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pillowbugs · 4 months

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The Peak of Bug Types: An Appreciative Primer on Unova's Bug Pokémon

Introduction

Until Unova, Bug types weren’t known for being particularly popular. Despite the regional bug being a common archetype in every mainline Pokémon game, available from the start of the game, it was seen as the equivalent of a Jagen in Fire Emblem: a crutch ‘pre-promote’ (it evolves early) with horrible stats that is meant to help you survive early on, meant to be dropped from the team once more options were available.

While every Pokémon game has bugs that don’t fit that mould, with varied stats and roles, the fact that Bug as a type is considered lacklustre offensively and defensively, with its three weaknesses all being common types ingame, made bugs difficult to use most of the time. The rare standouts included Scyther and its evolution Scizor, as well as Heracross.

"Holy shit" - Exeggutor, probably

Generation 5 introduced a whopping 9 Bug-type evolutionary lines in total!

For reference, Generation 1, a similarly large generation, has 6 lines. Gen 2 introduced 6 new lines as well (and added Scizor to Gen 1’s Scyther). Gen 3 effectively introduced 8 with Wurmple’s split evolution as well as Shedinja/Ninjask. Gen 4 effectively introduced 6 full lines (and added Yanmega to Gen 2’s Yanma) with 4 possible evolutions for Burmy, and had the Poison/Bug Skorupi lose its Bug typing upon evolution into Drapion.

All of Unova’s bugs are more than usable ingame, which is more than most regions can say. It makes sense, then, that Unova has not one, but two (and arguably three) separate notable Bug-type trainers, those being Burgh (Gym Leader), Alder (BW1 Champion, albeit postgame; generally considered multitype but has 3 bugs) and Emmet (Facility Head). How else are they going to show off all their incredible bugs?

The 9 evolutionary lines that will be covered in this primer are: Leavanny, Scolipede, Crustle, Escavalier, Accelgor, Galvantula, Durant, Volcarona and Genesect.

(All artworks from the Pokémon Global Link)

#540 - #542: Sewaddle, Swadloon, Leavanny

Sewaddle is the very first Bug type you meet in BW1 and BW2, coming right after the second gym in BW1 and shortly before the first gym in BW2. It evolves into Swadloon at Level 20, then into Leavanny with high friendship. It is a Bug/Grass type, similar to Parasect in Gen 1 and Wormadam (Plant) in Gen 4.

Swadloon is one of the bulkiest Pokémon found around the time you obtain it, with 55/90/80 defensive stats. This would be about the time you fight Castelia City’s Bug-type Gym Leader Burgh (who also happens to have one on his team in BW2). Combined with the fact that you also obtain the Eviolite in the same city, Swadloon becomes a veritable tank for quite a while until evolution.

Leavanny sheds its previous defensive role for a harder-hitting, faster one, albeit still with similar defensive stats, only losing 10 Defence (and 10 Special Defence in its debut generation). With 103 base Attack, and a decent 92 Speed, it relies mostly on STAB Razor Leaf and Bug Bite, and TM27 Return off of aforementioned high friendship (bought at Nimbasa City in BW1 and received after the first gym in BW2) from the very start. Unfortunately, most of the time, both its STABs are resisted – but when they aren’t, Leavanny can deal heavy damage. This is further boosted by it naturally learning Swords Dance later on, which doubles its physical damage output. Leaf Blade and X-Scissor are also good moves to have later on, and it learns both relatively early at Levels 36 and 39 respectively.

In all, Leavanny is a Pokémon that is available early and can continue being useful, even in a game where the ethos is to keep updating your team as you go along.

Notable Trainers: Burgh (BW1, BW2, Masters)

Leavanny is the Bug-type Gym Leader Burgh’s ace Pokémon in all the games he appears in. In addition, Swadloon is also the first Pokemon he sends out in BW2 on Normal and Easy modes. In his pre-battle quote in BW2 + some lines in Masters, he brags about Leavanny and how it makes clothes for other Pokémon. He’s proud of his bugs!

***

#543 - #545: Venipede, Whirlipede, Scolipede

Venipede is the very first Bug type you meet in BW1, sharing the position with Sewaddle. It comes right after the second gym in BW1 and shortly after the first gym in BW2. It evolves into Whirlipede at Level 22, then into Scolipede at Level 30. It is a Bug/Poison type, similar to Beedrill in Gen 1, Ariados in Gen 2 and Dustox in Gen 3.

Like Swadloon, Whirlipede is bulky for the time you get it, trading a later evolution time, 8 less Atk and 1 less Special Def. for 9 more Def. and a better defensive typing. With the Eviolite, it becomes incredibly tanky, and is immune to Poison to boot.

Scolipede also becomes fast and offensive upon evolution, but has a worse offensive typing and 3 less Atk (13 in Gen 5) in exchange for 20 Speed and a better defensive typing.

Technically, the one thing Scolipede is known for now didn’t exist in full in Gen 5, as its hidden ability then was Quick Feet rather than Speed Boost. Still, it had the niche of Baton Pass by level-up as well as multiple boosting moves, such as Swords Dance by TM and Iron Defense by level-up as a Whirlipede. Scolipede is also able to learn both Spikes and Toxic Spikes (albeit by breeding), making it a fast hazards setter.

In all, despite its statline, Scolipede can be more of a support Pokémon with a lot of tools at its disposal.

Notable Trainers: Burgh (BW1), Roxie (BW2, Masters)

Whirlipede is one of Burgh’s team members in BW1, alongside Dwebble and Leavanny.

Come BW2, it appears with Roxie instead, and serves as her ace Pokémon. Roxie’s bass is styled after the evolutionary line. As her ace, all of Roxie’s Pokémon World Tournament (PWT) teams feature a Scolipede, as does her base in Masters.

***

#557, #558: Dwebble, Crustle

Dwebble is first available to the player in the Desert Resort, accessed after the 3rd gym in both BW1 and BW2. It evolves into Crustle at Level 34. It is a Bug/Rock type, similar to Armaldo in Gen 3, but with much better availability.

Dwebble carries Smack Down as Rock STAB from the very start, and learns Bug Bite for Bug STAB soon after. Its Rock moves can be useful for the upcoming Nimbasa Gym, as Rock attacks are the only way to hit Emolga super effectively at this point in the game. Stealth Rock at Level 24 can also be used to punish Elesa’s strategy of constantly using Volt Switch, removing ¼ of Emolga’s health (and Joltik on Challenge Mode; ⅛ for Zebstrika and Flaaffy) every time they switch in.

Crustle does mostly the same things even after evolution. It gets Shell Smash at later levels and can use it to set up a sweep, being able to survive a hit with Sturdy.

Notable Trainers: Burgh (BW1, BW2), Ingo + Emmet (BW1, BW2)

Dwebble is one of Burgh’s Pokemon in both games, punishing anyone who thought they could roll up with a Fire or Flying type and get an easy win. In BW2 in particular, Burgh brags about how cute Dwebble is. He also uses Crustle in his PWT teams, using 2 for the Driftveil and Mix Tournaments and 1 for the postgame-exclusive tournaments.

The Subway Bosses also use Crustle on their teams for the regular lines.

***

#588, #589: Karrablast, Escavalier

Karrablast is first obtained right before the 5th badge, at Route 6 in both games. It can be evolved straight away when traded for a Shelmet. Escavalier is a Bug/Steel type, similar to Forretress and Scizor in Gen 2 and Wormadam (Trash) in Gen 4.

Escavalier turns from a relatively faster attacker into a much slower, but bulkier and harder-hitting one. Its typing gives it 9 (8 in Gen 5) resistances and only 1 (albeit 4x) weakness to Fire.

Karrablast and Shelmet are the only two Pokémon that need to be traded with a specific Pokemon to evolve as of Gen 9. Canonically, Karrablast steals Shelmet’s shell and uses it as armour as an Escavalier.

Notable Trainers: Alder (BW1, BW2), Burgh (BW2 Challenge Mode, PWT), Emmet (Masters)

Alder uses an Escavalier on his team in both games, though he switches it out during the PWT.

Burgh uses a Karrablast on Challenge Mode in BW2, replacing his Swadloon along with Shelmet. He also uses 2 Escavalier in his PWT teams for the Driftveil and Mix Tournaments, and 1 for the postgame-exclusive tournaments.

Emmet uses an Escavalier in Masters, to match his brother’s Accelgor, referencing how both Pokémon rely on each other to evolve.

***

#616, #617: Shelmet, Accelgor

(skipped ahead in line to be with Escavalier)

Shelmet is only obtained right before the 7th gym in BW1, and much earlier right before the 5th gym in BW2. It can be evolved right away when traded for a Karrablast. It is a pure Bug type, similar to Pinsir in Gen 1 and Kricketune in Gen 4.

As an Accelgor, it turns from slow and defensive to a fast special attacker, with a whopping 145 Speed. It gets U-Turn via level-up, as well as Giga Drain for coverage against Rock types and Recover (which it’ll probably never use) and Final Gambit (could be hilarious cheese with its high speed).

Karrablast and Shelmet are the only two Pokemon that need to be traded with a specific Pokémon to evolve as of Gen 9. Canonically, after getting its shell stolen, Accelgor becomes understandably grumpy, which explains its perpetual sulking expression.

Notable Trainers: Alder (BW1, BW2), Shadow Triad (BW2), Burgh (BW2 Challenge Mode, PWT), Ingo (Masters)

Alder uses an Accelgor on his team in both games, though he switches it out for the PWT.

In BW2, one of the Shadow Triad (the Triple Battle one) uses an Accelgor in all his battles.

Burgh uses a Shelmet on Challenge Mode in BW2, replacing his Swadloon. He also uses an Accelgor in his PWT teams for postgame-exclusive tournaments.

Ingo uses an Accelgor in Masters, to match his brother’s Escavalier, referencing how both Pokémon rely on each other to evolve.

***

#595, #596: Joltik, Galvantula

Joltik is obtained shortly before the 6th gym in both games, in Chargestone Cave. It evolves into Galvantula at level 36. It is the very first Bug/Electric type, with only Vikavolt in Gen 7 following its example. Joltik was the smallest Pokemon upon debut, and still shares this title with 6 other Pokémon introduced in subsequent generations.

Its Electric typing neutralises its weakness to the upcoming gym’s Flying types and gives it super effective STAB against them, turning a normally disadvantageous matchup for Bug types into an advantageous one. It gets Energy Ball via TM for coverage, as well as Giga Drain in BW2 through a Move Tutor. It also gets Sucker Punch via level-up for priority, albeit off its weaker attacking stat.

As a Galvantula, it is a reasonably fast special attacker with a workable Atk and good STAB moves. Its main draw is Compound Eyes, which allows it to use the strong but inaccurate Thunder with much better accuracy, removing its main drawback.

Notable Trainers: Emmet (BW1, BW2), Elesa (BW2 Challenge Mode, PWT)

In both games, Emmet uses a Galvantula for his Multi Line battle. Funnily enough, his Galvantula is a physical set (as opposed to the usual special) with Cross Poison, which is only available via breeding in Gen 5. This has not been lost on fans, which is why a lot of fanart of him depicts him with some outrageous number of Joltik. (Breeding for perfect IVs does take a lot of Eggs...)

Elesa uses a Joltik in her Challenge Mode battle in BW2. She also uses 2 Galvantula in her Driftveil and Mix Tournament teams, and 1 for the Unova Leaders Tournament.

***

#632: Durant

Durant is obtained at the very end of the game in BW1, being found on Victory Road right before the Elite 4. It is locked to postgame areas in BW2. It is single-staged. Like Escavalier, it is Bug/Steel type, giving it multiple resistances and only 1 weakness.

Durant is notable for being able to pull its weight well at the Elite 4 even right after capture; EXP-less challenge runs of BW1 use Durant to great effect for the E4, N and Ghetsis, using its incredible defensive typing and strong attacks off 109 Atk with Hustle. Its 112 Def and 109 Speed don’t hurt either.

Durant’s rampage does not end there; with the release of its Hidden Ability Truant, it is infamous for exploiting the AI’s reluctance to switch Pokémon out to break Battle Subway Singles. Using Entrainment to change the opposing lead Pokémon’s ability to Truant, it allows for another sweeper to set up unopposed just by using Protect whenever the opponent attacks.

Durant is so destructive, it canonically destroyed Victory Road between BW1 and BW2.

Notable Trainers: Emmet (BW1, BW2), Burgh (BW2 PWT)

Ironically for someone whose brother’s side of the workplace gets absolutely demolished by the Pokémon, Emmet uses a Durant in both his Doubles and Multi Lines teams. It unfortunately doesn’t have Truant.

Burgh also uses a Durant for postgame-exclusive tournaments in the PWT.

***

#636, #637: Larvesta, Volcarona

Larvesta can be obtained with Surf in BW1 (so after the 6th gym), but requires backtracking to the starting town and travelling to the optional Route 18. There, an Egg is obtained, which takes even more time to hatch. Even when it hatches, Larvesta’s base stats are mediocre for the time it arrives, at Level 1 to boot. It also only evolves at Level 59, which is higher than the final boss’ ace Pokemon.

For all that effort, when it finally evolves, Volcarona is one of the best Pokemon overall in Generation 5, and one of the most popular. It managed to gain 2 new forms in Generation 9, which is a honour previously only afforded to mascots (and Donphan, which had ties to SV’s theme of travel).

Thankfully, it can also be obtained directly in BW1 in the postgame in Relic Castle’s basement, and in BW2 it can be obtained as early as right after the 5th gym in the same place, as a Volcarona.

While Larvesta is a physical attacker, Volcarona is a specially-oriented offensive Pokémon instead, with high SpA, SpD and Speed. It has access to Quiver Dance, the best boosting move in the game. Its signature move is Fiery Dance, which can further boost its Special Attack to even higher levels, albeit only obtainable at Level 100. It even gets access to Giga Drain in BW2 via Move Tutor to counter its crippling Rock weakness.

Volcarona is quite potent competitively, despite its weakness to Stealth Rock. It is even somewhat infamous as a ‘matchup moth’ due to its ability to sweep unprepared teams thoroughly just by setting up a few QDs.

Notable Trainers: Alder (BW1, BW2, Masters)

Alder’s ace Pokémon is his Volcarona, which appears in all his teams. He is also said to have had another Volcarona in the past, which is currently deceased.

***

#649: Genesect

Genesect is one of Unova’s Mythical Pokémon, which is said to have been revived from a fossil and altered by Team Plasma. Similar to Escavalier and Durant, it is Bug/Steel type, which is a valuable defensive typing.

Genesect is the first and only Bug-type mythical Pokemon, excluding Arceus holding an Insect Plate.

As a Mythical, Genesect has no trainer in its debut games, but is used by Hilbert, the BW1 male protagonist, in Masters.

***

Some Statistics

For obvious reasons, Burgh is the trainer who uses the largest variety of Generation 5’s Bug types, using 6/9 lines with the unused 3 being Galvantula, Volcarona (Alder’s ace + postgame-exclusive) and Genesect (mythical).

Emmet ranks 2nd, despite not even being known for Bug types; he uses 4 in total, those being Crustle, Galvantula, Durant and Escavalier. He implicitly has had a Shelmet before as well, mentioning that he traded with Ingo for Escavalier, which would make 5. If Masters is excluded, though, he ties with Alder, each using 3 lines.

The Pokemon most used by notable Unovan trainers is Accelgor, with 4 trainers using it; however, if Masters is excluded, it ties with Crustle with 3 trainers.

#pokemon #gen 5 pokemon #pokemon black and white #unova #pokemon bw2 #my first and possibly only analysis post #tw bugs #submas

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liyawritesss · 1 year

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ʀɪʀɪ ᴡɪʟʟɪᴀᴍꜱ ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴꜱ

Character: MCU!Riri Williams

Type: Headcanons

Synopsis: Some general headcanons of mine for MCU’s Riri Williams!

Warnings: Some BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER spoilers if you haven't watched the movie

A/N: This is more MCU! Riri with a hint of comic book Riri, I personally combine them both in my characterization, but others may not and that's okay!!

Riri may have a tough exterior but she’s literally the biggest softy. Of course, going to a school like MIT and being a black girl, there are people who wanna take her out of the game and she had to develop some thick skin on an elite campus like it. But when you peel back those layers, she’s really just a big goofball full of love and loyalty.

She doesn’t party or go out like that, at least not in Boston. She prefers Chicago nightlife a lot more, in spaces she’s more comfortable with. So when she is back home for breaks or just in general, she’ll be taking a stroll along the Magnificent Mile, the Lakefront, etc, just generally to clear her head

She doesn’t let just anyone into her work spaces. Granted, Shuri and Okoye kind of had to go to her Boston garage, but they’re the only two who’ve been inside it. Similarly, her garage at home (which is quite literally her mom’s garage that she converted to her own workstation) her mother only has access to it.

As an introvert she leans more into being a homebody. She doesn’t have friends to go out with or invite over, so she often spends time with her mom. They have a really good relationship, with her mother Ronnie supporting Riri’s aspirations no matter how far out they may seem

Riri listens to a lot of old school 80’s-90’s rap and R&B, with a sprinkle of current artists as well. Her most notably favorite artists are Tupac, Lauryn Hill, SWV, Queen Latifah, Flo Milli, J.I.D., WizKid, to name a few. (She won’t admit but she does listen to a bit of King Von...it gets her hype lol)

Her room at home has lavender walls and posters everywhere. She’s got a tapestry hanging above her bed and the corners of the ceilings are lined with artificial vines. In one corner there's a pile of metal she keeps telling herself she’s gonna go through and never does, and in the other is a butterfly chair stacked to the brim with stuffies. Everything has a place even if some people say it's messy; so long as she's able to navigate it, that's all that matters.

She uses slang wherever she goes with whoever she’s talking to - she doesn’t care at all. She could be talking to the president and she’ll still throw in a ‘bro’ or a ‘gang’ into the conversation. She gets shit for it from her mom sometimes but she’s learned to live with the fact that some people will just arent willing to understand her, and she shouldn’t have to stress about code switching with people who don’t even respect her

Definitely can walk through every block of Chicago untouched. People in the city know Riri, her name brings inspiration to thousands of kids who find comfort in science and technology. She’s a ray of hope. No one dares to touch her.

If one wants to start a friendship with Riri, they’d have to be taking the lead for a minute before she’s comfortable enough with you. Not to say she won’t put in effort, but she needs to feel you out to make sure you’re worth her energy

Once that stage has passed, though, she is a fiercely loyal person, coming to your aid whenever you need it. She’s very attentive, and shows her appreciation in acts of service and gift giving rather than verbally. Best believe you’ll never know or have another friendship as genuine as hers.

If you enjoyed, please leave a like, comment, and reblog for others to see! And don’t be shy to send in a request!

#black tumblr #black reader #black marvel #marvel mcu #marvel cinematic universe #ironheart #black panther wakanda forever #riri williams #riri x reader #riri x black!reader #riri williams x black!reader #riri williams x reader #riri williams ironheart #ironheart x reader

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scruffyplayssonic · 3 months

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Are the ArchieSonic comics actually an 80's/90's syndicated cartoon? Episode 63: Clip show to set up two-part finale

Welcome back to my look at the ArchieSonic comic series, and how it shared a lot of the same story tropes as a typical ‘80s or ‘90s syndicated cartoon! Well it’s taken me a long time to get here - I first started this series back in December of 2022! But we’re almost at the end of our investigation at long last.

Episode 63: Clip show to set up two-part finale

This is a trope you see in media from time to time - they’ll make the second-to-last story of the series a clip show, recapping what happened earlier in the season. This serves two purposes - to catch viewers up on what’s happened so far, and also to save the crew time and budget that they can put towards making a spectacular finale instead. That said, the first purpose is probably a little rarer these days as almost all shows that have a serialised story will have a “Previously on…” segment at the beginning of each episode, and a longer one that recaps the entire season for the finale. Some shows really lean hard into this - take Supernatural for example, which set all 15 of its season finales to the music of, “Carry on My Wayward Son,” by Kansas.

In my opinion, the best ever pre-series finale clip show was done by Avatar: The Last Airbender. Instead of doing a typical clip show that re-used footage from previous episodes, Team Avatar attended a play that retold the story of their adventures up until this point. This episode leaned heavily into a lot of the show’s memes, such as the play acknowledging that it would be best to skip over The Great Divide, what most fanss feel is the worst episode of the series. Aang and friends were upset with the way the actors on stage were portraying them, with Aang being outraged he was being played by a bald woman, Sokka annoyed that his actor’s jokes weren’t funny, and Zuko and Katara insisting that they don’t spend all day long talking about honour and hope, respectively.

The only exception was Toph, who was delighted to be portrayed by a gigantic buff dude who overcame his blindness by using echo-location screaming.

But what about in ArchieSonic? Sure, we had clip shows. And we had a number of different stories one could count as series finales. But we didn’t really get a pre-finale clip show episode. So what did we get instead?

While it wasn’t in the final ever-published issue of Sonic the Hedgehog, the story “Panic in the Sky,” which ran in issues 284 - 287, more or less serves as a finale to the series. I’ll go into that more when I get to it. Today I want to talk about the issue that came before those, Sonic #283. Taking place right before the climax of the Sonic Unleashed adaptation, at this point of the story the Freedom Fighters had managed to get their hands on all the Chaos Emeralds and Gaia Temple keys, and were preparing to launch their plan to restore the planet. Rather than visiting each of the Gaia Temples across the world one at a time like in the game, the Freedom Fighters planned to take advantage of the Gaia Gate to access all the temples at once from a central location. The idea was that they could quickly slip inside via the gate, avoiding Eggman’s armies that were guarding the temples and restoring the planet before Eggman even realised what was happening. But to do this they needed help, so Sonic and Sally did a Discord call with their friends and allies around the world.

This had the benefit of also acting as an almost-clipshow for the readers, catching them up with what had been happening and preparing them for the climax.

Everyone in the call agreed to help and the Freedom Fighters signed off in good spirits, confident that they had managed to pull one over on Eggman. However…

Tails Doll was able to spy on the broadcast without the Freedom Fighters realising it, and so Eggman quickly found out about their secret plan.

While initially furious that the Freedom Fighters had tried to trick him, Eggman quickly realised he could turn their plans against them and got to work hosting his own secret Zoom call.

How did this turn out for everyone? I’ll get into that next episode!

There was of course another story that was originally intended to be the grand finale for ArchieSonic, and that was the Endgame arc that took place in Sonic #47 - 50. While the series obviously didn’t end there, I feel like we should have a look at that one too. So did we get a clip show in the previous issue, Sonic #46? Well… not really.

The closest we got was Uncle Chuck presenting video evidence to the Freedom Fighters that Robotnik had sabotaged his original roboticiser design. Notably this included footage of Sonic’s own father being roboticised, which bizarrely Sonic didn’t seem to notice or comment on.

That seems like quite an oversight. Who wrote this anyway? Three guesses it’s-

…oh. Well, I was partially right at least. 😛

While this issue wasn’t really a clip show, it did have a lot of set up for the Endgame arc.

This included the resolution of Knuckles’ quest to find King Acorn’s missing sword that could supposedly restore his health…

…the introduction of the Wolfpack Freedom Fighters (who had previously only been seen in SatAM and were making their first appearance in the comics)...

…and the revelation that there might be a spy among us.

Sorry, I had to. 😛 Seriously though, the suggestion that someone among the various Freedom Fighter groups might be a traitor was a pretty serious allegation, especially right before the big Endgame event the readers knew was coming. And there were numerous candidates for who the traitor could be.

Geoffrey pointed the finger at Uncle Chuck, whose spy network had failed to notice the coming of the Death Egg and had already had one confirmed traitor working for them.

Antoine accused Geoffrey, who he claimed had stolen the D’Coolette family’s legacy of the Rebel Underground.

Also, the way he attempted to execute Sonic just for punching him in the face certainly didn’t make him look any less suspicious.

And then there was Drago, a new character who had been introduced in that same issue, who wasn’t even part of the SatAM Wolfpack, and who apparently had a habit of wandering off unsupervised. Hmmmm…

HMMMMMMMM.

But wait! The following issue hit us with the possibility that Sonic himself might possibly be the traitor! …more on that later though. For now, let's finish our discussion of #46 with my very favourite moment:

Leave it to the dragon to have the sick burn! :D

One other clipshow that I wanted to address - and haven’t previously in either of the other two episodes I dedicated to this topic - comes from Sonic #72.

I think I did bring this one up at some point in a different topic, but not in the context of a clipshow episode. This story was about King Max making a broadcast to his people only for the airwaves to be hacked to instead show a pirated broadcast telling the life story of the late Dr. Robotnik.

This clipshow wasn’t set prior to a finale, but rather just before the beginning of a new era in the comic - the rise of Robo-Robotnik (or as he would later be called, Dr. Eggman). This was very cleverly done if you ask me.

It not only reminded the readers of Robotnik’s backstory but also of his encounter with Robo-Robotnik back in Sonic #22, hinting at who the new villain’s real identity so that the big reveal in #75 didn’t feel like it came out of nowhere. On top of that the clipshow also foreshadowed things to come in the next year or two in the comic, such as the return of Overlanders to the planet, and specifically, Robotnik’s brother.

Well played, Karl Bollers!

Are there any other clip shows that I missed, in this episode or any of the previous ones? Let me know in the comments! Next time I’m going to start wrapping things up, because it’s finally time to talk about the two-part four-part finale! See you then!

#archiesonic syndicated

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fullgrownpalace · 1 month

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Hi! I just wanted to say I adore the way you draw Ma'am! She's really pretty in your style ^^

Question wise though, do you have any headcanons or anything like that for her or any of the other characters?

I wish I hadn’t accidentally privately responded to a previous question about my headcanons for her, because it was a LONG LIST, but I’ll try and list a few!

This’ll be long so it’s all shoved under the cut, minus some more private HC’s-

Full Grown/Ma’am

• She’s a huge sweets fan, and once Big Deal gets better at cooking and baking, she has a habit of stealing away muffins or cookies, much to the exasperation and chitterings of him.

• I give her battle scars beneath her suit!

• She has some sort of connection to Reggie which royally pisses her off for A WHILE, especially as Endless tries to push for their friendship. In comes my mentor!AU where a greater looming evil forces them to call a truce and they eventually become like family.

• She’s the original leader/Queen of Endless before Bad Things happened and shunted her into the volcanic stasis until Reggie revives her.

• She’s the original creation of Endless. She was made by a very, very lonely little girl who desperately needed a friend and was scared of growing up, who got whisked away to Endless at its most baby state. Full Grown bloomed into life just about the same age as the girl who created her, and she ages alongside her until the girl grows away from Endless and finally stops coming to Endless. Ma’am stops aging from there.

• She likes wrestling, obviously, but she also likes hockey. She likes the fighting lol

• Big Deal’s affections scare her and make her anxious, she’s scared of niceness and affection in *general*, so she acts up, acts out, lashing out and thrashing and acting petulant in her denial to try and create distance. It doesn’t work.

• She can play a few musical instruments! Namely the piano and guitar, but a few others too.

• She can speak a few different languages, mostly because one of my favorite Matt Berry songs has French in it and I said she can.

• Her music tastes are very wide and varying but she favors acid jazz, psychedelic rock, and hypno-pop.

• Ma’am is OLD, lmao. She clearly is themed around astro-retro futurism of the 50s and 60s, between her house, her theme song, her aesthetic, so I like to put the height of her leadership around those eras.

• She /likes/ entertaining guests. Beneath all her bristle and coldness and axe-crazy mania, when she’s not putting out her icy, angry exterior, she *likes* having guests and being able to entertain. We see her even say that she likes having guests when Brown Roger comes around (poor Brown Roger lol)

• She likes roller skating

• She’s got a closet full of unique clothes, but after Bad Things and her stasis in the volcano, she sticks to wearing her Endless suit because her clothes feel too personal and vulnerable for a long time.

• She’s a hopeless romantic at heart, though terribly scorned, so she hides it beneath briars and thorns and chaos. She loves chick flicks and romance novels and she values loyalty and respect.

• Her and modern technology are Not Friends. Her range in technology goes up until the late 80s/early 90s, and I KNOW the show is technically supposed to take place in that era but that completely bypassed me back in 2019 when I started making my AUs, which take place 2015 and above, so modern technology makes her curse and sneer and growl in frustration.

• She just really likes food. Big Deal has to learn fast how to cook and bake properly for her because she gets very cranky when she’s hungry and she eats A Lot.

• She’s like a giant lizard cat. She’s very bendy and flexible, likes climbing trees and crawling around searching for shiny things, and she likes basking under the sun, even if she complains about being around others the whole time (she’ll also grab Big Deal and curl around him because he’s a little furnace, much to his flustered-ness)

• She’s genderfluid and queer. She doesn’t care about earth terms, she’s a shapeshifting alien queen in a different dimension, human customs and opinions don’t really matter when it comes to who *she* is.

• She and Big Deal manage to cross over onto earth at some point and she creates earth human forms for them.

• I technically have a full name for her but thatsss a bit private and will only be revealed if I talk to you for a while hdhfjd

I have a lot more but for the sake of saving time, I just have those for now for her.

Reggie

• CHAOS GIRL- she maintains her chaotic, bright, colorful nature even into adulthood. I really like focusing on her and her friends growing up into young adults because like.. self projection and also because this show is *about* growing up, and it’s SO interesting exploring that facet and seeing how their personalities, ESPECIALLY Reggie’s, grow and flux, yet how they still stay true to themselves.

• She /can/ sing a lil bit but it’s one of the few things she’s very shy about, between bullying and befriending people like Todd and Esther, and eventually Gwen, who are all so musically oriented, so she kinda just.. hides that she can kinda sing by being so overly dramatic about *badly* singing.

• She grows a steady mentorship/apprentice dynamic with Full Grown (though it depends on AU for how old she is when that mentorship starts, for my main one, she’s almost 13, for a few of my others, she’s older teens) who eventually becomes a like a very dear family member to her

• She’s a sporty girl when she hits her teens. She’s got a LOT of energy and frustration to expel and she winds up enrolling in volleyball, hockey, and rollerderby throughout her teen years to help her adrenaline junkie life and it helps with the frustrations of Having To Grow Up.

• She keeps her tooth gap, she never gets it corrected, and she’s got a very crooked and mischievous smile that lasts her whole life.

• She’s COVERED in freckles.

• She’s very shy around Conelly for a WHILE, they don’t even start dating til Reggie’s like 16.

• She’s actually very good with science, it just takes Ma’am’s mentorship to help her realize that ‘hey she actually sometimes likes learning’ and she likes astronomy, astro-physics, physics, and chemistry (she finds interest when she’s being taught magic and finds out there’s a lot of science behind potions and magic)

• She’s forever a foodie, always munching and eating SOMETHING. She’s a frequent food thief and steals snacks from Mack and Beefhouse, from Full Grown and Big Deal, and from her friends.

• She’s the championed Knight of Endless, in all essential aspects. She undergoes weapons training from Full Grown when she hits adulthood due to other threats on Endless.

• She LIKES dressing up, she LIKES dresses sometimes, she just doesn’t like dressing up the way Judy wants her to, and she doesn’t like feeling clumsy and doesn’t like feeling like she’s just playing dress up to be someone she’s not (unless it’s cosplay, she gets her friends into cosplaying with her).

• Most of her wardrobe I draw her in comes directly from my closet or from my style.

• She gets rebellious with her friends when they’re 16/17 and Todd’s older brother takes them to get ear piercings together, so she’s got two lobe piercings and industrial piercings on both ears. When she’s older, she also has a tongue piercing, because she thought it was Cool™️ and she likes to stim with it.

• In my main mentor!AU, she chops all her hair off to her shoulders directly after her 18th birthday in a fit of frustration and rage and panic. Mood.

• She also puts colored streaks in her choppy hair when she’s older, regardless of shortness or longness, she’s got green, pink, and blue streaks randomly smattered through her hair.

• She’s got severe ADHD and is possibly autistic

• She ALSO likes wrestling, so her and Full Grown cheer and snicker and snort over wrestling.

• She maintains her artistry as she grows and is quite successful with her art on the occasion. She’s the designer for Dustin’s podcast’s merch, Space Draculas. His podcast focuses on mythological legends, paranormal encounters, and supernatural beings with Todd’s older brother a few friends. Any pics of Reggie I draw wearing an alien with fangs is for this podcast of his.

• She and Judy mend their bonds over the years, and Judy is definitely the Team Mom for all her friends.

• Reggie’s first car is a Volkswagen Beetle that’s got a yellow body, but the hood, front two doors, and trunk are all different colors. The car is littered with car stickers and it has pins all in the roof from the inside, and she’s got worm on the strings tied to the rear view mirror.

• She ends up being a very good babysitter, it’s her job as a teenager, so she winds up being very good with kids.

• She curbs her dirty, messy habits as she grows older, but sometimessss she still gets down and dirty on Endless, she’s got no problems with getting muddy and dirty, covered in paint, sticky with sweat and sand, and she has to be reminded that showers are REQUIRED /more/ than twice a week.

• Full Grown regularly chews her out because she tries to enter the witch’s home with her sandy boots on. That’s like.. a YEARS long habit.

• She winds up being a rather well skilled magic user

Big Deal

• Learns much of his cooking skills from infomercials after Ma’am falls asleep, alongside with tentatively befriending Mack and Beefhouse and learning from them. They reach out to him first, with much grace and forgiveness, one day when he’s searching for recipe ingredients and they end up being well friends to him, and eventually, Ma’am as well. (She’s much more resilient and hesitant to befriend the others after everything and many of them are just as hesitant of her but Reggie growing under her mentorship helps)

• He whacks Reggie in exasperation when she tries to steal food.

• He was made by Endless to protect his Ma’am and be a tiny little plush dragon to her.

• He purrs when he’s comfortable and happy, and so does Full Grown (though she represses it for a very long time). He also trills and chitters and chirps in feral little noises to her and she’ll make noises back.

• he looks smooth and round but he’s made up of really smooth feathers and he’ll puff up and flair out in high emotions or shock.

• He’s SO little and she’s SO big. My Ma’am is around 7’0” and he’s like.. thigh/butt level to her.

• He’s the first being to see her cry after her revival from the volcano, regardless of my AU and how long it takes for her to finally cry, he’s always the first one to see her cry.

• He’s a very enthusiastic learner and absorbs knowledge like a sponge, and he loves listening to his Ma’am talk so he’s willing to sit and listen and learn until he’s falling asleep.

• He does NOT like horror movies. He does not care for wrestling, or hockey, it all makes him cringe and fret so much, but he LOVES fantasy, adventure, romance, and music, so Full Grown introduces him to musicals and romcoms.

• he LOVES entwining his tail with his Ma’am’s tail, which, for a long time, is a very rare thing, but it grows more constant as time passes.

• he’s got little padded pawed hands! Tiny hands with little heart shaped paw pads!

______________

Okay these are all I can think of tonight but I WILL update this as I think of more, or feel free to message again with individual characters!

#twelve forever #12 forever

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notmuchtoconceal · 4 months

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Verily, verily I say unto you! Laura Palmer is the image of the Feminine Messiah, for she is what we consume at our daily meal, wrapped section-by-section, genre-by-genre, a full-course luncheon in a box served up by an early-adopter auteur slumming it up in TV Land, for he believed in the good of public works and the joys of episodic narrative!

Look back now to the Image of Tina in A Nightmare on Elm Street, not only clawing bloodied and bitten-of-nail on the inside of her bodybag translucent as the mists of a high school shower. See her not only dragged down the halls by an unseen malevolence leaving a slime-trail of blood as she goes -- See her also in the Dreamland which was her prison and tomb standing shrouded as the Holy Virgin in Plastic, Deflowered though she was by her Hunky Tighty Whitey wearing Latino Greaser Boyfriend who too was to be found alone, strangled of his own volition.

See the continuity in these images, not only for how one may influence another, but how in each is a reflection of the time and place from which they arose. See the dead girls on the news in placid suburban 80's homes. See them now always for what they always were -- offerings to the Moloch of the Mainland, Our Homeland Hungering for the Blood of the Pure. See how the boogeyman was always a necessity of the loving patriarchs which your grief-stricken mother, intoxicated in isolation, barred the windows of your home to keep your father out. See your father the lawman hiding the crimes to which he knew he was entitled for the law was his and the courts always shows for the public. The letter of the law could not reflect the will of the people, for the people hunger for blood and the annals of our court are not a butcher's trough, though we may permit each tree within our garden a gallows!

The blonde girl. The Radiant Madonna. Who is she? In her name we see the laurel crown, the hands which reach and touch. As the heart is what mediates the two, and she is the heart of the town, the daughter of a respected lawyer for the local last tycoon, she was the most fecund portal through which to inject corruption. She is the Feminine Messiah for She is the Paradoxical Image of God in The Flesh.

In Laura's embrace of Stoic Wisdom, her acceptance of struggle, decision to withstand hardship and rejection of witchcraft, we see the font of her status as a glamor goddess is a masculinized mind which compromises neither its feminine allure nor immersion. From a young age, she is bombarded not only by repeated sexual and emotional abuse from a loved one, but continuous assault by the irrational and yet inarguable presence of supernatural forces. As with the first scene of Ash's sister Cheryl's possession in The Evil Dead, the unseen forces of darkness lurking always out of sight seize her hand against her will and use her own body as an instrument to intrude upon the pages of a meditative space where she may be alone with her thoughts.

The treasury of Missing Pieces from Fire Walk With Me are a particular boon to this subject, as the additional scenes featuring Laura and her mother shed warm rays of luminance on a relationship foundational to not only the heart, but the core tension of the series.

In a brief scene where Sarah, Laura's mother, is coming inside carrying groceries, three developments occur in rapid succession, which key the viewer in to the intimacy of these women's dynamic. Laura is harried, for she has just found pages ripped from the Secret Diary she had hidden, tipping her off that her secrets can no longer be safely kept in her own home. She is smoking a cigarette, as she was only moments before (in the main body of the text) living out an impromptu early-90's alterative hip-hop video as she comes home from school (as one does), which we soon find out is despite her mother's protests. (The smoking, not living in a improvisational music video. No matter what timeline you're in, you can't take the 90's out of a 90's girl even if it's still the 80's.) Yet also despite her protests, her mother will hold her cigarette for her as Laura in turn takes the groceries. Laura needs to ask her mother to borrow the car (fortuitous, I'm only now realizing, as she had just gotten home) for she is still only a high school girl, but first -- she must withstand another bout of lecturing from her mother where she insists she will never be a smoker if she never starts smoking. We can see in this briefly that Sarah is instilling in Laura a purity ethic where a corrupted-identity is based on an initiation ("being a smoker", "starting smoking") -- the definitive feature of idol worship, which Sarah is sadly living out half-consciously, as her own husband is drugging her with milk. The milk which she seems inevitably to accept, making her go into the white dissociative horsey dreams. As a final comic touch, once Sarah agrees, Laura runs out the door, leaving her cigarette in her mother's hands, which she needs to then run back in and grab to eye-rolling maternal exasperation.

This connects to a later scene which elaborates upon a vital point of ambiguity in the main body of the film -- an ambiguity which reads as such for it is not immediately parsible, for it is irrational.

Laura ascends to the local Roadhouse to once more prostitute her underaged body for the coke money she so desperately needs to fuel her lifestyle of endless social charity and drug-fueled bisexual intrigues. Her childhood best friend, Donna Hayward, played by a different actress in the film than in the series (perhaps embodying Laura's projections of her own naivety onto the cuter, smaller, mousier new girl) follows her. She is not only curious about her best friend's distance, her twoness, but she is aware of how Laura sees her. Donna is dating one of the two Local Mikes, the Earthly Dumb Jock, who proudly boasts from his convertible in his letterman jacket with her drug-dealer leather bro by his side that HE. IS. THE. MAN. This Donna will, in the same breath, wonder aloud if her football player boyfriend could ever write her a poem, then scandalously whisper to Laura about ... the mere possibility ... of having sex. Holy shit. This bitch was having threesomes in public when she was twelve. Girl, you know not what little you know. Oh my god. You are not yet ready to steal this woman's second boyfriend and develop main character syndrome as you shout on her grave in the dead of night. Right now, you are gonna do some weird needy insecure shit and it's gonna be fun.

(My little brother is a hardcore Donna stan and I know not ever why.)

As we have said, Donna follows Laura to her nightside prostitution meetup, which prompts Laura to react with barely-disguised dismay equal parts shock contempt and expectance. This Donna ... is gonna get fucking good at playing Laura's games. This Donna ... is gonna slut it up. This Donna ain't no fuckin prude. This Donna has cute lil perky tits and she's gonna whip em out! You ever see that other Donna's tits? Nuh-uh, bitch. TV standards. No full-frontal female. See em on the big screen, motherfucker. Bathed in hot pink electro-grunge hate-fucking your ears! I am a Goddess! I am the Concubine! I am the Queen of Whores! Ow. Don't cry from that one shot you took. That was real spicy. I'm such a good girl this is hard for me. I'm not gonna let it show, though. Do I have to be at church in the morning? Am I out whoring on a schoolday? What happened to my lesbian sister who writes poetry? How can Laura be best girl and biggest slut, how is that possible, what am I missing?

Once more you may see as it is revealed -- as Donna approaches the table at which Laura is seated with her two bucks, one asks if she is included in "the deal" -- to which Laura objects, which Donna insists on including herself, sealing it with the shot she takes from her mark.

Donna is self-initiating into the cult of ritual prostitution by means of libation that she may enter into sympathetic resonance with Laura. Laura, though she may seem to dismay it, is protective of Donna's innocence, and doesn't wish to see her corrupted. Though Laura may appear beautiful and bright and alive, inside she is consumed by darkness and fears being close to anyone, fears that her influence on anyone might be corrosive, and yet -- she's missing Meals on Wheels deliveries and unable to give excuses, although -- nobody wonders why despite the fact there's nobody there. There's nobody there, but maybe the two of us can sneak off later and snuggle in my truck while we listen to non-diegetic music over the radio and reflect on the beauty and tragedy of the night.

Furthermore, the Missing Pieces make clear the crossing of an additional boundary -- namely that the girls literally cross northward into the territory of Canada to engage in their Pink Room Prostitution Cube. The abrupt cut in the feature film, on first impression -- may lead one to believe the Pink Room is an extension spatially, literally ... (a backroom) as well as metaphysically and thematically ... of the Roadhouse, rather than another place, called The Power and the Glory some many miles away.

It is in this scene where Donna loses herself to her latent passions, caressing herself as a boa in the sweater which Laura had discarded as she disrobed, she sees then her old coworker, Ronette Pulaski (named for the park by my house, by which I mean not the French Jesuit Missionary, but the street not named for him) emerge from the pink fog of time, the mirror image of what Donna might become: the two reflect upon their past experiences in the brothel where they worked, recruited through the perfume counter at Laura's dad's lifetime friend and business partner's department store high school grooming and sex trafficking ring.

It is important to understand that consensual sex work performed voluntarily by an adult woman (or man or anyone else for that matter) who understands the risks they're accepting, as they would accept with any choice of occupation, is quite different from a situation where a girl is coerced, both overtly and subtly, into acting against her own self-interest by playing into what seems inevitable pre-scripted scenes by invisibly abusive authorities with loving faces. Laura may enjoy sex, and sex is empowering, but this is occurring from a place of deep hurt. Laura has been repeatedly humiliated, repeatedly disempowered, repeatedly had her body turned into a source of shame, that her ability to connect and be vulnerable with other men has been compromised. Truthfully, Laura enjoys humiliating men through sex. Laura loves the power she has over them. Laura enjoys that she can coerce, bully and intimidate adult men who know they're raping her, because at least these fuckers aren't her own father. Remember when Bobby breaks down crying with Laura in his arms, realizing she's only using him for cocaine, and he just gives it to her anyway cause he wants her to be happy? He just knows that she's in pain and he can't really help and he needs her, and it's fine. She needs these drugs. Maybe she needs these drugs. You can't get her off drugs. What can you do for her? What can anyone do for her? Nobody appreciated how Bobby was a good man all along but his own dad and nobody can understand that because nobody has a time-traveling airforce superdad who can hypnotize you in a diner with the best possible version of yourself he glimpsed in his Project Bluebook heaven research because an actual Good Christian Man might as well be sci-fi!

Oh my god, bro.

It just now occurs to me that I am literally recapping a soap opera to explain the gospel. The cute Polish pup with the muscly veins and roid acne was right, you are obnoxiously American! Well, it's important to remember that if cute little German boys didn't love American melodrama, we wouldn't have the great works of RW Fassbinder.

I win and this is an effective hybridization of film criticism and spirituality which rightfully makes actual Christians look like aesthetically and intellectually stunted-dweebs formaldehyded into guppies by doctrine!

My page is so much fun, you will not see this shit elsewhere. Never forget how special you are to me for appreciating my words, brothers.

Laura, you see, understands the nature of discreet energetic resonance.

Laura knows that the essentialized state which underlies fetishism is not simply sympathetic psychological association, nor strictly a consequence of molecular chemistry. While Laura would agree that, yes (for Laura is keen-eyed and scientifically-minded, yet nevertheless -- is not blind to subtler forces at work in the world around her) that if your cute lil queer boy ass wanted to lick an alpha man's armpits cause it tastes real woody and salty almost like a saltwater toffee, but a bit more mulchy and mushroomy, like -- yeah, there'd deffo be a molecular component, for you would be inhaling his pheromones direct and they would be seeping into your tongue creating fast-acting pathways straight to your brain, and yeah -- your direct proximity to a hunky alpha man's muscular triceps and biceps and big meaty pecs would cement the paraphilic association, acting as both a trigger and deepening a visual impression around which your mind would naturally mold itself, allowing your body to follow -- all of that is true. She would probably agree in 2023 Twin Peaks reboot timeline where she's watching gay tumblr porn prolly cause she finds it lolzy and how gay are Mike and Bobby, actually? At least as gay as Donna is for me, right? Am I ready to speak publicly about how gay I suspect Donna is for me? She's basically a little sister. I can't believe she grows up to be the bad guy in Men in Black 2 before fully morphing into Pete Burns. Holy shit. Maybe I am a mean bitch. Why the fuck do I wanna come for Donna so bad? I just feel she brings it on herself?

All that aside, Laura understands the essentialized state transferred by a fetishistic object is primarily energetic. That is, as everything is vibrational, one might say that a shirt worn by a person, or their underwear, vibrates at the same frequency as that person, coming to -- in time -- carry subtle traces of that person, for the very fibers of the garment could be said to have been energetically infused via the pitch or the sound at which the individual's spirit resonates or sings, and things such as smell, while real -- are themselves closer to self-induced inductions where we recall distant days and so surrender ourselves -- making ourselves blank to receive the song we'll never hear.

Laura wears her mother's clothes. In another deleted scene, Sarah chastises Laura for taking one of her sweaters, then not only not returning it, but leaving it balled up on the floor of her closet. Later, Sarah wonders if Laura took her sweater again, for she'd spent all afternoon looking for it, only for Laura to then say rather pointedly "Mom. What are you wearing?" Prompting Sarah to glance down, and slip into a fount of weeping, to which Laura slowly and tenderly approaches.

We understand. Sarah has some demons in her. Sarah sees the visions of the white horse. That wasn't explained for a long time, and even now that it has been, it's still not something which is readily sensible to the casual majority of viewers. The explanation is given, but the intellect refuses it, for it confounds the intellect's neat and tidy categorical schematizations. The white horse is frustrating for it is both obscure and obvious. The readily material explanation is drugs, slang, things one step removed from immediate reality. You can have Abe Lincoln descend from the Sky in Blackface and Crush People's Brains Open before Reciting In Slant Rhyme the Answer All Along to Mock to Your Face Your Conscious, Logical, Route Memorization Sensibilities, but in truth, the image is less paradoxical than a depiction of a current and emerging unity.

Sarah's memory maybe isn't all there. Sarah's had her mind played with. Sarah's been on some shit. How much has Sarah been playing along all along? How much does it only look that way, for she doesn't see?

How much does she always allow?

Mom. What are you wearing?

Mom, are you wearing Sarah?

Laura takes off her face.

Laura is filled with Light.

Saraha takes off her face.

Sarah is filled with Darkness.

Sarah has Laura's smile.

Sarah has a swollen spirit finger.

What would it mean for her -- to know the man she loved, wasn't only cheating on her, not only abusing her daughter, but both in a single act which violated the very underpinnings of both their marriage and their family; to feel she had brought this on herself, by selecting this man, by... not being enough ... by breeding a whore ... why would this happen?

Did you sit there after the reveal of Laura's killer and see this woman standing upright, eyes-alert at her husband's funeral, vowing to be awake, vowing to be present, vowing to remember and to live?

Do you remember how she was then written out of the show forever? How nobody cared? Nobody wanted to look at her? Nobody wanted to think about what happened? Everybody wanted to immediately forget. Nobody wanted to admit that it was happening. Bobby cried out at Laura's funeral that they collectively killer her by ignoring what was obvious and nobody said anything. Bobby was right all along. Bobby was never the real asshole. Bobby was maybe one of the only people who really loved her almost selflessly despite being an infantile douchebag who got secondhand raped by his shrink, who -- oh yeah. Was a jealous older man pining away listlessly and leeringly for underage Laura's hot and heavy secret trauma, who wanted to fuck with Bobby for being a badboy hot jock with powerful latent telepathic abilities, the likes of which his false-gold Mercurial debt-scheme which miraculously works only on cyclopean state champ wresler kooks with amazing pussy control could never hope to dream, let alone conceptualize in false 3D.

Mike the Man grew up to be an insurance agent because of course he did.

Remember how Sarah only came back in at the last minute to deliver a message from the realm of chthonian spiritual trial, reduced and elevated to a cameo, being both chorus and iteral messenger of a hidden devil?

Fuckin sucks for her, am I right? Prolly made her a lil loopy while it was happening, then -- once everyone she thought was a friend or family ignores her cause now she's nothing but a walking reminder, invisibly reduced to a pariah in her own life, it's like she does nothing but sits and festers in a wound of her own making which will never heal.

Damn.

She sat in that house. Where it happened. For 25 years.

In front of the television.

While nobody talked about it.

You know, I've always just really liked Grace Zabriskie. I was sad when she was murdered in Child's Play 2. This is the only thing by David Lynch she's in where she's not already alarming and insidious. Wild at Heart. Disabled Vampyre Ritual Mexican Sex Assassin. Inland Empire. Your 6th grade history teacher harboring an omen of immanent death before using her witch powers to rearrange time. The Return. Literally Queen of Darkness. There she is, folks. The Mother of Evil.

Here in the pilot, she is simply a primal wail of despair which induces some to laughter simply for its intensity disturbs their peace of mind and they must laugh to hold their fragile rational framework together.

(You may attempt to prove me wrong if it would please you.)

Therefore we understand. Whatever is in Sarah is in Laura and whatever is in Laura is in Sarah. They're, now you sense, energetically tethered -- not only cut from the same cloth, for her flesh was stitched of her loom, but if their strings were plucked, they would produce pleasing sounds of a similar timber, and none could confirm this better than Leland Palmer, father, husband and brother, who has readily plucked them both!

You understand now fully -- why, for Laura, at the Pink Room called The Power and the Glory, to see Donna as the image of Ronette, a prostitute saved only at the last moment by providence, that she may open the door to beckon Laura's protective spirit -- why to see Donna wearing Laura's sweater would incense her as to leap to Donna's rescue and cease all further consumption of libation and ritual sex. Laura remembers who she is, and what she values. She doesn't want Donna to be like her. She doesn't want Donna to do what she inevitably does -- investigate her double, triple, quintuple life, adopt her manner and her attitudes, seduce naive doofy biker idiots and cute agoraphobic nerds who are so sheltered and fragile they will suicide at the first sign of betrayal.

She doesn't want her stable family life to fall apart when she discovers that she-bitch Audrey Horne is her sister, holy shit. It was so obvious. If Donna had any charisma she'd be Audrey, who is too feisty and independent which is why her own father never tried to rape her!

Why would her own father try to rape her? Her father has a healthy and trusting creative-personal-business relationship with his brother. Her father lacks the core loneliness to make him that kind of monster. Neither Donna nor Audrey understand men, which is why they're not Laura. Laura understanding men makes her Best Girl. The fact that her own father never tried to rape her made Audrey feel so weirdly inadequate -- much like Donna -- that she has to do mentally ill things like hide naked in Hunky FBI men's bedrooms before dishing out her daddy issues.

God. Thank God our old pal Coop's semi-autonomous AI demon-half shot a corruption load in her so she had a raise a hellspawn, marry her accountant, then go insane wishing she was still young and pretty!

Joshy Fuck Me. That's what I say instead of Jesus fuck now!

I was gonna keep this G-rated for language, but holy shit!

This shit's got as much rape and incest as an actual bible story, I'm just gonna assume you're all adults and have the psychological resilience to handle a dirty word or two, ooooh. What if I post a middle-finger pic? Like and reblog telling me if you would swoon or drenche yer knickers.

Rather tellingly, all Leland can see as he arrives up to pick up Laura for breakfast -- is this same fear of Laura herself. He sees Laura seated beside Donna on the couch, and remembers the day he was almost the John to his own underage prostitute daughter, arranged via their mutual connection, Theresa Banks, his earlier kill in Deer Meadow one year prior.

God, imagine how that must feel for the poor guy!

Ya fuck your own daughter's brains out in a drug-induced demonic trance, thinkin she'll have the common sense to be trauma bonded ta ya for life, but nooooooo. She wants to be out here like that totally scary and unfuckable little Audrey bitch threatening to cut off daddy's tiny peepee with her intimidating precocious little scientific intellect. Girls are scary! If they're not dumb, they're gonna notice how dumb we are first! We need to destroy their capacity to think and feel with our dicks! This is the right way of the land, for it is the right of the conqueror, the female being fecund and plenty as the soil and just as fit to trod upon.

I love America! It's real fun to pollute and rape!

I mean I absolutely believe Dolores seduced Humbert, let's not kid ourselves. Humbert Humbert may have had a silver tongue, but he was not leading man material, folks. Humbert Humbert wishes he was James Mason, but Kubrick's film of Lolita is a perverse Wonderland full-immersion in the psychopathic ideations of a pedophile verging on a pederast for Humbert is so fucking hipster and selective of his vintage, he will only rape little girls in these precise specific age ranges, holy shit.

You are the most autistic and socially inept sex monster! I really believe all the women you meet are throwing themselves at you and Peter Sellers is the neurotic spazz radio man of a thousand voices. Kubrick's film is an irony which requires a level of psychological detachment which verges on psychopathic. It's more-than-less a feature-length 4chan joke, and I understand nobody will understand or appreciate it as a sterling treatise on irony as insurmountable as I do and I accept and appreciate this. Dolly can absolutely be aware of the sexual power she can wield over an infantile adult male, and it can still be illegal, immoral and that man's fault when he succumbs to his emotional weakness and rapes a child.

Joshy fuck me. Uncomfortable people leap to stupid fucking conclusions cause they're basically animals! People who are uncomfortable talking about raping children prolly wanna rape children, there I said it. I have only ever wanted to rape powerful and virile athletic men of an appropriate age and ferment, for I am a conqueror, a king, an alpha.

Well, you see -- Laura couldn't protect Donna, same as nobody could save Laura. In the end, Laura was the only one who could save herself.

Laura gave her body, to protect her Soul. When she places the Jade ring around her finger and weds herself to the Spiritual Mike, the Shoe Salesman and One-Armed Man Whose severed Autonomous Limb became First a Dwarf, then an Axxonal Bubblegum Tree, she was Free of Bob's Influence, and so ... Bob no longer able to farm her, was compelled by obligation to his former master to reap and immediately harvest her.

To put this in an economical sense more readily graspable for earthly carnivores, when Laura put on the ring, she allowed herself to be claimed by Mike, thus becoming His Property. BOB -- the spirit inside Leland -- once being Mike's familiar, now a runaway, was compelled by his very nature to kill this girl who had given herself to his master. As BOB had sought her out, slow-cooked her, flavored her, BOB saw Laura as his and wanted to enjoy her for a long, long time. When Laura gave herself to Mike, BOB was himself forced to sell now, and trade a good long steady drip for an immediate short-term gorging, most of which he then needed to immediately discharge submissively at the feet of his master.

For Laura had wedded herself to a demon, her soul was placed in the Black Lodge. Yet, Laura did not wed herself to a demon for any desire for earthly power or authority, but for it was a way to minimize malign influence. Laura's spiritual wedding was simple, practical harm-reduction. If BOB had corrupted Laura and entered her body, BOB could use her connections to every artery of the town to spread this influence everywhere. Laura "chose to let herself be killed" because this was in line with her dominant value of protecting the innocence she lost.

Look at Deer Meadow, the setting of the prologue to the film. See how little life means there. See how its evident nature as a stained and distorted reflection of the eponymous town was clear even before the doppelganger motif took stage as primary thematic preoccupation. Remember how nobody knew Theresa. Nobody came forward to claim the body. She was a drifter, a statistic, no family. Totally forgotten.

See how it was the love of real people who tried, who stepped forward, who had a desire to connect, and to care, and serve, despite the fears, the follies, the secrets and entanglements of other people in a vanishing tribal structure and way of life we do not and may not ever understand.

See how anyway, they never spoke.

For a time, they did.

Then all was inevitably forgotten.

See how it was through the laws of cause and effect; the accumulation and deterioration of karma as a debt, that Laura self-actualizes by taking control of her life by taking control of her death, that she breaks the cycle of violence and is so uplifted into Grace and Reverence.

See how the angel which came as she sat splendid and curled in the velvets of the Red Room was of her own making, as the one which appeared to open the door of the car for Ronette was of her own making, the lights splendid and alive as if hung ourselves on our own tree!

Tell yourself, brothers, as our sisters our able. That we deserve to be forgiven. That others will forgive us when we forgive ourselves. Any crime which may be mended may be done as such when we approach one another with a firm grasp of truth in an open heart. We were not born to be corrupted. We are not lowly and bestial. We are not the pawns of the powers that be, nor fated to sell ourselves half-willingly into slavery. If it is in a market that we must we live, we may set our value with those of so little they would design to ever think to put one on a human life.

Of this now, and at this time, I have said enough.

On another day, I will return to the ways in which our leading man and hero, chipper and chivalrous knight of the FBI -- boyscout in black tie --- who is easily able to clear the low bar of taking a high school girl crush out for ice cream and a pep talk instead of feeling her up, he already being telepathic enough to know a girl'd be murdered here a year ago, instead of, like ... y'know... fondling her prone naked body -- I will return to the ways in which he complements and contrasts the enigmas of our heroine, he being, by means of his multiplicity, quite an enigma himself.

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heavenzscent · 5 months

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what are some of your jeankasa modern au hcs? ☺️ and i’m kind of curious what you think their respective fashion styles r like

I’ll start with Fashion :

As for fashion styles : I’ve made two posts showing how I think they would dress.

Mikasas style : X

As a child she likes girly sort of cottage core clothes and overalls. In HS she goes through a goth phase, more in a 80s/ 90s goth then an early 2000s mall/ hot topic sort of way. But she did enjoy getting accessories at hotopic and twilight sleepy shirts. By the end of HS and Uni she is mostly in aethlesure. She was so many sets. She still wears dark liner as a nod to her old style and she’s back to gravitating to pinks , and blues again. She is a silver girl for sure. She wears a lot of jewelry even if she’s wearing a unitard and a hoodie. She manages to never look messy somehow. Her crazy bed head is her best kept secret only Sasha ,Armin and Eren know about it. Her makeup bag is expensive but kinda bare bones. She wouldn’t be the type to have a makeup room.

Jeans style: X

As a child he would get dressed by his mom like a little dork alot of sweater vests. In HS I think he would dress a bit accurate to bad boy Jean in Isayamas school castes. I think he would try to break free of his mothers styling choices for him.

In Uni he would find himself. Jean loves gold. He is the type to ask for gold for every special occasion. He has a gold Cuban chain that he never takes off. He has some diamond studs but he only wears them to parties and Connie teases him.

He gravitates towards , preppy /sporty sort of clothes with a 80’s and 90s influence. Think Tommy Hilfiger and college sweatshirts / caps. He also wears a lot of work wear and takes alot of inspo from people like James Dean, Paul Newman . And generally old Americana and music videos.

He would actually be surprisingly articulate in fashion.

He loves dressing up but acts really nonchalant when people comment on his clothes. Although He once sliced his food budget in half for 2 months so he could buy a dressy coat. Any vacation he goes on he looks up the shopping first then food places.

HEAD CANONS

Jean and Mikasa are both really involved in university extra curriculars and they make it look easy.

Mikasa finds Jean a little over bearing at first but since she sees him at so many community and Uni events she gets to know him and actually finds him kinda funny when he isn't trying and reliable.

Jean was in a frat for his first semester before he decided it was dumb because someone was rude to Marco.

Mikasa and Marco really get along and that makes Jean jealous at first when then were all just friends.

Marco and Sasha finally get Jean and Mikasa confident enough to ask eachother out

Jean spent a whole day learning how to change car oil because Mikasa complained about the price one time. Then he casually dropped that he had been tired because he been changing his car oil earlier and if anyone needed their oil changed they could hit him up. Unfortunatly that meant everyone else in the firend group now gets free oil changes now.

Mikasa is never on socials and Jean is on them too much

Mikasa has a extremely clean car but the trunk is basically a storage unit

Both spend too much when they go shopping

Jean turns anything and everything into a date. Barnes and noble date ! Study date ! Errand date ! Taco Bell date !

Everyone thinks Jean and Mikasa are just some odd opposites attract fling . When they move in it’s a shock ! When they get engaged it’s a shock!

Have more but those are connected to my neglected Uni AU fic.

#jeankasa #head canons #I rambled too much I think #thanks 💘#ask

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shallyne · 11 months

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All Our Lives - Feysand Writing Circle

Hello,

I'm Shallyne and a few days ago I posted that I'd like to create a Feysand Writing Circle, and I'd like to a explain a few things.

How did this idea form?

A few months ago, I posted a little poem for an incoming fic called "All Our Lives" but maybe some of you realized I didn't continue this idea. The reason wasn't that I disliked the idea then but I had so many ideas and the overall idea has so much potential and my brain created half a fic and then jumped to the next idea. A few weeks ago I started playing with the idea to start a writing circle and when I stumbled upon All Our Lives again, I thought this was an amazing opportunity.

What is the original idea of All Our Lives?

The original idea was to create a fanfiction which chapters were pretty much just oneshots. Every chapter is Feysand in a different universe. The idea was that all the oneshots are Feyre and Rhysand in a different lifetime, their souls always finding back to each other.

How can I participate in this Writing Circle?

You got an idea and want your story to be part of the All Our Lives writing circle? That's amazing, I'm so glad! It's not hard, you just click on the title of this post or -> here <- and you will be transferred to the AO3 Feysand Writing Circle collection. There you can add your fic to the collection.

But you don't have an AO3 account or want to stay anonym? This is not a problem at all! You can send me your fic in my ask box or send me a message here on Tumblr, where I will give you my email-address to send me your fic. I will then post it on my account but of course I will mention you, or say that it was send by an anon, to post.

What are the rules?

The rules are simple!

Every fanfiction in this Writing Circle will be a oneshot

There is no time limit

The word count is up to you

Every oneshot will play in a different universe

Stay respectful to other participants! You don't have to like every idea but that doesn't mean you need to tell them.

What do you mean with "universe"?

When I say different universe I mean that the fics are supposed to play outside of the canon acotar universe. You are free to chose from almost any universe, as long as it's not harmful to any group of people. For example: Book Universes (Throne of glass, Howls Moving Castle, Classics, Shatter Me, The Cruel Prince, etc.,), Show and Movie Universes (MCU, Gilmore Girls, Peaky Blinders, Burlesque, 50 first dates, Back to the Future, Wizard of Oz, etc.,), different time periods (Medieval, the Renaissance, Victorian, ancient Greece) or decades (20's, 50''s, 60's, 80's, 90's 00's), or even universes that you don't have a name for but so not play in the canon acotar universe (Modern AU, Regency AU, Angels, Demons, Mermaids, etc.,)

What is not allowed?

Canon acotar Universe

Multichapters

Another main couple (see something else?)

Something else?

Yes! So, you can include every other character, from the acotar or SJM universe, and any other ship but the main couple will always be Feysand. The whole story is about them and finding each other in all their lives, so writing around another couple would be pointless for this Writing Circle.

When will the Writing Circle begin?

Technically, you can already post whenever your ready. I would not take your fic down if you want to do that, it's allowed but if you want a direct date, I'd like June 1st as a starting date

I can't tell you when I will be able to contribute but I will be so excited to see your fics, my friends! Everyone is welcome and I hope you will participate!

Your question wasn't answered yet?

Then please don't shy away from sending me an ask or send me a message so we can find an answer

You can always find this post linked on my pinned post

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tmnt-tychou · 11 months

Note

Hi again!!! 😄 congrats on reaching your milestone!! That’s so cool!

This has been a question I’ve been wanting to ask, mostly cuz I’m curious! If you had to rank your personal favorite iterations of the TMNT based on characters and story, which would rank higher in your opinion? Bayverse turtles can also count!! 😁

Thanks again, and congrats!!! 🎉

I had to marinate on this. It's very hard to pick favorites when there's so many good versions to choose from. And these are just personal favorites, not a hard line on which show/movie is the best ever. No need to tell me what's what if anyone sees this list and disagrees. This is just my personal list.

I think my absolute top tier is still the 2003 version. This is largely due to the fact that this series was allowed to cover all the story lines that it wanted. Granted, not every episode is gold, but it really took advantage of all the things you can do in a TMNT universe and very much set a precedent of other versions to follow. (I do not count Fast Forward and Back to the Sewers in this.)

Rise of the TMNT is second. I think it had the capacity to surpass 2003, but it wasn't afforded the opportunity. With how much world-building and new ground it covered with only a season and a half, I can't even imagine what we would have had with a full five seasons or so if it had been allowed to continue.

Bayverse is my third favorite. Not necessarily because I think it's the "best", but because it's a lot of fun to play in. Some fans take Bayverse very seriously. I just can't. It's my anything-goes universe. I reserve a bit of respect for the other universes, but with Bayverse, I can do whatever dumb shit I want. I can make the dialog as crass as I want, I can explore more mature themes that I otherwise wouldn't put in a TMNT universe. I dunno, it's just stupid and fun. Also, very big turtles. I can't get enough.

Next is the 90's movies trilogy. The 2nd and 3rd are just stupid fun and very enjoyable. The first one, I think is still the best movie script to date and it too set a precedent for future TMNT iterations, including 2003.

I'll sneak in some comics here. "The Last Ronin" is a great read, if sad. Though not as rough of a read as I anticipated. And I really adored the TMNT/Power Rangers second crossover. (I have not read the first.) Of course, the art is AMAZING, but the script was great, too. I don't know a lot about PRs, but I could mostly follow along. And the Raphael/Casey bromance in this was SO GOOD.

Next, I would put the first 5 episodes of the 80's cartoon here. Yes, the show got dumb. They were on for like 10 seasons. But the first five episodes are pretty solid and a really good story. If you haven't seen the 80's cartoon and are overwhelmed with the sheer amount of episodes there are, just watch the first five. That's all you need.

I guess 2012 will go here. It's not my favorite series, though I know it's some fans' absolute true love TMNT iteration. I thought the first season was (mostly) pretty solid and I was really into it when it first came out, but by the end it was just the hottest of messes. Are there some fantastic episodes? Yes. Is this one of the best Splinters we've ever had? Also yes. Are the turtles' designs absolutely freaking adorable? Of course. Is that enough to carry this series for me? Unfortunately, no. This show is one big garbage fire and I didn't even watch most of the last season. Though I did catch that incredibly off-putting last episode.

Turtles Forever goes here. It was a great idea for a movie and I would have put it higher up, but I just watched it recently. It's actually kind of mean-spirited to other iterations, specifically the 80's version. So it goes lower on the scale for me.

The 2007 movie is next. Terrible script. So-so character designs. Some fantastic scenes. Probably one of the best Raphaels we've had.

Bottom tier stuff: Fast Forward, Back to the Sewers, a lot of the 80's show. The Next Mutation.

#ask me shit #lets talk turtles

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benschwartzcinematicuniverse · 9 months

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Here’s the intro post that no one asked for! Hopefully I’ll figure out how to pin it to the top 😆 💕🎉🤝🎭👻🐸📝🌱🖤🎶

Edit: adding a break because this post is so long. I ramble fyi

Scroll to the bottom for one of my favorite Ben interview answers 💕

I am leading, yet again, with the fact that I am a child of the 80s friends, so please remember that. I won’t be posting any 18+ content, but it’s always good to know who you’re talking to online. My kids are on here and I want them any everyone to stay safe. That being said, always feel free to engage. Some days I’m chatty, somedays I’m a ghost

I’m a communications major, a writer, I work retail, and I volunteer. LGBTQ+ family. Pantheist. Leftist. My birthday is on Halloween. I have ridiculously shitty music taste. I love the rare times it rains here in AZ and would happily move somewhere where it rained all the time. I love space and good conversation and my kids more than anything. I live with bouts of depression and anxiety. I also picked up grief at a young age and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone

I have no creative links to share, but I do have a private portfolio, a music blog I abandoned, and an ao3 account that hasn’t been updated in yeeears

Fun stuff

This blog is 99% Ben Schwartz content. I love him. I respect the hell out of him. And he’s just so, so silly. I cherish the things that make me smile when it feels impossible. He’s also super cute?? The other 1% is the socialism that’s on the label. More on that later.

On Schwartz:

Favorite character: Anthony Scarapiducci (don’t ask me why, I still don’t know. So much of him is such a facade. Ben said Tony “wants to show that he's not just a piece of s*** and that what he's doing matters.” I’ll do a whole post on Tony someday ILHSM

Favorite movie: I am a huge Sonic fan (since the 90s!), so those movies are huge. Standing Up, Falling Down is way up there

What made me a fan: he’s always made me laugh, but sharing some videos with my kid had me falling down the IMDb rabbit hole. It’s hard to watch so much content in a row and not fall in love with the guy. I’m also a big fan of ridiculous stories with authentic characters. Give me a good work of fiction with the most believable people running around in it. Ben is so endearing that, no matter how over the top he is, I totally buy what he’s selling every single time. Plus I’m a big improv fan and that boy can sing, so whats not to love

I also randomly started tagging “any excuse for a Josh Bath gif” and have had a few people tell me they watched the Earliest Show because of that and I cannot explain how happy that made me

On Socialism:

Socialism is the framework of a government that takes care of its people. I could break off into facets of leftism and talk theory all day - but my stance is literally “take care of each other.” The phrase “from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs” (popularized by Karl Marx) means a lot to me, as does the Spanish idiom “hoy por ti, mañana por mi” (today you, tomorrow me). I volunteer with a kindness organization (feel free to ask me which one). I have been working together among local folks to build and strengthen mutual aid hubs in our communities. I also do water distro and deliver other Heat relief supplies to unsheltered folks

This space will not be used to preach (but I am an ordained minister if you’re needing one 😆), nor will or be used much to educate. The socialist side of this page is more about being actively present in the world I believe in

Tl;dr

I’m always up for meeting new comrades. Asks are open. Feel free to chat and also definitely tell me what your favorite favorite Schwartz moment is

And finally

I’ll leave you with this moment from Ben’s Mythical Kitchen Last Meal interview that I hope makes you smile

#intro post #who am i #i love ben #nice to meet you #pinned bios #are you happy?#ben schwartz last meal

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choccyhearts · 1 year

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90's!Eddie Headcanons

Note: I always like imagining how Eddie would adapt with the 90's since it is lowkey very different from the 80's, so here's some random thoughts ^_^

CW:

Cut his hair around the beginning of the decade

I really couldn't tell you why my brain won't let this go, but I really believe that he would've thought that The Blair Witch Project was real (like not for a suuuper long time, but maybe before seeing it he would)

(But he would NOT have made that mistake again with Paranormal Activity in the 00's...totallyyyy...)

He prepared for Y2K "just in case"

He told the others that it was stupid and that people were all worked up over nothing

But did drag along a case of beans, beer and a first-aid kit with him to Steve's New Year's Eve party "just in case"

(He left his other favorite belongings in his van)

His precious van did sadly break down but that was okay cause he ended up just getting a new one instead :)

He refuses to not drive a van, honestly

Would maybe depart from that though if he had access to hearse

Despite being the rough around the edges metalhead he is, he would find a love for Britney Spears

Like ya know how today there's a collection of metalheads who love Carly Rae Jepsen and see her as their emotional support pop girly? That's what Britney is for him

Thought Scream was a masterpiece and forced the others to dress up as the characters with him for Halloween (you can take your guess as to who he was...)

(Stu, duh.)

Speaking of Halloween costumes, the older gang would also dress up as the Friends characters (because c'mon, these are yt ppl..) (He was Joey because he refused to be anyone else) (Yes him and Steve argued over it resulting in a coin toss to make the decision) (Steve was Ross)

He's def a Seinfeld>Friends kinda guy

He's also a Simpsons>Family Guy kinda guy

Fuckin' loves DunkAroos

Got lost at a Nirvana concert (this applies to both Rockstar!Eddie or regular Eddie)

Rockstar!Eddie and Corroded Coffin went on SNL

Eddie told Mike Myers he was hilarious but kept calling him "Michael" to be "respectful" (also cause he thought it was hilarious)

Got Adam Sandler's autograph for Steve

Isn't a fan of ICP or juggalos but can accept them from afar

(Is highkey thankful he went to high school in the 80's because otherwise he would've had some juggalos sitting at the Hellfire table)

Celebrated the beginning of his 30's with a bottle of champagne and a pack of DunkAroos

Would also mourn his 20s but not entirely

His first time using the Internet, he looked up porn

Not cause he was in the mood or anything, but just to see what was there

He's not allowed to use Steve's computer anymore

Embraced the younger ones' new phases :

Lucas styling himself after Will Smith in Fresh Prince (which btw not an Eddie hc but Lucas and Max dressed as Men in Black for Halloween on year, okay bye)

Max definitely embraced the grunge style of dress

El loving riot grrrl bands due to their boldness and unabashed expression of emotions (Eddie thinks it's badass)

The boys' love for video games surging due to history being made before their very eyes (Sonic, Crash, Super Mario 64, etc.)

Eddie gets high and watches Kevin Smith movies

Misses his long hair after watching Jay & Silent Bob :(

Likes Goosebumps books and collects them for his future children

The whole crew went to go see Space Jam expecting it to be really dumb and dopey

Everyone left with their lives changed

Forced Steve and Lucas to teach him basketball

It went exactly how you'd expect it go

Fell asleep watching Titanic at movie night

Freaked TFFF out when he got high and watched the Truman Show

Then let his fear subside and would make jokes

"Steve, move out of the way, you're blocking my good angle" *is staring at a plant pot*

Wants smoke with the Chucky doll

Tried growing out a small beard towards the end of the decade

Didn't really feel it, will try again in his 40s

Rockstar!Eddie bought Wayne a house in '95

Made sure the kitchen had lots of cupboard space

Eddie didn't cry until he was leaving after moving Wayne in

Wayne didn't cry until he started putting up picture frames of Eddie through out the years

Mechanic!Eddie saved up for a house for the two of them to rent

Either version Eddie got Wayne a black labrador

Wayne was your typical "I don't need a dog to worry about, messing up my furniture" type of man

They're attached at the hip after one day

"This Green Day isn't half bad"

Despite knowing that it isn't his first actual drink, Eddie is psyched to take Dustin out for his 21st birthday, just the two of them

Steve tracks them down, upset he wasn't the one to buy Dustin his first drink

Dustin doesn't even care as long as he isn't the one paying

This would be the decade that Eddie properly settles down with someone

Gets married early in the decade

Decides to have kids towards the end of the decade/early 00s

I'm gonna cap it here ^_^

#eddie munson #eddie stranger things #stranger things #st4 #eddie munson headcanons #90s eddie munson #rockstar!eddie #mechanic!eddie

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dollarbin · 4 months

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Dollar Bin #29:

Stevie Nick's Bella Donna

Stevie Nicks got zero favors from the patriarchal press or culture in the late 80's and early 90's. Much like Yoko Ono, she was the butt of sexist jokes and unfair critique that their male peers were never subjected to.

Let's compare Nicks and Stephen Tyler: both came of age in the mid-seventies; both fronted huge rock bands and both almost always appeared on stage without an instrument (even though they were hugely successful songwriters); both had major drug problems and overcame them; both were good looking young people who, unlike me, aged (seriously, people speak of me, always in hushed tones: how does he stay so young, they ask. Who else carries their paunch and bald spot with such panache?). Both had a thing for waiving silks around on stage. We could go on all day...

But did they get equal treatment? Hell no. Tyler was a hero for surviving drugs; I grew up cackling about the legendary destruction of Nick's nose from coke. Tyler became even more of a sex symbol as he aged and he dominated MTV in the late 80s and early 90s; Nicks, like Linda Ronstadt, was judged by one and all the moment she no longer looked 22, and Nicks couldn't get on MTV after 86 until Beyonce borrowed her iconic riff from Edge of Seventeen and insisted she show up to take credit:

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(That's Nicks with the guitar in the opening moments of this ridiculous and joyful video, showing us that, of course, she can play instruments: how else could she have written a few of the most popular songs of all time?)

But let's stop comparing Nicks and Tyler and never bring up Aerosmith in this blog again: after all, Nicks is a transcendent song writer and singer while Stephen Tyler occupies the rarrified air of pure suckiness inhabited by all famous rock stars named Stephen.

And that brings us to Nicks's debut solo album, Bella Donna. First off, good luck finding this record in a dollar bin: much like her friend Tom Petty, Nicks is rightfully revered by her fans, many of whom were not around to buy her first records when they came out. Plus, my almost famous niece tells me that some dude drank some juice while on a skateboard a few years back with Nicks's Dreams as the soundtrack and, in doing so, destroyed the internet. That previous sentence tells me the internet and people are dumb. Don't go and google the guy on the skateboard; rather check out my niece!

youtube

Sweet song huh? Why isn't it destroying the internet instead?

Anyway, apparently the guy on the skateboard, and junk like that, are why busted up copies of Rumors went from dollar bin cloggers to $25 a pop in the last few years. I hope Stevie enjoyed and benefited from the slight renaissance of interest in her work; and, if you don't already own a copy of Bella Donna, know that some teenager without a working record player probably beat you to it.

Which is all a bummer, because Bella Donna deserves your full respect and attention. It's a great, and I think still largely overlooked, testament to her singing, songwriting and entire vibe.

The record opens with the title track, a complex and extended slow piece of soulful searching which summons up the opening gesture pioneered by The Band a decade earlier with Tears of Rage. Nicks is famous for her pop singles, but that genre is really the business of her bandmate Christie McVie; Nicks is a composer of songs, not hits.

youtube

You can also hear right off the bat in Bella Donna that Nicks has assembled the right band. Imagine being in position to borrow Benmont Tench from the Heartbreakers, Roy Bittan from Bruuuuce and Waddy Watchel from Linda Ronstadt and Warren Zevon. Tench had no real business joining in - TP and the Heartbreakers were at the height of their fame and were touring nonstop - but he somehow found the time to step right in and lead the whole band. The other two dudes were conveniently available, at least for the moment. Bruuuuuuce was forever firing the E Street Band and was gearing up to make Nebraska on his own, and Linda was starting to move away from pop music for the first of many times; soon she'd be singing light opera with a young Kevin Kline.

Bella Donna is held together, however, not by the men but by the women. Nicks created the whole record through 2+ years of work with Sharon Celani and her soon-to-be sister-in-law Lori Perry. Every song features all three of them shimmering and gliding about one another and Nicks has been singing with the two women - and putting their photos alongside her on her records - ever since. Here's the way Nicks described their work and relationship to "The Last DJ" himself, Jim Ladd, a guy I listened to a lot as a kid:

Sharon [Celani] and Lori [Perry-Nicks] and I have a special thing that we have ~ that we have perfected ~- and we have perfected it by sitting around the piano... I'm not going to go sing on-stage alone. I don't want to. I want to be able to walk away and let them take it. Because I ~ there is nothing in the world that I would rather hear than beautiful singing. And so I have worked to get a sound that is not like anybody else. That is really beautiful, that is strong and that is like dedicated and devoted.

Jim Ladd just passed away; I hope he had Petty's mediocre album about him playing at full blast as he faded. As an LA kid I tuned into Ladd every night in late middle school and early high school, beginning to give up on him only when I decided that Roger Waters, Jim's favorite artist by far, was the problem with all things Pink Floyd from Animals onward. I had a few pretty sharp ideas as a kid!

I remember vividly the very last time I listened to Ladd: I was at the mall for some reason, in the parking lot, and Ladd had his hands on an advanced copy of U2's Zooropa. Ladd played us all Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car, a song which he'd chosen by himself at random - the album was so new he hadn't had time to listen to it yet. Ladd thought the dull and overblown track was a triumph; he'd lose his head on occasion. I disagreed. And so we parted ways. Rest in peace Jim. But I digress!

Every song on Bella Donna shows careful polish and intention. A few tracks, like the instantly hummable, McVie inspired Think About It and the Waylon Jennings inspired Leather and Lace, are tracks Nicks had held onto all through Fleetwood's golden era; this was a record she'd built up to over years.

Indeed, Nicks could have easily turned Bella Donna into a defiant double album, an All-Things-Must-Pass-level declaration that the Mac held her back. Bella Donna contains zero filler and several of the songs left off the record are a big deal. Just take a listen to Gold and Braid, an outtake that other artists would have released as the first single; there's a studio take but it's a bit rough. Listen instead to the pulsating, hip swinging live greatness from the brief tour that followed the record:

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Jimmie Iovine, Nicks' producer and partner at the time, made a few key contributions to the record. And he seems to have gotten in the way a bit.

Yes, he connected Nicks to Tom Petty and hand delivered the album's substitute single in place of Gold and Braid, Petty's Stop Dragging My Heart Around. The song is great, sure, but it's the only song Nicks didn't write on the record and it stands apart sonically from everything else, all of which led to the troubling myth about Nicks from her Fleetwood work - that she was best as a karaoke/girl singer, good at showing up for nothing but the vocal polish long after the male musicians had done writing, playing and heavy lifting - following her into the birth of her solo career. The truth is far different: Nicks conceived all of Bella Donna on her own. Everything, that is, except the Petty track.

Iovine pushed Stop Dragging My Heart Around on Nicks specifically because he felt the album lacked a single. But take a fresh listen to the track alongside Gold and Braid, and consider my argument that the record would have been even bolder and better with Nick's track remaining in place instead of Petty's inclusion.

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Don't get me wrong, Iovine was right to bring Nicks into Stop Dragging My Heart Around. Stevie sings with TP better than any other human on the planet could have. But Dragging belongs, alongside Petty and Nick's incomparable Insider, on Hard Promises.

The craziest thing of all is that Iovine thought Bella Donna lacked a single to begin with. After all, Edge of Seventeen is on this record. The song is pretty ubiquitous: I feel like I've heard its riff and chorus at every sporting event I've ever been to. Obviously, I haven't, but it's one of those songs that its hard to imagine the world without.

And let's close this out with her live performance of that song from her far too brief tour in 82. Find me a more powerful and soulful performance by any white person. All of Nick's male peers, from Lindsey Buckingham to Van Morrison to Neil Young to Petty himself - would have fallen flat on their face had they tried to do anything this complicated, athletic and surging on stage at that point (make that ever). Stephen Stills would have somehow managed to fall on his face and ass simultaneously.

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OOO Baby. Oooo Baby. OOOOO.

And so, as this first partial year in the Dollar Bin rolls towards closure, may all praise raineth down upon Stevie.

My record melting/Neil Young questioning, big deal friend Greg points out that Nicks, Stephen Tyler and Stephen Stills have yet another thing in common: they all practically have the same first name!

And so let me amend my earlier, definitive statement regarding the suckiness of musicians with that moniker (and redeem the unintentionally slighted Stevie Wonder and Cat Stevens in the process) with a bumper sticker ready (so long as your car is WIDE LOAD width) pronouncement: The Dollar Bin hereby proclaims that all WHITE MALE musicians with FIRST names derived from Steve/Stephen, (except, most of the time time, Steve Earle..) suck.

Here's looking at you Steve Miller! My curses upon thee Steve Vai!

#Youtube #stevie nicks #tom petty #the heartbreakers #stephen stills still sucks #so does stephen tyler

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