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demonslayedher · 3 years

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Your content on Kny is interesting, being a Kny fan I would like to share a cusiority. During the final battle did you notice that the Hashira were passive about the death of some? When Shinobu died only Tanjiro had a reaction because of how busy he was; Mitsuri didn't seem sad and when Iguro remembered who died in the middle of the final battle he didn't even mention her. What did you think? It would have been nice if Gotouge had shown us what the Hashira's thought when the others died

[cont.] I'm the anonymous person who asked you the question about the Hashira who fell in the fight, Tumblr makes people write very little. Apart from Tanjiro they seemed cold to me, even for Tokito; the only one affected was Himejima; when always Iguro mentioned him during the clash with Muzan it was like he was thinking normally. There wasn't time to mourn for the dead but I was expecting a slightly deeper reaction. Anyway for Shinobu yes there was Inosuke and Kanao but the pillars are important too

Thank you for the Ask, time to get into it! This served as a good excuse to flip back through of a lot of the later volumes... or rather, a huge chunk of the series. Short Answer: I don’t think Mitsuri knew about Shinobu’s death. Longer Answer: A walk-through of the Pillars’ situations in the final showdown and a partial analysis of Kimetsu-style story pacing.

Disclaimer: I finished this around 2am. I chose to leave it rambling and unedited and typo-ridden. HAVE MY FEELS, I’M DISHING THEM.

(Disclaimer: This isn’t meant to be a plug for my own fics, but since they are born out of my emotional experience of canon, mentions will make their way in. U fu fu.) First, absolutely yes on there being no time to mourn. From the moment the Ubuyashiki Mansion blows up in volume 16 to the actual end of the fighting in volume 23, that is one hell of a night; this final arc(s) had NO CHILL. Like, wow. It’s been a long time since I followed another battle-driven manga, but that seems like a lot, especially for a relatively short series. And I was initially happy to dismiss all the lack of satisfying sadness as being due to the fact that they are in *PANIC MODE* and entirely focused on fighting, but that is also not necessarily the case; they do come off slightly cold. I want to touch a bit on what we want to see the characters mourn each other, but also why I think it works out a bit better that we didn’t; from a purely narrative standpoint. LET THEM BE SAD: Parasocial Needs Science says we form bonds with fictional characters that affect our brains in very similar and impactful ways, so our feelings are legit when they get killed off. It affects us like a breakup or other goodbye and makes us crave closure. As for my own assumptions, we look for proxy characters in-universe to give those characters we love the attention we wish to; their sadness validates our sadness, watching them get emotional can be super cathartic, and a good mourning arc can provide satisfying closure. This is something we got with Rengoku, canonically loved by like, everyone. Hell, even the guy who killed him was sad. Just to rub salt into it, the most recent fanbook that includes a section about how the Pillars see each other, and it drives home that even if we never saw much or any canon interaction between him and any other given character, they’re all like, “Oh yeah, Rengoku, he’s a great guy.” And, he’s the only character we really get space to mourn, pacing-wise. First, because of when it happens in the plot, this gives the story time to show us each and everyone one of the Pillars hearing the news; it gives them times to process it (which Tokitou clearly needed), and most of us, it takes us in depth through how it affects Tanjirou, our main character whose emotions that we, the readers, are most in touch with. Rengoku got star treatment in the way he was mourned, and we readers get to lap that up. So then when we don’t get that in-universe star mourning treatment, it does feel a bit jarring by comparison. Gotouge did say she was sorry to hurt everyone, but these are the conditions the little humans were up against all along and a point driven home again and again; even with power on par with demons through the attainment of a mark; even Pillars are just breakable humans who will never be able to regenerate like demons can, hence why their stakes are so much higher in every battle they go into. Furthermore, the Pillars are more ready for this than anyone else, they of all the characters would be the best at keeping their emotions in check in the heat of a battle. Which means they had to keep them in check for seven volumes of near constant battle, love it or hate it. KIMETSU LOGIC: The Writing Sins That Make This Manga What It Is I could go on and on and on and on about the writing sins this manga commits and how it shows that it’s Gotouge’s first time writing something of this length. In manga not all of it can be blamed on the author alone because the editors have a very significant influence, but yeah, this is not the most amazingly crafted story out there, by a long shot. Would I change any of it, though? Well, a few things, yes, of course, out of personal preference. But on the whole, no. It’s the collective errors that stamp KnY with its style and make it what it is, and I find it as endearing as all the randomly super goofy art. Now, when it comes to the lack of Pillars reacting to new of each others’ deaths, I wouldn’t necessarily classify that itself as a fault, and if I were Gotouge’s editor, I probably would have encouraged her to keep it to a minimum too. After all, I would be considered with selling a new shot of tension with every week’s installment to keep any readers from getting bored with the constant battle. And dang it, THAT TENSION WAS HIGH, those battles were remarkably emotional and tense through and through. The breaks in tension that we got were necessarily and not distracting, with the notable exception of Iguro’s past. That was clumsy placement. I’ll be honest, I didn’t bond with Iguro as much as a character because he lost his earlier chances to be appealing to me, and by the time the chapter with his flashback came out, I DIDN’T CARE, I waited anxiously all week to see what was happening to Tanjiro and was invested enough to have an appetite for the additional Sumiyoshi and Yoriichi bits, but dang it, Snake Pillar was getting in the way of what my emotions were primed for at that point. But, such is the way of fickle weekly readers; with THAT MUCH tension going on, readers crave a little breather here and there with a look at who else might taking in a breather in a flashback. We got bits and pieces of that mostly through flashback, like Tamayo’s memories of conversation with Shinobu experienced in real time through Muzan, as well as in-real-time moments with the characters having very slight chances to catch their breath (no pun intended). But, how well those breaths worked depending on each character, and how the readers’ emotions were getting slammed week to week. Just like how I as a weekly reader (by that point) had no appetite for an Iguro flashback while eager to move forward, there likewise would have been limited appetite for mourning, and we’re stuck with who we got as proxy characters to react through. ACTION, REACTION: The Rhythm of Basic Writing Advice It has often been said that in writing, something should happen in a scene, and the next scene should be a reaction to it. In the next scene something new happens, and likewise, there is a reaction. We could also thing of this as stages within the same scene, like the part when the music changes or the moment the battle has ended but we’re still on the battlefield. In Rengoku’s case, we got one big happening, and then a whole lot of reaction drizzled through the story after that. In the Infinity Fortress case, we get a big happening with the Ubuyashiki Mansion blowing up and then--a big happening!--a big happening!--a big happening--! A--uh oh, there’s a reactio---NEVERMIND, THINGS ARE STILL HAPPENING, GOTOUGE, PLEASE, THIS HURTS, OW, OW, HOW ARE YOU SO CRUEL, WE GET IT, THIS SITUATION IS AWFUL, PLEASE STOP HURTING THEM---

The reactions are there, scattered throughout. They’re short, but they sure make themselves count. While Tanjirou is our Empathy Personified hero, it’s natural that we get more of his reactions, but the lack of them in other characters is, I would say, a natural fault of having a huge cast to work with it. Once you start dragging too many other characters into the reactions, the actions have trouble moving forward, and with the level of seven volumes worth of tension it’s the actions that keep readers hooked and buying magazines. THEY’RE ONLY CORVIDS, OK: Now We’re Actually Looking At Canon Details Now that all being said, although it’s easy to dismiss a lot of Kimetsu Logic as amateurish at first, on further reflection, the little worldbuilding logic does excuse itself for not plunging each of the characters into a period of reaction to actions happening elsewhere. Not all the birds had Yushiro’s papers. Not all birds were created equal. It’s really hard to navigate that place. Ergo, communication was probably highly imperfect; not all the crows knew everything going on. We don’t feel that as readers because we’re seeing Kiriya and his sisters get all the available communications. In Iguro and Mitsuri’s case in particular, I suspect that might not even had been Mitsuri’s crow (as that one has a distinct personality and accessory) giving her orders to gather where Muzan is. It was probably any old down-to-business crow working with the information it had as clearly as it could in the battle that was most difficult to physically navigate. If Mitsuri’s crow (named Urara in the most recent fanbook) had been there, I imagine she’d have been having difficulty that whole time to even stay within a close range of that battle. Furthermore, a crow like that with a strong bond with Mitsuri might had also judged that telling her about Shinobu’s death was a dangerous distraction, and chosen to withhold information. The fanbook specifies that Iguro’s crow Yuuan was the one who told him about how Tokitou got a red blade (in fact, this is basically the only thing said of this crow besides its name and gender). To able to report in such detail that Iguro could analyze that Tokitou attained the red blade by the strength of his grip, that probably quite an accomplishment to have either witnessed that much, or to pass on crucial information that detailed and quickly. At that time, Iguro and Mitsuri were physically separated and she was distracted by the crow giving her orders to gather where Muzan was, so she might not even have overheard that Tokitou had died. As for Iguro, the second fanbook tells us that because Tokitou was young he had hoped he wouldn’t die. There was no opportunity to mourn him, and they weren’t close enough for that to throw him off much from battle, but on a Pillar to Pillar level, I think the amount of thought Iguro did dedicated to Tokitou showed a certain level of esteem for him and regret at this passing. What would have been nice? Maybe a little look over his shoulder to Mitsuri like “I hope she didn’t hear that.” That would have revealed a tender side of Iguro in a very short use of panels. I want to come back to analyzing Mitsuri’s reaction later, so let’s keep focusing on the loss of Tokitou. Once he attained more of his sense of self back, it seems he preferred the company of Corp Members closed to him in age (if we go by his little flashbacks, which in true Kimetsu Logic, are things we didn’t know about until they come up in flashbacks). Most of the Pillars weren’t especially close with him, even if they did care about his wellbeing, as they seemed particular aware of how young he was. Sanemi probably had never interacted much with Tokitou until that battle, and *OKAY, HERE IT IS, THE UPCOMING FANFIC SELF-PLUG* one of the things I really liked working with in my post-canon fic is that there’s a point at which thinking about Tokitou forces Sanemi to deal with all the trauma he’s buried from that battle. I figure it would hit him later; he had a good excuse of a distraction. Ugh. Man. My heart hurts again thinking of that chapter. Let’s also not forget, after Himejima showed his respects for Tokitou both quickly and sincerely, he couldn’t allow Sanemi to deal with Genya’s death until after everything was over. All the Pillars had to think like this. What would had been nice? I liked this reaction scene to two simultaneous and horrific deaths exactly as it was. Ow. Ahhhh. Owwwwww, it’s hurting again. This is catharsis exactly the way I like it. Let’s keep going with Himejima, the only one to have known to expect all this, and who stayed ready and likely hoped to bring down Muzan all by himself without any other sacrifices (welp, so much for that). There’s a scene in the novels that implies he had some idea that Shinobu wasn’t intending to make it out of the upcoming battle(s) alive, and I imagine he felt the same regret and bitter acceptance in advance that he also felt with Ubuyashiki. If we heard the news about Shinobu like Tanjirou and Giyuu did, I imagine he was hurt but it wouldn’t have been noticeable, and he probably would not be surprised even at how quickly it happened. What would had been nice? Anything. Just a “How pitiful” and some tears as he runs through the halls woulda’ been great. So since Giyuu did hear it loud and clear with Tanjirou, I first want to point out that whether that was Tanjirou’s crow or not (might not had been, because his crow was busy with a letter delivery from Senjurou at the time too), that crow must had loved to shared details; maybe even details that were not necessary. Like, would telling the lower level Corp members everything really help? Wouldn’t the loss of each Pillar make them lose their nerve? Was it because that crow was wearing one of Yushiro’s papers that it had to report extra detail for Ubuyashiki HQ? Whatever the case, Giyuu is initially shocked about Shinobu and then is like, “what is that paper the crow has? It sure is reporting things fast.” What would have been nice? ANYTHING MORE THAN ONE PANEL OF SHOCK. Come on, Giyuu, give the GiyuuShino shippers S O M E T H I N G. Granted, if Tanjirou had been killed in battle with Akaza, I believe Giyuu would have had an initial outburst of emotion, but then gotten himself under control real quick and stayed that way until it was safe to break down (which he did immediately later on, since the threat was gone--but he was just as soon picking up a sword and stabbing him, so again, Pillar-mode must come before experiencing emotions). I interpret canon as that even though Giyuu might had found it easily to address Shinobu in conversation due to frequency in how much they had conversed and the fact that she would usually talk to him first, he would never had considered himself especially close with her (since he never saw himself close with any of the Pillars). I feel their relationship had potential to grow closer if Giyuu had actually gone out of his way to communicate more with her, and he probably would had if they both survived, but at the time she died he probably still felt a distance, which is why it did him harder when Tanjirou--someone who Giyuu did actually get to a point of enjoying conversation with--was dead right in front of him. (Side not, oh man, OH MAN, being a weekly reader was so tough then. I still have so many emotions from that week. Oh man. Oof. Ouch.)

Of note, Giyuu had the best opportunity for reflection on a comrade’s death since he had enough recovery time once he woke up to build a fire and treat wounds, and Tanjirou took that chance to read a letter.

What would have been nice? AGAIN, GIYUU, ANYTHING, but after that battle I think he deserved to disassociate a bit. Also of note, I don’t know that they had complete information either, because NO ONE (by “no one” I mean Tanjirou and Inosuke) seemed to hear anything about Zenitsu single-handedly killing Upper Moon Six and surviving it. What would had been nice: “Good for you, Zenitsu, I hope you’re okay” or “Six? Again? Didn’t we already do that? There was a third??” or “well I got Upper Moon Two SO THERE” or “..........are you sure?” or even way, way after all is said and done, off in epilogue times, “you fought WHO by YOURSELF???” but I digress. Now back to Shinobu, losing her so early on in this marathon of high-stakes battles made her death seem forever ago by the time we got to another Pillar death. It would had been nice for more of them to react both with “no, not Shinobu!” and “we are in deep trouble” sort of ways. That made the glimpses we got of her in flashback feel way, way more nostalgic, since for our experiences as readers, she had already been gone a very long time. I like that the battle with Douma got stretched over so long a span of the manga, they really showed the stakes in how difficult of a foe he was, even if that battle was itself was relatively shorter than others. And as stand-ins for the readers to mourn Shinobu, I love how we got that both through Kanao and through Inosuke. But yes, it sure would had been nice to get something from... Mitsuri. Now, if I had only read the events of canon, manga chapter to manga chapter, and even the Taisho Secrets, I still never would have guessed that Shinobu and Mitsuri had such a warm friendship. I know this purely from the fanbooks and novels, and that is something I find a writing error that detracts a lot from the work. Some of the most apt criticism I’ve heard of the Kimetsu pacing is that it could have stood to give us one of more arc to bond with the characters at least a little more, so we could really, really be emotional over loosing them. We get all our spare Pillar interactions in works outside of canon and after Tanjirou initially gets to know Shinobu, he has no more on-screen interactions with her; she mostly appears in Taisho Secrets. Pillar Training was fun and all, but maybe another arc with stakes in it that occurs closer to home and brings out some different sides of the Pillars in Tanjirou’s presence, instead of each of them getting one dance each with our protagonist. That would had been a chance to show Shinobu and Mitsuri’s friendship, in which case, we would had really, really wanted to see Mitsuri’s reaction. But, Mitsuri had a job to do in the very, very, very heavy tension and battles that ran in weekly magazines for months on end. She carried the very heavy weight of needing to provide brevity. Her silliness contrasted against all that tension was fresh air for readers who had been holding their breath (no pun intended! kinda) through so much. And man, our reliance on her for that made it hurt all the more when things suddenly got very serious for her. But, that means she was also unable to play a heavy emotional role too early on. There wasn’t room to give her a satisfyingly emotional reaction to Shinobu or Tokitou; when after all, this is the girl who was fretting about dearly beloved Oyakata-sama, was horrified to see the explosion, angirly attacked Muzan, but was saved from certain doom almost immediately after she was taken by surprise in the Infinity Fortress, and then she’s BACK TO 100% FANGIRL MODE. Like, giiiiiiiiiirl, Oyakata-sama just diiiiiiied, tone it down a notch. I feel like I had more to say. OH YEAH. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?: To fanfic, duh. Going back to reaction and action and producing something with sellable pacing, again, I wouldn’t risk bogging down the tension-heavy final arc with too much open sadness (less is more definitely applies when the reaction scenes were often SO GOOD), but it clearly set up the desire for it. And, the length and intensity with which a work of fiction can live rent-free in audiences’ minds is a measure of its success. If we MUST turn to fanfiction to get that emotional closure (or force the Pillars to get theirs), then this is proof of a job well done in making us care. Herein lies the freedom with fanfiction: It doesn’t have to be good. It doesn’t have to sell. It doesn’t have to fit a regular serialized format. Fanfic is whatever it wants, all it has to do is indulgently scratch an itch. I have way more stomach for sappiness in fanfic than in original canon, because I have higher expectations of canon to honor writing conventions, and to make decisions that will serve the overall story, not necessarily cater to my tastes. But fanfic? Fanfic, you are here to serve me. Dive into those characters’ dry eyes with a jackhammer and gives me their tears. I don’t care how much you have to fry their brains to do it, give it to me. I mean, I don’t write fanfic like that, noooo. At least, not that I post publicly. Ssh. No one needs to know aaaaaall my particular canon itches I wish to have picked raw. But all the more power to people who DO post that publicly and provide a great service to all the other people with that same need. But, in the spirit of writing fic that tries to honor the spirit of canon, I try to sprinkle the juicy emotional potential canon could have had around as needed, to draw out what I feel canon just didn’t have the opportunity to give us. It’s ultimately self-servicing for what I wish canon would had done, but my style of published fic does try to stay widely appealing as a gen fic. Everybody’s got their own balances and tastes, and that’s cool. And that is freedom canon authors don’t have. I’ll conclude by saying that, although we as readers collectively earned it, the ending of Kimetsu no Yaiba was too bright and happy and specifically chose bittersweet moments that would be easy to swallow (pretty smart for a quick ending), but entirely skipped all the really heavy stuff in the immediate aftermath.

And yes, as difficult (and even dull) as it would be to slog through, there’s a part of me that wants to see all that, for the sake of closure.

And now I sleep byyyyezzzzzzzzz

#KnY fandom theories and meta #KnY Spoilers #tw death #KnY nerdery #kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer

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daresplaining · 4 years

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So, in one of your posts you mentioned that you could write a lot about the different contexts in which Danny introduces himself as Danny vs. the Iron Fist. Is there any chance we could ever read those thoughts. Thank you so much for running such an amazing blog; I love it.

I want to preface this with a general statement and apology:

This blog has slowed down a bit in the last… year? Ish? Possibly longer? And this is because life has gotten much more hectic for a variety of reasons. My wonderful co-blogger has been busy enough that she doesn’t really have time to blog anymore, and my life has been fairly chaotic as well. There are messages in the inbox that have been there for a really long time (this one included), and I want to assure you that they will be answered, and that this blog does, in fact, still welcome questions! Thank you all so much for your patience, hello to any new followers, keep on Daredevilling, wash your hands… and now, let’s talk about our boy Danny!

(Context: The post being referenced is this one.)

MCU Danny’s overall story arc orbited around concepts of identity. The entire first season of Iron Fist is an identity quest– Danny returns to Earth, has his identity as Danny Rand stripped away and fights to reclaim it, has his identity as the Iron Fist challenged and fights to defend that, and then is faced with the question of how to balance both of those identities– his adherence to the honor and duties of being the Iron Fist, but informed by his sensibilities and past life as Danny Rand. At the end of the season, he makes the wise choice to return to K’un-Lun to continue his training, to focus more on his role as an Immortal Weapon, only to discover that… something horrible has happened to his home. The truth of what actually happened to K’un-Lun was a mystery that was never answered, and remains for me one of these shows’ most frustrating cliffhangers. But regardless, this discovery is a bomb dropped in the middle of his identity quest. He believes his home was invaded, and it’s notable that his traumatic nightmares of his parents’ deaths are replaced by nightmares of K’un-Lun’s destruction. He feels he cannot fully claim the title of Iron Fist anymore because he has failed in his duties. He has failed his family, his home, the people he was supposed to protect. But he also clings to that identity more tightly than ever as he commits every moment of his life to righting that wrong, to fixing this unforgivable mistake. He is angry and grieving when we see him in The Defenders, his identity a painful, mixed-up thing, and this fact has to be taken into account as we look at the ways Danny introduces himself in that show.

Overall, my feeling is that I’m thinking a lot more about this than the writers were, but hey, it’s still fun to examine. Let’s take a look…

[ID: A screenshot of Danny Rand and Colleen Wing in a dark, green-tinged tunnel, kneeling next to an injured man (Shaft, a member of the Chaste).]

Danny (subtitle): “My name is Danny. I’m hunting members of the Hand.”

This, his first introduction in the show, is a telling one. He is here in a professional capacity as the Iron Fist, doing strictly Iron Fist business (hunting the Hand), fully embodying that identity, yet he doesn’t introduce himself as such. Instead, he’s just “Danny”. (Note: not “Danny Rand”. Danny’s association with the name Rand is another complicated topic that I’ll get back to later.) This is in spite of the fact that he has reason to assume, given that Shaft knows about the Hand, that he would know about the Iron Fist legacy as well.

This can be taken a few different ways. It’s possible that he’s using Danny as just as shorthand; it’s more personal, and he may want to put Shaft at ease by using his civilian name. Or, at this early stage, having now suffered yet another failure of being unable to protect Shaft, it could be reflective of the fact that he doesn’t feel worthy of the title. He is shocked when Shaft recognizes him as the Iron Fist– maybe because he didn’t think Shaft would be so informed, maybe because he is embarrassed and ashamed to be addressed as such.

[ID: Screenshot of Danny standing in Colleen’s dojo, arms folded, looking intensely sincere. He is speaking to Luke Cage (off-screen).]

Danny: “I’m the Immortal Iron Fist.”

And here we have the exact opposite. The above scene with Shaft is very intimate, personal, emotional. Danny is avoiding his Iron Fist identity, downplaying himself. Everything is very quiet and desperate and genuine.

Here, though… Danny is wearing a mask. He is introducing himself in a succinct, summarizing way; projecting an image, providing information. His personal feelings about his identity are completely absent from this scene, because no way in hell is he going to reveal that vulnerable side of himself to someone he barely knows and doesn’t trust (yet). He is also reacting to Luke’s behavior, which up until this point has been dismissive at best, violent at worst. Luke is a sore spot here: a person who Danny initially thought was working with the Hand, and who he struggled to beat in a fight. If Danny was ashamed before, he is extra humiliated now, standing in front of Luke and being scoffed at (“Oh, this is a joke. Come on”).

And so he presents himself as the powerful, in-control Iron Fist he doesn’t actually believe himself to be (“I can answer myself” etc.), throws down a Clif-Notes version of his backstory so Luke can understand who he is, what he was doing when they first met, and why he is a trustworthy ally/asset, and introduces himself with the most formal, intimidating version of his title. Danny is recovering from a bruised ego, and wants the unpleasantness out of the way so that he can continue with his mission– and if Luke is capable of helping, then he wants to make that connection with as little angst and fuss as possible. He needs Luke to know that he is the Iron Fist, even if he doesn’t feel like he actually is.

[ID: Screenshot of Danny strolling into the lobby of Midland Circle, wearing a business suit.]

Receptionist: “Name, please.”

Danny: “Daniel Rand, of Rand Enterprises.”

Having seen one mask, we now get to see the other– this one much more fabricated, though he pulls it off with STYLE. (That swagger! I love this scene.) This is Business Danny at his Business Danny-est: Daniel Rand of Rand Enterprises, wearing a tie and everything. Danny is not a businessperson, as he himself says. He has never been a businessperson. He has never wanted to be a businessperson. And, as he also readily admits, he is not a very good businessperson. But it’s a mask he tried on in IF Season One for identity quest purposes– to tether himself to the Rand name, his civilian identity, which was his sole remaining connection to Earth and which the Meachums were trying to rip away from him– and it’s a mask he now dons again, this time as a weapon against the Hand. His introduction here is just as much of a necessary facade as his introduction to Luke was in the previous example, but this one lacks the emotional baggage.

[ID: The same scene as previous; Danny is smirking coldly at the Midland Circle receptionist.]

Receptionist: “Are they expecting you?”

Danny: “[Chuckles softly] Not like this.”

Okay, sorry, I always say this when discussing this scene, but… DANG. Get ‘em.

[ID: Screenshot of Danny standing in a white-walled Midland Circle conference room, hands folded in front of him, his back to an open door. A whole bunch of people in suits are sitting at a long conference table in front of him, watching him speak.”

Danny: “My name is Danny Rand.”

The charade continues (though note the switch from “Daniel” to “Danny”. He is being just as formal and fake here, but he’s never really been a “Daniel” and it’s possible he says it without thinking). I talked about this moment in detail in the original post, regarding Danny’s strategy and the challenges he faces as his plan starts to go awry, so I won’t repeat myself here, but I will point out that Danny keeps this mask on for as long as he can, even after revealing that he knows they are the Hand, even after Alexandra shows up and starts behaving condescendingly toward him. He embodies the Danny Rand of Rand Enterprises identity for as long as possible, so that they don’t see him as a physical threat until he wants them to, and so that when the moment arrives, it can be as impactful as it needs to be. He wants them off their guard, unsettled, frightened.

[ID: A close-up of Danny from the shoulders up, same scene as above. He is resolute.]

Danny: “I am the Immortal Iron Fist, weapon of K’un-Lun.”

I think this is genuine. Yes, it’s a shock-and-awe tactic to tell the Hand who they’re really dealing with, but I also think that in this moment, Danny rediscovers some of his confidence. He believes that, after all of his shame and failures, he has found a plan that will work. He has finally tracked down the Hand, he has breached their defenses in a way they were not expecting, and he believes that he can now destroy them. And then he gets emotional. This is about honor and vengeance, and they need to know who it’s coming from and what they are paying for. “I am the Immortal Iron Fist, weapon of K’un-Lun”– he is retaking his ownership as defender of his city, because he needs to, because he believes he finally can. He has conviction in his identity as the Iron Fist for the first time since the last few episodes of his solo show. And man, it hurts so much to find out that he is wrong.

[ID: Screenshot of Danny, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Matt Murdock (in civvies with a grey scarf tied over his face), standing in a tight circle in a dimly-lit room (a restaurant). Danny is talking to Jessica.]

Danny: “Hey, I’m, uh… I’m Danny.”

Jessica: “Jessica.”

Here is our final scene of Danny introductions: the team dinner, in which he introduces himself to Jessica, and tries to do the same to Matt (who is being grumpy and incognito and therefore is unreceptive to introductions). This one doesn’t have the emotional complexity of the previous examples– Danny is super cheerful and endearing here, delighted to meet these other superheroes and to have found more allies, and he introduces himself with a healthy, informal “Danny”. The beginning of the team-up is the start of the breakdown of his character arc, but it’s a very cute scene regardless– a glimpse of the happy, well-adjusted (or at least adequately repressed) Danny that we had not seen in the MCU at this point since the beginning of IF Season One.

[ID: The same scene. The four of them are standing around a plate-laden table. Matt is leaning intently toward Danny with his hands on his hips, listening to him speak.]

Danny: “Sworn protector of K’un-Lun.”

Part of Danny’s relaxed-ness comes from his belief, again, that with these new allies, his revenge quest is achievable. He is also clearly relieved to have help. He introduces himself as just “Danny” initially– using the most informal and least baggage-laden version of his identity, forming a personal connection with them– and then introduces himself as the Immortal Iron Fist, “sworn protector of K’un-Lun” later, when he starts explaining his role in the fight against the Hand. He is very relaxed about referring to himself in this way here, partly because– again– his sense of self and security has been bolstered, he is feeling good and hopeful, and also, it’s just necessary context that he knows he needs to provide. Specifically, he refers to himself as such to Matt, because he has gathered at this point that Matt has Chaste connections, and therefore assumes that he knows about the Iron Fist legacy. Little does he suspect that overly-emotional Matt failed out of Chaste School before learning any of the important backstory, and is therefore clueless.

[ID: Screenshot of Misty Knight looking over Luke’s shoulder at something that clearly upsets her.]

Danny (off-screen): “You got a chair?”

Please indulge me for just a second: Am I bitter that we didn’t see Danny properly introduce himself to Misty? Am I bitter that their relationship was almost entirely neglected in these shows? Yes, just a little.

Anyway…

Overall, Danny’s emotional arc in this show suffered for the sake of the team-up, and I feel like there is not as much significance in these introductions– these shorthands for Danny’s identity struggles– as there should have been/would have been if this were his show. That said, I do think they are important, and I loved digging into this. Danny’s journey is one of my favorites out of all of the Netflix Marvel protagonists, and I love taking it apart and examining it.

Again, I’m sorry this post was so long delayed, and thank you for the question!

#apple-grass-and-smiles #Netflix Defenders #Iron Fist #Danny Rand #Asks #Commentary

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ephemeralstark · 4 years

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Below Freezing

Summary: Peter jumps into below freezing water to save a little girl, only to break his web shooters and damage his heater. With hypothermia settling in he decides it's a good idea to walk to Stark Tower, thankfully Karen is a snitch.

A/N: I’m in the process of cross-posting my AO3 fics on here as well, so please bear with me and excuse any technical mistakes, I’m not used to posting on tumblr yet. Thank you!

AO3 Link to fic

Complete | 3K | main tags: peter parker can’t thermoregulate, peter parker has spider traits, protective tony stark, hurt/comfort, whump

Snowflakes swirled and danced through the air in hypnotic patterns while Peter swung through them between the buildings, feeling increasingly more and more thankful for the heater in his suit that kept his toes warm and stopped his fingers from growing stiff with the cold. He needed to remember to thank Mr. Stark next time he saw him.

Peter hated the cold.

He hadn't when he was younger, in fact, he used to build igloos and snowmen out on the street with his Uncle Ben for hours on end. He would be wrapped up in nothing more than a thick jacket and a woolly pair of gloves but he would never feel the cold and would stay out until Aunt May insisted he absolutely had to go in and have dinner.

After Uncle Ben died Peter stopped building snowmen, it wasn't as fun on his own and May always had to work late because suddenly there was only one person bringing in money and it wasn't enough. That and he was too cold. Even when he wrapped himself up in so many layers that he could barely move, he would find himself shivering and seeking out the nearest warm building.

Peter was pulled from his mindless swinging and spiralling thoughts by a shriek that cut through the air. He instantly changed directions, making his way towards the noise and hoping that he wouldn't be too late to whatever was happening.

Another shriek sounded and despite Peter’s heater he felt ice run through his veins. That had sounded almost… childlike? He hoped that it wasn't a kid in danger, but his gut feeling was telling him to move faster.

It seemed as though the scream had come from the park ahead, which was good as it meant Peter was close by, but it also meant that he was going to have to travel the rest of the way on foot. He dropped to the ground and ran through the shoe trodden snow into the park, looking frantically for someone in distress.

The park was mainly empty though. There was a small child holding onto a woman’s hands as she was taught how to ice skate on the frozen over pond, a couple sipping steaming drinks while walking hand in hand, and a dog walker rubbing their hands together for warmth between stick throws.

Peter soon located the source of the scream as the little child wobbled on her skates and let out a deafening shriek. Relief flooded through him, removing all traces of icy panic from his veins, there were no children in trouble, everything was fine. It was just the just the kid being afraid of falling on the ice, that wasn't anything to concern himself with.

“Hey, Karen, is there anything happening around here?” Peter asked, wondering if it would be alright to call it a day. May would be home in a few hours and he still had that chemistry project to finish off.

“I’m not receiving any reports of trouble at present.” Karen informed him.

Maybe it would be a good idea to head home, he’d been out a lot as Spider-Man lately despite promising Mr. Stark that he was getting plenty of rest, at least if he went home then Karen wouldn't be able to snitch on him again.

“Thea! Oh God, help me! Someone please!” A woman screamed.

The woman ice-skating with the kid. Except… Peter couldn't see a kid any more.

Instead, he saw a gap in the ice and a panicking mother. Putting two and two together, he abandoned all thoughts of going home for a relaxing evening and sprinted towards the gap in the ice.

“Thea! Thea, come back here baby, please,” the woman sobbed as she knelt on the ice and fished her arms in the water, trying to grab her child, “help me! I can’t get her, I can't swim and she never had lessons. Thea!”

“Excuse me,” Peter said, running onto the ice, and gently pulling the mother back by the shoulders. The last thing he needed was two people drowning in freezing water. “I’ll get her, I promise, just stay back.”

The mother did as he asked which made him think that she knew of Spider-Man, without her to worry about Peter took her place by the hole and peered in, it was too dark to see anything.

“Karen, does this thing have a torch?”

“Initiating Night Light function.” Karen announced.

“Night light? Really, Mr. Stark?” Peter muttered as he peered into the water.

He caught a flash of silver, possibly the girl’s skate reflecting the light back at him? He wasn't entirely sure but the clock was ticking on and he needed to get the kid out of the freezing water before it was too late.

Throwing caution to the wind, Peter dived into the water, following the silver flash.

The water was beyond cold, it was worse than he could have ever imagined, there weren't enough words and adjectives in the world to explain how brutally cold the water felt, but Peter pushed through it. He forced his muscles to move rather than freezing up, moving in the direction of the flash that he had seen which appeared to be the right move as his instinct to follow the silver was correct, and even better the girl was still conscious.

She was trying her best to swim but obviously had no idea what direction to go and no skill to power her movements.

Peter was on the clock, he had no time - or air - to offer her reassurances, instead he swam towards the girl and pulled her towards him so he could hold her close to his chest with one hand and use his other three limbs to swim back to the surface as quickly as possible. The girl panicked for a moment and kicked him, before realising that he was helping and ceasing her struggles.

“Detecting core temperature drop.” Karen informed him as though that was news.

If he wasn't at risk of inhaling water he would have snapped at her that ‘yeah his temperature was dropping, he was in freezing cold fucking water’. Thankfully Peter’s hand hit something solid, something other than water, and he realised he was at the surface.

For a split second he panicked and thought that the hole had frozen over again, leaving him and the little girl trapped in an icy grave.

Oh shit, no, no, no, not again, Peter thought frantically, I can't be trapped underwater again, Mr. Stark won’t save me this time.

Peter hit his hand against the ice in an attempt to break it, but the water stole all the strength behind the movement leaving him to claw uselessly at it. He was ready to give up hope when he saw a hand fishing around in the water less than a metre away.

Peter moved over to the gap feeling overwhelmingly grateful that the kid’s mother had decided to keep searching in the water for her daughter rather than doing as he said and staying back. He pushed the kid towards the hands and felt her being pulled up and away from him.

With the adrenaline of the save fading he realised how desperate he was for air, his lungs were burning and he wanted nothing more than to just breathe in.

He hooked his hands over the ledge and heaved himself up, gasping for air, it made him choke slightly as the air came through with a little water that had clung to the surface of the mask. He could feel multiple hands all over his body, pulling at him and helping him get out of the water completely.

Peter braced himself against the ground on his hands and knees, coughing and spluttering for a few minutes while his body shivered aggressively in an attempt to heat himself up.

“K-Karen,” he choked out. “Heater.”

“I’m afraid your heater has been severely compromised, the temperature of the water has caused it to shut down. I would recommend drying off and putting on something else.” Karen said. “Would you like me to call Mr. Stark?”

“N-n-no.” Peter said through chattering teeth, he did need Mr. Stark but he was capable of walking to the tower. He didn't need to be saved all the time, how could he be taken seriously if he was constantly needing backup?

He shrugged his way out the hands that were patting at him, afraid that they would try to pull off his mask to see if he was alright.

After clambering to his feet, he made his way unsteadily in the vague direction of Stark Tower, or was it the Avengers tower now? He should ask Mr. Stark when he saw him because it wasn't clear any more, and why hadn't Mr. Stark gone through with the sale? After Peter had saved the plane and crashed his stuff? No. Crashed his plane and saved his stuff, mostly.

Peter’s brain felt as numb as his extremities.

He realised he was staggering an awful lot and was probably rousing suspicion from civilians, so he aimed a web at the nearest building. Nothing happened.

“Kar’n?”

“Your web shooters have malfunctioned, the fluid appears to have frozen in the canister causing it to perforate.” Karen informed him. “Your speech sounds slurred, are you sure you don't want me to call Mr. Stark?”

“D-don't,” Peter said, “‘m fine. J-j-just walk.”

It turned out that walking was a great idea, one of the best ideas that had ever been idea’d… idea’red? Idea’ed? Thought of! Peter’s brain was starting to feel all warm and mushy, walking was great.

“Kar’n? Walkin’ is g-great!” Peter declared.

“You appear to experiencing some acute confusion, Peter, it seems you are suffering from hypothermia. Your core temperature is dangerously low.”

“Y’ur d-d-dang-dange-” he couldn't say it so he decided to just cut to the chase, “low!”

“Attempting to call, Mr. Stark.” Karen replied.

“N-n-no!” Peter protested. “I’m w’rm now! I feel g-g-good. I sh’ld t-t-take m’ suit ‘ff.”

“Do not take off your suit.” Karen said very quickly.

“K-K’ren, y’ur t-t-too b’ssy.” Peter slurred.

“Mr. Stark is on route, you need to keep the suit on and hold on for him.” Karen said, ignoring his insult. “He is less than a minute away.”

Peter blinked as her words set in.

“B-but ‘m Sp’der-m’n.” He protested. “I d-don't need b’ckup.”

“You definitely need backup,” Mr. Stark said landing on the slushy pavement behind Peter.

“Woah!” Peter said, his suit’s eyes widening comically, “Kar’n! That’s Ir’n Man. Hi Ir’n Man, I w’s cold but now I’m n’t. I stopp’d shakin’.”

“That’s not good, Underoos,” Mr. Stark said and Peter noticed that his voice sounded soft.

“Misser Star’,” Peter slurred, “y’ur cott’n candy ‘nd fl’ffy clouds.”

“I’m sorry?” Mr. Stark asked before shaking his head, “you know what? Never mind, we need to get you home.”

“But, I don’ have red slippers ‘n a hot air b’lloon.” Peter said, confused as to how he was going to get home.

“Alright Dorothy,” Mr. Stark said, “come on, it’s time for Spider-Baby to learn how to fly.”

Peter was scooped up by Mr. Stark and pressed against his chest, held in place by two unmovable metal arms. They shot into the air causing Peter to laugh as though he was on a rollercoaster and not suffering from severe hypothermia.

“Misser Star’, we’re flyin’,” Peter said excitedly through numb lips, “bu’, we’re flyin’ back!”

“I don’t want the wind chill to make things worse, especially at this speed. So, we’re going backwards” Mr. Stark informed him.

“Misser Star’, the ligh’s are fairies.” Peter stated seriously as he stared down at the city below. There were so many lights and they were moving in and out of focus and dancing about.

“Come on Kiddo, we’re almost there, stay with me now.” Mr. Stark said.

Peter didn't respond, he was too busy wondering why his tongue felt so heavy in his mouth, and also why were tongues so weird? It seemed like it didn’t even fit in his mouth properly...oh no… what if it wasn't his tongue? Had someone stolen his and replaced it with an imposter tongue?

He needed to tell Mr. Stark but the imposter tongue wasn't working right, more proof that it wasn't his one. Before he could worry any more about that he felt Mr. Stark slow down and turn so they were going forwards, Stark Tower loomed in front and Peter saw one of the windows opening for them to enter through.

Woah, Peter thought to himself, that building is huge and just came from nowhere!

The air inside was hot, too hot, it seemed to burn at Peter’s skin through the suit and he was struck by the very real terror that he was cooking inside the Spider-Man suit.

“No!” He screamed flailing so suddenly that Mr. Stark released him in shock, Peter’s legs were too numb to hold him up and he crumpled forward onto the plush carpet, water dripping from him onto it.

“Peter, it’s alright,” Mr. Stark said, Peter could hear the metallic whirring and grinding of the suit retracting and in moments Mr. Stark was at him side, pulling him up into a sitting position.

“Too hot,” Peter slurred, “burnin’.”

“You’re actually too cold kiddo,” Mr. Stark said gently, “come on, we need to get you into something dry.”

Peter was pulled to his feet, most of his weight being supported by Mr. Stark, but the little he could bare himself was making his legs shake as they slowly made their way to Peter’s room.

“Am I gonna shower?” Peter asked.

“No, not right now Underoos,” Mr. Stark said, “your temperature is too low for that.”

With a great deal of staggering and a few comments about Peter replicating Bambi’s first steps, they made it to his bedroom.

“We need to get you in your jimmy jams, Kid,” Mr. Stark said, “now we’ll do this quickly because I know that if that brain of yours wasn't floating in La La Land you’d find this a tad humiliating.”

“Where’s La La La La Land?” Peter asked.

“Exactly.” Mr. Stark said as he pulled off Peter’s mask.

“No!” Peter yelled. “They can’t know who I am!”

“Kid, calm down, it’s just us two here, your identity is safe.” Mr. Stark said soothingly as he pressed the spider emblem on the front of Peter’s suit causing it to go slack. “Your lips are blue and I’m too young to have grey hair so just work with me here, Pete.”

With a great deal of effort, Peter was finally sitting on the side of his bed wrapped in an abundance of fluffy towels while Mr. Stark rifled through his drawers looking for pyjamas.

“Which drawer are they in?” He asked. “A little help would be great here.”

“What if you put your hand in one drawer ‘n it came out a differen’ one?” Peter asked.

“Ok, so you’re useless right now,” Mr. Stark muttered, as he continued to search. “Got them! Right kid, without your suit on I can’t monitor your temperature and the last reading was 90.8 degrees, which means it’s your lucky day. You get to wear my watch.”

Mr. Stark helped Peter clumsily thread his arms through his pyjama top and watched as he took the watch off his own wrist, fiddled with it, then strapped it onto Peter’s .

“91.1.” Mr. Stark read, “ok, you’re improving, and don't even think of messing with that thing. I’ve disabled all the systems other than medical observations.”

“Come on, Underoos, let’s get these trousers on then we can both forget all about the last fifteen minutes.” Mr. Stark said.

“Why ‘m I putting clothes on?” Peter asked, “‘m too hot.”

“No your cold and your brain is playing tricks on you,” Mr. Stark told him. “ Now let’s get you under those covers because you need to warm up and I don't think we’d manage to walk you anywhere else. Or maybe we would, but I’m not doing that again.”

It took another ten minutes but eventually Peter was in his bed, buried under a mound of blankets and Mr. Stark was sitting on the bed beside him, helping him drink a mug of hot chocolate and monitoring his temperature.

“91.6°F,” Mr. Stark declared. “See, we can do this.”

“Why ‘m I here?” Peter asked. “Why not the hosp’tal?”

“I couldn't take you to a normal hospital thanks to that bizarre DNA you’ve got going on, and there isn't a medical team based in this tower, they’re generally only on standby when an Avengers mission is happening. Which means you got Dr. Stark.”

“Huh,” Peter murmured, seemingly satisfied with the explanation. “Someone stole my tongue earlier but I think they gave it back.”

“Did they now?” Mr. Stark asked

“Uh huh.”

Time passed with meaningless and delirious chatter, as Peter’s temperature continued to creep up.

“Mr. Star’?” Peter asked suddenly.

“Yeah Kiddo?”

“I feel cold,” Peter murmured. “I don' like the cold.”

“That’s actually a good thing, it means your body is reacting correctly again, soon the shivering will start up once more and before you know it you’ll be a toasty spider.” Mr. Stark said.

“But I don' like bein’ cold. Not since Uncle Ben died.” Peter said quietly.

“What do you mean?”

“It never bothered me ‘fore,” Peter explained, “but after Ben when it got cold outsi’, I got really, really cold.”

“Hey, Pete, I don't think it’s your Uncle’s death that caused that.” Mr. Stark said gently.

“No?”

“Spiders typically can’t thermoregulate, and if you have some spider traits then this could be one of them. I was wondering about it earlier, but with the temperature of that water anyone could have ended up with hypothermia so I didn't have proof that you can't thermoregulate. Now though, with that information, it seems fairly likely.”

“So, it’s not a punishm’nt?”

“Punishment? For what?” Mr. Stark asked sounding genuinely confused.

“For letting Ben die.” Peter said quietly.

“Kid, May told me what happened, that wasn't your fault.”

“I had my powers, I didn’ do anythin’.” Peter admitted.

“You were a kid and none of that can be blamed on you whatsoever.” Mr. Stark said as he ran a hand through Peter’s hair comfortingly. “Powers or no powers, you were too young and you should never have been in that situation.”

Peter didn't reply, he was distracted by the trembling that seemed to overcome his entire body. Had Mr. Stark said that the shivering was a good sign? Because Peter was beginning to feel like it was the opposite. His teeth chattered and his muscles spasmed uncomfortably.

“M-m-misser S-s-s-star’” Peter stammered, “It-t-t’s c-c-cold.”

“I know, I know,” Mr. Stark said as he checked the watch again, “93°F. This is good, Pete, I promise. No more winter swims though.”

“N-n-never.” Peter promised.

“Good, Kid, god you did a great job saving that little girl, but I was so scared when I got the message from your AI. I didn't even realise how bad it was, and you weren't making any sense.” Mr. Stark admitted. “Just… just think of yourself as well as others in the future, alright?”

Peter nodded, his throat felt tight with tears at Mr. Stark’s honesty.

“Also, you’re telling May about this one.” Mr. Stark said, still playing with Peter’s hair in a way that made his eyes grow heavy.

Peter let out a shaky laugh.

“T-t-thanks, Mr. Stark.”

“Anytime, Underoos,” Mr. Stark said softly. “Just not anytime soon, please. Now why don’t you get some sleep? I’ll stay here and keep an eye on your temperature.”

Peter yawned, sleep did sound like a good idea.

“N-night, Tony.”

“G’night, Kiddo.”

Thank you for reading, please like and reblog if you enjoyed and feel free to send a message/ask if you’d like! I appreciate all the time you have given my writing, thanks again!

#irondad #spiderson #spider-man #Iron Man #peter parker #tony stark #thermoregulation #hypothermia #fanfic #marvel #peter can't thermoregulate #hurt peter parker #do not tag st*rker #peter parker has spider traits #hurt peter #protective tony stark

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daleisgreat · 4 years

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Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Five

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-Greetings and thanks for joining me for my semi-annual coverage of marching through Star Trek: The Next Generation. Today I am covering season five (trailer) of the BluRay collection that I continue to ever-so-slowly progress through at one or two episodes a week. I started season five off in February and wrapped it up a couple days ago by watching at this rate. Part of the side effect of that was taking advantage of extended free trials of CBS All Access and binging through all of Picard and the first two seasons of Discovery within two months while keeping up with an episode or two a week of season five of TNG. There happens to be a couple episodes of this season of TNG that play a notable role in Picard, so the timing of it all gelling together was a lucky coincidence. I gave brief recaps of both Picard and Discovery in my annual TV season recap blog that can be found by click or pressing here. I apologize in advance for the questionable-in-quality pics in this entry from my ancient Samsung Galaxy S7 which makes it worth it to grab so many subtitle moments from this season! -The only notable cast change this season is the addition of Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes). She becomes a recurring character this season as someone who is essentially introduced as coming off work release after a court martial and working her way back into Starfleet in the lowest rack of Ensign and serves primarily at the helm of the bridge. Forbes is fantastic as Ro and she has a few landmark episodes this season with my favorite of hers being “The Next Phase” where Ro and Geordi (LeVar Burton) are de-moleculed and appear as ghosts to the rest of the ship who responds by throwing a funeral for them in the form of a Mardi Gras-esque party at Ten Forward. Forbes is absolutely sublime here in Ro’s pining curiosity at how Riker (Jonathon Frakes) will eulogize her.

-This was a big episode for other recurring characters this season too. That is kind of a big deal considering season five is the only season of the series without a Q (John de Lancie) episode. I like how they find new ways to bring back Denise Crosby, who was shown as a mysterious cliffhanger to the end of the two-part arc of “Redemption” that finished off season four. It picks up in a big way with how Denise Crosby’s new character is connected to Tasha, and how the Romulans get involved in the never-ending civil war of the Klingons that eventually has the gratifying conclusion of Worf winning back his honor among Klingons. Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) has her biggest role yet in the series this season in the two-parter “Time’s Arrow” that has the first part wrap-up season five where we discover the origin of Guinan in the 1890s as the Enterprise crew time travels back then and also encounters an antagonistic Mark Twain in an intriguing episode. Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) returns for two episodes this season. One is an oddball episode where all on the Enterprise but Wesley and Ensign Lefler (Ashley Judd) are mind controlled by a mysterious augmented reality game. The other episode is much better as Wesley and a few of his squad mates deliver prepared depositions as they are ruthlessly interrogated on the death of one of their peers. The annual Lwaxana (Majel Barrett) episode is about the expected chore to get through in her continued struggles to find a partner where she sets up an arranged marriage that is doomed from the beginning. Props to Chief O’Brien (Colm Meaney) having a kid this season! -Season five marks the addition of two major personal belongings to one Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). One is the iconic jacket he dons throughout most of the season. I have no idea yet if he wears it in the remaining seasons, but it is a slick jacket and gives him a space cowboy type of vibe to him! I bet it sold boatloads in merchandise! The other item is a special flute that is gifted to him in “The Inner Light” when Picard’s mind engages in a Inception-like lifetime of memories in the span of under a half hour where he experiences an all new culture and life. It is a delight of an episode I appreciate the more I reflect upon it. I later learned in the bonus interviews that this flute melody became a common occurrence at weddings.

-I want to make sure to give kudos to some of my other favorite episodes this season. I loved seeing Spock (Leonard Nimoy) finally make an appearance on TNG. At this point of the show, appearances from the core Original Series crew has been extremely rare and limited, but TNG gets the most out of Nimoy with him playing a major role in another two-part arc where Spock tries to reunite the Romulans back into the Federation of Planets. One of the top episodes this season is “Ethics” where an accident leaves Worf (Michael Dorn) paralyzed and according Klingon ritual must self-sacrifice himself for the greater good. This results in some of the best speeches of the season where Riker and Picard implore Worf to reconsider before Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) impresses with her surprisingly improving doctor skillset to resolve Worf’s paralysis. An episode that initially appears to have a silly premise, but I outright loved by the end is “Darmok.” Picard winds up stuck on an island with an individual of an undiscovered species that only speaks in metaphors. Picard is as baffled as me trying to decipher the metaphors at first, but gradually picks up on it and by the episode’s end forms a kindship with him as the duo team up against a new threat. “I, Borg” is an episode that plays into Picard later on that sees the Enterprise take in an injured Borg and give it the ability to have independent thought again.

A guilty pleasure TV theme of mine in recent years is the time loop episode theme in the form of Groundhog’s Day. Discovery had a terrific rendition of it in its second season. I was thrilled to see TNG do their version of a time loop episode in “Cause and Effect.” It has a banger of an opening that sees that Enterprise exploding and eventually the scenes start to repeat that sees the crew start to recognize their situation and attempt to find a way out of the time loop. I came to discover in the bonus interviews that this episode preceded Groundhog’s Day by nearly two years, and unlike that film and all the TV shows that have pay homage to it over the years, TNG plays it in a serious manner and not as a comedy, but the writing for it is so well done that it works and is pulled off in a way that had me invested until the end! -While there were a fair amount of standout episodes this season, I would be remiss if I were not to go this far and fail to mention there were several clunkers. Some of the ones I recommend skipping is where Riker falls for an androgynous being that has a non-committal ending and the episode plays out totally differently today than it was intended then. Another dud is where them dang Ferangi are up to no good again in failing to kidnap a seductive being that has a strong desire for Picard. The biggest abnormality this season is where according to my notes I surmised the episode as ‘imaginary friend comes to life, blargh!’ Trust me on that being all you need to know on the astutely titled episode, “Imaginary Friend.”

-I want to once again give a shoutout to the podcast, Star Trek: The Next Conversation. Hosts Andrew Secunda and Matt Mira breakdown every episode of TNG and help provide ample background, facts and insight with their analysis of each episode. Because of re-watching TNG and combined with their podcast I have been able to better pickup on countless TNG references in other TV shows and podcasts over these past couple years. Click or press here to give them a listen if you have not already. -There are nearly four and a half hours of extra features that are nicely spread out across all six discs. In addition, there are also four episodes that have commentary from cast and crew with one noteworthy highlight being Orville creator, Seth McFarlane guesting on the commentary for “Cause and Effect.” A lot of the bonus extra are carried over from the original DVDs, but like previous seasons there are a couple of new HD bonuses for the BluRay. Mission Overview deep dives into the production of a couple of my favorite episodes of the season, “Darmok” and Spok’s return in “Unification.” Tribute to Gene Roddenbury has clips of speeches from various Star Trek luminaries at a building dedication to Gene and has fond memories from the cast and crew of Gene. Intergalactic Guest Stars interviews many of the aforementioned recurring characters on why they keep coming back on.

These next two are new HD bonuses for the BluRay. The Music of TNG is an in-depth 75 minute discussion with three composers from the series that I truly appreciated hearing the composers dissect some of the most memorable scores and melodies of TNG history. Finally, Requiem is a two part, hour long look about writing the controversial conflicts that have been touched on throughout the run of TNG, and also has additional tributes and testimonials on Gene Roddenbury. Both are excellent thorough takes on both subject matters, and if you dig bonus features as much as I do, then I highly recommend both of them! -Season five of The Next Generation continues the success of seasons three and four. I would only mark it a notch under those two strong seasons because there seems to be a few weaker episodes this season than in the previous two. I gathered from the bonus interviews that it seemed that this season tried to go all out exploring new conflicts and themes, and sometimes it worked exceptionally well in the cause of “Cause and Effect” but other times it worked against them a few more times than usual this season. Overall though I would still rank this in the upper tier of TNG season and hope to see the final two season keep up this high bar of quality.

Past TV/Web Series Blogs 2013-14 TV Season Recap 2014-15 TV Season Recap 2015-16 TV Season Recap 2016-17 TV Season Recap 2017-18 TV Season Recap 2018-19 TV Season Recap 2019-20 TV Season Recap Adventures of Briscoe County Jr: The Complete Series Baseball: A Ken Burns series Angry Videogame Nerd Home Video Collections Cobra Kai – Seasons 1-2 Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1 | Season 2 OJ: Made in America: 30 for 30 RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-13 Roseanne – Seasons 1-9 Seinfeld - Final Season Star Trek: Next Generation – Seasons 1-7 Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle Superheroes: Pioneers of Television The Vietnam War: A Ken Burns series X-Men – The Animated Series: Volumes 4-5

#star trek #star trek the next generation #Patrick Stewart #jonathan frakes #gates mcfadden #Marina Sirtis #levar burton #Wil Wheaton #Leonard Nimoy #whoopi goldberg #Michael Dorn #Ashley Judd

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cecilspeaks · 5 years

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149 - The General

If you can dream it, you can wake up in a cold sweat screaming about it. Welcome to Night Vale.

Night Vale, today is the birthday of Leonard Burton. Many of you are too young to remember Leonard. He was my mentor, my friend, and my predecessor at this radio station. I watched him die nearly 40 years ago, right outside this very radio station on Mesa Boulevard, when a cargo truck ran him over. The sight was – grisly and upsetting. But it is that sound, that horrible “snap!” I will never forget. Dozens of witnesses gathered around to help, but it was too late. I crouched over Leonard’s body, lying to him that he would be OK, attempting to coax him from some hint of life. But there was no final word to hear, not even a final breath. I noted there were tears on his cheeks, as a host of angels behind me moaned softly while touching fingers above a flaming trashcan.

Leonard was a dutiful journalist, a true servant of his town. He loved Boston cream pies and paintings of snakes. If he had lived, he would have been 117 years young today.

Listeners, thank you for all your kind emails. A few weeks ago I was a tad – too revealing about my personal life and I mentioned, in passing, that I’m a perennial bachelor. It’s true. I’ve never had a long term serious relationship, but honestly, it’s fine. [chuckling nervously] I get out, I-I s-, I see people. You do not need to try to set me up on blind dates with friends, relatives, ancestral ghosts. Thank you, I’m doing OK. In fact, I had a date recently. His name is Carlos. He says he’s a scientist, well – we have all been scientists at one point or another in our lives. He has perfect hair, a perfect lab coat and – and teeth like a military cemetery.

The date started well. We went to dinner at Big Rico’s Pizza. He had originally suggested Gino’s Italian Dining Experience and Bar and Grill, the fanciest restaurant in town, but since it was our first date, I suggested something more casual. And that was when things started to go wrong. Before we had even placed our orders, Carlos already seemed – disappointed. Which, in turn, disappointed me. Then there was dinner. I was trying to tell Carlos about my job here at the station, about my family and interests, and he was like “I know I know, Cecil, we’re in love. You and I are in love. You just don’t remember it.” And I told him, “You’re cute, but this is our first date, so let’s take this slow.” And then he looked sad, and I quickly finished my pizza, and we left.

An update on the Blood Space War. A few weeks ago, the Polonian forces who oppose us seemed all but defeated, their remaining ships cornered in a tiny moon on the far reaches of the Crab Nebula. Yet our attempts to finally destroy the enemy failed, and the Polonians escaped and regrouped. We’re getting word that the General has agreed to step down from her post, and new leadership will replace her. Some of you may remember the story of Eunomia, the teenager who left our Earth 200 years ago to join in the Blood Space War. She was a dreamer, a scientist, who was recruited for her sharp mind and later groomed as a master strategist for the Wolf Gang, our allies in this unending war. The Wolf Gang were able to use worm holes to travel great distances in mere moments. And Eunomia eventually discovered they could use these same portals to travel in time. After a brutal loss in the battle of Gamma Trachonus, Eunomia, then a captain, ordered her decimated platoon back in time to the beginning of the battle. With a greater understanding of their initial failures, she was able to better fight the battle again. Still she lost, only to return back through time to re-engage the enemy over and over again, she refought the battle until she won. Dozens of battles like this won led to her promotion to General of the Earth-Wolf Gang alliance. But after our most recent failure in the Crab Nebula, there is concern that she has lost her effectiveness.

An emissary from the Blood Space War has returned to Night Vale. They are wading through town in their oversized space suit. No doubt here to deliver us more terrible news from the front. Perhaps there will be no peace in our lifetimes. More on this story as it develops.

Our town is returning to normal, or so I have been told. Community college student and Blood Space War protest organizer, Basimah Bishara, said her mother exists once again. Basimah claims that a few weeks ago, her mother suddenly did not exist, thus making Basimah not exist but as of this week, they do exist. Basimah blames the time traveling actions of our General for changing the landscape of everyone’s existence. I can’t wrap my head around this, listeners, I-I.. I don’t remember Basimah ever not existing or, or-or that she was gone and returned. So it’s hard for me to believe this story. I-I took inventory of my own life and everything is as it always has been for me. I work at a radio station, I own a (-) [0:08:20] bike, I have a one-bedroom apartment with a soaking tub, walk-in closet, carpet shredder, knife compiler and a full-length mirror in the hallway. It’s an antique my mother handed down to me. She knows I love mirrors. I don’t have any siblings, but my mother’s alive and I talk to her regularly. We get along great, I-I-I called her to make sure everything is as she always remembered it, and she said, “What, I don’t know. Yeah sure, what a dumb question.” She’s always been witty like that. All is stasis. Nothing has been taken from my life.

The Intergalactic Military Headquarters reported all time high profits this month. They have built a stealth bomber entirely out of rare 1913 Liberty Head nickels, each valued at around - five million dollars. Senior strategic advisor Jameson Archibald admitted their financial success was not attributable to the new smart phone app he developed. “[cackling] No-ho-ho-ho-ho,” Archibald said, sitting astride a white tiger. “That app was super glitchy, but my Dad’s crazy rich and knows a bunch of people in the Pentagon, so we’re go-o-o-od!” Archibald then took a massive hit of a vape pen. “This is my new thing,” Archibald said. “Steam pens! No nicotine, no THC, only pure water vapor. Did you know water is good for you? Like, it gives you life, man. If we’re gonna vape anything, we should be vaping vapor. O-o, what if that’s what vape means? Vapor! If it doesn’t, it should!” This has been your financial report.

Sad news, Night Vale. John Peters – you know, the farmer – reported that his brother James is returning to service in the Blood Space War. James has been promoted to General to replace the retiring Eunomia. “Dang, James is such a good brother,” John said from the middle of his field of invisible corn. “I really like having him home, I’m gonna miss him. But I guess the universe needs him more than I do.” John then uprooted an invisible corn stalk and hugged it tightly, while humming the classic church hymn “Party in the USA”.

OK, this is getting annoying. So the guy I was telling you about earlier, Carlos, he’s been texting me this whole show, saying he wants to see me again, let’s see, something something, my timeline is still wrong? I should have a sister named Abby, here’s a photo of her with some kid. My mother died? Hmph. I’m supposedly afraid of mirrors, and he and I are actually married. This is ridiculous! OK, now he’s texting me a picture of a dog. “Our little puppy Aubergine,” it says. In the picture Carlos is holding the dog. I… Hm, that’s weird. I just had a strange feeling. What’s that term, uh, jamais vu I think, where you remember something that never happened.

Outside my window, I see the Emissary, their-their oblong mirrored face pressed against the glass, each hand raised to their head to block out glare from the sun. I’m waving to the Emissary now. Hello Emissary! I said just now. What is the French term for remembering something you’ve never experienced? I said even louder wondering if the Emissary can hear me through the window and that thick helmet. Also, is Aubergine a good name for a dog? I think it is! I called once more, just to start a decent conversation, because I was getting creeped out by the sight of a silent astronaut peering at me through my window. [chuckles] I can, I can see myself in the reflective face. I… [mumbles] I don’t like this. I do not like this at all. [panicked] Please go. Please leave, it cannot. Uh, I’m covering this window with a sheet, I do not like this mirror. I don’t like it one bit, no!

Let’s go to the weather.

[Weather: “Sad But Not Depressed” from the podcast It Makes a Sound https://nightvale.bandcamp.com]

I will tell you about the Emissary in a moment. But first, I must tell you that Carlos called me. Here’s his voicemail.

Carlos: Cecil, I_I’m calling for personal reasons. I-I’m, [sighs] I’m calling to tell you that I love you. That I have loved you almost since the first day I met you nearly 7 years ago. I didn’t know anyone in Night Vale [chuckles] and you were the first person to take any interest in my studies. Its not easy feeling alone, but within a year I wasn’t, cause I was with you. And now we are married. Well, at least in my lifetime we were married. We have been married, and we have a beautiful puppy named Aubergine, a house, a relationship. You have a sister, and you know, you have a brother-in-law too and, and a niece who is a talented athlete and (enormously), just a kind young woman. And we have – oh, you’re gonna play this on air, aren’t you? Oh, of course you are. Well never mind. Anyway uh, somehow you don’t know any of this. I’ve been working nights and days trying to repair this break in continuity, and I haven’t slept much, because I-I can’t sleep until we’re back in the same timeline. But I can’t find anything that will fix this, I-I don’t know what else to do other than to just say: Trust me. I will start over, we’ll go to Rico’s on another first date, I will pretend to hear about your life for the first time, I will tell you about mine for the thousandth time. It won’t be the same for me, but it will still be you. And, and that’s all that matters. You, you’re the one. Oh god, this must sound crazy, you barely know you and, and I’m coming off as desperate, but it’s because I am. Please call me. [beep]

Cecil: And I did, call him back. A-a-and I said: “I love you too. Babe, I love your beard. I love our dog. I love… I-I love our life together.” Minutes before that, I did not feel that way. I did not know about my life with Carlos, because it had never happened in my history.

It was in those minutes, though, that the Emissary spoke to me. The Emissary entered my studio and removed her helmet. And underneath was the face of an old woman, it was the face of Eunomia, the young girl who disappeared from Night Vale on her 17th birthday 200 years ago. Eunomia told me she had resigned her post as General. She was the most successful leader in the Blood Space War, but tampering with timelines had caused life in the universe to nearly cease to exist. Eunomia knew she would have to undo what she had undone so many times over, even though it would put peace out of her reach. She’s doing that. She is taking responsibility by visiting every single person affected by her actions. She’s telling them what she has taken from them. And what she will now give back. It will take her a long, long time to do this. it will take her the rest of her life.

In my case, she told me I have a sister, Abby, a brother-in-law, Steve, a niece, Janice. I-I did not know those times. She told me about my husband Carlos. I knew that name, but did not feel love for it. She took my hand and told me to look at the moon. There was a thick wedge missing from it. I never noticed that the moon was broken. Eunomia said: “I will leave now and I will undo what has been done, and your life will return to how it was.” I asked: “But I have a life now.” And she said: “But what of the lives of others? You are all connected. If I do not fix yours, how many others will never have back what the war has taken?” “And what about you?” I said. “Will you return to your teenage life on the farm?” “No,” she said, “I cannot go back to that age, but I will go back to that time and place. I only wish to see my family one more time.” “And what about the war?” I said. Hmph. “There will always be a war, because there will always be a lust for a war,” she said. “I am sorry, Cecil. I have to go.” She pointed to the moon once again. And it was whole, unbroken. I tried to squeeze her hand, but it was gone. It was only me in the studio.

On a late summer afternoon in 1816, an astronaut appeared in the center of Night Vale. 96 years later, a dog park would be established on that exact spot. The astronaut walked silently through the dusty streets. Bow-legged and slow, the Emissary walked through the outskirts of town. It took hours, and nearly the entire city followed her. Past a lot that would eventually to Old Woman Josie. Past the homestead of Eugene Leroy. Until she reached the Peters farm. And there, she stopped. There was a greenish aura about the astronaut, as she turned to face the gathered mob. The astronaut put her gloved hands to her neck and unlashed the helmet. There was a loud hissss and a pop, when she lifted the mask. The crowd approached tentatively. As the helmet came fully off, the townsfolk cried out. The face of the visitor was nearly skeletal, a rotted corpse, long white hair peeling down the back of the skull, an incomplete set of elongated teeth visible with no lips to hide them, startled eyes, ever staring with no lids to express anything else. And what was left of the skin had shriveled and yellowed.

The crowd had begun to step backward, but one woman stepped forward. a tired and pale woman. The woman whose farm it was approached the decomposing astronaut and said: “Eunomia?” The General opened her mouth slowly and spoke in a hoarse cough. “Mother,” she said. Eunomia’s young mother touched her elderly daughter’s face. Eunomia broke into dust. And the empty space suit collapsed to the ground, leaving behind the faint shape of the woman’s dissipating daughter.

In a cornfield on the outskirts of town, the General’s ashes scattered across a golden lake of ripened corn. In the very place where her military successor, James Peters – you know, the General – would be born 150 years later.

The memories of what Eunomia said to me, the memories of my life without my family, are fading quickly. Night Vale returns to normal, whatever that means. [chuckles] I told Carlos I was so sorry for causing him such pain. I can not ever know how difficult that must have been. He only tilted his head and said: “Already forgotten.” I wasn’t sure if he was being literal. Hmm.

Stay tuned next for the unceremonious continuation of all that is real.

Good night, Night Vale, Good night.

Today’s proverb: I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road, and then we’re gonna go grab drinks and dinner, maybe watch a movie. Girls’ night.

#welcome to night vale #wtnv #wtnv transcripts #episode 149 #the general

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emperorsfoot · 4 years

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In which the Princess Alliance realizes maybe they probably should have sent out a memo about Horde Prime.

...

“What in the ever loving high holy heck does Adora think she’s doing now!?” Lonnie demanded of the open sky.

She, Kyle, and Rogelio were inspecting construction of the new supply storage bunkers when the sky suddenly and inexplicably cracked open with a light so bright it cut though the perpetual smog layer that blanketed the Fright Zone. Lonnie glared at it, the shape slightly distorted by the haze. But it looked like a cut across the sky. A cut like with a magic sword. So, of course, it had to be Adora and her new friends. After all, what else could it be?

“We do have a way of communicating with Brightmoon, right?” She asked of her companions. “That wasn’t destroyed when Catra and Hordak decided it was a fun idea to blow-up central command, right?”

Both human and reptilian only shrugged. They honestly had no idea. After the portal fiasco when all of the Horde’s upper leadership disappeared, the trio’s focus had been on damage control and reestablishing some kind of infrastructure. Lonnie –whom took over the vacant position as Leader of the Horde- was more concerned with maintaining supply lines that brought grain and rice into the Fright Zone, the things their ration bars were made from. Their food. The stuff they needed to survive. None of them really gave much thought to the equipment that would allow them to put in a call to their enemies.

“I, uh, I can check.” Kyle volunteered.

He rushed off to do exactly what he said he could do.

Rogelio growled something that Lonnie didn’t quite understand. But when the reptilian dashed off after Kyle, she assumed he said that he was going to make sure Kyle didn’t hurt himself in the –still destroyed- Sanctum.

Though neither man could see the action, Lonnie nodded. Kyle was well-meaning and always eager to help. But he was also clumsy and not very mindful. Rogelio would keep him from carelessly injuring himself. Which was good. One less injury meant fewer medical supplies that had to be used. And now that she found herself in command, Lonnie was all about cutting down on needless supply usage and waste.

She turned her attention back to the bunkers she was inspecting.

“Well, show me the new vacuum seals that are supposed to keep vermin out of the food stores.” She commanded the soldier that had been showing her and the other two around the newly constructed bunkers. “We can’t just drop everything we’re doing every time there’s a big light in the sky, or a rainbow knocks over a tank, or a Princess seduces your boss’ boss, or the central command blows up.” She reminded them. “We all still have jobs to do!”

Making their way through the Fright Zone, back to the central command building, Kyle was still getting used to people stopping and saluting him.

Just a few months ago, he, Rogelio, and Lonnie were all still just ‘cadets’. But, dang!, did a lot happen in those few months! Catra set off a portal in Hordak’s Sanctum, then disappeared along with Lord Hordak himself, there was a short disagreement between the remaining Force Captains and Lonnie about who should fill the newly vacated leadership position, and –somehow- Lonnie ended up on top. The Commander of the Horde. And as her best friends and teammates since forever, Kyle and Rogelio became her lieutenants.

Where Kyle used to have to be the one to stand to the side and salute if another soldier was walking in the opposite direction than him, now it was the other soldiers that would move out of his way. Flattening themselves against a wall, standing at attention, offering a well-practiced salute. Sometimes even going so far as to say ‘Morning, Lieutenant.’

This had been going on for months now and Kyle still wasn’t used to it. He didn’t know if he’d ever really get used to it. He spent so much of his life so far as metaphorical dirt. He was used to being walked on. He didn’t know if he could ever be the one doing the walking.

Rogelio took his hand and Kyle’s heart jumped for an entirely different reason.

But all the reptilian was doing was bringing to the other man’s attention that they passed the entrance to Hordak’s Sanctum. Kyle was so caught up in reflecting on his new elevation in the Horde, he hadn’t been paying attention to where he was going and passed their destination.

“Right. Sorry.” He demurred. He had to remind himself that he might be a Lieutenant working directly under the new leader of the Horde now, but he was still just the same old Kyle. Absentminded and probably useless. Lonnie only made him a Lieutenant because they were friends.

Inside the Sanctum was mostly bare.

After the initial explosion, the lab and surrounding chambers had been searched for bodies. But the actual clean-up of the Sanctum hadn’t happened until much later. Cleaning up Hordak’s mess wasn’t really a priority. But Lonnie was also practical and not in the habit of leaving usable resources to collect dust just to spite the guy they used to belong to. The Sanctum was cleared out and cleaned up. Anything that wasn’t bolted down got taken out, sorted and repurposed. Scrap metal was melted down, tech that still worked and served a function was repaired and placed back into circulation, tech that was beyond repair and unusable was taken apart and its pieces cannibalized for other machines. The floor was swept and the area was closed off.

Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio were the only three in the Fright Zone who knew the new passcodes to get in.

Anything that wasn’t bolted down was cleared out, but there were still a lot of things bolted down. Chief among them, the main monitor display and corresponding computer terminal. If anything had a feature that could get a call through to Brightmoon, it would be this computer array.

Kyle switched it on.

There was a loud humming sound as it booted up, and an uncomfortable scraping sound that implied the inner workers of the computer might not be in as good condition as the exterior would imply.

Kyle chanced a glance at Rogelio to see if the other man might somehow blame him if the device failed.

But reptilian only shrugged his shoulders. Who knew how well any of the crap in Hordak’s Sanctum ever worked in the first place? The guy never really let anyone else in here except his pet Princess, and look how that turned out.

Once the computer was finally booted up and the homescreen appeared –with a few lines going through it to indicate the screen was damaged- Kyle found the communications application easily enough. There was a short delay as the computer dialed Brightmoon. The tech the Rebellion used was not from the same origin as Horde tech and the two were not perfectly compatible. It took a moment for the devices to connect to one another.

The image of Bow appeared on the screen. The device they connected with must have been his Tracker Pad which scanned for incoming signals anyone. He was talking to someone off screen, his head turned so that Kyle and Rogelio only saw him in profile.

“…hang on, my Tracker Pad is picking something up.” He was saying. Then turned to actually look at the screen, and saw that it was just Kyle and Rogelio from the Horde. “Oh! It’s you guys. Now’s not really a good time. Can we put off any new declarations of war for a while?”

Rogelio growled something that nobody understood but Kyle got the distinct impression that the reptilian was commenting on the other man’s assumption that this was a war declaration.

“No-no, it’s nothing like that!” Kyle assured him. “Lonnie just wanted us to call and see what it was Adora was doing this time. Ya see, this bright light just appeared in the sky, and it looks kinda like a cut, like with a magic sword. And Adora’s the only one we know of with a magic sword so… you see where I’m going with this?”

Why did Kyle feel so awkward? Was it because had hadn’t been in a command position long and didn’t know how to talk to people and command respect? Or was it because he was unfit for a command position at all? At least when he was a grunt cadet, he knew his place and where he stood –with enemies as well as allies. Now, as a Lieutenant with responsibilities, he felt so out of place he wasn’t sure he even had a place anymore. He certainly had no idea how he was supposed to talk to the Rebellion’s Tech Master.

“Don’t worry about that.” Bow tried to assure them, sounding much more like he was trying to assure himself. “We’ve got it handled.”

His tone implied that they did not have it –whatever ‘it’ was- handled.

Bow ended the call.

Kyle and Rogelio looked at each other. Just as confused now as they were when the cut of light first appeared in the sky. Bow hadn’t actually given them an explanation as to what it was or what was really going on. That was all Lonnie wanted to know.

“Should we call them back and ask to speak to Adora this time?” He asked.

Rogelio only shrugged. He was also a little unsure as to what to do in his new leadership role.

…

Everyone in Brightmoon was in one stage or another of freaking out.

They all knew this was coming. They all knew Horde Prime was coming.

Entrapta had warned them. Catra had taunted them. Heck! Even Light Hope kinda alluded to this coming, no in so many words, but more in that cryptic and open to interpretation way she did. The fact of the matter was, no one should have been surprised.

Except that no one really believed it would happen this fast. This soon. It took Hordak years –decades, actually- to build a working portal. What reason did they have to assume that Horde Prime could get one working, open, and stable in just a few short months?

It was lucky that Entrapta already finished the weapons she promised. But she had only just finished the ones for Brightmoon. Salineas, Plumeria, and the Queendom of Snows were still unprotected. No to mention all the other territories and Queendoms on the planet.

Micah had met people from Fallen Star Mountain, the territory ruled by the Star Sisters and invited them to join the Alliance. They said that with Hordak defeated there wasn’t a reason to anymore. They were unprotected and unprepared. Sweet Bee and Peekablue sent their reply in the same message, one piece of paper bearing both their seals –apparently, the two Queens were together at the time- it was written in Peekablue’s handwriting and simply said ‘the timing isn’t right yet’. Well, was the timing right now? Now that the other Horde from outer space had ripped open their sky and was poised to drop down on them at any moment!

Needless to say, things in Brightmoon were a little anxious.

Perfuma was the first to show up at the palace. Plumeria sharing a border with Brightmoon on the opposite side from the mountains of Dryl, her’s was the closest Queendom to Brightmoon. She appeared, flower crown askew, pink dress rumpled, without her teal green shrug over her shoulders. As if she’d left in a rush.

“Is it the Horde?” She demanded. “I mean, of course it’s the Horde. But, like, the other Horde. The bigger one. The one we’ve been trying to prepare for.” She took a deep breath, attempting to force herself to calm down. “I mean, we’ve been prepared for this, so everything will be okay. We have the She-Ra on our side. I’m sure everything will come to a harmonious conclusion. There’s no need to give into negative energy.”

She said this. But Perfuma was definitely giving off negative energy. The negative energy of fear, anxiety, and doubt. She was giving off negative energy in buckets.

Speaking of buckets, not long after Perfuma arrived, a giant wave crashed through the Brightmoon harbor, nearly capsizing Sea Hawk’s ship. He was already bailing buckets of the excess water off the deck when the wave receded, revealing Mermista. She was holding her trident, and look more impatient and annoyed than fearful and concerned.

“Ugh… the Geek Princess hasn’t even been by to build my weapons yet.” She groaned at no one in particular, brushing an errant lock of hair out of her face. “Can’t the evil space emperor wait, like, six more month before coming to try and kill us all. So stupid.” Then she noticed the Dragon’s Daughter Five listing in the bay. “Oh. Hey, Sea Hawk.”

Sea Hawk gave a non-committal grunt in reply. They hadn’t exactly spoken socially since their breakup was official. He honestly didn’t know how to talk to her anymore. Certainly, he couldn’t talk to her like he used to.

Frosta was the farthest away and the last to arrive.

Everyone was already in the War Room when the youngest member of the Princess Alliance arrived.

Micah was arguing with Shadow Weavers. Adora was shouting warnings over the table. Spinnerella was holding Nettossa’s hand to try and calm the other woman. Bow was fiddling with his Tracker Pad trying to see if the device could analyze the sky rift. Perfuma was trying to perform a calming chant. Memista was groaning at how chaotic this was. And Sea Hawk was ringing saltwater out of his socks. Glimmer had no control over her War Room, or the meeting.

Then Frosta barged in. Doors banging open with a sound loud enough to make everyone pause. Stopping their squabbles or shouts to look across the room at the child-Princess.

“Alright! So, what’s the plan for kicking these bat-faced jerks butts!?”

The room exploded back into noise and chaos again. Everyone talking at once. Giving opinions of things they were not informed enough to give opinions on.

Bow’s Tracker Pad beeped with an alert just as someone asked him a question. Thinking the device had found some information for him about the rift, he turned his attention to it. “…hang on, my Tracker Pad is picking something up.”

Those seated closes to him quieted down to also see what the Tracker Pad had found.

But all that appeared on the screen were the faces of two Horde soldiers. The Etherian Horde. A human, Kyle, and a reptilian, Rogelio. People they knew. Not the new Horde from outer space. There were not bat-faced monsters that looked like Hordak giving them a call.

“Oh! It’s you guys. Now’s not really a good time. Can we put off any new declarations of war for a while?” Bow asked, assuming that even under new leadership the Etherian Horde would want to continue the generations old feud.

Oh. Had no one read-in the new Horde leadership about what was coming? Did they honestly not know? Bow never even considered that! In a room full of chaos was not the time to debrief someone new. Especially not someone that Bow wasn’t sure which side they would choose. He didn’t want to be helping and clueing in a new enemy. While he did generally try to give people the benefit of the doubt and see the best in people, now was not the time to be the better man. Sometimes, the practical man had to be a bit rude.

“Don’t worry about that.” Bow tried to assure them, sounding much more like he was trying to assure himself. “We’ve got it handled.”

He ended the call.

“Who was that?” Asked Sea Hawk. He hung his still wet socks over the back of his seat and sat down next to Bow.

“That was… the Horde…” Bow answered truthfully. Then, when everyone looked horror stuck, he quickly rushed to explain. “I mean, our Horde. The Etherian Horde! The guys in the Fright Zone. Kyle, and Rogelio, I think are their names. Nobody ever told them what was going on, so they have no idea what’s coming. They saw the portal in the sky and freaked out.”

“Oh.” Said Glimmer.

There was a beat.

Then Perfuma suggested, “Should we… invite them to join us?” Even as she asked this, she did not seem very secure in the idea. “I mean, do you think they’d be willing to help? They live on Etheria too…”

“We have no reason to assume they won’t join Horde Prime the moment they learn of him.” Shadow Weaver informed the room. “Inviting them into the Alliance would be like inviting a wolf to your back.”

“I’m sure that was true when Hordak was in charge.” Micah argued. It was hard to tell if he was arguing for the Horde because he honestly and truly felt the Etherian Horde could be helpful, or just to take an opposing opinion from Shadow Weaver. “But Hordak has been removed from power and is under house arrest in Dryl. Command of the Etherian Horde is now in the hands of Etherians. As Princess Perfuma said, they live here too, why wouldn’t they want to defend the Home Ground?”

“Because they were raised by Hordak and Hordak does not teach altruism.” Shadow Weaver reminded everyone. Never mind the fact that Hordak didn’t raise any of the Fright Zone orphans, and that job was actually delegated to Shadow Weaver herself. A fact Adora could confirm for them all.

Adora might even have done so and called Shadow Weaver out on her misplacement of responsibility, had she not be lost in thought at that moment. Really considering the possibility of the Etherian Horde as allies. She grew up with them. She, better than anyone in the room, understood them. In a deeper and more intimate way than Shadow Weaver did.

“Lonnie’s in charge now.” She began, still considering and weighing outcomes as she spoke. “She’s very practical… If we can convince her that working with us is the better choice over siding with Horde Prime…”

She did not get to finish that thought, however, as Bow’s tracker pad beeped again with another message. This time, when he answered it, it wasn’t the nervous and unsure faces of Kyle and Rogelio. It was the exasperated and angry face of none other than Lonnie, Commander of the Horde, herself.

“Put. Adora. On. The. Line.” She commanded before any pleasantries could be exchanged.

Adora took the Tracker Pad from Bow. “Hey, Lonnie, we were just talking about-“

“What in the ever loving high holy heck are you doing this time!?” Lonnie cut the other woman off. “Haven’t you had enough of meddling with forces beyond mortal understanding and breaking the universe!? I am still trying to rebuild what Hordak and Catra ran into the ground and you’re cutting up the sky for fun! Now I have a panic to deal with on top of construction delays and lost supply shipments! I thought all you shimmering Princesses wanted was ‘peace’! Can’t I have a moment’s peace to work on my own territory!”

She paused for breath.

Adora looked back at the rest of the Princess Alliance to make sure they heard the Commander of the Etherian Horde’s rant. She wanted peace, and she wanted to repair the damage to the Fright Zone, the damage to ‘her Territory’. Lonnie might be ‘Commander of the Horde’, but she was thinking like a Princess.

“I’m sending Kyle over there to see what you’re all really up to!” Lonnie continued before anyone else could speak. “I’m sending Kyle because he is the least threatening person I know and hopefully that will keep you sparkleheads from shooting glitter at him on sight. Think of him as a sort of ‘emissary’. I don’t want to have to fight you guys again if I don’t have to! But, I swear, if you keep making things difficult for me, I will! So, let’s try and get along.”

She ended the call.

Adora passed the Tracker Pad back to Bow. “So… I guess that answers the question of which side she’ll be on if it comes to it.”

“How?” Frosta jumped up, standing on her seat to be better seen. “She said she didn’t wanna fight us because she’s still licking her wounds in the Fright Zone. We don’t know that the moment Prime shows up she won’t go running to him the moment she realizes he’s got bigger guns and more resources to share with her.”

“That’s assuming Horde Prime is the type to share.” Mermista countered. “There is another angle to this. Regardless of what Lonnie things of the bigger Horde, the bigger Horde might not think much of Lonnie and just sweep her away. They might get rid of her for us and then the question of what to do about the Etherian Horde becomes a non-issue.”

“That’s terrible!” Perfuma was horrified. “Sure, they’ve been our enemies for as long as I can remember. But they’re still people, and living things. All life is precious.”

“They’re still the ones who ruined Princess Prom!” Frosta shouted.

Everyone assumed she was trying to make a point about respecting truces, cease-fires, and safe spaces –all of which Princess Prom was supposed to be- and that if they couldn’t do that, what reason did they have to trust them in a truce now. But all it sounded like was that she was saying parties were just as important as leaving beings. For fear of derailing the conversation into an unnecessary ethical debate, everyone collectively agreed to ignore that comment.

“There’s no point debating this until the Horde’s emissary gets here.” Glimmer announced, taking control of the meeting. She was Queen, but most of the time she still felt like an inexperienced and frustrated rebel child.

“I know Kyle.” Adora added. “He won’t make trouble while he’s here.” A pause. “On purpose. He won’t make trouble on purpose.”

But ‘trouble’ did have a propensity to just happen around him. It wasn’t that Kyle was particularly clumsy, forgetful, or rude. No more than any other child soldier raised in the Horde. He just seemed… out of place no matter where he went. Almost like… almost like he wasn’t meant to be on Etheria. Of course, Etheria being trapped in an isolated shadow dimension, she couldn’t image where else he could belong. But then, she’d seen weirder things than just an out-of-place and accident-prone soldier.

The debate might have gone on longer, but a page entered the War Room, unannounced, and passed a letter to Glimmer. “Message from Fallen Star Mountain, my Queen.”

Taking the envelope, Glimmer ripped it open to read the contents. Then she sighed. “It’s from the Star Sisters. They also wanna know what the light in the sky is.”

No sooner had she read that, than another page came in with more messages from Elberon, Seaworthy, Erelandia… Heck! They even got a crumpled and dirty piece of paper from the Valley of the Lost in the Crimson Waste. Apparently, the whole planet saw the rift in the sky and wanted to know what the Princess Alliance was up to now…

Glimmer slumped in her seat, putting a hand to her head where she felt an on-coming stress headache. Who knew the worst part of Horde Prime’s attack would be the confusion before the storm?

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nevertherose · 5 years

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Initial thoughts

I have Thoughts about the new episode, but its probably going to be a day or so before I can parse them all properly. BTW TW I am going to mention my own intrusive thoughts, which include death, killing and hurting people and animals, so, be warned and stay safe.

So...

I've watched it once and listened to it via reaction videos twice, and I've literally gone from "hmm, interesting, but I don't have intrusive thoughts" to "oh god, yes I do, they just don't look like that" 😳 Like, I don't know exactly what my Remus would look like, but he wouldn't be a sassy trash panda with a potty mouth and the humor of a 12-year-old boy. I have a teenaged son; I am so used to "butthole, tee hee" humor that it barely even registers, let alone disturbs me in any way. (Imagine Logan's unimpressed face. That's me with Remus for the entire video. Like, child, sit down, you are not funny and the adults are talking.) I liked that he made sense for character!Thomas, though; in fact I connected to this video better from the get-go because it felt like a real issue instead of invented for the sake of a plot (*cough*hitchcoppolucas*cough*).

But I didn't personally identify with the problem at first because my version of it manifests differently.

Logan said one thing that actually disturbed me a bit: the part about how if your intrusive thoughts don't disturb you, that could be a problem.

My intrusive thoughts do not disturb me. Like, that's literally why I thought I didnt have them.

(Here's the possibly triggery stuff) I've been on the highway with my family and thought about yanking the wheel and flipping the car. I've pet animals and thought about how fragile their bones are. I'm both a writer and in martial arts, so I have PLENTY of thoughts about various ways to kill somebody. But I think they don't bother me because I don't have character!Thomas' problem.

He believes very strongly that thoughts are a precursor to action: if you think it, on some level you must want to do it. My beliefs are the exact opposite. Thoughts are just thoughts; it is your actions that define you. Thoughts are dry erase markers on a board: they're impermanent, they can be played with, changed, allowed to do whatever they're gonna do because once you're done, you can take that eraser and clear the slate. Furthermore, you can't stop or control them...the more you try, the louder they get. And if you can't control your thoughts, why waste the brainpower in trying? Let them come and they inevitably fade on their own.

My creativity also works differently from character!Thomas', in that it's naturally a lot like Logan. My imagination is very ordered and logical; the only difference being that where Logan would dismiss something as impossible/illogical, my creatively just says "okay, if that was a thing, how would it work?" And it proceeds to imagine ways to make it work. I'm more willing than most to entertain the unimaginable, because 1. It's just a thought, 2. I guaran-dang-tee someone else has already imagined it, 2. You can't defend against something you've refused to think about. "Seek knowledge. It is our greatest weapon and our greatest defense."

I don't get worked up about disturbing thoughts because I know they don't reflect on me as a person. For example, in the wrecking-the-car-on-purpose thought, I just let the scenario run as it will: how hard would I have to yank the wheel, what sort of damage the vehicle would take, all the ways in which we could get hurt, what if I was the only survivor, what if I got a permanent injury, how would I go about rescuing my family from the car, which hospital would they take us to, what mile marker am I at if I had to tell the ambulance where to go...

...and honestly, by the time it's gotten that far, my mind is bored and has already moved on to a new thought. Was that mess ever something I was going to do? Of course not. It's just my mind scribbling away on blank paper because highways are boring and that's what brains do.

The only exception I make to the "let the scene play" mechanism is what I have intrusive speculative thoughts about other people (usually of the "I wonder if they've had sex with ____" or "what does their face look like when they're getting it on" variety). Continuing to entertain thoughts like that feels disrespectful, so I generally just tell myself "that's none of my business" and concentrate on something else. Again, having the thought in the first place says nothing about me...however I feel that continuing to entertain the thought, in this case, would say something about me.

In other words....character!Thomas needs to listen to Logan because that boi knows what's up 💙

#ts spoilers #ts sides #thomas sanders #sanders sides #tw remus #intrusive thoughts

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go-our-own-ways · 5 years

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Gundam NT - Experience and Initial Thoughts

Hello tumblr...it’s only been 94857589746575 years, eh?

Well. So it finally happened. Gundam NT finally got an official run in America, and I finally got to see it. I’ve finally seen the dang mecha movie that I’ve been dying to see since last November.

Finally!!!

But, not without some dramatic mishaps at first (lol).

I was lucky enough to have my local theater showing the movie, but it took them 20 minutes to get the movie running (it was just a dead screen up until then)...only for us to realize it was for Bohemian Rhapsody, and not, in fact, for Gundam NT. Some jokes were made from the other movie-goers (”Gee, Macross sure looks funny!” “Hey Hawthorn you okay there?”) but soon the chatter turned into serious consternation and concern. Eventually, theater staff told us the movie couldn’t be shown because the projector didn’t have it, so we all filed out of the theater to head to Guest Services. While we waited in line to get vouchers (in lieu of a refund), we were also told that staff was working to fix the issue, so we were welcome to go back to the theater to wait it out.

And boy am I glad I decided to go back up, because soon enough, they had it up and running. THANK GOD.

Unfortunately, they skipped over most of the bonus footage featuring the interview and introduction from the producer and director in the interest of time... I’m actually really sad and salty about that, but it’s better than not seeing the movie at all, at least.

And so, after like 30-40 (or maybe more?!) minutes delay...we finally began the movie proper. LMAO.

Before diving into things, a bit of a head’s up:

Frankly, I’m new to Gundam, and I’m by no means well-versed in Gundam lore. Additionally, I’m also not someone who is usually nitpicky about details in animation or story-telling. So, my POV is basically of a casual bystander who happened to check out the franchise, and decided to stick around because it seems fun and interesting. If you’re someone who is more or less opposite to me...then this “review” of sorts is definitely not for you.

Actual movie thoughts under the cut! Not spoiler free!!!

I’m not gonna lie...honestly my memory of the movie is really cluttered and foggy. However, despite this, I still very much enjoyed watching the movie!

So...pacing. I’m no expert, but I seriously feel like this movie could have benefited from getting like maybe 2 hours of screen time rather than an hour and thirty minutes. It felt like the production team was trying to cram SO MUCH into TOO LITTLE time that the whole movie felt really fast. Despite this, the tension build-up was definitely there, especially as we got closer and closer to the end. About halfway into the movie I began to clutch my coat and scarf (it was quite chilly out today) really tightly just out of the continued anticipation of what will happen next...needless to say, my hands are now very sore, lol.

I do wish the plot wasn’t revealed in such a non-linear way. Of course, flashbacks and the like are sure to be used in storytelling, but much of NT’s story-telling felt more like oddly-placed snippets that went back in time, rather than a series of flashbacks. For the most part, I’d say each of the trips back into the past were important and revealed important information...but it made the movie feel cluttered and kind of all over the place. And honestly, the non-linear way NT’s narrative was told made it difficult to keep up with what was going on and how everything tied into it all until the very, very end. That’s probably my one gripe about this movie, I think.

Now, despite the pacing and the scrambled nature of the plotline, NT was still a lot of fun for me to watch, and I think I can credit the fight scenes, the characters, and the acting for that. The fight scenes were thrilling to see on a BIG ASS SCREEN, for one. And then just generally anxiously waiting at the edge of my seat to see how the battle would pan out is of course always a thrilling part of (my so far very short) Gundam experience. Animation-wise I really don’t know if I can say anything, since I didn’t notice anything especially jarring or bad. But, I’m also terrible at noticing small details when it comes to animation, so it could have also missed it.

The characters were a pleasure to watch, in my opinion. Rita honestly seemed like a cooky mystic Newytpe for most of the movie, and it really grated on my nerves. I kept thinking, “Surely there’s more to her than wondering about heaven and wanting to be reincarnated as a bird.” But the very end of the movie finally revealed the more human side of her, and that definitely made me feel better about her as a character. I do wish they could have shown more of Rita’s human-ness, but I suppose in the interest of time, they couldn’t.

Michelle seemed really cool, up until she started to look like a nasty manipulative player with huge stakes on the line. But as more and more of her story unfolded, I began to see the layers of the onion, so to speak. I was glad that she wasn’t just a vengeful person greedy for power, and at the same time I was also glad she wasn’t just another corner in a love triangle. Her humanity was evident, but I wished that we could have seen more of it through showing rather than telling. Ultimately, it was Brick who made the final reveal on Michelle’s true character in his last message to Jona, and I just wish that we could’ve seen more of it through Michelle’s own actions instead. We did get glimpses of it, of course, and I suppose maybe choosing to not show it much was to reflect that side of Michelle’s character--someone who guards her personal emotions closely and puts on a show, a facade for the public to see. But even then, I still wish we could’ve had more glimpses into Michelle’s humanity through her own actions.

Jona, Jona, Jona... Where do I even begin. Ultimately, I resonated with his humanity the most, I think. Seeing how much he still thought about those years with the lab even after all this time, how angry he was with Michelle, how distraught he was over Rita being taken away...it all felt very raw and very human. I guess it was just all very relatable, seeing how emotional Jona could be. I’m a pretty emotional person myself in the sense that I feel emotions very intensely, and it seemed like Jona’s personality was like that, too.

He says a line towards the end of the movie where he’s wondering out loud what is the point of continuing to live. He pretty much wonders, after the only people you cared about have left, after you’ve witnessed such horrendous things, after you’ve had to LIVE through such awful events...what even is the point anymore? I really felt for him in that moment. It made me remember how much I’ve wanted to give up before when everything seemed to be terrible and miserable in life. When nothing seems to go well, what point is there to continue going on, right?

Then there’s the returning characters from Unicorn. I was happy to see all the characters who returned, of course, but MAN...I was SO happy to see Banagher finally, at the very end of the movie. And the words of encouragement he says to Jona...the classic “Even so...” MAN. MAN OH MAN did I cry...! Like I mentioned before, I was already really resonating with Jona in like the prior scene, so the emotion from seeing Banagher again combined with the emotions from HEARING those words of hope...that really did a number on my heart, and in a good way.

The dub cast did a fantastic job, I thought. Normally, I feel like I’m suffering every time I have to watch a dub, but the cast made it work for this movie. I think the only bone I have to pick would be Rita’s dub actress, and that may just be personal preference. I figure the actress was told to sound kind of mystic and airy (since that’s basically Rita’s personality for about 99% of the movie, so that’s a fair direction to take with the acting), but it sounded a smidge too...fake? plastic? for me to really buy into. But again, this is probably just me being picky, lol. I LOVED the acting for the other 3 main characters though (Jona, Michelle, and Zoltan). I have to commend Jona’s dub actor (Griffin Puatu) because he really pulled off a similar tone and feel to Enoki Junya’s acting, I thought. (At least, based on the long preview; I’ve yet to watch the first 23 minutes of the JP version of the movie.) I have other thoughts for the other actors but I think I’ll leave them for another day... Also, I’m merely a fan when it comes to voice acting, so these are purely just the feelings and thoughts the performances gave me as a viewer, and nothing more.

So, after having seen Unicorn AND Narrative, I really get the sense that the story of Newtypes, and I guess Gundam on the whole, is about humanity. At its very core, Gundam is seeking to tell a story about the differences that could tear us apart, but also the humanity that holds us together. It feels like watching a story that tries to remind us that at the end of the day, no matter our differences, we’re all human, and we ought to remember that if we ever hope to survive as a species.

Furthermore, I really feel like Gundam is trying to show the importance of both communication and emotion. Both UC and NT showed how Newtypes can communicate on a higher level, but that communication typically ultimately conveyed the person’s feelings and will. Sure, we got thoughts and important backstory too, but I think the main thing we tend to get from their communications is emotion--what is that person feeling, and how is that emotion then translating into the actions they’re taking. Not only that, but we also then see the subsequent actions taken in response to being revealed someone’s deepest, innermost feelings. Of course, there were times when the person was mercilessly murdered, be it by accident/misunderstanding or out of “necessity,” but there were also moments where the action taken ended up being to withdraw an attack, or to let go of the captured person.

Maybe this is just me going off on a limb, but I think that’s a really important message to take in. Communication is important, but what’s even more important is communicating our emotions to others, and respecting others’ emotions in turn. That’s probably the big message I take away from seeing the Newtypes’ stories in Unicorn and Narrative.

Well, needless to say, I’m now very curious to see how the UC plotline continues on. We’re already slated for another movie this upcoming winter, so I guess I’ll have to wait until then. In the meantime...I suppose I’ll finally get around to finishing Origin (lol). Even if the next movie doesn’t show much of the previous characters, or even if the JP voice cast doesn’t feature anyone I know, I think I know too much of the plot now to be able to abandon the series.

All in all, NT was a fun movie to watch. I definitely don’t recommend watching it if you haven’t watched Unicorn yet, but once you get through Unicorn, NT is a nice way to wrap up the story from that point of the UC timeline.

Now to eagerly await the BD release for those sweet, sweet bonus materials! :3c

#this ended up way longer than I originally intended oops #oh well!!! LOL #gundam NT

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mittensmorgul · 6 years

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Wayward: Supernatural in Parallels (and a parallel universe as well)

aka I have spent the last four hours typing again, so here you go. :P

(at least I managed to keep it under 6k words this time!)

(shut up that’s kinda brief for me... now if only I could write 6k of fic in 4 hours I’d really be on to something...)

Wayward Sisters set itself up admirably as a spinoff, if for no other reason than it’s so deeply rooted in the original series without actually being that series. We already know all six of the main characters (some of them for nearly a decade, like Claire and Jody), and we know at least a little bit about about how they came to be where they are at the start of 13.10. But even more than that, this episode served so many parallels to the entirety of Supernatural’s past canon, but did so in ways that take all of those themes and wove something entirely new out of them.

All the seeds for the spinoff grew from the original, but they’ve been sown in a new field.

I needed to record as many of these as possible for future reference.

(under a cut because as I said, it’s like 5900 words deep and it’s 2:23 am and I am so not up to editing this tonight.)

The little girl Claire saves from the two werewolves in the cold open looked so familiar to me-- because she reminded me of the ghost girl in 2.11 Playthings. Not technically a parallel, but even from the promo clip with her in it my brain insisted that I’d seen her somewhere before.

Mr. Werewolf and his terrible knock knock joke was such a dark mirror to Kate the werewolf in 8.04. If she was the noble version, he’s the grotesque, right down to the way he uses almost the exact same movements to terrify an innocent as Kate used to get revenge on the guy who’d turned her against her will and murdered her boyfriend. The Winchesters rightly let Kate go (TWICE!) but Claire rightly kills this jerk.

Not to mention Claire’s very personal history with werewolves (and being one bite of a heart away from becoming one herself) in 12.16. This case, and rescuing a little curly-haired blonde girl from werewolves is a tidy metaphor for how Claire has developed as a hunter since we’ve seen her last. And she absolutely PROVES that she’s learned. She doesn’t hunt dumb like she did back in 11.12. She does her homework, and knew exactly what she was doing when she approached Mr. Werewolf’s lair. She knew exactly who she was there to save, how to approach the werewolf lair most effectively (DELIVERY! LAND SHARK!), and she kept her cool throughout the entire fight-- for the sake of the little girl.

This entire fight is also reminiscent of 11.17, just for the fact that she’s physically proving herself as capable as Sam and Dean are in a werewolf fight.

Her rescue of Amanda Fitzmartin from werewolves was a direct parallel of 12.06, and Mary Winchester’s rescue of Asa Fox from… you guessed it, a werewolf! Right down to the mother/child reunion scene on the front porch. I can only imagine that Amanda Fitzmartin may be a future generation hunter now, too… Then again, Asa took up hunting because Mary told him she was “retiring,” and he felt obligated to fill her shoes so that someone would be out there saving people. Claire told Amanda that everything would be okay, and then went right on hunting. Claire’s in a very different place than Mary was, despite the similarities.

Jody’s call to Claire-- “It’s Sam and Dean. They’re missing. They were on a hunting trip, and I haven’t heard from them for a few days.” Well, isn’t that just THE iconic line of the entire series? 1.01, top of the script, hello Dean Winchester. Not to mention 12.20 and how Alicia used the same line about her mother to get Sam and Dean’s help in finding her.

What’s DIFFERENT in Jody’s plea to Claire is, “It’s time to come home.” Home has always been such a nebulous concept for the Winchesters. For the longest time, the only home they knew was Baby. Their “apple pie life” was a pipe dream that they wavered on ever really believing they could have it, or if they even really wanted it the few times it seemed like it could be within their reach (Dean with Lisa after s5, Sam with Jess pre-series, Sam with Amelia after s7). It took a while, but they both now identify the Bunker as “home,” despite it not being a home in the traditional sense. And after Dean’s words to Cas in 13.06-- “Welcome home” as he hugged him at some alley payphone-- I believe their concept of “home” is more “the people we care about” rather than a fixed physical point on a map, you know? And after watching Wayward, and oopsie here jumping to the end for just a second, Claire says, “I'm staying because I need them, my family.” In both series, home is where the heart is, if you will.

Of all the hunters Alex could’ve mentioned that she’d tried calling while looking for Sam and Dean, she mentions Donna (who we’ll see in a bit here), and WALT. Aka one of the guys who killed Sam and Dean way back in 5.16, and who returned in 12.22 to help take down the BMoL.

Claire and Alex’s gentle teasing of each other is just… so dang sisterly. In the same way that Sam and Dean’s teasing of each other is just so dang brotherly, you know? “Did you miss me?” “No, not really.” Lines delivered deadpan followed up with the knowing little smiles.

Claire pointing to her cut lip and telling Jody, “It’s just a werewolf, no big deal.” Well, isn’t that exactly what Dean told Sonny in 9.07 when Sonny questioned him on how his wrists were injured? And heck, how many times has Dean diminished the seriousness of an injury with an “I’m fine” or a “no big deal.” To the point where in 12.23 when he meets up with Cas again, Cas doesn’t even bother asking if he’s okay, just rolls his eyes and heals Dean with a lil boop.

“When did we become huggers?” Well, Sam, Dean, and Cas seem to ask this of themselves every time they find themselves hugging… at least they used to. They’ve since become acclimated to the fact that yes, they are huggers.

Claire’s discovered that Jody let patience move into her room, borrow her sweatshirt, while she was away. But she takes the blame for leaving on herself. This calls back to a lot of the emotional baggage between Sam and Dean over the years in a far less toxic fashion (You chose a demon over your own brother? You didn’t look for me in Purgatory? Who are you gonna replace me with next? There’s a lot of that between the brothers.) But Claire lets it go. And they have Business to attend to…

Alex tends Claire’s wounds during their meeting to share what they’ve gathered so far about Sam and Dean’s disappearance, and then Alex gets up to leave for work. She has a job-- a real, regular job as a nurse (how respectable! In Dean’s words from 2.20). Claire is upset, because finding Sam and Dean should come first, but Alex doesn’t even argue about it. The entire dynamic is similar to Sam and Dean’s motivations in 1.01. Sam had a law school interview that he didn’t want to miss (which Dean initially assumed was a job interview), and described as his whole future on a plate. But Dean insisted they already had “the family business.” Just as Claire insisted her own job is hunting. Unlike Sam and Dean, Alex and Claire work this out in their own way, and Alex DOES go off to work. Her job is just as important as hunting to her, and she doesn’t compromise on that.

Patience’s visions in this context are so reminiscent of Sam’s visions back in the early days. She’s still trying to figure out exactly how they work, and exactly what they mean. And in a lot of ways what Clare seems to be feeling is a reflection of Dean in 2.05 when Andy mind-controls him into telling the truth, “He's psychic. Kind of like you. Well, not really like you, but see, he thinks you're a murderer, and he's afraid that he's going to become one himself, 'cause you're all part of something that's terrible. And, I hope to hell that he's wrong, but I'm starting to get a little scared that he might be right.”

It’s not an exact parallel, but the same sort of disbelief and maybe even a little bit (or a lot) of fear over what those visions might mean. And Claire addresses this later in this episode when she’s talking to Kaia while Jody and Donna are investigating the ship. So I’ll get back to that later… I’m finding it’s really difficult to take this scene by scene…

Claire’s difficulty with Jody “smothering” her while hunting reminds me A LOT of both Dean’s difficulty with John (when Dean first began to break away from blind obedience to John’s every order toward the end of s1), as well as Sam’s difficulty with Dean. How many times has Sam pulled the “I’m not a little kid anymore, I can do this” card on Dean? Exactly. This growth process hurts, and it’s terrifying, but it’s a give and take on both sides, and Claire and Jody both grow a lot by it. Because it’s not just Claire wanting to prove she’s capable, it’s also Jody’s abject fear of losing ANOTHER CHILD to the Supernatural. She would give anything not to have to relive what she went through with her son in 5.15. And Claire does begin to understand Jody’s point of view, as Jody begins to understand Claire’s. And after Dean admitted to Mary in 12.22 that he’s been both mother and father to Sam most of his life, this exact same dynamic can be applied to his over-protectiveness of Sam. There’s a balance to be found between Claire’s “run in head first” and Jody’s “find the perfect plan.”

Speaking of balance, Alex seems to have found a balance that works for her. It’s been a long time since 9.19 when Jody gave her a foundation to build a new life on, and as Jody said in 10.08 and we saw first-hand in 11.12, it wasn’t always easy. But Alex found a career that makes her happy, and in return she’s happy to help Jody with whatever she needs, be it housekeeping or monsters. She seems… settled. And she confirms to Claire that Jody (and by extension Alex herself) never stopped worrying (or thinking) about Claire even when she wasn’t around. It was a solid confirmation to Claire that yes, she’s still part of their family, regardless. And wow, how many times has this sentiment been expressed in Supernatural? Too many to count.

And Claire and Alex get their emotional baggage handled and properly stowed, and it’s right back to the Big Issue at hand. Where we discover that despite all their differences, they’re both on exactly the same page. Claire suggests searching the hospital database for “rock star aliases” in case Sam and Dean have been injured, and Alex confirms she already searched for practically every rock musician she could think of, “From metal gods to obscure hair bands.” And of course “obscure hair bands” makes me think of poor old Vince Vincente and Ladyheart back in s12. Their third album wasn’t terrible… :P

Incredibly enough, a new search for Jane Doe leads Claire to find Kaia in that very hospital (and heck, is it Sioux Falls General? Aka where Dr. Monsterface worked back in 7.02?) Claire finds Kaia and confronts her about Sam and Dean, and instead of needing to be broken out of “child prison” (10.09 for Claire) or rehab (13.09 for Kaia), they both walk out of the hospital. Except oops… there’s some Bad Things waiting for Kaia outside. She freezes in fear and Claire comes to the rescue… but Jody also came to the rescue, and only working together did they kill the Bad Thing.

Warning that here the Destiel Parallels become impossible to ignore or avoid. They’re just blatantly there, so freaking deal with it.

In the hospital, the first time Claire and Kaia see on another we get increasing close-ups of their eyes. Like… welcome to intense eye contact city. The scene is punctuated with an eerie swooshing sound effect to make it impossible to ignore as A Significant Thing.

Back at Jody’s while Alex goes from Nurse Mode into Monster Autopsy mode (snapping that glove on like a regular Dana Scully), Claire and Kaia have a Bonding Moment outside-- comparing scars. As we pointed out back in 11.15, Dean did this exact same thing while bonding with his childhood idol Gunner Lawless (and yes, not Destiel per se here, but definitely a queercoding of Dean and the exact nature of his youthful infatuation with this wrestler). And the trope started with a scene from Lethal Weapon 3, where Riggs bonded with his wife-to-be in the exact same fashion. And Claire and Kaia’s bonding over this is again shown to us through significant eye contact and smiles, and then beginning to open up about themselves in ways we’ve been told that Kaia never opens up to anyone. At least based off what we know of her from 13.09. This is Significant for both her and Claire, who’s been hunting alone for at least a year now. (like… all the Destiel parallels intended)

Back to the Monster Autopsy… this is so reminiscent of 7.09 for me, as a lot of this episode is. I was half waiting for the monster to sit up and start fighting again just like the monster formerly known as Gerald Browder did in 7.09. But unlike Gerald who’d been human until the “creatures from another dimension” got hold of him and fed him grey goop and turned him into a monster, the thing on the table in 13.10 is… really not even remotely human (and it wore a strange mask anyway, in a season of “masked things” and misidentified things). I even tweeted at one point while watching the first time that the monster’s blood was even visually reminiscent of the TDK Slammer goo. Which is interesting because in 13.03 when we first met Patience, there was a billboard announcing that the TDK Slammer was back at Biggerson’s for a limited time. And isn’t that just entirely amusing.

(also a depressing but necessary side note about 7.09-- the episode ends with Bobby shot through the head by Dick Roman. Dick was a thing that looked like another thing, a thing from “another reality” aka Purgatory in his case. But something that absolutely was not supposed to be on Earth. And of course 13.10 uses a LOT of parallels between Purgatory and The Bad Place. I’ll get to those soon.)

Claire convinces Kaia to open up about what she knows of this strange monster and where it came from, and therefore what happened to Sam and Dean. Kaia was convinced that if Sam and Dean are in the Bad Place, then they’re already dead. Much like Dean was convinced that Mary must already be dead in 13.01 when she was trapped in the War World. And much like Sam was convinced that Dean was already dead when he was trapped in Purgatory back in 8.01. And yet…

Sam and Dean are just having a lil camping trip. Well, Dean’s adjusted SCARY FAST to the Bad Place. I suppose that compared to Purgatory it’s kind of a garden spot. They say they’ve been there for two days already, and they haven’t seemed to have run into anything that’s threatened them. It’s not the sort of 360 degree combat we saw Dean endure in Purgatory anyway. He’s even bothered to stop for barbecue. Well, he’s bothered to trap a lizard and roast it over a fire he managed to build.

Poor Sam, meanwhile, looks disgusted at the mere thought of eating the monster land lizard, and rather uncomfortable in general. In the face of Sam’s uneasiness and insistence that they continue to look for the door back to their universe, Dean maintains his exceedingly practical outlook. “Eat up.” They’ve been there two days, they have no reason to believe the door is even still open, and nobody knows where to look for them. He’s been in this exact same spot before, in Purgatory, and learned very quickly there that you do or your die. There’s no point wasting energy fretting about it. I think it must be a switch he can just flip at will at this point, into Purgatory!Dean. We saw it in 12.15. We’ve seen it a few times since s8, actually. It’s unsettling, but it’s practical. It’s how you survive.

When the monster closes in on their little campsite, Dean takes his roast lizard on a stick to go. Unbeknownst to Sam and Dean, something human-shaped has been following them. They’ve seen nothing to raise their suspicions that it might even be a possibility that anything human-ish lives in that world, or that anything might pose a threat to them aside from the giant monster they keep hearing. They’ve been there just long enough to shift their priorities on what to keep their attention focused on that just by waiting them out, Darth Kaia is able to sneak right up to these two men who at ANY other time would’ve been on high alert about being followed. Like in 8.13 Dean had his “gay thing” with Aaron following him around, and Sam had “something stuck to my shoe,” aka their code word for “I’m being followed.” They have a LONG history of being hyperaware of their surroundings, so it took some kind of patience for Darth Kaia to wait them out like that.

Patience has a crisis of normality after watching the monster autopsy. She’s not sure she can handle the hunting life, and it’s Alex who convinces her to stay. Which is incredible because this was Alex’s crisis back in 11.12 when her own history caught up with her at a time when all she wanted was to be normal, to go to school and have a boyfriend and maybe go to nursing school. She didn’t want anything to do with monsters or hunting, as she and Claire talked about earlier at the hospital, but she’s found a balance that she can live with. She knows she can truly help Jody by helping with the hunting stuff when she can, and that it doesn’t have to be her entire life like it is for Claire. She can do both! And she also knows her limits. Alex isn’t a fighter for the most part, and Patience doesn’t have to be either. They can each have an important place there, though. “We help in other ways.”

As Patience is packing her car to leave, she has another vision of Jody’s house being overrun by monsters. Claire wants to stay and fight, but Patience argues back that they can’t win. And hooboy this is a fascinating parallel to 3.12, in about six different ways. RIP Victor Henriksen. Patience laying down the truth to Claire, and then using an interesting bit of technology to demonstrate the truth of the situation, much as Dean laid the truth out for Victor and Sam used an interesting bit of technology to trap and exorcise a gaggle of demons all at once.

For Sam and Dean, 3.12 also marked one of the points in the show where they were officially declared legally “dead.” It was a turning point for them, which in a strange way freed them up to do their jobs more effectively with far less concern over interference from human authorities, so they could focus on the monsters. In a way, this moment functions in a similar fashion for Patience, not that she’s going to be cut off from society as drastically as Dean and Sam were, but as a liberation of sorts, and an affirmation to herself that her visions are as important to the group as Claire’s fighting skills or Alex’s nursing skills. They all have a role to play. This just helps her find her way to it.

In some ways it’s also reminiscent of 3.15, and the trap Dean left for Bela at their motel, similar to the trap Aragorn helps the hobbits lay for the Ringwraiths in Bree. These monsters aren’t so much fooled by a trap, or decoy bodies left in beds, but they do arrive to an empty house while their quarry has managed to flee. I think this tactic has been used elsewhere in Supernatural, but since I’m just about at the halfway point of the episode and this essay is already nearing 3500 words, I figure I should probably try to be more concise...

Me… more concise. Talk about your freaky AU scenarios…

Whatever. Claire watches the monsters tear up Jody’s house via webcam, and she gets a sudden, shocking, undeniable lesson in the reliability of Patience’s visions, which brings to bear the full weight of the vision that brought her home in the first place, and the reasons that Jody was so terrified for Claire’s safety. For the first time all day, Claire is rattled. It’s one thing to go through life as a hunter knowing how hunters typically end up (and hello all 39 iterations of Dean’s “point of a blade or barrel of a gun” speech), but to know specifically how you’re going to die is entirely different. This was s3 Dean with the ticking clock to Hellhound Day. This was Sam during the Hell Trials.

And enter the D-Train. The ray of sunshine so chill that butter doesn’t melt in her mouth. And like the monster that signalled her first REAL introduction to the supernatural back in 10.08, Jody introduces her as someone who’s killed a lot of vampires. To think Claire wondered when they all became huggers before… “You too, Rainbow Brite. Come on, bring it in.” Donna brought the hugs. And the angel wing imagery behind her in this scene, combined with her nice tan coat. She’s our angel; our sunshine, as it were. And armed to the teeth (just the basics, because she’s from Minnesota).

Alex proves yet again that she’s an excellent Sam parallel, using the phone and Kaia’s vague clues to find the exact location where the rift opened. Please oh please let Alex have the same sort of Magical Wifi that Sam does. :P

When Jody and Donna leave to investigate the shipyard, Jody has Claire stay behind to protect the other girls, much like John used to do with Dean, ordering him to protect Sam. I mean, it has nowhere NEAR the sort of ick factor to John doing that in the flashback scenes in 1.18, for example, but there has been a consistent implication throughout the series that it was a constant state for Dean, and thank HECK this dynamic between Jody and Claire is shattered by the end of this episode.

Jody’s actually surprised when Claire agrees to stay and protect the other girls without much of a fight, because of what Patience’s vision might mean for her, as I mentioned above.

Donna asking who knows how to use a flamethrower… honestly Dean would be jealous. He and Sam have always had their jury-rigged camping fuel flamethrowers when they’ve needed literal firepower like in 3.02 and 4.05 among others.

Speaking of Sam and Dean, back in the Bad Place, Sam’s finally figuring out that they’re in an entirely different universe, and Dean’s annoyed by how muddy it is. Which was a rather hilarious reversal of Sam’s reaction to stepping in horse poop the moment they landed in Sunrise, Wyoming in 1861 way back in 6.18. Sam complained about the state of his boot, and Dean was all excited because AUTHENTICITY! But he’d been wearing his lil cowboy costume at the time, and we know how much Dean loves cowboys, despite the fact that he was far less enamored with “authenticity” and how much germier it was than he’d been expecting… but once he adapted his expectations back in 6.18, he kinda stepped right into the role of sheriff, just like he’s able to adapt to Purgatory and to eating monster lizard despite the germiness factor. He’s a delightful but thoroughly consistent bundle of contradictions, and I love him.

Enter Darth Kaia, who catches them entirely unaware and off guard. They were entirely convinced that the only potential danger to them in this world was whatever huge thing they kept hearing in the distance. They hadn’t run into any of the creepy Monster Autopsy critters that constantly plagued Kaia in The Bad Place, and after two days, it’s entirely understandable that they would begin to let their guard down at least a little bit. Heck, it’s like Westley and Buttercup in the Fire Swamp, except nobody ever told them about the ROUS’s. When Darth Kaia sprang out of nowhere at them in full-on kung fu attack mode with a spear, they were honestly lucky to survive. They’d been flung as far from the portal into that world as Kaia was flung out to that abandoned roadside where the ambulance found her and had picked a random direction to wander in search of a portal the size of a party streamer in an entirely foreign universe. A portal they weren’t entirely sure was still there to find in the first place. Everything about their situation had them on their heels for once, even more so than Purgatory did for Dean (where he was at least expecting to be attacked from the moment he landed, by a pack of red-eyed monsters he later referred to as “gorilla wolves” in 8.02). And funny that the Big Monster in the Bad Place has a skull that vaguely resembles a gorilla, and the smaller red-eyed monsters were scripted as “Canids,” aka “dog-like monsters.” Again, in so many ways, The Bad Place is similar in design and function to Purgatory.

Back at the abandoned shipyard, Jody and Donna find the Impala and know they’ve found the right place. They find the melted angel blade and scorched angel wings from 13.09, as well as the portal, but encounter a very large pack of the “Canids.”

Claire and Kaia have another heart to heart reminiscent of some of Dean and Cas’s conversations. Claire expresses some of the same sorts of self-doubt and fear that Dean did at the end of 4.16 while lying in the hospital bed, telling Cas it’s too big, and he can’t do it. But Claire feels she can’t stand back and let others handle this alone. Kaia encourages her with, “If you go, I’ll go with you.” And how many times have we heard Dean and Cas offer this to each other? Very recently in Dean’s offer to accompany Cas to his angel meeting in 13.07. But also highly notably in 11.23 when Cas offered to go with Dean to face Amara. In situations large and small, they have offered to go with each other. But unlike the majority of Dean and Cas’s I’ll go with you’s, Claire accepts Kaia’s offer. They DO stand together. They ACCEPT the help and support. (Can we please have this gradually begin to happen with Cas and Dean? I mean, even something small like Dean running out to pick up pizza or something, and Cas offers to go with him, and Dean’s like YES GOOD I WOULD LIKE THAT.)

“Maybe together we can save them.”

Meanwhile at the rift, Donna wants to go back and tell the girls they found it, but Jody is ready to go into the rift alone. “If I don’t, she will.” She knows Claire would run into danger to do what she believed was right. That’s how you save people, after all. But here we see into what’s motivating Jody to protect Claire from danger-- “I can’t lose another child.” And I know I mentioned this about 3k words ago, but the Canids pose an immediate threat and Jody is forced to turn back from running headlong into the rift the way she was trying to prevent Claire from doing. This motivation to self-sacrifice to save someone else-- a child-- is what motivated John’s deal with Azazel in 2.01 in exchange for Dean’s life, and what motivated Dean to sell his own soul in 2.22 in exchange for Sam’s life. Jody’s only saved by circumstance, but it gives her a chance to step back and reevaluate that choice, and to see Claire clearly, to let go of her need to protect Claire at all cost.

Back in the Bad Place, Sam and Dean come to tied to a couple of trees in a foggy forest. I feel like yelling, “I hope your apple pie is freaking worth it!” because this feels just like 1.11. Instead of being sacrificed to the scarecrow, they’re being sacrificed to the Kaiju.

Meanwhile Claire has tried to call Jody, but when Jody doesn’t answer, Claire goes immediately into Concerned Mode. All four girls unite immediately into “Together we can save them” mode. And it’s beautiful.

Donna and Jody take refuge in an abandoned car aboard the ship, lying across the front and back seats in a configuration identical to the way Sam and Dean slept in 11.04-- the Winchester Motel. But instead of a cooler full of beer, Jody and Donna have a swarm of Canids trying to figure out how to get at them.

(wherein we discover that Canids are really not the smartest monsters…)

If they make a run for it, they’re dead, but if they stay put they’re dead too. Kinda feels like a situation typical of Supernatural, yes? What they need is a miraculous intervention.

*enter the flamethrower*

And Claire is so chill and competent with her flamethrower that it brings a smile to Jody’s face. And in that moment she might still hate the whole idea of it, but she knows she’s gonna let Claire go through that portal without too much fuss… especially after she realizes that the portal is shrinking. Claire tries to run through it and Jody holds her back, though not to stop her. To tell her she knows. Jody understands. As much as Claire needed to save Sam and Dean, Jody needed her to know that she understood.

Donna, ray of sunshine and weapons training officer. OKIE DOKE, HERE YA GO. and then “Oh there he is! Hiya, buddy!” When there was just ONE Canid, but Donna absolutely does not lose her cool when she sees it’s a veritable swarm of the things coming at them. Bless. “Okie doke” reminded me so much of that security guard in 2.12 that Dean liked because he said “okie dokie.”

Kaia knows right where Sam and Dean probably are in the Bad Place, just from the sound of the Kaiju monster. Claire shows up and cuts Sam and Dean free in a circumstance reminiscent of Sam showing up to cut Dean and Emily free in 1.11.

At the portal, Kaia shoves Claire out of the way just in time to save her from Darth Kaia’s spear, and instead she takes the spear wound to her own side. Need I even bring up all the Fisher King symbolism here that was so incredibly prominent in s12 surrounding Cas? The comparison has already been made to Ramiel stabbing Cas with the Lance of Michael, but it wasn’t just that one episode that draped Cas in Fisher King/Wounded King parallels. I believe many of those also apply to Kaia…

As she lay there dying, she reaches out and grabs hold of Claire’s hand while Sam and Dean have drawn their angel blades to stand off against the now apparently disarmed Darth Kaia. Except that’s when the Kaiju shows up…

Claire ignores her own safety in the face of that much larger threat, and charges at Darth Kaia in a fit of rage/grief over Kaia’s apparent death, and Dean has to grab her and pull her through the portal just as it snaps closed. Cue the parallel to Dean dragging Sam away from Jess’s burning bedroom ceiling in 1.01, and Sam pulling Dean through this exact same sort of portal in 12.23 when he was struggling to run after Cas.

Meanwhile Patience struggles to understand the vision that brought her to Jody’s in the first place-- Claire’s “death.” The editing of this scene is spectacular-- cuts between Kaia’s body in the Bad Place, Claire in Jody’s arms both in Patience’s vision and in reality, and Patience herself putting all of these pieces together. Death, life, and what she believed was a death was actually profound grief… and again this has been a theme of s13 through Sam refusing to grieve for Mary and his belief that she was not only alive but that they could save her, Dean’s grief over Cas’s death that he believed was permanent, to the point he’d lost all hope for anything and was ready to die in 13.05 until Death herself told him he still had work to do.

Whatever the truth of what’s happened to Kaia, there is absolutely work to do here, as well.

Dean says “I tried talking to her.” Not “we” but “I.” He’s beginning to use the proper words here. This issue has been going on for a loooong time, where Dean phrases things in terms of “we,” such as in 11.23 during the infamous Beer Run, telling Cas he’s like “our brother,” and always couching his feelings as inclusive of Sam as well. This was nicely lampshaded in 12.20 by Max Banes calling Alicia out on her attempt to do the same thing, and in 13.07 Dean FINALLY told Cas “I’ll go with you,” instead of “we’ll go with you.” The fact that Dean is talking about himself like this regarding anything even in the same arena as emotional issues is just… fantastic all around.

Claire feels responsible for Kaia’s death, after promising to protect her. She feels she failed, and that that was the reason Kaia was killed. Jody doesn’t dismiss any of Claire’s feelings or try to talk her out of them (the way Sam and Dean have done for, like, ever), only offers her unconditional support whenever Claire’s ready to accept it.

Cleaning up after the Canids tore up the house, Patience has a lil moment of shock over the fact she killed a monster. Donna smiles knowingly and Alex chuckles and says, “Welcome to the family.” Like Claire said in the cold open, “I kill monsters, that’s who the hell I am.” Well, that’s what this whole family is. They save people and they kill monsters.

Darth Kaia has opened a rift to our world, in the middle of a park reminiscent to the place where Mary turned up in 12.01… opening about a million other mysteries along with that rift.

I know I didn’t cover all the parallels. That probably wouldn’t be possible considering how many times the show has looped back around on itself thematically and narratively, but I think I hit all the big ones here. Now how the hell do I even begin tagging this?

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿ヽ(°□° )ノ︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

#spn 13.10 #wayward sisters #destiel #dreamhunter #parallels #too many episodes to tag them all #the fisher king #kaia nieves #claire novak #patience turner #alex (mills)#jody mills #i fudging love sheriff donna #the tropes are hungry #i'll probably come up with some more tags for this eventually >.>#heaven hell purgatory and the empty #alternate universes in canon #‿︵‿︵‿︵‿ヽ(°□° )ノ︵‿︵‿︵‿︵#there that covers my feelings on trying to tag this :P

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tkmedia · 3 years

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The Blue Meanie And JBL Talk Bloody Incident At ECW One Night Stand

Former ECW and WWE superstar The Blue Meanie sat down for an in-depth interview with legends Gerald Brisco and JBL for an episode of Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw.During the interview they discussed a wide variety of topics, but focused particularly on The Blue Meanie’s and JBL’s infamous past heat when both were in the WWE. Meanie spoke more in-depth about his perspective at the time, and how he didn’t know he was doing anything wrong.“It just comes down to it was a competitive atmosphere during the Monday Night Wars,” reflects Meanie. “Everybody was a little bit on edge and stuff like that. I, myself, admit I had a comedy of errors on my part coming into the company. You know, my first weekend in I debut in Philly. We’re supposed to go to Baltimore the next day and then go do Hartford for a Raw. So, me being the typical indie guy and never flying, I was like I’ll drive the loop. I’ll go to Philly, Baltimore, up to Connecticut no problem.“And Earl Hebner said ‘No, we actually fly you now.’ So I was like ‘Cool.’ So, I do Philly and go to Baltimore. And in Baltimore I check in for my flight and I look at my ticket and go ‘Well, dang. That’s awfully close to the front of the plane.’ I look to Al and go ‘Am I behind first class?’ He goes ‘Eh, it’s pretty close up.’ Al’s not letting me off the hook, right?“So, I get on the plane and I see my seat and I go ‘Oh no, I’m done for.’ I’m like, my first weekend in they’re putting me in first class, right? So, I’m sitting there and I try to just be like inconspicuous. Hoping nobody sees me. It’s me, Big Boss Man, Shawn Michaels, and one other person. And I knew I was in trouble. One guy comes in and gives me the look, another guy comes in and gives me the look. But it wasn’t until Mick Foley walked into the plane and he goes ‘Oh Meanie, oh Meanie, no. Meanie!’ It was like a horror movie. I was like ‘What Mick?! Please take me with you!’“We take off. And we get to where we’re flying and out of the back of the plane, and I don’t know who says it, ‘Why the f*ck is Blue Meanie in first class?!’ I’m just like ‘Oh my god!’ If there was a door next to me, I would’ve done the nasty plunge.”This story eventually made its way back to Gerald Brisco and he learned about it. Meanie was driving back to the arena with Mick Foley and Bob Holly when he asked them for their thoughts on the situation.“We land in Connecticut and I’m a bundle of nerves,” tells Meanie. “I’m riding, it’s me Mick Foley and Bob Holly. I was like ‘Guys, did I mess up?’ And they said ‘Eh, you’ll be alright.’ I was like ‘Nobody is going to poop in my bag, are they?’ And Bob Holly goes ‘I don’t think they poop in bags anymore.’”Meanie eventually sat down with Brisco and other office members and was able to resolve the entire situation. Brisco says that Meanie had no idea he was doing anything wrong, and that you have to be understanding with new talents when they first start.Meanie admits he did not know he was doing anything wrong, and that he pretty much stumbled into the company. He notes that he doesn’t know why he and JBL had heat, and Meanie always thought it was because of the plane incident.JBL and Brisco went on to describe how the wrestling business used to be filled with a lot of ribbing and a lot of pranks. But that those pranks could also go too far. They also discussed how there used to be a lot of unwritten rules within the locker room that young talent had to learn, and fast.Meanie then went on to tell a story about what he did the next time he received a first class ticket.“When they brought me back to work with for SmackDown, it was July 4, 2005,” recalled Meanie. “And they flew me in the night before and we did a show. And we’re catching a redeye out and I get my plane ticket and it’s a first class ticket. I go ‘Hahaha, fool me once. Hey, Mr. Steamboat, how would you like to sit in first class?’ ‘Nah, Meanie, I’m good.’ ‘You want to sit in first class?!?!’ No, I didn’t do that. But he was like ‘No, no.’ So I went to Tony Garea and went ‘Hey Mr. Garea, how would you like to sit in first class?’ ‘No, Meanie, I’m good.’ Eventually I grabbed him .”Meanie says a lot of his issues in the WWE ultimately came down to him being green and not having the guidance he needed.“There’s a lot of things I was just green and didn’t know I was doing anything wrong until somebody pulled me aside and said ‘Hey, this is what you should’ve done’ and stuff like that,” admits Meanie.Brisco would go on to ask both men about their infamous brawl at ECW One Night Stand in 2005. This was the incident that saw JBL deliberately and stiffly attack Meanie during a brawl at the end of the PPV that left Meanie bloodied. JBL notes he has already apologized to Meanie and that he is sad the PPV is not remembered for the wrestling in the ring.“I didn’t know that Meanie already had a cut from Sandman from a while back, I had no idea,” said JBL. “As far as the incident, after Meanie came back in, I pulled him in a private room and I apologized. I said sorry for the whole thing, and sorry for my part. I was also sorry for the fact that ECW had such a good pay-per-view, and that what was remembered was me and Meanie rather that the good work that the guys had put in.”Meanie admits that after his initial WWE release that in interviews he wanted to be shocking and at the time had said that Bradshaw was an “a**hole.” He goes on to say that he misconstrued everything as bullying. He also says the most important thing was what happened a bit later after the incident when they made up.“The most important thing is we got to SmackDown on July 4, 2005,” remembers Meanie. “And approached me and said ‘Hey, want to go talk?’ I said ‘Absolutely’. . . Here’s the deal, you’ve all been to TV and there’s signage everywhere. Catering, kayfabe, Vince’s office. So, as we’re walking I’m seeing less signage. And I’m like ‘If me and John go into this room and there’s plastic on the floor, I’m running.’“We went in the room like two men, he shut the door behind me. He said ‘Hey, we can either fight or make money.’ I said ‘Uh, I’d like to make some money, sir.’ And we had a heart-to-heart talk. I explained everything at the time, how I thought he bullied me. He told me about his experiences with the NFL and playing for the Raiders and a little bit of ball-breaking and ribs, and stuff like that.”Brisco then interjects that JBL got his butt kicked for a week by Raiders’ legend Howie Long, which JBL confirms to be true.Meanie goes on to say that he felt out of place, and kind of felt like the new kid at school.“I was like the new kid at school,” shares Meanie. “When you get into the wrestling business you’re always going through this process of re-establishing yourself. You could’ve been the coolest kid in grade school, but when you go to high school, you’re a freshman. Then you become the coolest kid in high school and you go to college. Again, you’re a freshman. Then you graduate college and then you have to become an intern and start the process all over again. I might have been whoever I was in ECW, but now I’m in WWE. They don’t give a crap about what I did in ECW, I have to re-establish myself in that locker room.”Meanie say she didn’t want to step on any toes. He just wanted to go into work and do his job, and go home without any heat. He notes that he wishes he could go back in time with the experience he has now.JBL notes how much he has changed personally since then as well. He says he has learned how to treat people better and not rib people who are not in on it. He says he likes to think he has improved as person.“I’ve learned over the years if people don’t know, you just don’t bust their balls,” reflects JBL. “It’s construed wrong, it’s taken wrong, and I didn’t think about it at the time. I hope I’m a different guy now then I was then. will tell you I’m not. I still bust his balls.”If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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thecostumeplot · 3 years

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Episode 22: Captain Marvel & Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Both

Welcome to The Costume Plot.

Jojo

I'm Jojo Siu.

Sarah

And I’m Sarah Timm. We're professional designers with a passion for costume design and the performing arts. Our podcast does contain spoilers. Accompanying slideshows for each movie are linked in the episode description.

Jojo

We hope you'll join us every other week as we delve into the wonderful world of costume design in The Costume Plot. [music]

Jojo

Hello, and welcome back to The Costume Plot.

Sarah

Hi, how's it going?

Jojo

Good, good. We did have a couple announcements to make at the top of this episode. And a lot of it has to do with just the reviews that we've been getting. And some of the following that we've been getting. We're so encouraged to see continual followers adding us on Instagram.

Sarah

Mmhmm.

Jojo

And the one thing we did want to also apologize for is being a little behind on YouTube. It's been kind of a crazy month.

Sarah

For both of us. Yes. [laughs]

Jojo

For both of us! Yes. So it's been a little insane. But thank you for staying with us. And thank you for continuing to listen and comment and leave us reviews. We did want to address the review that we did get this past week. And I wanted to apologize for using the term "whitewashing" last week on our episode about "The Impossible." I know that was probably an inappropriate term. And I wanted to just clarify that we are very aware that Eastern Europeans do...

Sarah

Spanish people, not Eastern Europeans.

Jojo

Sorry, Spanish people. [laughs] I'm tired.

Sarah

Yeah. [laughs] We know Spain is predominantly Caucasian. We do know that. We just want to clarify.

Jojo

Yes. Yes, I think one of the things that did distract me a little bit was... seeing the original family with such an olive tone and darker hair was something that I thought would be a little more reflected in the casting for the movie.

Sarah

Yes.

Jojo

And also the fact that their their names were very Anglicized. And I think that some of those choices may have been... yes, I guess for... well, we were told it was done for the purpose of being able to mainstream it a little bit more.

Sarah

Yes.

Jojo

And I think that was very successful. But again, it's a question that continues to be on our minds. And I'm really glad that we actually got some responses from one of the costume designers herself.

Sarah

Yeah, Sparka Lee.

Jojo

We're actually eventually hoping to get her as an interviewee on our podcast.

Sarah

Mmhmm.

Jojo

So hopefully, she can address some of those questions that we had and maybe talk a little bit more about the process, and how that kind of transitioned a little bit.

Sarah

Yeah.

Jojo

So yeah, again, this is a dialogue, we love to have dialogue with our listeners. So thank you guys for being so open with us.

Sarah

Yeah.

Jojo

And we just, we appreciate the reviews, we're always happy to talk. We do want and encourage more of you guys to leave comments on our Instagram, so that we can have that dialogue with you guys. Like I said, Sparka actually just messaged both of us directly on Instagram.

Sarah

Yeah, she commented.

Jojo

And she told us, yeah, she told us a lot about it. And again, it's a great perspective to be able to hear from the designers that are involved with these projects, because we don't always get to hear that. And I think that's something... you always have a new perspective, or a new insight, into different things that we maybe don't understand just 'cuz we're not in that situation. So...

Sarah

Yeah.

Jojo

So anyways, I wanted to publicly apologize. [laughs]

Sarah

Yeah.

Jojo

For using that term last week. And hopefully that addresses some of the problems that were coming up in our review.

Sarah

I wanted to stress... because this review we got was three stars. So it wasn't like, one star. But I was a little frustrated because we couldn't reply to that review, except to record something as a response. So that's why we want to encourage people to email us, or DM us, or comment on our episode posts on our Instagram. Because if you have notes about one specific episode, we want to hear it, and we want to talk to you about it. And we were... in that review, they did say that we don't do enough research. And Jojo and I just want to emphasize that this podcast is a hobby for us. We both have jobs that keep us pretty busy. And we do as much research as we have time to do. And this podcast was always going to be a conversation, and it's always just for fun with us. And if you want really, really well researched costume content, it's out there on the internet. I recommend Bernadette Banner and Abby Cox. They're both YouTubers who do super thoroughly researched costume videos. Yeah, so our show is just kind of like a fun dialogue between us. And you know, there are some days where I'm like, "I want to keep reading about this, but I literally don't have time!" So you know, we come with what we're prepared with and... yeah, that's... that's it. [laughs] In conclusion, we appreciate the feedback but we also-- we want it to be a conversation between us and the listeners. And if it's just left in a review, we feel like it's not a conversation. We feel like it's just criticism, and we take criticism, but we want to be able to respond.

Jojo

Mmhmm. It's all about the dialogue.

Sarah

Yeah.

Jojo

This is a podcast that's a conversation, after all.

Sarah

Exactly. Conversational. That's what we've always said.

Jojo

Yes, very much so. And again, you know, it brings in a new perspective, right?

Sarah

Sure, yeah.

Jojo

So yes, totally, I will totally own up to saying "whitewashing," and that was not appropriate. But again, you know, let's talk about it. Let's have a dialogue about it. And I think that's something that's fun for us. But also, we want to be able to have that conversation with our listeners as well.

Sarah

Yeah, because we are professionals in the industry. But that doesn't mean that we know everything.

Jojo

Very true.

Sarah

I learn a lot doing this show. So it's always going to be a learning experience, regardless.

Jojo

Mmhmm. And we're always learning and still learning. And hopefully that continues.

Sarah

Totally!

Jojo

So anyways, back to our theme today. I'm really excited, actually, about our theme. We sort of chose this a little last minute. But...

Sarah

Yeah. [laughs]

Jojo

Like I said, it's been a very busy month.

Sarah

We've been both just doing... doing stuff. [laughs]

Jojo

Yes, it's been a good-- it's been a very productive month, but very, very busy. So I'm going to start us off, and our theme this week is... I think we ended up with "superhero geek movies"?

Sarah

I don't even know what movie you're doing!

Jojo

I don't know if that was officially our theme. [both laugh] I'm going to be covering "Captain Marvel". So I'm super excited.

Sarah

Oooh! So, comic books... based on a comic book.

Jojo

Yes, based on a comic book.

Sarah

Both of ours, yeah.

Jojo

That's our very unofficial/official theme this week. [both laugh] But yeah, so I'm really excited. I'm covering "Captain Marvel".

Sarah

I'm excited.

Jojo

It was premiered in 2019. And it was actually a codirector project. So it was directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who actually started dating while they were in college, and were doing some short films together. And then, since then have pretty much done all of their projects together as codirectors.

Sarah

Wow!

Jojo

Which is pretty great. So a lot of their credits are the same, but include "Mississippi Grind," "Half Nelson," "The Affair," many of these I'm not as familiar with, but I recognized a lot of the covers. [laughs]

Sarah

Yeah.

Jojo

So that was kind of interesting. "Sugar" is another one. "It's Kind of a Funny Story," which I think is a little bit bigger. But yes, I just thought that was really interesting. You know, it is so fascinating how our industry, because we're so tight knit and we're spending so much time together, it does often result in relationships. And sometimes that relationship turns into collaborations that are very successful. So... good for them.

Sarah

Totally, I think that a lot of people... like, if you find someone who you know... like, you produce your best work with them, there's no reason not to stick together and keep doing that.

Jojo

Absolutely. It's the same with your team too, you know, your design team. So anyways, that was the director-- codirectors. The costume designer for this was Sanja Milkovic Hays. I think that's how you say her name. She goes by Sanja Hays on the movie. And she's done a lot of huge things. So she did "The Mummy," the most recent "Tomb of the Dragon Emperor". She did "Independence Day."

Sarah

Whoa.

Jojo

She did "Stargate," she did all of the "Fast and Furious" franchise.

Sarah

Oh dang!

Jojo

I know, it's crazy. She did "Maze Runner," she did the new "Star Trek Beyond". So she's got some really big credits under her belt, which was very exciting for this.

Sarah

Mmhmm.

Jojo

And I also wanted to mention a couple just small facts about how she kind of came into this process, because as you-- well, maybe most of you don't know. But especially with Marvel comic--just the Avengers' comic world--and just comics in general, creating the superhero costumes has become very much a collaboration between concept artist and costume designer.

Sarah

Yeah.

Jojo

So it is no longer just the costume designer that's creating these, it often comes from a conceptual artist's drawing or illustration first, and then they kind of... the costume designer is able to sort of tweak and kind of adjust things on an actual body.

Sarah

Right.

Jojo

So we're thinking about the kind of the 3D, and the conceptual artist is looking at the 2D initially.

Sarah

Mmhmm.

Jojo

So it talks a little bit about how she worked with Marvel's digital visual development director, Andy Park, who... I was just really excited that he was Asian, but--[both laugh] that was just me--to create Marvel's costumes with a very purposeful intent. And one of the things I loved about this movie is that... and again, I don't know a lot about Captain Marvel. I was asking my husband about this because he's, of course, the comic geek. But Captain Marvel is pretty much the most powerful superhero, and she basically can't die, or can't get destroyed or whatever.

Sarah

Mmhmm. Yep.

Jojo

But I just thought it was so interesting that when they put her in this... I mean, they did the movie last, because Matt literally reminded me that if they had done her movie first, they wouldn't have needed any of the Avengers. They would have just been useless. [both laugh] I was like, "Oh, that's a good point." But I just thought it was interesting that she mentioned she was very purposeful in her intent not to sexualize or over-fetishize the Captain Marvel costume. Because a lot of the original illustrations in the comics are her in a very swimsuit, or bathing suit, type of silhouette.

Sarah

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jojo

So they worked really hard to try and get away from that. And I also found this really interesting blog, or I guess it's like a magazine. I'm not really sure what... the website's called Decider. But the writer Meghan O'Keefe stated, "Carol Danvers's superhero costume is maybe the first major lady's costume that feels designed for a woman literally on the go. By that I mean, it's not for the male gaze but for a heroine who needs to be prepared for a long chase, followed by high impact rolls and hanging off a lead without any kind of grip assist."

Sarah

Mmhmm.

Jojo

And it's... it's so true. I think one of the things she mentioned was that she was very much in kind of athletic gymwear, and even the grip of her gloves just shows a lot. And all the pockets, also, was a functional thing.

Sarah

Pockets, all we need is pockets.

Jojo

So everything on her costume is very functional, very comfortable, very wearable and physical. So, kind of meant to withstand all the physical durability that she needs.

Sarah

Right.

Jojo

This movie is also set in the 90s. So Captain Marvel is kind of way before all the other Avengers really kind of get on board, and the Avengers team is even assembled. So it's interesting also seeing Nick Fury, who... if you don't know the Marvel world, he's kind of the one that starts the Avengers Initiative. And it kind of shows his origin story, in addition to showing how Captain Marvel came to be.

Sarah

Yeah.

Jojo

So I will start with our first look. And I kind of went in order with this movie. I just felt like that was the easiest. [laughs]

Sarah

Yeah, I mean, it's pretty... Marvel movies are an undertaking, that's...

Jojo

It really, really is.

Sarah

There's just a lot of clothes.

Jojo

It's interesting, because after I was watching this, it kind of reminded me that with the superheroes, they're... once you get them fitted and make them look awesome, their costume doesn't really change too much.

Sarah

Yeah.

Jojo

But then you have all the background characters and all the other alien creatures that you have to costume. So it really is like an entire city, you know, thousands of people that you have to dress, not just the leads. So anyways, I wanted to start with Carol Danvers, played by our Brie Larson.

Sarah

Love her.

Jojo

And then Jude Law, who's who's kind of her trainer at the very beginning. And the first thing they have is their fight scene. She can't sleep. So she goes and fights with him. But I wanted to kind of just look at how simplistic, but also how detailed, these costumes are. Because it's essentially just kind of a crossbody. There's a little bit of an Asian inspiration in it, almost like a kimono wrap kind of garment.

Sarah

Yeah, yeah.

Jojo

Or even like... I think of the Taekwondo garments or the jujitsu garments, where they often are tied around the middle with a cross in the front.

Sarah

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jojo

And I liked that they kind of made a nod to that. I don't know if that was intentional or not. But there's certainly a lot of that silhouette based there.

Sarah

I feel like probably. Yeah, 'cuz they're doing basically alien martial arts. So I feel like that's probably a little nod.

Jojo

Yeah, yeah. And you can't really see their pants. But I did love that the top really incorporates the gym, kind of athletic wear that sort of wicks off sweat.

Sarah

Right.

Jojo

And it still has that feeling of their athletic wear, so something that they would wear to their training.

Sarah

Mmhmm.

Jojo

So anyways, I just thought that was really interesting. Not too much to add about that. I wanted to focus on the original... you know, and obviously, Captain Marvel goes into American colors later, but she starts off in the green and the black and a little bit of the silver. And interestingly enough, I had no idea there was actually significance to this. I was just like, "Oh, it's a pretty color on her and on the rest of the team." But apparently, the original Captain Mar-Vell, so the original comic books, was actually a male character. And he was dressed in an outfit very similar to this that was in silver and green.

Sarah

Oh!

Jojo

And so it's kind of interesting that they sort of gender-bent the actual Mar-Vell character in this in this movie, sorry, spoiler alert. And she is actually in the silver and green that's very similar to the original comic book.

Sarah

Cool.

Jojo

So I just thought that was really cool. And it was sort of a nice little nod to that, and obviously they were very intentional even about choosing that color. I also just love that, for some reason, her and the Black character... well, there are other Black characters, but it's interesting that three of them are blue, and then just the two of them are left with their natural skin tone. And I was just... again, it was a question, I had no idea why that happened. Or if there was an intention behind choosing specific actors to paint in blue?

Sarah

Right.

Jojo

And leaving, obviously, she has to be left as human. But I was just curious about that choice. So again, a question maybe for the costume designer or for the concept artist.

Sarah

Yeah, or if anybody knows... I mean, I don't want to get legions of Marvel fans in our comments, who are like "You got all this wrong!"

Jojo

[laughs] I know, we're probably going to get that. I apologize, Marvel fans.

Sarah

We'll see if they can find us.

Jojo

There's a lot of movies. [both laugh] But I did love that there was so much diverse representation here.

Sarah

Oh, yes. Yeah.

Jojo

You know, your actors, they definitely chose a diverse group of actors, which I was really excited about that.

Yeah.

Do I have anything else I wanted to indicate on this? Oh, I did write that they also wanted her to look like a serious superhero/warrior, but yet keep her looking feminine and like a woman.

Sarah

Mmm.

Jojo

So I think they did that really well. And the fact that they kind of kept the uniform kind of straight across male and female. I thought that was really...

Sarah

Yeah.

Jojo

...I thought that was good for them to be able to say... neither one is more sexualized than the other, I guess. Like, all their uniforms are the same. And they still all look really cool as flightsuits.

Sarah

Yeah.

Jojo

So I just thought that was really successful. So good job.

Sarah

I agree.

Jojo

Good job, Marvel team. Just a couple other shots of her. This is from the front. And that way, you can kind of see the full body and the boots that she has on too. Like, I mean, this is crazy. It almost looks like it goes over her boots, but I can't tell exactly.

Sarah

I feel like yes? Yeah?

Jojo

Yeah, I don't know if it's something strapped underneath.

Sarah

I imagine there are many different versions, right? So like...

Jojo

Right.

Sarah

...she probably wears a certain kind for filming fight scenes.

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

And a certain kind if she's just kind of standing there. Like, I am so interested, maybe Kelly has some insight into that.

Jojo

Oh, yeah, possibly.

Sarah

Because she's worked on some Antman and stuff.

Jojo

Yeah. Well, and the other thing that Sanja mentioned as well, was that when they were fitting her... because after they went from the concept art to the actual fittings, she actually had to keep adjusting regularly. Because at this time, Brie was also physically training for this role.

Sarah

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Jojo

And so she-- her body was just constantly changing, because she was gaining muscle in all these new places. And so like, them having to adjust the costume to that each time was yet another part of the project of trying to get her fitted and make her look good. So...

Sarah

Yeah.

Jojo

...so yeah, it is kind of a constant, ongoing thing. And it's so interesting with film. And again, we have a little less experience directly with film. But it is sort of one of those things where just having been in it, it's so fast. It's such a quick turnaround, you have literally less than zero time to do everything. So it's just amazing that this this was created with constant changing, you know, on the go.

Sarah

Yeah, I mean, because Marvel movies are planned years in advance. But then like, you can't make a costume years in advance, because like you said, the body changes and then the design can be changing up until... you know. I dunno.

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

So it's... it is so impressive that it all kind of just comes together.

Jojo

Yes, definitely. Okay, and then I also wanted to add in the the helmet that they created. So I had a funny... let's see if I can find it. I put it down here somewhere. So there was a really funny bet that was made over this helmet. And interestingly enough, this was a whole kind of redesign of Captain Marvel's character, because she was so pictured in all these swimming suits. It was this funny thing between... the writer DeConnick made a bet with an illustrator, Jamie McKelvie, that Marvel would pay for this redesign if he did a redesign of the suit, basically. And she had specifically... or sorry, DeConnick had specifically asked and requested Jamie, because I guess he's a very well known illustrator, who has been really big as a comic book artist, who happens to also really pay attention to fashion and what's in trend, and has really changed the face of like what it means for comic book heroes to transition. And what that means in costumes as well. So costume design, specifically so when she requested him it was with this knowledge knowing that he is one of the best one of the top. And of course, when he did the redesign, Marvel was in love with it. So she made this bet in the beginning basically saying like, if Marvel doesn't pay for this redesign, then I will pay you myself, because I really want you to redesign this and of course, You know, Marvel loved it. So they went with this redesign. And it's interesting because he created this helmet basically to hold up her hair. So it's actually her hair that's the mohawk and not just a random fringe that appears on the top. So again, just adding to that whole kind of not sexualized, but very almost androgynous, kind of look. Yeah, that is still very functional for this. So I just really love that. So I wanted to make sure we show show a shot of that as well. Okay, moving on. So my next one is actually a shot of Dr. Wendy Lawson, who, of course, is revealed as our Marvell so the original mentor of Captain Marvel in the comics. And again, they gender bent, it used to be a man in the original comics, but in this one, they they portrayed Captain Marvel as a as a female. And I really love that I think she did. She wasn't in the movie for very, very much cheap, you know, constant flashbacks to her. I just love that there's a lot of references to the flight suit. And even though it is the 90s there's such a 40s kind of bend to it. And just kind of that world war, sort of iconic silhouette, with the leather kind of aviator jackets and the flight suits, especially for her like just this very specific like logo that they included on there too was just was kind of a nice sort of detail that I think they included on the the leather jacket that Captain Marvel also sports later on. And of course, it's just her name tag, but I just thought it was kind of a cool shot of her and I couldn't find very many pictures of this. So this is the one we've got is very tiny. So then moving on to some of the more 90s were so obviously once Captain Marvel lands on Earth, she has to basically go back into plainclothes men clothing. So she ends up stealing an outfit off of a mannequin and stealing this guy's bike or motorcycle. And so she kind of dresses in this sort of distress. And again, you know, me and me and distressed garments, I just really love how, like loved this leather jacket. This jacket is so good. It's so good. Just everything about it even the way the lapels are like just kind of nicely scratched up. And then the sleeves and just the way that she's worn it. It's so funny, because this is literally grabbed off of a mannequin, but I was like, it looks like it's been loved for like 40 years.

Sarah

She grabs the jacket too?

Jojo

I think so, I don't think she had it before.

Sarah

I can't remember.

Jojo

Well, maybe she stole it from a motorcycle guy.

Sarah

I've only seen it once.

Jojo

It's been a while. But...

Sarah

Yeah, cuz I feel like the outfit, the jeans and the T shirt, came from the mannequin.

Jojo

Right, right.

Sarah

But then the jacket was from somewhere else? I need to re-watch this movie, I haven't seen it since it came out.

Jojo

Yeah. I was trying to rewatch and take notes at the same time. So I might've missed that.

Sarah

That's tough, yeah. [laughs]

Jojo

But that would make a lot more sense, that this is kind of more aged in that way. I do also love that she doesn't start with the baseball cap. But once she's reunited with Fury, she kind of ends up having this Agents of SHIELD cap, which I think is also a nice little nod. I think one thing that Marvel does a lot, and just Disney in general, is all the different worlds kind of collide at some point. And there's a lot of different Easter eggs that are always hidden in the movies.

Sarah

Well, does it count as an Easter egg? Because doesn't he worked for SHIELD?

Jojo

He does. But this is so in the beginning that when you're seeing this, it's so interesting that they already have all the insignia, and everything's set up and ready to go.

Sarah

Yeah, I mean, I think that... yeah, the logo just probably didn't change.

Jojo

Yeah, so I just thought that was a cute little, you know, like he gave her a baseball cap to blend in.

Sarah

I do like that. Yeah, "look like you belong here." [laughs]

Jojo

Right, exactly. And so... and then she's got the Nine Inch Nails tee, and just kind of the ripped jeans. Very, very 90s. The designer talks a lot about how they decided to go more grunge with the 90s. Just because, you know, we've talked about the 90s a lot in a lot of our movies. But this was one particular aspect of the 90s that she really kind of gravitated towards for Brie's character. Which I think really fits very well, with a lot of the T-shirts... even the small, tiny flashbacks, which I didn't bring in here because it's too many photos. A lot of that stuff was references to 80s rock bands and things like that, that she would have listened to. Let's see, what did I put? Oh, she said she wanted to keep it so that there's an almost tomboyish image, an attitude that she has. And rather than going for the 80s kind of neon spandex or something silly, she wanted to go with grunge. So I thought that was really successful.

Sarah

Totally.

Jojo

And then they also talked a little bit about the fact that they went through multiple logos of rock bands and decided that Nine Inch Nails was subtle enough that it didn't distract from looking at Brie's face while you're trying to hear her talk. So I thought that was also... I mean, again, it's something that designers are always thinking about. It's not just about how cool the image is. It's about what's going to distract the audience from paying attention to the story.

Sarah

Yeah, because probably not everybody recognizes that as a Nine Inch Nails logo.

Jojo

Mmhmm. Yeah, and I've actually... at first, I couldn't see what it was initially. And then finally she took her leather jacket off. And I was like, "Oh, yeah." But yes, you don't really-- it's kind of a nondescript design, or very abstract at first. So I thought that was really successful and very subtle. So, good job.

Sarah

I did that outfit for Comic Con in 2019.

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

And I didn't want to wear a wig because I hate wearing wigs. But...

Jojo

Right.

Sarah

...my hair is the exact right length.

Jojo

Yeah!

Sarah

So I was like, "my hair is tie dye. So I'm gonna make a tie dye version of this outfit." So I made like a colorful version of it.

Jojo

Ooooh!

Sarah

And like, two people got it. And I was like, "I'm at Comic Con!" You would think that people-- and like, the movie had JUST come out recently.

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

You would think that people would recognize this as being Captain Marvel. Nobody got it. [laughs]

Jojo

Right, right. Maybe because they were just so distracted by the tie dye. I don't know.

Sarah

Maybe.

Jojo

That's sad, though.

Sarah

I know.

Jojo

You were just trying to be recognized, Sarah.

Sarah

I looked cute.

Jojo

[laughs] I'm sure you did.

Sarah

Thanks. [laughs]

Jojo

Okay. I'm not going to talk too much about Fury in this, just because he's pretty straightforward. And again, I ran out of space for pictures. So.

Sarah

Yeah, we gotta... just we gotta edit ourselves.

Jojo

We do. I'll talk about him at the end. Okay, so the other big favorite of mine that I really loved in this movie was Maria Rambeau. So she's Marvel's best friend, before she becomes Marvel. And they were basically air pilots together, before she crashed and was taken over. But I love this outfit, because again, it's so simple, but it's such a nod to that flight suit of the of the Air Force pilots. And that's a big thing about this both of them were air pilots. And they talked a lot about how they were women in this role where it was mostly a man's world. And they were doing all kinds of stunts and things like that, because that's all they could contribute to the war. So I just thought that was really interesting that they were referencing a lot of those. Again, even though we're in the 90s. You know, it's sort of one of those things where there's so much going on, and you know, they're still trying to empower women in this way. While making a nod to essentially a kind of... almost a man's uniform, it's a very auto mechanic kind of look. So...

Sarah

I mean, for a long time, in order to be a woman in a traditionally male field, you had to basically blend in and pretend to be a man. That's almost the idea of power dressing from the 80s.

Jojo

Right.

Sarah

It's that women started wearing very menswear inspired suits, because they were going into the workforce more than ever. So it's like, you didn't get respect unless you dress like you were man, almost. You know what I mean?

Jojo

Right, right. Yeah. And again, there's definitely feminine parts of this costume. Like, I love the little pop of color that she's included in there.

Sarah

She's got a waist, too.

Jojo

And then she's also... Yeah, exactly. And then she's also got the little necklace that kind of is sort of representative of her daughter, and how important she is to her. So I just love, you know, again, little details of the 90s that I think came back in this movie tenfold. I think she did a really good job of just making sure those details were there.

Sarah

Mmhmm.

Jojo

The next picture is also a picture of her and her daughter, because again, I love that her daughter's just wearing her oversized t-shirt. And it's a US-- well, it's the US Air Force. But it's interesting because I did a show about the WASP, which were the Women Air Service Pilots. And basically they... again, because they weren't allowed in war, they basically had to do all the training and testing of all the pilot planes before the Air Force pilots actually took them out into war. So they were doing all the crazy stunts and stuff, and then not really getting the glory, for lack of a better term. So.

Sarah

Wow.

Jojo

But yes, I just thought this was interesting that she put her in the T-shirt that we actually see Marvel in in her flashback. So it's... you know, it's kind of this nod to like, "oh, I've kept your T-shirt all these years in memory of you." So I just thought that was really sweet. Then I wanted to focus on the Skrull aliens. I don't have too much on this. I didn't do as much research on the notes of how this was made. But I just... these are just so cool. And like the fact that they spent probably a lot of time, or equal amounts of time, on these outfits. For the for the many, many aliens that showed up. [laughs]

Sarah

There's a lot of aliens.

Jojo

As they did on Captain Marvel. Just goes to show you how big Disney is and how big Marvel is. So again, all the detail, I love the asymmetry of this and just even the texture of this. I think it's leather, it looks like leather, or possibly a 3D printed fabric. Again, just all the patchwork of this. And of course, this is Talos, who's kind of the leader, and so his jacket is clearly longer. But as you can see in the next picture, some of his henchmen have varying levels of shorter versions of the same kind of jacket, just with different... you know, with different overlaps and things like that.

Sarah

Right.

Jojo

So I just thought that was really interesting, that she tied everyone in together but still gave them such individuality, which we do a lot as costume designers, I think. You know, when you're trying to create a group, you still give them differences so that each of them has a personality and they're not completely getting lost in the collective.

Sarah

Totally.

Jojo

Okay, next one. So then, of course, we move to her official Captain Marvel suit. And actually, it's the same exact silhouette as her green suit. Basically, what happens is, she just has a little button on her forearm that Monica Rambeau--the young daughter--ends up changing for her, and styling for her. So it really is just a change in color on her actual suit. But of course, for the actual purposes of this movie, they probably made this suit separately.

Sarah

I would imagine so!

Jojo

I assume that it didn't just change colors. [both laugh] Like, you never know with technology these days, you know, maybe it did.

Sarah

If only.

Jojo

But yeah, so I just thought that was so interesting, they kept a lot of the same lines. And everything is so, so detailed here. But you see how much strength that they've emphasized. And this actually goes back to a lot of the original comic illustrations of this newer version of Captain Marvel. So, very similar, she had... I think she had less lines in the body suit. But it's got the same kind of red almost... shoulder capelet portion, in addition to the blue part of the body suit. So again, just really, really love it. I thought it was a really good break up of color. And I think she did a really good job of just all the lines still giving that femininity while still also showcasing strength.

Sarah

Totally.

Jojo

Okay... oh, and then this is the original redesign by Jamie McKelvie. So this was the design that he submitted, that they made the bet over.

Sarah

Ohhh.

Jojo

So I just thought that was so interesting, you know, all the stuff that he's even drawing in, like how everything functions, how her hair would be up without the helmet, and what it will look like. And this kind of sash, you can see, was actually more inspired by the original comic book drawings, because she did wear that sash across the bathing suit. And this is kind of what I meant by that red sort of... caped area.

Sarah

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jojo

And of course, they did some cooler lines in there to sort of show the... like, kind of emphasizing the abs, I guess, on the actual bodysuit. So anyways, just wanted to show that so that we can see the concept to the final thing.

Sarah

Cool.

Jojo

We can ignore the picture on the right, because that's in "WandaVision". But there is some throwbacks to that. I did want to basically show a final image of Monica and Maria. And again, it's nothing huge, I don't have too many notes, I just thought they looked really cute. And it was just interesting that we see her in sort of a more feminine color at the end. Because I think Maria ends up being in a lot of kind of bright yellows, and bright reds, which looks really really great, actually, on the darker skin tone.

Sarah

Mmhmm.

Jojo

But I love that they kind of softened her up for this final scene where they're having dinner together. And they've kind of reunited with Captain Marvel, before she has to leave. So again, a much softer, and kind of more feminine, tone for the girl as well. She's got these really cute little jeans, and I couldn't find any pictures of them. I'm sure screengrab has them. But they've got this beautiful floral design that's patched on to the bottom of the of the jeans. And then she's got this cute little top. Which, again, they make all kinds of connections to "WandaVision" later on, of who she is. But I won't spoil too much of that 'cuz that's another episode. And then...

Sarah

I love those little Easter eggs.

Jojo

Yeah, so true. So again, just another close up of her. And again, you can't really see the close up of the mom in the back. But just seeing her in kind of a more fitted jean and a little bit more of a more feminine top that kind of shows off her body, as opposed to the flight suits that we keep seeing her in prior to this. And then... the final Captain Marvel look, you really don't see this leather jacket for very long, which is unfortunate. I mean, even the designer was kind of like, "I wish we had seen it for longer. I was hoping it would be on screen longer." But they talked a lot about it because the daughter, basically, is keeping her leather jacket for her. But I just wanted to show this quick shot of the back. Because this was one of the things that costume designer actually talked about having sort of a backstory that the audience might not necessarily know. But their backstory for it when they designed it, or when they came up with this idea, was that it was something given to her by her grandfather. So like, when he was in the war, he would have... a lot of times they would have had some kind of symbol either painted or etched or embroidered on the back to kind of indicate that it was their jacket. And so this was something that she would have maybe gotten passed down to her from her grandfather. So I just thought that was, again, a really nice little small Easter egg that we don't necessarily... I don't even think we really ever see the back of the jacket that often.

Sarah

Yeah.

Jojo

You do see the front with the, you know, the wing insignia for the Air Force. So I thought that was kind of interesting. But again, you see that shirt that she's wearing, that we see later on on the daughter.

Sarah

Mmhmm.

Jojo

So there's a better, cleaner fake shot of it. [laughs] This isn't actually her, but...

Sarah

What is THAT from?

Jojo

I know, I was like, "uhhhhh, this is a better shot of the jacket." But I'm pretty sure this is a doll version that they recreated of her or something.

Sarah

It does look like a doll.

Jojo

But I wanted to indicate just the the winged fighter plane that she has on the back, which was something that the designer really talked... not too long about. But she mentioned that that was something that maybe her grandfather would have had put on the back. Okay, and then final look, this is the only one and only time I'll talk about Nick Fury. I just love this red on him. Again, I just I think I really like the color red on a darker skin tone, because it kind of brings out the richness, I think, in the skin tone.

Sarah

Mmhmm.

Jojo

And this is, again, kind of a nod to how we see Fury later on in all of the Avenger movies. This is very similar to kind of what he wears for the rest of the other movies. And this is also when we finally see him with his eyepatch, because in the beginning, he starts off with both eyes fully functional. So I just thought this was a really good look on him. And again, it also makes him... I think having made him look so much younger than he does in all the other movies, I think this was a really great way to kind of show how svelte he actually is.

Sarah

Right.

Jojo

By just sort of, you know, again, making him look younger and making him look stronger. Emphasizing the body shape. Weirdly enough, not necessarily sexualizing him, but really showing, you know, that he's young and ready to go, and ready to take on this Avengers Initiative. So I just thought that was a really successful way of doing that. And a good way to end the movie. This was a short scene at the very end, but..

Sarah

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jojo

But I just thought this was good to take note of. So yes, that's my coverage of "Captain Marvel".

Sarah

Awesome.

Jojo

All right, Sarah, your turn!

Sarah

That made me want to watch that movie again.

Jojo

I know. It's good. And it's on Disney+.

Sarah

Yeah, I love an action movie that has a lot of women in... not just starring, but in "in charge" roles like director, writer, producer. Like, you can really tell, you know?

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

I feel the same way about the first "Wonder Woman". It's just like, you can really tell that it was directed by a woman.

Jojo

Mmhmm. Yeah.

Sarah

Anyway. All right.

Jojo

Woohoo.

Sarah

Let me share my screen. Okay, so, my movie this week is my absolute favorite movie in the world, which was really lovely to watch after a really emotional week.

Jojo

[laughs] Yes.

Sarah

To sit down and watch my favorite movie was really fun. And like, kind of with fresh eyes, too, you know, because I think I've seen it probably upwards of 50 times.

Jojo

Mmhmm. Yeah.

Sarah

But to see it with the intent of looking at the costumes was definitely a new experience for me. I'm gonna set... I'm gonna set my timer, because that served me well last time.

Yes, I need to start doing that.

It was good!

Jojo

Next episode, next episode. [laughs]

Sarah

Yeah, 'cuz you can look and see how much time you kind of... see how you're doing, and see if you need to speed up or slow down, you know what I mean?

Jojo

Yeah, very true.

Sarah

Okay, so this movie is from 2010 and it actually just had an anniversary. And...

Jojo

Already?!

Sarah

Yeah, 10 year anniversary was in 2020.

Jojo

Oh, yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. [both laugh] It just doesn't feel like that long since we've seen that movie.

Sarah

I know. It got rereleased back into the theaters with newly remastered sound and stuff...

Jojo

Oooh.

Sarah

And picture? I don't know, new edited sound of some kind, and it got delayed because of COVID. But they did it, they finally did rerelease it.

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

I didn't go see it. I kinda wanted to. I used to go see the... they used to show it at the Frida Cinema in Santa Ana, they would do the Scott Pilgrim Picture Show. Kind of like Rocky Horror, no shadow cast, but like...

Jojo

Right, right.

Sarah

You know, people would come in costumes and there was themed snacks and contests and stuff.

Jojo

Mmhmm.

Sarah

Anyway, okay. It was directed by Edgar Wright, who in my opinion is one of our great visionaries in movies. He is one of my absolute favorites. You might know him from the Cornetto Trilogy, which is "Shaun of the Dead," "Hot Fuzz," and "The World's End".

Jojo

Oh yes.

Sarah

Which are all excellent. "Baby Driver," which I also love, even though it has Kevin Spacey in it, who is a creep.

Jojo

[laughs]

Sarah

And then he has a new movie called "Last Night in SoHo" starring Anya Taylor Joy, who was in the new "Emma," who we love and it sounds really cool.

Jojo

Oh, I haven't seen that yet. I keep seeing the trailers for it and I haven't watched it yet.

Sarah

I don't think it's out yet.

Jojo

Oh, I thought... maybe I'm thinking of a different movie.

Sarah

Maybe. It's about a girl who loves fashion design, which I was like, "Okay, I'm on board." And it also has something to do with the 60s and I think there's some sort of time travel element.

Jojo

Yes!

Sarah

I didn't read it that closely. I was just like, "I'll see that no matter what."

Jojo

I remember seeing the trailer and being thoroughly confused, but being like, "that looks really cool."

Sarah

The costumes are by Laura Jean Shannon, who we have talked about before, because she did "Elf," which we have covered. Jojo covered it.

Jojo

Mmhmm.

Sarah

And she works a lot.

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

She did "Iron Man". She does the TV show "The Boys," "Requiem for a Dream," "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle". And she's been nominated for a couple of Costume Designers Guild Awards. So good for her. She's killing it. This movie was a box office bomb when it came out. Which is hilarious to me, because everybody I know loves it.

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

The budget is estimated at around $85 million, but it only earned $49.3. Which is bad.

Jojo

Oh my gosh, it didn't even make half of it back. Yikes! [both laugh]

Sarah

I think it was a marketing issue.

Jojo

Right.

Sarah

I think the studio truly just didn't know how to market it.

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

So it didn't really reach the people it was supposed to reach.

Jojo

That makes me sad. It's so good. [laughs]

Sarah

It became a cult classic, though on... you know, DVD and stuff.

Jojo

Sure.

Sarah

And it is now considered, you know... when it came to Netflix, I remember people losing their minds. [laughs]

Jojo

Yeah. Yeah. Amazing.

Sarah

So if you don't know, it's based on a graphic novel, a series of graphic novels. And it is really, really highly stylized in sort of like a comic book/video game format, where there will be text on screen that says like, "pow, wham, bam."

Jojo

Mmhmm.

Sarah

And then there's just all sorts of visual effects. And a lot of it is shot-for-shot panels of the graphic novel, which I was surprised by when I read them... years ago, they're on my shelf right there. I need to reread them.

Jojo

Mmhmm. I want to read the originals. I've never actually read them.

Sarah

They're fun! You know, there's a lot more that happens because, you know, there's six of them.

Jojo

Right.

Sarah

So they can't fit it all into the movie. But... from the Wikipedia, Edgar Wright cited and Italian movie from 1968 called "Danger Diabolique".

Jojo

Oooh. [laughs]

Sarah

Which is also an adaptation of a comic. So it was-- he said that he took "a sense of completely unbridled imagination," and that "they don't make any attempt to make it look realistic." So he didn't want it to look like real life, basically.

Jojo

Right.

Sarah

Yeah. And he says that the stuff that happens on screen, with the graphics on the screen and the text, he said that this is basically... how he sees it is a visual representation of what is happening inside Scott's brain.

Jojo

Mmhmm.

Sarah

So it's, you know, for example when Scott-- we see Scott go use the bathroom. And on the screen, there's a thing that says "pee bar" and it's like a little bar that goes "booooop" as he pees.

Jojo

[laughs] Yeah.

Sarah

So, that's just an example.

Jojo

I forgot about that part. [laughs]

Sarah

I know. There are six volumes of the graphic novel, but at the time of the production of this movie, the sixth one had not come out yet. So they basically didn't know how it was gonna end. So they kind of made up their own ending. So it's different than in the book. But Laura Jean Shannon says that one of the costumes that she invented, and did not directly copy, ended up making it into the sixth book. So like...

Jojo

Nice!

Sarah

...Bryan Lee O'Malley, the author of the book, saw it and was like, "I like that." So he drew it into the comic on one of Ramona's costumes.

Jojo

That's awesome.

Sarah

I know, right?

Jojo

Very cool.

Sarah

He like, immortalized her work. I love that.

Jojo

Yeah, yeah.

Sarah

Oh, another thing that makes this movie interesting is that there are huge comic book movie stars in it. So Brie Larson is in this movie, which is so funny to me.

Jojo

Yeah. [laughs]

Sarah

Happy coincidence.

Jojo

I forgot about that!

Sarah

She was 18 years old when they made this movie.

Jojo

Oh my gosh.

Sarah

It was like her breakout role, basically.

Jojo

Is she Ramona?

Sarah

She's Envy. The singer in the band.

Jojo

Oh, she's... Okay, that's why. I was like, "wait, that's not her." And I was like, "No, it's definitely a different person." [laughs]

Sarah

Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Ramona.

Jojo

Okay.

Sarah

But then, Chris Evans is also in it. So it's like...

Jojo

Oh my goodness, I forgot about that, too! Oh, he's one of the boyfriends.

Sarah

Yeah, he's one of the exes. So there...

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

...there are a lot of references to other properties, and comic books, and movies. And it's so funny that now, the presence of those two actors is also in itself a reference. Because they are superheroes now.

Jojo

Right, right.

Sarah

So funny to me. Oh, and then the last note I have before I start talking about costumes is that Bryan Lee O'Malley, the author, says that he regrets that there were not enough roles in the movie for non white people.

Jojo

[laughs] Oh.

Sarah

And they stay very close to the graphic novel, and Bryan himself is half Korean. So like...

Jojo

Really?!

Sarah

...they did it, they adapted it how he wrote it. [laughs] Yeah.

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

He was just kind of like, "yeah, I probably could have put more people of color."

Jojo

[laughs] In retrospect.

Sarah

Oh, and shout out to my brother Jesse 'cuz he requested that I cover this movie.

Jojo

Oh, yeah.

Sarah

Hi Jesse.

Jojo

Yay.

Sarah

He composed our beautiful theme music.

Jojo

He did.

Sarah

We love him.

Jojo

Thanks, Jesse.

Sarah

Thanks, Jesse! Okay, so in terms of costumes... this is not like a costume-y movie. If that makes sense.

Jojo

Mmhmm.

Sarah

They stuck-- I found like, one interview with Laura Jean, there's not a lot out there.

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

Of her just talking about the clothes. Because like, in terms of this movie, it's not really something people focus on.

Jojo

Right.

Sarah

They focus on how stylized, and the action scenes, and stuff like that.

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

But she said, basically, that she really wanted to stick close to the graphic novel. So some of the outfits are literal recreations of what is in the graphic novel.

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

And then she kind of used that framework to make her own... to kind of be creative within that, and makeup her own outfits that she thought fit with the other ones that are directly from the source.

Jojo

That's so interesting, because it is kind of like you're almost creating your own Comic Con. Right? You're creating all these characters based on something that exists in a comic. [laughs]

Sarah

Yeah, I guess so. I mean, it is so interesting to try to translate something from a 2D illustration into...

Jojo

Right.

Sarah

...a real person who wears real clothes.

Jojo

Right. And something that's so stylized like this, you know, like this image. Because you think about the concept artists that go to our superheroes today. And they've created pretty much the same, similar look, maybe with the exception of some style lines. But like, with this when you're going from something so cartoony and non-proportional to something that's human shaped.... It's interesting. I feel like it's a creative challenge.

Sarah

Definitely, definitely. Because the silhouette is always gonna look different no matter what.

Jojo

Mmhmm.

Sarah

'Cuz your person who you're dressing has a person body.

Jojo

Right.

Sarah

And the cartoon is kind of triangle... or whatever. You know, whatever it may be.

Jojo

Like a large head and really skinny body or whatever.

Sarah

Exactly. This is Scott from the graphic novel. And he is great. [both laugh] I don't know where I was going when I started that sentence! Oh, I should probably just run down the plot real quick. It's about Scott Pilgrim, who is kind of a slacker. And he is dating this girl named Knives--who is in high school--and he shouldn't be dating a high schooler because he's an adult.

Jojo

[laughs] Mmhmm.

Sarah

And then he meets this girl Ramona. And he falls for her and kind of cheats on Knives with Ramona. And then Ramona is like, "Oh, actually, I have seven evil exes. Who you need to defeat in order to date me." They formed the league, basically.

Jojo

Right. [laughs]

Sarah

And it's... Scott Pilgrim is incredibly good at fighting. And in the movie, and in the graphic novel, it's never explained why he's so good. [both laugh] It's just acknowledged that he is.

Jojo

[laughs] Yep.

Sarah

I always thought that was so funny. So basically, the movie is just him moving through the League of Seven Evil Exes, in order to date Ramona, and...

Jojo

All for a girl. [laughs]

Sarah

All for a girl. This one girl. Okay...

Jojo

So funny.

Sarah

It's funny, because I've seen a lot of-- since it's been getting more attention recently, I've seen some little clickbait-y articles, and it'll be like, "actually, Scott is the bad guy!" And it's like, "Yeah, he sucks." Like, we all KNEW that. He's not a good person for most of the movie. [both laugh]

Jojo

Oh, so funny.

Sarah

Like, you just realized that?

Jojo

[laughs]

Sarah

Okay, so here's him in the movie, and I have a picture of him in his parka later. I had to really be careful. Like, I arranged the photos very specifically so that I can fit them all in. [laughs]

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

But this is him and Knives, and... his basic uniform.... Oh, and I found this interesting, is that he's basically a superhero, almost. Because he has these weird, amazing fighting powers that are never explained.

Jojo

Mmhmm.

Sarah

But his superhero uniform is like, a ringer tee and jeans.

Jojo

[laughs]

Sarah

And sneakers, and wristbands, and a parka. Which I think is so funny.

Jojo

I love it.

Sarah

'Cuz he wears different versions of that exact exact same thing through the whole movie. And I love this Sharpie shirt a lot.

Jojo

Yes.

Sarah

It's so cute. And then here we have Knives, and this is her school uniform, I think, because she goes to a Catholic school.

Jojo

Mmhmm.

Sarah

And we see her go through a pretty big transformation over the course of the movie. Because this is her when she's dating Scott, but then he breaks up with her and she cuts her hair really short and dyes it to look more like Ramona. And then by the end she looks more like herself again. So she's-- I always feel bad for Knives. She's great. She deserves better. [laughs]

Jojo

Mmhmm.

Sarah

And then this is Ramona in the comics. She's great. Love her.

Jojo

I love the drawing style. It's so cute.

Sarah

It's so, so cute. I love. And then this is her, basically, in sort of like what they interpreted this look into being in the movie, and this is what I like to call her "delivery girl" outfit.

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

And it's like an olive green sort of jacket with a hoodie underneath, with a sweater underneath, because they're in Canada and it's winter. But then a miniskirt and tights. [both laugh] Because she still wants to be cute.

Jojo

As you do.

Sarah

And then...

Jojo

I find that that's true in all cold cities, though, they're always wearing the most impossibly cold things. But then everything is layered on top.

Sarah

Yes, my sister always likes to talk about how she went to London in like, January, and all the girls who are going clubbing on the Tube would literally just be wearing miniskirts, and just like... soldiering through. [both laugh] No coats.

Jojo

That was my experience at Syracuse, too. I was like, "why? Why do you do this to yourself?" [laughs]

Sarah

Beauty is pain.

Jojo

So funny.

Sarah

And another element of her costume is this purse, which is her subspace purse. So it's basically like a portal to subspace, where she likes to store things. But she can also travel with it, into another dimension. And it helps her get across town faster in order to...

Jojo

Whaaat!

Sarah

....deliver Amazon packages, which is what her job is. [laughs]

Jojo

I forgot about that! That's crazy.

Sarah

It's literally a throwaway line. But then later she and Scott use it, they like... it shows them flying through space. I love this movie.

Jojo

[laughs] I need to rewatch it again. There's parts of this that I forgot about.

Sarah

So so good. So good. And then this picture of her with the purse is from later. I think I ended up cutting the picture of her in this full outfit. Yeah. But she this hammer, she pulls out of the purse, which is always a good time.

Jojo

Right.

Sarah

We love a purse that's bigger on the inside. [laughs]

Jojo

Yes. Mary Poppins that.

Sarah

Exactly. Hermione Granger, Mary Poppins, and Ramona Flowers. Okay, so this is the first time they meet. And I love this because they're wearing each other's colors.

Jojo

Mmhmm.

Sarah

So basically like, she's wearing pink, and she often is wearing monochrome in the color that her hair is. So her hair starts pink, and then it goes blue, and then it goes green. And so she's wearing pink here, but she has a little blue pocket. And then he's wearing blue. But he has a little reddish-pink shirt peeking out.

Jojo

Mmhmm.

Sarah

So it's like they're visually tied together the first time that they meet each other, whichI think is so cute.

Jojo

Yeah. Very subtle, but very intentional.

Sarah

Exactly. And I don't know about Ramona, but every time I wear something that matches my hair, people go, "oh my god, your shirt matches your hair!"

Jojo

I know. People say that to me all the time. I'm like, "it wasn't intentional." I promise.

Sarah

I'm also just like... "I know." Like, I can see it. [both laugh] Thanks for noticing, I guess?

Jojo

I'm not blind, I dressed myself this morning.

Sarah

Yeah! [both laugh] So sometimes I avoid it because I don't want to have that conversation. [both laugh]

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

Ohhh. Anyway. Yeah. So anyhow, here's Scott and his parka. So this is the shot from the comic, this is the movie.

Jojo

I love that so much.

Sarah

And in that one interview I found, Laura Jean said they that they built these parkas, they had them made. And they made, like, 20 of them?

Jojo

Whoa!

Sarah

Yeah, she said they made about 20 of different levels of dirtiness. And then like, for different purposes, stunt wise, because there's a lot of action sequences, fight scenes, and stuff.

Jojo

Right.

Sarah

And this little patch right here is an X. So that's kind of fun, because it's he's fighting the Leage of Exes. But this is actually an X-Men reference, too.

Jojo

Yeah. Mmhmm.

Sarah

So that's cute. And then I have here a little handy graphic of all the T-shirts he wears. [laughs]

Jojo

I love that so much.

Sarah

I was happy to find this.

Jojo

And with the matching shoes!

Sarah

I know. I was happy to find this so that I didn't have to get pictures of all of them.

Jojo

That's so funny. What a great way to do that.

Sarah

Yeah, thank you.

Jojo

And his little arm bands, I love that.

Sarah

I know! So-- like, this green one, I don't have any pictures of him in it, I don't think. But it has an "SP" and it's actually a Smashing Pumpkins shirt.

Jojo

Ohh.

Sarah

But it's "SP" for Scott Pilgrim as well.

Jojo

Right, right.

Sarah

I did a little research on these. This Match Pik one, that is a-- I think it's a brand of guitar picks, because he's a bassist.

Jojo

Okay, yeah.

Sarah

Plumtree is a band but like, a really obscure one.

Jojo

Mmhmm.

Sarah

Let's see... because his name, Scott Pilgrim, comes from a song by Plumtree. So that's a reference to that.

Jojo

Ahh.

Sarah

And this particular Plumtree sure is seen in the graphic novel, which I think is very fun. And then this little skull is from something called Diesel Sweeties, which I think is a webcomic.

Jojo

Okay.

Sarah

And then he just has one that says "SARS," which is excellent. [both laugh] This is Astro Boy.

Jojo

And Astro Boy! Love it.

Sarah

Yep. I don't know what "zero" is. But like, I think people have said that he's zero in the League of Exes, or-- he also drinks Coke Zero, famously.

Jojo

Okay.

Sarah

And then this is a Fantastic Four thing, but this is four and a half.

Jojo

[laughs]

Sarah

And this is Guitar Hero, this red one.

Jojo

Uh huh.

Sarah

So I don't know what this guy is over here in the...

Jojo

Oh. Okay.

Sarah

...the circle that looks like it's made of CDs.

Jojo

Interesting. I was... I know, I was thinking CDs as well. [note: it's the logo to the CBC.]

Sarah

Yeah, I was a little bit late because I was on a website that was literally a breakdown of every single graphic tee in the movie. And I didn't get to that one. [laughs]

Jojo

No worries. No worries.

Sarah

So yeah.

Jojo

Those are just fun.

Sarah

Right? I love a graphic tee. So.

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

So here's him, this is the Plumtree shirt in action. And then this is one of my favorite scenes, just because like... this is him and his bandmates. So we have Scott... the singer... Oh my god, I just forgot his name. [laughs] I've seen this movie SO many times. What is his name? ...Steven.

Jojo

It's been too long since I've seen it.

Sarah

Steven. "He's the talent." [both laugh] This is Young Neil. And this is Kim, who plays drums, and it's funny 'cuz...

Jojo

I do love Kim.

Sarah

I love Kim. These guys look exactly like they look in the graphic novel. And I had a picture of that, but I had to cut it 'cuz I [singsong] didn't have enooough.

Jojo

Yeah, yeah.

Sarah

I do have an extra picture of him...

Jojo

So many pictures for this movie.

Sarah

...in the Plumtree shirt, though. I don't know. So there's that. This scene is also one of the ones that is identical in the book, which I just love. And as you can see, there's text on the screen. [laughs]

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

But yeah, Kim, in her-- she's constantly wearing a jacket that's zipped all the way up to the throat. And it's, to me, like... she and Scott used to date, and she is a little bit closed off. She's very sarcastic and a little bit aggressive. So I think that having a jacket zipped all the way up shows that she's uncomfortable, you know, just always kind of like, ready to fight people.

Jojo

Mmhmm. Right.

Sarah

And then I love Steven's sort of Western shirt with the guitars on it. That is so cool.

Jojo

That's such a nice little touch.

Sarah

I know, right? He's always wearing a Western shirt. And like, also in the comic book. So I just... I love how closely they stuck to it.

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

This is Matthew Patel. He's the first evil ex boyfriend. ....Yep. [both laugh]

Jojo

[long sigh] That's all I have say about that!

Sarah

I think the one thing I have to say is that the polo with the popped color, in 2010 I think was already dated. So...

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

...him thinking that he's cool by popping his color and having emo boy hair when it was already...

Jojo

It's almost 90s.

Sarah

I feel like it's very my era, like MySpace, 2005... sort of. This is the kind of boy that I loved on MySpace.

Jojo

[laughs]

Sarah

When I was a teenager. [laughs]

Jojo

Oh, so funny.

Sarah

But in 2010 that was already a little bit like, "eurgh." So he's trying to be cool but not really succeeding.

Jojo

Yeah. Right.

Sarah

And then we have Roxy, she is Ramona's only female ex. Her outfit is rad and confusing. [both laugh] 'Cuz...

Jojo

I don't know which. [laughs]

Sarah

She.... it's like...

Jojo

Oh wow!

Sarah

...is it a dress? She has a little triangle bikini top that has spangles on it.

Jojo

Oh, yeah.

Sarah

Or studs. You can kind of see right here. And then she has sort of like a cropped hoodie with a giant hood. Love, love a giant hood.

Jojo

Mmhmm.

Sarah

And then I think... like, a one-sided sort of dress.

Jojo

It almost looks like it's falling off. A little bit?

Sarah

Yeah, maybe it's unbuckled on one side or something.

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

And then she has ripped up stockings and like, big furry boots. [laughs]

Jojo

But only ripped on one side.

Sarah

Yeah. And then the belt-- this belt is actually her weapon. And she whips it around.

Jojo

Yeah, yeah.

Sarah

It's great. And I love her makeup so, so much. So cool. Okay.

Jojo

[laughs] They did a good job.

Sarah

So let's move on to Envy. This is Envy in the comic book. She's the lead singer of The Clash at Demonhead, which is a fictional band. And she is also Scott's "big ex" from the past, like... his only serious relationship from his past. Well, he also dated Kim, but they weren't that serious.

Jojo

Mmhmm.

Sarah

And then this is Brie Larson as Envy.

Jojo

Ugh, so great.

Sarah

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say this was my bisexual awakening. [both laugh] Me being like, "Oh, I think I do like girls too." 'Cuz look at her!

Jojo

She's so fierce.

Sarah

She's stunning. This white trench coat. She pretty much just wears black and white, and then a little bit of red. And then I love her jewelry, because these earrings, I think, are snakes.

Jojo

Oooh.

Sarah

And then she has sort of like a bird skull and a dagger for necklaces.

Jojo

Uh huh.

Sarah

She just looks very dangerous and sexy. Which is the idea, right? Is that like, she's from his past and she's-- now she's really famous and everybody loves her. And she's a threat, basically.

Jojo

Mmhmm.

Sarah

This is her onstage, singing...

Jojo

Oh my goodness, she looks so young in comparison. So crazy.

Sarah

I know! And so... like, she's so buff now because she's a superhero that her little arms...

Jojo

They look so lanky! [laughs]

Sarah

And then this is her shoes. I didn't get a full body shot because there isn't really one, but I'm obsessed with these shoes.

Jojo

Yeah. Oh my goodness.

Sarah

She's partially based on the lead singer of Metric. Because--

Jojo

I love Metric.

Sarah

Me too. And the song she's singing is a Metric song that I think Metric wrote for the movie.

Jojo

Okay.

Sarah

But yeah, so she's partially based on the lead singer of Metric, whose name is Emily Hane. Okay, this is Ramona and Knives in the bathroom at that gig. And as you can see, Knives has transformed into sort of like a mini Ramona. [laughs]

Jojo

Yeah. It's like she decided to quit halfway through. [both laugh] "I couldn't commit to the full hair."

Sarah

Yeah, yeah. So Ramona has her blue hair now. So then Knives has sort of like a partially blue thing happening because she's mad and she wants to get back at Scott. Which is funny to get back at him by like, making yourself look like his current girlfriend. That's kind of a weird move. [both laugh]

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

But she is, like, 17.

Jojo

Right, right.

Sarah

I had more outfits of Ramona's and I just literally like... I didn't have... I couldn't do it.

Jojo

It's so hard.

Sarah

But she does wear a lot of blue when her hair is blue, fittingly. So...

Jojo

I do love this color blue on her.

Sarah

Me too. Me too.

Jojo

I mean, just in general, but I mean, it looks great on her.

Sarah

She looks good in any hair color. Yeah. Okay, so this is Todd. He's one of the evil exes and he's also in the band The Clash at Demonhead. And he and Envy, you can see that they're very clearly tied together because they both wear black and white.

Jojo

Oh my goodness. She's so skinny there.

Sarah

I know, she's little. She was 18!

Jojo

So crazy.

Sarah

She's already a petite girl, but she's definitely like...

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

Yeah. It's funny to me that Todd also wear sweatbands. I don't know what that's about. Maybe Bryan Lee O'Malley really just likes drawing sweatbands on people. [laughs]

Jojo

Or maybe he grew up playing tennis.

Sarah

Oh, maybe.

Jojo

So he's just used to having them on all the time. So he just assumed everyone else is gonna wear them.

Sarah

And he has a three on his shirt because he's the third evil ex. Some things are that literal. [both laugh]

Jojo

So funny. It works.

Sarah

Yeah. And then.... Oh, also, I forgot about him. Oh my gosh, this is Brandon Routh, also known as Superman from the Superman movies that came out in the late 2000s.

Jojo

Oh, okay. Okay. Okay.

Sarah

Yeah, so he was like, the first...

Jojo

I don't know if I've seen any of those.

Sarah

I saw the first one and it was not good. Are there... is there more than one?

Jojo

That's what I might've heard.

Sarah

I don't know.

Jojo

Possibly.

Sarah

But yeah, I definitely saw it and was not impressed. But he was like, the first modern Superman reboot... Superman.

Jojo

Oh, okay.

Sarah

So it's funny that he's in-- this was also after that. So it's funny that he's in this, because it's like a comic book... superhero sort of thing.

Jojo

Right, right.

Sarah

And then here's Envy in that same outfit. It's just a close up of the jacket, which I love.

Jojo

I want that jacket so bad.

Sarah

I know. And you can see her earrings, her little snake earrings. Oh, and she is blonde in the movie. But in the comic you can kind of see... this is kind of a weird... colorized. But she's redhead. And you can see the-- there are camera tests that I think were a part of the DVD special features.

Jojo

Right.

Sarah

And they camera test her in a bunch of different hair colors. So I think they decided on this one, just based on what she looked the best in, instead of sticking super close to the comics. And I think that that was a good choice because the super blonde hair is so striking, especially compared to everybody else.

Jojo

Especially since she's wearing black and white.

Sarah

Yeah. It makes her whole...

Jojo

It keeps to that color palette.

Sarah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, monochrome... sort of thing. So amazing. Oh, I forgot to mention when I was talking about Roxy that Laura Jean Shannon said that her costume was the most fun for her.

Jojo

Oh, nice.

Sarah

I think she's just kind of, you know-- it's more creative and weird and interesting.

Jojo

Right.

Sarah

Oh, I have a note about Ramona's hair. But that's-- look, here's a picture of Ramona and her hair. [both laugh] This is from a website called Moda Chicago. And that's kind of where some of the information I had about Scott's t-shirts is from too.

Jojo

Okay.

Sarah

"Looking at the moments in the movie, Ramona styles her hair differently. She changes into the blue after the first time Scott sleeps at her house, and then into the green when she rekindles her relationship with Gideon, who was the seventh ex. And these are clues that link her hairstyles with her feelings about her relationship." So it's like she changes her hair when something major is happening in her life. And I can relate to that 'cuz I do that too. [laughs]

Jojo

Isn't that the only reason you change hair color?

Sarah

No, it isn't, but it's...

Jojo

I know. [laughs]

Sarah

It's a fun thing to do to distract yourself if you're going through something.

Jojo

I didn't mean you, specifically, I meant in general. [laughs]

Sarah

Oh yeah, the royal you. The general you. [laughs]

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

I like that it's sort of like a visual marker of her emotional progress through the movie. So this is her last iteration. It's her green. Again, looking great. And then this is Gideon played by Jason Schwartzman, who is so funny. And my sister was watching this with me--and I noticed that too--she was like, "he's wearing, like, the same jacket as Envy." So if we look back at Envy's...

Jojo

Yeah.

Sarah

...it's white with black topstitching, and so is his. So, that's so interesting to me.

Jojo

Fascinating.

Sarah

Like, was that on purpose? I don't know. Did they just like it?

Jojo

Yeah. I wonder what the choice was for that.

Sarah

Yeah. I know that Jason Schwartzman has talked about this character. And he says that he played it as if he thinks that this guy wears silky women's underwear as like a secret to himself. [both laugh] So I think about that every time I watch it, and I'm like, "makes sense. Totally makes sense."

Jojo

[laughs] "Now I understand your acting choices."

Sarah

Right? He's very slimy and very, very concerned with being cool and hip. And... yeah. And he just wants attention. So this is definitely the outfit of a guy who wants attention: the white blazer with a red shirt, and he has a full cane.

Jojo

Mmhmm. Yeah.

Sarah

He's gross. And then Ramona ends the movie-- I don't have a full body shot of this because I couldn't find any good ones. But it's a really cute sort of fit-and-flare dress. Looks pretty poofy on the bottom. Great.

Jojo

So cute.

Sarah

And that's it! That's all I've got.

Jojo

Woo!

Sarah

I have five seconds to spare on timer.

Jojo

"All" you got, I love it. [laughs]

Sarah

...two, one.

Jojo

We did good on time.

Sarah

Wow.

Jojo

Awesome job, Sarah.

Sarah

Nailed it.

Jojo

It was so fun to go back through that movie. It's been a while since I've seen it.

Sarah

It's the best.

Jojo

I have to watch it again. That's definitely one that I watch over and over again as well.

Sarah

Absolutely. It's a comfort movie for me, for sure. And I have a lot of it memorized. [laughs]

Jojo

Love it. As you should.

Sarah

It's great.

Jojo

All right.

Sarah

This was fun!

Jojo

Definitely. That's all we have for today. We'll see you on the next one. And if you have any comments, like we said, you know, please do review. And please do comment on our Instagram. We do respond pretty quickly to, actually, anyone who's left any messages or comments.

Sarah

Yeah, we see them.

Jojo

And we do love to hear from you guys. You know, we're nothing without our listeners. So we love having comments, and even just insight from you guys. Like I said, we don't know anything... I mean... [both laugh]

Sarah

We're ust a couple of dumb-dumbs.

Jojo

Let's rephrase that! We don't know everything. [both laugh] That's what I meant. Yes, we don't know everything. And it's always great to hear, you know, people that have the insight or have actual information about all of these little quirky things. Especially for movies and comic book worlds like this where...

Sarah

Oh, yeah, there's a lot of lore.

Jojo

...there really is such a-- I mean, you know, camaraderie between fans.

Sarah

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Jojo

They really know so much more information than we know. So, anything you can tell us.

Sarah

It's overwhelming. Yeah.

Jojo

Yes. So some of these things we've been asking questions about, we'd love to hear from you.

Sarah

Yeah. And I want to do a quick thank you to anybody who might have voted for me in the Her Universe Fashion Show. I did not win. But I am very happy for those who did and I'm happy to possibly get the chance to do it again in the future, you know?

Yeah! Every year is a learning experience.

So thank you if you did. I appreciate it. I had a lot of fun. I'm really proud of the work I did. So.

Jojo

Yay! I voted for you, Sarah.

Sarah

Thaaanks! [both laugh]

Jojo

I meant to tell you, but I was like, "I'll just tell her in person."

Sarah

Appreciate it.

Jojo

But yes. All right. Well, we will see you on the next episode. Thanks again for joining us, and we'll see you on the next one.

Sarah

Thank you. Bye!

Bye!

[OUTRO]

Jojo

Thank you for listening to The Costume Plot! You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @thecostumeplot. If you have a question, comment, or movie suggestion you can email us at [email protected].

Sarah

Our theme music is by Jesse Timm, and our artwork is by Jojo Siu. Please rate and review us wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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