#I'm seeing new fans of him come out of the woodwork

[owlehh]

I like this character a normal amount

#Lie detector test determined that was a lie #Listen #I've been on my shit about Johnny since season 1 #I'm seeing new fans of him come out of the woodwork #And I am so excited #Please make content #PLEASE #I NEED IT #Johnny Abbot #Sweet tooth #Netflix

[starry-mist]

S5e15 and s5e16 thoughts:

Obviously I need to do these ones together. I'm also going to try to do this as sort of a review rather than general thoughts...it's my first time trying this so be nice, LOL.

I have a few thoughts before I jump into the episodes.

One of the main reasons (other than the obvious one of having these additional characters with their own storyline that initially seems separate from what the series regulars are doing) that this initially felt like a backdoor pilot is because one of the titular characters is noticeably absent. And we know this was because John and Meghan were expecting their third child to be born right around the time this was scheduled to film, so he wasn't available. I'm not saying it couldn't still be a backdoor pilot, but I think it's unlikely for the moment.

The story we got was very different from the original synopsis in the article about the Ontario government funding production in Northern Ontario (https://www.nugget.ca/news/five-film-tv-productions-receive-funding) which again, is likely because John was unavailable so they launched Sarah and Jesse into the spotlight for this one.

I know Jesse fans have a lot of feelings about his glasses, and I agree that the explanation for why he no longer wears them is pretty weak. Fans of this show do have a tendency to fixate on changes in character appearances (see also: much controversy on Facebook about Charlie's season 6 hair.) Anyway, characters evolve, people change, I'm just going to leave it at that. Maybe Justin was just sick of wearing them.

Without further ado:

We open with a lovely aerial shot of “Webster Bay,” which I’m sure is 100% a real place and totally not North Bay, Ontario. (It's absolutely not a real place.) A couple is having a romantic moment by the side of the road. Very sweet. Until it turns out the man is there to rob the house across the street. That's...perhaps a little less sweet.

The home invasion/robbery hits a little snag when the homeowner is, well, home, and goes at the would-be robber with a sizeable pair of scissors. He accidentally knocks her out trying to disarm her, and it's time for the happy couple to GTFO.

Roll credits.

Back in St. John's, the Major Crimes team has ordered lunch. Jesse gets an ominous phone call from his previously-never-mentioned sister.

It's the season of new family members coming out of the woodwork. Sigh.

Anyway, Jesse's sister is in Northern Ontario, as far as he knows (which is apparently where they both grew up...look I'm just going to keep rolling my eyes at all of these things that could have been mentioned IN FOUR PREVIOUS SEASONS) and is in trouble. Come quick. No cops. Doesn't sound sketchy at all...

Jesse's ready to go to her rescue, but Charlie doesn't think he should go alone.

Sarah: You want to go with him?

Charlie: I was thinking you. And Rex.

(Yeah, remember those establishing moments I mentioned in the previous two episodes? Those are now relevant.)

Apparently Charlie has some important stuff he has to take care of.

(Please remind me I need to someday write a fic about Charlie’s guilt at sending the trio into harms way.)

This whole scene is a little forced, IMHO, but anyway, off they go.

Cut to Ontario, where we now have MEGAN FREAKING FOLLOWS, OMG, BE STILL MY ANNE OF GREEN GABLES-LOVING HEART. At this point, I should note that I do love these fleshed-out original characters and their stories, which initially feel strange given we've never seen them before, but will make sense later.

(Pause for my usual commentary of same actor, different character: Cihang Ma previously played Holly in s3’s Seeing is Deceiving. Here they play Detective Kai Huang, and let me just express my appreciation for a non-binary actor playing a non-binary role.)

Anyway, Detective Anne of Green Gables Sidney Scott is on scene and having flashbacks. It looks like she lost someone close to her. Kai thinks the people who broke in were addicts. Sidney has other ideas. She talks to the victim's husband, Tim Cooper, who apparently worked with her husband as well. But she makes it clear that she's definitely off work and totally not on the case.

Right...

Back to St. John’s, Charlie is having someone dig up Constable Charlie Hudson’s incident reports from October 30, 2009. Okay first off, I would have appreciated some flashbacks to a younger Charlie, but I don't always get what I want (rarely, in fact.) And we find out that Charlie is investigating his "white whale" of a child abduction case that has haunted him for 14 years, which has of course been foreshadowed in prior seasons because this show is so amazing at continuity. /s

Cut to Charlie's house, with him taping up a makeshift "murder board" on the wall. My dude, you're going to need to repaint...

Meanwhile in Ontario, we have lovely wide shots of fall colours. So pretty. We also have rapid-fire voiceover exposition from Sarah and Jesse on their arrival, where they're going, how long it's taken them to get there, and honestly, this is yet another of those "show, don't tell" moments that this show struggles with.

The trio arrive at “an old Cold War missile site” where Jesse and Crystal came when they were kids, riding their bikes down from his uncle’s place. Questions abound about who actually raised Jesse, who has mentioned his mom (in a throwaway line in s2) and a deceased father. Now there was apparently an uncle? Okay we'll go with it. Anyway, Jesse and Crystal used to hang out here and build camps in abandoned buildings.

Sarah and Rex are the third wheels (actually fourth and fifth, I suppose) in the Jesse/Crystal/random sketchy boyfriend scene as they head into an abandoned hangar. Sketchy boyfriend (who has a name that I'm not bothering to look it up given he won't be around that long) wants to know if these new additions are cool.

Sarah: Dr. Sarah Truong, hi. We’re cool.

(I don't know why I find that line so amusing.)

Rex senses danger. Looks like it's time to GTFO of the hangar.

This is where I point out that two of these characters are weapons-trained cops, one of whom we have seen is basically a sharpshooter…And none of this apparently matters as neither of them have a weapon on hand that they can use. Oops.

Going to have to suspend disbelief at the fact that the sniper can instantly kill the bf, shoot out the tires on Sarah and Jesse's rental car (that's going to be a hefty repair bill,) but then they're all just able to run out in the open and magically escape…right.

This is pretty elaborate for a scene that is essentially just a setup for the plane crash.

Sidney Scott visits a man named Elvis Migwan outside the local hospital. We learn that there is a local Indigenous community whose water has apparently been affected by runoff from a mining operation. Elvis's daughter is sick. And this is a really relevant topic given how many Indigenous communities in Canada lack access to clean water.

Back to the airfield, and I'm just going to speculate that they blew the budget on this next scene and on the plane crash.

Apparently flight simulator games have taught Jesse enough that he can figure out how to fly a plane...again, suspending disbelief. The team take to the skies and are promptly shot down by the sniper, as my anxiety begins to ratchet up.

The remote lake where they crash would be a pretty place to camp in any other circumstance.

Anne of Green Gables Sidney has a nice, large house. It's actually pretty big for one person. Hey, Sidney has that in common with Charlie. They should hang out. Inspector Yousef Ali stops by and brings Sidney dinner. It's a salad. She's displeased. I start to ship them.

Charlie and Joe have a scene at Charlie’s house and it's just not working for me. I can't help it. The whole Alison case appearing out of the blue feels forced.

(However, Joe is totally checking out the new, shall we say, feminine touches in Charlie’s house.)

At the crash site, Jesse manages to smash open his door when there were two perfectly good open ones on the other side of the plane, because reasons? Crystal’s wrist is probably broken, Jesse’s got some cracked ribs…but at least they have a doctor with them who’s totally in one piece and definitely not injured.

Sarah asks for a first aid kit, presumably to do, you know, actual first aid...oh wait, no, instead she scribbles some notes on a piece of paper, which she rolls into a little case that she attaches to Rex's collar. With a tearful hug, she sends Rex off into the wilderness.

Cue “The Littlest Hobo” theme.

Rex wanders the woods.

Sidney Scott decides to go back to work.

Back at the crash site, we find out Crystal’s a pretty big screwup, and Jesse chastises her for her messing up her life. Not super helpful at the moment, Jesse.

Sarah starts to look disoriented and possibly in pain. This is going to get worse before it gets better.

Rex encounters some sort of bird of prey (I think it's a hawk, but I'm not an expert.) No worries, he'll just hide under a bridge for a moment.

Another "same actor different character" moment: the actor playing Bertrand Boyle previously appeared as Tucker Moore in s4’s No Man is an Island.

Rex is under a sky full of stars, which I'm sure he'd pause to appreciate if there weren't a pack of wolves nearby. I believe I read somewhere that Sherri Davis who trains the dogs actually trained all the animals that appeared in this one. I’m in awe of her talent.

Morning at the crash site. Crystal is about to peace out. Jesse talks her into staying. And Sarah wakes up in rough shape.

And here is where I state that Mayko Nguyen is the best actor on this show, fight me. She completely nailed that subtle shift when Sarah realizes that she's injured, and more seriously than she initially thought.

(Side note: I love that Mayko is wearing her trademark huge puffy warm coat. She is apparently always cold.)

So anyway, Sarah has realized that she's bleeding internally, and tells Jesse that he'll need to operate.

Right…

Sarah: You can do anything you put your mind to, Jesse Mills. You just flew a plane!

I really hope they submitted this episode for this year's Canadian Screen Awards.

On his continued trek through the wilderness, Rex encounters the most fearsome of woodland creatures: a skunk. Oh no! What if he ends up smelly?!! Anyway, Rex wins the territorial battle, and over the log bridge he goes.

Oh look, an owl.

So many critters.

There's a road! And with a short swim, Rex has officially made it back to civilization where he is promptly picked up by some sinister characters in a truck.

I'm not going into the gory details of Jesse doing field surgery on Sarah, because I still find it hard to watch, but anyway, give Mayko an Emmy. Hell, give her an Oscar. Give her all the things.

...right now, because I’m not watching these separately.

Ugh. Field surgery. I feel very much the same way as Jesse does when it comes to blood.

Cut to the Ontario Police Service (or whatever they’re calling their version of Ontario Provincial Police) HQ building, which I’m pretty sure is part of Nipissing University, as is the “hospital” we see later.

Detective Scott, meet Rex. He'll keep you on your toes.

See you later, sketchbags in the pickup truck. Nobody messes with our boy Rex.

Oh hey, it’s Charlie Hudson. Kind of forgot about that guy for a moment. Anyway Charlie and Joe get a call from Sidney about the plane crash. Charlie holds back...really any emotion whatsoever.

Sidney! Rex! Helicopter!

Sidney sends Charlie a photo of the note that Rex brought her, and Charlie recognizes Sarah’s handwriting. Joe tries to be reassuring. Okay, now they're showing a little bit of worry at the unknown fate of their friends.

Sarah is now semi-conscious and making last requests.

Sarah: If I don’t make it you have to find Rex…tell Charlie…

Jesse: No, you’re gonna tell him yourself…

Me: Tell him what, exactly? Because you've been a couple more than long enough that I refuse to believe there have been no "I love yous" exchanged, even if we've yet to see it said on screen.

Anyway Sarah passes back out, while I continue to hyperventilate.

Cut to St. John's. Charlie feels guilty for not going. Joe steers him back into his B plot. It still feels forced.

Sidney chatting "with" Rex as he leads her through the woods cracks me up.

At the crash site, Sarah wakes up feverish. She knows she probably an infection. So she should totally drink the unfiltered lake water Crystal brings her, because what’s a little E. coli going to do? Anyway apparently it’s all good as long as the paramedics push IV antibiotics…whatever. Sidney and Rex of course arrive at exactly the right time!

Rex lays protectively on his “mom.”

And the look Sidney gives Crystal tells us her shit is officially about to hit the fan.

Jesse has a phone call with Joe and Charlie to fill them in on all the nitty-gritty. Charlie wants to talk to Sarah, who is now in actual surgery. Jesse goes to check on his sister, who is now under arrest.

Crystal: I just watched my boyfriend get shot and killed and was pretty sure we were all gonna die in a plane crash. It’s been a lot.

Sarah Swire's deadpan delivery of the above lines is just so good.

Sidney questions Crystal, and it become clear that she definitely has a personal stake in this. Crystal swears there was no gun at the house her boyfriend robbed. She wants Jesse to cover for her by taking the backpack full of money, which of course he does. For now.

Sidney: Are you here as a cop or a brother?

Jesse: I have to be both.

Rex wants to help Sidney track the shooter. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

In Sarah's hospital room, she's sitting up in bed and talking to Charlie, albeit briefly. That conversation should have been longer and more emotional.

Tracking the shooter leads to more amusing Sidney and Rex "conversation." They find the type of gun that was used to kill Sidney’s husband. Suddenly Sidney's personal stake in the case makes sense.

Jesse and Sarah chat in her hospital room where she's looking pretty well recovered considering she just had two abdominal surgeries...and then she’s up and at it looking over forensics with Kai. It turns out Kai had the wrong time of death.

Joe reassures Charlie, who is feeling stuck on the Alison case, that he’s a great cop, great detective, blah blah. Says he needs to figure out how to move on so he can be ready for the next people who need his help. So clearly we’re done with this case and it definitely won’t reappear in a future episode...*eyes the next episode on the list*

The totally-not-the-shooter guy whose name I can’t be bothered to learn thinks Sidney’s husband would want her to move on and enjoy the life she has left. Okay then.

It seems that Crystal did in fact know that there would be money in the house. Also she knows about the contaminated runoff situation from the mine. Working as a cleaner, she managed to overhear all kinds of things, and through creative use of french fries, casually explains to Jesse how the mine’s money laundering scheme worked.

Incoming sniper. Again. Rex attempts a takedown but the sniper nearly runs him over with his car. Well, at least they should have a license plate now, assuming Jesse can actually see it without his glasses.

Seeing that it's time to come clean, the Mills siblings take the backpack full of money to Sidney. Crystal reveals how she knew the money was at the Cooper house by basically rehashing everything she just told Jesse. And maintains that her brush with law-breaking was "just one time."

Jesse to Crystal: Rex is really disappointed in you.

Sidney goes back to Elvis Migwan and asks how he knew about the mine runoff. And we now know that her husband faked the reports that said the water was clean.

Back at home, Sidney rips down her wall murder board. She's coming to terms with who her husband really was. He was killed in order to keep him quiet, but he knew a lot more than he let on.

Sidney goes off to question Tim Cooper, who is the actual mastermind behind all of this. Inspector Ali tells her she needs backup. It looks like she rolls up with just Rex, who stays in the car.

Sniper dude is on the scene. Oh, apparently his name is Wayne.

Rex takes him down.

Sidney gets a confession from Cooper.

And the rest of the backup team comes out of hiding.

Sidney, needing to make amends, takes a USB with proof of the falsified mine records to Elvis Migwan. It's everything he will need for his lawsuit against the mining company.

Jesse and Crystal chat as he is ready to head back home. Maybe she'll visit St. John's someday. (Here’s hoping.)

Sid puts away a photo of her and her husband. Ali shows up. Sidney tells him she's planning to sell the house, and that she doesn’t like salad. He's brought her a burger this time.

Could be love.

Sidney swears she's getting groceries tomorrow, and will be back at work on Monday. She's picking up the pieces. She also wants to choose her own partner. Say hello to Little Rex.

Sarah, Jesse and Rex head for the plane.

Jesse: You know, second time's the charm flying the plane.

Sarah: Too soon!

Charlie pulls the pictures of Alison off his wall. He's letting it go.

The door opens, and we get probably my favourite Charah scene ever. The clinging hug. The concern for each other. The intimacy of their foreheads pressed together as they gently sway.

Swoon.

Best episodes ever.

#hudson & rex #charah #charlie hudson x sarah truong #damn this got long #thanks for reading

[indiaalphawhiskey]

Hello India hope you are well!

I do not know your stance on babygate but I'm assuming you do not believe Louis is a dad and I would love to hear your thoughts concerning the recent change in Louis' approach on the matter. Louis always seemed to rebel against this stunt and always did the bare minimum. So suddenly making a very public appearance with the kid on Christmas and wishing a public happy birthday to him on twitter, then having him on his show and waving at him, then name-dropping him unprovoked in a video call with a fan and now mentioning him unprovoked in interviews and fabricating all those stories about surfing and cooking pasta.... its all a lot of effort from louis' part so I'm guessing there's something in exchange for him there. The only way I would excuse Louis putting so much spotlight to a minor would be if that was the only way to put an end on this. If it eventually doesn't end and Louis continues to put unnecessary attention on the kid (when he has shown that he can ignore it if he wants) that could potentially harm him in the future I would be very disappointed in Louis and reconsider everything I've thought about him as a person...

Hi love,

You’re right, I don’t believe Louis is a father. I also don’t really like discussing babygate because, apart from it being an incredibly cruel stunt, it serves no purpose (that I can see) but to keep Louis under thumb in the most inhumane way possible. Any talk of it also always seems to encourage people to come out of the woodwork on Anon in an effort to use my blog as a platform to push whatever narrative they believe for XYZ reason, and I just don’t want to entertain that.

But, I did want to address two things under the cut.

One, I don’t really have an opinion on the sudden uptick of stunt mentions. I don’t particularly understand it. I have my theories in terms of marketing and the image of Louis they’re seemingly trying to paint for this new era, but none that I’m confident enough to share because I don’t necessarily see the direct correlation between this image and being a father.

But, if you wanna know where my most rational mind tends to go, it always comes back to image clauses and contracts. I’m not a lawyer and I don’t work in entertainment, so I don’t have any experience with the exact limits (or lack there of) of contracts, but from what I know from being in this fandom for 7 years, its that it’s easy to underestimate how far people will go to cover their ass. Babygate is a lot bigger than Louis + Kid + Simon + The Clarks. It’s a result of a lot of dirty, abusive power play marketing and negotiation, and the number of people that are implicated in the approval and execution of this stunt extends far beyond who we can name. Each of those people have a vested interest in quelling any and all questions from the public (not that that’s really working), and their reach and influence within the industry is likely unquantifiable. I don’t say this to diminish Louis’ part in the stunt or dismiss his sudden active participation in it, I say it because its a reminder that the underbelly of the entertainment industry is the biggest and most unknown variable in this discussion and we cannot hope to get even a fraction of the answers to our questions because on that front, we’re flying entirely blind and have literally nothing but our own assumptions.

Two, I understand how Louis’ more active participation in the stunt can be extremely uncomfortable. I understand how it seems very counterintuitive to the person we know Louis is, involving a minor in something this messy. Again, I don’t aim to excuse him or paint him as a victim. I understand that he is a grown man with agency (how little or how much, I don’t know for sure, but he certainly seems to have more than he used to). I also understand that the situation is a lot more complex than we can begin to know.

That said, I do want to point out that if we believe Louis is not F’s father (which I do) then we must also believe he has no legal rights over F or his welfare. This is a natural conclusion not many people seem to acknowledge, because logically, a complete stranger and non-blood relative would never have any claim whatsoever over a random child.

This means whether or not F particularly is involved in this stunt (and to what extent - pictures, mentions, live participation) is legally entirely up to his real family (The Clarks). Essentially, this means the only relationship Louis has with F can be distilled down to colleagues, almost imagining them as co-stars on a reality TV series. You both show up, you say your lines and do what you’re paid to do, you leave. Louis may not like that a child is involved, but right now that ship has sailed. A child is involved until he isn’t, for whatever reason. Does Louis have any control over how much or how little? In one aspect, yes. I think Louis can decide (and clearly has) in which ways he’s willing to keep up his end of the contract and what kind of distance he can demand from the child physically to try and preserve some semblance of safety in a tricky situation (pictures, yes. Pap shots, no. Mentions, yes. Organic shots from behind, yes. One appearance at a concert, etc etc).

In another aspect, no, in that Louis cannot exactly dictate how this child that he has nothing more than a working relationship with, is raised or used for his family’s profit. And, that the thing, right? That’s the unanswerable question: is Louis actively choosing to profit off of this child or is he simply maneuvering as best he can around being dealt an old and binding bad hand? (Note: How “maneuvering” is defined and shifts, depending on the current context of what’s expected of him professionally is an entirely different conversation altogether.)

I tend to believe the latter, because again, Louis has never proven to be a cruel person who would, if given the chance, actively choose to take advantage of someone innocent or willfully endanger a family member in any way. Entirely to the contrary, actually, which is exactly why this entire situation is so unbelievable to me.

Do I have questions? Many, as always in this fandom.

Will they get answered? Likely not.

Am I relying entirely on my faith and character based evidence in believing Louis is doing the best he can in an impossible situation? Yes.

Do you have to agree with me? No. That’s up to you.

#iaw ask #iaw anonymous #babygate tw #babygate discussion #stunt discussion

[childofaura]

Ok, so I'm back at my computer now, I've gotten through all my messages.

Time to break down this whole Scooby Doo AI fiasco and why the people defending it have all the integrity of a moldy piece of wood. Because I thought I should just put it behind me after the first day, until I saw more bullshit from people coming out of the woodworks, including people trying to come at me with false equivalencies they were so smug about. Putting this under a read-more so people don't get exasperated with this post stretching their dash/blog.

Before we get to the main argument, we have to address what happened. And even before we address what happened, let's make something clear for anyone who's just here to argue and detract from my main point:

The animator at the center of this doesn't deserve to be harassed. A discussion deserves to happen and people are allowed to express their displeasure. But the animator doesn't deserve to be dogpiled.

So the main gist of it is that an animator created a pseudo-stop motion Scooby Doo short crossed over with FNAF, in the style of Rankin' Bass stop motion. The thing that's got everyone in an uproar is the fact that he used AI voices for most of the other cast (to my understanding, he only did the voices for Shaggy and Scooby). This caused the whole shitshow that's going on at Twitter right now.

Now there's a lot for me to break down on this one; I've already explained most of what was wrong with the excuses people were trying to come up with for this guy (Whom for some reason, people are trying to paint him as this "poor widdle kid who's just following his passion-" GUYS he's FUCKING 23 YEARS OLD. HE'S AN ADULT). But I'm gonna recap most of them, and then some based on the new discourse that's been coming out.

>"He can't afford voice actors! He's a single indie animator just working on a passion project!"

You can put out a casting call and let people know that this is a portfolio project, and you would like to see if anyone is willing to do it for free. Lots of people online are pretty enthusiastic about joining fan-dubs or dubbing projects even if it doesn't pay, and if you advertise the premise, you will have PLENTY of takers.

Or, regardless of whether you sound like a character or not, you do it yourself, with family/friends helping for roles of the opposite gender. Your credits should look like this:

(Credits are from Matthew Gafford's "A Fox in Space Episode 2")

Or, additionally, you can collab with dubbing productions like Alex Henderson did for "Return to Krocodile Isle" with Bootleg Dub Productions:

The bottom line is that there's no excuse for resorting to AI, especially if you claim to hate AI. You're just a hypocrite.

>"So you hate fanart then!"

NOT REMOTELY COMPARABLE. If you wanna compare this to fanart, this is the equivalent of tracing over someone else's work without their permission and adding a side note that it doesn't belong to you. The fanart/voice comparison only works when you're doing an IMPRESSION of a character. AI is plagiarizing someone's voice with existing content. Someone doing Sonic voice impressions based on a specific actor is the equivalent of fanart, while using a Sonic AI voice of the existing actor is the tracing.

>"You must hate YTPs where they splice together or isolate certain audio!"

THAT'S NOT COMPARABLE EITHER, DIPSHIT. YTPs are done using PRE-EXISTING recorded lines that the actors were compensated for! AI is generating entirely brand new "recordings" that the actors have no compensation for! Actors like Long John Baldry with the famous "PINGAS" line or Gary Schwartz with "Pootis" were asked to record those lines, and paid for it. You're generating brand new content with an AI voice that they were not asked to record, nor compensated for.

>"This was for his portfolio! It's a harmless indie project!"

See, this one is harmful to the animator specifically. A big thing I've learned about the animation industry, having learned from my friend who went to art school, having learned under famous animators, and having collaborated/cooperated with a LOT of her peers, is that the animation industry is a buddy-system team effort. Want to make an animation with voices? Hey, these guys over here want to be VAs and are looking for any kind of little work they can to see if they can get the hang of it. Cool, let's work on this together! Now, when you're an animator with a portfolio using AI, you've essentially told your peers to go fuck themselves. In addition to that, you're telling your potential employers these details about yourself that you may not want them thinking:

You have no moral integrity and you're willing to cut corners when put into an unfavorable situation.

You're dishonest, and you'll cheat out other people who could stand to benefit from having a role in your portfolio.

You're unintuitive, and can't think outside the box when it comes to resources being scarce.

You're lazy and unwilling to look for an ethical solution if you're lacking important aspects of your projects like the voice actors.

And even worse, these people defending this situation are bouncing between "It's a passion project, who cares!" and "It's a portfolio, who cares!" PICK ONE, BECAUSE THERE'S A VAST DIFFERENCE IN NUANCE BETWEEN "FUN PASSION PROJECT" AND "SERIOUS PORTFOLIO WORK".

>"AI isn't hurting the integrity of art or harming anyone!"

Hi, remember when Erica Lindbeck asked a Youtuber to remove their video of her voice being used in AI to sing a song? And did so professionally and even stated the person she contacted was very sweet and understanding about it? AND PEOPLE FUCKING CHASED HER OFF OF TWITTER BECAUSE SHE HAD AN ISSUE WITH HER VOICE, HER FUCKING VOICE, BEING USED IN WAYS SHE DIDN'T CONSENT FOR? It wasn't just about the silly AI parodies, she even said, and I quote, "It's not about *this* video in particular or *this* creator specifically. I've had a content creator make an AI video of my character [referring to her character of Loona on TV show Helluva Boss] saying disparaging remarks regarding the show I was on. Literally putting words in my mouth that could easily be taken as mine. As an artist, that is so terrifying. I absolutely believe these people are making this stuff for fun, and are not fully aware of the negative effects AI content could have on the people whose voices they're using. I never meant for this creator to be dogpiled." And people still decided to attack her and just further disrespect her wishes. People refused to treat her like a fucking human being because the shiny keys they drool over and play with are violating and intrusive, after all the horrible shit she's gone through the year before with losing her boyfriend Billy Kametz. What it's doing is solidifying the perception that "AI is no big deal and who cares what people do with it, just let us have fun you fucking stuck-up asshole".

>"It's fine when small-time indie creators are using it, it just shouldn't be done by big corporations".

And now you've just admitted you have no fucking integrity. If corporations are looking at all these AI covers and AI projects being done on small scale, why should they give a shit if they do it too? I mean, everybody's doing it right? Who cares?

You're just affirming their notion that actors deserve to be cheated out of their work.

I'm sure there's a billion other excuses that some of these chucklefucks are going to come up with, but in the meantime, these are the biggest arguments I've seen (some people trying to argue with me DIRECTLY) coming from people. And I GUARANTEE these hypocrites are going to be coming out of the woodwork screaming when the next story breaks that a corporation is doing the exact same thing, or when it happens to someone they actually like. I know this isn't going to change anyone's mind if they're already set on treating VAs as non-humans, but if you're concerned about AI and actually have a moral backbone, these arguments are here for you if you need some good solid reasoning to fight back with.

Edit: Since making this post, I’ve calmed my shit down significantly more. I realize I’ve tended to come off as way too unapproachable whenever I tackle any sort of discourse, usually because I’m coming right off of a personal argument with someone else. And that blinds me to the fact that there are people out there who are nothing like the asshats I’ve just been arguing with.

So honestly and truly, if you have a good counterpoint, come and engage in the conversation. We’ll approach this civilly and see if we can’t at least gain a perspective, even if we still disagree with each other in the end.

#discourse #AI discourse #anti ai #Youtube

[nysocboy]

Gemstones Episode 3.7: The Handsome Man, misdirections, queerbaiting, and me yelling at the screen a lot

In Episode 3.6, we saw the aftermath of the Judy/BJ and Kelvin/Keefe breakups, with failed reconciliation attempts, a fist fight, and both Kelvin and Judy quitting their jobs at the church.  In this episode, things get even worse.

Title: "Burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."  Exodus 21:25. Fans argued like mad about trying to connect the burn/wound/stripe to the personalities or kidnapping strategies of the Gemstone siblings, but it's a misdirection. The previous verse has the more familiar "eye for eye, tooth for tooth." It just means that the punishment should fit the crime.

Burn for burn and all that:  During the evening of the day of the Aimee-Leigh Hologram debacle, the BJ-Stephen penis fight, and probably the Kelvin-Keefe rocking chair fight, Judy goes to a drug store to buy pain medication for BJ.  On her way home, goons from Peter's militia crunch her car with the Redeemer and grab her. 

Misdirection alert: the trailer makes it look like she is the one crunching. 

Chuck Montgomery tries to trick Jesse, and when that doesn't work, the goons shoot him with a tranquilizer dart.

Kelvin bangs on the door at Woodpecker's Carpentry, yelling: "Are there any woodworkers in there? I'm looking for Keefe Chambers!" Now that he's no longer worried about his job at the church, he's free to reconcile with Keefe.    But it's long after hours; the building is dark and deserted. Why would anyone be inside?  Besides, Keefe told Kelvin where he was working; wouldn't he give him his new home address, too?

Six militia men wearing scary masks surround Kelvin.  The trailer makes him look paralyzed with fear, but actually he is quite brave, trying to intimidate them and then defend himself.  They punch and hit him, and squirt a toxic liquid into his eyes -- which stings but has no long term effects.  Why does Kelvin need six guys to take him down?  Why does he get a more brutal kidnapping?  I don't know.

Screaming like a woman:  The three siblings are put in what everyone calls a chicken silo, although chickens are housed in coops.  They are tied to chairs, with pillowcases over their heads.  What for?  You don't need to be imprisoned and tied up both.

Kelvin yells for help. Uncle Peter enters and asks if he is "screaming like a woman," maybe a dig at his gayness, but more likely because he considers any emotion "like a woman."   He explains that the militia is holding them for ransom.

The handsome man: When Keefe arrives for work the next morning, he sees Kelvin's car with the doors still open, checks the ground for signs of a struggle, and asks his coworkers, "Have you seen The Handsome Man?"  This makes no sense, as Kelvin only visited once, for a few minutes, and most of the carpenters weren't paying attention.

Cut to Amber and BJ noticing that their partners didn't come home last night. Next, Eli, at the office even though he's retired and should be fishing, receives a scary video of Kelvin crying and Judy and Jesse screaming in rage.  The gay one has a "sensitive" reaction. Peter gives the ransom demand.  

Cut to BJ, Amber, Gideon, and Eli discussing the kidnapping with Sheriff Brenda. They were kidnapped in town, so it should be the Rogers Police. 

Notice that Keefe is not there.  Why didn't Eli call him?  Because his number has changed, because they have broken up, or because he is just a friend, not a partner?

The Freemans arrive.  Tiffany has made dolls of the siblings --very quickly -- "for you to hug and kiss until they come home safe."  She gives the Kelvin doll to Eli.  Same question:Why doesn't she save it for Keefe? Because they have broken up, or because they were never partners to begin with?

Geography problem: How did they get to Eli's house so fast?  Don't they live in Florida?  

The trailer made it seem like the militia sent the dolls, adding a hint of the paranormal that turned out to be a misdirection.  Still, they look like Gullah Island voodoo dolls: "You can hug and kiss them until your loved ones come home safe.  And if they ever stray, you can make their privates fall off." 

More queerbaiting after the break

It's Kelvin's casual acquaintance:  BJ, Amber, and Gideon walk out into the garden. Keefe finally arrives.  Why does it take him longer to get to the compound than the Freemans?  There's no evidence that he called the family to see if they knew what happened before driving over.

Upon seeing the partners and Gideon, Keefe walks through some hedges to reach them, while they bicker about his name.  "Look, it's Kelvin's friend, Chief.... I always heard it as Quiche."  You don't know the name of your brother-in-law's partner, when they've been together for more than two years?  And what's with the "friend"?  Do they mean a post-breakup friend, or friend as a euphemism for "lover," or are we being told that the guys are actually straight buddies?

Apprised that Kelvin was kidnapped, Keefe offers to help, but Gideon rebuffs him: "The police are handling it."  Ok -- "this is a family crisis.  I'll go."  

Amber nods. Yep, you're a stranger.  Not family.  Get lost.  This infuriated me even on a second viewing.  Friggin asshole, Keefe was admitted to the family in Season 2.  But, assuming that McBride isn't queer baiting, maybe Amber is referring to the breakup -- Keefe is an ex-lover, no longer family.  Or maybe she thinks that gay relationships don't count.  

Wait -- BJ calls out: "You're Kelvin's friend.  We're family.  We're in this together."  Amber glares at him, as if to say "He's a casual acquaintance, dude," but she doesn't resist as Keefe says "Together," kneels, and does a weird offering thing to the three of them.  Ok, maybe BJ is using "friend" as a closeted term for "lover."

Time for Church: Meanwhile, at the compound, Peter calls the siblings to church. 

Timeline problem:  This is a weekday -- Keefe had to go to work. Has time elapsed, or does the militia have church every day?

Peter threatens the siblings with a snake, then forces them to lead the service.  They can't do it without a well-lit stage, a sound system, a band, sermon notes, hymnals, and so on -- plus they're terrified.  Peter judges that they are incompetent -- in spite of their wealth, he is a superior preacher.  Has this all been a "whose dick is bigger" contest with Eli?

Back at the office, Jesse's crew has set up a phone-tracking system. Shouldn't the police be doing that?  When Peter calls about his ransom demand, Eli tries to keep him on the line by refusing to pay?  He hangs up.

The militia guys suggest killing one of the siblings, to let Eli know that they mean business. Timeline problem: If this is the day after the kidnapping, why are they getting so frustrated so soon? 

Peter thinks that this is a good idea, and goes to inform them.  "I'm going to kill one of you after service today."  Timeline problem: Is the church service still going on, or is this the next day?  Or the next Sunday?  The siblings don't look nearly as disheveled as they would be after a week in the chicken silo.

Kelvin's Butthole:  Everyone goes home and puts on their Sunday clothes for a prayer circle.  Timeline problem: Why go home and change to pray?  Or is this a week later?

Keefe is wearing a BDSM outfit: a carpenter's smock and pants with breakway tabs and a slave collar.  This photo, which appeared on IMDB a few days before the episode, is a major misdirection.  The Kelvin doll looks like a genital whip, and we can't tell that Amber is sitting next to him.  It looks like Keefe is involved in a BDSM scene with an unidentified woman,

At least Eli gave him the Kelvin doll, suggesting that he knows that Keefe is his partner, not a platonic pal.

Your One F*king Guy:  In the chicken silo, the siblings discuss their potential murder.  If Jesse goes, he wants Judy and Kelvin to take care of his kids. They refuse: "it's a big ask." But Gideon and Pontius are over 18, and Amber will still be around to take care of Abraham. This makes no sense.

Left: a muscleman to make the upcoming queerbaiting palatable.

Kelvin complains that no one will miss him if he goes. Not necessarily, Jesse points out: "Your one fucking guy with the dead eyes and the perm. He'll miss you." Judy agrees.  Why doesn't Jesse know Keefe's name?  Why does he use a description, as if trying to specify one out of Kelvin's dozens of friends?  And most importantly, why "friend,'" Queerbait McBride?

No, Kelvin says, "Not after the type of friend I've been to him. Should've had his back, but now I may never have the chance." I got really angry at these lines the first time, thinking that it was the Big Reveal: "Kelvin and Keefe are buddies. They've never been boyfriends.  Fooled you!" 

But after watching Episodes 3.8 and 3.9. we know that McBride was not queerbaiting. What could Kelvin possibly mean?   Is he just being closeted?  Or maybe he means that they've broken up, so technically they are post-breakup friends, not lovers.  

Are we almost done here?  During the prayer circle, Cousin Karl, unwilling to let his cousins be murdered, calls May-May and tells her where they are being held.  

Why doesn't she yell out "I know where they are!"  Instead she goes out to her car and drives away.  Gideon, waiting in Eli's car, follows.  Why is he waiting?  Eli is at home.  He might not need a driver again until tomorrow.  And why doesn't he call the family and say "I'm following May-May to the compound.  I'll give you the directions, and you can tell the police."

Cousin Karl, May-May, and Gideon then rescue the siblings. The end.  Boo! 

The full review is on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends

#the righteous gemstones #kelvin gemstone #keefe chambers #queerbaiting #misdirection #episode analysis

[rheallsim]

"I can't believe you talked me into this."

"C'mon, Mom, you deserve it! Think about how awesome it'll be to finally meet Mr. Taylor in person! Just smile at the camera and say a little about yourself—"

"But what if my friends see me? Can you imagine the things they'd say? …What if he doesn't like me?"

"Mom, it's impossible for him not to like you. It'll be fun! Do something for you for a change, and live a little. You deserve this."

"I suppose you won't ever let it go, will you? I hope I don't end up regretting this…"

Everyone, say hello to Alante Hopkins, my submission for @rainymoodlet's Daniel Taylor Bachelor Challenge!

Alante is a 42-year old mother of two grown boys, originally from Del Sol Valley. Alante was very young when she married her high school sweetheart Jeremy Hopkins, and while things were good for a while and they had two beautiful sons, Jeremy became more and more controlling and dissatisfied with his life. He blamed Alante (and even the boys) for his mental health issues, and used a lot of emotional abusive tactics to keep Alante with him for as long as he could. When they were together Alante was pretty meek, trying to keep her husband as mollified as she could for the boys' sake, but she wasn't able to protect them from everything.

At age 40, when the kids had both left for college, she found the courage to leave Jeremy and start a new life for herself. She bought a small cabin in Granite Falls, far away from Del Sol Valley and Jeremy's influence, and threw herself into the wilderness to begin a new life and start re-learning how to be self-sufficient.

When her sons heard that Daniel Taylor's Bachelor Challenge was accepting submissions, they immediately started plotting to get their mom to audition. Alante had been a huge fan of "Your Dad's Garage" when it originally aired, always watching the reruns over and over with her kids when they were young, and it was obvious she had a huge crush on Daniel considering how often she liked his posts on Simstagram. Her newfound love of the outdoors and woodworking just clinched it. The boys couldn't think of a better match for Daniel, or for a better way for their mom to come out of her shell a little bit and see just how wonderful she really is.

Full Name: Alante Misha Hopkins

Gender: Cis woman

Sexuality: Bisexual (has only ever been in a relationship with one man, though)

Age: 42

Height: 5'7"

Weight: 310 lbs

Children: Brandon Miles Hopkins (24), Clarence Jones (aka. "CJ") Hopkins (21)

Traits: Loves the outdoors, Maker, Family-oriented

Likes: The colour red, blues music, handiness, fishing

Dislikes: The colour pink, new age music, mischief

Feel free to change anything about her that you like to make her fit more with your aesthetic, Rainymoodlet! I hope you like her, and good luck and have fun with your challenge! I'm looking forward to watching it. 😁

#TS4 #S4 #The Sims 4 #Sims 4 #TS4 Bachelor Challenge Submission #TS4 Bachelor Challenge #TS4 CAS Noodling #CAS Noodling #rainymoodletbc

[joelockescoffee]

With all due respect to your last anon, it wasn't only a handful of stans who were tweeting about the video. All the big update sites shared it last night (US time) and there has been non-stop chatter about it in his tag ever since. Some update accounts deleted it, others didn't. Even the acggttat news accounts RT'd and reposted it on their Insta (although later deleted) and by early this morning US-time, the antis had well and truly come out of the woodwork. Imagine opening social media and seeing hundred and hundreds of posts/replies about an 10-second video in your mentions. I don't think it's immature to want to try to shut that down, and to close the door on having to see that by deleting the app.

Just because he's an actor doesn't mean he shouldn't stand up for himself. And maybe calling it out will encourage at least one person to think twice about taking and sharing pics/video of someone without their consent.

I'm going to miss seeing him and Joe on twitter but I am well and truly relieved they've stepped away. I'm just sad it got ruined for them so quickly by so-called fans.

I did not know all that happened, I have no words, people are insane and I agree with everything you said.

#j coffee answers

[lucithornz]

I am so glad you are enjoying writing for a new fandom! I am also excited to be on this mad journey with you XD

I'm amused by all the Logan fans coming out of the woodwork to see what absolute shenannigannery he's going to get up to in the bg of the RH plot XD (I am now one of them)

It has been so much fun!

And I am overjoyed that you are here with me(actually insane of you to learn about F1 for this but I expect nothing less at this point <3)

I did not think including him would be such a big deal, I like Logan and he fit the vibes I wanted for the other omega in the grid, apparently I am not alone. I love Logan he is so nice, and as an American I must support him(by support I guess that means including him in my a/b/o fanfiction but you get the idea lol)

#luci answers

[impossibletruths]

I would love to hear your thoughts on the Vox Machina cartoon! I agree that it's well-done but I'm a little lukewarm on some elements myself, and I wonder if we have preferences in common...

Full disclosure I haven't seen the latest episode batch so this is only going off ep 1-3 and I also think that probably my personal gripes are simply Personal Taste things that don't make it a bad adaptation—in fact some of them make it a good adaptation, I'd say—so grain of salt, not my circus not my monkeys, etc.

I don't love the 20min format and I don't love some of the characterization. It very much makes sense to simplify these relationships and character motivations—like I said, it's good adaptational work, and for a new viewer it makes complete sense to start where they do—but I really miss the richness of, well, open-ended RP scenes with years of character history. Which it's obviously impossible to recreate, especially since we've also lost almost 30 episodes worth of backstory (not to mention two years of Home Game Content) but the rejiggering of the party history (the whole "we're shitty mercenaries who don't care" as their starting point) doesn't thrill me, even knowing (both because I know the IP and because I know the tropes) that they're going to blossom into heroes (mostly—they are the SHITS).

I don't really care too much about the restructuring of story events (again, makes sense) but I do miss the relationships with Allura and Kima, the nuance of Keyleth and Percy, the general possibility of Kash and Zahra (esp if we end up getting the Chroma Conclave). There are things that make sense as a D&D game (the Main Character Syndrome of player characters, for example) that are just kind of really annoying to watch on screen (how they talk to Uriel and the council, for example). But again! The choices make sense if you're turning a hundred-hour story into like, a dozen 20-minute episodes of raunchy adventuring dramady.

Also there are some ship things I simply don't care for these days and it's a little annoying to see the Fans come out of the woodwork but we all knew that was coming.

Some things I do love include:

Matt Mercer being 50% of the background cast

The voice cast in general

Percy's anime glasses shine

Craven Edge

Pike and Keyleth

Vax and the Briarwoods

Vax's moment with the coin in the second episode. Vax in general; I missed him so much and I think the show's doing really well by him

#they had that moment outside the bar where pike was like ''what if we try doing some good for once'' and they were like ''nah'' #and I was like #Are You Sure That's My Vox Machina #also I know Scanlan has always been Like That but the way everyone's distinguishing trait has been turned up to 11. Don't Love That. #anyway #cr #asked and answered

[thelvadams]

(already see that we are getting the racists to come out of the woodworks for the keyes. didn't expect anything less from this fandom sadly) to your reply, i definitely agree, there is valid criticisms (one i have is that the pacing of the first episode was very strange but i see that a LOT in the first ep of any new show so i'm sure it will change) but yeah most of the negativity around the show is just from halo purists and racists so like, i have nothing to say to them knowing they will never be pleased! i did not expect them to unmask him THAT soon either like i was pleasantly shocked but it worked!! the casting directors did a great job casting pablo, he fits older john very well, which i loved seeing! (but i saw ppl on here saying pablo!john looks like he would call them a slur... bye) and exactly!! like you said, at the end of the day, this is an adaptation & the showrunners definitely wanted to stay true to the halo universe while also giving this timeline its own ability to expand on characters in a way the games have never been able to so i'm very excited to see what they have planned!

yup exactly, i agree with everything you said. honestly a lot of bungie purists halo fans have been insufferable for the past 10 years and i just wish some of them would move on and let everyone else enjoy the series as it goes to new places. i've got no desire to interact with any of those fans because they have nothing of value to contribute. and as that anonymous ask of mine proved, some of the community are just straight up racist. so yeah seeing their reactions is... exhausting.

but a lot of the 'big' names in the halo community have been much more positive about the show, and i'm more open to any criticisms they have because they actually know what they're talking about. tbh though most of the haters will have made up their mind about the show - there's no point in wasting energy on them, so i'm just going to ignore them. i just saw they released a new trailer for the rest of the season and it's left me pretty excited for the next episode 😊

#halo tv spoilers #halo paramount spoilers #halo #gordostevens #sorry these are always so slow i am terrible at answering my inbox

[jnjlen-ou-skinjbir]

Can you do A, C, O, P, S, and/or T :)

(Fandom ask -> Trailer Park Boys Edition)

A - My OTP(s), OT3(s), OTX(s)

Is this really a question ?

Ricky/Julian. Since ep.3 of S1 and tbh there's tons of mlm moments between the two that I'm beginning to get annoyed at waiting for them to finally realize they're meant for each other

(Sadly one of the reasons I think we will never see such an ending of the series is that if they end up in a romantic/sexual relationships, the braindead fans will come out of the woodwork "uuurrdurr SJW snowflake shit" and forgetting that the show has had a lot of nonhet characters/characters that could be read as nonhet before 2012/whenever the SJW "meme" took off)

And not really an OTP, but Lucy/Sarah is growing on me thanks to you!

C - A pairing I don't like and never will

Lucy/Ricky and Susan/Ricky bc I don't think they have enough chemistry (esp.compared to ) and they weren't healthy relationships.

Also Jacob/Trinity. Same thing, no chemistry (Jacob looks just like a glorified roomie) and it's a bit weird that he married Trinity after having dated Sarah... Like he's almost Ricky's age and dated Trin when she was a young adult. Make no mistake, despite the age difference I don't think Jacob's smart enough to be manipulating her into sth she doesn't want to do (and Trin can probably defend herself against the squiggly alien) , but I'm not a fan of the age gap.

O - Pick a random song, which ship/character does it make you think of?

I let my phone do the choosing and it fell on Moonspell's "Fireseason". It's a song I'd associate with Julian bc a) I headcanon him as goth/metalhead but also liking sad and melancolical songs and b) bc it's a song he could've been playing when he went to live outside of the park, with no one else (it's a recent song and was released before that season took place).

Alternatively I'd associate it with Bubbles, bc I can totally picture him playing the guitar part and singing

Or, if we wanna give the secondary characters a bit of love, Korpiklaani's "Vodka" for JRoc and the Rocpile, due to their vodka business

P - A new AU idea for the fandom

An AU where Ricky/Julian and Lucy/Sarah are in non-exclusive relationships and have some kind of poly ship going on. The four of them are formally co-parenting Trin, despite the "official parents" (=parents on the official papers) being Ricky and Lucy. But when it comes to school, it's usually Julian and Sarah who go to the meetings and pretend to be Ricky and Lucy, except Ricky and Lucy, even though they find the meetings boring and show up tipsy/slightly high, want to be involved in that aspect of their daughter's life so they end up barging in the room ten minutes late.

And another AUish situation where it is disclosed later on that Barb and Jim's child is nb, goes by Tristane, is a renowned actor who attended drama in university thanks to a scholarship and has had some kind of relationship with Trin. (Sadly, the return of Elliot to the show and playing a non female character seems impossible bc "hurrdurr SJW bad I identify as an attack helicopter" crowd. But it could be a great episode/scene about sexuality/gender punctuated with Rickyisms and Ricky showing acceptation and parental-like love but still being a bit confused, prompting Julian and Bubbles to correct him)

S - Personal headcanon

Julian's grandma was kind of a psychic, so that's why he thought he would be dying soon and listening to the psychics. And why he accepted Barb's crystals in the later seasons (but you already knew about that one)

T - Hard headcanons

Noone in the (extended) main cast is hetero what do you mean it's not a hc because it's the truth ?

Like I said a month-ish ago, I totally agree with the people who headcannoned Julian as a goth/fan of Sisters of Mercy. I can totally see Julian being into the new wave/post-punk/gothrock/early industrial scene and wearing the fishnets tops, band tees and leather pants with com at boots, maybe a choker, so that's why Lahey calls him Sexian. Julian dropped the style when he went to prison. He still listens to the music (hem hem new wave Madonna pic in his cell in TPB Jail hem hem) but he also listens to other stuff

At the beginning Ricky was making fun of him for listening to "post-park" and "golf rock", but Sisters of Mercy grew on him and Julian soon surprised himself to sing SoM's songs with the Rickyfied version of the lyrics (if anyone's interested I could provide an example)

(That's all. Sorry I couldn't answer sooner, I wanted to answer with little doodles and stuff but I counted on my uni's scan to be available but it's not until the 12th of February at least so I figured I'd better answer now)

#tpb #trailer park boys #tpb ask

[shinovii]

Oh wow, what a Saturday it's become! These episodes came out of the woodwork, and holy smokes I got so excited to watch em!!!

Okay......how many episodes have we had involving Royal Woods Elementary? Not complaining, just needed a headcount. Also, with an episode name like "Stall Monitor", I was expecting something different. Hmm......ah well, on with the show!!!

Tonight is Parent Teacher Conference night, the single most worrisome day for any student in elementary school.....and maybe middle, and Mrs. Johnson aims to speak to each student's parents. Yes, that also includes Lincoln's as well and he's beyond worried (thank Clyde for the paper bag assist). With all the potential moments he listened, he feels it's gonna be rough for him once Mrs. J speaks to Lynn Sr. and Rita. As such, the man with the plan intends to put a halt to it, but not without some help from the gang...

Okay show of hands, how many actually dreadend Parent Teacher Conferences? It always feels like it wasn't as terrible as most shows made it out to be (well.....unless you were that one mischievous kid, that is.) But I digress, not too bad an episode this one was. It's always interesting seeing what kind of plan Lincoln cooks up because there's many different things he can think of, which makes for some pretty entertaining shenanigans. I'm also glad we got to see the gang's parents show up as well, and even they gave me some good chuckles too (plus seeing Liam's Mee Maw was every bit as crazy as I had thought she'd be). I'll admit the ending was just as I had figured, but it wasn't bad. Overall a solid episode, gave the gang more to work with, and shows Lincoln in his lovable goofy environment.

Also, always count on the McBrides to deliver when on screen!

I was wondering when Luan was gonna get another episode, lo and behold! Not only that......it's a ship episode too! Great!!! But, even something this good is not without its blemishes....

In the lovely residence that is Casa Loud, awakens a bright and very chipper Luan Loud! It's for good reason too, as it just so happens be her very first date with Benny (yeah, Benny! Ya know, from such classic episodes as L is For Love and Stage Plight)! It's such a joyous occasion for her, but unfortunately it gets cut short as Luan seems to have grown a bulbous boil (no one tell Elmer). Timing........it is impeccable and it hits Luan like a truck! After some helpful (and pretty much ignored) advice from dear big sis Lori, Luan sets out to get her pestering pimple remedied before her big date and the siblings are here to help!

Ohhhh wow this was just a treat! I know it's the typical zit plot, but this was a good way to do this to be honest. Luan, even when she's trying to handle a serious situation, continues to make light of it in her own way and I love it (plus Mr. Coconuts is at his A-game this time around)! Is it ever a doubt in my mind why she remains my third favorite Loud sister? No.......no there is not! We also needed an episode that helps add to the newfound ship that is Luanny (ship development is a damn needed thing), and this one delivers a tad bit! Credit to Benny too, he comes off as a pretty decent character in this! Hard to believe he was just some random teen without a single line of dialogue before. See, this is something I want TLH to do more of, expanding the world and fleshing out the extra stuff (whether in the show or comics, I don't mind it). It would help add more depth to characters that people in the fandom like but are very underappreciated. As for the closing moments, it is sweet, simplistic, but cracks me up in good Luan fashion! It's a very nice episode, but not something to be overly hyped about tho.

Well I guess that's about it for this double feature, and another Saturday done! Until next-

Oh......oh my......it's.....it's a......a.........TRIPLE FEATURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay so, remember after The Great Lakes City Tour I said I "wasn't" going to do impressions on episodes of The Casagrandes? Well........THIS ONE IS A HELL OF AN EXCEPTION!!!!!!! Yes everybody, I'm talking about "The Horror-Scope", and for good reason too! I see great things out of this one, so says the fortune! Let's get underway, shall we?

We begin this episode with.....astrology? Yes, it seems Rosa is about to watch a fortune telling show by "Ernesto Estrella" (voiced by George freaking Lopez, yes! Wait, he voices a character named.....Ernie? Ha!), and young Ronnie Anne is being a bit of a skeptic. However, it seems today's fortune reads that fire signs are gonna find love, and wait a second......Ronnie Anne's a fire sign (conveniently). She may deny, but then "COMPLETELY UNEXPECTED AND NOT WELL TIMED FOR THE PLOT", she gets a call from Lincoln......and he's on his way to hang out with her! Rosa, possibly overhearing somehow, sees this as a sign, but Ronnie Anne is quick to deny it saying the two are "just friends" (Careful when saying such a thing Ronalda, the power of love is always so strong). So the snowy haired boy arrives and the two set off to spend the day, but is the fortune proving true to Ronnie Anne? We'll find out!

Sigh.........ya know, I ship these two so much, and if I have to go through so much slowburn to see this at the endgame.......hit me with EVERYTHING YA GOT IN THE COMING EPISODES!!!! Let's be honest, this was Ronniecoln fuel in every step of the way, and by gosh do I love it! The interactions, the dialogue, even the many scenes it had were filled with shipteasing and it'd be hard to miss any of it (they know full well what to do with these two, I'm sure of it). I will admit I'm a little bummed that Sid didn't play a bigger role in the shipteasing as well, but one can't leave a pet bird flying away forever (unless you're Sergio). Also, love the callback to previous TLH episode with Lincoln, it kept some good continuity which is always welcome! Even the closing moments were just a bundle of feels for me, I was so happy by the end of it! Now I may not be the top Ronniecoln shipper around (I'd be "flying too close to the Sun" if I claimed I was lol), but I'd still recommend this even if you like the dynamic these two have when they're together! A fun episode, good choice of a guest star, and tons of shipteasing that I'd watch over and over!

Well then, I guess that's it for our triple feature! I just couldn't let this slip by me, not by a longshot! This was a crazy good day TLH/TCG fans and I couldn't be anymore satisfied! Until next time everybody when the next new episodes come by!!!!

#the loud house #the casagrandes #season 4 impressions #stall monitor #lincoln loud #a pimple plan #luan loud #tlh benny #the horror-scope #ronnie anne santiago #ronniecoln