#episode is 'the case of the split ticket'

[blistering-typhoons]

the entire 1954 holmes/watson dynamic in one scene

#episode is 'the case of the split ticket' #holmes has just been busted for trying to put a wallet back in a man's pocket and misunderstandings ensue #god i love THEM #sherlock holmes #john watson #howard holmes

[carefulfears]

so i really love whenever you call mulder & scully best friends. wanna talk about your top 5 favorite moments of their friendship?

DO I EVER

1/ little green men

they have a secret code. they have their own language.

when mulder gets to his desk that morning, the photo of samantha is tipped over, and he knows that this means to meet scully at the watergate. which, first of all, is unbelievably dorky. these two work in the same building. these two have cell phones.

but they have been split up and reassigned and it is not a phase you guys it is the end of the world!!!!

when he arrives in the parking garage, he asks what she wants, and she responds, "to know that you're alright."

they have a secret code and their own language and for nothing more than to check in.

(shoutout to the depression hair era, they are so funny for both getting bangs the moment they were separated. that's how you know things are really bad for the girlies.)

when he sinks down to the floor and tells her the george hale story, she crouches down next to him, listens, tells him not to give up.

you can tell that it makes her uneasy to see him defeated, to see him doubting himself and what he believes in. she's almost trying to convince him of aliens in that moment, telling him that he's seen so much and reminding him of samantha. trying to spark something in him.

they have a secret code, they have their own language, and when he leaves town, he buys the plane ticket under a name that only she will recognize. she cracks his computer password in three tries.

earlier, after skinner questions scully, he tells CSM that she's telling the truth, she really doesn't know where mulder is. "because if she knew, she wouldn't be so worried about him."

they aren't as hard to decipher as they want to believe.

PAUSE!!!!! this is the cuntiest thing he's ever done. the sunglasses, the denim, the boots, the dangerous lack of exit strategy...anyway

she interprets his clues, she follows without obligation, they go back together. hand in his hair, not giving up, just like she started the episode.

in the end, they have nothing. the hail mary trip resulted in empty tables and silent tape recordings.

one thing i didn't notice until i rewatched this one the other day is that it's not when he says "i still have you" that she takes his hand.

it's when he switches the tape from the record of his failed excursion to his actual assignment, hours of listening to slimy men talk about strippers.

she listens with him for a moment before shaking her head, and squeezing his hand. she does understand that this isn't what he wants to be doing, and that it's disheartening.

2/ tooms

i could list every season one episode here. i could do a whole other post just about season one. i could do a whole other post just about season one, and include every episode. but i guess i will settle for this one.

this is my favorite season, and this is my favorite MSR.

him waving the pine tree air freshener in her face when she said he smells 😭😭😭

squeeze was all about the choice between climbing the ladder and the "out there" but "good" work of the basement, with all of the ridicule and consequence that come with it.

its sequel episode is about the aftermath of that decision, what it means to choose the side of the victim, to stop reaching for personal success.

(this shot is so beautiful, her face through CSM's smoke)

tooms opens with scully in a negative performance review, skinner (in his very first scene!! we love you skinman) going over her reports, CSM lurking in the corner.

the two share a look, then warn scully against having too much of an open mind, telling her that it is her "responsibility to see that these cases are by the book"

"by the book" becomes the theme of the episode, with the phrase repeating multiple times throughout.

this isn't the first time that the show has explored this topic, with young at heart also centering a debate of “by the book” protocol, what it really means, and who it really serves. ending with this final dialogue:

SCULLY: Mulder, I know what you did wasn't by the book.

MULDER: Tells you a lot about the book, doesn't it?

“by the book” isn’t an easy order to follow when you have a partner who doesn’t believe in it, and you aren’t sure you do either.

it’s not an easy order to follow, for the navy captain’s daughter who worships authority.

she does try though, and she's initially frustrated with mulder's behavior in the case. she tells him that he "sounded so....." at the trial, and she's reluctant to pursue his methods without approval from the bureau.

ultimately, when she comes to bring mulder something to eat on his unauthorized stakeout, she tells him that what he's doing is not proper surveillance protocol, and he good-naturedly accuses her of peddling "the book."

she responds, "this is not about doing it by the book, this is about you not having slept for three days." and tells him that he is inevitably going to get hurt.

to her, it's not about following the rules or pressure from the bureau or respecting authority, it's about making sure he's okay.

when she tells him to go home, that she'll take over the stakeout, he smiles and shakes his head (it's almost the same look that he gives her years later in redux ii, when she tells him to lay it all on her. just less tears.)

and i know that we tend to focus on the next part of this scene, but this line stands out to me too, as he declines because he doesn't want her to get "in trouble."

he doesn't want her to break the rules or disobey authority, and he still believes she'll be head of the bureau someday.

it kinda makes me teary, this stupefied look on his face at her response. when she looks at him unflinching and says, "mulder, i wouldn't put myself on the line for anybody but you."

they are so kind to each other. they really don't care about official reprimands in files or welfare protocols; they each just want the other to get some rest, to have a bright future.

he relents, allows her to take over, on the condition that she calls "if anything happens. immediately. i'll be here." and suggests she catch the sports talk radio show

she bends down to give him one last smile and eye roll as she exits the car

and makes a joke to herself while walking back to her own. best best best friends.

3/ tempus fugit

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR SPECIALAGENTDANAKATHERINESCULLYYYYY

what better way to celebrate life than annoying the hell out of your best friend on her birthday?

the way he clearly gave the waiters her name and this snowball and sparkler and sang "special agent dana katherine scully" while they all sang "happy birthday dana" is one of his most embarrassingly extra moments and it never fails to make me laugh

she rolls her eyes at him, but the way she stares when he's not looking says so much. they both know why this year gets sparklers and song when last year didn't. they both know there might not be a next year.

he's literally never been more irritatingly overjoyed lmao. and he brought presents! ("oh, you've got to be kidding me" "just something that reminded me of you")

he said "i didn't know it was your birthday, scully!" with a wrapped gift in his pocket, always prepared with a smile and a cover story

he does this same thing in memento mori, after getting the call to come to the hospital, when his first words of the episode are "i stole these from some guy with a broken leg down the hall. he won't be able to catch me." about the flowers we watched him come through the front doors holding

he clearly puts thought into these gestures, but everything is so fragile. neither of them are comfortable with what too much sincerity would mean, how limited it all is.

but they find little ways to give to each other anyway, they hang out in bars and roll their eyes and discuss the meaning behind a keychain.

if this is the last birthday, maybe it's worth a little vulnerability (and annoying song and dance), that he did it up right.

4/ one breath

another Mulder Gift™️ entry. god, the sweetness here is just overwhelming. he is so strange and tries so hard.

this whole scene is one of my favorites of the series, but i love this little moment so much.

it's so inadequate, in the end. to see someone that you thought you'd lost, your most important person, who was gone for so long, and have nothing more to give them than a shitty VHS sports tape.

but what else can you do? he's so quiet and self-conscious in this moment. he raced to the top of mountains and stood on broken cable cars and choked a man and wore her necklace around his neck for months and wept on the floor. he had the strength of her beliefs, and he prayed. he held her hand by her bedside after they pulled the plug.

so much goes unsaid between them, because how can you say it in words? how can you do anything but smile and buy something stupid at the gift shop?

she makes a joke while he smiles at the floor, but it's not a joke, not really. he's there and he's giving her whatever he can and he's cracking jokes, and she knew there was a reason to live. that's it right there.

5/ detour

GO, GIRL!

this is a best friends episode. this is a "we survived that hospital and we refuse to spend our one wild and precious life at the annual FBI teamwork seminar, if you need us, we'll be lost in the forest" episode.

look at her trying not to laugh while he's making sarcastic comments at her in the backseat. can you imagine carpooling with these two? they are forever passing notes and whispering behind backs.

she is not making it to the teamwork seminar. she is not getting her wine and cheese, either. she is looking for mothmen in western florida.

they think they're so much better than that communication exercise, just to make vague innuendo in a motel room.

they tell each other all about native species and how ticks can halt their metabolism and the livestock that was killed in a town 30 years ago. she teases him about his filing system.

neither of them tire of bashing the hell out of that teamwork seminar.

they talk about death. about searching for meaning in life. about which flintstones character they relate to the most. they swap dirty jokes.

she fusses over his grave injury (a dislocated shoulder) and holds him. sings to him so that he'll know she's still there.

a few years down the road, she'll sing that same song to their baby, on one of her last days with him. she'll sing to him about this night, about his dad, about her favorite memories.

sitting there together in that forest in florida, they have already started to carry the weight of near-misses. of lost time, of almosts, of purposeful disease.

they have come a long way and taken on a lot, in the years since the parked car outside tooms' house and the garage at the watergate.

but they have yet to be separated longer than 90 days. they have yet to lose a child. they have yet to plan funerals and prison breaks.

there's something about that time, that ability to just sit in the woods and talk about everything, looking for mothmen, that is so precious and so special.

and when she tells him that night that she had struggled to find meaning, that's where it is.

#thank you for this #dream assignment #they ARE best friends #and it's my favorite #msr #asks #little green men #tooms #tempus fugit #one breath #detour #kae meta

[shirtlesssammy]

The Winchesters 1x12: The Tears of a Clown

Fort Wayne, Indiana

At Hugo’s Midway of Fun! Wally wanders the quiet carnival paths between tents. His friend wonders if this is the best way to spend his last night in Fort Wayne. (I mean, probably? That town can’t offer that much entertainment, right?) Wally just wants to have FUN! You know, A GOOD TIME! And, lo, a ticket for Limbo’s Hall of Happy! appears! (So many exclamation points to start this episode, guys!) 

He picks it up and starts to hear distant, tinny music. A tent appears. His friend does not hear or see the tent. 

Wally wanders closer to the tent, and a kindly clown pops his head out of the tent opening. 

The friend hears a security guard and runs one way, while Wally follows the 100% uncreepy, totally normal, very cool clown into the tent. 

(Boris: I had thoughts of grabbing screenshots of all the posters in the tent, but there are SO many, and my brain started to short-circuit after a while.’Alive! All Alive!’ ‘Freaks!’ (Lol, that’s for us clowns, I presume), ‘The Devil Child’. Hmm, not sure what ‘John: is he a she’ means, but we already have enough to unpack.)

Anyway, Wally finds an open door in the tent and, I presume, decides “In for a penny, in for a pound” and goes into that dark doorway too. He finds himself in a hall of mirrors, where Limbo the Clown’s laughter echoes menacingly. Wally turns and sees a flash of Limbo (NOT SCARY). Suddenly fun times aren’t so fun anymore. He looks in the mirror to find a clown staring back at him. 

“Hunting’s a dishonest business. You gotta lie all the time about who you are and what you do. But the hardest lies aren’t the ones you tell other people. They’re the ones you tell yourself.”

(Jeremy Renner chin hands gif) Tell us more, Dean. 

Mary and John are on the run looking for the mystery man. John managed to snag some sweet sandwiches while on the move (1. Like father, like mystery man son, B. That does not look like a very good sandwich, John). Mary worries about John’s headspace, and John– 

*Credits Alert*

SPECIAL GUEST STAR RUTH CONNELL!!! SQUEEEEEEE!!!!

Sorry, where were we? John is showing why he earned his John Winchester A+ Parenting tag, only he’s being an ass to his future wife. And kudos to this show, and this season, and Drake, for being able to make us genuinely like John, but have his anger and pent up aggression manifest naturally. 

He blows up at Mary just as Carlos and Lata enter the motel room. Awkward. 

They have a case! 

Mary thinks this missing person case is a good idea while they’re in town. John is still in full surly mode and questions her judgment. Too bad, dude, you’re working the case. 

Meanwhile, after a too long hiatus, Ada is back on our screens, and has found a witches’ gathering hoping to peddle her wares. She’s still a bit of a novice witch though and is clearly intimidated by the others, but she needs magic to stop the Akrida. 

Back at the carnival, the gang hunts a clown. 

Lata, in her best green and blue outfit, is having the time of her life. The rest? Not so much. Mary suggests talking to another carnival clown to start. They pose as journalists to learn more about Wally’s disappearance. He tells them that Wally is, “the latest victim of Limbo. Limbo the Clown.” 

He’s a carnival urban legend. No one knows if he’s a man or a monster. “He goes from carnival to carnival pitching his tent –Limbo’s Hall of Happy-- and luring folks inside. And once he does, no one ever sees you again.” Good times! 

The gang decides to split up to work the case further. Mary starts to suggest Lata and Carlos head back to the motel room, but John jumps in and decides to go back with Lata. Yeah, everything is fine, guys. That leaves a pissed off Mary and Carlos to work the carnival grounds (while a creepy dude tracks them). 

Ada, meanwhile, is playing the poker game of her life. She, sadly, can’t win the game, and she can’t prove that she’s strong enough to handle the magic they have to give her. 

As Ada leaves, a mysterious, hooded witch approaches her. WHO ARE WE KIDDING! It’s Rowena! We’d recognize that accent anywhere! 

At the motel, Lata checks in with John before they deep-dive into clown lore. He’s good. Totes fine. And a lying liar who lies. 

While wandering the midway, Mary confesses to Carlos what’s been happening with John. Carlos hopes that Ada can get the magic, and then Mary bursts into tears and flings herself into Carlos’ arms. Ngl, I was thrown by how bad this acting was, until it was revealed that Mary can’t act! Ha. She noticed the man that’s been following them and needed a way to alert Carlos. Carlos can’t act either because the dude makes him immediately. 

At the motel, Lata has a breakthrough! She finds that Limbo’s real name was Jerome Haskins. He worked with a carnival in the 1920s, but during the depression and dust bowl, the job disappeared. The lore says that he traded his soul for dark magic for a spell that would allow him to forget all his problems so he “could stay happy forever.” 

At the carnival, Mary full-body tackles the stalker. Go Mary! It seems the guy wants to know what they’ve learned about Limbo. He lost his kid brother, Roger, 30 years ago, and he’s never stopped looking for him. Clarence (!!!!) tells the two about how his parents died when he was 18. To cheer up his little brother after the funeral, he took him to the carnival. Only, Roger ran away. Clarence wishes he would have helped his brother through his grief instead of taking him to the carnival. (AND thank you every last Tumblrina for comparing this story to Sam and Dean going to the pie festival in the finale random episode that means nothing and is currently being erased BTTF style.)

The gang has a theory that Limbo is targeting people who are sad. He uses their grief to lure them into his tent. Clarence tells the others that they don’t have much time. The carnival leaves that night. He has research on Limbo that he can give them. The gang splits up again –this time John is stuck working with Mary. 

In the Clubhouse atrium, Ada hangs out with ROWENA. She’s after a grimoire, which Ada will trade back to her in exchange for powerful magic. Typical Rowena, amirite? Except NOPE! Rowena dumps the grimoire on the floor and announces that she was never after the book! “Those hags may have dismissed your green-thumbed magic,” Rowena says, “but not me. I’m here for the demon you trapped in a plant.” (Oh, how I adore the spotlight on this being a unique and possibly rare gift, since it makes the en-plantification extra special.) 

At the carnival, John’s bantering with Mary falls somewhere between passive-aggressive and aggressive-aggressive. Mary proposes that John has been using their new relationship as a happy distraction, so he doesn’t have to actually confront any of his issues. John accuses her of failing to follow up on her normal life plans. 

Dialogue for further GAAAAAAH Supernatural feelings analysis: 

Mary: “Well sorry I’m too busy trying to save the world!”

John: “There it is, Mary. The eternal excuse!”

A cough that suspiciously sounds like “Dean” leaves my lips. Mary dismisses John and strides away, only to find a ticket on the ground. It’s a ticket for…LIMBO THE CLOWN. Mary and John split up to find the clown’s tent. Mary literally walks past this booth called “Sitting Ducks.” SITTING. DUCKS.

For Circus Horror Puns Science:

Somebody please buy the design crew a very large cake. Just past the “Sitting Ducks” booth stands the dark entrance to Limbo’s tent. Mary radios John and then heads in without waiting for him. She disappears into the invisible doorway just as John arrives. 

At the motel, John fills in Lata and Carlos on Mary’s disappearance. Lata’s confused about why Mary got taken by the clown. After all, she wasn’t upset like the others! John makes a face and Lata and Carlos quickly catch on - and Carlos ain’t happy. AWKWARD. Lata pulls out some lore on the occultist who gave Limbo his magic mirror. Limbo can only stay happy if he infects others with his, uh, happiness. If just one person decides to return to the real world, Limbo’s fragile power network collapses and he dies. All they have to do now is find an invisible tent! John brings up the ticket Mary found, and they realize that they need to find a ticket in order to see Limbo’s tent. Carlos remembers one from Clarence’s Creepy Clown Memorabilia Collection™. He pulls out an original ticket from their stash, and they prepare to head out.

Meanwhile, Rowena is cooing over the demon plant. “So much evil in such a small package!” she marvels. And I laugh at what could also be a very apt description of Rowena at this point in her life. Ada’s concerned about Rowena’s sudden interest in demon-kind, but Rowena soothes her. She’s not interested in intervening in the Akrida war. Instead, she wants to interrogate Evil!Bonsai for information about HER SON! (Now, I know some people think this is future!Rowena trying to rescue Crowley which is sweet. But I prefer to see this as past Rowena and we just get…more! More history, more depth. I love it.)

Ada is heavily swayed by the lost child argument for, as you see, she ALSO has a son! But that’s still not enough to let Rowena just sashay out of the Atrium. Instead, as Rowena tries to do just that, Ada shouts at her to stop and vines grow up from the floor to encase Rowena. While Ada stares in shock at WHAT HER HANDS HATH WROUGHT, Rowena blasts her with a ball of purple power and knocks her out.

At the carnival, workers are packing up tents. It’s their last chance to break into Limbo(‘s tent) and save Mary! And also some other people! Carlos, Lata, and John all take hold of the old ticket and the tent shimmers into view. It’s time to monster hunt, babeez. 

For Oh No Don’t Go In There Science:

They head into the ante-tent. While Carlos and Lata examine the periphery, John walks ALONE into the interior doorway. The doors slam shut, trapping him in the giant maze of mirrors. Covering his eyes, John starts looking for Mary. The clown dashes into view, a crackly blur of malevolent grayscale ghoul. 

Limbo taunts John, chuckling, and tells him that he’ll join him soon enough. Limbo’s gleeful, as Mary appears. She smiles beatifically, her voice high and light. Mary tells John to stay in there with her. They can be happy together! “There’s a world out there we have to save,” John begs her. She tells John to give up and look in the mirror behind her. He’ll be caught in the spell. John wheels around away from the mirror only to discover that the enchanted mirror was actually on his other side! Tricksy Limbo!

They’re both immediately CLOWNIFIED. 

Meanwhile, Lata and Carlos are trying to break in to save John and Mary, when a clown car pulls up. “Oh, gross, no!” Carlos says as all of Limbo’s clowns start to decamp. They discover that the tent has sealed itself, trapping Carlos and Lata. Making matters worse, Limbo emerges from his mirrored interior maze with clowned-up John and Mary at his side. Y I K E S

Carlos and Lata beg their friends to return to reality but those feuding sad sacks are happier being clowns. Carlos and Lata flee to the clown car and lock themselves inside, as clowns descend. A small clown child pops up with a grin.

Carlos recognizes Roger, Clarence’s brother. He’s still a little kid! While Lata freaks out, Carlos talks to Carlos. He quickly connects to him, bringing up his own tragic past in losing his parents. “You are not alone. You have a family that loves you.” Carlos tells him that Clarence has been looking for him and never gave up, and Roger’s clown smile falls. He starts to listen to Carlos. Limbo realizes what’s up and shouts at him to “cheer up!” through the window. But it’s to no avail. Carlos breaks through, Limbo shatters, and the tent disappears suddenly. They find themselves in the bright sunshine of the next day. People of many eras mill around and hug each other. They’re gonna have…a LOT to unpack. 

Ada wakes up after getting knocked out, to find Rowena STILL there! She wisely turns down a cup of Rowena’s healing tea and they talk. Rowena announces that Ada passed her test, and invites her to join her coven!

Rowena doesn’t know too much about the Akrida, but she knows the queen is going to use the alignment of five planets to emerge. Ada demands the magic, and Rowena turns over a crystal. The crystal just needs a wee bit of power. It just needs…a piece of her SOUL. (Natasha: Noooooo don’t do it Ada!)

In the field, they mull over the stories of the survivors and their own ordeal. Lata asks if they remembered being clowns. UM YES. Mary thought it was kind of nice, which seems like a major plea for help. John and Mary discuss, and apologize to each other for getting angry. John wants to know if their relationship is solid, but we get NO ANSWER because Millie pulls up. She and Betty found a witness who saw Kyle enter the garage after making his 911 call saying he was already there! Now they just have to drive back to town and clear John’s name. Easy peasy. 

At the clubhouse, the brain trust reviews maps and star charts to try to figure out when the queen will emerge. Ada reveals that she has a major piece of mojo now, but FAILS to reveal the soul shattering secret that powers it. (Millie looks skeptical - I hope she protects Ada!) The gang celebrates until Lata drops a little science fact - the planetary alignment the queen needs to escape has just begun. 

Natasha: We LOVED the retro horror vibe of this episode! It felt like we’d stepped into a Ray Bradbury carnival story. I LOVE that Ada’s magic is explored further as a unique earth-based magic, and that the society of witches exist as a glowing, glitter-dusted dark magic speakeasy. This was all SO GOOD.

__

Your Quoteshadow Game Needs Some Work:

Hunting’s a dishonest business. You gotta lie all the time…about who you are and what you do. But the hardest lies aren’t the ones you tell other people. They’re the ones you tell yourself.

“Did we interrupt something?” “I’d like to say the answer is yes, but thank you, Lata, for making things more awkward.”

Don’t let the warded door hit you on the way out

If we survive this, I promise I’m never gonna eat cotton candy again!

Oh my god, we’re going to die in here. In a clown car!

__

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive!

#spnwin #spnwin spoilers #spnwin recap #the winchesters #spn #mary campbell #john winchester #ada monroe #carlos cervantez #latika desai #millie winchester #rowena macleod #the tears of a clown #spnwin 1x12

[schismusic]

THE DISCOGRAPHY PRINCIPLE, Episode 5: Fugazi, or: People in high places are in on the kill taker

This is the first and only episode of the series that has a subtitle actually originating within the discography of the band it's discussing. More precisely, this sentence is in the packaging to a 1993 album called In on the Kill Taker, originally meant to be an EP produced by Steve Albini, local hero (you may recall him from Episode 2 of this very same series). At one point the band simply couldn't seem to stop producing new material, and collectively decided the new songs needed a more "produced" sound. So they split ways with Steve Albini right before his big breakthrough producing Nirvana's In Utero. The reason why I picked a sentence within Fugazi's work instead of turning to the usual postmodern shortcircuiting techniques is that Fugazi exist outside of any other reasoning, exclusively and crucially on their own merits and terms. There is no other band like Fugazi.

Think about it: upon reviewing any post-hardcore influenced band, no self-respecting professional reviewer after 1998 will ever compare them to Fugazi directly, even when they'd be right in doing so. There are a number of euphemisms to soften that comparison: maybe At the Drive-In (whose best record by far also happens to be their most Fugazi-inspired, as well as one of my favourite records ever), perhaps Refused if we're feeling exotic and we forget how firmly their tongue is lodged in their cheek at all times. Nobody touches Fugazi unless it's about Fugazi, and even then it's basically a given — they are either the best band ever or somewhere up there. If you don't know Fugazi, that might sound a bit too heavy-handed, and perhaps even get you to feel some aversion to Fugazi, until you listen to the records and realize "oh God, they were right". Here is where I, personally, realized that was the case for me:

Fugazi's superiority, at first, seems to lie within their internal policies and politics, their choices to sell any of their work and tickets exclusively below a certain price and to specifically push for all-ages shows, their strict code of ethics concerning relationships with fans and recorded music producers: no merch, no branding, no nothing, the point was first and foremost to make punk music with an attitude for research and dynamism and a social/political edge that wasn't afraid to tackle any subject matter in any manner that was felt necessary, all the while remaining firmly against (against discrimination, against violence, against a number of mainstream ideal models of conduct and thought). All else was window dressing and as such to be avoided. The Steve Albini debacle, if we want to call it that, ended up with Steve Albini's respect for the band skyrocketing — their ability to make such a decision with a producer already in ever-growing demand (who was himself eager to work with them) meant they were for real, they cared for the music much more than they did the publicity, and plain and simple had thought about what they did hard enough to know how to serve the songs. But that's exactly the main point: there's plenty of bands who don't care about the publicity and there's plenty of bands who try to make socially engaged music and there's plenty of bands who don't do social media. But how many of these bands are Fugazi — that is, how many have a track record this good?

I keep thinking back to this one thing that Francesco Farabegoli once said about Waiting Room in this here piece (Italian only, but I'll translate the relevant part, don't worry). For reference, Waiting Room not only is the first song on Fugazi's first EP, it's also the first song Fugazi ever wrote according to internal chronicles of the band, so it's got to sound a little bit surprising to those of you not in the know when FF writes that the song "lives within this paradox by which despite it not being the best song ever recorded by Fugazi, it's still the best song ever recorded by anyone". Hard to believe until you hear it, then you'll know what I mean. If I had to pick a favourite Fugazi song, that'd probably be Instrument, which I conveniently linked up at the beginning, and which neatly lines up with the fact that In on the Kill Taker is the one Fugazi album I have personally spent the most time with. In case you're wondering, a couple other picks might be Caustic Acrostic and Cassavetes — another cool thing about Fugazi is that they love their cinema. This might be the place where I first heard the name of John Cassavetes, as a matter of fact. But Waiting Room? There's simply no way to beat that as a first impression, and I get the feeling they might have known.

But by far what drives me to Fugazi the most is the very clear sense of linear, constant progression you get listening to their music in the release order. There is a core concept ("like the Stooges with reggae", in the words of Ian MacKaye) and then there are innumerable applications of said concept: its most stripped-down variant — of course the most solid, because it's the most rehearsed and strongest rooted — gets progressively more articulate and confident; but it reaches a breaking point, which the critics usually correlate to Steady Diet of Nothing; the band is able to rebound by slowly exploding that form, making it somewhat more articulate and chiselled; from In on the Kill Taker onwards everything turns more dynamic, the arrangement finds a community of intent and expression that transcend the base form and culminate of course into a record that simply chooses to refuse all further articulation. Ironically enough, that record is titled The Argument, it came out in 2001 after three years in the works — a very long time, the longest in the band's history — and then the band were so forward-thinking as to pioneer yet another dearly-beloved of post-hardcore bands all around the world: the term "indefinite hiatus".

It's much easier to say this than it is to split up for real, but what else were Fugazi supposed to do? They are still friends, they simply don't feel the band has anything more to say at this present time. Plus it's not like they stopped making music altogether — everyone of them has their own projects, their own things and most importantly their own life. I guess it's a matter of realizing that at one point you've reached an end, or that it would take too long for something to actually carry on in the proper manner. And I get it. Shutting up sometimes really says more than a hundred words, in that even absence implies non-presence (or past presence, in this case), it creates longing, it creates an empty space to be filled by whoever feels up to the task. In other words, I'm pretty sure something as big as Fugazi never really dies, and I think they too think so. "That is not dead which can eternal lie"…

#schismusic #musica #music #fugazi #long form content #schism writing #steve albini #post hardcore #Bandcamp

[theculturedmarxist]

Last Monday, one of the large number of Washington, D.C. insider trade publications - Politico - called out Biden antitrust policy as the single most problematic area for financiers. “In taking on tech giants and forcing the collapse of lucrative deals,” said Politico Morning Money, “Lina Khan has earned the status of Wall Street nemesis.” It’s true. The torpedoes launched last year - from rule-makings to challenges of Google and Spirit-JetBlue - are now exploding.

In this issue, we’re going to describe how the establishment is hitting back, in ways you don’t see, but which might become a political issue if the consultants and candidates who run campaigns actually notice what’s happening in Congress.

The short story is that big business is using partisanship to try and persuade Congressional Republicans, and some Democrats, to repeal antitrust laws, as well as drag antitrust enforcers before committees and harangue them in public. But among voters, within academia, and even in the conservative legal movement, antitrust is becoming far more relevant.

First, let’s set the context. This week, polling came out again showing Americans oppose monopolies and support antitrust laws, which isn’t a surprise. People dislike junk fees and unfair prices. We’ve all noticed high-profile monopoly-driven problems with episodes like the baby formula shortages, the failure of Ticketmaster’s ability to sell tickets, and ludicrously high prices for EpiPens and asthma inhalers.

This parade of incidents is one reason two-thirds of all Americans support anti-monopoly laws. That holds among both Biden and Trump voters, with more than 70% of both camps agreeing that monopolies are bad for the economy. And only 5% of Americans - across party affiliations - think that antitrust laws should be weakened.

One thing that surprised us is though people generally like technology firms, 46% still think the government should break up big tech, versus just 28% who don’t. What’s also interesting is that 52% of voters have heard little or nothing about the Biden administration’s economic policies, which means few people know what antitrust enforcers are doing. That could change relatively soon. Here’s Montana Senator Jon Tester, running for reelection in a very Trump-friendly state as a Democrat, attacking consolidation in the meat-packing and seed industries as a point of distinction between the parties.

It’s not just certain Democrats making the case. After all, in 2020, it was Donald Trump’s administration which brought the major Google antitrust suit currently being litigated. In academia, today legal scholars and historians are trying to reorient the history of America as one grounded in anti-monopoly thought, as this interesting collection of essays put out by the Tobin Project shows. And in key ways, conservative legal thinkers are ahead of the curve on consolidation. Take the highly influential George Mason law professor Todd Zywicki, who interviewed Biden antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter on the new proposed merger guidelines, calling them a “moderate” way to split the difference between traditional Chicago School conservatives and a newer populist sentiment.

That interview happened at, of all places, the Federalist Society, which is the beating heart of the conservative legal movement, where law professors, high-powered lawyers, circuit court judges and Supreme Court justices spend time networking and learning from each other. Justices Alito, Barrett, Gorsuch, and Kavanagh all attended last Friday’s black tie Federalist Society event.

Indeed, that dinner was part of the organization’s National Lawyer’s Convention, which had multiple discussions of the threats to conservatives by monopolization, as well as originalism and antitrust law. Stephanos Bibas, Third Circuit Judge, was the moderator of the panel on antitrust, and he often expressed surprise and interest in some of the comments by panelists, which included, among others, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of Antitrust Doha Mekki, Michigan professor Daniel Crane, and conservative plaintiff lawyer Ashley Keller. It wasn’t just one panel, the interest was pervasive. Lina Khan, for instance, did a well-attended fireside chat. And the main event on Saturday was a debate between two conservatives over whether social media platforms had sufficient monopoly power that the state could regulate them as common carriers.

And yet, in certain corners of the establishment, the pro-monopoly tradition that started in the 1980s remains dominant. Last week, an appropriations bill in the House - one of the spending bills that keeps government working - was amended multiple times to repeal antitrust laws.

Let’s look at a few of those proposals. There was a pro-junk fee amendment from Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI), which would “prohibit funding for the FTC to make Unfair Competition rule-makings.” Such wording sounds anodyne. But if you strip away the legalese, Fitzgerald is seeking to do away with the rule-making authority the FTC is using to ban annoying junk fees, which deceive customers into paying higher prices for food, hotels, event tickets, car rentals and more. It’s also the authority the FTC is using to prohibit non-compete agreements, which trap people in their jobs and deprive workers of some $300 billion in wages per year.

There was another amendment which would prevent the FTC from enforcing its unfair methods of competition authority outside the bounds of the Clayton and Sherman Act. This one would effectively end or weaken key parts of the FTC’s case against Amazon, particularly its use of algorithms to raise prices in tacit collusion with other sellers, as well as its actions against pharmacy benefit managers on lower insulin prices and its work against price discrimination towards small and medium size grocers.

Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) proposed an amendment to block the finalization of all rules that would affect more than $100 million of activity. This would get rid of things like the FTC’s ‘Click to Cancel’ provision that stops entities from cheating you with subscriptions, or the pre-merger notification requirement rule, which would help stop predatory acquisitions by private equity firms in health care. These are gifts to the Chamber of Commerce, at the expense of hundreds of millions of real people.

In this section of the underlying bill, Republican appropriators even included a provision to let auto dealers cheat customers with undisclosed added fees.

But this isn’t about Republicans, who in many ways are just being partisan and/or exercising muscle memory from the 1990s. In a separate appropriations bill, Rep.’s Massie (R-KY) and Democrat Lou Correa (D-CA) led a bi-partisan amendment to strip the Department of Transportation of its authority to investigate airline mergers. JetBlue, in other words, is doing a lot of lobbying, and is trying to win - through spreading around cash in Congress - what it can’t win in the JetBlue-Spirit merger proceeding. As a reminder, internal documents say this merger raises airfares by up to 40% overnight, so Correa and Massie are working hard to raise airline ticket prices.

The Massie-Correa amendment failed, with mostly Democrats against it. But a handful of Democrats who did vote for it - in addition to Correa, Rep.’s Lofgren (D-CA), Meeks (D-NY), Morelle (D-NY), and Panetta (D-CA) also voted to promote airline concentration - should have to answer for why. Correa is a particularly odd case and has attracted a lot of scrutiny for parroting big tech talking points, despite his district being near Los Angeles. Lofgren, from Silicon Valley, is also important, since she could take over the leading slot on the Democratic side of the Judiciary Committee if the current chair, Jerry Nadler, retires.

In other words, most, though not all, House Republicans seem out of touch with their own base on antitrust and monopoly issues. A whopping 206 House Republicans, many of whom represent “flyover states” most harmed by airline concentration, voted to block the Department of Transportation from investigating higher airfares and worsening airline service. So, even though 70% of the Republican base wants monopolies to be held accountable, only 13 House R’s - including Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and outgoing Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) - want the federal government to keep doing so.

But it’s not just these amendments that matter. Tomorrow at 10am, there’s an antitrust oversight hearing in the Judiciary Committee, which is the main part of the House of Representatives that controls antitrust law. The Chair of that committee, Jim Jordan, is hostile to the anti-monopoly project, and the main witness is Antitrust Division chief Jonathan Kanter, who Jordan wants to rake over the coals for his aggressive attempts to go after big tech. I got a copy of the memo that Jordan’s staff prepared, and it reads a lot like it was written by lawyers for big business.

Under Kanter, it reads, antitrust enforcers have “pursued costly policy changes that harm American businesses and empower foreign governments.” This memo attacks the proposed merger guidelines that conservative Zywicki praised, and generally argues that antitrust enforcers are both losers who can’t do anything right, and also all powerful policymakers who block too much economic activity. Basically, it’s the old Yiddish joke about a restaurant. The food is terrible, and the portions are too small!

How much does this Congressional noise matter? Well the hope is this stuff is just a lagging indicator, and that House Republicans will catch up to their voters. It’s worth highlighting that none of the amendments will make it into law. The underlying funding bills were never brought to the House floor because of disarray among Republicans. And even if they did pass the House, the Senate would likely reject most of these amendments, with the possible exception of the auto dealer one. After all, there’s substantial support in many parts of Congress for stronger antitrust action.

However, there’s a catch. These proposals are a possible indication of what monopolists hope they can get done next Congress, if the elections go the way they want. I think that’s unlikely, since there are important Republicans in the Senate who are supportive of antitrust, but it’s possible.

Perhaps more importantly, these amendments and hearings are also an indication that members of Congress do not think voters will notice their choices that affect their constituents. All that said, the juxtaposition of very popular antitrust with ham-fisted efforts to weaken antitrust provides fertile terrain for doing some brute politics.

Another way to think about this is that establishment politicians like Rep. Fitzgerald are out of touch with actual voters. Fitzgerald is from a pretty red district in Wisconsin, a state that narrowly voted for Biden in 2020. Given where most Republican and Trump voters are on issues of corporate power, the attack ads write themselves: Establishment Republicans want you to pay more for groceries, healthcare, and travel, and are perfectly fine letting monopoly corporations make decisions about your daily life.

That kind of ad could be done in a Republican primary, or a general election. They could also be used in Democratic primaries, or general elections. It really does not matter. The point is, right now, lower prices are the top priority for over two-thirds of voters. Yet, most voters haven’t heard about what antitrust enforcers are doing. So while it sounds politically insane to propose knee-capping rules that would bring prices down, it will only be problematic if voters hear about it. As we saw above, Senator Jon Tester thinks it’s politically salient enough to bring up. It won’t take much more for big business to be on the ballot in 2024.

The pro-monopoly world is hoping that doesn’t happen, and they can keep these conflicts as quiet as possible. Unfortunately for them, people really do like complaining about Ticketmaster.

#monopoly #capitalism #anti-trust #biden administration #republicans #democrats #us politics #Youtube

[lexie-squirrel]

Sherlock Holmes (1954) (Episodes 11 - 20)

Продолжаю смотреть замечательный сериал 1954 года! Здесь даже экранизировали несколько каноничных рассказов, тогда как в первом моем посте из канона было экранизировано только относительно знакомство Холмса с Уотсоном. А здесь сразу с одиннадцатого эпизода,The Red-Headed League, была экранизация “Союза рыжих”. Интересно, что до этого я видел только гранадовскую экранизацию, так что было любопытно взглянуть на другое прочтение классики. Началось тут все, кстати, со стрельбы Холмса в помещении, что Уотсон аж весь пене для бритья из ванны выскочил, а будущий клиент свалился под их дверью. Забавно, кстати, видеть историю про Союз рыжих в черно-белом варианте, где рыжие, в общем-то и не заметны. А, еще тут был забавный момент, где Уотсон шумно отвлекает Клея в магазинчике, пока Холмс там шарится. Двенадцатый эпизод The Case of the Shoeless Engineer немного вольно экранизировал “Палец инженера”, только здесь незадачливый инженер потерял не палец, а всего лишь ботинок. Сам сюжет был передан довольно точно, не считая ботинка и того факта, что инженер сбежал вместе с девушкой, но в отличии от каноничного рассказа Холмсу дали проявить себя, да и вообще в финал добавили хоть какой-то экшн. Тринадцатый эпизод The Case of the Split Ticket снова оказался по самостоятельному и довольно-таки легкому по настроению сценарию. Началось тут вообще с того, что Холмс вытащил у карманника украденный бумажник и собирался незаметно вернуть его владельцу, но его-то как раз и схватили, пока он в панике звал Уотсона - Уотсон же ушел в фейспалм. Сам же сюжет крутился вокруг лотерейного билета, честно порванного на три части, вот только один из владельцев обрывка пропал. Девиз этого эпизода - “Ловкость рук и никакого мошенничества!” Ну, ловкость рук - это про Холмса, а вот мошенничество-то здесь как раз было, пусть и не с его стороны. В четырнадцатом эпизоде The Case of the French Interpreter, как можно догадаться, из названия вольно экранизировали “Случай с переводчиком”, заменив греческий на французский (видимо, актеров, владеющим французским было проще найти, чем владеющим греческим), но это была не единственная вольность - например, клуб “Диоген” присутствововал, но вместо Майкрофта членом этого клуба был сам Шерлок (а Уотсон шумно искал его там среди лиц, закрытых газетами, пока не гаркнул: “ХОЛМС!”). Этой истории, кстати, приделали счастливый конец - для всех. Пятнадцатый эпизод The Case of the Singing Violin был о том, как молодую девушку пугает по ночам призрачная игра на скрипке и другие ужасы. Холмс же тоже взялся за скрипку - когда сначала походил вокруг спящего в кресле Уотсона, а потом осторожно достал из футляра скрипку, занес смычок - и!.. К счастью, Уотсона разбудила не сомнительные звуки скрипки, а выстрелы на улице. Но забавнее было то, что Холмса в финале этого эпизода в самый ответственный момент злодей случайно запер в шкафу. Что было бы, не появись вовремя Уотсон со своим карающим кулаком возмездия! Шестнадцатый эпизод The Case of the Greystone Inscription был, по сути, экранизацией “Обряда дома Месгрейвов”. Только без Месгрейвов. В общем-то, общего тут только поиски королевских сокровищ по древнему стишку. Холмс тут в начале соблазнял Уотсона холодным лобстером с помидорами, а тот на него дулся, потому что Холмс канонично выстрелял инициалы VR на стене. В семнадцатом эпизоде The Case of the Laughing Mummy Холмс и Уотсон собрались на рыбалку, но это им было не суждено - их отвлекло дело о смеющейся мумии, хотя звуки, которые она якобы издавала похожи не на смех, а на мелодичные завывания. В этом эпизоде Уотсон, кстати, сверзился с крыши в кусты, а Холмс наверху это далеко не сразу заметил... Восемнадцатый эпизод The Case of the Thistle Killer был гораздо серьезнее предыдущих, ведь сюжет крутился вокруг маньяка, душителя одиноких женщин, и Холмс, Уотсон и Лестрейд решили заманить его в ловушку в парке. Соображал тут Холмс долговато и дело чуть было не закончилось еще одной жертвой. У девятнадцатого эпизода было многообещающее название The Case of the Vanished Detective - и сюжет не разочаровал, ведь тут пропал Холмс и его отправились искать Уотсон и Лестрейд, пользуясь его собственным дедуктивным методом. Правда, Холмс появился уже на пятой минуте эпизода, но он был в маскировке и его даже Уотсон не узнал. В общем-то, они чуть было не провалили Холмсу все дело. А еще в конце благодарный человек, чуть не ставший жертвой убийцы, решил обучить Холмса искусству кукловодства, и Холмс тут же начал вникать. Разносторонний человек, что и говорить. Двадцатый эпизод The Case of the Careless Suffragette опять был со странным сюжетом - и не только потому, что он был про суфражистку (которые тут показаны немножко туповатыми, пусть Холмс и разделяет их взгляды на голосование женщин) и про русского бомбиста, но и из-за взорвавшегося крокетного мяча, убившего члена парламента, над чьим местом смерти, припорошенным его прахом, Холмс, Уотсон и Лестрейд потом по очереди играли в крокет, не отвлекаясь от обсуждения... В общем, я все еще в восторге и продолжаю запоем смотреть этот сериал, хотя и понимаю, что так он очень скоро кончится.

#сериалы #шерлокиана #Sherlock Holmes 1954

[turtlethon]

"Leonardo, the Renaissance Turtle"

Season 5, Episode 17 First US Airdate: November 9, 1991

Leonardo and April work together to stop a relentless crime-fighting robot.

Our trek through season five of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brings us to "Leonardo, the Renaissance Turtle". Dennis O’Flaherty is the writer for this adventure, which initially aired back-to-back with "Zach and the Alien Invaders".

The Turtles are once again watching April on the news, as she reports on the latest initiative from the city’s mayor – the same one who appeared a few episodes earlier this season in “Donatello’s Duplicate”. An event will be held that evening at City Hall where he will reveal the details behind his plan to put an end to crime for good. The Turtles, having heard this all before, roll their eyes. (Splinter, meanwhile, looks furious throughout this scene, for no obvious reason).

Donatello returns to the Lair, revealing that he got jumped by five hoodlums while checking out a book from the library. Though Donnie was able to easily defeat the criminals, the team begin to reconsider their dismissal of the mayor’s new project.

At the presentation, the mayor introduces Professor Ignatz Mindbender, a highly-strung man carrying a sword who we’re told is “the world’s greatest expert on law enforcement”. The professor tells the assembled audience – which includes the Turtles in their baseball fan outfits – that since humans are the cause of crime, the only logical solution to it is the use of a machine. To that end, he reveals his invention, LEX (“Law Enforcement (e)Xpediter”). Mindbender assures the attendees that not only is this robot super intelligent, but it has a host of other abilities too, including the power to fly, which it demonstrates by buzzing the crowd. LEX signs off by using a finger-mounted laser blaster to instantly decimate a nearby podium, ominously warning everyone that he is “one bad dude”.

Time passes, and April is among the customers at a local bank when it’s robbed by Pinky McFingers and his associates. Channel 6’s star reporter attempts to call the Turtles, but the mobster forces her to leave her Turtlecom on a nearby counter, before going on to inform the bank manager that the security system has been deactivated. The Turtles arrive to find the door to the vault has been blown off, with the staff and customers being held at (laser) gunpoint. Before they can head into battle, however, LEX bursts in, immediately restraining Pinky and his men before hurling them into an automated paddy wagon.

The Turtles are happy to get some assistance in fighting crime, and when LEX whips out a notebook they assume that he wants their autographs. Instead, the robotic police officer scolds the team for parking their van in a loading zone, writing them a ticket before flying away.

We hop forward in time again to see the Turtles eating pizza in the Lair, as April reveals to her viewers that LEX has now eradicated all major crime in New York. Leonardo is rattled by this, and turns the report off, irritated by the constant talk of “LEX this and LEX that”. He goes on to add that as it stands, with nothing left for the team to do, they may as well take some time off. Mikey and Raph decide to visit the Punk Frogs in Florida, while Donatello announces his intention to repair one of the Turtlecom transmitters located throughout the city’s sewer system. Leo is worried about the team splitting up in case a major crisis unfolds, and decides to stay in the Lair to be safe.

In his workshop, Professor Mindbender makes further adjustments to LEX, on the basis that with major crime now a thing of the past, it’s time to focus on minor violations instead. The robotic officer immediately scolds his creator for having a single button open on his suit jacket, which he declares is “a major infraction”.

April takes Leonardo out for pizza, and on the way back home he expresses his concerns about being able to handle things by himself while the other Turtles are away. The two friends are still crossing a road when the “WALK” sign switches to “DON’T WALK”, which is enough to draw the ire of LEX; act one ends with the robot placing both Leonardo and April under arrest.

As LEX announces Leo and April will be placed on a diet of bread and water in prison for their insubordination, over in City Hall the mayor complains to Professor Mindbender that his own mother was placed under arrest for taking the “DO NOT REMOVE” tag off her mattress. Mindbender is unrepentant, pointing out to the mayor that he’s in violation of the law too by way of wearing socks that don’t match. LEX is summoned by his creator to deal with this most egregious of crimes, ordering April and Leo to stay put until he returns.

Defying the orders given to them, Leonardo and April return to the Lair and switch on the TV. Vernon is seen co-hosting the news with LEX, and announces that not only has April been fired from Channel 6, she’s now considered a wanted fugitive. LEX adds that “that dumpy little green-faced sailor” who accompanied her is also on the police hit list. Vernon gloats at his old colleague’s misfortune, imploring her to give herself up on the grounds that when she gets out, she’ll qualify for senior bus fares.

Leonardo makes an attempt to radio Donatello for help, but is unaware that the team’s resident genius has had to use a component from his Turtlecom in repairing the transmitter, rendering him temporarily unreachable. After an attempt to reach Raphael in Florida also fails, Leo declares that he’ll need to use Donnie’s long-range scanner instead, but professes he doesn’t know how.

The long-range scanner turns out to be an enormous computer setup, and despite April’s assurances, Leonardo manages to electrocute himself while operating it. After accidentally peeking on an alien who’s in the middle of showering, Leo briefly manages to make contact with Mikey and Raph, who are enjoying a picnic with the Punk Frogs. When this also fails, the leader of the Turtles trips over a small replica of a robot that was left lying around in Donatello’s workshop, giving him an idea.

Avoiding rolling scanner robots along the way, Leonardo and April travel through the city before ultimately arriving outside a police department warehouse. April uses a hair pin to gain entry, and inside the duo find a deactivated REX-1, the robotic cop who befriended the Turtles all the way back in season two’s “New York’s Shiniest”. After being powered up, it becomes clear that REX remembers nothing about his history with either the Turtles or April.

REX-1 is lugged back to the Lair, and with Donatello still unreachable, Leonardo and April are on their own in trying to recover their old friend’s memory. They find a big red button labelled “MEMORY” located inside his chest, which turns out to do the exact opposite of what they wanted, resetting the clunking cop back to his default state. To help REX recall his old identity, Leonardo plays VHS footage of the futuristic officer sourced from April’s news reports. Meanwhile Donatello finally becomes aware of a Turtlecom voicemail message left by Leonardo pleading for help. He checks in with Raphael and Michaelangelo, suggesting they cut their vacation short as help will likely be required.

Leonardo and April are thrilled when REX-1 is able to piece together his old identity from watching the news footage, but their celebrations are cut short by the arrival of LEX, who barges into the Lair and places them under arrest. LEX is able to melt one of Leonardo’s katana blades in an instant, and reprograms REX-1 to follow his own orders. Leo and April are chased into the Lair’s kitchen area, where they use spilled water and pizza to trip up the two robotic cops. Though Leonardo laments that he’s not a skilled on a skateboard as Michaelangelo is, he winds up escaping with April on Mikey’s Cheapskate.

Raphael and Michaelangelo return to New York and are travelling via Turtle Blimp when they become aware of a news report by Vernon, in which the reporter gushes about Mindbender before cutting to an announcement by the professor. LEX’s creator declares that in the battle against crime, he is appointing himself “Supreme Commander of the entire region”, and that everyone in attendance (possibly everyone in town?) is under arrest. Meanwhile Leonardo and April travel through the sewers on their way to City Hall, where they intend to confront the Professor and have him call off LEX. The duo instead finds themselves face to face to REX-1, who has been waiting for them.

While Donatello reunites with Mikey and Raph, April and Leo try to talk sense into REX-1. April suggests to Leonardo that he consider what Donatello would do in this situation, and after giving it some thought, Leo gives the lumbering robot a swift kick in the butt. This is enough to restore REX’s memory and bring him back around to being a good guy, mere moments before LEX and Professor Mindbender arrive to confront the trio. A showdown follows between REX and LEX in which the ally of the Turtles quickly proves to be outmatched. Following another pep talk from April, Leonardo is motivated to intervene, distracting the city’s new robot crime-fighter by pointing out that Professor Mindbender’s shoes are scuffed. LEX scoops up his creator in one hand and declares that he’s facing further charges of “resisting arrest” for struggling. Finally, Mindbender sabotages his own creation, placing it out of commission in the process. When he declares that the leader of the Turtles will pay for his actions, Leonardo quips that he can put it on his credit card, a one-liner that April points out is reminiscent of something Raphael would say.

The other Turtles finally arrive on the scene and are amazed to see Leonardo has managed to handle the situation on his own. Leo points out that he did have some help, with REX-1 adding that “any seven-foot police robot could have done the same thing”.

We wrap up today’s proceedings in the Lair, where the team are having a party, along with April and REX-1. Splinter points out to Leonardo that his experiences today showed how capable he truly was of drawing upon his “hidden talents” when they were needed. April declares a toast for Leonardo, the team’s “Renaissance Turtle”, before assuring REX that the police department will surely be able to find a role for him. Donatello then reveals a female counterpart for REX, code named “REXANNE”, who declares that her function is to serve and protect the robotic police officer. It’s a closing gag that raises a lot of questions in its own right, though I’m still stuck on the fact that Splinter vanished immediately after the opening scene of this episode and didn’t return again until the very end; given how livid he was when we first saw him, maybe he just needed some alone time to cool off.

Three years and more than a hundred episodes of the show have passed since we were first introduced to the character of REX-1, and so his return here must have been unexpected by viewers at the time, but I imagine also quite welcome. More than any episode in recent memory, "Leonardo, the Renaissance Turtle" draws upon the past adventures of the Turtles, rewarding long-time fans of the show with cleverly interwoven cameos and nods to past outings. Seasoned Turtlethon readers will know I don’t particularly care for either the Punk Frogs or Pinky McFingers, but they’re used well here as special guests who help to flesh out the bigger story being told. The city’s new mayor and the Turtlecom sewer transmitter network were worked into stories earlier this season, making their use here feel that much more significant.

I’m torn regarding LEX, who manages to get a few good one-liners in and is an interesting foil for REX-1, but has a confusing design, with a sort-of cool upper half marred by a goofy pelvis region and bizarre allen key-shaped legs. Professor Mindbender – whose name is uncomfortably close to Doctor Mindbender from GI Joe, to the point where I keep almost typing that instead – seems to have greater potential than most of the mad scientists and inventors we see in the series, his quick-to-anger personality reminding me of the lesser-seen Simpsons character Leopold, who he actually pre-dates by almost two-and-a-half years. I don’t know if there was much potential in using either of these villains again, but I would have welcomed their return had they been paired with a strong script. As it turns out, they’re both one-shot bad guys, so that’s the end of that.

The idea of one member of the team feeling they aren’t as valuable as the others and learning to believe in themselves has popped up a couple of times now. Raphael expressed similar sentiments to Splinter in the episode preceding this one, “Raphael, Turtle of a Thousand Faces”, and Mikey went through much the same thing last year in “What’s Michelangelo Good For?” It’s telling that the only Turtle who hasn’t felt this insecurity is Donatello, and given that he’s always been portrayed as anything from a genius to something resembling a miracle worker in his own right, he could never realistically be used in this manner.

We say our goodbyes here to Attila and Rasputin, making their last appearances in the series, as well as to REX-1 and his voice actor, the late Jack Angel, who both bow out here. Pinky McFingers will return early next season in "Adventures in Turtle-Sitting".

Just three episodes remaining in this season. Much to my chagrin, the next one sees the return of “The Fifth Turtle”, in "Zach and the Alien Invaders".

#Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #TMNT #TMNT 1987 #1991 #Leonardo the Renaissance Turtle #TMNT Leo #Leo TMNT #Leonardo TMNT #TMNT Leonardo #Turtlethon #Ninja Turtles #Rex-1

[biisexualemma]

tired pt.2. bucky barnes

word count: 2.3k

warnings: violence, mentions of blood

requested: n/a

plot: you get injured during the mission to locate karli

a/n: so this is sort of a part 2 to the winter soldier imagine i wrote! i'm gonna be posting a part 3 soon too, i'm pretty much following each episode lol, this is obviously episode 4, and then next part with follow episode 5! hope you enjoy! i am very much enjoying writing for bucky atm! let me know what you think anyway! (sorry if there are any minor mistakes i cannot read this over again i am tired lol)

pt.1 / pt.3 / pt.4 masterlist

you knew this was a bad idea. any idea that involved trusting zemo was bad. which you had reiterated to your team multiple times now, but here you still were, relying on zemo to get to karli. to top it all off, captain america and his nosey sidekick had found you guys, somehow, and invited themselves to tag along. too much toxic masculinity was floating around in the air when john walker tagged along anywhere, it was suffocating. made you wanna punch him whenever he opened his mouth and that arrogant, condescending tone came out. that, and he was resolved to shamelessly coming onto you whenever he spoke to you. you were sure he only did it so he could feel more in control of the situation. you tried not to let it get to you, but sometimes he was plain insufferable.

bucky already hated walker with every fibre of his being, and he definitely didn't take kindly to his flirting with you either. the only thing holding either of you back from decking walker was sam, and his level head. but you were constantly stealing subtle glances and touches with one another when you could without bringing too much attention to it. you had both decided it would only make things way more complicated during this mission if your relationship was out in the open. there were too many things that could go wrong, you definitely didn't want your relationship to be used against you. so only sam remained in the loop. everyone else was blind to your affection for the super soldier, and his for you.

the blonde haired fraud and his right-hand man, had somehow managed to make everything ten times worse again. you found yourself scouring the building, looking for karli, after mr-i-have-jurisdiction charged into the room where sam had been having a, somewhat productive, conversation with the girl. he barged in there, throwing around hollow threats, like karli would cave and come lightly after everything. he was ignorant and he was an idiot and you could've killed him for screwing up another mission.

you held your gun at arms length, kicking the door open in front of you, edging your way in, eyes scoping the room for any signs of movement. it was empty. you lowered your gun, making your way across the floor to the door leading to the next room. "east wing is clear so far, one last room to check and then i'll circle back to the stair--"

your words caught in your throat as a grunt left your mouth, feeling the blunt impact to the back of your head. you stumbled forwards, clumsily spinning around to see one of karli's super soldiers towering over you, an old pipe gripped in his hand. you quickly lifted your gun to shoot but the bullet hit the ceiling when he swung the pipe, knocking the weapon out of your hand.

you gritted your teeth, your head was throbbing where the pipe had made contact, and now you were weaponless. you ducked swiftly as he swung the pipe at you once again. you dived forwards, trying to catch him off guard and using your full force to tackle him. ordinarily, this would have knocked him off his feet and you would have used the upper hand to locate your gun and seize it before he could recover.

but this guy, unfortunately for you, was far from ordinary. he was significantly stronger than you were.

"all clear, y/n?" sam's voice echoed in your ear through the comms but you were far too distracted by your current predicament to answer him straight away.

"shit," you mumbled under your breath. the man had barely flinched, before switching it on you. before you could retreat, his arms grabbed your torso and you were halted, heaved off of your feet. "i need backup!" you shouted desperately into your comms, hoping one of them would turn up sooner rather than later. his grip was painfully strong as you tried to scramble out of his hold. but, with almost no strain on his behalf, he hurled you across the room, your body slamming into the brick wall and crumpling against the hard floor.

you let out a wheeze, you felt like the air had been knocked right out of you, and you definitely heard something crack. you clutched your side, wincing as you clumsily dodged the blows he threw at you, trying to clamber away from him. you had to pull yourself together, get up and get to your gun before this escalated any further.

you propped yourself up onto your arms, pushing yourself back and away from the super soldier towering over you. "sam, buck," your breathing was laboured as you tried to reach them again, after hearing no response from your initial plea for help. "east wing. i'm unarmed. super soldier with a pipe and a mean swing-- i need backup-- now."

you cringed, sharp pains rushing from your chest the further you dragged yourself away from the soldier. that was when you noticed the gash along his calf, blood soaking his pants. that was your ticket. you waited for him to swing again, dodging it only by a split second, but took your window and kicked as hard as you could at the open wound on his leg. he let out a loud groan, his leg collapsing under the shock of the pain.

you, however, scrambled as quick as you could, onto your feet and ran to the gun sitting on the floor behind him. before you got too far, your legs were swept out from under you as the soldier grabbed your ankle, your face slamming into the concrete floor as you fell. you let out a groan, followed by a soft whimper, blood now pooling from your nose. you desperately stretched out a hand for the gun that was just out of your reach. his grip tightened on your ankle, you felt yourself being hauled backwards before you lunged one last time for your weapon.

your hand clasped around the gun, twisting yourself onto your back, not hesitating to fire at the super-soldier attached to your limb. the bullet fired straight into his shoulder, he let out a shriek of pain, his grip lost on your ankle. you hurried as far away from him as you could on your hands and knees, your breathing shaky and uneven as the adrenaline coursed through you.

you sat still, legs brought up to your chest, your breathing heavy as you watched the super soldier grip his shoulder, trying to stop the bleeding. you held the gun up, directed at him in case he made any more movements. you were panting, your hand moving to your head, wincing as the throbbing pain started to return, and your comedown ensued.

"oh shit," you heard from the doorway. "shit," he muttered harshly, his footsteps drawing nearer to you. you were preoccupied, the pain was spreading quicker now that your heart rate was slowing down. you felt the sharpness in your ribs every time you took a breath in, ringing in your ears growing louder and the throbbing in your nose intensifying as blood dripped onto your shirt.

you flinched when his hand brushed up against yours, your unsteady hands still gripped tightly around your gun. "hey," he whispered, you only just about heard his soft voice echo over the ringing. you noticed the familiar metal hand grazing yours and your grip loosened, letting him remove the gun from your hand. your eyes trailed up to his comfortingly familiar, blue eyes. you let out a soft sigh of relief, cracking a weak smile.

"took your time," you mumbled, teasingly, trying to ease some of the tension you were feeling. you moved your hand to your mouth, blood transferring onto your fingertips from where it had trickled from your nose onto your lips. you let out a halfhearted, tired, chuckle, your face contorting as the pain in your chest intensified. you were relieved that it was over, and that he had been the one to find you. you let out a strained breath, "i'm gonna need one hell of a drink when this is all over."

bucky, however, was examining every inch of you, his eyes shifting all over you, frowning as he found more blood the more places he looked. he watched your hands shake as you touched your lips, the lump grew in his throat. he knew you were trying to make light of the situation, to ease his mind but he could tell you were hurting, a lot.

he moved his hand to your face, his thumb brushing your cheek. his stomach lurched when your eyes met his again, the blood soaking your face was a sight he never wanted to have to see again after today. as impossible as that would be in this line of work. "let's get you fixed up, then we'll see about that drink, alright, doll?" his voice was soft, quiet when he spoke to you. you nodded, reassurance slowly washing over you with his fingers caressing your cheek. his touch was more comforting to you than he'd ever realise.

he dragged his eyes away from yours, over to the super soldier who was still squirming, his hand clamped over the wound in his shoulder. bucky glanced at you for a split second, his expression harder than before. you knitted your eyebrows delicately, noticing the shift in his temper. "wait here," he mumbled, his jaw twitching as he moved away from your side. you felt cold with the loss of contact.

bucky moved to tower over the super solider, his head tilting slightly, not hesitating for even a second as he raised his leg, quickly slamming the heel of his foot against his face. the solider dropped back onto the ground, now unconscious. "stay down," he mumbled under his breath.

"c'mon, we gotta' find sam and zemo first," he ignored your amused expression, helping you onto your feet.

-

you'd returned to the hotel room now you had zemo in your custody again. zemo was nursing his headache with a glass of whiskey, sam busying himself with something on his laptop, and bucky had pulled you into the bathroom to help clean you up.

"how ya' feelin', doll?" he quirked an eyebrow at you, positioning you so you were seated, while he hovered over you. he busied himself, soaking a cloth in warm water so he could tend to your wounds. you shrugged, lowering your gaze to where your hands sat in your lap, shaking less now you'd had that drink.

"i'll be fine," you muttered, unconcerned with your well being for now. your mind was swimming with thoughts on how you were going to handle the karli situation. no doubt, walker would be knocking around soon too, just to make things harder for you guys, and probably try and twist the story around to make it seem like karli getting away had nothing to do with him.

bucky wasn't convinced by your answer, but he didn't push you. instead, his hand moved to your chin, using his forefinger and thumb to tilt your head upwards. you saw his jaw clench before he started to wipe away the dried blood from your face. you flinched when he touched the bridge of your nose, recoiling from his touch. "ow, that kinda' hurt," you admitted.

"suck in your breath," he instructed, his jaw stiff as he spoke. "if i don't clean it up now it'll only get worse," you just nodded, doing as he said. you held your breath, biting the inside of your cheek as he cleaned up the rest of the blood (his spare hand moving to the back of your neck to stop you from pulling away). "all done," you let out your breath, your eyes were watery, a reflex from the sensitivity of your bruised nose. "y'good?"

you nodded, letting yourself fall forward, resting your forehead against his stomach, trying to disguise the range of emotions you were feeling. he let out a sigh, his hand still tucked around the back of your head, tangling his fingers in your hair. "you don't have to keep up this act," he spoke after a while. exhausted, you let him hold you up, relaxing yourself against him. "it's just me."

you sniffled, pulling back to look up at him. he felt his chest tighten at the sight of your bruised face, stinging red eyes and pink cheeks. you weren't often vulnerable with anyone, but you were so worn out from everything going on, and bucky was looking at you in a way that made you feel so safe, you couldn't help but let go a little.

"i'm just tired, buck," your voice wavering. he moved both hands to either side of your face, pushing your hair out of the way. he cupped your cheeks, his thumbs brushing against your flushed skin. you relished in his touch, comforted by the warmth he was radiating, soothing you. "this missions been hard."

"i know, doll," he hummed, his gaze softening watching you relax against his palms, your eyelids drooping shut. he gulped. "let's get you clean, then you can get some rest."

you hummed softly. "thanks, buck," he took a step back, his hands leaving your face for a second. you hastily moved your hands to his, stopping him from moving further away from you. "no," your voice came out hushed. "just a bit longer," you pleaded, you weren't ready to let go of his comfort just yet.

bucky simply nodded, moving his hands back to either side of your face, letting your head fall against his stomach again. he raked his fingers through your hair soothingly, holding you for as long as you needed. he was just relieved you felt comfortable enough to be vulnerable with him, it meant you felt just as much for him as he did for you.

#bucky barnes #bucky #barnes #bucky x reader #bucky x you #bucky fluff #bucky fic #tfatws #tfatwsedit #fatws spoilers #tfatws spoilers #bucky barnes x female reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes edit #bucky barnes one shot #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes reader insert #sam wilson #the winter soldier #the falcon #marvel #marvel x reader #marvel masterlist #avengers #avengers masterlist #mcu #mcu imagine #avengers imagine #avengers x reader

[glitterge1pen]

Have You Ever Considered Craft Supplies Instead Of Drugs? Then This Might Be For You.

Kyōtani Kentarou x reader, sfw, fluff, 1,691word count 

His room for the most part was clean. It’s main function was for sleep though. This was apparent. His clothes, which were mainly basketball shorts and blank t-shirts, were scattered about in a way that told you he threw them there when going to bed.

Kyotani had told you to give him a few minutes, while he was in the bathroom brushing his teeth and struggling with the cap of his eyeliner pen. You felt comfortable enough in his apartment to check the fridge and see if anything was worth your while. But still you felt a bit like an intruder in his bedroom, which is where you had wandered off to.

The walls were white, mostly bare. There was a poster up for some band you didn't recognize, and another one advertising the Sendai Frogs that looked like he had ripped it off one wall to get onto his. You smiled at the thought of him stealing the poster from the grocery store display window or stadium parking lot.

You give his room one last once over before turning to leave. On your way out you trip over a shoe box. You would have just ignored it but a few tufts of paper flew out from the lid. You bend down to collect them but find that these aren't just trash from the shoe box. Quietly, and with a tinge of guilt, you kneel down to gently put the papers back in the box. The little scraps of paper you had found were actually sticky notes, you couldn't decipher the writing on them because of how faded and old the paper was.

You get one quick glimpse inside the shoe box on Kyotani’s floor. There are dozens of papers, printed photos, receipts, tickets, and what you assume are old keys. You feel like you've seen something very private of Kyotani’s and when you turn around to find him standing in the doorway, you gasp in shock.

“What are you doing in here?”

He seems more concerned and confused about you versus the fact that you are in his room. You decide sarcasm is the best choice of action.

“What? You embarrassed about me being in your bedroom?”

“Shut up and get out!”

Kyotani puts his hands on your shoulders and tosses you out into the hallway.

“Hey, hey, what time is it because we might actually be late to the movie now,”

You say pulling out your phone to get a glance at the clock. There was only twenty minutes before you were supposed to be at the theater.

“We’ll be fine, the trailers always play for too long anyways”

He says leading you out the front door.

☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

When the team wins a game and you head out to eat with the guys afterwards, your eyes don't usually follow Kyotani’s hands so closely. You hope that no one else has picked up on your new habit. But last week's venture into his bedroom has left you reeling in thought.

Kyotani doesn't really like to be hugged. During movie nights he sits separate from the pile of pillows and bodies. He tolerates head pats and high fives. When he hangs up the phone you can feel how difficult it is for him to say something like “bye I love you” platonic or not.

You hadn't really considered it before, at least not so intently in relation to Kyotani. Most people were easy to understand in their affections and how they garnered it. Or if they weren't so obvious, they made some sort of distinction, a simple “I don't like when people do this” or “I prefer this”.

Being friends with Kyotani you had assumed that he was content with what people gave him because he never asked for more. He didn't hug you when you two parted ways, and you never forced him to. He didn't ask or push on others boundaries but now after seeing that shoe box you wondered why he had never advocated for his own. You thought perhaps it wasnt that Kyotani disliked those other forms of affection or care, but rather he didn't regard those other acts as affections at all.

The sounds of the restaurant fade back in as your thoughts simmer down. You feel Tsukishima and Yamaguchi next to you. Enthralled in a conversation about some show they had been binging together. Apparently Yamaguchi had watched a few episodes without Tsukishima and everyone found the annoyed, bitter expression on Tsukishima hilarious, the table erupting in laughter.

“You good? You've been staring at nothing for five minutes,”

Kyotani said to you before taking another bite into his food. He sat across from you, his elbows propping him up over his plate of food.

“Yeah, just tired today,”

You say shaking your head as if trying to wake yourself up.

As the evening wears on, your eyes still follow Kyotani’s hands. Trying to catch the moment of thievery in action. To see if your contemplations are grounded in Kyotani’s actions or rather thoughts with nothing to hold as they pass you by.

But as everyone files out of the restaurant, the bill already split, the copy of the receipt abandoned on the table, you watch as Kyotani lingers for just a moment, to pocket the slip of paper.

☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

You couldn't remember the last time you had attempted to burn a CD. Was it you who did it or a friend? It was years ago though that was for sure. You had made three playlists on spotify, checking and double checking that they were private playlists. After arranging them and finding the songs that fit just right with each list you started finding youtube videos of each song. From there you converted the links to MP3 audio.

While your computer whirred and the audio filed loaded onto the disk you thought about decorating the CD cases. Of course covering the clear plastic case with glitter gel pen and cute stickers was very tempting. But you weren't sure that was Kyotani’s style. At the same time this was supposed to be a gift from you. You met yourself halfway.  Decorating one CD case like how you would have wanted, and the other with more of a Kyotani flair, the third somewhere in between the two.

When the CD’s were done you carefully placed them into their new plastic homes. Grabbing a black sharpie to scribble the playlist names onto each. You felt like wrapping them would be too extravagant so you settled for tying a ribbon around the two.

☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

“What the hell do you want?” Kyotani says as he pulls up next to you on the curb outside your place. You had texted him earlier while he was at work, asking if could stop by after he got off. He has the window rolled down and you take it upon yourself to unlock the passenger door and climb inside.

"I wanted you to test these out"

You were hoping that you had done everything right with the computer.You hand him the CD's, he flips them over in his hands inspecting them.

“Is it cool if I take these ribbons off?”

You nod and he turns the car radio on to insert the CD’s. As the first song starts playing you turn to him.

“This is that band you like right? The one on that poster in your room?”

Kyotani is visibly flustered by this.

“Yes? Did you...did you make these for me?”

You throw your head back in a laugh.

“Yes, I made them for you,”

“Oh,”

He says in a rather soft amazed tone.

“Look, I didn't mean to, but when I was in your room the other day I tripped over that shoe box you have,”

You keep your eyes trained on the street outside the dashboard window. Unsure and a bit nervous to see what Kyotani is thinking. Tempted by curiosity though, you do look at him for a brief moment, only to find him also intensely staring off into the street. His face lit up red with embarrassment.

“I’m glad that I saw it though. Because that stuff is important to you and I want to know what you think is important”

The air in the car feels like it is clinging to your skin with tension. You think the pressure will start to crack your bones when Kyotani’s voice splinters the suspense.

“It's easier to feel something when its tangible, when you can hold it, it's why people still buy polaroids and go to museums and shit”

You nod, a jovial ease overcoming you as he continues to speak.

“I don't really like, uh, I guess physical affection or even talking or it’s not like talking, people call it words of affirmation or whatever,”

You hold the smile of your lips down, you don't want him to think you’re teasing him in this moment. You're just happy that he is comfortable enough with you to say such things.

“I know lots of other people like to have those types of things though, and I worked really hard to get used to stuff, but I don't know, this is what I like,”

He says gesturing with the CD case to you.

“I mean so like, birthday cards, post-it notes, bus transfers? Things that are directly attached to memories and people? Anything else you want me to know about?”

While it hurts a little that he’s struggling to talk about this matter, you can't help but revel in the unusual brash shyness of Kyotani. He does mutter something, but when you lean in closer to signal that you didn't hear him the first time he repeats himself.

“Event pamphlets. I know it's trash but I like it”

“Promise you won't get mad?”

You drawl your voice out and make it sweet so he knows you're messing with him.

“Hm?”

He says, eyebrow quirked in question.

“I think you'd be really into scrapbooking”

“Shut the hell up before I kick you out of my car”

☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

A/N: Took a break from my current writing obsession to spit this out .

#kyotani x reader #kyōtani kentarō #kyoutani kentarou #haikyuu!! #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu x gender neutral reader #kyoutani kentarou x reader

[steve0discusses]

S5 Ep 15 Pt 1: The Gang Gets Lost in India

Ah, back to Yugioh classic. Sort of. We’re going into the second filler arc before Bakura, which I have been told is kind of nonsense. And youknow what, from the first scene--this is the first scene by the way--yeah I can see the nonsense.

We got Yami cosplaying as the Chrysler building, we got Yugi saying WTFWTF, we got...this thing?

This thing tells us “Join my game, Yugi!” and then the demon just kinda bounces.

K, bye, I guess.

(read more under the cut)

Waking up from this nightmare, Yugi reveals that he has outgrown his good pajamas. Or maybe he just overused them like I did to my favorite pajamas during quarantine (which, not gonna lie, I hand sewed my favorite pajama pants back together 2 or 3 times like they were the Velveteen Rabbit. Quarantine pajamas and me were like best buds for a year there.)

RIP Yugi’s good pajamas.

It’s fine. I’m fine.

I can get used to Yugi in his normal ass old man pajamas without any cute stars on them. I can accept this. He’s getting older. So much older that for a second I thought he was learning Hebrew, by the looks of his books on his counter. I thought...wow, is Yugi actually attempting to learn a language spoken around the time of ancient Egyptians???

But uh...I went a searching and unfortunately that’s not Hebrew, and if that is a language, I don’t know what it is. Pretty sure it’s just random marks because this show has to be translated in so many languages. Man. For a second there that looked like really sneaky world building, but nah, Yugi is still kind of a dumbass who has yet to attend a solid year of school.

Also, I got to take in this mustard yellow as if I’ve seen it for the first time.

It has strong building blocks energy. It’s...so much yellow and it’s extremely the vibe of that one set of animal crossing decorations that I have because it’s a very common recipe, but, can’t figure out for the life of me how to fit into any room.

What am I supposed to do with these, Nintendo? Other than recreate Yugi’s Muto’s haunted game store/house?

Like I live in the Bay area and we have wild painted houses so you can see them through the fog (back when we...still had fog, RIP California) --but this is a little much. This is such strong Protagonist energy but as a house.

Also, I’ve don’t think I’ve brought this up before, but like...Yugi is loaded, right? Like he’s way too good and humble to ever say he’s loaded, and they sort of make it seem like he’s not (when compared to Seto Kaiba) but damn, this location of his real estate sure is something. That and Grandpa’s tiny shop seems to run on a constant deficit and his family just doesn’t care.

We flash back a bit to Gramps sneaking out, and Yugi is like “oh great, my only Father figure I ever talk about is getting a backpack together and just...leaving without any notice, huh? Without telling me you were going to go? Didn’t think that would maybe be a little off putting?“ and Gramps is like “Yes?”

Like Gramps nearly died going to an amusement park a few episodes back so I can see why Yugi is a little bit concerned.

Down the street at a little town lottery, Joey is getting further into gambling (I don’t know what those little street lotteries are called, it’s in a lot of anime--but kinda looks like mom lotteries for moms.)

I’m not sure why India is on Joey Wheeler’s bucket list, seems a little random, but he went to Pegasus’ country, after all and that’s barely even a country.

Joey going nuts on a lottery machine instead of going to school was pretty peak filler, so I’m not really minding this stuff so far.

And then, just to spook me, check this out:

I can’t believe they even let them back into a classroom. In my nerd school, if you missed one too many days, you were sent to the bad schools to be someone else’s problem. But in Yugi’s case...that either IS his school or...Yugi is failing International School, which is just a thing he’s allowed to do, because, as I said before, this kid has got to be loaded. Even Seto Kaiba was like “I’m not spending money on this school anymore. That outfit is like 50 bucks a jacket.”

Youknow, I have seen all the other characters knock on Tea’s choice of cute ass monsters for the last 5 seasons, and she has never once changed them out. She is holding onto this scary seraphim thing with the many wings like every child with their first Pidgey. She does not care.

Also how is this thing cute?

like the front of this orb has a face with hearts on it but like...it is kind of remarkable what Yugioh decides is cute. Magma golem: not cute. this thing? This thing that looks like it’s a chibi version of the last chapters of the bible and will sound the trumpets of the second coming? So cuuuuute.

Tristan used to be the Janitor/hall monitor/square archetype. Like hell he can walk around with that 00′s R+B soundtrack.

Joey appears in order to get us the hell out of school, and the art team retires this school background for the rest of what I assume is this entire series.

Goodbye school. Maybe you’ll come back with Bakura. Which would be weird, since rumor is that arc takes place in ancient Egypt.

On their walk home, Tea lets out in an inner monologue that no one could hear that after 5 straight seasons of his BS, she’s sick and tired of Pharaoh being the center of attention all the time and she needs a freakin break.

TBH, as she was thinking in her head like “Pharoah is just so freakin much” Yugi switched over to Pharaoh and was like “WHATS UP TEA, THINKING ABOUT ME??” and I thought for a split second maybe he read her mind with his Pharaoh powers.

And like...maybe he did? Seems like a thing he can just do but chooses not to tell anyone about. I mean would you tell anyone? I wouldn’t.

So, unlike Miho in Season Zero, who at least had the decency to try to take her Mother to Australia, Joey Wheeler has wisely decided that the 3 other ticket holders will not be the 3 other members of his immediate family. That would have been the most awkward trip between Serenity, his mother he hasn’t really spoken to in 7 years, and his absent father who was written out of the series for being a raging alcoholic. They would have not even made it to the plane.

Instead he’s gonna take the ghost in Yugi’s head and call that an adult (two tickets in one, really). It’s honestly not that bad of a plan, since his only other father figure, Grandpa, is MIA, and his only other, other father figure, Roland, charges like 300 dollars an hour and wants stock options and health insurance.

And honestly they should have taken Roland because he’s one of their best plane guys.

So they take the smallest little Amelia Earheart plane in the world, going from Japan to (checks map) India...which 2 times the distance this plane can go and it crashes...which is exactly what would happen if you took a teeny tiny plane over the Himalayan mountains without refueling that thing.

We call this a magical incident later in the episode, but this is just basic math.

So, fun fact, (and probably why I discuss planes so often on this blog) two of my Grandfathers were pilots (well, three, since my grandmother remarried another pilot), which sounds like a crazy coincidence until you recall that their generation was in WW2 and we just shoved children in planes for 20 years and called that normal.

Anyway, to save on travel costs, my engineer Grandfather built his own plane out of junkyard parts, which, as you can imagine, is a living nightmare, and it was held together by like duct tape and gasoline (which at one time used to be cheap). Tempted God every day that Howls Moving Castle touched the sky.

And while I only know it from photos since I wasn’t exactly born yet, it looked exactly like this plane. So looking at this, all I can think is...yeah...that’s what you get for flying to India in a tin can car. To this day I cannot trust any plane of this size.

So, they climb out of their wreckage virtually unscathed and into familiar Californian territory.

At least Joey thought about bringing a tent.

It’s interesting how our cast has become so accustomed to this that they’re not even all that shell shocked. It’s just another day in the life.

So next time we shall find out what India has in store for us. Or if we’re even in India...because again...feels a lot like this BG team doesn’t do any research into their landscapes and every place feels a whole lot of the same. But...at least they didn’t put any Arizonan mesas in India.

#Yugioh #YGO #yu-gi-oh #recap #photo recap #S5 #Yugi Muto #Joey Wheeler #Tristan Taylor #Tea Gardner #School????? #A really ass plane #gambling #And a trip to India

[jazzythursday]

My Take on The Loki Series, And All The Things I Would Change About/Add To It If I Could (in vaguely chronological order)

Small disclaimer: This is just a compilation of all the ideas I had for ways the Loki Series could have gone, expanding on the main premise. It doesn’t cover everything, simply the aspects of the plot that I felt compelled to diverge from specifically. It’s not meant as an overly harsh critique of the show, just alternate possibilities. A… variant of the show if you will (It’s also egregiously long and yet I had to stop myself from saying more).

The series opens in the TVA with a display of the branching timeline that Loki created. We don’t meet any characters yet or see anyone’s faces, only hearing readings of codes and tracking of the Loki ‘variant’ before switching to Loki.

After traveling with the Tesseract, he takes in his surroundings (it can be the Gobi Desert but the thing with the Mongolians does not happen) but before he can get too far the TVA shows up.

I think it would be interesting to have a sequence of Loki evading them in different environments. Teleporting to different areas/planets and using different forms/disguises (maybe we see a Lady Loki in a restaurant, our Loki, and a few other outfits), however the TVA finds him every time no matter where or what form.

Eventually he gets fed up of running and confronts them directly. This should be an actual fight, i.e. magic and a Loki who is committed to not being taken down again. Ultimately through use of magic dampening technology or other means (but for the love of god not whatever that punch was), he is apprehended and taken into the TVA.

I think the TVA should have been a lot more crowded. They control/ monitor all of time, so we should have seen tons of variants of all shapes/colors/styles/species, maybe even a few characters we recognize (like in the concept art for the show). Show us that Loki is not special here, he is just another variant to be processed and done with, like all the others.

Loki will have already noticed and felt a lack of magic at the TVA, maybe he tried to use it already so by the time we get to the judge his main concern is talking his way out—Putting his ‘silver tongue’ to use. (Lack of magic in the TVA would be referenced later as well when Loki goes to summon a knife or use magic, only to remember that he can’t there).

This is a very small point but if the TVA knows him as Laufeyson, he absolutely would take offense to that. It’s been one year since he found out about and killed his birth father, I’d assume wants nothing to do with the title. Of course the TVA wouldn’t care, and we’d probably get something like:

“I am Loki, of Asgard, and you will address me as such.”

“I think you’ll find out things work a little differently here at the TVA, Mr. Laufeyson.”

Before he’s able to be pruned we have Mobius step in and plead his case.

If the show wants to portray Mobius as a friend we’ll see him have sympathy and conflicts about the TVA from the beginning. He doesn’t quite fit in, he’s bored of the monotony of the place and he has remorse for what they’re doing, but knows it’s not his place to question it. I like the idea of him being somewhat of a fan of Loki (they did mention this in the show but then proceeded to have him belittle Loki every time he opened his mouth which is uh… a choice). Mobius needs Loki’s help but he also has the desire to help Loki. He’s seen how his life plays out and understands that there’s more in him than his worst decisions. I think that Mobius secretly/ subconscious wants a bit of chaos, that he’s intrigued by Loki and as an analyst has an interest in understanding him.

Loki vs B15 would ideally happen before Loki returns to the time theater with the Tesseract instead of after. It would not be so easy for her to physically overpower him as even without magic he still has enhanced strength. (The minutemen show no signs of being genetically much stronger than humans, so arguably without use of their technology it’s obvious he could take one in a fight.

Back in the time theater after Loki’s watched the reel of his life, much of the conversation happens the same albeit with a greater emphasis on Loki’s true motivations and his feelings of powerlessness in his role. A bit about Thanos too (realistically vague). Perhaps he thought at the time he was doing what he wanted, but is starting to realize he doesn’t know anymore. Then we see a version of:

“I can’t promise you salvation, but maybe I can offer you something better.”

“A proposition, I see you have done your research. So tell me, agent, what would you have me do?”

Mobius explains why they need him to track down a variant of himself, and they shake on it. It’s clear that neither of them trust each other yet, but there is a mutual understanding that they will work together anyway.

Their friendship should grow naturally, slowly gaining each other’s trust until they see each other as true allies. In this there are more episodes than in the actual show (I’ll say 8 instead of 6). Give them a few more adventures and a bit more time for splitting up to hurt.

In Roxxcart, we see more use of magic. He dries himself off, maybe shape shifts into/imitates B15 or a minuteman. Loki uses illusions in the fight against the variant. He tries to reason with and understand what they are doing and why. The fight is somewhat matched although Loki is still holding back, fighting with misdirection as the variant fights using possession. Neither of them are showing themselves, and in an attempt to make the variant stop hiding, Loki disperses all the doubles and asks them to do the same. He takes a chance and this is how the variant gets the upper hand, setting off the branches and then revealing herself as Sylvie.

(Side note: In the concept art for the show, Loki changes into his Asgardian outfit by the time he and Sylvie are on Lementis. I definitely could see that working either when the fight begins/during it, or when he goes through the time door. In either case I think it would be somewhat of a gesture to Sylvie that he is not truly aligned with the TVA, thus setting them both apart/ in opposition to it.)

Instead of romance, Sylvie and Loki forge a bond through seeing themselves in each other throughout the series. They talk about the differences in their past and how they got there. They bicker and make each other laugh and rather than Sylvie just insulting Loki, it’s a mutual rapport. Loki gives just as good as he gets and they find they can work better together than apart.

On Lementis, Loki easily gets them into the train by impersonating a guard (or by conjuring tickets).

They talk about magic. How Sylvie is untrained but self taught and doesn’t understand hers very well. Loki can talk about how he views magic/his magic (we can maybe pull a few things from Norse beliefs about seiðr here). Does he view it as a part of himself? Something honed and precise? I want magic to be portrayed as an artful practice, and I want him to help Sylvie understand hers.

Loki gets drunk and they’re kicked out of the train. This reads as funny because Loki will have been sharp and competent throughout the show so far, so him losing his cool and failing the plan is unexpected.

Instead of the Tempad breaking for absolutely no reason, they argue over where to go/ how to use it. This leads to them both having a hand at accidentally destroying it because of self interest and refusing to work together. It illustrates again that they are stronger together but in conflict they are their own worst enemy (much like Loki in general which ties into a bigger metaphor for all his shortcomings).

Expanding on the magic thing, Sylvie and Loki through the series learn from each other. Loki can teach her some of his magic, and Slyvie can teach him enchantment (which he’s read about but never really mastered, although he approaches learning it like any other spell).

Loki could show her an illusion of Asgard as he remembers it. And in doing so we see that both of them long for it. Because for all Loki has claimed to renounce it, he misses home, and he and the audience see the same thing in Sylvie.

I think it would be interesting for Sylvie to let him enchant her, and we can see one of her memories. Maybe it’s when she was taken, maybe it’s on the run, maybe it’s a happy place, but it gives us insight into her character and past. I’m on the fence if Slyvie should enchant Loki, but if she did I’d pick them accidentally going back to the day Odin took him (which is how we deal with the icy blue elephant in the room that the writers refuse to tackle). Let Loki be conflicted and angry and unsure how he feels about it. This could once again be a moment where Loki and Sylvie connect because it’s (I’m assuming) where both their stories began. It’s a mirror of both of their origins, and she helps him see some good in that.

In the void (which is renamed something else so as to not get confused with the void™ that Loki fell into in Thor 2011) Loki learns from and connects with his other variants. They all have a point to being there, and he starts to reflect on what makes him him and what role he wants to play now.

When Sylvie and Mobius show up they agree on the plan to kill Aliyoth, either because it will stop anyone else from being killed by the TVA, or because they think he is guarding the entrance to whoever is behind everything.

Loki later asks Sylvie if she had a Thor. She did but probably doesn’t remember him much. What she does remember, she tells him. Through talking to both Classic Loki and Sylvie it’s recognized that he does miss his brother, that all Loki’s do, and that they are constants meant to aid each other and fight and suffer but always be brothers in any universe.

When they finally fight Aliyoth Loki summons new armor/his helm. Along with Kid Loki giving him Laevateinn, each Loki also gives him something to remember them or aid in their quest (yay Loki solidarity!). When I say this I mean daggers! Daggers dear gods have one of them give him daggers, boy needs some knives.

When they realize they can’t kill him, Sylvie has the idea to use enchantment. Like in the show, Sylvie can’t do it on her own and so they join hands and combine their powers together, revealing the Citadel beyond. They look at each other and agree that they have to move forward.

“Do we trust each other?”

“We do.”

Inside the Citadel we have Kang himself make the offer to give them what they wish. Sylvie can get the life that was stolen from her. Loki could be offered a Throne, he could be offered to be the first born, or to be a true Æsir, or kill Thanos, but ultimately he denies. He’s realized throughout the show that he’d rather be different, he’d rather be him, and he won’t settle for a fantasy world that isn’t real.

The message is about choice, about free will, chaos. Every choice you make directly results in who you become, every action changes how your story goes, and Loki understands that no one has the right to limit that.

In this it is Sylvie though, who is tempted. She has been on a quest for revenge her whole life, she never had a home, doesn’t remember feeling loved, and in the end it is a fight against temptation, and Loki knows all about that.

They fight each other, and break their vow of trust because ultimately they are each other but they are also different. They clash until Loki is able to talk her down, to relate to her, to show that he “just wants her to be okay” and reaffirms her goal. Kang of course continues to be self assured in his predictions. I’d imagine here is where we could get a declarative sort of speech like “I am Loki, God of Mischief,” They join hands “and no one tells our story” or… something to that affect.

Loki and Sylvie fight to destroy Kang together, and here we discover that if he is killed the multiverse opens, and the war of his variants will begin anew. We see flashbacks of Kang’s past and variants played out, and how he came to be at the citadel. Sylvie can talk about why it’s better to have chaos than to sanitize history and kill in the name of the greater good.

The show ends with the death of Kang and the splintering of the timelines. With Sylvie and Loki looking out the window into the fracturing strands of time.

Other changes and thoughts

Tone: the tone I’d imagine this would take on is possibly a bit more serious than the canon show. While it’s still comedy, it would be much less cartoonish, and generally fit in with the rest of the MCU a little easier.

In relation to Mobius:

Mobius’s crisis of faith would be a long time coming. Throughout the show we see him hesitate more and more to do as the TVA asks, and have an increasingly harder time justifying their actions. Learning that the whole thing is a lie is simply the tipping point that drives him to act.

In his confrontation with Renslayer he’d be a lot more driven/succinct. If he wants the TVA to burn then he wants the TVA to burn. He sees the wrongness in it’s entirety and attempts to convince Renslayer the same thing. When it’s clear that she is unreachable/ still sure of her mission, they come to an impasse. They each threaten to prune the other, parallel and matched on opposite sides of their belief. Ultimately though, neither can go through with it, and (if we’re sticking mostly with the canon ending) she leaves through a time door to who knows when to search for who knows what and Mobius and B15 regroup.

In relation to the other Loki’s:

I’m still on the fence how many Loki’s would be played by Tom, but I think the answer is, if not almost all, then at least more than we got.

Each Loki should read as distinctly Loki in essence. Less comic easter eggs and more focus on understanding the established canon character. Even greater in this scene though is the focus on the theme of choice. If there’s time we could learn what choices led up to each variant being apprehended, and see just a bit of how they feel about it. It’s about how our choices dictate who we become, rather than pre-set paths of completely separate realities and lives to our Loki’s.

I love Classic Loki’s speech about how it’s their destiny to play a certain part and if they try and change it the TVA stops them. I’d like our Loki, while conflicted about if he can truly change, to be motivated to try and finally brake the chains that have always restricted him (first his father, then Thanos, now the TVA). I also think here is where we could talk about how abrupt their end is ‘meant’ to be. That he was working on being better, that he had apparently helped his people and reconciled with his brother. That not only was his life cut short, but that the finality of that conclusion wasn’t truly the only way, but simply decided for him.

In relation to themes:

“What makes a Loki a Loki?” Is a question that should loom in the background of the whole series. Starting with Mobius’s interrogation when he’ll begin questioning his place in the universe and his understanding of himself, and ending with the finale confrontation with Kang where he’ll answer it.

“No one bad is ever truly bad, and no one good is ever truly good.” Is similarly something I think should have been a continued focus. Loki is considered a morally grey character and a chaos god, and thus none of his actions are black and white. Others may try and decide who he is at his core, but fundamentally the conclusion is not about deciding to be a hero, but deciding to be true to yourself and doing better.

“The banality of evil” in relation to the TVA. It’s clear from the first ten minutes of the actual show that the TVA is corrupt, unjust, and unnatural in their cleansing of the multiverse… so lean into it! I’m not necessary talking about changing much here, just that the narrative framing displays their actions as deplorable as they are.

“Glorious Purpose” is um… not something I think needed to be the main focus here. I might be biased because I buy into the theory that “you were made to be ruled” “freedom is life’s greatest lie” and “I am burdened with glorious purpose” are messages that have been somewhat impressed upon him rather than beliefs he came to realize on his own, but I do think it was somewhat oversimplified and overused in the series.

You are the writer of your own story. This is the message I expected the show to end with, and it’s what I’m personally trying to convey through these musings. This story ends with Loki taking back his destiny, forging a new one, connecting with himself and others and helping to free the timelines. He’s not the worst things he’s ever done, he’s not a villain, he’s not a benevolent hero. Loki is just Loki, Sylvie is just Sylvie, and you are just you, whoever we decide to be (that was cheesy I’m sorry).

#Loki series rewrite #loki series critical #I’m going to regret posting this #not technically negativity but tagging just in case #loki series negativity #i feel like either no one will read this or only very rude people will 😅 #oh boy #loki series #this is a load of shit but after the writing in the show I refuse to be embarrassed #Loki #jazzy’s thinking too much again

[tsukihimeyfan]

Sorting the main cast of AtLA into Hogwarts Houses

I know I’m late to the party because I’ve seen many different people tackle this before, but I feel like it is my civic duty as both a Potterhead and an AtLA stan to put in my two cents, since every single time I’ve seen it talked about people either misinterpret what each House values in their members or pick a House by taking into account only one aspect of their personalities. I want to make it clear that these are my own opinions, which I’m basing on the definitions we’ve gotten of the main traits of each House over the years and the “core values” of each AtLA character, and that I’m in no way am I trying to insult anyone who thinks differently. That being said, here goes nothing!

Let’s start with the easy ones. Namely, the Fire Siblings:

1) Azula is 100%, undoubtedly, definitely, incontrovertibly Slytherin. Just doing a quick rundown of the qualities Salazar Slytherin prized in his handpicked students, as stated by the Sorting Hat, Albus Dumbledore and Pottermore: Cunning? Check. Resourcefulness? Check. A disregard for rules? Check. Using any means to achieve her ends? Check. Shrewdness? Check. Ambition? Check. Self-preservation? Check. Pride? Check. An argument could even be made that, as a member of the Fire Nation Royal Family, Azula also kind of meets the “blood purity” criteria. I’m sure most of us agree on this. Even if she does exhibit a lot of loyalty to her father as well as courage and intelligence, there is just no contest. Azula is one of the most Slytherin characters I’ve ever seen outside of the Harry Potter universe.

2) In the same way, Zuko is irrefutably a Hufflepuff. Hear me out! I know that he’s very brave and daring, but when we think of Zuko, what is his most essential trait, what do people tell us again

and again

about Zuko’s character?

He’s a hard worker. And what’s the House of the hard-working?

"You might belong in Hufflepuff, Where they are just and loyal, Those patient Hufflepuffs are true, And unafraid of toil.”

You guessed it. Hufflepuff. Of course, that’s not the only trait valued by this House that he exhibits. Who is more loyal in the series than the child who got half his face burned off and still did his best to earn the love and respect of the one responsible? Who never faltered in his loyalty even when he was sent away on an impossible mission? Who spouted angry words most of the time yet was willing to let his ticket home go temporarily in favor of ensuring the safety of his Uncle and his crew? That’s right, our boy Zuko. That very loyalty to his father is what unfortunately bound him for the longest time, until he was forced to face what a monster he was and let go of it in favor of more important things, namely his own morals and his loyalty to his Uncle.

He also has an incredibly strong sense of justice, as proven by the above statements, as well as this moment:

and he can be incredibly patient when he needs to be, as seen during The Blue Spirit and the Southern Raiders episodes.

Hufflepuffs are also said to be fair (which he clearly is), dedicated (need I say more?), honest (which Mr. shouts-his-feelings-at-the-top-of-his-lungs and can’t-lie-without-being-obvious-or-glancing-away-and-has-been-found-out-every-time-he-tried of course is) and modest (this one he starts without but by the time he joins the Gaang there isn’t anyone more modest or humble)

As “an idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honor” , Zuko is the Hufflepuffiest Hufflepuff to ever Hufflepuff and I will die on this hill

3) Another easy one is our girl Suki, whom I’d say is a Gryffindor through and through, even if she is very loyal to her friends.

The rest of the Gaang under the cut.

The other members of Team Avatar are a bit trickier because they all exhibit a pretty even mix of traits from more than one House, but still if we just concentrate on their defining characteristics we can get to an answer. 

4) I’d argue that Sokka belongs in Ravenclaw, even though he is of course quite brave and extremely loyal to his loved ones, not only because he’s a strategist and an inventor, but also because, as best stated by Master Piandao:

Ravenclaws most value wit, learning, intelligence, creativity and wisdom (this last one is a bit iffy but I’m sure he’ll get there when he’s older), as well as priding themselves on being original in their ideas and methods. That’s Sokka to a T.

5) Katara gave me a hard time. She’s unbelievably loyal to her friends and family, she’s compassionate, patient, fair, hard working and dedicated, with a REALLY strong sense of justice, so a case can be made for Hufflepuff easily. However she can also be quite cunning when she wants to (most obviously during The Waterbending Scroll, City of Walls and Secrets, The Painted Lady, and The Runaway), she has a lot of ambition (if you count every variation of “I will make the world a better place by force if I have to”), she disregards the rules when it suits her (again The Waterbending Scroll as well as The Runaway) and she can be proud at times, so we could argue she’s a Slytherin. She’s also undoubtedly very intelligent and even quite wise for her age. It took me a while to decide but then I pondered; at her very core, what are the statements that define her? What words just scream “that’s it, that’s Katara”? They are, of course, these two phrases:

The first sounded incredibly Gryffindor to me, and the second is half Gryffindor half Hufflepuff, so it had to be between those two. As such, I decided to look into Gryffindor first. Katara is, of course, astoundingly courageous, but what else? I had to actually look up definitions for the Gryffindor traits besides courage because they all just kinda meant “brave” to me initially 😅, but what I found was:

*Nerve: “one's steadiness and courage in a demanding situation”. Yep. Who’s the most level-headed, steady and reliable person whenever the Gaang is in any kind of pinch? That’s right. Katara

*Daring: “adventurous or audaciously bold“. Yep. I’d say she ties with Toph for boldest in the Gaang

*Determination: “firmness of purpose”. Yep, absolutely. See the above image from the Painted Lady. ‘Nuff said.

*Chivalry: can mean 2 things, one is “sum of the ideal qualifications of a knight, including courtesy, generosity, valor, and dexterity in arms”. All of that is true of her (her “arms” being her waterbending), but I found it interesting that to be chivalrous can also mean “gracious and honorable toward an enemy, especially a defeated one, and toward the weak or poor”. I’d argue that this fits her even more. Once again, just take a look at The Painted Lady episode. 

*Courage and bravery: they can mean the same thing, namely “the ability to do something that frightens you” and of course that fits Katara, but the word courage in particular has another meaning, which is “strength in the face of pain or grief”...

I’d say she’s pretty good at that. I think that settles it, Katara is a Gryffindor.

Turns out that when it came to the water tribe siblings Bato was right all along

6) For Toph I was split between Gryffindor (thinking of her brash, bold nature) and Slytherin for a while, but after looking into Katara and researching all those definitions I think I have to give it to Slytherin. Of course, Toph doesn’t seem to be very ambitious unless you count “being recognized as the greatest earthbender in the world”, but she is quite cunning. She knows exactly how to use her “poor helpless blind girl” persona to get what she wants, as seen both on The Blind Bandit and The Runaway. She’s also an extremely good actress, being able to play the “reserved and obedient little girl” to her parents for years, and being easily able to pick it back up when it suits her. 

She’s also stubborn, proud, and 100% willing to use any means, regardless of laws or rules, to get what she wants. 

As for self preservation? Remember that her response when asked to teach Aang, which was crucial to save the world but would’ve compromised her secret, was this:

Slytherins can also “hesitate before acting, so as to weigh all possible outcomes before deciding exactly what should be done “ and my first instinct was to say that it didn’t fit Toph at all, but what is Toph if not a person who “waits and listens before striking”? Slytherins tend to favor Neutral Jing it seems. 

Almost forgot that as a daughter of the Beifong family she’s sort of nobility and she technically also meets the “blood purity” criteria.

7) Finally, we get to my boy Aang. He was really difficult. He’s loyal, patient, fair, kind, modest (usually) and just but I can’t really call him a hard worker most of the time.  

He’s brave, adventurous, determined and chivalrous but he does tend to get discouraged during demanding or stressful situations (his friends always make it better though)

He’s creative, very wise for his age, and quite smart (except when he’s playing around with Sokka in which case they share one brain cell 😂)

He can even be cunning when he needs to be. If he ever went to Hogwarts, he’d definitely be a Hat Staller like Harry. I heard someone say once that they considered Aang a Gryffindor because he liked to show off a lot, but that’s not really a Gryffindor trait (think of Neville Longbottom, Remus Lupin, Harry Potter and Minerva McGonagall. I think any one of them would sooner Stupefy themselves than go show off their skills in front of a crowd for no reason other than to brag).

Once again, we must pin down what it is that defines him, what his core is. After much thought, I decided it’s this: 

It’s his compassion, which he learned from his people, and his desire to value and protect all life. It’s his loyalty to the ideologies of the Air Nomads of which he is the last remaining bastion. It’s his strong moral code, his sense of right and wrong, his wish to make friends and to believe the best of everyone. That’s his center. That is what makes him Avatar Aang. In light of that, I think we can consider Aang, first and foremost, a Hufflepuff.

In the end, Team Avatar is made up of one Ravenclaw, one Slytherin, one Gryffindor (two after Suki joins), and two Hufflepuffs

Ironic, that the House least valued in the Harry Potter universe is the one that houses arguably the most pivotal characters of Avatar the Last Airbender: Zuko and Aang. Fitting, that even in this they parallel each other.

This is already long enough so I don’t think I’ll do Mai, Ty Lee, or Iroh. Maybe some other time.

#atla #Avatar The Last Airbender #the gaang #fire siblings #team avatar #Zuko #azula #suki #sokka #katara #toph beifong #aang #Harry Potter #hogwarts houses #gryffindor #hufflepuff #ravenclaw #slytherin #thyf rambles #meta #atla meta

[arashikitten]

Why has no one made a Yu Yu Hakusho x Danny Phantom crossover yet?

?I mean, honestly, look at these two shows! Look at them! How is it that no one (that I know of) has made a crossover with them yet? There’s so much potential!  I mean honestly! Both are about a 14-year-old who died in or before the first episode, came back to life through some sort of shenanigans, and ended up with supernatural abilities as a result. Both Danny and Yusuke have a very close knit friend group comprised of people who know about said supernatural abilities and help them fight all form of malicious supernatural entities (Danny fights ghosts, Yusuke fights demons). Both Yusuke and Danny have a rival/arch-nemesis who, at the start of the series, is leagues above the protagonists in terms of power, but ends up being surpassed by the main protagonist sometime during the second season of their respective show. Both Vlad and Toguro serve as foils to Danny and Yusuke respectively, and while they may feel some sort of kinship with them for some reason or other, they tend to see the young protagonist as someone who is below them in terms of power, intelligence, and skills (even after that is no longer the case). Both Danny and Yusuke are snarky and seem like delinquents to all but their closest friends, but secretly they have a heart of absolute gold. Both would (and have) died for any one of their friends, and they likely have a metric fuck ton of trauma from the many, many, many times they almost watched their friends and family die right in front of them. And of course, both Danny and Yusuke are likely to become kings of their own supernatural realm (if you disregard DP’s canon in favor of the fanon like I do).

So then the question becomes this: how would a crossover between the two shows go?

Here’s how I see it playing out:

Sometime after the last episode of Yu Yu Hakusho, and right after the events of Reign Storm, Yusuke (who I would say is about 18-19 years old now) gets a call from Koenma for the first time in almost 4 years. Koenma tells Yusuke that he needs him to come back for one final case: investigate a small town in Northeastern America for recent spikes in spiritual and demonic activity. 

When Yusuke asks why Koenma wants him to look into what is seemingly a tourist trap town, Koenma tells him that the town was recently encased under a dome of spirit energy, disappeared for almost 24 hours, and then suddenly reappeared again, and Koenma suspects that someone- or something- from spirit world might be responsible.

Three calls and four plane tickets later, Yusuke and the gang land in Illinois and make their way to Amity Park. Kuwabara takes one (1) step into the town and immediately freezes. He’s always been the most spirit-sensitive of the group, and this town is setting off all of his proverbial alarms. Kurama, Hiei, and Yusuke also notice something off about the town, like everyone here has way higher spirit energy than normal. 

The four make their way through town, noticing more and more as they continue. They notice the massive craters that litter the streets. They notice the constant smell of spirit and demon energy that drenches the town like a fog, covering everything and everyone. They notice the small, silvery-grey and green devices that almost everyone seems to have on their wrist, and Yusuke can’t help but think about how similar they look to the spirit-detecting gadgets he used to have back during the beginning of his detective career. They notice the metal panels that every store seems to have hanging above their windows, waiting to come down and defend from some unknown beast.

They notice how, whenever they appear in an area, everyone in the vicinity goes silent. Tense. Wary of them. Like they know three demons just appeared, even if all of them look human.

Yusuke and his team split up to search through the town and cover more ground, agreeing to meet by the local highschool in two hours. Things just get even weirder from there. 

 Kurama finds a patch of wild blood blossoms growing near the forest, despite the fact that they were declared extinct more than 200 years ago. Hiei sees a pair of burly men wearing all white suits and dark sunglasses dragging a young man with white hair and sunglasses away for questioning. Kuwabara is surprised when a small, glowing green puppy appears in front of him, only to vanish when he leans down to pet it.

Yusuke finds a massive stone brick building with what almost looks like a UFO perched on top, and huge neon sign with the words FentonWorks on it. Here, the spirit energy is almost suffocating, and it feels like molasses, thick and heavy and dense on Yusuke’s senses. He feels something else though, something that just barely manages to break through the thick ambient spirit energy that swamps this entire block: a ghost. And a powerful one at that.

By the time the group reconvenes at the high school, everyone is tense. They’re sure that there’s something sketchy in this town, but none of them have gotten any concrete leads on what caused the town’s sudden disappearance and reappearance. Almost none of the townsfolk give them any answers, and the few that do are vague and confusing, or outright lies. Kuwabara firmly believes that this town is haunted by ghosts, and that they’re what caused the sudden disappearance, but Yusuke, having been a ghost himself at one point, is less inclined to believe that. Yusuke is convinced that the house with the weird UFO thing and abnormal spirit energy has something to do with it, and the gang agrees that would be the best place to start.

Before they can do that though, they all suddenly sense a MASSIVE spike in spirit energy, coming from the center of town. Yusuke and the gang book it to where the spike is, hoping to get some sort of lead.

Meanwhile, Danny is having a fight with Skulker, made slightly more difficult than normal due to the fact that he’s still recovering from the whole Pariah Dark fiasco. He’s been on edge all day, ever since he sensed that weird ectosignature near his house. He’d felt the typical chill of his ghost sense, but the typical puff of blueish smoke wasn’t present like it usually was. On top of that, he’d felt a small jolt of electricity, too big to be chalked up to static electricity and carrying with it a hint of... something. Something not entirely human. 

But when Danny had tried to investigate, he’d come up empty handed. Which as you can guess, made Danny My-friends-and-family-have-all-almost-been-killed-by-a-ghost-disguised-as-a-human-at-least-once Fenton more than a little nervous.

So Danny’s fighting Skulker when he feels that not-quite ghost sense again, except this time it’s even stronger than before and waaaay the hell closer. And now Danny goes from nervous to flat out terrified, because whoever or whatever is triggering his not-quite ghost sense is really fucking strong, and oh fuck are there four of them?! Are they getting closer?!?! Whatever it is is really strong, like almost stronger than Pariah Dark and Danny was barely able to take him down at 100% strength with the enhanced suit, and he no longer has the suit and he still has not fully recovered since then, so how in the fresh hell is he gonna fight four beings who are at least on par with Pariah? 

Skulker notices the sudden power spike as well and immediately bounces, leaving Danny to panic over these four insanely powerful entities. 

Yusuke and the gang make it just in time to see Skulker leave while Danny hovers in the air, looking like he’s about to blow a gasket. Kurama takes one look at the panicking ghost kid floating above him, notices the weird spirit energy around the kid, and immediately puts two and two together and realizes the kid is a ghost, and a really powerful one. Yusuke, who if you remember spent about a week as a ghost at the age of 14, is confused because I thought ghosts couldn’t be seen by living people? But these bystanders are clearly seeing this kid? 

And then Yusuke senses that strange spirit energy he felt when he went by FentonWorks, and he’s like “You were the reason for the weird spirit signature!” at Danny, who panics and flies off because now he thinks these super powerful guys are working for the GiW, and he’d rather not spend the rest of his afterlife on an examination table.

So Danny flies off, hoping to lose Yusuke and his gang, but Yusuke I-used-to-fight-demons-who-could-move-at-the-speed-of-sound-for-fun Urameshi and Hiei have absolutely no problem keeping up with the panicking halfa, and they end up fighting. Yusuke and Hiei want answers, Danny is terrified of being caught by what are possibly government agents, and finally Kurama manages to trap the halfa with ghostly vines.

Unfortunately for Danny, these vines are phase-proof, meaning he can’t escape, and he’s already hurt and exhausted and he doesn’t know how much longer he can hold his ghost form.

Yusuke picks up on the ghost’s nervousness immediately, and again assumes that this ghost is the culprit for Amity’s sudden disappearance, demanding to know why he abducted an entire town.

Danny is confused, because what the hell are these people talking about? He never abducted the town? He’s not nearly that powerful?? Before he realizes that oh, these people are trying to figure out why the town disappeared for 24 hours because literally no one outside of Amity Park has any idea why.

So Danny starts to explain what really happened, when his time finally runs out and he detransforms. 

Right in front of what he believes to be four government officials.

There are five different reactions.

Hiei goes still. He’s completely silent. This shouldn’t be possible. He wants to believe that this is all a trick, but he can hear that fifth heartbeat that wasn’t there ten seconds ago and he smells that fear scent that only humans have and glamour can only do so much.

Kurama has the calmest reaction. He leans back a little, eyes wide, and lets out a soft “oh”. Yes, this is a surprise to him, but then again, Kurama himself is a demon hiding as a human, with a human family, so he immediately sympathizes with Danny a bit.

Danny is panicking. He’s just revealed his biggest secret to four complete strangers, all of whom are absolutely powerful enough to take him out on their own, and he is terrified that they’ll turn him in to the government. He’s about five seconds from a full-blown panic attack.

Kuwabara freaks out. He’s trying to wrap his mind around this whole thing, because he is 100% sure this kid was a ghost, that he was dead, but now he’s not sensing much of anything and how the hell is this possible???? How can someone be a ghost and a human at the same time???? WHAT????? He’s pulling at his hair as he tries to put the logistics of it together, pacing back and forth.

Yusuke freezes. Suddenly he’s 14 again, floating as he watches his body get carted off as he tries to come to terms with the fact that he’s dead. Then he’s in the temple of the four saint beasts, fighting with everything he has as he watches the love of his life get attacked by monstrous zombies. Then kneeling next to Genkai’s broken and bleeding body, begging her not to go even as she draws her last breath because he couldn’t bear to lose the woman that he’s come to see as family, as the closest thing he’d ever have to a grandmother. Then he’s watching Toguro plunge his hand into Kuwabara’s heart, watching as his best freind gasps for breath because Yusuke wasn’t good enough, he wasn’t strong enough, and he just lost Genkai he can’t loose Kuwabara too-.

And when he looks down at this small, skinny teenager with deep shadows under his eyes and knuckles covered in scars from god-knows haw many fights, he sees himself as he was in the beginning: Just a kid who was thrust into the world of the supernatural without any warning, desperately trying to stay alive and protect the human world despite the fact that he’s only a teenager, and he shouldn’t have to be fighting for his life against these ancient and powerful demons because he’s a kid, dammit!

Yusuke kneels down to get to eye level with the kid. He can’t help the painful twinge in his chest when the kid looks up at him with wide, icy blue eyes, and quietly begs him not to tell anyone, because this kid can’t be much older than he was when he started out as a spirit detective and he sounds absolutely terrified, and Yusuke can’t help but wonder why he sounds so scared of people learning about the whole ghost thing. 

“Listen, kid. We’re not going to hurt you. We were sent here to investigate something, and we were hoping you might know something. Can you tell us your name?”

“Danny. D-Danny Fenton.”

“Ok, cool. Don’t worry, none of here are going to tell anyone about... about whatever this is. We just want to know about something that happened here a week ago, and we were hoping you could give us some answers.”

Danny agrees, and Kurama frees him from the vines. After a couple of moments, Danny calms down as he realizes that no, these guys won’t rat him out to the government, and he agrees to answer some of their questions.

The group make their way to the outskirts of the forest, and Danny tells them about his status as a half-ghost: he tells them about his parents, how they were building a portal to the ghost zone (Everyone is more than a little freaked out at that, because now there’s a permanent portal to spirit world that Koenma doesn’t know about), how he’d gone inside to see if he could figure out why it wasn’t working, how it’d turned on while he was inside (Yusuke clenches his fists hard enough to draw blood. Both of the times he’d died had been excruciatingly painful, but at least they’d been quick. Getting electrocuted to death would be beyond agonizing, and getting caught in a portal like that...). He tells them about how his parents despise ghosts, believing them to be cruel, malicious, and emotionless, incapable of feeling pain. He tells them about how he’s TERRIFIED of telling his parents the truth, of telling them that he’s Danny Phantom because that seems to be the ghost they want to capture the most, and he’s seen what they do to the ghosts they capture (Kurama and Yusuke feel sick at that. No wonder the kid was so adamant about keeping this a secret.). 

“Does anyone else know? Anyone at all?”

Yusuke breathes a small sigh of relief when Danny tells them that his sister and his two best friends know. That sigh of relief is rescinded when the kid tells them that oh yeah, all the ghosts that are constantly attacking the town? Yeah, they know my secret identity too.

Yusuke has to force himself to move on from that last tidbit because he’s about five seconds from adopting this kid despite being only five years older.

“Ok, neat. That’s... that’s ok. Moving on to why we’re here. We were hoping that you would have some information regarding the sudden disappearance and reappearance of Amity Park a week ago? Do you know why or how it happened?”

Danny talks about how, one week ago, ghosts started pouring out of the portal in unprecedented numbers. How they were terrified, running from something in the ghost zone. How Fright Knight had appeared, declaring the reign of Pariah Dark (Kurama and Hiei suck in a breath. Had... had this kid seriously fought against the fabled ghost king?), and the massive green dome had appeared over the town. How he’d tried to fight Fright Knight off, how another ghost by the name of Vlad Plasmius had shown up and admitted that he was the reason for Pariah Dark’s temporary freedom, how Plasmius had decided to have a temporary truce with Danny in order to defeat Pariah, how Danny had pulled Fright Knight’s sword from the ground and accidentally teleported Amity Park into the Ghost zone, how the entire town had gone under lock down. How he’d stolen the power suit from his parent’s lab to go and face Pariah on his own, and bring Amity back to Earth. How he’d just barely been able to shove Pariah back in the sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, how the power suit had almost completely drained his life energy, how the town had been back on earth when he’d woken up (Again, Yusuke has a flashback to the Temple of the Four Saint Beasts. What is it with the powers that be and sending kids to do life-threatening missions like that?).

Kurama records the entire thing before sending it to Koenma. 

When Danny is finally done, he notices that everyone is staring at him. Yusuke is the first one to speak.

“Damn kid, you really fought the king of the Ghost Zone, huh?” Danny stutters for a moment, because this guy is saying it like Danny fought a god or something. Like yeah, it was difficult, but it can’t be that big a deal right?

Then Kurama speaks up. “Danny, I don’t think you understand. There are two ways to crown a king of the Ghost Zone: either the ghost zone itself must choose someone, or the current ghost king must be defeated in battle. You defeated Pariah Dark in battle. Meaning....”

Everyone goes silent for a moment, processing.

Then several things happen at once. Danny, who at this point still hasn’t fully processed that oh yeah, I defeated one of the most powerful ghosts in existence, freaks the hell out because I barely have time to protect one (1) town, how am I going to rule an entire dimension? Kuwabara is flipping his shit again, Hiei is contemplating, and Yusuke.... Yusuke decides screw it, I’m having an apprentice now, and after calming Danny down, he offers to help train him up a bit (Somewhere in spirit world, Genkai starts quietly laughing).

Danny agrees after a moment of deliberation. Yusuke hangs out in Amity for a bit to help Danny. His first interaction with Sam and Tucker is.... interesting. Yusuke snuck up on Sam and Tucker, and Sam promptly punched him in the face and almost broke his nose. But after a bit they start to warm up to him, and eventually Yusuke starts teaching Sam some hand to hand along with Danny.

Vlad makes one appearance while Yusuke is there. He sensed some sort of foreign presence in Amity and wanted to see if he could exploit it, only for Yusuke I-haven’t-slept-in-a-week-and-I-refuse-to-start-now Urameshi to wipe the floor with him. When he asks Danny who the new ghost is, he is surprised to learn that no, Danny is not the only half-ghost in existence, and also that guy is a famous millionaire and also knows my secret identity so maybe let’s not break into his mansion to fight him please? (Yusuke agrees not to after a very lengthy argument. Still, the whole situation reminds him a little too much of Toguro and the Dark tournament, and he quietly asks Koenma to open an investigation into this Vlad Plasmius guy.)

Yusuke’s introduction to Danny’s parents goes... surprisingly well, actually. Aside from one small incident where one of the Fenton ghost detectors lock on to Yusuke’s signature, everything goes fairly well. Jack and Maddie take a shine to him almost immediately, when they see him curb stomp Skulker with a practiced ease that only a professional should have, and within the week Yusuke is an honorary member of the Fenton family.  

There’s a lot more, but this post is waaaay too long as it is. Feel free to add on!

#Danny Phantom #yu yu hakusho #yusuke urameshi #danny fenton #Danny phantom crossover #Seriously tho why has no one done this one yet? #It would be so interesting #ESPECIALLY if Yusuke is older here #The dynamic between Yusuke and Danny would be so damn fun #I imagine it's similar to Genkai and Yusuke's relationship #Speaking of Genkai #The MOMENT she finds out that yusuke is training someone #She busts her way out of spirit world so she can find out who it is #she wants to know who her grandkid is teaching dammit! #she takes one look at Danny and is just like #Looks like I'm adopting yet another snarky half dead fourteen year-old #Also Danny can totally see her #and it throws her for one hell of a loop #Danny floats up to her and is like yo what's up? #and Genkai's chill abt it on the outside #on the inside tho #she's like #*surprised pikachu face* #Hiei #Kurama #yyh kuwabara #koenma #i will pay whoever writes this 50 dollars #jk i don't have any money #but like

[itsthenovelteafactor]

guess what folks... i’m talking about the Hargreeves kids again. 

- there is a bowling alley/arcade within walking distance of the mansion (it may be the one from episode 9; i don’t remember where that was geographically but please hear me out). These kids don’t get a ton of recreation time, and when they do, it’s limited to 2-3 hours max. but it’s enough time to go to the arcade.

- first of all: everyone at the bowling alley knows who they are. they are the Umbrella Academy, they are super famous and they all own just the one outfit. The owner of the bowling alley, however, has a very strict “we do not allow anyone to talk to the press or bother these kids when they are having what is very clearly a well-needed break from saving the world”. (The owner of the bowling alley is the real mvp, honestly.)

- the most acknowledgement they ever get is when someone randomly decides to pay for their snacks as a way of saying thank you for some kind of heroic endeavor. in this cases, they will all awkwardly look over and wave to say thank you and then go back to devouring their loaded cheese fries.

- with the above, they only have enough money for bowling and snacks or bowling and games and it’s a toss up every time as to which they go for. when they opt for games rather than snacks, they make Diego play skee-ball and get enough tickets to buy them all candy from the prize counter.

- when they order snacks, it is always nachos or loaded cheese fries for the table, and seven ice waters, three with lemon, four without. 

- when they are actually bowling:

- Luther is okay at bowling because he tends to use enough force to knock over plenty of pins even if his aim isn’t perfect. Sometimes, however, he uses too much force and nearly breaks the machine (which is old, and not super well kept up with). He is also very easily distracted by the loud music, and also his siblings.

- Diego is so good at bowling it’s unfair. He gets a strike literally every time. The siblings institute a new rule where whenever it’s his turn, they take one of their ties and tie it around his eyes like a blindfold, and then spin him around a bunch to disorient him and then let him bowl. He still always gets a strike. 

- Klaus cannot bowl at all. He refuses to use the bumpers, and somehow manages to get a gutter ball every single time. Sometimes he accidentally gets a gutter ball in the gutter of the lane next to them. 

- Vanya uses bumpers and also that ramp thing that you position and roll the ball down when you are little and can’t actually bowl yet. At one point Klaus tries to slide down it, and nearly breaks it. She is doing her best, and they don’t make fun of her too much because, hey, at least she’s better than Klaus.

- Before he left, Five would absolutely teleport either himself or the ball to improve his scores. 

- Ben and Allison bowl normally what is wrong with all of you?

- When it comes to arcade games, Allison and Klaus are both really good at those dance games where you have to step on the different squares throughout the song. The rest of them are... much worse. They also all exclusively do the dance to “Ra Ra Rasputin” because Diego hates it, and the dance game is right next to skee-ball.

- Ben is really good at the Jumpin’ Jackpot game. He is the only one amongst them who can get more than, like 3, and often will have a little crowd of other kids around him because that game is impossible and how are you on level 50?

- Luther just wants to win the claw game one time, he does not care what he wins anymore, he just wants it to work once so he can prove that it isn’t rigged. He wastes all his tokens every time and ignores everyone who tells him that the game is not meant to be won. When he’s done, he usually will go join the small crowds around Ben or Allison and Klaus. 

- When he’s there, Five plays air hockey. Usually with Vanya, because he tends to get “sends puck so quickly across the table it might actually hurt someone” aggressive when he’s playing with anyone else. When Vanya is busy, he plays with himself, teleporting from side to side.

- When he’s not playing skee-ball (read: Klaus and Allison chased him away by playing “Ra Ra Rasputin” for the fifth time), Diego will play whack-a-mole. 

- Vanya tends to hover and watch while the rest of them play games, and give all her tokens away when someone runs out. Typically, they will split the resulting tickets with her, unless it’s Luther because he has no tickets. He’s still playing the claw game. He offers to give her the prize, though, and she nods like she thinks it’ll happen. 

- They are all way too into the cheesy prizes you can get with minimal amounts of tickets. Klaus gets a plastic tiara with a feather-boa trim and wears it the rest of the day. Allison keeps getting the terrible nail polish that smears in, like, a day. Ben always panics at the last second and gets another deck of cards. He has so many decks of cards in his room, he doesn’t even like playing cards that much. Diego gets so many tootsie rolls. He is the only one amongst them who likes them. He also gets one of those magnetic dartboards, which now lives in the rec room, but remains mostly unused. Five always says he’s going to save up for one of the expensive prizes but never actually does because he gives all the tickets he doesn’t use to Vanya. Vanya is building up a stuff-animal collection in her room, but they are all the kind of creepy neon colored stuffed animals you win at arcades. 

#tua #the umbrella academy #tua headcanons #Luther Hargreeves #Diego Hargreeves #Allison Hargreeves #Klaus Hargreeves #Five Hargreeves #Ben Hargreeves #Vanya Hargreeves #Five is saving for a Newton's Cradle #I hope all of these arcade games were out in the 90s #but let's assume they were #I am fascinated by this era of their lives okay?

[pollylynn]

Title: Pursuit WC: 800 Episode: Hell Hath No Fury (1 x 04)

She is used to seeking out weaknesses. Her job—and she is damned good at it—is to size up every adversary she meets and find the cracks, then split them wide. She is the hammer and chisel. She is sprawling ivy that thrives even as brick and mortar crumble to dust. She is the stubborn weed that works its way into whatever fissure it comes across and lays bare what was concealed for all to see. 

But what she is used to—what she is damned good at—is useless in the face of her current adversary, because her current adversary is Richard Castle, and Richard Castle is all cracks. Richard Castle races through the world shouting to the rooftops a running list of his flaws and foibles, his liabilities and vulnerabilities. 

He confesses readily to hiding out and drinking her bad coffee. Practically without prompting, he offers up the blanket forts he’s retreated to in the face of adversity. One minute, he’s puffing out his chest and insisting he doesn’t care what people think, and the next he’s whimpering to his mother and rising to the sleazy PI’s drunken bait about the caliber of writer he is and isn’t.  

He cheerfully declares most of the human population to be hypocrites, then sets his own hypocrisy on display like so many knockoff watches on a street vendor’s faded velvet. His open contempt for Creason comes hot on the heels of the wildly inappropriate Club Tasty story he only just manages to avoid sharing with their interviewee. He gleefully wonders what sex-ready workout regime their late, lamented councilman must have been keeping, then slips so easily into his lonely, upscale gentleman persona that it’s obvious he must be keeping limber himself, just in case he runs across any non-sexist women who’d like to put him through his paces. 

What is she even supposed to do with all that? How is she supposed to reduce him to rubble, then kick his pulverized remains to the curb, when he keeps . . . self-pulverizing and stubbornly avoiding the curb? 

The curb is the endgame. Maybe that’s where she’s going wrong here. It’s true that she’s used to a seek-and-destroy approach. It’s also true that with every person he wins over with his charm and his Knicks tickets and his express trains to Fun in Flavor Country, her desire to reduce him to his component atoms him grows little by little. But annihilation might be a want, not a need. It may have to take backseat to just being rid of him, because that’s the endgame, and that may call for a different approach. 

What that different approach might be has her at a loss. She’s tried threats. She’s tried insults and condescension and near-constant needling. She’s tried ignoring him entirely and directly ordering him to stay the hell out of her way. She has emptied her arsenal and here he still is, trotting along at her heels, impervious to abuse and maddeningly immune to her considerable powers of bossing men around. 

She is at a loss until an absolutely terrible idea occurs to her. Her arsenal is empty, but what if the answer—the path to the endgame—lies in his? He scurries off, finally, when day is done. She watches him go, and the terrible, obvious solution to her Richard Castle problem falls into place. 

It’s a weakness of his after all, one so obvious and tired that she has deemed merely acknowledging it, let alone any exploitation of it, as utterly beneath her. But the Captain has defected. Ryan and Esposito have been bought for the price of tiny, stupid cups of outstanding coffee. Lanie is playing for Team Fun-Filled Freak-On. Richard Castle needs to go, and the King of Crumble himself has told her outright how to beat him. 

I know, right? You work together, you think it will be fun, but then it always makes things weird. 

The elevator doors close like the jaws of a trap, winking him out of sight. She grabs her coat, her bag, her everything-she-can-think-of, and that will have to do. She pounds down the stairs and courtesy of a universe that seems to think she’s on to something, makes it home in record time. 

She sheds her work clothes and reaches instinctively for the dress she hasn’t thought about—hasn’t had occasion to think about—in who knows how long. It’s pink—hot pink, just a shade or two off from the one favored by Tiffany the Sparkling Conversationalist. It’s a declaration of war, a declaration of pursuit after weeks of retreat and refusal to engage. 

It’s an unmistakable sign that things are about to get very weird, and that will be that. 

A/N: Concept so nebulous; there probably is not even coffee in that nebula. But, for the record, Beckett’s plan here is obviously flawless: Phase 1. Have sex with him; Phase 2. let it get weird; Phase 3 . . . profit?

imageas via homeofthenutty

#Castle #Caskett #Castle: Season 1 #Castle: Hell Hath No Fury #Kate Beckett #Richard Castle #Martha Rodgers #Fic #Fanfic #Fanfiction #Fan Fic #Fan Fiction #Writing #Tell Me More

[jerusalemstraycat]

II3 thoughts and theories???

I waited until I saw the episode for myself to make this post just in case it was an April Fools prank after all. It didn’t really clear anything up timeline-wise, so there is still room to THEORIZE about the nature of S3!

This is what is known:

Mephone lured the contestants to the S3 island under false pretenses with the Spoiled Lemon tickets.

Heavily implied in the episode, and confirmed by Brian.

It makes sense that Mephone would want to start fresh with a new season free from Cobs and his influence, especially since each season corresponds to an in-universe “season” of a reality show.

S2 is still ongoing, and won’t be cancelled, but the events of S2 and S3 will have no impact on one another.

Confirmed by Taylor.

This one surprised (and disappointed) me a bit. I would have thought that S2 and S3 would still be connected in some way, at least until S2 ends, like BFB and TPOT after the split.

It’s possible that S3 might be what I was speculating about in this post I made right after S2E14 released.

This is what is NOT known:

Given that Mephone is busy running S3, and both his assistants have gone off to who-knows-where, who’s going to take over S2?

I hope it’s Taco, if not the new Mephone from the end of S2E14.

Also, what’s going on in the hotel? I guess it can be assumed that Paper is filling in for OJ, but how long is it going to take everyone to notice that the hotel’s been half-empty for weeks and there’s no sign of the missing residents coming back anytime soon?

What is up with Indefinite Island? The walkie-talkie (unclear if it was playing a recording or actually speaking) said eliminated contestants will have a second chance if they stay on the island. I have many questions.

S3 certainly seems to be lighter (figuratively and literally) than S2, with the silly, S1-esque style plot, and the animation style from the shorts. Will it stay that way? Will it be a “normal season”?

I hope not. There’s already too much background weirdness for that.

TL;DR My overall impression is positive. I still have some misgivings, but when do I not. I’m still holding out hope that S3 and the remainder of S2 will acknowledge each other at least a little bit.

#inanimate insanity #ii #ii3 #inanimate insanity invitational