post that riled me up and I wrote that to let off some steam. That being said, to everyone who liked my post or just read it thank you from the bottom of my heart. Seriously it means so much to me that there are people who notice what I have to say. That being said, I want to do more of these cause I have a lot of opinions that aren’t widespread, and I’d like to start with a post gushing about a certain character that receives too much hate. However, seeing as this isn’t a rant out of agitation this might take a bit longer to get out. With that long introduction out of the way... Cami O’Connell!

As I said, Cami is my favorite female character in the whole of the tvdverse (Bonnie is a close second). The reason why I want to start with her instead of Bonnie or my favorite character (Marcel) is because while both were royally screwed with by the writers, there are plenty of fans online who sing their praises (as they deserve). However, when it comes to Cami the consensus online is either hatred or indifference by a vast majority of the fans (that being said there are still a good amount of people who do love her I’m not saying there aren’t, but they are in the minority). This is something I never quite understood, but I’m gonna try my best educated guess on it.

I suppose before I go any further, I have a confession to make. The way I watched both tvd and to was not a straight line. Several years ago, I decided to finally watch tvd and started with the first two season (which I really liked), then a youtuber dropped a video analyzing the pilot for to and the premise hooked me immediately so I started the first season and kept watching until finishing the third, then I decided to go back and watch tvd seasons three and four, then got bored so I switched back to finish to, and finally after a few months declared I wanted to finish what I started and slogged through the second half of tvd. Why is this relevant? Well I just wanted to inform y’all as this might’ve led to my different perspectives on many things in both shows, and it hopefully can somewhat explain my reasoning

Going back to Cami, why is she my favorite female? A multitude of reasons. Firstly, I love how different she is from other female characters we’ve seen. Characters like Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline are fun in their own right, with bubbly personalities and childish innocence. This makes sense because they’re teenagers! Even Elena’s angst comes off more like young naivety than a wayward soul. I’m not knocking this characterization, it makes sense that a show aimed at teenagers would have teenage girls as it’s main cast. Where am I going with this? Cami might be the most mature character we’ve seen in this universe that actually has a pretty big part in the cast. What I mean is that shows like this paint maturity on women as being motherly or a stick in the mud, but Cami is neither. She’s still fun and loose, but with an aura of restraint and intelligence that needs to be accumulated over time. She’s not even that old! My guesstimation puts her at 23 cause we know she’s graduated college with a degree in psychology and was already working at Rousseau’s in the pilot (you mean to tell me you don’t just get your dream job right out of college, you have to work some dead end jobs first? YA lied to me!). I don’t know how quite to describe it beyond that, Cami just feels like a real person to me, and that makes me invested in her life even more.

Secondly, is her personality beyond her intelligence. I love how empathetic and kind she is! In the span of three seasons, she had helped almost everyone in the show while never sticking her feet into the main drama. That’s another thing, she knows when something’s over her head and will step out when she can, when something is pushing her, she fights back. I love that despite how kind hearted she is, she’s not a pushover. If there’s something she doesn’t like, she will attest. She may be nice, but get on her bad side and her sass will cut you like a knife. Considering she’s only a human against these witches, vampires, and originals you would call this unrealistic, but it works because unlike most people on the show, she’s smart. I know I just said beyond her intelligence, but I just want to gush about how fun it is watching Cami get out of trouble on her own by using nothing but her brain (I just think it’s neat). Characters this complex are not usually reserved for women on the cw, which leads into my final reason.

I love how much agency Cami has throughout her run on the show! Like, her story isn’t stapled to Klaus, she does so much without him even being there. In tvd, I can’t think of a single storyline Elena had that wasn’t tied to one or both of the Salvatore brothers, Bonnie is constantly being abused by the writers, Caroline is forcibly impregnated, Hayley starts off with her own goals before being tied to Jackson and later Elijah, Davina also starts off with her own ambitions before also being shackled to her love interest to resurrecting Kol being her only storyline in season three. I’m sure there are more, but these are just ones off the top of my head. While this makes me wish she had her own storyline, I acknowledge she is a supporting character (which begs the question of why none of the women in the main cast get this luxury but I digress).

This has been very long, and we’re just getting to complaints. Unlike complaints about the ship, I have yet to find an argument about why Cami sucks that isn’t factually incorrect, so if you have one please share. The first complaint I hear is that Cami is a copy of Caroline (I’ll give y’all that have seen the show a second to stop laughing at the statement). I’ve already explained why Caroline and Cami are two very different characters (hint: one is bubble and energetic and one is calm and mature), I know they’re both blonde, nice, empathetic, and have names that start with c, but try paying attention to what you’re watching then maybe you’ll have a better grasp on it. Secondly is that Cami’s only purpose is being Klaus’ love interest. Like I stated, there’s a lot Cami does where Klaus isn’t even present, unless you’re saying everyone Cami has had a story with was a love interest (So Davina, Josh, Hayley, Elijah, Marcel cerca season two onward, Vincent, Lucien, that detective guy, and her uncle Kieran), in that case I think y’all are onto something with Cami being a Mary Sue cause she getting all the action (note the sarcasm)! That’s another thing, people say Cami’s a Mary Sue cause almost everyone loves her and she has basically no flaws. First of all, I don’t believe Mary Sue to be a character problem but a story problem, and above all an excuse to neuter powerful women lest they make fragile men uncomfortable. Second of all, we see Cami form these relationships in real time through her actions not by her existence. Third of all (not that she needs them to be a good character since other favs don’t), Cami has her stubbornness that eventually got her killed and the fact that strength wise she is the weakest character in the show by her being human.

Are you catching on to some of what I’m saying? Most of these complaints aren’t even true, yet it’s all we hear. My first inclination was to blame this hatred on klaroline shippers who were bitter that their ship could no longer sail, but then I saw posts of people who claimed not to ship them and still hated Cami because she was “just a love interest.” Which leads into the other problem with haters: the hypocrisy. Reasons people hate Cami are elements in other characters that these same people love. Never mind the fact that some of these complaints don’t even apply to her like the love interest thing. To use something that isn’t a lie, people will hate on Cami for sleeping with Marcel in season one when Marcel is Klaus’ son, meanwhile y’all seem to forget Elena not only dated but cheated on Stefan with Damon in the finale of tvd season two (spoiler: she kissed him on his deathbed while her boyfriend and his brother was searching for a way to save him, which doesn’t even go into all their kisses in season three) and furthermore shipping Marcel with Rebekah who would be his aunt (I know some people who ship them acknowledge this but damn). I also know these people jumped at the chance to attack Cami for stealing the white oak stake in season three and ignoring what she was going through meanwhile will wave past everything Elena, Damon, and Caroline did when they had their humanity turned off as “they were going through a lot” (disclaimer: no hate to either of those girls, they were understandably in much pain, just wanna expose the hypocrisy). This all made me reevaluate the reasoning as more than just shippers being bitter, this seemed much more malicious to just be that.

After a lot of thought, my only conclusion I can come to is sexism. Cami is a very different female character than what we’re used to, she’s strong willed, opinionated, smarter than the men, and more mature. I guess fans weren’t ready for a character like that so assumed it was bad or just wrote her off as too different, but that’s giving the benefit of the doubt. To be honest, I still don’t know why she was so hated and continues to be ignored by fans, but maybe it’s time we start asking that question. It’s time we appreciate characters like this so maybe we can have more of them on the cw. It’s time to give Camille O’Connell and Leah Pipes the respect they deserve!

(P.S - Can someone far more talented than me please put out some Cami x reader content? I’m starved of my girl and Leah is too pretty for my gay brain to function!)

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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One Year Anniversary: Top 12 Ducktales Episodes!

Happy anniversary all you happy people! Yes it was one year ago today I started reviewing animation and it’s been a ride to be sure. I’d always WANTED to be a reviewer: I love going on and on about stuff I love, really digging into it and picking it apart... but I could never get started. I tried youtube but I didn’t have the money for the equipment nor a proper shooting space to record, so my efforts.. were not great. And while I TRIED text reviews, my own looming pile of self hatred meant every attempt I made was shot down when it got hard as me not being good enough.

But one year ago I finally got past that. I’d already been reviewing a bit, doing invididual issues of comics... but got way in over my head trying to do the current line of X-Men comics as it came out, and wisely bowed out of that. But that left a gap: I had nothing to cover week to week and with a demanding new job, I drifted into just doing in charcter chats, little fan fictions script styles. Not bad work, I should do some more at some point and I even got a comissoin once in a while, but nothing I could really live on and not what I wanted to do with my life.

Enter Ducktales. I’d always WANTED to review the show.. and when the double premire happened, I decided fuck it, and put up my thoughts. And then decided.. hey maybe I can do this every week.. and slowly.. my work evolved, getting better and better, getting more and more likes. I picked up Amphibia when that came by week to week.

And eventually.. this went from a hobby, if one I was passionate about to a career. Not a largely paying one, as only one person was really intrested in paying me for it, friend of the blog and our fincial backer @weirdkev27, but .. it’s money and i’m now making about 30 dollars a month due to a comination of comissions and patreon. Other contributers are always welcome mind you, my patreon is here if your curious and comissions are 5 dollars an episode, but i’ts just nice to have money coming in. To have gone from simply WANTING to review things and make a living off it.. to simply doing it.

And it’s been one hell of a year.. and not just because 2020 felt like hell or 2021 began with a full on insurrection. I feel like i’ve acomplished a lot in the year i’ve been doing this: I finished what I started with Ducktales season 3, getting better and better as I went. And I didn’t stop there with ducks: I started covering what brought me to Ducks in the first place, the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, and while that retrospective has slid a bit on the schedule, I intend to get it back on track this month. I reviewed a bunch of Darkwing Duck episodes leading up to the Just Us Justice Ducks.. chronologically anyway. The actual airing order reads like someone took 50 issues of a comic, made it rain with them, then just started reading whatever ones they picked up randomly. I also covered some of Duck Master Carl Barks work with the classics Night on Bear Mountain, A Christmas for Shacktown and Back to the Klondike, with more to come.

And the Duck didn’t stop at just reviews I did on my own: Kev comissioned two MASSIVE retrospectives from me: My first for him was Ride of the Three Caballleros where in just a few short months I covered the boys entire televisied careers together from the movie, to house of mouse, to mickey and the roadster racers, to ducktales (again) and finishing with the wonderful Legend of the Three Caballeros. It has probably the worst Daisy imaginable, but otherwise is really excellent and i’m glad I finally watched it. I also covered Don Rosa’s two stories with the boys as part of it. It was a fun ride and I enjoyed every minute of it... okay most of them again Three Cabs Daisy is the worst. And once that finished Kev started up another idea: Shadow Into Light: a look at Lena’s character arc from start to finish that has gone on to be my most popular series on this blog, and that finishes next week. And there’s more to come as after that there’s a short breather with a look at Lilo and Stitch’s crossover episodes.. folllowed by me looking at all three of season 2′s ducktales arcs. And I fully intend to have covered every episode of the series by this time next year, so stay tuned.

Outside of ducks though I didn’t slow down. I restarted my Tom Lucitor retrospective, covering what i feel to be one of Star Vs’ two best characters, tied with eclipsa, and my personal faviorite as he redeemeed himself, found love and I bitched a lot about the horrible directions the series took and probabably will more as that’s still not done yet. I did what I always wanted to do and started looks at some of my faviorite comics ever, starting with Life and Times and adding in New X-Men and Scott PIlgrim. I also threw in the awesome comic Blacksad. I did pride month for the first time and not only came out publicly, but also did two whole arcs i’m proud of with The Saluna episodes of Loud house and the rednid episodes of OK KO, and generally just had myself a good old fashioned time as an out bi man reviewing childrens cartoons.

I started Season 2 of amphibia with it’s lows of an endlesss road trip and highs of adding Marcy to the cast and giving us more of the silky voiced keith david. And finally Patreon wise Kev’s taken me on a hell o fa journey: In addition to the restrospectives i’ve covered some additional darkwing duck, and a simpsons homage to the duck comics... but also got a bit weird and obscure with detours like the lost animnaics sucessor Histeria, the apocalyptic comedy where Santa dosen’t know how doors work Whoops! and the adventures of Santa’s bratty teen daughter jingle belle. In short.. it’s been a long year but damn has it been fun and there’s more to come. I’d like to thank all of you for reading, thank my Patreons Kev and Emma for supporting me, and thank my family for doing the same. So with that out of the way, I figured the best way to celebrate was to do something i’ve been wanting to do for a long time, something honoring the show that gave me this calling in the first place. And with Season 3 sadly being the last, and enough weeks having passed for me to digest it between the finale and today, I could think of nothing better than my top 12 episodes of Ducktales.

Ducktales is one of the best cartoons of the 2010′s. Brilliantly taking EVERYTHING that had come before, the comics, the original cartoon and every bit of duck media period to craft a masterful, unique and wonderful reboot. It was funny, it was insane, and it had damn good character arcs. By the end every member of the main cast along with major supporting cast members like Fenton, Drake and especially Lena, had changed and signifigantly at that. The show was everything I could’ve dreamed of and more and I miss it terribly, hoping DIsney will do a revivial movie at some point. For now though, Frank and Matt’s run on ducktales, as they called it and I do too since i’m a massive comic book nerd, it’s time to look back on my favorite tales of ducks. So grab your sharks, your number one dimes and your friendship cakes with clear gay undertones and join me under the cut as I celebrate one of my faviorite shows and my anniversary in the best way possible.

12. House of the Lucky Gander!

So as i’ve gone on about before and no doubt will again, Donald kinda got the short end of the stick in season 1. While Frank and Matt had good story intentions, keeping Donald away from adventure since he had no interest in it, in practice it meant a beloved Disney Icon who they and disney HEAVILY promoted as part of the series and whose being here this go round was a big draw for fans of the comics.... was only in a quarter of the season and only got TWO plots centered around him in 23 episodes, with only one being the main plot of the episode. The PIlot and Finale both centered around the family more as a whole if your curious how I counted those so while he got plenty of focus in both, it’s still not a day in the limelight sort of thing.

But unusually for Donald, he lucked out as his one big starring role for Season 1 was both one of my faviorites and one of Season 1′s most inventive outings. A lot of the episodes enegy comes from a one two punch of a great guest star and one of the series best settings. The guest star is of course everyone’s faviorite overly lucky himbo Gladstone Gander. The show adapted the prick perfectly: The original Gladstone from the comics.. was the worst asshole imaginable, utterly insufferable. And for a villian, and Donald’s rival, that’s all well and good.. but his super luck meant he RARELY , if ever, suffered any consequences for being just...

The 87 series simply made him nicer, while Going Quackers simply removed his luck. No adaptation really got how to make this fucker work.. until this one. Here Frank split the diffrence: Gladstone is still smug.. but he’s no longer actively malicious. While he is an insensitive prick to Donald in this one, unlike the comics he’s not constantly bragging about his luck or how great he is or actively BAITING Donald to fight with him or trying to ruin his relationship or a million other reasons he sucks and I hate him.

This version by contrast... is generous. He’s not the most empathetic, because he doesn’t get how life works, but he does share the riches of the casnio with everyone and in a cameo appearance in “Treasure of the Found Lamp” gladly offers his nephews some diamonds. He’s got a nice surface level charm to him that makes you understand why people like him.. but it’s also clear ther’es nothing UNDER that of value, making you equally understand why Scrooge and Donald hate him. Gladstone in this reboot is a perfect example of why we need reboots or new adaptations in the first place: Because sometimes the original got something wrong or something can be done much better by the new writers.

He’s perfectly paired with the setting: The House of Lucky Fortune, a mystical casino with an East Asian astatic based in the country of Macaw and provides two great plots. Donald’s really highlights his character: His understandable jealousy at gladstone earning the boys love through nothing while he struggles to make a living for them, and how he feels like a looser and like Gladstone is simply showing that off instead of just not knowing what empathy is. Having Louie be the one to bond with Gladstone was also just pitch pefefct, as is showing some depth for the boy by having himr ealize his hero is an asshole and be the one to help donald in the end.

The other plot is just pure joy though and is where the setting REALLY shines: Scrooge and the rest of the kids try to leave.. but can’t find the exit. This is where the creative part comes in: The Casino simply morphs to keep people trapped, and caters to them, giving them whatever they want to keep them trapped. In the cases of the kids it’s all hilarious and adorably in character: Huey becomes entranced by a fancy water show, in one of his best bits of the season, Dewey gets a pet tiger who sadly did not come home with him and Webby gets to live the dream we’ve all had of stuffing her face directly in a choclate fountain. Scrooge’s escape is likewise clever: He simply prepares to get a room.. then books it as the check in desk is ALWAYS near the front.

We then find out Gladston’es trapped get the whole mystical contest with absolutely gorgeous animation, i’ll talk about it in full some time but this episode is just a treat to watch, has a great arc for donald and had some memorable gags. I can’t help but smile when I watch it.

11. The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee! As I mentioned before i’m a superhero nerd so naturally Fenton was one of my faviorite parts of the show. Frank and Matt were just damn good at crafting superhero stories, and like gladstone improved fenton turning him from an awkward donald stand in to an awkward peter parker-esque science nerd who just wants to be a good person and the best hero he can be. He got into science not just because he thinks it’s neat, but because he honestly wants to help people and you can’t help but foot for him whenever he pops up. Lin Manuel Miranda is a large reason for that, bringing his incomparable a-game to the character. While we sadly didn’t get a ton of gizmoduck focused episodes, the fatct we got AS MANY as we did and that Lin didn’t drop out for a minute even with his busy schedule was a miracle and I’m acknowledging that.

As for why this one, I feel it builds brilliantly on the previous Fentoncentric episode Who Is Gizmoduck?! which just BARELY didn’t make this list and uses the fact we haven’t seen fenton in a while as both a plot point and to move some things forward without having to spend screentime they clearly didn’t have. By having Fenton be just burnt out on superheroics it finds a way to both explain where he’s been, he’s been busy with his new job, and give us an interesting angle to the old “superhero is tired of the life” thing. He never once complains about saving people or stuff... it’s just like any job it gets tiring after a while. As someone who has his dream job but has struggled with it from time to time, I vastly relate.

Though while I love my boy and Lin is game as always, the episodes real MVP is my other boy Huey. The episode has moved Huey up from being simply Fenton’s fanboy to being his best friend, and adorable as hell relationship. The two clearly respect and appricate each other and Huey is looking out for his buddy the whole episode. His love of love is also just really cute. Added in the mix is Webby, who in one of my faviorite gags of the series, finds out Fenton is Gizmoduck because Huey is incredibly and insanely blatant with his unecessary coverup. But she of course is game to help while Fenton is trying to play it casual. We also just get a waterfall of great gags as everyone overdoes it wingmanning for fenton: Huey sets up an itallian bistro and tries to purposfully create a lady and the tramp situation, and sings opera (With Manny on acordian), the wonderfully 80′s suit from Fenton’s dad his mom gives him to wear, and Launchpad, who gives us a tremendous list of his exes, and plays my favorite song of the series: It’s a Date, a micheal mcdonnel riff.

This episode also wisely ups Mark’s Beaks game as Fenton’s arch enemy, still keeping him hilaroius, with the guy acting like a bored teenager and guzzling so much nanite jucie he turns into a hulk, as well as said hulk mode leading to a ton of great gags from kidnapping the children (”I got your kids.. are they your kids? I don’t know how this family works), to “take that coach dad” to eating a pie with tins and all and wondering about said tins. But he’s an actual threat now, taking on fenton in one hell of a fight, and having an utterly transcendent scene where he hacks his way past gyro’s security while dancing.. and dabbing because of course he does. It’s a fun, well done character piece that’s mostly here for i’ts laugh but Fenton’s struggle with Gizmo overtaking his life, and finding out someone he truly hit it off iwth only wanted him for that.. it’s really good stuff and Lin’s delivery after Fenton finds out, the pure pain and betryal in his voice, is just excellent. Also that opera scene is poetry.

10. Quack Pack!

One of the episodes that started my career naturally landed here. Not for that reason though: Quack Pack is a fun riff on sitcoms, specifically the tgif ones of the 90′s that Disney Afternoon Kids no doubt also watched, the kinds Disney Channel still makes today, and most importanly the kind the Disney Afternoon itself made like Goof Troop and well... Quack Pack.

Riffs on sitcoms are nothing new and the last year has been FULL of them. 2020 gave us this episode, Beef House and the wonderful “The Perfect House” episode of Close Enough, and this year gave us WandaVision, my second favorite MCU project so far, right behind Black Panther, which used the sitcom deconstruction to create one hell of a character study.

So you’d think with a year having passed and this concept happening as an entire mini series would dull this one.. but no. it’s still damn funny, having fun at the cliches while, again like WandaVision, having one of the main cast be responsible by accident but go along with it. The episode pivots from glorious affectionate parody of cheesy sitcoms, to that plus horrifying “Humans”, and a character piece for Donald. This brings Donald’s hatred and fed up ness with adventure to a head revealing his fondest wish is just to have a normal life and not loose anyone again.

It takes one of his best friends to snap him out of it. Look Goofy is my second faviorite of the sensational seven, an episode with him was already an easy sell for me.. but the episode uses him really well. First for laughs as he’s gentically dispositioned to be a perfect sitcom neighbor.. but also for heart. With his family preoccupied and a bit hurt, i’ts Goofy who cuts to the heart of the issue, pointing out NO ONE is normal and even his normal domestic life raising Max, who we see go to prom with roxanne eeeeee, has all sorts of chaos. Normal is what you make of it and pining for some ideal that will never happen was just tearing donald apart piece by piece and by letting go of that.. he finally begins to grow as a person throughout the season. It’s also a great thematic tie in to the season’s overall plot with Bradford and what Makes donald, despite also disliking the chaos his family gets into, different. Donald accepted it and grew as a person.. Bradford clung to his hate and it ate him alive. Or turned him into a non-sapient kind of vulture. Before I close this part out Jaleel White is also excellent and I wish eh’d get back into voice acting. He’s so freaking good at it. Seriously man i’d love to see him and ben in a sonic property together as a mythology gag. Same with Jims cummings and carey. Just think about it whoever owns the sonic movies.. think about it.

9. The Last Adventure!

Look I knew this was coming, you knew this was coming. But it had to be on here. The Last Adventure is not perfect: The lack of a build up episode like the previous two finales had really hurt this one: even at about 70 minutes, it still feels rushed in places and Huey, one of hte main characters of the season, dosen’t feel like he has a full payoff to his character like Dewey and Louie got.

But despite those flaws.. this episode is just a damn good ending. Almost everyone gets a big moment paying off their character arc, everyone in the party that comes to rescue webby and huey, along with the two themselves, gets a moment to show off, and everything comes together to give us one last epic sendoff. There’s just moment stacked on moment stacked on moment from Launchpads heroic second wind and donning of the gizmoduck armor, to Webby’s tearful confrontation with Beakley, to Huey using the greatest adventure of all line to foil bradford in one of the most deligfhully nuts moments of the series, I could go on for days with just how triumphant this finale felt. While it left a lot of doors open.. that feels like part of the design. It’s the end of the fight with FOWL.. but our heroes will never stop adventuring, never stop going and never stop being in our hearts and the curtain call at the end is now my faviorite bit of end credits ever, perfectly giving the main cast and friends one last chance to take a bow in their own unique ways. I will always miss this show but I will never be disapointed by the note it went out on.

8. The 87 Cent Solution!

Look some episodes are show stoppers, some are heartfelt tearjerkers, some are all this and more.. and some episodes are just clever and hilarious. The 87 Solution is the second funniest episode of Ducktales with me and my go to episode when watching the show. It’s just pure fun and with a clever premise: Scrooge notices 87 cents have gone missing, and already coming down with a cold, goes mad with paranoia as the kids slowly don face masks, something that has become even eeerier given everything, one by one realizing he needs to stop.

While David Tennant is an EXCELLENT dramatic actor, his comedy timing is really something that shoudln’t be ignored and i’ts on full display here as his performance gets more and more deranged, to thep oint he thinks an 8th dimensional imp is repsonsible. He nicely balances the disturbing side of Scrooge’s paranoia, his distancing from his family, with plenty of great gags about it too, the standout being when he offers 2 million dollars to whoever took the money like he’s publicly appeasing kidnappers. It’s fucking brilliant.

But while David is awesome as ever what really, truly makes the episode is my boy, one of my faviorite characters on the show if not my single faviriote FLINTHEART GLOMGOLD. Keith Ferguson is ALWAYS a dream as the character but this is his best performance by far. Part of this is the addition of Zan Owlson, Kev who I mentioned earlier’s faviorite Ducktales character. She’s not only throughly likeable in her own right, but provides the one thing Flinty was missing; a straight man.. or woman in this case. Scrooge wasn’t TERRIBLE in the roll, but can easily step away from his shit or foil it. Owlson has to put up with Glomgold’s nonsense while desperatly trying to stop him from undoing all her hard work with sheer force of jackass. The two jut play off each other brilliantly, Glomgold not getting sh’es not his employee but his equal and Owlson constnatly snarking at him.

And of course both things hit their peak in the climax with the family staging a fake funeral (Though no one told donald it was fake), and we get the funniest scene in the entire fucking show as Glomgold burts in in a white suit, money shades and full dance number to “All I Do Is Win’, which when first watching this I was convinced the song was somehow accidnetly on in the background but nope. They got it after using it in the test phase and the scene is better for it. Glomgold twerking on Scrooge’s casket, trying to get on it to dance, and having to be placated like ac hild is the icing on this very rich cake

And the reveal scene is also gold as Glomgold gets into a YEARLONG staring contest with a baby, fails to steal more than the 87 cents and, in my faviorite touch, put on an imp costume just to make scrooge seem crazier... then keeps the damn thing on the rest of the time for no explicable reason. The episode is the show at it’s comedic peak while giving Glomgold a chance to be a genuine threat and that’s Glomgood.

7. Let’s Get Dangerous!

Frank’s Rebooted Version of Darkwing Duck is probably his greatest achivment with the show. While this show is a team effort, something I slowly realized as I reviewed the show, it’s very clear from the way he talks, how well he knows the show and how much effort was put into porting Darkwing into the reboot that this was his baby. While redefining ducktales for the 2010′s was clearly a huge dream of his... doing the same for the master of suprise was an even bigger goal. And as a huge fan of superheroes i’ve seen my fair share of half assed takes on laired and complex characters. The XCU alone is one giant grab bag of missed opportunities for me.

So i’ts no exageration when I tell you Frank.. nailed it. In one of the most brilliant moves i’ve seen for a superhero work Frank worked his love of the show into the reboot.. by having Darkwing have been a show, one Launchpad loved.. and so did Drake, who was inspried by the show to become an inspriation himself and while his attempt to do that through a zack snydery reboot failed, Launchpad encouraged him to do it for real. Drake was still himself, but the meta aspect and the toning down of some of darkwing’s more obnoxious traits that didn’t work in a universe that, while patently rediciulous still took it’s characters seriously, he made a BETTER version of the character.

This is where all that comes to it’s peak, and hoppefully convinced Disney to let Frank , and possibly matt, run the reboot. And no, even if Point Grey is producing that dosen’t stop that: Thanks to Invincible i’ve now realized that Seth and his friend Evan producing the show dosen’t mean it’ll be RAN by them, nor unrelated to this. It just means their helping make it and if anything given how lush and gorgeous invincible’s animation is, it’s a VERY good sign their helping out with it if it’s true.

But wether this versoin continues or not, Frank gave it his best shot. Part of his diffrent angle is having Drake as a rookie here and as such here we see him truly struggle: he’s had his origin, he ahs the cape, he has the gadgets (in a brilliant turn thanks to fenton, who he actually likes... but is so far the ONLY person to not get he’s Gizmoduck), and the city.. but no crime to fight and no real idea how to go about his lifelong dream. The events of the episode slowly shape him: WHile he already had the spirit for darkwing, never giving up, looking good in a cape etc, this episode gives him the heart the same way it gave his original it: With Gosalyn. Dimantopolis and Beatriz just play off each other perfectly, as the two go from neimies to slowly bonding as Drake realizes this kid needs him and that he needs to fight for more than just filing the ohle inside, and goes to hell and back to help her get her grandpa back, with one of the best moments of the episode to me being when Launchpad helps her realize how hard he’s been working at it, an exausted drake refusing to acccept that he can’t get her grandpa back because he promised. He grows from simply trying to live the dream.. to surpassing the original. We also see more from Launchpad, who grows into his new family and helps push his boyfriend and newa dopted daughter in the right directions. The episode really evolves these characters from the simple disney afternoon versions, who while awesome were made into fully fleshed out characters. Gosalyn still has her edge but now has a hard lesson to learn about doing the right thing, forced to give up someone she loves for the greater good but finding a new family in the process.

Part of what makes the episode work though as while it is funcitonally one big darkwing duck reboot pilot that’s awesome, heartrending and a joy to watch... it’s still a ducktales episode in parts without either part hurting each other. Huey plays a vital role, figuring the ramrod is too good to be true.. and discovering just how it is, then when captured, slowly unravling why Bradford’s there and being at least in part responsible for outing him as a FOWL agent. While this is largely Drakes story the rest of the cast is still vital to it: Scrooge trusting in huey, Louie serving as his logical counter and Dewey meanwhile bonding with team darkwing and helping Gosalyn, knowing exactly where she’s been and providing a nice foil. The episode is just one long and impressive love letter to the original show while creating it’s own thing and that’s really this reboot in a nutshell. It also has some of the best fights of the series, with the first fight between darkwing and bulba, where our hero, unlike his original counterpart, easily troucnes bulba using his speed and skill, is the standout.

6. Woo-Ooo!

I covered this one recently so I won’t go on for too long.. but I will say I hold this one up as the gold standard for first episodes. In one hour, hell even in jus the first half we get a sense of the whole cast, the tone of the show, and the world we’ve been thrust into. It gets all the table setting out of the way by weaving it into a compelling story of Scrooge getting back in the game, finding a reason to get back to what he does best in those he loves most and setting up the season long arc effortlessly in the process. The worst I can say about the episode is it sets the bar a bit high for Season 1 and a lot of the first half really struggled to reach these heights. This episode is a masterwork and the perfect showcase for what the series would be at it’s height.

5. Moonvasion!

Speaking of Golden Standards, Moonvasion is one of the best season finale’s i’ve seen. it’s not THE best.. but that’s a really high bar to clear and that spots currently taken in my heart by “The Crossroads of Destiny” from Avatar the Last Airbender. But while not the best of it’s kind, it’s sitll the best the series put out and is an utterly satisfying epic that ties up season 2.

While I love the Last Adventure, it had a LOT to tie up and was really hampered by having to do all of that with no direct lead in. Moonvasion by contrast hits the ground running with the Moonlanders arriving on earth and all hell breaking loose, and the episode itself breaking into two stellar plots. Scrooge leading an army of every ally he has against the invaders, and Della seemingly going for reinforcements.. but really just trying to keep the kids safe from it, to their anger once they find out.

Both sides end up going badly: Scrooge looses most of his army as Lunaris was one step ahead of him and is left iwth Beakly and Launchpad, while Della ends up marooned.. and finds Donald. The reunion between the two is the highlight of the special, as the two argue as you’d expect (And Dewey cutting in seemingly to stop it.. only to rant at Donald for costing him “ten years of turbo” is the best gag of the episode), before embracing.

Our heroes naturally find ways to bounce back though. Louie, capping off his growth for the season, convinces his mom they can’t just hide.. and in the second best scene of the episode sings the lullabye she wrote.. one Donald sung them every night

And no sooner than Della gets her step back and realizes that dangerous or not she and her newly reunited family have to get back in there, do the cousins show up on Fethry’s giant shrimp/girlfriend Mitzi, and our heroes head back.

Scrooge’s plot hits i’ts peak though as he’s forced to accept the help of an unlikely and unwelcome ally: Glomgold, who turns out to be exactly what they need: While his plan is as stupid, short sighted and insane as you’d expect, complete with forcing Scrooge to dress up as santa just to piss him off and dressing his sharks in parkas (”I call them sharkas”), the sheer lonacy throws Lunaris off as he dosen’t know how to deal with this and Glomgold not only gets the better of him but gets his company back as part of his scheme. “You were prepared for our best but not our dumbest!” “And i’m the dumbest theirs ever been! Muahahahaha! Wait...”

And of course our other heroes arrive just in time to save things.. and the episode still manages to pull off what many works struggle to, something tha’ts very hard to: a SECOND climax. Lunaris decides to just say fuck it and blow up the earth and i’ts up to our core family to kick his ass in space. Epic space battles, Della’s girlfriend meeting the family and more insues and an emotoinal, action packed and fully satisfying finale is had by all... and it’s all topped with one of the best sequel hooks i’ve ever seen as FOWL makes themselves known to us.. and prepares to strike.

4. How Santa Stole Christmas! This one will also be short as i’ve talked about this one.. a lottttt. The initial review, my best christmas specials list and my best of 2020 list. I stand by all of that: this is a unique and wonderful christmas special, i’ll be watching it every year, and i’ts full of charm, humor and gay subtext. In short it’s this series but on christmas footing.

3. Last Crash of the Sunchaser!

Another one I covered very recently, this episode is a master piece of suspense, slowly building tension as our heroes get closer and closer to the truth about Della.. and to death, the simple but deadly stakes making this an absolute nailbiter from start to finish. This is some of the series best pacing bar none... but what seals it is the ending: the masterful flashback finally explaning whatever happened to Della duck, our heroes lashing out at each other.. all cumilating in the best Scene of the show. I said it might be in the review but no I can confirm: Scrooge bitterly ruminating over things while we find out just how much he’s lost... ending with him tearfully and angrily sitting once again alone in one hell of a powerful shot echoing Scrooge’s first apperance. Damn fine stuff.

2. Escape from The Impossbin Only one episode not only matches Last Crash in mounting tension and atmosphere but suprasses it. With FOWL and Bradford’s true nature now out in the wind, this episode uses that to create tension and rattles it’s two most unshakable characters: SCrooge’s normal boundless confidence is shot, not sure he can win this time against an opponent who knows him as well as he knows himself while Beakly slowly unravels, pitting Webby against the boys.. and pitting herself against Webby when Webby sees her terroizing them is only dividing them. Both plots start out funny enough but slowly escalate in tension and stakes until by the end your on the edge of your seat. The Beakly plot is the standout of the two, giving Bentina the starring role she badly needed, having gotten even better in light of the finale. Everyone is at the top of their game and everything builds up to one hell of a twist ending and one hell of a badass boast from our heroes: Their down.. but their far from out and this is far from over.

1. Nightmare On Kimotor Hill!

I”ll be reviewing this episode in full later this week as part of my Lena retrospective, but I stand by putting it up top. This episode is ducktales in it’s purest form and focuses on it’s best original character as Lena grapples with her self hatred and her past. That core helps anchor an amazing concept: going into the Kid’s dreams and finding out their greatest desires. The results.. are all gloriously rediclous and are easily the best gags of hte series as a whole: Dewey’s high school musical santa claus is going ot high school nonsense from getting a’s in Dewology to running away from the abstract concept of a love intrest, to not getting the sybolism of himself crying a moon made of his own tears. Louie quite literally becoming garfield, and my faviorite scene of the show: Huey, wanting to be the tall older brother..g iving himself horrifcly long leg. While everyone else is just understandably baffled, what makes the scene is the banter between Dewey and Huey, with Schwartz and Pudi at their best as Dewey first freaks out and then asks what the hell man, while Huey defends his weird decision (”I”m not good at imagination stuff okay!”), and then tries to get a jar of pickles. Each dream is just so oddly and wonderfully specific to each kid and each one of the triplests dreams, as well as violets being color coded down tot he backgrounds is a very nice touch. The visuals here are just peak ducktales, using the setting for all it’s worth and the climax is utterly emotoinal and heartbreaking... and Lena’s break from her abuser, finally realizing she has the power now is not only a wonderful metaphor... but also just so damn cathartic. And that’s why this one’s the best to me personally: it just packs so much into 20 minutes: some of the series best and most creative jokes, a gripping emtoinal arc, and so much more. It’s just that damn good and tha’ts why it’s the best... that and starting Huelet for me. Seriously that LIbrary scene is so fucking cute.

Thank you all for reading. If you liked this artcle, join my patreon and help me get to my stretch goal for monthly darkwing duck reviews, a review of super ducktales and more after! Until the next rainbow... it’s been a pleasure.

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