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ms-scarletwings · 10 months

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Media Musin’ Monday, #7:

Screw You, Nickalodeon: Making Fiends Deserved Better

I have no idea how anyone could seriously believe that the entertainment industrial complex™ even tries anymore to hold the illusion of a just or meritocratic realm. No holds barred, I have my issues with about every company still clinging like barnacles to the tragic, sinking ship that cable TV has become, but if you want me to point to a network that’s given me an entire skeleton of bones to pick by this point, and I’m underlining Nickelodeon in red at the top of my list.

It’s not because they host some bad shows, no. It’s not a sour grapes reaction to the untimely end of some of my favorite shows either, and though the entire rotten apple situation with creators like Dan Schneider and Butch Hartman certainly added to barrel’s spoilage, I would still feel every bit of my disdain for Nick’s tv group for the one cardinal sin they have committed again and again and again to ad nauseum- their ongoing phase of running a talent slaughterhouse.

It sounds hyperbolic, but I’d call it a fair observation: Spongebob is widely aknowledged as legitimately both the best and the worst thing to happen to this corner of kid’s media, hands down, but I don’t blame the little yellow guy one bit. He’s only another victim to the mess, and as much as I would love to go on a whole dossier spiel of the history of Nickalodeon from the 90s “golden age” to a full list of the dozens of shows and creators their execs have royally fucked over in the name of chasing the ratings dragon… for one, that’s been done a hundred times by other people at this point, and much better than I could. For two, that would take all freaking day. Just off the top of any cartoon savvy person’s head you’d vaguely recall the assassination of Legend of Korra, El Tigre, or Invader Zim, but that can is filled with so many “blink and you’ll miss it” smaller shows that were barely given two steps out of the starting gate, it pads down an entire TVTropes article on the subject. Dozens of them, shows that Nick all but basically set up for failure before quietly shipping them to the peaceful farm upstate- by which I mean shuffled off to inconsistent time blocks and lower priority channels so they could burn out their final approved episodes in hospice. Nicktoons alone garnered a hell of a reputation for exactly what I’m talking about, but that’s show biz, or… something.

Their worst and probably most audacious offense of all? Let me tell you about the fate of the charming world of a little girl who made fiends.

There’s no better place to talk about the end than the beginning.

Making Fiends, I mean, the original Making Fiends was a series of flash-animated shorts among a handful of other early 2000s web cartoons made by Amy Winfrey.

✨ Just, in case you didn’t recognize or feel something for that name, Amy Winfrey is one of the utter beasts of cartoons in general, not purely kids’ media. Songwriter, directing, animation, screenwriting, voice acting… you name a part of the process, and she’s probably dipped her toe in there at some point. Professionally, she broke into the industry contributing work to earliest season of South Park, and while she personally is most known for and associated with Making Fiends, the likely most prominent body of work she’s been a part of would be Bojack Horseman, wherein she’s credited as a director for many of its strongest episodes, including (but not limited to):

- “Free Churro”

- “The Telescope”

- "Sunk Cost and All That"

- “The View from Halfway Down”

- Amy Winfrey and her spouse (Peter Merryman) making a cameo appearance in the BJH episode “sunk cost and all that”

And even before all of that, she’s been at this animation stuff since the 90s and it shows in a loaded up portfolio of accolades and projects, both professional and personal.

The relevance of this information is to help put in some perspective to just how rotten of a deal she comparatively got with Nickelodeon, when one of those passion creations got a chance to join the network’s airing list.

But to sum up the idea of the web series proper, it independently released 24 short episodes in total, each centered around the antics of two girls engaged in both a completely one sided friendship and nemesis-ship. The show’s namesake refers to the single action the evil little Vendetta is most known for- creating a variety of servant monsters, many of which she uses to secure her rule over the port town of Clamburg, and all its inhabitants. Charlotte, on the other hand, is the quintessential “children’s show” character: near inhumanly kind, cheerful, and naive. So much so that she’s oblivious to her “best friend’s” near daily attempts to murder her, or the fact that she, you know, despises her.

In 2006, Nickelodeon took an interest in Winfrey’s toon and the prospect of adapting it into a TV series, reportedly because a daughter of a studio employee was a huge fan.

And fun fact btw, this was actually the first time that Nick did this approach of turning an indie web animation into one of their shows, but it certainly wasn’t the last if you remember this was also the origin of Breadwinners.

And as far as the audience was concerned, it was quite the successful transition! The TV version pretty much kept all of the major beats and vibes of the original, with polished animation, the same voice actors, and some stylistic upgrades to the art/environmental designs. For a brief time, it was the highest rated thing on its release channel too. Someone I don’t quite recall the name of once endearingly referred to the show as “baby’s first grimdark” and I adore how fitting of a summary that is. It sports a charmingly unique art style, memorable soundtrack, and I can swear to y’all, the humor aged like a fine wine.

“Why don’t you pretend to be dead?”

“:) ok!”

*slam*

(Also, sidenote, the entire series is still up on your tube, in HD, completely free to watch!)

So, if it’s such a neat little show, then why on earth does barely a soul seem to remember it existing? And even fewer scare who recall knowing about the show during its 2008 release?

Because Nickelodeon Studios, without hyperbole, set this show up for failure at every single turn before it even got a fighting chance.

People know of some shows that Nick treated like garbage, but this one they treated like absolute shit for reasons I can’t fathom.

Making Fiends, for one, never actually saw the light of day on the main network channel, as per the original plans. It was actually instead delegated over to Nick’s sister channel, Nicktoons, by a last minute decision.

Nicktoons, fyi, was not carried by most cable packages. I obviously lived on it as a kid, and it was functionally to Nick what I remember Boomerang being to Carton Network- the cable block where reruns of much older but loved shows were shoveled off to once they finished their days on the main channel.

Second, it was quietly premiered with barely a couple farts of advertising, too. I remember maybe seeing one preview as a kid, on Nicktoons.

And I guess, not keeping either of these in mind, Nick then abruptly pulled the plug on the whole thing, citing the tried and true “low ratings” explanation and leaving it at that.

Not counting years of post-cancelation reruns, the show actively ran from October 4, 2008, to November 1, 2008.

That is roughly a month between premiere and the end production date.

One season. Six entire episodes.

Seven whole additional completed scripts abandoned on the table.

Yeah.

I’m a touch salty about it still.

And with the shutting down of the Nicktoons network social media in 2018, any additional acknowledgment of the show from Nickelodoen themselves has kind of vanished to my knowledge. Like, it’s almost no wonder you already had to be part of the cult following to know about it, when Nick has been quiet about the calf they sent to auction since. Worst part is, they still hogged the rights to the show instead of idk, wild idea, giving it back over to Winfrey. I can only imagine people get away with entire reuploads of the series under the otherwise very IP protective Nick’s nose as another display of how low and bastardly those execs really view Making Fiends.

And that sucks! Wow! But I guess in a “be happy it happened, not sad it ended” way, I’m kind of glad for the fact that we can still enjoy and pass around the show that we did get to experience at all, rather than see it fade into true lost media territory.

Even today, about 16 whole years later, I know for a fact there are still plenty of other fans that remember and cherish the splash this tiny show made in that big, brutal pond. So, in that manner, you can’t truly call Making Fiends dead and gone.

A bittersweet story to think about, and only one of many down a long list, but ultimately one I’m happy to be able to tell at all.

Even if all the while still raising a giant middle finger to the network for the ending.

#media musin’ mondays #mm’m #making fiends #nicktoons #amy winfrey #nostalgic cartoons #scarlet talks about things #enthusiastic recommendations #long post

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sineala · 2 years

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Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force

Hi, internet! I'd like to tell you the story of how I discovered a glorious piece of new 616 Steve/Tony canon that has somehow remained unknown to us for twenty-four years! A lost treasure! And it's great.

So for reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture, a couple days ago I was looking for digital versions of the recent Captain America/Iron Man miniseries. (Yes, I legally own it in issues, trade, and digitally. I own it many times.) And those came up, all right. But what also came up was something I'd literally never heard of, called Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force. And I thought this was weird because, as a Steve/Tony fan, I figured I'd heard of all the Steve/Tony miniseries there were, right? But this was new. This was a four-issue team-up miniseries I had never even heard of and here it was on the internet. I'm not going to link it, but if you like to, um, read comics online, you know what I mean, right?

The upload dates on this thing were this April, but the miniseries was dated 1998. At this point I was wondering how in the world there was a Volume 3 Steve/Tony team-up I'd never heard of. And then I clicked on it and it was even weirder, because it was a bunch of tiny blurry lo-res screenshots of a comic being displayed panel by panel in a program I didn't recognize. But it definitely looked like 1998-era Steve & Tony art; it was clearly a legit comic.

We have so very, very few actual Steve/Tony team-up comics and so finding a brand new one that none of us had ever heard of before was a treat. And it's actually a fun read! This is delightful!

So I did some digging (and also Magic did some digging) and it turns out that this is from a long-defunct free digital comics line that Marvel ran from 1996 to 2000, consisting of what they called Marvel CyberComics, which is the most 1996 name I have ever heard. I hear modem dial-up noises in my head when I read that. CyberComics were new original comics for a wide variety of superheroes that were basically comics that had been lightly animated as Shockwave files, with some sound effects.

Eventually Marvel took those down from their website and I gather that they don't have the source files anymore, but, according to a 2011 CBR article, the guy who wrote a lot of them, D. G. Chichester, did in fact still have the source files, and in 2011 he put the Cap/IM one up on YouTube (1, 2, 3, 4). And from then on they languished in obscurity -- as of yesterday I think Part 4 had something like 24 views -- and then a couple months ago someone screenshot all of them, and here we are.

(They are hard to read, especially on the YouTube version -- you can zoom in a whole lot on the RCO screenshots -- but the YouTube version preserves the animation, so it's more fun in that respect. The first video doesn’t have sound, but the rest do.)

Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force is pretty fun. 1998 is one of my very favorite time periods for Steve & Tony and I am so excited that there is an entire brand-new team-up miniseries from that era of them being friends and punching aliens together. They have some nice banter and it's a fun team-up and they have each other's backs the whole way through and the ending is nice and happy and it's a fun read and I am just so happy that there is new Steve & Tony content from my favorite era. It is a shiny new present for all of us.

Also, if you are a Steve/Tony fan, you will probably enjoy the beginning of the first issue a whole lot.

We open with Tony and the beautiful woman he has taken on his yacht, because of course he has a yacht. They are having a great time together and are clearly interested in having an even better time in the near future, at which point Steve shows up at Tony's yacht to interrupt his hot date and tell him that they have to go meet aliens. You know, the plot. So Tony tells his date to head belowdecks and get started without him, although at this point it is pretty obvious he won't be continuing the activity he had planned.

And then Steve apologizes for ruining his date, and the conversation goes like this:

STEVE: Sorry for the visit, Stark. TONY: No, you're not. You live for this "duty calls" routine, Captain America. I hope you're not waiting for me to salute. STEVE: I expect you're saving that for the young lady. TONY: I'll make you a copy of the video. What's this about, soldier?

So I'm reading along, going, okay, okay, Steve's apologizing, that's sweet. Tony's having some snarky banter. And then Steve is MAKING A DIRTY JOKE ABOUT TONY'S BONER???? And in response, Tony is OFFERING TO MAKE HIM A SEX TAPE???????

Like, uh. None of that went where I expected it to go. At all.

And, hey, now we can all enjoy the knowledge that Steve is the kind of guy who likes to make dirty jokes about Tony's dick, and now 616 can join Ults in "list of comics universes where Tony canonically offers a sex tape of himself to Steve." Just bros being bros, uh, watching each other's sex tapes. These guys, internet. I can't even.

I just. Yeah. I'm going to need to contemplate this.

And, honestly, the rest of it is pretty good, too! They team up! They defeat the bad guys! They each have a fun interior monologue about their motivations, and the end is very sweet, as Steve thanks Tony for his help and Tony, uh, offers to buy him a desert island.

Anyway, Invasion Force here is a fun Steve & Tony team-up with some excellent banter, friendship, and fighting aliens together. It is a lost comic from one of my personal favorite Avengers eras, and also it contains some fun commentary on Tony's personal life. I am so glad that we have now refound it and all of Steve/Tony fandom can enjoy it.

#posts i actually wrote

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charmixpower · 1 year

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Issue One: The Castle

I love how excited Vanessa is to see a fairy school, she's so down for this fairy stuff 🧚‍♀️✨

"They do that sometimes." What does this mean?? Like some barriers just inherently keep magic-less out without even being programmed to do that?? Wild

Also the collective term for magic users in the comics is "Magicians" which is interesting. Like you have your technicians, your politicians, and of course your magicians. Important jobs in the magical dimension

I definitely like magus and magi more bc it sounds fancier for my own stuff but I'm now going to call the Winx magicians in canon thank you

The implication being that Mike kept this phone on him the entire time instead of giving it to her before they left to the magic dimension

Tho this does contribute to why Bloom was so upset about what Tecna said to her, her dad literally just got her this phone

The fact that he still has his face is so fucking creepy

According to the comics, Alfea is a five year school

Which, according to my research (aka texting my Italian friends) is normal in Italy

Also why is talking to them like their freshmen??? Italian freshmen are 14, they're 16. They've cut out two of those years already

Because the Winx are 16, that means Bloom skipped two whole years of magic school

They're probably on intermediate spells at this point no wonder she struggles so much in the first ep

Tbh she should be struggling more

Alfea is the only fairy school in Magix, CT is likely the only witch school, idk about RF bc is it really even a magic school??

The implications of how big the magical population is compared to the rest of the dimension is insane if the entire magical population of one planet can fit into two schools

Six billion, which was the population of earth in 2000, is gonna be our stand in for how many people are on Magix

Alfea is a boarding highschool, and at most schools like that hold about ~1200 students, usually they only hold about 300-400 students

If we were to put the number of Alfea students at 1200, the fairy population of individual planets (bc in later seasons we only see one magic school per planet too) is about .00002% of six billion

And pretending that Wizards, Witches and Faries are just as common as each other for a moment, that would make the magician population per planet .00006%

Or per every 6 billion people there are 3600 magicians

And that's at most

You are more likely to win the lottery because that's 1% of 292.2 million

This one line of dialogue has so many implications to it omggg

I love how Bloom is excited to see some witches and Stella is like "Woah woah woah there, hold your fucking horses. Witches are to be avoided and disliked." No other place is the division between witches and faires seemed more like a very weird magic caste system

I wonder what would have happened to Bloom if she presented as a witch instead of a fairy... unlikely because Bloom doesn't have a negative bone in her body, but she and Mirta could become besties

The Trix would also have a much easier time manipulating her...rip Bloom

You know I just realized

Princess Stella di Solaria gets a room for herself, but Princess Varanda di Callisto doesn't. This is also true in the show, which sorta calls into question the idea that Stella has no roommate just because she's a princess

I love how Tecna's dialogue here comes off "She left because she's offended by me." Sounds like something that would come out of an extremely annoying person's mouth but Tecna means it literally

I love her

I really like how the comics use the idea that Stella can't transform without her ring by having people fighting with her stop her from using it

It's a really good and compelling way to use that piece of plot that the show only remembered when it wanted too

Also Stella saying Domino strengthens the connection between the sword ring and Domino but it's very very weird

Where is the favorite??? Where is the drama??? These are just three nomral ass bitches, and one is wearing a collared crop top

-10/10 not impressed

Seeing them do magical battles without transforming is so fucking weird

It's like the uncanny valley for Winx, they aren't supposed to be doing that

In this house we hate comics Griselda

Seriously what the fuck is this dialogue, fucking YIKES

#Winx club #Rus chatters #Rus liveblogs #Winx comics #Winx comic #long post

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emsuemsu · 6 months

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@hprecfest day 5: non ao3

This was such a hard one. I only do ao3 nowadays, so I started to think waaaaay back when I was a teeny weeny child exploring the internet getting my fanfiction fix. I used to read (and write, oh god) only in Finnish in a Finnish HP fanfiction forum, which became my internet home. I met some of my closest friends on that forum 🫶🫶 These fics are an essential part of my lore so enjoy these three early 2000's stories:

Seamus is Seamus and You are Yourself by Ari Munami 🩵 ff.net, 36,741 words, draco/harry

Harry goes through some... er, changes before Sixth Year. Everyone, including Draco Malfoy, sits up and takes notice. DM/HP.

This was my favorite fic at some point. Harry had a massive glow up during the summer (aka he got rid of his glasses???) and became the hottest shit in Hogwarts. Everybody and their mothers were thirsting after him. I ate this up and left no crumbs. This story features *a lot* of asterisks, and is the most unhinged shit ever. All the POVs are so fucking hilarious. I'm still low-key loving this 22 years after it was published. Not the freshest fic by far as what comes to it’s contents so yeah it’s a bit sus

Welcome to the Real World by IamtheLizardQueen 🩵 ff.net, 124,521 words, draco/harry

A Harry/Draco romance, set post-Hogwart's in muggle London. Includes red mittens, linoleum, witty retorts, angst, love, dance clubs, strange friends, cooking shows, and coffee not necessarily in that order !

This I started to read as a translation when I was 14 I guess? The translator continued to post this until chapter 10 or so and vanished from the forum and then I read the rest in English. I checked and the translation was finished by another translator later. I can't remember much of this fic but I remember being so invested in it. Time to try to re-read I guess

Little Pink Pills by MushroomAnn 🩵 ff.net, 21,504 words, draco/harry

Two young boys, one last fight, two little pills called Ecstasy and one long detention. A.N: written after OotP and set during sixth year. Warning: drug use!

I checked and this has been crossposted to ao3 as well, but I'm including it anyways. I was probably around 15 when I read this (translated as well) and it completely altered my brain chemistry. Harry and Draco rolling on molly is the purest and most endearing thing ever. I absolutely love this fic so much and now re-reading it made me so happy, I could feel the ecstasy love oozing from me as well as the comedown. I really had no idea of anything when I first read this, so now that I'm older and wiser and done my fair share of stuff it just hits different

#hprecfest2023 #drarry #drarry fic rec #this is probably my fav prompt afterall #im having such a good time with these fics #the first one is really fucking all over the place #trip down the memory lane #my rec

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angsty-prompt-hole · 2 months

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WIP Question Tag Game

Tagged by @ceph-the-ghost-writer

Rules: Answer as many (or as few) of the questions about your WIP as you can.

Tagging: I'm leaving this as an open tag

I'll be answering all of them for A Hero's Call.

1. What was the first part of your WIP that you created?

The very first part of A Hero's Call that I created was the concept of dimension jumping in general. It was inspired by both the ghost portals from Danny Phantom and my middle school self's mighty need for crossover content from my favorite shows, and then I kind of just made a self insert to make those crossovers happen, and that self insert evolved into Kira.

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the intro song be?

So, when I was young and naive and didn't know how filmmaking worked, I wanted A Hero's Call to be a tv show. The intro song was always gonna be some sort of early 2000's rock/emo/metal song, and I almost always came back to In The End by Black Veil Brides. And honestly, I still stand by that.

3. Who are your favourite character(s) and why?

So, I love Kira, I really do, she's the main character after all. HOWEVER, my blorbos for the series are definitely Lucent and Cairn, which is really funny if you have the knowledge I do (that knowledge being that Lucent has ice powers and Cairn has fire powers). Lucent was a character I originally made to rp with some friends without having to use my already established characters, because I was weird and had stupid hangups about sharing my work, and she's kind of become my punching bag OC of the series which is how I know she's one of my favorites. I love making her go through physical and emotional torment.

Cairn is just fun for me to think about conceptually, because he's a villain that really could have chosen redemption, and he almost does at quite a few different points in his life, but ultimately he succumbs to the cycle of abuse and gives in to that darker side of himself. Also the thought of this very inhuman-looking dude having a Tumblr is SO funny to me (he is canonically VERY internet-savvy).

4. What other pieces of media could share a fan base with your WIP?

Any number of media pieces tbh, but the biggest one would probably be Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which was a HUGE inspiration for this project.

5. What has been your biggest struggle while writing your WIP?

Writing the beginning of it. I've struggled so hard with it and I can never figure out what's holding me back, which annoys me. And the more I write the more I discover that when I have all the pieces to a story that I want to tell, the writing starts flowing eventually. But with this WIP I've just had to drag those first few chapters out kicking and screaming from my brain and I can tell something is missing, but I don't know what.

6. Are there any animals in your story?

Yes, there are. There's the Shade family dog, a golden retriever named Gary (who is, in fact, just my real dog inserted into the story), and there's also Lucent's "pet" Jannik, who is a ferret-like creature called a skitnik. Emily and Pickle are ranch kids so they have a ton of animals that sometimes get mentioned, but Gary and Jannik are more central to the plot than those animals are.

7. How do your characters get around?

All the normal ways you would get around in rural Wyoming in the 2010's (cars, horses, off-road vehicles, etc). And, of course, dimension jumping.

8. What part of your WIP are you working on right now?

I'm rewriting the first few chapters (again) to try and get them ready to post on AO3 because I've been churning out fanfiction nonstop because of how much the kudos and comments go to my head, so I want to see if putting my original works on AO3 would spur me on to work on them more.

9. What aspects of your WIP do you think will draw people in?

I think that the characters and the worldbuilding will be the major draws for people, cause I have a LOT of lore and a lot of fun characters to introduce and I think it'll be fun for people to explore.

#a heros call #tag game #thank you for the tag!

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petra-creat0r · 11 months

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Okay so the polls have determined I'm talking about LPS.

Tbh, I don't have a whole lot to talk about when it comes to my favorite little toys from the 2000s, especially since my collection is at home, but I do have a few things!

First is my favorites! Aka Creme (Angora Rabbit #2480) and Tytus! (Goat #1786). Creme I've had since I was a kid and was one of my first pets (along with the Rat #2481 she came with who I've since lost)

Them

There's also my girl, Sydney Petrovsky. I was gonna replace her before she quickly grew on me

Her neck spring or something is broke so her head sinks down, making her a little short and 9 year old me painted her with black oil paint that smugged her original markings a bit. All in all, she's a little roughed up but I say that adds to her character.

An example of how she should look is Sara, the replacement I forgot I ordered, who, while damaged, is still in a little better condition than Sydney.

Asides from my favs... I guess I gave Garrett, the pet I brought with me to work. Since my apron has a pocket, I've been bringing one of my pets with me every shift.

Gecko.

Edit: since this took me two days, Garrett was who I brought yesterday. Today was Alli

Honestly, LPS was one of my main hyperfixations as a kid. One of my mains before discovering Undertale and I frequented LPStube as much as I could back then. (Though oddly I never got into LPS Popular and still haven't watched it). I remember watching Cookieswirlc a good amount before they started making non LPS content. As well as a lot of skits and music videos. My friends and I would even make up a couple ourselves (though we didn't really have the resources to upload them, we could still record on my mom's camera and stuff.)

Because of this, I have a few old LPS series concepts. They're not all that good because I was like, nine. But I think it'd be interesting to revisit them sometime. The first series I can remember was Peter and Piper. Since I had a double of Monkey #485 (Likely because I somehow got one from my girlfriend considering she has one Squirrel #484 which came in a playset with the monkey).

The "plot" (if you could really call it that) of the series would be that the protagonist, Peter, played by one of the monkeys, had the power to... genderbend. Piper being his girl counterpart (played by the other monkey). Could I have executed this idea with just one monkey, likely. Was it a cringe idea especially considering modern times? Yes.

The other characters was a G4 Wolf (#3806) and a G3 Guinea Pig (#3299) who I don't recall the original names of, but whom I've since dubbed Lisa and Harvey. I also remember Lisa had ice powers, causing Harvey to sing Let It Go to annoy her. There was also something with the school mascot (because of course it was set at a high school) being a hybrid of a bunch of animals including like a tiger and a bear and a dragon I think.

I'm not sure how to adapt it, asides from probably making Peter a magical girl or something? (Also probably trans as I like that better than the gender bending thing)

The second show i had even less for. It was called Twins and stared Creme (my favorite Angora Rabbit from above) and another Angora I had at some point, a pink one with striped ears, #2132. (I've since lost this pet. Might've traded it with a friend)

It was about an evil mirror dimension. As a kid, I used to believe mirrors were actually viewing portals into other dimensions and the inhabitants were opposites of us or something. A pretty common trope but I think nine year old Lorrie actually believed it.

Tbh, the concept of the 2nd one would work better with doubles compared to Peter and Piper, which might be possible with just one pet.

Anyways, that's all I have on LPS for now, anyone has any questions about my thoughts on certain pets or even some series, then shoot me an ask.

#lps series #lps #littlest pet shop #rambles #lpstube

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blush-and-books · 1 year

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Top 5 all-time favorite ships?

TEA!!!

Warning - this list is literally just the same m/f couple in different fonts. A lot of these were more formative and influential in my childhood or were from series that are from a couple years ago. I am naming these as my top five because of how insane I went over them/how hard I hyperfixated on them.

When I made this list I was disappointed to realize that there hasn't been a wlw couple from a series or movie that has influenced me this powerfully, but I hope to find it soon and if you have any recs lmk! :) Will also include honorable mentions!

1. Kirsten Clark and Cameron Goodkin, Stitchers (2015-2017)

This is tied with Julie and the Phantoms for one of my biggest hyperfixations ever. Kirsten and Cameron were a slowburn that was done really beautifully and nobody was doing it like them. I watched this show at a very pivotal developmental point in my life, and I think these two taught me a lot about the work that a relationship takes and the fact you have to be willing to put it in - they were a healthy relationship example for me at a time that it was necessary for me to see it. They have a lot of character development over 3 seasons but grow together in healthy ways, and the writers kind of bake it into the plot that they're meant to be lmao. They also are just a great example of loving someone for everything that they are. They definitely made me a little mentally ill but also inspired me to be a writer, so...

2. Julie Molina and Luke Patterson, Julie and the Phantoms (2020)

I don't know how long you have been following me anon, but if I've been on your dash at all in the past couple years, it was most definitely related to Julie and the Phantoms, and probably related to Julie and Luke. In one season, they had insane development and beautiful chemistry. The way their characters were written made them naturally fit together, and made me cry "soulmates!" quite often. I will forever mourn what they could have been, and be grateful for some of the most stellar works of fanfiction I've ever read that were produced in their name.

3. Anne Shirley Cuthbert and Gilbert Blythe, Anne With An E (2018-2020)

Technically they're from the whole Anne of Green Gables Universe but AWAE is one of my Shows Of All Time ™ lol so I'm crediting them to the show!!! Just everything about them..amazing. Definitely gave me unrealistic expectations for love tho bc who tf assaults a man and still bags him in the end!??? Anne. She's that bitch and I haven't reached that yet but I'm working towards it.

4. Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy, Pride & Prejudice (2005, dir. Joe Wright)

This is another one of those ships where I'm like if you've followed me long enough you could have seen this coming lol. These two are from the general Pride & Prejudice Universe, first created by the lovely Jane Austen, but P&P 2005 is by far my favorite movie of all time, and it is still breathtaking every time I watch it. Keira Knightley and Emmy Award Winner Matthew Macfadyen are really a perfect pair and their adaptations of the characters are so genuine and whole. Everything I do, I do for them.

5. Nina Martin and Fabian Rutter, House of Anubis (2011-2013)

My original Ship of All Time. Was very mentally ill over them. I rewatched this show last year and I expected to be like "oh god this is cringe how did young me like this so much" but instead I was like "oh god this is so well written how could anybody hate this show." Yes it has its silly moments but I could write essays on how well it was written. The foundation of trust between Nina and Fabian was more powerful than any "do you trust me?" YA teen fantasy movie moment of the 2000s. Fabian was the blueprint for every fictional crush I have had since.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Kaz Brekker and Inej Ghafa, Six of Crows Duology and Shadow & Bone TV series

Aziraphale and Crowley, Good Omens

Su-hyeok and Nam-Ra, All Of Us Are Dead

Joyce Byers and Jim Hopper, Stranger Things

Zoya Nazyalensky and Alina Starkov, Shadow & Bone Trilogy and TV series (yes I am a Zoyalina truther sorry)

Dan Humphrey and Blair Waldorf, Gossip Girl (will I receive hate for this one? to be determined)

Steve Harrington and Eddie Munson, Stranger Things

John B and Sarah Cameron, Outer Banks

Ethan and Sarah, My Babysitter's a Vampire

#chloes answers #stitchers #jatp #juke #awae #shirbert #pride and prejudice 2005 #pride and prejudice #house of anubis

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ecl1pse · 4 months

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TEN LEE THE ARTIST U ARE!!!

ngl just from the film teaser he released last week i got so excited to hear the full songs. nightwalker was soooo good. definitely in the lines of what key & taemin have done by playing a villain in their solo releases, but still a progression of the sound ten has had from his dream in a dream / new heroes days. ngl ido prefer nightwalker over even birthday. his music so far has felt more like pieces for him to showcase his dancing w occasional singing portions, which was fine, he IS one of the best dancers in the industry. but i've felt like his amazing singing is often overlooked for how much improvement & capability he has shown both in wayv's discography & the nct year-end projects over the years (his high note in the round&round bridge is still one of my favorites in probably all of nct's discography).

ten can be as much of a capable singer as he is a dancer is he's allowed to be, he's just emotive when singing & i really feel like this album shows that.

water is definitely my favorite song in the album, this was pulled straight out of the clubs in 2003, it's something that would've been an absolute hit in méxico & probably all of latinamerica imo. he did this for meeee!! thanks king.

on the other hand dangerous sound like something pulled from the 2003 anglo-saxon clubs. there's a over all very 2000s feel in the album, but mixed with a modern production imo.

while i would love for any of the b-sides to be performed alongside nightwalker, i think the one thay will be mainly promoted is going to be on ten, not only because it's a callback to his artistic name, but also the other song in the mini album with a modern feel aside nightwalker + plus it has such a good beat that it's bound to have a really good choreo (im thinking something very bouncy, fast & very hard for fans to replicate lol).

shadow is probably the song that aligns mostly with what he did with birthday albeit a little more melancholic. i love the little touches of the acoustic guitar that have been nearly all the songs across the album, it really seems to link them in a story.

we all know sm loves to add at least one ballad to their artists' repertoire, lie with you seems like the closest thing ten will have to one so far & it's honestly really fitting with how deceptive the song is. it comes off like such a cute lovey-dovey song -- until you pay attention to the lyrics. in the verse he's trying to pay nonchalant & make his lover believe it's ok if their relationship wont last & just wnhoy it for what it is, & then the chorus starts & he lets out just how much he also wishes it would all last for him. even the track video also being so cute serves to confuse us into thinking this is a short but very cute love story.

as you probably can tell, i really enjoyed this mini album. honestly, i kinda wish it were a full album so we got a fuller story cuz i'm sure there's a clearer through line than what i'm reading as of now from the few listens i've given it today. the sounds ten explores in this mini are sooo up my alley, like u dont understand, this kinda sounds like my childhood??? yet it doesnt sound like any song in specific that i can clearly point out the influnces, they're just blended really nicely to me. i havent liked a mini in a while like this, like enough that im probably gonna buy it even tho im supposed to be saving money. its a 10/10 for sure!!!

#ten i wanna kiss u on the mouth this mini was so delicious!!!!#i hope he has full promotional schedule #everyone has to hear these songs #ten #nct

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isekai-crow · 4 months

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Doctor Elise Ep 3-4

I cannot express enough how fun of a potato chip this show is. I had a fever this week and this was a great lil show to watch that didnt require me to think.

As a self proclaimed shonen bro whose not normally into shojos, I enjoyed the manga, and the anime is doing a good job despite not being one of the "big names". It might also be my love of medical dramas from the early 2000s peaking in. I can turn my brain off to watch it and just have fun by going "WTF w h y", and poking fun at how broken some aspects of this world are while still thoroughly enjoying it.

It's definitely the kind of show that probably won't hold up to scrutiny for the world building, so. Just. Don't think too hard about the specifics of what's happening! Then the power fantasy pieces won't break through your suspension of disbelief! Because IV bags did not exist during the Crimean War in the 1800s which seems to be where this fantasy setting is taking place.

But I'm gonna go and point out all the broken bits below because its so much fun (not bashing at all!).

Also my favorite boy shows up! Doctor Graham!! We love a boy whose not there to be a rival or love interest, and respects the Lady and they get to be bros!

Look at this silver haired ponce of a bishonen, he's delightful, ascot and all!

He's voiced by Hosoya, Yoshimasa - Rainer Braun from Attack on Titan, Nezumi from NO.6, WOLFWOOD FROM THE NEW TRIGUN STAMPEDE!! Tokoyami from BNHA, and Sousuke from Free!

DAMN THEY PICKED A GOOD VOICE FOR MY BOY.

More spoilers/screen shots below the cut!

Elise shows up for work as Rose at the No Cultural Touchstone For Mother Teresa Hospital, the genius young doctor Graham is supposed to take care of her but he's busy and assumes like everyone else that a young well-off lady will run from the sight of blood soon enough, and so sticks her in the HOSPICE WARD.

HHMMMM I WONDER WHY ALL THESE PEOPLE ARE ON THEIR DEATH BEDS???? COULD IT PERHAPS BE... UH... SANITARY REASON?? SHOULD HOSPITALS BE SANITARY??? NAHHHH THE DIRTY ROTTING BANDAGES ON THE FLOOR AREN'T MAKING THINGS WORSE, NO WAAAAAAAAY.

These poor overworked shift nurses seem to have no idea what they're doing, but thankfully we have a returner with concepts of modern day sanitation who cleans the place up!

She then finds a dude with bed sores and realizes no one knows what SEPSIS IS, and is like. Get me a scalpel, it's my first day, I've never held a scalpel in my read:this life, I'M DOIN' A SURGERY TODAY. I'VE GOT GALAXY BRAIN TO HELP ME.

I love these shots they're great.

SHE PROCEEDS TO CUT INTO THE DUDES BACK LIKE SHE'S DRAWING FREE FORM SELECTION ON MS PAINT AND THEN JUST HITS CTRL-X DELETE.

That's not A tissue, that's HIS (necrotic) tissue! I sure hope this dude has pain killers or is drunk off his ass with vodka because DAMN.

All the other in-patients are so happy she's here, they feel better already with her bright and happy personality! Normally this would feel really creepy and sexist, but this juuuuuust squeaked by as not coming off that way.

Jump cut to the King! Only 12 people in this world know what diabetes is! How is Elise going to get away with having known about it?? Probably more hand waving!!

Now, we either get a time skip, or she's literally been working all night, but Dr. Graham walks in on her dozing, thinks he's got the wrong place, and proceeds to scold her for performing surgery without permission. But then he takes her on rounds and we're in a medicial show!!!!

IS THAT A FUCKING IV BAG?

IT IS!!!! THOSE WEREN'T INVENTED UNTIL THE LATE 1800s!! At least its a glass bottle, and not a plastic bag like I initially assumed?? But I guess the Crimean War was in the 1850s and this type of open glass bottle IV was from the 1900s so... Wooo Fantasy Europe!! -waves hand rapidly to shoo you on-

This man is having a time trying to figure out what the fuck. But he's pretty.

It takes him a bit to come to terms with her abilities but then he's just so happy to have another Doctor Bro who Actually Cares that he's behind her with full support! Which yay! But also becomes a tool of sorts, to kind of hand wave away the concept of sexism in the medical field to the point where it doesn't seem to exist. Which is also what makes this such a light show, because it doesn't even try to handle said topics, it just erases them completely with regards to medicine.

Equal numbers of men and women as doctors! The women aren't relegated to nurses! Yay! No critical thinking needed here.

My favorite part of this though, is that they DO tease at it. When Elise makes a different call from the doctor she's following in Ye Olde ER, he kind of stutters and is flabbergasted and panicked, while the female doctor is immediately like, I GOTCHU SIS, and steps in to help her as she proceeds to STAB A DUDE IN THE CHEST WITH A SYRINGE.

She's so pretty with blood on her face.

We're in episode 4 by this point, and its the "Festival Episode" common to many isekai romance manhwas, but of course, Elise is a doctor and so she's working the ER instead of attending.

However this is the episode that proves there is magic in the world, and WE GET A SECOND VA FOR THE PRINCE. He transforms into "Lord Ron". We also get a glimpse of his tragic back story!

His bodyguard gets a knife pulled on him and THEN A GUN. New Technology Discovered: Guns! I should hope they had those figured out before IV tech, but you think they'd know about general sanitation being important as well.

Dude's been shot in the SPLEEN!!! OW MY SPLEEN! They don't have a splenectomy in Fantasy Europe, oh no!

Elise puts up such a persuasive argument, and the dude is dying, so they might as well let her try to save him. And look, the prince Lord Ron has field surgery experience and offers to help!

SUDDENLY THERE IS ELECTRICITY. WHAT WERE THOSE OIL LAMPS IN THE GRIMEY DEATH WARD???

MS PAINT SCALPEL FTW!! It's not bad for the limited time they likely had to anime each episode, and the fact that they're putting more emphasis on the conversations. For comparison, this scene in the manga ↓

Surgery is a success! Yay! Elise is asked to write up a report abotu the surgery as it will be the first ever recorded splenectomy.

and then. Blushing Prince is Adorable, even in disguise. Love us some blushing boys.

But by far the most accurate part of this show so far...

Even in a Fantasy Europe Hospital the doctors have shitty handwriting lmfao

#anime winter 2024 #gekai elise #doctor elise #medical drama #fantasy europe #medical tw #blood tw

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ms-cartoon · 1 year

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So, I've been coming across a lot of clips of Wizards of Waverly Place on tik tok. I'm sure all the 2000s kids remember that show. Selena Gomez was the ish back then (and she still is). Usually, I would go back and re-watch some episodes just to get that good nostalgic feel. But I REFUSE to watch the later seasons! They just end up getting on my nerves! Plus, my moods are always ruined when Justin Russo shows his face.

Okay, it's mainly the fact that Alex is always getting blamed for almost every single conflict that occurs. I'm not gonna say it's never her fault, cuz she does have her moments, but sometimes when she uses magic, it's mostly with good intentions, just played out wrong. And she usually owns up to her mistakes and makes sure to fix the problem. But it's like, EVERYBODY is ALWAYS calling her out and most of the time, it's not even fully her fault! It gets worse to the point where her own freakin parents start to love her best friend more than their own daughter and they always compare her to Justin, saying that he's a much better kid and he would never cause trouble!! Do they not realize how bad they make her feel when they do that, and they are supposed to be the parents? They're supposed to be more mature and wise for their kids, but all they really do is pick favorites and compare one kid to the other. They rarely even stick up for her or praise her when she really deserved it.

The only traits Alex has that are bad about her are that she's selfish and mean. Like I said, she has her moments, but she has good intentions. She's the main one to fix any problems that occur to the Russos' and was the main one to save the world several times- WHERE'S HER THANK YOU?? She doesn't get one, just more trash talk and finger-pointing from Justin and her parents.

And y'all know Justin always gotta the first to rub it in her face and play the blame game.

Justin wasn't even that bad in the early seasons. I actually tolerated him a little bit (though he still annoyed me). But in the later seasons, he just becomes more selfish, vindictive, antagonistic, and just plain cruel. He didn't even wanna show his full support for his sister when she won wizard of the year. In fact, he was more jealous, berating and disrespecting Alex, complaining that he should've won. But like sir- you don't even deserve that title. Like wha- You put your own family in danger, TWICE!! Not once, but TWICE!! And who was the one to save even you from that danger? ALEX!!

Justin had a crush on a dark angel. Loved her so much, he joined the side of the Angels of Darkness and let them take over. Not only did he put the world in danger, he also put his own family in danger! And all because he was such a simp for this one girl!! And guess who had to save his a**!

There was another situation the Russos' got involved in, and the show makes it seem like it was Alex's fault when Justin was the one that caused the problem. Like that time when Justin revealed to the FBI that wizards exist and that he, along with his family was one of the few. He got NO repercussions for it as far as I've heard. But when Alex is the one to confess to the media that they're wizards, and only to fix the situation that was happening, she is the one to get blamed when originally, Justin was the first to spill the tea.

I could name plenty of more reasons why Justin didn't deserve the wizard of the year award, but those are just my main ones.

I don't think he felt genuinely bad about the way he spoke about her at all. The only time he did feel bad is when it came time for his video about Alex to be shown to everyone during that ceremony. He probably didn't even wanna admit he was wrong for it. He is such a horrible brother!!! He really needed a good talking-to after all that. Theresa and Jerry, that's where you should've come in!

And then we have the finale where they're in the middle of the Wizard Competition. Harper and Zeke get themselves in danger and are captured by a griffin, and who was the main one that suggested they go and save them? Alex! She literally had to beg Justin to help save them, but Justin, being the selfish prick that he is was more concerned about staying in the competition and winning. It is beyond ridiculous that Alex had to beg Justin to save his best friend! Didn't even care that his best friend might die!! By the time they came back, their free time had run out and they got disqualified, losing their magic powers. Leave it to Justin to play the blame game and point fingers at Alex like he always does. He didn't even care that it was a matter of his friends' safety, he cared more about being a wizard and winning a stupid competition. And there was also a scene in that same episode while they were working, Alex was giving someone their order and Justin threw something at her, causing her to drop the order on the customer! Like dude- are you serious?? Are you that pressed???

Theresa, Jerry... do you still think Justin is the better kid? Even after Alex risked her life/her happiness, putting her selfish wants aside to help and save others?

And then there's Max, bro!! For some reason, he starts to gang up on Alex too. Pointing fingers at her as well for doing the right thing. Omg, this girl just can't get enough. And usually, people felt more bad for Max as well, believing he doesn't get enough appreciation and recognition as a wizard in the family, but he really annoyed me in this episode!! He was mainly just following Justin, being horrible to Alex too. Even if he didn't get to keep his powers, I didn't feel bad for him one bit! It's not like he was gonna win the competition or keep his powers anyway and he probably knew that!!

What made me more pissed is that Theresa and Jerry didn't even stick up for Alex. They see that Justin and Max are ganging up on her, belittling her and just letting it happen. Then saying stuff like, "You guys seriously need to get it together and stop all this fighting!"

You guys??! Alex is the victim here! She did not deserve any of this disrespect! She was casually working and Justin threw something at her because of his resentment, y'know, like a mature adult. And Max came at her just because! Why aren't y'all criticizing Justin or Max for their behavior? They were the main ones acting up!

It doesn't even help that Alex had to be the one to apologize at the end of the episode....

Y'all, Alex was the only one to apologize!!

"Guys, I'm sorry for getting you to help me save our friends from a bloodthirsty monster instead of staying and competing in the competition. Because having our magic and being a family wizard is much more important than Harper and Zeke's safety."

She didn't say those exact words, but she might as well have. I don’t understand how Alex could put up with all that disrespect. If I was her, I probably would’ve left the family and probably never come back. I might just make a fanfiction about that.

I feel like I can point out plenty of reasons why the show just faltered a little to me, but Imma just leave it at that for now. All in all, Justin's a horrible brother and a horrible character. Max, I agree he deserves better too, but he mainly just got on my nerves that one episode. Teresa and Jerry are terriblev parents and didn't raise their kids right. Alex especially deserved better and Harper is the realist, point blank.

#wizards of waverly place #wizards of wavery place rant #rant #review #criticism #critisism #critique #critical #alex russo #Screw Justin!!#Alex deserved better

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whump-captain · 1 year

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Whump Challenge

I got tagged by @sasuga-whump to do this great challenge! Ill put it under a readmore bc it's quite long but i had a blast (◡‿◡)

I'll tag @deepwoundsandfadedscars @thatsgonnaleaveamark @set-phasers-to-whump @crash-bump-bring-the-whump @whumpapalooza @whump-side @justwhumpythings @radioactiveartz and anyone who sees this on desktop rather than mobile

1. Favorite whump trope(s)?

I do love anything to do with knives - stabbing, carving, knives to throats, etc. Impaling is up there too, and fractures of all kinds.

2. Least favorite whump trope(s)?

I'm not into dehumanisation in any way, or humiliation, they're squicks in fact. Anything with conditioning is also very much not for me.

3. Top 3 whump scenes and why?

Ohhhhhh good question. Recent faves are:

A scene in Resident Evil: Village where the protagonist is strung up from the ceiling by hooks stabbed through his hands. He then has to free himself by ripping the hooks out, making the wounds worse. Not much in way of consequences because of the game's slasher-horror conventions but very good still

Hard to describe without spoilers lol but in a book i just read, there is a character who's a clairvoyant and can remember things before they happen. When another character wants to hit them with a glass bottle, they experience the pain even though the hit never actually lands - the intention is enough to hurt them. It later gets used to torture them, too. It's very unique and very fun (◡‿◡)

There's a whole sequence in the webcomic Shiloh where a character loses a fight to a mantis-like monster, ends up severely injured and thrown off a cliff into a river. His colleagues find him half-dead and rush him to a hospital.

4. Top 3 characters to whump and why?

I whump my OCs 95% of the time so i don't have many fandom faves lol. I have been enjoying some horror protagonists though - Ethan Winters from Resident Evil and Murphy Pendleton from Silent Hill: Downpour both are very hurtable and get roughed up nicely in their stories.

5. Favorite fandom for whump (show, series, etc)?

Again im not much of a fandom whumper but it's usually whatever im into at the moment - recently Silent Hill

6. Do you prefer written or watchable whump?

Oooh that's hard, i think i lean every so slightly towards watchable. They both have their wonderful parts (◡‿◡)

7. Do you also like hurt/comfort?

Yes! I always prefer the hurt lol but im also very into some good comfort

8. What do you think the difference between hurt/comfort and whump is?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ To me, whump means "the hurt part of hurt/comfort" but tbh the terms are pretty interchangeable to me. H/c is a more well-known term so i find that it tends to end up being used towards more fics, even ones that only feature it briefly.

9. How would you explain whump to someone who’s not familiar with it?

Depending on how familiar with fandom terms they are, i suppose. Either "the hurt in hurt/comfort", or "like angst, but often about the physical side", or "stories where the point is for the characters to get injured". Probably add something about exploration of vulnerability, in case they want a deeper explanation.

10. Is there any old whump you particularly enjoy? (say, pre 2000?)

Hmmmmm im sure there are some Star Wars books ive read that are from the 90s and have some good whump but i genuinely don't remember lol

11. Why do you think you like whump?

Now that's the big question, isn't it lol. There's definitely catharsis there - seeing characters allowed to express their suffering and then having it validated and soothed. It's an outlet for emotion, too, especially anger which i struggle with and can channel in a safe and controlled way onto Fictional Character Stabbings lol. I also just like the aesthetics of the kind of exaggerated violence that whump tends to feature, there's a darkly melodramatic thrill to it that im really drawn to.

12. When did you realize you liked whump?

Literally as early as i remember lol. I was under 6 wishing characters in cartoons would be put into peril, i was always into it

13. Favorite posts with whump (gifsets, picspams, etc)

I do love gifsete with my whole heart, im so constantly in awe of the amazing gifmakers we have in this community bc they let us experience the best of whump from all over the world. I also like prompt posts, @injuryprompts never fails to get my creative gears turning

14. Are you “out” to people in real life?

Absolutely Not lmao and for a bunch of reasons. Mostly because whump is something quite personal to me and wouldn't want it to be misunderstood but at the same time i don't think i could properly explain it. I also don't want people to think it's a sexual thing - which again is something commonly understood in the community but probably not so much outside of it.

15. How did you find the whump community?

I was on one of my periodic searching-for-hurt/comfort-fics sprees when i was reminded of the term by the tags - i've been aware of it as a fandom thing but always forgot about it. Then i had the idea of searching it on tumblr and then it all began lol. I was so stunned to see a whole section of the website so dedicated to it and i can't believe how long i've managed without it (◡‿◡)

16. Any unusual mediums you like for whump (plays, music, vlogs, etc)?

Hmmmmm i very much like video game whump - both actual scenes and just the natural way a character gets beat up throughout the gameplay. An unusal niche of it is, i would say, point-and-click puzzle games. It feels weird because they never have an actual protagonist lol but the plot always involves being trapped, or captive, or escaping, and that just always gets my whump imagination going lol. I like imagining a character for them, scared and injured, struggling to puzzle out their freedom.

17. Any meta about whump you’ve been dying to share?

It's mostly just an observation but im utterly fascinated by the fact that so many people are into whump from very early in life. There was a poll about it going around recently and the most picked answer was "6 and younger" and it just. blows my mind. What a strangely specific thing to be born with. I would love to study this in some way but i wouldn't even know where to start.

18. Whump fic(s) you’d love to see?

There are a bunch of writers here whose fics i would love to see continued but i'm nervous to tag them bc i don't wanna pressure them lol. In general im also always on a lookout for strong platonic friendships in stories and creative magical whump, especially with a horror twist.

19. Whump you’re looking forward to? (Maybe something teased or something you haven’t seen yet?)

I've been reading Witch Hat Atelier and recently there have been theories that some visual symbolism is foreshadowing my favourite character getting hurt in an upcoming fight. I don't want to get my hopes up too much cause it's all guesswork lol but i would very much like that (◡‿◡) Similar thing with Wilde Life, a webcomic, in which the protagonist is currently held at gunpoint - in that story, however, not much injury happens at all lol so again not holding my breath.

20. Top 3 favorite whump fics?

Hhhhhh just three???? i need some kind of bookmark system for real because i can't remember half of the stuff i read lol so these aren't my Top top 3, just things i really like

In The Woods Somewhere by @knivestothroats has to be on here because it's honestly the pinnacle of my writing goals - the flow and pacing are impeccable, it escalates the stakes so smoothly that i put it down, and it's just such a brilliant self-contained story with characters that stick with you and some scenes that i still think about, years since i've read it.

@whumpapalooza 's Space Interns also have a very warm place in my heart bc i just love the characters so much and it's not often that i want whump for Every Single Member Of The Cast but here we are

and most recently i've loved this BHTB fill by @crash-bump-bring-the-whump and its lovely prose and the ability to get me hooked on brand new characters in a single work

21. Tropes you think are overdone?

Conditioned/"broken" whumpees, to me it always seems like the same few tropes and phrases cycled around in new costumes. But i will admit that i also just dislike the trope all in all lol so im not being entirely objective here. Creepy whumpers also usually come off as cheesy, i think, because they always use the same set of kinda stereotypical and, well, overused lines. It seems like it's a go-to "default" whumper for prompts/short fics but imo it's actually very difficult to do well. Just my opinion tho

22. Tropes you think we could use more of?

Hmmmmmmmmm it would be cool to see some cool horror/magic themed whump, with strange creatures and eldritch threats. I'm also always in the market for more unique character dynamics, they can keep even the most basic of tropes fresh.

23. Favorite sites/archives for consuming whump? (question by @dammittmarie )

Honestly just tumblr lol. And ao3 sometimes if i want fanfics since it's very easy to find things there

24. Have your whump preferences changed recently? If so, why? (question by @fyeahvulnerablemen)

I've been leaning more towards horror recently as i get more into the genre! But within it im still into the same kind of whumpees i believe lol even though they're getting less gunfights and more possessions

#whumpchallenge #tag game #not sure if i was meant to do this all at once or one daily lol but still

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lunatic-fandom-space · 1 year

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Alrighty I finished watching the 2012 Jesus Christ Superstar, the one that people on tumblr like to gif the most

Thats not meant to be an insult btw, honestly this might be my favorite version Ive seen so far overall

I initially had pretty mixed feelings about the actors they got for Jesus and Judas, like, they werent bad but I felt like Judas especially wasnt putting enough emotion into it and their delivery was kinda off at times but then we got the last supper scene and I thought they were great from that point on. Judas was good, I didnt like him as much as 73!Judas but honestly after watching the 2000s movie Im just glad he was portayed in a sympathetic way at the very least. I actually really liked Jesus in this one too, which is pretty surprising because Ive found him pretty unlikable in the previous versions and also Ive been translating the german versions of these songs which made me realize that a lot of that unlikability is kinda baked into the script as well. Usually I tend to dislike Jesus for about half the show until it gets to that bit after the last supper where everyones sleeping and hes looking around like "wont anyone be with me now 🥺" and Im like, aw thats just a sad little man, a lost littol guy, I cant dislike him when hes like that

I really liked the way they modernized this story here, it felt a lot less anachronistic and like there was a more cohesive vision behind it. While I usually like anachronistic settings and think itd be especially fitting for JCS, I felt like the execution was kinda lacking in the previous version and Im glad the 2012 version basically just went full Modern AU with it

Pretty much everything else I have to say applies to either the costuming or specifoc songs/scenes so in the interest of having a better structure than I had in my previous review-post-things I think Im just gonna talk about costuming and then each song in chronological order. Also I will be comparing this version both the 73 and the 2000s movie because thats how I do things babeyyyy whyd you think my review of the 2000s movie was so much longer and more articulated its because I do better when Im comparing two things

Costuming

Right off the bat, I dont think this technically has anything to do with the costuming, this would probably fall under casting actually, but Im so glad Jesus was brunette in this because him being blonde in the previous two versions was weirdly upsetting to me. Like, obviously he usually gets whitewashed in popular media and thats gross and almost definitely inaccurate but because it happens so frequently and has been happening for such a long time I barely even register it beyond maybe going "hm. thats wrong" at the very start whenever they show Jesus as the whitest guy on earth in anything, but I usually see him portrayed as brunette at the very least so seeing him get portrayed as blonde on top of the whitewashing was just too much man. Also he looks like Lin Manuel Miranda but Im like 90% sure thats not him

I like that they modernized Jesus' clothes for this as well because in the 2000s movie he wore a white tanktop and like, jeans probably in the very first scene but in every other scene hes wearing these long flowing white robes, so I like that they put him in a normal white shirt (and black jeans) even though it doesnt really have that same vibe of divine purity if its not a long flowing robe or a dress. Like, he literally just looks like the most normal guy ever wearing that and I really like that tbh

He also wore a brown scarf a few times and I kinda wish it was red instead because I did some research and found out that hes pretty heavily associated with that color. I mean, I also found out that a whole bunch of figures in the bible are associated with red, like if someone tried to quiz you on this you could probably get 50% of the answer if you just said red everytime, but still.

Speaking of red, I think I said at some point that Judas not wearing red irked me, and it still does just to be clear, but Ive thought about it a little and I actually quite appreciate the thought that went into the color coding here, for lack of a better term.

Like, instead of red being Judas' and Marys color like in the previous films (i dont actually remember what color Mary wore in the 70s movie but im going with it anyway) its essentially the color that the antagonists or people who are in some way against Jesus but who werent really directly involved in his death. Herod is probably the most obvious example, hes completely decked out in red but Simon is also wearing it and hes characterized as someone coopting this message of Love and Acceptance and whatnot in order to spread hate, Im pretty sure Peter also wears it and he ends up denying Jesus.

And then sortof complementary to that we have black as the color of people who were more directly involved in Jesus' death, like Caiaphas and his guys, Pilates and of course Judas. The crowd that gathers and calls for Jesus' crucifixion at the end is also wearing black so could see them partaking in his death as well

And then we obviously have white for Jesus and Mary as basically his closest follower who seems to understand him the most and also probably embodies his message of acceptance the best. Judas also has a white scarf to still tie him to him visually even though he does end up betraying him which I find neat

The fact that he didnt get to wear white for the last song again is crime honestly, cmon man do it for the visual cohesion if nothing else. They threw in a few singers who were also wearing black so Judas wouldnt be the only guy in black surrounded by a bunch of angels in white but ehhhhh, it only kinda works imo. I mean atleast its not as messy and thematically confusing as whatever they tried to do at the end of the 2000s version but still, just let my guy wear white

Also, before I move on I wanted to compliment the sets, or stage, since it was mostly just a pretty empty stage with few props and just a really big screen. I think they utilized the screen really well, just consistently having that illusion of The Media there really helped modernize this musical. I also liked the portayal of Jesus n gangs hideout as this little encampment and the implication that they had the last supper in basically their home. Idk what its like in the bible but from both of the other versions i watched I got the impression that they had the last supper somewhere else and while that didnt bother me at all, i think theres something nice about it being more mundane

Thats pretty much it I think, now its Song Time babey

Overture(/Prologue?)

I paused within like the first 40 seconds and wrote a post because they just immediately hit you with fictional news reports about protests and police brutality and then they just keep going for like 3 minutes and Im just sitting there, mouth agape because its like. first of all, these made-up news reports were so similar to ones that Ive seen throughout the summer of 2020 when the George Floyd and related protests were happening that I had to do a double take and make sure that yes, this is from 2012 and literally nothing has changed. Alternatively, they were actively trying to portray an unrealistically horrifically tyrannical government police state only for the creators visions of a horrible dystopia coming true only 8 years after. I dont know which one is more upsetting and Id rather not think about it too much and find out

Second of all, Andrew Lloyd Webbers musicals tend to be pretty safe, like theyre known to be more spectacle and melodrama than substance, atleast the ones that Im familiar with and while I certainly wouldnt call this musical subtle or even particularly profound, I really wasnt expecting something this politically charged within the first minute. And just to be clear, Im not saying that JCS is bad because its not that subtle or profound, I really love this musical and think its really good it just isnt those qualities and thats fine

Heaven on Their Minds

I dont have a lot to say here, Judas is pretty weak. His voice lacks emotion and because of that it feels more like a pop-cover than a musical theater song and I wasnt a fan. His actual singing voice is good and he definitely gets better as the musical goes on but this was quite disappointing after that overture

Also, the camera was obviously focusing more on Judas at this point but Im pretty sure I saw Jesus and Simon having some kind of argument while his followers are all surrounding him and Judas is singing, I thought that was a neat detail

What's the Buzz/Strange Thing, Mystifying

Im gonna be real with you, saying those two songs are part of the same one doesnt seem right to me but thats what Genius and youtube do and I dont think I really have too much to say about Whats the Buzz on its own so yeah

Honestly, I feel like Whats the Buzz is just gonna make Jesus seem kinda weird and unlikable regardless of who plays him, the good thing about this version is hes not musically moaning and going "ohhhhhhhh~ Mary thats so nice~~" like he is in the german 70s version which i forced myself to listen to approximately 600 times

I have the same criticism of Judas as I did in the previous song, not enough emotion. Jesus isnt great here either, I feel like neither version after the 73 one really managed to capture his anger at his followers the same way, the delivery has been weaker and not as impactful and snappy in the 2000s and 2012 versions.

And I just wanted to say again that I like the setup of their hideout being a bunch of these little tents, I think its really fitting

Everything's Alright

Jesus and Judas are still not giving me enough and its just gonna be like this until the last supper I guess

I really like Mary's voice, theres something soft and kinda vulnerable about it and its nice to listen to

This Jesus Must Die

Musically this is probably my favorite song because of course it is, its the villain song

I like that in this production Caiaphas seemed to really struggle to reach that low tone lol. Like, he sounded great but his face looked like he was struggling, thats about as well as I can describe it. I also liked Annas, he seemed so smug and obnoxious and I liked his leitmotiv-melody-thingy that he would sing its very catchy

I really appreciated that white-grayish lighting, it reminded me of like sterile office building lighting and contrasts nicely with the more yellowish-golden lighting they had for Hosanna. They didnt do anything as crazy or evocative as the 2000s film but Im also not sure how feasible doing something like that on a live stage would be so whatever, I still enjoyed it and thought it looked really good

Hosanna

This might be my favorite song in terms of how they adapted it for this modern AU-thing. I love that Jesus seems a lot more involved in this which makes sense since its been reframed as a protest whereas Im pretty sure it was originally something closer to a parade or something similar. I like that hes singing along to the "Hosanna, heysanna" parts, I dont think he did that in the other versions and it makes him seem less detached and above-it-all which definetly makes him a lot more sympathetic in my eyes

I absolutely adore the way Jesus' verse is framed with him like, looking into a camera with his followers huddled around him idk I think its nice. Speaking of framing and stuff, I havent mentioned the camera work at all yet and its really good for the most part, I do have some complaints but they dont apply to this song so I shant mention them right now

Really the only negative thing I have to say is that usually when the crowd sings "Hey JC, JC, wont you die for me" they cut to Jesus horrified/weirded out reaction and I think its a real highlight but I dont think they directed him to make any kind of facial expression at that part or maybe the actor forgot, so that was a little disappointing ngl. Speaking of that verse, I have Genius open rn so I know which order the songs are in and apparently that verse/line wasnt originally in the song??? Bro thats such a good and simple line how did you not come up with that right away. I mean, better late than never but still

Simon Zelotes/Poor Jerusalem

Again, I dont really think these two songs make that much sense as a package deal but who am I to disagree with genius dot com

I really enjoy the contrast between the two songs and I think they did a great job highlighting it even further via the lighting, with the stage being bathed in this red light during Simon Zelotes and the lights changing to deep blue for Poor Jerusalem. The staging and choregraphy were also great, I like that Jesus is mostly down at the front of the stage during Simon Zelotes with his followers being sort of scattered behind him as they were doing this high energy group dance number while hes up at the back of the stage during Poor Jerusalem with his followers almost huddled together in front of him, it highlights that emotional dissonance between Jesus and his followers really well

I actually liked Jesus performance too, I think the actor did a good job conveying his discomfort and at this point I felt like he was a lot better at projecting quiet vulnerability than loud anger or anguish at this point

Pilate's Dream

I dont really have anything to say here, the song isnt great but its short so its like, fine whatever.

The main thing I have to say here is that I did not Get Pilate at all the past two times I watched this but at the end of this song he puts on a powdered wig and I went "ohhhhhhh hes like a judge" and that made me finally kinda understand what his deal is somehow. Idk man Im a little stupid sometimes

The Temple

I think the first half of this song is fine, but I definitely prefer both of the other versions. I feel like having the people at the temple crowd around a camera as theyre singing about all the sinful shit theyre offering just makes for more effective framing and does a better job at putting you in Jesus' shoes and making you feel uncomfortable

Im not a fan of those weird moving neon shapes they show on the screen during this bit. At the very start of this scene they have this colorful neon text saying stuff like SEX and NUDES and honestly, I think they shouldve had that for the entire song. Like, I get why they might not want to have a whole scene with the word SEX flashing in the background in bold neon letters but it wouldve fit more and been less weird than abstract moving lines. I also dont think they shouldve had any of the 'sinners' wear white just to make Jesus stand out a bit more, but thats a nitpick.

I absolutely ADORE the second half with the beggars though. I mentioned before that I have this fascination with portrayals non-consentual non-sexual touch and this scene, in all three versions Ive watched, really manages to tap into that in a way thats pretty personal and hard to describe. This scene in this version is probably my favorite but Im not sure I can properly describe why. It just feels so intense, the way everyones grabbing onto him and practically lifting him off the ground like some uncomfortable perversion of crowd surfing, I love that

I also like the detail at the start of the song where Judas picks a fight with the bodyguard guy while Jesus goes inside

Everything's Alright (Reprise)/I Don't Know How To Love Him

These two songs arent actually lumped together like some of the other ones, but i have nothing to say about the reprise on its own and its really short so

I really like I Don't Know How To Love Him because its the song that made me realize that Jesus being the son of god is actually pretty ambiguous in this musical which makes this story way better and more interesting imo. Like, I rewatched Jenny Nicholsons video on easter plays after watching the 70s movie and i realized that the focus on Jesus as the literal son of god and his resurrection actually takes away a lot of the impact this story could have as yknow, a story, when its being told by people who are actually christian. And Im not religious myself but I get why that is, for a christian audience the resurrection is the most important part because its essentially proof of Jesus being the son of god rather than 'just' a prophet and/or important spiritual leader, which is kind of the basis of the entire religion. I also feel like theres a tendency in media made by christians about Jesus (or Jesus-stand ins) to avoid portraying any flaws in its main character because thats your god, and you wouldnt wanna portray that guy in a bad light and while I understand that too, it makes for a far less interesting story for non-christian audiences

I dont really know where I was going with this ngl, in conclusion; the reason I enjoyed this play about Jesus Christ so much is probably that it wasnt made by christians

Also Im going back to this after being done writing the post, I dont like that they made Mary ungoth herself on stage like cmon man, let my gal be goth. The only good thing about that was that Mary has muscles and I liked looking at them now that the jacket wasnt in the way

Damned for All Time/Blood Money

Finally a package deal song that actually works as one

Im gonna honest, while I think this song is good I dont really. understand it? Even after watching three versions of this musical and looking at some of the genius annotations. I understand that Judas is feeling guilty about the betrayal and trying to justify himself (although thats only after reading the annotations lol I feel like the lyrics are really weird and contradictory ngl), I dont really get why hes betraying him? Like yeah, he doesnt like what Jesus is doing now and is afraid that he's putting himself and other jewish people in danger but on an emotional level I dont really get why he thought betraying him would be the best course of action. Maybe because he came to realize that he cant get Jesus off the path hes on but idk, that wouldve been nice to actually see that onstage

But enough about that, lets move on to the things I really liked. For example they added this small bit where Judas is walking over to Caiaphas and his guys and you can see him walk into their office building or whatever through the security cameras, I thought that was a really neat detail.

I also like the way Judas sings the very last line about the gardens of Gethsemane, his delivery was really good

The Last Supper

I already mentioned this a few times earlier but I thought Jesus' and Judas' performances were fine for the most part, they just lacked emotion and felt more like flat radio covers because of it, but this is the song where they get really good and even stay really good. Thats not. great. But you know what they say, better late than never

I also liked Judas like, poking Jesus basically when hes yelling at him and I liked Jesus shoving him. Maybe its just me but I feel like the physical contact is way more intense in this version, for lack of a better term, and Im a big fan of that I think that rules, I love watching guys touch each other

I also mentioned earlier that I like how the last supper is just happening at their camp because it makes it feel more mundane and the other non-apostle ensamble members still being there in the background really adds to that vibe as well. I also feel like it made everyone going to sleep after the supper make more sense. Like, in the previous two versions I thought it was kinda weird that they all just fell asleep at the table after that big dramatic shouting match and Jesus predictions but in this one it reads more like the apostles are all going "okay. i think i need to leave." and just crawling into their tents bc what else are they supposed to do

Another thing I liked was that Jesus was like, kinda freaking out and lashing out in this scene. Idk the way Ive been taught about these events made it seem like Jesus just calmly explained this shit to his guys at dinner because he knew gods plan or whatever, so I appreciated this more dramatic and more human version

Gethsemane

oughhhhhhh this song is really good but I dont have a lot to say about it because its mainly an emotional ballad where Jesus is just kinda standing there singing while engulfed in blue light and I already talked about how I like that the existence of god is never confirmed in this musical and why i think that makes the story way stronger

I did want to mention this lyric-change I noticed and didnt like. So originally there was this line towards the end of the song that was like "God thy will is hard/Something something card probably" idk the only reason I remembered that line is because when I heard it in the 73 version I immediately went on tumblr to make an untagged 1 note flop of a post that went like this: "Call my penis thy will the way its hard". But in this version the line is "God thy will is done/Take your only son" and I just dont like that

The Arrest

It took me watching this musical thrice to realize that the music for this song is literally just the music for the beggar part of The Temple, eventhough there were some very obvious visual parallels in the 2000s movie on top of the music being the same but hey, Im a little stupid sometimes and also better late than never

Similarly to the temple scene I just dont think its as effective when you dont have the camera surrounded by these people to both put you in Jesus' shoes and to evoke claustrophobia. The reframing of these guys being like news reporters rather than ? disillusioned followers? jewish people who dont agree with him? I think? is really good and makes a lot of sense. I just didnt like that they had those guards holding them all back I think they shouldve gone all out and just fucking grabbed him

Peter's Denial

This is a pretty short qnd unremarkable song and I dont have much to say, I liked both Peter and Mary (Mary has been consistantly really good throughout the entire musical I think i forgot to mention thst until now) and I weirdly enjoyed Peter being so unecessarily hostile towards that old lady

Pilate and Christ

This is the song I keep forgetting about even though its actually really good lmao

I am just baffled by the decision to have Pilate working out in this scene. Thats kind of it honestly, like whyd they do that. whyd they do that huh. Literally the only reason I can think of is like, they wanted to show off how dismissive he is of Jesus but. there are other ways

Anyway I really liked Pilates vocal performance though and I like this actor, he has a very legal-professional kinda face and tone of voice which makes sense if we're interpreting him as some kindof judge guy, great casting

King Herod's Song

I really love this song, its so catchy and fun and ended up liking the talk show setup for this scene more than I anticipated. I think the reason I was kinda wary of how they would approach this scene was because King Herod is 10000% gonna be the guy who gets played by James Corden when they inevitably decide to turn this into a proper movie (again) but since this is 2012 and also a stage production, James Corden is nowhere to be found and this song is still really enjoyable. Theres really nothing to dislike here, I liked the guy who played Herod, I liked the backup dancer women (although I will say that I prefer their outfits from the 2000s), I liked the way they used the screen to further this whole talkshow thing, I liked Jesus being spun around in that chair, its great

My one small complaint is that during that line where hes like "Cmon man, turn my water into wine" hes given this water bottle and then the water turns red and even with the camera focusing on the effect it just kinda looks pathetic, maybe they couldve done something with the screen instead like they did for the "walk across my swimming pool" line but idk

Judas' Death

Man I cant even properly describe how much I love both the song and execution of it, its so wonderfully visceral and tragic and oughhhhhhh

First of all, I adore Judas' performance hes so good here and he does a great job at letting the emotion bleed into his voice and make it sound like hes sobbing without his singing suffering from it like in the 2000s movie. Do I prefer the performance here over the 73 version? Ehhhhh I think Id need to directly compare the scenes before I feel comfortable making a statement about that and I dont feel like doing that right now.

The lighting is pretty simple here, its pretty much just red, but its really atmospheric and helps underscore Judas' anguish and you know me babey, I love watching this guy suffer

I was gonna write something about the suicide being done well before ending this section here but I just remembered something and immediately forgot what I was going to write, so heres the thing I remembered:

When I was watching the 73 movie and Judas committed suicide, I was like mouth-agape shocked, not because it happened suddenly or because it was edited in a particular way but because I didnt know he was going to kill himself. Ive had religious education as a class for the entirety of my school career, the only time we ever actually talked about the easter story in any kind of detail was when I was like 6 years old in the first grade. The teacher told us about all the most basic beats, Jesus had a bunch of buddys he took out to dinner one night, he tells them about how one of them will betray him, Judas betrays him for money, Jesus gets crucified and then Judas lives in disgrace and shame until the end of his days. What she didnt tell us is how those days end and like. I mean i guess she didnt lie did she

And after that the topic of The Easter Story never really came up and also I thought religious education was the most boring and pointless shit on earth so I never bothered looking into any of it at any other point in my life and thats how I managed to avoid spoilers for this 2000 year old story

I was gonna end the section here but I just remembered something else that I wanted to share, I promise this is thematically relevant

A few days after I watched the 2000s film I thought to myself "hey, this is a popular musical that was originally english but since its been around for like 50 years I wonder if theyve since made a german version" so I looked it up, found the german wikipedia page and yes, theres a german version that came out on vinyl in the 70s but its unfortunately missing a song (two if we're counting Then We Are Decided as well but that one was added for the movie and not originally in the musical). Since Im already on wikipedia I decide to just read the entire article and I find out that orthodox christians didnt like the musical because it paints Judas The Traitor in a sympathetic light and I do a bit of a double take because Im like. I thought Judas was generally seen as sympathetic??? Because again, the only time i was ever taught about this story in any detail was when I was 6 in first grade religious education class and I havent really thought about it since. I only vaguely remember that class but Im pretty sure the way my teacher explained the apostles was that they were like Jesus' closest buddies and when I heard that Judas ended up betraying his good friend Jesus I was really sad and felt really sorry for him ? I dont remember my exact emotions or thoughts but it was either "I really love my friends and one of them died I'd be so upset even if it was my fault they died" or "I would never rat my friends out and cause them to be killed for no reason so he mustve had a really good reason we're just not being told about" or a combination of those and then I never paid attention to christianity ever again so I just never changed my thinking

So yeah, youre looking at a lifelong Judas Iscariot apologist Im so glad to finally be reunited with my fellow men in my natural habitat which is the Jesus Christ Superstar Fandom

Trial Before Pilate

Funfact, someone on youtube uploaded the entire JCS german soundtrack and there they called it "Pilate's Interrogation (39 lashes included)" and idk I think thats mildly amusing

I gotta say this is definitely a little bit disappointing after the 2000s version which had that absolutely mental illness inducing (affectionate) part where every time hes meant to get whipped one of the people in the crowd runs up to him and strikes him and leaves a bunch of blood on his body until hes all wet n grimy from it. Its alright but idk it feels a bit less intense physically and Im not just talking about the lashings, Im also talking about Pilates coming down to Jesus at the very end and being like "Im holding your life in my hands". I dont remember what the 2000s movie did here but I know in the 70s movie hes actually cradling him in his arms and it makes this bit hit way harder, but in this version hes just kinda kneeling next to him like hes the gym teacher and Jesus is the unathletic kid who just somehow sprinted like 50 meters in order to not come in last for the race around the local playground theyre doing for PE and embarass himself in front of the class and is laying on the ground panting afterwars and feels like hes going to die.

While I dont think its as effective as it could be, those faceless silhoutte people standing outside that fence arguing with Pilate are decently menacing and Ive already talked about black as the color of the people involved in Jesus death and how you could see this as The Masses or The Public or whatever also being complicit in his death in some way. Also I think I remember seeing some red garments in that crowd as well which I also appreciate

Also, the makeup for his bloody back was really good

Superstar

Ive said it before I'll say it again, why wont they let my guy wear white for this part? Was that the tradeoff for having him look all cool as he descends down with the stagelights? Is this their attempt to placate those christians who disliked Judas being sympathetic so much they banned the musical in Belarus?

Anyway, I enjoyed it well enough despite that and I think it executed the concept of Jesus carrying his cross being filmed and broadcasted a lot better than the 2000s movie, simply by not having the guys doing the filming be Judas' guys and having them as well as the angels. That being said, the way this was filmed or the way this was cut together or maybe it was a combination of both, just made this really confusing and disorienting to watch. The camerawork is really good for most of this production so I have absolutely no idea whats going on here but its kinda bad ngl. And whenever there was a wideshot you could see that Judas and the angels were dancing and taking up most of the stage and then on the left corner there was Jesus and the people filming him all huddled together and I honestly cant imagine it looking that great on stage either but I guess I wasnt there so I may never know for sure

The Crucifixion

I cant adequately describe what I felt when I realized they were going to crucify him on the lighting fixture so I'll just say I think its sick as hell and move on

This is less of a song and more of a short monologue but I still felt like I had to talk about it because the actor who plays Jesus is absolutely amazing, I was a bit worried if he could pull this off at the start because he was kinda weak there, but he crushed it. I was also a bit worried that he wouldnt be all wet with blood since he already got lashed and was pretty dry at that point but then he bleed a bunch from his head wounds from the crown of thorns and I was satisfied. And the modern crown of thorns was a crown of barbed wire I love that

Thats it I think its about to be midnight and I spent like 2 days writing this and my head is just mush. Sorry if the last few segments seemed a bit disorganized, my head is just mush. I actually had a few more thoughts I was gonna put in this conclusion-thingy but my head is just mush so I'll just say this gets an 8/10 from me. I gave both of the previous versions a solid 7/10 because while I still thoroughly enjoyed them in their weird quirks and think theyre kind of charming in their occasional bouts of kinda bizarre shit on top of being good, this one felt more competent and like it had a stronger vision behind it. Thats it, thank you for reading my very long post

#jesus christ superstar

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supernovaa-remnant · 8 months

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well, when it comes to andor, dark, and the swarm, i like literally everything lol

like, i think i'd actually count all three as some of my favorite shows because they're just so good, no matter from what point you look at it. writing??? amazing. plot??? amazing. characters??? amazing. cinematography??? amazing. acting??? amazing.

i mean, i'm in no way an actual expert, this is more personal interest and experience than anything else but by god, i just think these shows are fucking incredible and they left a lasting impact on me in multiple ways.

also omg since you mentioned it, i can't believe i forgot to list doctor who???? wonderful show, i love it so so much. do you have, like, a favorite era or doctor???

but please do go on about interconnectedness (just not to the point of crying please), i love to hear your thoughts!! :D

they sound like really interesting shows :D if I ever find the time to check them out, I'll let you know :3

omg doctor who it's such a good show. growing up, my favorite doctor was always the 11th doctor (amy was one of my favorite companions, too, and ofc I loved river and she was mostly around when the 11th doctor was around). as I've gotten older I kinda have less favorites if that makes sense lol. really like 12 and really like 10. um, unpopular opinion, but I really like 13 as well. like, I don't know, she has characteristics reminiscent of past doctors but is also very much her own doctor, y'know? I also adore yaz as a companion. in terms of the episodes themselves and the plotlines there, probably 10-11 era, but in terms of doctors my favorites are 11 and 13, I'd say. really really good show though and honestly there's so many interesting parts of it and good episodes from all the seasons.

what about you? do you have a favorite era or doctor??

as for interconnectedness.. I know people always talk about how humans are social creatures, but I feel like it expands beyond that, y'know? everything is connected. long ago stars exploded and those explosions created the elements that we're made of. something incredibly improbable happened to create the moon (because the earth-moon dynamic is very very weird and unlike any other planet-satellite dynamic in the solar system), and because of the moon life was able to form and evolve the way it did on the earth. 2000 years ago people looked up at the sky and created constellations and the zodiac system, and we still use that today despite the position of the sun relative to the constellations has shifted since then.

on a smaller scale—people have always just been people. and they were just living their lives, and yet somehow it all has lead to here and now. and, still, we're just people living our lives. and now we have the capability of being able to connect with people literally across the globe, and isn't that beautiful? that distance isn't as big of a barrier anymore?

and there's someone growing up in the house I grew up on. there's history there—my parents built that house when I was a baby, and my grandma painted my bedroom walls, and I experienced so much there. and now that house is watching another kid grow up and maybe the walls have been re-painted, but the original paint is still there, just hidden. and there are scratch marks on the wall from my now deceased childhood dog because he was just a puppy and not well trained yet when we got him.

and the child growing up there doesn't know any of that, and yet, in some way, we are connected because of it.

and I still think about the best friend I had in kindergarten and my best friend in elementary school and the friends I had in middle school. actually, speaking of doctor who, I had a middle school teacher who was doing a collage project in the ceiling of her classroom. basically it was a bunch of clouds and pictures of the sky. but, there was a little trio of sixth graders (me and two other girls) who loved doctor who. so, our teacher added a bunch of pictures of the TARDIS on the ceiling so that we could try to count them all (we never could). that ceiling is still there, even if I don't talk to those other two girls anymore.

it's just—everything is so connected. you're only a couple people away from any given person. it's crazy to me. and, another thing that's baffling. I wonder how many times I've been in the same room with the same stranger. because I don't remember all the strangers I see, but maybe I've sat in a train with the same stranger I sat on a bus with 5 years prior. maybe I passed a friend on the street years before we ever met. just, stuff like that is wild to me.

I don't want this to get too long, so I'm just going to make one more point: isn't it beautiful how, in the age of globalization, despite all the shortcomings, we've also found new ways to love?

Bare with me, but I'm going to very very briefly talk about parasocialism. Because, for example, Dream is always saying he loves his fans. Wilbur, in his last stream, said he loves his fans. and something they've both brought up is the fact that it's not like the love you feel for a friend or family member, but it's love nonetheless. and isn't that kind of beautiful? that it's possible to have love for people across the globe who you don't know? and it's not the same love as the love you have towards someone you know, but it's love all the same. and the same applies to social media. I love my mutuals. other people are always posting about how they love their mutuals. sometimes that evolves into an actual genuine friendship, and sometimes it doesn't. whatever it is, it's still love and care, and I just think it's really beautiful how deeply we can care about people we've never met and may never meet.

Okay, signing off here. I just love humanity and space and sometimes I'm just really full of love.

#<3 #stella answers #sky cdreambur #omg I didn't even mention the cave paintings #or that urge to leave proof of your existence #material for future posts I guess

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technodromes · 10 months

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I had thoughts TM yesterday when I came home from the cinema, but I was too tired to write them down. Now I'm awake and these thoughts are still around, so here we go. It pretty much started off with 'why I don't really like the 2003 TMNT' but turned into a whole 'TMNT and Me' thing, so I put it under a read more. Because it's long.

So, as you know by now probably, I was born 1986. When I got older and started to watch cartoons on Saturday morning, I regularly watched the 1987 iteration of the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'. And boy I loved them. I'd get mad every time we went to visit my grandma on the weekend and I couldn't watch my favorite show. I didn't know at that time that there was a comic to it that was much darker actually.

Several years later, I got into Anime & Manga. Well, mostly Manga actually. The amount of available Manga in my country started growing around 2000. I also remember that I didn't watch that much tv because I just didn't really vibe with 2000s cartoons anymore. I think I saw glimpses of the 2003 Turtles when I zapped through channels and found them way too gritty. I couldn't really get behind why they made the Turtles that buff and rude and everything you know? People are complaining about Netflix turning children's shows all dark and gritty and how they hate this new trend, but that 'trend' started already before Netflix if you ask me. Mind you, I was no stranger to dark and serious cartoons as a kid though. We had a fair share of them. The Black Cauldron, for example. All Dogs Go to Heaven included serious topics too. And my dad let me watch Felidae when he thought 'Oh, there's a cartoon with cats for Sabine to watch', only for the cartoon to reveal that it is absolutely NOT made for kids lmao. I also watched 'Watership Down'. I mean, if you're familiar with these titles, you'll know.

But to get back to seeing the 2003 Turtles the first time, I just couldn't get behind that 'edgy action hero' vibe. So I dismissed the series and didn't follow it further. I continued reading Manga or watching Anime where available. I recall getting into series already BEFORE they got released here, Fullmetal Alchemist being a good example. YEARS later people jumped onto that train and I was already hyper-focused on other series. I spent time working on my own websites and improving my English skills over time as well. I was all over the place on the internet and met people on a website called Animexx, where I got to rp. Just a lot of stuff, I ain't going to unpack all that.

To be quite honest, I completely missed the 2012 Turtles back then. I rarely watched TV anymore around that time, I was busy with other stuff like finding my first job and all that. I finished my apprenticeship late, it was around 2011 when I did. So I had a lot of other things on my mind. I also missed Rise! pretty much on 2018. I had to move back to my parents around 2017 after I had my own apartment 2014-2017, and I was once again searching for a new job there. I recall it was a mess. I believe it was 2018 when I started working at that place I was for 5 years, the longest I worked somewhere. So, I believe it was around 2021 when I discovered Rise. And yes, I've grown much more open-minded to my 'favorite series' having a different spin to them since. I actually enjoyed Rise a lot. And it has also a special place in my heart because it did bring me back to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which I was so obsessed with as a kid. Also, I've grown very much tired with Manga & Anime at that point because there's such a FLOOD now. Around 2000, a new Manga release was something special. Now it's impossible to keep up anymore.

Not too long ago, I thought about checking the 2003 iteration of TMNT out again and stumbled over Turtles Forever. And listen, I get the point they tried to make there. The 2003 Turtles being closer to their origins, being serious and edgy and all that, whereas the 1987 Turtles have been made kids-friendly and goofy. I DO get that. But they had the '87 Turtles pretty much incompetent and obnoxious from the beginning to the finish and as someone loving the '87 boys, I took offense in that. It just didn't feel right to me how they portrayed them the way they did there. In the first and last seasons of the old TMNT series, there had been more serious tunes too. I mean come on, they aren't THAT incompetent.

*takes a DEEP breath* It can be done better, and the writers of the 2012 series proved that. They also picked up on 'the '87 Turtles were made kids-friendly and wouldn't do well in a more serious series' fact. They were also portrayed as being obnoxious in the beginning. But instead of having the 2012 Turtles act as demeaning babysitters, they trained their '87 counterparts and worked together with them. The way how the crossover ended was just a lot more wholesome to me. Plus, they included Bebop & Rocksteady and gave the boys their redemption arc there! I loved that a lot.

I'm definitely biased tho and I'm sure I will watch the '03 Turtles eventually, just like I binge-watched the 2012 ones. I mean credit where credit is due, they originally came up with Bishop and I love that guy there just as much as I love 2012's version of him (even though they are absolute polar opposites). I watched a 2003 Bishop compilation on youtube and that guy is something else. Also, I know that some of my mutuals here prefer the 2003 TMNT over the others, and let me tell you here that's perfectly fine! I know 2003 has been your childhood and I respect that. I'd love to hear about your favorite parts of it! In the end, we all love TMNT and I love talking to people about it, it doesn't matter which version. Also, a bottom line I want to share here is something that bothers me about long-time fandoms that have different iterations. I mean, I made it a point that I'm not awfully fond of the 2003 iteration all in all, but I would never go on youtube and reply to someone excitedly commenting on a 2003 video about how I think it sucks. Don't fucking do that, people. You can voice your opinion separately in your own comment and be on your way again. Don't bash and attack people for liking something you don't. It's really not that hard. I've seen posts around here on tumblr as well with questionable replies to them. Just... let others enjoy their favorite version of their series.

#Saby's Clown-Hours #Non Rp #(Yeah guys I'll get to writing replies but I had to get this wall of text out of my system first lmao)#(Today is National Holiday here and I spend some time with my fam later but I won't be around there a lot)#(Lots of Fireworks and my cat Bolin is absolutely terrified of all the noise. I don't want to leave him alone for long)

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