#+ it makes me think about this otgw episode

[boilbluedenim]

Over the liminal mindscape

I love and hate how this show's ending is completely left up to interpretation, mainly because of Wirt and Greg's potential deaths and how that makes me feel about the show as a whole. It attaches a sort of bittersweet feeling to it which I'm not too sure about. more on that soon though.

Anyway, when paying even just an inkling of attention to this show, you can almost immediately connect the dots and come to the conclusion that none of the adventures (for the most part) actually happened. This conclusion is heavily drawn from the frames we see at the very beginning, of Wirt, Greg, and Jason Funderburker (the frog) drowning. (ep 1)

and from the frames where Wirt wakes up in the water after having said goodbye to Beatrice, saving his brother and the frog by carrying them both out of the water. (ep 10)

Taking into account that Wirt, Greg, and Funderburker all fell into the water moments before almost getting hit by a train, which we discover in episode 9; Into The Unknown, I think it's pretty safe to assume that this is, in fact, the case and that OTGW takes place in either a mental space or a physical limbo, occurring while they are all in the process of drowning.

Another thing I'd like to mention is that OTGW is heavily based off of Dante's Inferno, which, in the simplest of summaries, is a poem about a journey that begins in a forest, leads through hell, and eventually into heaven, hence the theorized death I mentioned earlier. It's actually pretty easy to spot where these references and homages lie, for example, the formula of the story is somewhat similar, and the characters take on similar roles. (for example, Virgil: Beatrice/Woodsman(?)or even Greg in some cases, Beatrice: Sara, Dante: Wirt.) (please read Inferno or a summary of it to fully understand this if you haven't already because it's actually really interesting).

Rewatching OTGW with this in mind led me to realize a lot of things that I originally passed off as unique writing choices with no actual meaning behind them. Then again that could be the case but what's the fun in assuming that?

Upon entering the unknown, we're launched into a universe with a seemingly ever-changing time period. Characters talk funny and fancy, dress and act as if they're from the 1600s-1700s, and none of our protagonists seem particularly fazed by this (except for Beatrice, occasionally) with Greg using a phrase such as "brother o'mine" and Wirt's dramatic poetic rambles. Everything feels very inspired while also being all over the place, almost as if it's been composed from memories, lying in the pits of somebody's mind...

Wirt is a Huge Nerd.

If I am to believe that this show takes place in one of our protagonists' minds, which I do in fact believe, then I would say that that protagonist has to be Wirt. Wirt has a tendency to go on poetic spiels, even dropping two of them in the very first episode. Accompanied by his teenage boy dread (being a nerd at 14 is tough) and his overextending knowledge about curious things, which he showcases in his exclaim at Beatrice's ability to talk and his comment about one of the rooms in Endicott's mansion (below), It becomes a glaring possibility that OTGW is primarily from Wirt's point of view, with the Unknown existing solely in his head.

I've actually seen this point argued before, with some people mentioning the black turtles on the poster in Wirt's room or just his entire room in general. However, if true, that doesn't really answer the question of whether the unknown exists as a physical space or a mental one, having no supernatural effects on the real world.

2. The Implications of the Bell

Okay, so, listen.

I hate to be the kind of person who goes "Well it's probably just a fun and silly bit that doesn't actually mean anything." but I'm gonna be that person anyway, or at least I'm not going to assume character death because I don't want to and free will is a thing blablablabla. I will however be serious for a second and try to provide a tangible reason for why I think this scene doesn't have any real-world implications.

For one, this scene immediately jumpcuts to a voiceover, followed by scenes that serve as conclusions for the stories of the characters we've met along the way, all of them being positive. I think this serves the purpose of letting us know the story did in fact have a good ending, with Wirt learning how to treat his brother with respect. I also think that ties into the theory above.

Not only does the unknown serve as a mental limbo but it also serves as a lesson for Wirt in particular. This journey is riddled with self-critique, characterized as Beatrice, all the while Wirt is drowning and realizing he's not only failed himself but his brother as well.

3. The Beast

Surprisingly I haven't mentioned the beast yet even though he's very important to the story. The beast represents a couple of things, one being death and two being the overarching, real-world problem. Those may sound like the same thing, and honestly, they are depending on what you think the problem is. To me, it's Wirt's relationship with, and treatment of Greg in the real world that bleeds into the universe of the unknown.

The exchange that Wirt has with the beast at the end of episode 10 fully encapsulates his character growth. The characters his mind has created have actually taught him something, that being; wallowing in sorrow and accepting your fate is just going to lead you further down this winding path, or in this case, to the bottom of this lake. You will never get home.

Unlike I've seen others suggest, this is not a story of a boy failing and dying while so wrapped up in his own fantasy, eventually residing in a false heaven. Instead, everything is put back where it needs to be.

From the forest, through the unknown, and finally, back home.

#ramblings #over the garden wall #otgw #I havent written since september help

[idkwidatp]

My interpretation of otgw and my theories

●First of all im pretty sure most people know that it is supposed to be like Dante's inferno

Wirt (and Greg) are Dante

Sara is Beatrice

Ironically Beatrice is closest to virgil.

● I at least like to believe that the unknown is real and I have a couple of actual reasons why aside from just wanting it to be real

One we see what happened to the characters from the unknown Beatrice, the woodsman, auntie whispers,ect

Two Jason funderburker glows because of the bell

Three we see endicott's grave (which I will bring up again later).

● the unknown is either purgatory or hell maybe a little bit of both.

● this is less of a theory and more of an au that I thought of that I haven't seen anyone else talk about or think of

Beatrice's family and the corduroy family are related. That's it that's the whole idea.

● I like the theory of everyone in the unknown being dead

Like I said we see endicott's grave in episode 9 (which also makes that whole "so you're not a ghost" thing wrong at least a little)

Also like I said the unknown is either purgatory or hell probably a combination of the two so it would make sense for everyone to be dead

And we literally see living skeletons so yeah

●someone pointed out that in Dante's inferno they say that suicides take form of trees and...

Yeeaahh...

FUCK

●this is not necessarily just about over the garden wall but

PRIME'D CATRA SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN BAD END FRIENDS

●I hate the idea of wirt being related to the pines family because I ship pinescone

Also at most there's a three year age gap between dipper and wirt and I think it's less

●"I don't really like labels i-i'm kind of just me" QUEER WIRT

●I love and hate the idea that Greg has been to the unknown before because as much it would make sense that would mean that either Greg has died before or had a near death experience before

●less of a theory more of a fact but the fight is over is about drowning

●I don't like the theory of Greg being Greg universe.

One Greg never mentions having a brother

Two Greg is a much happier kid than Greg was, like Greg talked about how not super happy his childhood was

●wirt's costume is very similar to the Dante's costume in Dante's inferno

● MAN I LOVE DEPRESSED/SEWERSLIDEAL TEENS

●i love Greg

And I feel bad for the woodsman

I love Jason funderburker (frog)

I love Lorna and auntie whispers

I love Beatrice

I love wirt

●Bad end friends reminds me of nicktoons unite

●"I was never any good to him alive either" I SWEAR WIRT WAS AT LEAST I LITTLE SEWERSLIDEAL

#over the garden wall #otgw #dante's inferno #gravity falls #steven universe #cartoon network #luz noceda #hunter noceda #dipper pines #bad end friends #pinescone #wirt over the garden wall #greg over the garden wall #beatrice over the garden wall #auntie whispers #lorna over the garden wall #i love greg so much #catra applesauce meowmeow #chipped catra #its a rock fact #we came to burgle your turts #jason funderburker #i love jason funderburker the frog #the unknown #i love auntie whispers

[incomingalbatross]

Last Week (week three) on Commute Radio:

Bach's violin concertos Not quite as beautiful to me as the Brandenburg concertos, but good stuff

Close Reads A podcast that comes across like a very intelligent, well-educated book club or relaxed literary seminar - three people (also Catholic I'm almost entirely sure) discussing books in depth. I listened to their first installment of discussion on Little Britches, and it was great. They compared Ralph to Telemachus multiple times.

Being Human Very promising! I only listened to the introductory episode, but it's about Catholic psychotherapy which is a VERY interesting topic.

Bargainville by Moxy Früvous My non-classical music cheat day. :P A good time! Not something I would have found on my own. I like their sound.

Art of Manliness A short episode - not much to say about it. Still deciding if this one holds a strong enough appeal for me to keep it in a long-term rotation.

Stuff You Should Know VERY short episode. I'm good sprinkling these into my rotation, I think, just as random general knowledge content.

Snap Judgment Listen. These are interesting, varied, well-made, and generally engrossing storytelling. However, if the third episode I listen to is also the third one that brings up child sex abuse, however appropriate the context and handling, I am out.

Cello Concertos by Dvorak and by Elgar Good stuff, dramatic, and one of them reminded me of OTGW somehow? I think just the vibes. Considering making a Fall Playlist and putting it on there.

My Writing Sucks Continues to be a fun time! Her writing WAS bad and it's bad in ways I recognize so clearly from my own child-attempts at writing. Both funny and endearing.

Pints With Aquinas This was my longest day, and I was also on the train and may have dozed a bit, so I can't say I gave it the attention it required. But it was still good.

Born of Wonder I liked my second episode better than the first! Talked about nature and how we ought to relate to/experience it, with the focus on wonder. Good.

Swan Lake Act One Really good stuff. Much longer than I assumed (hence only having gotten to Act One this week), but I would listen again.

Now, I'm behind on my round-ups here, because technically I just finished week four of this project/experiment/adventure. But I don't want the list to get wildly long, so I'll end this one here and give Week Four its own post before long.

#this list might have been longer actually if it hadn't been for the fact that my phone was down to 2 percent on my last drive home that week #spent the drive flipping through radio channels instead which was also fun! but did not yield reportable data

[jenny-dreadful]

actually, for funsies, lemme rattle off as many of otgw’s subtextual death symbols etc. as i can think of off the top of my head

(understanding that the bulk of this is probably well-trod territory if you’ve sought out much discussion on it, and that some of it is inarguably half-baked ideas that i’m interested in bringing up nonetheless)

Beatrice, in the Divine Comedy, is the name of Dante’s lost love. Also, there is a traditional folk belief (having trouble finding its origin) regarding bluebirds as a sign or incarnation of a deceased loved one

“Pottsfield” as a corruption of “potter’s field,” a type of burial place for the unclaimed dead (How nice, then, that all those skeletons seem to get such a joyful welcome!)

(Addendum: I love all those cheeky little lines there, like “Aren’t you a little too…early?” and “Folks don’t tend to leave Pottsfield.” gtfoh)

(DOUBLE ADDENDUM: Reference to this village event as a “harvest” functions at two ends, sort of. Death is commonly compared to a sort of harvest, as with the Grim Reaper; also, the Pottsfield idea of “harvesting” people who are already dead and buried, rather than living people, serves as perhaps the series’s first glimmering hint into the idea that the titular “garden” is a graveyard

The tavern crowd is satisfied to identify Wirt as “the pilgrim;” The Pilgrim’s Progress famously depicts an allegorical journey through death

Endicott—definitely well-trod that his name appears on a headstone in the real world later on, which is more text than subtext. But I wanna mention it anyway bc (while one may conclude that everyone lingering in the Unknown has died) Endicott is the only one it gets so explicit about, and here too is a graveyard-garden synapse crackle: Where can you find him? Well—in the real world, it’s the cemetery, but in the Unknown he’s prospering in his garden

The search for two pennies for ferry fare (presumably, one each for Wirt and Greg, with Fred and Beatrice planning to play dumb and board for free), ending in the sort of left-field thing where Greg sullenly throws them away? cracks me up because I can only imagine the whole episode being written before someone in the room went, “Shit, wait, they can’t actually pay the ferryman— How do we get out of this?”

(Add.: A ferry typically crosses a body of water rather than traveling along it, doesn’t it? Usually, a vessel like the one depicted would be called a “riverboat;” the decision to consistently call it a “ferry” instead is deliberate as hell.)

Beatrice’s initial endeavor is in bringing the boys to “Adelaide of the pasture”—or, in only slightly different terms, putting them “out to pasture”

Some more small ones, but when they encounter the other frogs and realize they’re all clothed, Greg kind of oddly makes a particular point of noting their unclothed frog’s “cold feets;” bare feet are sometimes used in art to suggest death, and separately, going barefoot is a part of proper mourning in some traditions. Also—there’s something to those frogs burying themselves in the mud to sleep, and to our party going on instead of staying with them, isn’t there?

Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for…thee, ultimately, if you get eaten? I’m gonna be tbh with you, I don’t see a strong connection here, but it feels weird to not mention it when there IS a strong (if general) association of bells as announcers of death. Maybe I’m missing something.

Greg sure does visit (and choose to return from) what can only be described as someplace resembling a child’s heaven. Traditionally, only one way to achieve this.

Oh, man, no big surprise with, like, “Come Wayward Souls”’ moody ass, but “Patient Is the Night” is such a cool instance of a particular old-fashioned, folkish flavor, poetically obfuscating the topic of death to present it as welcoming and restful (couldn’t work out a less pretentious or clunky way to say that).

And last, for now: Hey, shit, I’m pretty sure this doesn’t quite add up to anything, it’s just… It’s kinda weird that Greg’s big crime is revealed as the theft of a stone (painted to represent a person) from somebody’s garden, when this poetic interpretation of a graveyard as a “garden” (lined with stones, each carved to represent a person, in a different way) is established pretty thoroughly. Like, I won’t pretend that’s not kinda a reach. But it’s not nothing nothing, right?

#pardon me

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

crawls into ur window HI MAC I AM SO GLAD U ASKED FOR MY SANDERS SIDES SALES PITCH. oh my god ok. here's my sales pitch. sanders sides is like inside out except they're debating extreme moral dilemmas such as the trolley problem and sacrificing yourself for others and whether morally questionable actions make someone a bad person. also leslie odom jr shows up at one point so thats cool. there r sprinkles of religious guilt in later episodes AND RELIGIOUS IMAGERY WITH THE SNAKE GUY LEMME TELL U ABOUT THE SNAKE GUY!!!

the yellow guy with the snake face is deceit and he's c!thomas' capacity for deception and lies (and as an extension he's a sort of self preservation instinct he's very cool i love him his debut episode is MY FAVOURITE) and i love him. sneaky snake man <3 will not say his actual name bc that's revealed in a much later episode but i love him so so mmuch. the sarcasm. THE SASS. he is one of my fav sides along with virgil and logan (i just like the left brain boys idk what kinda crack thomas put in them but im addicted)

THE MUSTACHE GUY BASICALLY IS A CARTOON VILLAIN!!! HE HAS A WHOLE ASS MUSICAL NUMBER IN HIS DEBUT EPISODE. HE'S AMAZING. his name is remus (which isn't rly a spoiler bc he says his name like ten minutes after showing up) and he's so fucking funny i love him. due to Religious Upbringing and Catholic Guilt c!thomas has like 2 sides of his creativity, one side is Roman and the other is Remus, and remus is like c!thomas' intrusive thoughts and also his darker imagination like dirty jokes and interests in darker subject matter (he's got a wide range of Things that he does but he's mostly been shown as a representation of intrusive thoughts thus far) he's a silly funny guy i think u would love him very very much :33

(also i think the discourse thomas was in at the time was just saying he supported ace ppl while the entire Ace Discourse thing was happening years ago. he hasn't done anything reprehensible, he just suffers from terminal "my fanbase puts me on a moral pedestal and i cannot possibly hope to live up to it and every action is scrutinized unfairly" disease. like ranboo!!! sry for the Rant sanders sides has gotten young me thru some tough shit and it holds a v special place in my heart. if u want the full series playlist i can send it 2 u :3)

OHHHHH this sounds like exactly the kind of thing that 14 yr old me would have eaten up ljke a big ol bowl of cereal. oh this shit is so good. ok maybe i will watch it. for teenage mac. i will do it for her. this surely will not give me any mental illnesses whatsoever (<< EXTREMELY pos)

i like the vibes of snake guy just from that otgw video.... he feels like. reluctantly redeemed villain that now just kinda hangs around like a weird uncle. i love that in a man . also snake imagery slaps always

I WOULD FOR SURE LOVE THE PLAYLIST <3 if i get insane abt this im 100% blaming you tho hehehehehehe

#ME 🤝 THOMAS SANDERS - having an oc that acts as a physical representation of ur intrusive thoughts #im gonna love that guy i bet. #is virgil the purple one. is he the goth lookin one. ohhh teenage me wouldve had such insane gender envy from that guy. #ALSO THE ACE DISCOYRSE THING MAKES SOOO MUCH SENSE the friends i used to have were. bad. and me being people pleaser that i am #i avoided any and all mention of ace discourse wirh them because i was ace and i was afraid if they thougjt i was they would kick me #out of the group (which they eventually did. bad ppl. but thats besides the point) BUT THAT MAKES SENSE WHY I NEVER SAW THIS. god. fuck. #i wish i would have. omg . teenage me would have eaten this shit up so bad #anyway. sorry i got off topic there. ough #asks #ss #anachronistic-falsehood #friends!!!

[doyouknowhowtowaltz]

What do you think about original OTGW series? I personally like plot in general, characters and setting, but jeez, like 40% of the show is mindless nonsense filler for me

Please do come back and tell me which parts specifically you find to be filler, I'm curious to hear which episodes/parts specifically they are.

As for my thoughts, (on only the show, don't get me started on the comics) I think the show's a pretty good balance of levity and darker tones, there are two episodes I'm not a huge fan of, though I generally think that OTGW gets away with maintaining a pretty dark tone by having moments of silliness and joy to counter dawning horror. I can, however, break down my thoughts episode by episode.

Old Grist Mill: This episode is a solid opener, it introduces our characters, sets the tone for the series and brings us into this world where Wirt and Greg are as lost as we are. The core traits of Wirt, Greg, and the Woodsman are all shown, Wirt is an awkward older brother, Greg's a little kid, and the Woodsman is odd, attached to his lantern, but well-meaning.

Hard Times at the Husking Bee: The perfect episode. I think I've been pretty transparent that this episode is my favorite, and I have thoughts a laundry list long but I'll try to trim it down. This episode is probably the best example of that tightrope between levity and creepiness that OTGW walks, it is in turn, creepy and delightful, ("Murder? Oh, no, chuckle, not that. But for those other crimes," sums it up really well). It alternates between lighthearted with the opening of the episode, to much more sinister in the barn scene, to more relaxed as they work off their sentence, to the momentary terror of "We're digging our own graves.", to the releif of the skeletons coming to life, but you're left with the aftertaste of the realization, this is an afterlife. Yeah, I could talk about this episode for longer, but I'll cut it short.

School Town Follies: Ok, this one... I only have real issues with two of the episodes of OTGW, and this one's probably the main one. For one, this episode feels the least narratively cohesive with the rest of the show, not just in tone, but also the way it gets told. In every other episode a problem is introduced at the beginning of the episode that gets solved/semi-resolved by the end of the episode, but not this one. Most of the episodes also have their own climatic incident, and unfortunately, the gorilla attack doesn't really have the same narrative weight as say, Wirt riding out of the dark lantern to save Beatrice or "Maybe you're digging your own graves!". However, I will give this episode credit, it build's Wirt and Beatrice's relationship, and shows Beatrice Wirt's not just a pushover, and characterization wise, this episode's so important to their relationship, being that its the Start of Beatrice getting attached to the boys.

Songs of the Dark Lantern: I think one of the biggest strengths of the Beast as a villain is that despite not making many appearances, he still presides over the story, he's woven into everything even when he's not there, and it gives you the impression he's really something to be feared. (Maybe that's why I have such an issue with School Town Follies, since there's no reminder of our series' main antagonist) This episode is emblematic of that, this is the first time anyone but the woodsman speaks of the beast and it gives suddenly makes him not just the ramblings of a weird old man, but a force to be feared, and this coupled with the singing in the woods helps to really drive home that there really is a monster in the woods. This episode is also really strong for Wirt, at this point we don't know about Sara yet, but the show gives us little hints with the Lover's Song, not to mention we find out why Wirt resents his little brother so much. This episode is a lot of exposition, with just a little action at the end and another confrontation with the woodsman, but its very well balanced and woven into the story.

Mad Love: This is an excellent episode, its easy to be distracted by the Tea barons and Fred, but the scene in the closet with Wirt and Beatrice is the crowning achievement of this episode. Not only do we get a look into Wirt's character, what motivates him, what he's really like, and it turns out, he's just some guy, just a teenager with teenage problems. We also learn that Beatrice used to be human (Though there were hints earlier) and what motivates her. This scene is vital because it's the strongest bonding moment between Beatrice and Wirt, and Beatrice, just like the audience (who already had some clue) realizes Wirt's just some guy, sweet, well meaning and awkward, and some guy. And its hard to send a guy to his maybe-death when you start to see him as a person rather than a way out.

Lullaby In Frog Land: I know I've mostly just been saying these episodes are great, but this is a great episode. I've seen this episode get written off as filler before but I'm going to strongly disagree. The first half of this episode set on the Ferry sets a good tone. It's also, one of the last truly lighthearted segments before the show takes a turn to the dark(er). Wirt and Greg (but mostly Wirt) are finally somewhere semi-safe, home is within their grasp, and they can relax, goof off, because the threat of the beast/being lost has receded. Beatrice is not feeling so sunny, she feels guilty, worried, because despite her best efforts, she's gotten attached to the boys, and she doesn't feel great about handing them off to Adelaide, the show even shows her trying to talk Wirt out of it, and I think that contrast between Wirt's cheer and Beatrice's guilt is an excellent set up for Adelaide. Jason Funderberker (Frog)'s song is one of the best in the series and adds to the dreamlike quality of the Unknown.

And then, in the same episode, Adelaide. Beatrice's line about thinking she just wanted kids to do yardwork is one of my favorites in the show, because it mirror's the woodsman's "I didn't know!" about edelwood. If Beatrice really thought that was all Adelaide wanted, she wouldn't feel so guilty, she wouldn't go to call off the deal before Wirt and Greg could get there, but she's been willfully ignoring that, trying to justify it to herself, and we know why now too, because Beatrice needs the scissors to make her family human, and it was so much easier when she didn't really know the boys, they were just some mark to con, but she can't ignore it any further. Beatrice's betrayal is also what makes Wirt start his slide into melancholy which makes him an easy target for the Beast in the coming episodes, honestly, yeah, just a great episode.

The Ringing of the Bell: Alright I'll come out and say it, I'm biased towards this episode. This episode definitely doesn't have the same narrative weight as its 3 predecessors, but I like it anyway. Lorna has so much potential and I could talk about her for hours, but I think the main draw of this episode is the way it parallels episode one. To cut a long comparison short, the boys are lost, the monster they meet in the first episode turns out to be a harmless dog, the kindly(?) woodsman eventually turns out to be someone they fear, and in this episode, the boys are lost, Wirt tries to be a leader and ignore the fact Beatrice just betrayed them, they meet a young woman who seems harmless and her terrifying Auntie, who in turn turn out to be a cannibal and her well meaning care taker. But the end of this episode is its strong point, with their narrow escape and Beatrice's betrayal, Wirt has started to give up hope (The very thing that the woodsman warned him not to do) in a very realistic way for a teenager. In the end , the woodsman's attempt to save the boys, the way he, like Beatrice is no longer able to ignore the cost of keeping his "daughter"'s soul lit pushes us closer to our inevitable climax. And really, the reminder of our main antagnonist speaks for itself:

"There is only me, there is only my way, there is only the forest, and there is only surrender"

Babes in the Wood: I don't like this episode. Actually, I'll amend that, I don't like the cloud city portion.

The opening of this episode has what I think is one of the best depictions of mealoncholy I've ever seen in an animated show. Wirt's withdrawn nature, he's clearly wrapped up in his own head, tired of Greg and the forest and the reminder of anything else. Wirt lashes out and though I havent mentioned Greg much this is a good episode for his characterization. Greg reacts like a young child, he's not unaffected by Wirt, but he doesnt react the way another teenager might.

And then... Cloud City, look, I understand why this section is here, its the last truly lighthearted section in the show, but I personally have never been a fan of it, so I'm going to breeze past most of it and talk about the one part I actually like, Greg's wish. Greg's wish is another one of my favorite peices of the show because even if we don't know exactly what he wished for, we can get the gist of it, but moreso its what he doesn't wish for that impresses me. Throughout the show, Greg wishes for a magic tiger, or to become a magic tiger, thats one of the thing he asks Beatrice for when she says she owes him a favor, thats what he tries to command Lorna to turn into when he has the bell, he brings it up a lot, but when he finally gets given the opportunity for a magic wish, he uses it selflessly, like a proper leader. It's very sweet.

The end of this episode is also great (I really don't give this episode enough credit I guess) with Greg walking off with the Beast in the first time one of our protagonists interacts with him, Greg selflessly sacrifices himself and allows Wirt to go on and Wirt wakes up, and actually acts like the brother he should be running after Greg before falling into the lake.

Into the Unknown: Arguably the best episode narrative wise, we finally are given the context for our story, and it makes everything else fall into place, why Wirt treats Greg the way he does, why Wirt is the way he is (Spoiler, its because he's a teenager, and teenagers are like that) we are introduced to Sara, and the episode balances its internal emotional stakes with the rest of the show, not serving to lower or distract from what's at stake in the unknown, but instead expanding on it clarifying, solidifying our reason we want Wirt to make it back home.

The Unknown: What do I say about this episode that hasn't been said before, it nails every plot beat. From Beatrice caring for Wirt enough to entrust him to her family to "I was never any good to him alive", to Wirt's love, his apologies to Greg, to Wirt standing before the Beast, his voice cracking, but not cowering.

I know the potential for Wirt to blow out the lantern is immense, but within the show itself, I like it better that the Woodsman blows out the lantern. In OTGW, everyone's got a torch to burn, their own personal burden/goal. Beatrice's is her family, Greg's is the rock he stole, the Woodsman's is the lantern/his grief, and Wirt's, its his teenage love yes , but here, where there's no one else to look after him, Wirt's is Greg. They have their own burdens to bear, to look after, and they have to make sacrifices, to decide whether hurting other people is worth their goal. The Lantern is the Woodsman's burden, his to repent for, his to extinguish, so Wirt leaves it to him and Wirt takes on his own responsibility, taking care of Greg.

Lantern scene aside, this episode's simply good, that's all there is too it.

Its a good show, it has some issues, but pacing wise at least? I think it does pretty well.

#otgw #over the garden wall #wirt #the woodsman #beatrice otgw #i’m not sure I would call any of this filler though

[litlbean]

⚠️Contains Spoilers!!!⚠️

The Old Grist Mill

I'm just going to go ahead and link this song because in my opinion it is one of the best songs in the whole series period.

I love how the beginning of the series makes no sense to first-time watchers but after you have watched it at least once, everything at the beginning of the first episode makes sense. It gives off the same vibes as Jojo's Bizzare Adventure's openings... The Tome of the Unknown style is in every single title screen and it makes me so aesthetically happy. It intensifies the melancholy-autumn mood that this whole show embodies and of course, the art style is just amazing. I don't think any other art style would fit this series better than this one. Can we just pause for a second and talk about how f*cking cool it is that this entire show is just one big circle? The opening scene when the narrator starts talking is Wirt falling into the frozen pond... How do people come up with stuff like this!? I wish more series/movies did this kind of stuff. It just opens the door to so many more theories and expands the lore just that much deeper. Also before this episode gets any further in I just want to mention: grist;

grain that is ground to make flour.

malt crushed to make mash for brewing.

2.useful material, especially to back up an argument.

grist for the mill — useful experience, material, or knowledge.

I just found it interesting that the episode is named after it ヾ(＾∇＾)

Beatrice is one of my favorite characters in this show besides the Frog. The name Beatrice has many meanings but the one I think that makes sense in relation to the storyline is the one from the bible: deriving from the Latin word Beatrix meaning "One who blesses others". We'll talk about her more later because she is definitely a very important character in the series and the amount of lore is just *french kiss*. I'm ashamed to admit that I missed this the first time around but it's now so funny to me that while Wirt is wallowing in his sorrows and talking versing poetry about his life- Greg is just in the background swinging around objects to see which one he could knock out the woodsman with the best.

I love rock facts. 〔´∇｀〕

🍬 The candy trail that Greg has and produces out of his pants that ultimately "leads the beast' to them (Wirt and Greg) could be taken as a metaphor for no good deeds go unpunished- or that all good things lead to the bad. The 'beast', or the bad in OTGW is led to the mill by Greg's candy trail that was supposed to lead Wirt and Greg back out of the Unknown. One of my favorite lines from the show is when Greg sees the 'beast' and says "You have beautiful eyes". Greg always looks for the good throughout the series and that makes me happy （＾ｖ＾）

 🐢 The Black Turtles ~

These guys show up everywhere. I recommend you read the short article about them from the wiki that you can find here. I love these things. They're so mysterious, rare, and never explained. It never is even explained why Wirt says later in the series to Auntie Whispers that he "came to burgle her turts!". Does Wirt know something to do with the turtles that the watcher doesn't or is he just being observant and trying to make up an excuse on the fly? (More about that later in the series) It's such a good example of an uncanny valley~ they are turtles but they're black..? Black turtles don't exist in real life** and the ones in OTGW seem either to be just a singular turtle (although its never specified ).

** I kind of went down the Wikipedia rabbit hole and found out that "black" turtles do exist. Okay, so they're not entirely black but they are at least darker in color than your average sea turtle. Even farther down the rabbit hole, I started to find some things about Chinese Astrology and what certain constellations mean to them. The one that I found is the most 'relevant' (a.k.a I think it just matches the theme of OTGW the best). This is kind of complicated because of course, everything is disputed because legends and myths are always disputed so I'll try to explain this in the least confusing way possible: So the moon travels around the earth in a total of 27.32 days. Scientists track this progress by calculating the longitudes along the orbit (called an ecliptic) and then split it up into 28 different segments called Mansions or Stations (and sometimes even houses for some reason?). Anyways, ost often these were used by ancient cultures as part of their calendar systems. One of these cultures is ancient China. There's more... "The 28 Lunar Mansions are divided into four clusters, with each cluster made up of seven constellations"... There's a lot of math involved in all of this and I'm not an astronomer so I'm not sure how all of these connect but anyways I will put a pretty picture to kind of give you an idea of what I'm talking about here. Now... how does this connect to OTGW? Well, 2 things: 1. All of these Moon Stations make up "The Black Tortise of Winter" which according to this Wikipedia passage states that the Black Tortise corresponds to astrology and traveling to the underworld to guide people. 2. The 11th Moon Station of the "Black Tortoise of Winter" has a Chinese character meaning Emptiness. (pictured below)

I think that all of this concentrated around emptiness and the underworld largely reflects the ideas of the Unknown in OTGW. The Unknown is like a different world where people who are lost go to never be seen again. Kind of like Hell or the underworld. It's vast and has very few inhabitants. The turtles showing up in the movie could be almost like a guiding figure.

I appreciate the fact that the 'beast' in the beginning is Beatrice's dog. I just love dogs and that little extra added touch for the whole full-circle vibe of this show just makes me happy. "Aint that just the way" Burdens and burdens that are needed of bearing are mentioned in this episode and then never again but I still want to acknowledge that the Woodsman kind of predicts that Wirt will take on most of the problems in this show following this episode. Taking the blame, solving problems, etc., etc. which is most likely the reason why he gets turned into an adle wood tree first before ultimately Greg does. Kind of a statement piece on how difficult it is being an older child and looking after your younger siblings. This whole sentiment of "oh, your younger sibling is too young and doesn't understand, and therefore shouldn't get blamed" really can affect the elder sibling and like Wirt in the end, make them lose hope over time. Getting blamed for other people's problems is a tough situation and I think that way too many eldest children get put in the same boat. Especially at younger ages, this can cause severe problems later on down the line. I love the frog. I also love this drawing by @wabidrawbi 

keep drawing friends. you're doing amazing <3 XOXO

#Youtube #over the garden wall #otgw #otgw aesthetic #greg otgw #otgw wirt #otgw spoilers #otgw fanart #wirt #greg #otgwfan #otgw beatrice

[the-13th-rose]

Can I get The Beast for the acrostic ask game please? 👀

Acrostics f/o asks

B - Before - Before you decided to make them your f/o, what did you think of them/their source?

Over the Garden Wall came out when I was 14. And I immediately fell in love with it. I excitedly waited for every new episode and watched every one when it premiered. The ending left me ROCKED and even then I knew it was something special compared to a lot of other stuff I'd seen. It followed me all through that fall and winter, always in my mind. I actually made a drawing of Beast (who I know I was totally crushing on even then, but back then I didn't know about selfshipping) purely from memory during a girl scout camping trip that same year. I still have it laminated because it's one of the few pieces I did during that time of my life that I'm still proud of. It helps that Beast is just a silhouette so he's simpler to draw than some of the other characters I love, but I still think I did a pretty good job on it for 14.

E - Emotion - Is your f/o open with their feelings or do they keep them close to their chest?

Beast is a manipulation extraordinaire. This man is almost NEVER telling you the whole truth, so you can bet he's the same way with his feelings. I don't even think I can really tell sometimes.

A - Art - Do they draw or paint? What about any other kind of art? What's their favorite style/subject/another artist who inspires them?

I think the only art Beast actually engages in himself is music. He sings as well as seemingly writes his own lyrics and melodies to perform. However I think he does have a pretty significant interest in visual art, especially the kind that inspired the look of OtGW...but also classic art that's very dark in tone. This is a guy who would make a pleasant comment on a rustic painting of a waterwheel, and then contemplatively stare at a painting of a man being devoured by an animal for hours without a word.

S - Story - If you and them were in a fairytale, which story would you be and who would play which character?

You already know I'm gonna say Beauty and the Beast. Maybe instead of a young prince cursed for being rude, he's a fae king cursed to have his life bound to a lantern and his entire kingdom shrouded in never-ending night and winter. And instead of love transforming him back into a young prince, he just becomes able to survive without the lantern and the kingdom goes back to all four seasons.

T - Teach - What skills of theirs would they teach you? What would you teach them?

I already know how to sing. I performed in church choir until around 12 and in school chorus until college (and only stopped because college chorus kept rejecting me thanks to my solo performance anxiety). That being said the way Beast sings is INCOMPARABLE. I want him to teach me to sing more powerfully and confidently. I want him to give me the confidence to sing loud AF opera in the woods at the dead of night. I don't think I have anything to teach him, but I'd love to read books to him.

#thanks for asking! #selfship stuff #beastpost

[kinetic-elaboration]

October 10: OTGW 1-4

I was really tired again today, unsurprisingly, literally almost fell asleep at my desk; it was that bad. I got myself home and meant to take like a 40 minute nap and then it was 3 hours later. Like I don't remember turning off my alarm or anything. I think I was having quite weird/intense dreams though I don't remember them.

Anyway, got an unsatisfying dinner and now I need to make tomorrow's lunch and take a shower and go back to bed ASAP.

Over dinner, continued my first time watch of Over the Garden Wall. Literally every year since I joined tumblr I've been telling myself to Watch the Thing and I never have. I really didn't know what to expect, other than the aesthetic which is obviously what I see around here, but I'm really enjoying it even more than I thought I would. I knew it would be beautiful and autumnal and it is. But it's also weird, surprisingly spooky and dark for a Cartoon Network show, and endearing in its characters.

I've seen the first four episodes so far. Definitely Ep 2 is my favorite so far and I don't honestly think anything subsequent will top it. I liked the spookiness of the first two episodes more than the musical-ness of the next two, but they were still cute and Ep 3, with the animal school, was really quite endearing, with just enough strangeness to it to keep with the overall vibe.

I like that it started out with just 'we're in the woods and we're lost' no exposition, no context--it feels very much like a dream, in a way. You know from that alone that you're in a place with no rules because generally people do know why hey are in the places they are. So, now, anything can happen here.

Aesthetically, it reminds me both of CN shows of my childhood, specifically in its characters and their style of humor, but also of older books and media, sort of Wind in the Willows with the talking animals, but with an added spooky quality. Not like pastoral England but like... perpetual autumn fairy tale. But then there's also a surreal and again dream-like quality where things happen in a completely unexpected and unpredictable way while still sticking to archetypes--hero's journey...literally everything in the Tavern of Singing Archetypes (side note: the highwayman song was pretty good), Jane-Eyre-style orphanage/school, the threatening Beast in the woods, etc. Except it's animals and pumpkins and skeletons and time has no meaning and every sentient being just accepts the world around it without question in a way not unlike children do, because they discern certain rules about the environment but not the reasons for them.

I probably have some other thoughts rattling around in there (my brain) but I'm just so tired. I'm so tired. I really wanted to make a crisp tomorrow and I guess I could still do that (if I get enough sleep tonight and feel better) but I didn't do any of the prep work like cleaning my kitchen today... I don't know. Get sleep first I guess.

#the year 2023 #2023: fandom thoughts

[dropfromahighplace]

wait wait wait boatem giga base & boatem inc means our two train-business competitor

won’t be competing anymore?

there’s just gonna be two highway companies working together? or one led by scar & grian?

oh no now i’m very hyped to see where this is going

#+ it makes me think about this otgw episode #the tea one #you know? #it'd be funny if they ended up building swagons/tracks all over the place until no one was able to figure out which was whose #idk i got brainrot #me talking #hermitcraft #grian #goodtimeswithscar

[charliemotha]

behold! i didn't see any otgw icebergs, so i made my own :)

if you think i should add something, lmk!!

Explanations under cut :)

First layer:

▪︎Beast!Wirt au - very popular au in which Wirt stays in the Unknown, possessed by the Beast to some extent.

▪︎Bad End Friends - Crossover AU of Beast!Wirt teaming up with Ice Finn from Adventure Time and Bipper from Gravity Falls; sometimes other 'bad end' au characters are thrown in such as a glitched Gumball from TAWOG

▪︎Irl Copies of the For Sara tape - Limited copies of the For Sara tape were sold at two points. They have yet to sell for a third time. (🤞🤞🤞)

▪︎Tome of the Unknown (pilot) - The Pilot of the series. Can be watched on YouTube.

▪︎Wirt Staying in the Unknown - In a scrapped ending, Wirt was to stay in the Unknown, saying that facing your real problems was scarier than staying there.

▪︎Mystery Kids - Crossover AU with other child-late teens aged characters from sources based on mysterious and supernatural themes such as Gravity Falls and Psychonauts.

▪︎Quincy Endicott's grave - Quincy's grave can be seen in the graveyard that Sara and the others are hanging out in.

▪︎Original Beatrice Voice Actress - Beatrice had a different VA in the pilot, Natasha Leggero. Melanie Lynskey voices her in the actual series.

▪︎The Woodsman's Daughter is Named Anna - The comics have several issues focused on his daughter, in which her name is revealed to be Anna.

▪︎Jason Funderburker's Ax Murderer Story - At the gathering in the graveyard, Funderburker is telling a story about a man with an ax; this story is believed to have influenced the existence of the Woodsman.

▪︎Full Versions of Songs in the OST - A handful of the songs are cut down for their appearances in the series and can only be heard in full on the OST. The most notable example is Old Black Train , which is actually 2 minutes and 15 seconds long, but is only in the series for about 15-20 seconds.

Second Layer:

▪︎Sara is named after the Fleetwood Mac song - Listen to it here :) it is notable that it includes lyrics about "drowning in a sea of love" and that Sara is "the poet of [the singer's] heart."

▪︎OTGW Reanimated - a reanimated project for the first episode. Got taken off of YouTube, but can be viewed on Dailymotion.

▪︎Baby Wirt Audio - In the For Sara cassette, there is a small section of audio that can be heard in about the middle of the recording of Wirt's father talking to him as a baby.

▪︎Funderburker/Funderberker - The two Jasons's surnames are spelled slightly differently to avoid confusion.

▪︎The Brothers Never Ate or Needed to Rest - Although Greg expressed being hungry, neither of the boys actually ate anything (outside of one spoonful of bland potatoes and inedible items such as dirt and leaves) and never laid down to rest, only sleeping when night came.

▪︎Book on Interior Design in Wirt's Room - In Wirt's from, a book on interior design can be seen laying on the floor, backing up the knowledge he displayed when analyzing the interconnected mansions.

▪︎Mad Love was Based on a Dream - The plot of Mad Love came from a dream that Pat McHale had about house hunting. In the dream, while exploring one of the houses being shown, he ended up wandering into someone else's home.

▪︎Beatriceoftheday - A blog dedicated to our lord and savior Beatrice, known for its strange shitposts and intense praise of the titular bird girl.

▪︎Wirt is Jealous of Greg's Popularity - Shown in the Circus Friends issue of the comics, Wirt is jealous of Greg's ability to make everyone laugh and have fun. This may factor into his dislike of his brother.

▪︎Greg was Feeding Fred at the Tavern - At first watching, one may be confused as to where all the food Greg was gathering went, why Fred was wearing lipstick and why he was refusing to talk to Beatrice. Shown in a deleted scene, this all explained, as Fred tells Beatrice that he didn't talk to her because Greg was feeding him.

▪︎Elijah Wood Voiced the Crazy Driver - Exactly what is says on the tin, the nutty driver was voiced by Wood.

▪︎Cloud City is Heaven - A popular theory that Cloud City actually represents Heaven.

▪︎Greg is Greg Universe - A headcanon/theory that has mostly died out that Greg is the same Greg in Steven Universe.

▪︎Bee Beatrice - Beatrice was originally cursed to become a bee, but was changed into a bluebird to match better with the seasonal autumn theme.

▪︎Pat McHale Voiced Wirt's Voice Crack - Wirt's voice crack when asking the Beast Are You? was actually done by McHale, not Wood.

▪︎The Other Actors Harassing Elijah Wood When Singing Wirt's Song - In order to make the performance as awkward as possible, the other actors were asked to yell and demand Wirt to sing. This can be heard in the episode.

▪︎Come Wayward Souls Has the Same Melody as O Holy Night - The song shares a cadence with "O Holy Night", and can be sung to its tune.

▪︎Black Turtles Origin/Purpose - No one knows why the black turtles exist, and McHale has said that they're just one of the unexplainable things of the Unknown.

▪︎Anna Never Left the House - In the aforementioned comics, it is shown that Anna had never left the house, living on her own until the Woodsman's return.

▪︎Sailor Suit Greg - Greg originally wore a sailor suit, but was changed later on to his current, Johnny Appleseed inspired outfit .

▪︎Beatrice Missing Being Able to Flip People Off - In the Art Book, Beatrice's introduction states that one of the reasons she hates being a bird is because she no longer has hands to flip people off with.

Third Layer

▪︎Jason Funderberker is Visually Based on a Teen Pat McHale - As seen here, Funderberker was designed after McHale.

▪︎Babes in the Wood is Based on an Old Alice in Wonderland Cartoon - You can view the original 1923 cartoon here! Starts at 4:25.

▪︎Wirt and Sara are Dipper and Mabel's Parents - A popular AU/hc where Dipper and Mabel of Gravity Falls are the future kids of Wirt and Sara.

▪︎The Tune of Wirt's Song is Improvised - In addition to the aforementioned harassment, in a further attempt to make the performance as awkward as possible, Elijah Wood was not given a tune to sing, only the lyrics.

▪︎Wirt's Costume Origin - As said in the art book and on his tumblr, Wirt's cone and cape come from an attempted rock and roll persona from McHale's teen years.

▪︎Greg is Based on Pat McHale's Son - It has been claimed that Greg is based on McHale's son, but Greg existed before him. The similarities are simply coincidental.

▪︎Old Scratch - The original name of the Beast.

▪︎The Beast Killed the Woodsman's Wife - Shown in the comics, The Woodsman's wife was mortally injured, with her attacker implied to be the Beast.

▪︎Wirt and Greg Staying in the Unknown Until Christmas - Another scrapped ending, in which the brothers stay in The Unknown until Christmas, with their absence unexplained.

▪︎Tome of the Unknown (original plot) - Early concepts had the Beast ( then known as Old Scratch as mentioned earlier ) scattering the pages of the titular book for the brothers to collect. Each page would come to life and the brothers would explore each story.

▪︎Dante's Inferno Comparisons - Check out these videos for full analysis!

▪︎Wirt Panty Shots - In the aforementioned Circus Friend comics, Wirt dons a dress as part of a disguise. Later on, he rips off the bottom half off, revealing that he is wearing bloomers.

▪︎The Beast's True Form was Inspired by Trypophobia - As stated in the art book, The Beast's hole-filled appearance was inspired by Trypophobia, the fear of many small holes.

▪︎The Fight is Over is About Drowning - Give the lyrics another read.

▪︎The Beast Last Minute Design Change - The Beast had a very different design, and it was changed into the current one at the last minute.

▪︎Gnome in Cloud City Representing Wirt - Many people believed that the Gnome with the lantern in cloud city was a parallel to Wirt, or a glimpse into his future. However, this was debunked.

▪︎Send Me a Peach - This song is included in the ost, but isn't in the actual series.

▪︎Fred and the Highwayman's Backstory - The comics expand upon the story of Fred the Horse and his involvement with the Highwayman.

Fourth Layer

▪︎Babes in the Wood Title Origin - The name of this episode comes from an old story of a pair of children getting lost in the woods, dying, and being buried in leaves by robins.

▪︎poorlydrawnotgw - This was a blog created during the poorly drawn series meme period. It consisted of poorly drawn and very strange shitposts and has since been deactivated. I was a part of it as mod Goopy Wirt and only have a handful of images saved from it.

▪︎Read and Listen Book Lost Audio - A read and listen book was created, with the book being read by Greg's Frog, who would stop every now and again to talk about being a frog. The pages can be found online, but the audio is currently lost.

▪︎Skinless Witch - A scrapped episode concept involved a skinless witch that kidnapped Greg and rode him like a horse.

▪︎Gentleman Burglar Wirt - A scrapped concept in which Wirt breaks into a woman's home, who is charmed by this young man who has come to visit her.

▪︎Animal Transformation - It was originally planned for Wirt and Greg to be turned into a bear/dog and a duck and remain that way for several episodes. This was later used in the comics.

▪︎The Unknown is influenced by Wirt's mind/interests - The Unknown is influenced by those who walk in it, in this case, Wirt. This includes the old timey mystical nature of it, as Wirt has been stated to have an interest in old folk tales.

▪︎Good Guy Beast/Black Train Scrapped Concept - In an earlier draft, the brothers were on a train, heading to what they assumed was death. They jump off, ending up in the Unknown. The Beast tries to get them back on the train, which turns out to be heading back to life.

▪︎Evil Woodsman - At one point, the Woodsman was intended to be under the influence of the Beast and tried to sabotage the brothers's attempts to return home.

▪︎Lorna Reading the Tome of the Unknown in the Epilogue - In the epilogue, Lorna can be seen reading the titular book from the aforementioned scrapped plot.

▪︎The Beast was Originally the Devil Himself - The Beast was first designed as a devil-like character, the aforementioned Old Scratch.

▪︎The Brothers Never Went Home/The Hospital is Part of The Unknown - a theory based on the fact that the edges of the screen are still blurred at the end of chapter 10, the rushed narration, and the lack of consequences of nearly drowning.

▪︎Beatrice Seeing Wirt Nude - In one of the comics, Beatrice accidentally sees Wirt while he is washing his clothes in the river.

▪︎Sara is a Descendant of Lorna - A theory that Sara is a distant relative of Lorna.

▪︎Exists in the Same Universe as Clarence and Home Movies - The most well known piece of evidence is the overhead shot of the town matching the town that Clarence is set in. Wirt and Greg also have a cameo in another episode, and one of the final episodes shows Brendon Small of Home Movies runs a movie rental store in the town, connecting all three series together.

Final Layer

▪︎Beast x Wirt - Also known as Poetree.

▪︎Candycone - Greg x Wirt.

#otgw #over the garden wall #iceberg #iceberg meme #iceberg image #otgw iceberg

[comradekatara]

in certain games you unlock deeper levels of friendship through tokens of affection - what sentimental/practical items would those be for each character? i believe aang would be partial to wind chimes & of course sokka is fond of puzzles

okay chell had to explain what this means to me, to which i asked “do game devs know anything about human interaction whatsoever?” (apparently not!) but since you mentioned wind chimes and puzzles i’m just gonna assume you’re asking what items represent these characters, rather than “how would you bribe them into friendship” (because that would be......weird)

aang: a wind chime is so apt tbh. like aang is an aeolian harp, the way he is both the avatar and the last airbender, an instrument to be played upon by destiny, by nature, by the wind. i have a million thoughts about this but instead i’m just gonna link to this coleridge poem and my art associating aang with the joanna newsom album “divers” instead of actually expounding on this idea (for now). hopefully y’all just Get what i mean?? lmao

sokka: puzzles works bc he’s fundamentally obsessed with solving problems, especially if said problem can be solved in a creative way. maybe also an encyclopedia, because he’s concerned with the endless pursuit and acquisition of new knowledge. though i guess he’s often associated with a boomerang or a sword, which are sort of like, The Thinking Man’s Weapons™ but it makes me sad to think about how sokka’s life and identity are so intrinsically tied to war, so let’s eschew that for the purposes of this exercise

katara: i mean her mother’s necklace is such an integral symbol of her identity and her legacy, but i guess if we’re going with non-specific items, i guess i would have to go with, like, a freshly baked loaf of bread? or really just any warm food that is sustaining and nourishing. personally i think giving someone bread and eating freshly baked bread is an act and experience of love. it reminds me of the warmth and care and giving, that combination of practicality and sentimentality in how katara loves her family. and while i also really appreciate the depths of her rage, i think if anything, katara is defined by her capacity for love and warmth, baked bread sustaining you through the harshest winters. 

toph: okay this is gonna sound obvious, or perhaps facetious, but i do just really think toph’s perfect item is. a rock. like sokka literally gives her a rock (a meteorite, to be specific) and this gift immediately becomes her most cherished possession. and yes you can argue that it’s because it was a special rock, or because sokka gave it to her and it’s the thoughtfulness behind the gesture that made it so special, but at the end of the day toph loves being given rocks for a reason! toph is stable (fighting with katara aside, bc sisters just be like that) and enduring and contains this quiet wisdom that makes the earth not just a weapon she can use, but a relationship she fosters, in understanding. toph loves rocks and she is a rock and that’s that 

suki: it is the year 2020 and everyone listens to music directly from their smartphones, so i am just going to broadly generalize here and say suki could use a music playing device (whether it be an ipod, a walkman, or a gramophone). like i just think suki could really use a soundtrack. yknow?

zuko: i think above all, what zuko needs is a cat. i think if iroh had gotten zuko a kitten when he was 13 he could’ve avoided the next three years of “need[ing] to capture the avatar to restore [his] honor” because zuko would’ve been way too preoccupied with taking care of his new pet, and healing from his trauma and growing as a person in the process. as we see in the “life-changing field trip” episodes, zuko learns from iroh to help himself through helping others, and he would be able to recognize his own humanity and vulnerability through caring for a cat. he is a cat and he needs a cat! 

azula: a candle. because you set it on fire on purpose. nuff said.

mai: i’m not gonna say knives because that’s both obvious and fallacious. mai’s proclivity for knives may seem sick and dope (because she is), but it is not, in fact, the world’s healthiest coping mechanism, and i think she could benefit from branching out, maybe finding some less violent hobbies. actually i desperately wish i could give mai my over the garden wall dvd because i think her depressed ass could really benefit from witnessing wirt’s Journey. or really any art that could help her cope and explore her own feelings of emptiness (i also think she would love dostoevsky), but personally otgw is my pinnacle of “coping with depression media” and i think it would be mai’s too. dont @ me 

ty lee: a camera, to capture all the moments in which she is a unique observer, while standing behind the lens, inherently out of frame. people are too intent on the contents of the picture to speculate on the nature of who took them. being as flexible as she is, she always gets the best angles. she makes every scene look natural. 

yue: an empty journal, ripe for filling. she needs an outlet to document her inner thoughts. her life (both lives) are about what she can give and do for other people, about sacrificing herself for her duty to the world, and so i think it is in fact necessary that yue write, in a space just for herself where she does need to monitor her behavior or her feelings or feel guilty for being her own person with wants and desires. i’ve always thought that as the moon but also as a human, her singularly unique experiences would make for incredible poetry, if only she had somewhere to write it. 

#the gaang and #aang aeolian harp zuko tom o bedlam yue bright star aaaaa go crazy #anyway.... #asks #missastraea

[cosmicpines]

Okay, so regarding the time period for otgw. A lot of people think it's modern, and Wirt is just a hipster making mixtapes; because Sara doesn't own a tape player.

Everytime I rewatch though, I always notice how weird the police car looks. I'm probably overthinking it, but it looks like a Ford LTD. Which (according to Google) was a police car model used from the 1970's until the 1990's.

I think its supposed to be intentionally vauge, so that more people can relate to it. But, If I had to pick a date, I thought it'd be early 90's. Thoughts?

I think, similar to the Unknown, it’s kind of a mishmash of things from different eras picked out so it gives off a vintage feel.

The biggest reason people say it’s modern is because Sara doesn’t have a tape player. Halloween 2014 also fell on a Friday (hence football game) and there was a half moon that Halloween. But I don’t believe it based on one big fact: we never see a single cell phone.

There’s lots of different things that place us in different times: Wirt has a fake Star Wars pillowcase:

and Greg has “Return to Space” drapes

If “Return to Space” is “Return of the Jedi,” it came out in March 1983. It could also meant the prequels, though, which episode 1 came out in May 1999.

I was googling and this reddit comment is pretty convincing to me:

Wirt and Greg’s Halloween decorations also definitely don’t look modern:

Actually... I think my grandparents have something similar to the pumpkin in the window. It’s like a weird texture...??

YO WAIT I FOUND IT GO GOOGLE POWERS

Google says these are from the 70s which is definitely earlier than we were placing it, so I bet these belonged to their parents.

I’ve also always been bothered by Sara’s bike:

It looks like a vintage Schwinn:

Which is from the 1950s or 1960s, lmao.

I know nothing about cars

But it looks like you’re right to me.

Ultimately, I think the crew took a lot of cool looking old things and tossed them together. Like, Rhondi’s costume is based on this:

I could sit here and look at the Halloweens that had a half moon (1984, 1988, 1995, 1999, 2014) and which fell on Fridays (only 2014), but I doubt the crew did that and a half moon was just picked for ~*~symbolic~*~ reasons, haha.

So I guess... TLDR: I think late 80s early 90s jives with me the best, too, but there’s never gonna be a concrete “answer” from the hints we’re given in the show.

#over the garden wall #i should be doing homework or sleeping #and yet... #mary blabs #halthehuman

[iarixai]

Over the Garden wall

Ok screw it im talking about ‘Over the Garden Wall’

For the entirety of otgw something always felt off all the time. And the end just gave me more questions. So spoilers, here is my theory on the unknown. also TW I am going to be talking about death and hospitals.

I don’t actually think the unknown is purgatory. Everybody there came back to the real world. However I do think you can only go there if you have a near death expierence. The reason I think this is because of Greg. Greg is very young that means his body isn’t very strong. That means if he really died in the river and then was brought back at the hospital, his body probably couldn’t handle it. It would be a miracle if his body could handle it. As well, everybody Greg and Wirt met in the Unknown were in the past, and didn’t have access to the resources modern hospitals have. But we see them all come back. That is why I think they almost died.

I think the Unknown can only be accessed when you are in a near death situation. For example,

- Beatrice and her family could have very well starved to the point to almost dying.

- The woodsman woke up in a blizzard, so he could have almost frozen to death.

- We know its halloween (fall) so Greg and Wirt could of had hypothermia.

Now you must be saying, Ari, what about the other inhabitants. Well, the main similarity between the characters i mentioned is that they were trying to leave The Unknown. The other characters didn’t seem to want to leave the unknown and had a life there. A good bunch of them had jobs too. Well, they are all dead in my opinion. Because they didn’t want to leave.

- Pottsfield seemed very happy in their cult, and since they are all skeletons, I think they have been there so long their bodies have started to decay. 

- the Tavern folks were all cheery and happy and had jobs.

- The animal school people seemed to be having a normal life. With their own problems.

- The tea company couple seemed very happy with their wealth and with each other

But there comes another hole in this theory, Pottsfield. They have been there so long that their bodies have started to decay and that is why they use the pumpkins as a body. Well, the Unknown doesn’t really exist on a plane of time or at least our plane of time. While yes, stuff does occur and people have proper memories of a timeline. Its not the same as our timeline. You can see this with Beatrice, the woodsman, and Greg and Wirt meeting in the same general time, but they are all from different eras. Its another plane of existance, with its own timeline running on whatever shape or line it is. So while there is passage of time in the unknown, it is seperate from our passage of time. The Unknown picks up its residents at different times on our timeline, at random times. That is why Pottsfield is decaying, but Beatrice is still a Highschool age girl when Wirt meets her. 

Also time dialation. From when Greg and Wirt fall into the river, to when they wake up in the hospital. At most that time would be 1 maybe even 2 hours if I am being generous. But the expierences in the Unknown would have lasted at least 1 or 2 weeks. I personally think one month. That would mean the plane of time and space they were on was not the same as their own. And it was all real, as we see with the frog with the bell in its stomach. Thats because its another plane of existance, grabbing people from our universe.

And the final nail in the coffin for the theory that the Unknown is a seperate plane of existance. The moon. When Greg and Wirt are walking to Pottsfield, which is North, they are walking towards the moon. And the moon was in a moon cycle not possible on earth. As well, if they were walking towards the moon, they would be going East or West. And seeing as they eventually make it to Pottsfield going that direction, that means they aren’t on Earth.

Now, the question is how does the Unknown choose its victims. For one, there has to be a near death expierence like I said before, but if it was every single one, the Unknown would be very crowded, which it doesn’t seem to be at all. Most of the residents are animals. But for now we are talking about humans. I think the Unknown chooses you when you feel small. When you feel forgotten about or everybody has forgotten about you. When you feel you have no hope. When you feel like nobody is going to help you. When you feel like people don’t care about you. For example,

- The woodsman felt like there was no hope for his sick daughter, and that people even forgot about them. 

- Beatrices family if my starvation theory holds true, felt out of luck and they had no hope because it was winter and they couldn’t grow any food to eat

- Greg and Wirt were running from the cops, and literally jumped over a garden wall in order not to get caught. And Wirt definitely has some insecurities about his worth as a person and whether people will actually remember

- The tea couple both show signs of narcissism, meaning they got all of their money so that people would pay attention to them and not forgotten about.

- The schoolteacher shows signs of measuring her worth on her accomplishments, hence why she gets really sad about her boyfriend leaving and how the animal school is not working. 

- The tavern people don’t even have proper names. They don’t feel important to the story which is why they introduce themselves with their job. They were meant to be forgotten about. 

The reason I say this is because of the short OTGW was based on, had the Tome of the Unknown, and it had everything that was forgotten about in it. 

But we have one more thing to address, and that is Greg.

But Greg doesnt seem to be a likely canidate to be lost in the Unknown right?

He doesn’t fit those requirments?

Wrong!

Greg is shown to have memory issues or having later reactions to things. That is why the frog seems to have a new name every episode, Greg forgot. And Greg knows that he has these memory issues. He may be a kid but he isn’t dumb. So I think he fears that these memory problems is going to make him forget about the people he loves, most of all his brother. So in that, he tries to please them in anyway possible. He raked his neighbors yard. He tried to get Wirt a date. In the boat episode, he is even willing to have his head drummed on so his friends will stay safe. When Wirt complains about Greg not leaving a trail, right after, Greg starts to leave a candy trail. Greg wants the people he loves to be happy incase he forgets about them. That is why Greg is willing in the last episode to sacrifice himself for his brother. 

And the final thing to address is the trees and animals. As we know, the trees are actually souls that have already died, and the woodsman collecting them is using their souls for oil in the lamp.  The Beast is a very obvious metaphor for death, more specifically the death of the hope they are going to survive, and through the trees that is how he carries out his duty of killing people in the Unknown because they died in there plane of existence. 

But I think the animals are people who have been in the Unknown long enough to start losing hope.That is why a lot of the animals have some sort of sentience. They aren’t animals, they are people. When we meet Beatrice she is pretty obviously a Bluebird. That is because her and her family aren’t very hopeful they are going to make it out of the Unknown. Her only chance is to find someone who lady Adelaide wants. 

As for the pets who come along on the journey, I have literally no explanation for that, unless the pets were tied to their owners souls. That is the only reason I can find.

The actual people in the series are still inbetween death and life, they still have hope they are going to live. Remember time dialation and the other plane of existance. But all the people who go into the Unknown and stay, will eventually become trees or animals. 

Now leaving the Unknown is a task in itself. But after the main cast left to Unknown, they got some sort of wish granted after the got back. The woodsman had his daughter get better and even being able to walk. Beatrice and her family got food. Wirt finally got that date. And Greg got to see his brother happy. The lack of these things also almost got them killed. So I think after they came back, the universe fixed those things, so that they wouldn’t go into the Unknown again, and give them hope, that their life is going to get better. While yes, they definitely did have hope before, this gives them hope about their lives and loved ones, not just their life not being in danger. 

I know this might have been really long and confusing. You can always ask me to clarify. But thank you for making it this far. 

#over the garden wall #otgw #otgw theories #over the garden wall theories

[somehowmags]

TAG GAME TIME BELOVEDS

thank you for tagging me @magnusacademia !!

music!

fave genre on spotify my liked songs have the tags “dark, silly, pump up, musicals, calm, j-pop, concentration, pop, angst, foik, angst, indie pop, electronic, and classy” so those i guess? i listen to everything tbh akjsdfhalksjdh

fave artist the oh hellos!

fave song thursday girl by mitski, ungodly hour by chloe x halle, dear wormwood, lay me down, and exeunt by the oh hellos, and the astronomer from ghost quartet

most listened to song recently u by millennium parade!

song currently stuck in your head feel better by penelope scott

five fave lyrics .

“glory, glory, glory to the night / that shows me what i am” - thursday girl by mitski

“AND WHEN I HEAR THE CALL TO PRAYER / BUZZING THROUGH THE SPEAKERS OF THE MOSQUES / THERE’S A SHOCK, THERE’S A STILLNESS / AS THE MELODIES TWIST AND ZAP / AND THE AIR IS FILLED WITH DIAMONDS / AND I WISH THAT I COULD SING LIKE THAT / BUT I DON’T PRACTICE ENOUGH” the astromer, ghost quartet

“I know who I am now / And all that you've made of me / I know who you are now / And I name you my enemy” - dear wormwood by the oh hellos

“Lord I know / That I’m weathered stone / But I owe it to my brothers to carry them home” - lay me down by the oh hellos

“i don’t give a fuck bout a blog tryna bash me / i’m the shit per the recording academy” - thot shit by megan thee stallion

books!

fave book genre urban fantasy my beloved

fave writer rn it’s alice hoffman!

fave book we ride upon sticks by quan berry, practical magic by alice hoffman, faithful by alice hoffman, going postal by terry pratchett, one to watch by kate stayman-london, the long long life of trees by fiona stafford

fave book series six of crows by leigh bardugo, the raven cycle by maggie steifvater, if manga counts then dungeon meshi by ryoko kui 

comfort book practical magic by alice hoffman, we ride upon sticks by quan berry

rainy day book faithful by alice hoffman

fave characters blue sargent, inej ghafa, shelby richmond from faithful, the entirety of the team from we ride upon sticks

five quotes from your fave books?

“we try not to look, but we do anyways.....her body a blessing.” - we ride upon sticks

“”do you remember that woman who came in who was pregnant with quadruplets? it was like that, but worse.” “he’s pregnant?” blue asked. “he’s creating,” calla said.” - the raven boys

“always remember that the crowd that applauds your coronation is the same crowd that will applaud your beheading. people like a show.” - going postal

“shelby wants to spend tomorrow with her mother. she feels her love inside her as if it were as tangible as blood and bones. they’ll go out for ice cream every afternoon and try every flavor there it. she’ll start house training buddy. she’ll learn to make onion soup, her mom’s favorite. things will get worse, but there’s no reason to think about that now. tonight shelby will look out the window to see if her angel returns, and if he does she’ll ask him how he knows so much about love. she wishes he would come to her tonight, climb in through the window to lie down beside her and explain how it’s possible to love someone so much and still carry on when you have to let them go.” - faithful

“Night flight to San Francisco; chase the moon across America. God, it’s been years since I was on a plane. When we hit 35,000 feet we’ll have reached the tropopause, the great belt of calm air, as close as I’ll ever get to the ozone. I dreamed we were there. The plane leapt the tropopause, the safe air, and attained the outer rim, the ozone, which was ragged and torn, patches of it threadbare as old cheesecloth, and that was frightening. But I saw something that only I could see because of my astonishing ability to see such things: Souls were rising, from the earth far below, souls of the dead, of people who had perished, from famine, from war, from the plague, and they floated up, like skydivers in reverse, limbs all akimbo, wheeling and spinning. And the souls of these departed joined hands, clasped ankles, and formed a web, a great net of souls, and the souls were three-atom oxygen molecules of the stuff of ozone, and the outer rim absorbed them and was repaired. Nothing’s lost forever. In this world, there’s a kind of painful progress. Longing for what we’ve left behind, and dreaming ahead. At least I think that’s so. “ - angels in america

hardcover or paperback | buy or rent | standalone novels or book series | ebook or physical copy | reading at night or during the day | reading at home or in nature | listening to music while reading or reading in silence | reading in order or reading the ending first | reliable or unreliable narrator | realism or fantasy | one or multiple POVS | judging by the covers or by the summary | rereading or reading just once

tv and movies!

fave tv/movie genre i like comedies! i don’t really watch a lot of tv though akjldfhaljkdfh

fave movie whisper of the heart, promare, into the spiderverse

comfort movie promare and whisper of the heart

movie you watch every year i watch whisper of the heart every year on my birthday

fave tv show hmm i don’t watch a lot of tv tbh.....if anime counts then probably keep your hands of eizouken!

comfort tv show hilda or keep your hands off eizouken!

most rewatched tv show i don’t rewatch a lot of tv shows aklsjdfhlakjsdf

five favourite characters lake from infinity train, wirt from otgw, the girls from eizouken, cure summer and cure la mer from tropical rouge precure

tv shows or movie | short seasons (8-13 episodes) or full seasons (22 episodes or more) | one episode a week or bingeing | one season or multiple seasons | one part or saga | half hour or one hour long episodes | subtitles on or off | rewatching or watching just once | downloads or watches online

#tag game #long post #i rly rly hope that the readmore works LKAJSDHFLKAJSDF #thank you for tagging me!!! #personal

[ashthedeadalien]

✨Love live superstar episode 2 thoughts ✨

⚠️SPOLIER ALERT⚠️

Please scroll fast past this if you haven’t watched the episode yet and don’t want to be spoiled

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- why does this kanon sings at the beginning song reminds me of potatoes and molasses from otgw?

- why do I have a feeling one of the songs she sings with her guitar will be her future solo? (Most likely the song in the first episode)

- that opening sounds like a mix of sore wa bokutachi no kiseki and hajimari was kimi no sora

- I LOVE the opening!! but I hate they’re outfits here

- I noticed that with how shy she is, kanon also has a happy go-lucky perky side to her like previous main characters, I actually think it’s pretty cute

- switching schools? Too bad, your school isn’t the only one where school idols are band by the student council

- *rapsittie street kids christmas flashbacks* (from seeing chisato rapping )

- why do I have a feeling ren will give them a very hard training in the future like eli did

- look who broke the speed record at convincing the student council to let you be idols? I LOVE how they broke the cliche here!! Ren’s mom like nope!!

- they had a chance of mentioning nijigasaki, but they didn’t /:

- why do I have a feeling there’s a corporation that doesn’t allow love live to make previous group references anymore, I’m sad cuz I liked it ):

- I guess ren won’t be giving the hard training anymore, or maybe she will

- yay more sumire screen time!!

- holy crepe is that a rival group song?

- keke is literally me in sports class

- For a sec I thought kanon’s dad will actually have a line here

- holy crepe it’s that choir song!! Poor kanon must be so traumatized ):

- why do I feel like there will be a lesson about not overworking yourself in the future of this season?

- why do I feel like that lesson will be next episode?

- love the ED :D

- kanon’s song at the end is so calming!! I feel like all these chibi songs will be my comfort songs in the future

#love live #love live superstar #llss #liella #love live thought