#i still have absolutely no idea who hambone is

[kiwi-and-pasta-at-3am]

Watched masters of the air like last week, so of course I decided to watch band of brothers now

Hopefully I'll learn characters names faster considering they have them on their uniforms

#band of brothers #mota #like I'm so bad at linking names and faces #took me at least 3 researches of mota to learn there was a guy named curt #and it's literally fucking curt how did i not notice him #i still have absolutely no idea who hambone is #I'm so bad at this #took me a while to figure out bucky was in fact not narrating the story #but like him and Crosby have a similar hair color #i was so confused when i saw buck and bucky weren't navigators #i learned bubbles existed only after he got sick #i learned who Rosie was only after he went in leave #god help me please make this one easier #im really stupid

[kingofthewilderwest]

So I’m speaking from my own personal spin, but I love how Fiddleford McGucket can feel like such a musician.

Characters are often incidentally musicians. Writers throw it in there without thought to how music interplays with their life. You could blink and miss it. It doesn’t frame the character’s interests or personality, and if not for one minor scene, you wouldn’t think they had musical background. 

But irl, I often meet people who have (as I affectionately call it) “Musician Brain.”

For some diehard musicians, music is embedded in our personality. You can’t take the musician out of us. We’re constantly thinking and acting out music even when there isn’t an instrument near us. Music gets entangled in quirks, subconscious behaviors, habits, actions, life choices, thought processes, and more. I feel like most fictional musician characters lack that “vibe” or “quirk”. But one thing that entertains me about McGucket is that he can be read as a That Dork With Musician Brain.

I mean like...

The two things Ford buys when McGucket arrives in Gravity Falls are microchips and banjo strings. Sure, Fiddleford might’ve said he needed them. But Ford’s charging to the store because he’s excited and grateful Fiddleford is here, and wants to purchase gifts to make him feel at home. Apparently, the comforts of home aren’t complete without music. That banjo came to the dorms back in the day, didn’t it? Ford probably saw that banjo in the dorms.

It was Important Enough(TM) to be mentioned in Journal #3: Ford set up the ground rule “no banjo playing after eight.” Why? Because otherwise, there would be banjo after eight. Wonderful, beautiful, skilled banjo music. Late at night. When Ford wanted to fucking sleep. There’d be that musician. Still playing. The fucking banjo. After eight. The fact Ford mentions this information early in his journals also means... this was dealt with right away. It had to be dealt with right away. Either because Ford had already experienced this phenomenon ahead of time (college), or because they’d already run into this problem in Gravity Falls... of banjo being played... after eight.

Have you noticed that at all of McGucket’s work stations, the banjo is there? He sets it up beside him during the journal research period. He has it by him in his Palo Alto garage. He’s even got the freaking banjo with him inside the gobblewonker. The banjo is literally part of his work environment. If Fiddleford wanted a real break from work, he could store his musical instruments anywhere. He’d leave the work station, play music, come back. But the instrument needs to be IN EASY REACH. That’s no accident. It’s there to fiddle with while he’s working, while he’s mulling over a problem, while he’s taking a one minute break... etc.

Fiddleford, while idly thinking, automatically starts doing MUSIC THINGS. For instance: hamboning on his knees while doing math calculations. (I know GF made hamboning quasi-linguistic, but if we wanted, we could suggest that before shit hit the fan, Fiddleford used hamboning as the musical thing it is.) No wonder Ford commented in the journal he could “put up with” Fiddleford’s eccentricities. It would be something that needed... tolerance. I’m imagining a quiet day in the lab, and then... whack-a-whack-a-whack-whack-a-whakkk. Try concentrating on your mind-grueling advanced research while the guy next to you is smacking up a rhythmically complicated groove using himself as a drum! Did Fiddleford get glares for that? I’m betting Fiddleford got glares for that.

Granted, flashbacks with Fiddleford don’t cover his happiest life period. He’s tense, on edge, anxious, not smiling. But maybe there’s something to be said that the one and only time we see young McGucket at ease smiling... is when he’s playing his instrument. 

By the way. It’s not just one banjo. In Palo Alto, McGucket didn’t have one instrument he could play in his “home office.” He had two, set up, right there. Two instruments. One garage. I can tell you for a fact, once the instruments start multiplying, you’re usually a lost cause.

SPEAKING OF BANJOS MULTIPLYING. When you open the front cover of Journal #3, you get blueprints labeled “From the Desk of Fiddleford H. McGucket.” Most is professional. The raccoons are eyebrow-raising. But most is professional. And then we get to the Gideon Bot, which, for NO REASON AT ALL, has a storage chamber dedicated to a “prize banjo collection.” What. What is that doing there, Fiddleford. I know that wasn’t Gideon’s idea. Why are you amassing banjos in a giant tyrant robot? 

Need to keep this guy awake through a long night? Drown him in coffee and blast those bluegrass records.

The science bros plan a serious expedition to an alien spaceship crash site. This will be an aweing experience, especially for Fiddleford, who’ll be seeing it his first time. The expedition is serious work, key to their endeavored scientific breakthroughs. It’ll be a several day rigorous hiking trip through uncivilized wilds, through forests and caves and more, through dangerous paranormal areas. They’ll only be able to carry bare essential supplies with them. There’s no room for anything besides bare essentials. What’s a bare essential? That Fiddleford can’t live two and a half days without? That he absolutely needs to bring? Apparently? His fucking banjo. He brought his fucking banjo.

Speaking of bringing banjos where no banjo should go... let’s try “parachuting through the air into the evil layer of a dream demon for a last stand apocalyptic rescue mission.” Yeah, McGucket uses the instrument like a weapon. That hurts my soul - musical instruments aren’t weapons. You could suggest it’s for self-defense that the instrument came. But... there would’ve been three hundred other things in the Mystery Shack better equipped for self-defense. And yet you parachuted hundreds of feet through the air with a banjo on your back. 

No apocalypse shelter is complete without your musical instrument!

Can’t move into the new home without the banjo, either! Basically the only thing he brought, too.

Ever thought about how, post-memory loss and life collapse, the one quality possession he manages to keep with him... is his banjo?

And he still plays and practices music consistently! He mentions in “Land Before Swine” he has an “hourly hootenanny.” It’s a self-scheduled time for music that he’s presumably repeating most days. 

Speaking of “Land Before Swine”, McGucket says he loses musical spoons to a dinosaur. It’s to note that spoons are sometimes used as percussion, including in American folk music. This isn’t McGucket speaking nonsense. This is him knowing stringed instruments and percussion.

Mental health struggles, self-inflicted memory loss, and a poor living situation have taken their toll on McGucket through the decades. But that can’t destroy how music sings through his soul. When he plays, “the age lift[s] off his face,” and Ford can see “the Fiddleford who had been [his] friend so many years ago.” McGucket is relaxed, happy, and at peace with his instrument, so much that his identity sings together with the strings. Ford recognizes his friend of old - his friend back before shit hit the fan - because that man playing banjo is who Fiddleford is.

In a way, music is what demonstrates resolution to Fiddleford’s character arc - both his growth arc, and his relationship with Ford. He starts the story as a man smiling on his instrument, playing music contently. He goes through many issues once he starts research in Gravity Falls. And then he ends the story as a man again smiling on his instrument, playing music contently. Smiling on the banjo is the bookmark start and the bookmark end, showing he’s grown back emotionally after all the struggles. Not to mention... music’s sorta the resolving moment where two old, close friends find peace. Ford and Fiddleford have had decades of guilt, pain, and consequences from their mistakes. A key symbolic moment of their relationship being mended - fully mended - is when the two can listen to the banjo together.

Again, this is my own spin, but I live for how Fiddleford McGucket comes off as so musicianny to me. As a composer who’s constantly carting a pennywhistle in my satchel... who hums with my electric toothbrush because it vibrates on middle C... who curses the fact I have apartment neighbors because otherwise I’d have my viola out at 4 AM... I’m damn charmed to encounter a fictional character who I feel emanates musician vibes, musician quirks... Musician Brain.

#long post #Gravity Falls #GF #Fiddleford McGucket #Old Man McGucket #non-dragons #analysis #my analysis #Stanford Pines #Ford Pines #fiddauthor #I can put that right? #^.^ #why not #Pocalypse Preppin #yes I like this character... can you tell? ;) #music #ngl have a few fanfic drabble ideas..... on this topic.......... #oh shoot forgot to mention Sev'ral Timez #Lost Time

[etraytin]

Quarantine, Day 49

One more note on the weird time theme of yesterday; today I got an Amazon Question in my email from somebody wanting to know about a camcorder I bought twelve years ago. (It is obviously hella discontinued, but there are apparently a few third party sellers still.) For those of you who were not paying attention to camera technology in 2008, phone cameras were basically still bullshit unless you were willing to shell out a couple month's rent for your camera, which I was not. I had a flip phone until 2014, I shit you not. So phone cameras were not as much of a thing, but you could buy little pocket video cameras that ran on AA batteries and were about the size of an Iphone 5, but a little thicker. They had an internal memory of maybe an hour, and a USB port that popped out like a switchblade so you could upload it to your computer. They were, honestly, pretty cool in a dorky sort of way. I used that camera for early pictures of the kiddo, along with a tiny handheld camcorder-shaped camcorder that could do things like "let me see what I was recording even outdoors." It's long gone, of course, which is why it was so funny to see that question pop up today, someone apparently legitimately wondering about the focal length of a crappy little camera from another lifetime. I hope somebody actually knows the answer. 

The kittens are doing well today and I was able to secure some more formula for them. I am very excited because Amazon informs me that people have bought formula from my wish list and it is on the way (<3<3<3) but kitten formula is apparently not essential enough to make the journey very quickly. Luckily I now have enough for at least another three or four days. They’re eating a lot and gaining quite a bit of weight, so it’s worth being patient.

 I am, however, quickly losing patience with the vet tech at my rescue. Vet tech school doesn't actually include very much information about raising orphan kittens, by and large, and she has picked up some extremely...nonstandard... ideas about the state of the art. I don't claim to be an expert myself, but I've been doing it for a number of years now with pretty good success, and I have done a lot of reading, consulted with a lot of incredibly experienced people, and attended official training given by reputable agencies. What I'm trying to say is that my kitten-raising strategies are not uninformed and I didn't just make them up in my head, and getting constantly bitched out over them by text message got old about three litters ago. I probably could not have saved my littlest kitten this time even if the tech hadn't insisted that I not use Pedialyte even though it was recommended by the kitten raising experts that our own rescue brought in to teach us how to raise kittens, but I don't think not using it helped at all. And when I want to switch to a formula that literally everyone I speak to says is either superior to or at least equal to the kind we are already using, it is not appropriate to bite my head off and say that veterinarians don't approve of it because it causes vomiting and diarrhea, so I'd better stop using it quicklike. I devoted quite a bit of time today to looking for _any_ evidence of that opinion online, searching for articles online, reading product reviews, and asking other fosters. Nada.

I do my very best to be polite, and sometimes the tech can be very helpful, but too often it is this bullshit and I have trouble coping with it when usually I'm operating on way too little sleep already. The trouble is, the tech has a large amount of power over policy at the rescue, and not doing what she says could get me in trouble. Honestly, at this point I am losing interest in complying anyway. What are they going to do, take my kittens away when they are finally healthy and growing? And there are other rescues out there, and they always need bottlefeeders. It just sucks because other than that I really, really like my rescue and I do not want to leave. Ugh. At least with healthy kittens, I need to consult a lot less often. 

Anyway, enough of my personal cat lady drama. The kittens are doing really well and are incredibly fluffy, and that is the important part! Now that Jackie is no longer so far down she can barely swallow, I can keep her clean much more easily and she is starting to rival Rosa for adorable soft squishableness. I am, however, increasingly willing to bet that they are not actually siblings and Rosa is several days to a week older. She's just so much bigger, and has more teeth! It's okay, they still love each other. Also, letting the kiddo cuddle with them or read to them or supervise their playtime is a good little motivating tool to help him power through his schoolwork. Double bonus! 

The big, big,big grocery order came in today, and it was indeed large. I now have two boxes of staple foods to tuck away for hurricanes and/or societal difficulties, plus several cans of mackerel for trapping wily feral cats! Feral cats love mackerel, it just smells soooo bad. I decided that if I was going to lay in some extra meat, it was mostly going to be sausage and bacon, because that's the sort of meat where a little bit goes a long way in terms of enriching the flavor of a meal. I got some ground turkey and beef, but I also have textured vegetable protein in the pantry to stretch it for things like spaghetti sauce, tacos, and chili. And I scored two ultra-rare bags of 15 bean soup mix, so I can use my other hambone! You guys don't even understand how much I love ham and bean soup, or how exciting this is. The weird thing is, two weeks ago when I made my last pickup order, the pickup area was packed solid with cars, and cars were even waiting to get into the spots. Today, I was literally the only car there when my food came out. The parking lot was packed, it's just that everyone was shopping inside. Not a great sign. 

Definitely the most fun I had today was playing with the excellent West Wing gifset that @donnajosh​ made of Josh and Sam. Watching their faces made me laugh very hard, and I had to caption it. It was a whole face journey, made by two guys who would absolutely follow the Delta shuttle all the way to Indianapolis if they were not stopped. Too funny! Thank god for people on the internet, just being there and doing stuff and making all of this feel less lonely. 

#quarantine #i also got my very own big bag of reese's pieces #i'm very pleased

[current-mcr-news]

Casual Interactions #4: Full Transcription

John: Welcome to Casual Interactions podcast with Frank, Shaun, and Hambone. How are you guys doing today?

Frank: Good.

Shaun: Great.

F: I got the "strength and beauty" mug. Did you notice that?

S: I have a Superman one.

F: Yeah.

J: I got the "coffee makes you poop" mug.

F: Which is- yeah. That's a universal truth mug.

J: Yeah, it's like a truth bomb mug.

F: Yeah. I like that.

J: That makes you go. So, we wrapped up episode 3, which is pretty much, I think, all we really have to say on a band that went absolutely nowhere.

F: That's the thing, man! I can't believe we got that far with it.

J: Anything you wanna wrap up?

F: I don't think so. I feel like, I thought it was- I was like, "Oh wow, like, that was actually entertaining." It was probably more entertaining than actually living it.

S: Oh, you know, I actually thought of something.

F: Oh, what do you got?

S: I thought it might be interesting to talk about how Hambone got the name Hambone.

J: Oh god.

F: Oh my god.

S: Because that's not his actual name, in case you were wondering.

F: He was not born as Hambone.

J: In fairness, I've been Hambone for almost as long as I've been John McGuire.

F: So, here's the thing. It started on a long trip down the shore.

S: To Atlantic City. But here's the question I have: what the fuck were we doing in Atlantic City? That I have no idea. Why the hell were we going to Atlantic City?

F: I don't know! We had no money.

S: No.

F: No. We were underage-

J: We're really doing this? We're gonna tell the story?

S: Do you know the story?!

F: Do you know the story?

J: Oh, I know the story.

F: Oh, please tell the story then!

S: Is it a bad story?

F: Yeah, I definitely came here like, thinking that we weren't going to do anymore origins.

S: Listen, you don't have to do this if you don't want to.

F: No! Well, now we do.

S: I just thought it might be interesting.

F: Alright, even if it doesn't make it, I'd like to know because I don't remember.

J: So what the story is, is that I was-

S: Just tell Frank. Just text Frank.

F: Just whisper it to me! Sorry, go ahead.

J: [whispers] Just whisper it over here. Just fucking whisper it. [speaking] We were all underage, and we rented a condo in Absecon. Now this is before you could do that home away, this was before you could just go on your phone and like, find a cabin in the woods and rent it for the weekend for like a sexy getaway. We, for some reason-

F: Or murder.

J: Or murder, hey.

F: Right?

S: Who does- who has a sexy getaway in a cabin in the fucking woods?!

J: Clearly not murderers. Clearly.

S: Wait did- oh, alright, never mind.

F: People do that! Don't they? I don't know, I've never done it.

J: Yeah.

F: Hambone's done it.

S: Hambone apparently does that.

J: Well, if you call a sexy getaway in the woods playing a lot of Dungeons & Dragons, and eating a lot of barbecue, then yeah. I'm here for it.

F: Oh, a sexless getaway.

J: When you look back, it's a sexless getaway.

F: Got it.

J: So, we did this thing where- I don't even know why we rented it, but we rented it for New Year's Eve, and everyone was down there.

F: Oh my god, I remember that. Alright, go ahead.

J: Yeah. Yeah. Everyone was down there-

S: I remember who Hambone was dating at the time.

J: I do.

F: You don't?

J: I do!

F: Oh, I do too.

J: Yeah, we're not- okay, there's a certain layer of mystery that needs to be left on this story.

F: Got it!

S: No, yeah, I agree.

F: Real quick though, she was into witchcraft, right?

S: She was a witch.

J: Allegedly.

F: Alright, got it.

S: And then she gave Hambone a bath.

J: That was a different girl and that was a Christmas party. So-

F: Okay.

J: Jesus Christ, I'm so happy a lot of this stuff happened before the internet.

F: I like when it floods back on the air. Alright, go ahead.

J: Yeah. So, we went down there with a whole bunch of our friends, and everyone got like, obliterated. Me more than anybody else. Everyone had a few pops too many, and I ended up naked in front of the fridge, and it was completely dark in the room. Have you ever seen the end of the movie The Lost Boys, where the grandfather finally kills the head vampire. He comes home, and it's completely dark in there, and he opens up the fridge and the light envelopes the room? That essentially was the kitchen in this shitty apartment that we rented in Absecon, New Jersey. Now, I- for some reason, I'm naked, and I walk downstairs to go into the fridge, probably to get a sandwich.

F: Presumably out of the bath.

J: Presumably out of the bath. Different party! I'm telling you.

F: Alright!

J: And, I don't know, I went down there. Now, granted, back in the day, I was a little bit of a larger fellow. I was, you know, probably close to about 3 bills at the time.

F: Really?! No!

S: Come on.

F: No!

J: Oh yeah.

S: Really?!

J: Yeah.

S: I never would've thought that.

F: You wore it well then.

J: Thank you very much guys!

F: You're welcome. I'm just saying.

J: Stop flattering me so much!

S: Go tickle him.

J: Don't tickle- I'm- stop! Hey, there's a line. So, I went downstairs, presumably to get a sandwich or something. It's completely dark down there, I don't really know that anyone's down there because it's late at night. So, I open up the fridge, and I lean over into the fridge to get a sandwich, and a little voice from behind me says, "Hambone, get me a Coke." And I look up and I turn, and there's Frank, looking at my giant, moon-like ass, glowing from the light of the refrigerator. And you know, it's the kind of thing that happens when someone says a name in your direction, and if you look, it sticks with you for the rest of your life. So, here we are, 20 something years later, and I'm still Hambone.

S: Oh man.

F: Yeah, alright.

J: That's how it happened.

F: Just because all I wanted was a Pepsi.

J: Yeah! Just one Pepsi. And then that nickname stuck.

F: Right, yeah yeah yeah.

J: For 20 years!

F: Holy shit.

J: But you know what? It turned into something to the point where, you know, now we are almost 40. Or I am, because I'm a little bit older. How much older am I?

S: Are you 40?

J: I'm gonna be 40 next year.

S: Oh.

F: Okay.

J: I'm rounding up at this point. Like, 39. Four months from now, I'll be 40. We're good. So, it's cool because now like, people know me as Hambone, like, everywhere.

F: Well, you took that and ran with it, too.

J: Of course I ran with it, I had to. When you have a nickname like Hambone, you kinda just- there's two ways you can go with it: into hiding, or ever forward.

F: Alright, I'm gonna interject because the way I remember it-

J: Right.

F: Was we were in the car-

J: Yeah.

F: On the way down to the shore.

S: This is what I remember, yeah.

F: Okay. And, Shaun and I were, for some reason, in the backseat.

S: Together.

F: No one was in the front seat but you. You were driving.

J: So, wait, I was driving you two.

F: You were driving like a chauffeur.

S: But wasn't his girlfriend with him?

F: That could-

S: And they went into a rest stop?

F: Right now, the front passenger seat is just blurry.

S: Maybe it's blurry.

F: It's just a blur in my memory, I don't know. But it could've been a spell, is why I can't see! It might've been. But what I remember was, we were in the backseat and we were talking. We were like, "You know, you can't give yourself a nickname. And how is it in these movies like, these people have these amazing nicknames.”

J: Yeah.

F: Like, you know, all these things. And we were like, "We gotta give John a nickname."

S: Yes!

F: Because people would call you John McGuire Superstar. Do you remember that?

J: I do remember that.

F: Alright, that was like, the original name because you knew everybody.

J: But I did not give myself that nickname.

F: No, you didn't.

J: Because you can't give yourself a nickname!

F: Yeah, you can't give yourself a nickname. And we were like, "That a little- that's like, I don't know, that sounds- first off, it's long."

S: Like Jesus Christ Superstar.

J: It's very long.

F: It sounds like- yeah, which is where I'm sure it came from.

S: Yeah, and Hambone's not Jesus.

J: Certainly not.

F: So, we came up- we were like- alright, well, Shaun actually came up with the first one. Do you remember?

S: Horse-

F: Horse Tool? Horse Tool.

J: I don't remember any of that.

F: You don't remember? Alright, so, we were like, "No, we can't use that." And then, I said, "Hambone."

S: Yeah, right.

F: And then you were like, "No," and Shaun was like, "Well, you have to pick one of them." And you were like, "Aright, well then Hambone." And that's how it started, and maybe that night later on-

S: That's what happened.

F: I saw you naked and was like, "Yo, Hambone, get me a Coke!"

J: That definitely- because that's the first, in my memory, the first instance-

F: Okay! But the origin, if we're going origin stories, was in the backseat. We were like, "He needs a nickname, because like, he's larger than life, and you need that larger than life name."

S: Now, here's a question.

J: I was larger than a church.

S: What if he had picked Horse Tool? How would his life be different today?

J: Shaun, I-

F: Yeah, I think that would have-

J: Trust me.

F: Here's the thing-

J: I'm Irish. I could never make Horse Tool play.

F: That would've dissipated.

S: Yeah, no, yeah, you're right. That wouldn't have stuck.

F: I think it would've just been like, "Oh, it just doesn't roll off the tongue."

J: Horse Tool. Doesn't really- yeah, it doesn't roll off the tongue.

S: Yeah.

F: You know? But like, essentially, yeah. Like, you had either, like, Large Cock or Hambone, which is like, this party animal nickname, and you chose the party animal.

J: And I ran with it.

F: Yeah, and then you changed it to-

J: I ran hard with it.

F: Hambone, King of Rock and Roll.

J: Yes.

F: And that's where it kinda took life.

J: Well, the reason why it went Hambone, King of Rock and Roll like, I- Jesus, I hated myself so much. Like, I hated myself to the point where I just didn't want to be around. And I kinda was like, "If I could be anybody else, then I don't wanna die. Then I can make it, I could just be whoever else I could be." So, that's why I kinda started up with the Hambone, King of Rock and Roll thing, and I just kinda fully turned into that persona because I didn't want to live in my own skin. But then, I lived a little too much Hambone, King of Rock and Roll.

F: That's the thing. Sometimes, we can do that and we'll overcompensate so far that it then turns like- because that's the thing is like, those demons, right? The feeling of not being comfortable in your own skin, the anxiety and the depression, stuff like that. If those aren't dealt with, even if we like, cover them up with like, a band-aid of a persona, or like, a stage show, or writing, you know, different things. Like, it's never going to be dealt with. It's just gonna rear its head in different ways.

J: Oh yeah, and it certainly did. I mean, a lot of it, though, came out in my writing. And a lot of it came out in, you know, the kind of things I would kinda, contribute to art and creativity. I mean, I think that's pretty much a good thing we could talk about tonight.

F: Yeah.

J: Is talk about art and creativity. Like, what drives you to write. Like, what makes you create. You know, for me, when I started, I mean it was all like, teenage feelings and like- I grew up listening to classic rock radio, and I just would dissect songs and I would try to figure out how like, how they did it, how they would write songs. Like, I kind of understood a bridge before I knew how to play guitar.

F: Right.

J: So, I would channel like, you know, the things that I was feeling on the surface levels into kinda like, the songs I would write which, half of which ended up on Heartbreak in Stereo. But how about you guys? Like, what is it that brings it out of you?

F: Well, I think it differs, like, from song to song and experience to experience, you know what I mean? I think, at least for me, it's definitely a lot of life intimidates [imitates] art, you know what I mean? And you start to be like, "Aright, well these are things that have happened to me and I don't know how to deal with them in real life, so how do I manufacture a way to kind of-" You know like, when you have a conversation with someone or a fight with someone, and you're like, two days later, you're like, "Fuck, that's what I should've said!"

J: Oh yeah.

F: Like, right? Writing a song is the best way to do that.

J: Right.

F: Is to create the perfect situation where you said everything you wanted to say, and did everything you wanted to do, and uh, or you could retell it the way that it actually happened and be like, "Oh, this is how I fucked up." That kinda thing.

J: Right. Yeah, because you know, putting them in a car and trying to get them to the right moment when they actually hear what you wrote about them so you could like, get them on the back end.

F: Oh yeah!

J: It just never works.

F: Dude-

J: It's a long way to go for revenge.

F: But think about that. When you think about it like, "Oh, yeah, they're gonna hear this and they're gonna know." They never heard it.

J: No.

F: They never. But in your mind, you're like, "Ah, there you go, that was the perfect comeback."

J: Yeah. I bet Warren Beatty never really heard You're So Vain, he just don't care. Because at that point, you know, that chick made a million bucks.

F: Oh, he heard it. Oh, he heard it.

J: Oh, I bet he did.

F: Alright, so, I actually wanted to ask you this because I feel like when we first met, you were um, very instrumental in, I guess, showing me a lot of different bands, and getting me really kinda, farther into punk rock and stuff like that. I grew up listening to, you know, classic rock, and a lot of blues from my dad, and stuff of that nature. And you know, I think, like, a lot of people in my generation like, you know, Nirvana hit, and then you would start to like, read liner notes and be like, "Alright, well, Sub Pop.” Like, find out about Mudhoney and find out about The Melvins, and stuff like that. Kinda try to dig deeper and going to, like, Sonic Youth and do all the- you know, like, that route. So, I had that, you know, just from being a teenager in the 90s. But then when we met, like, you started making me mixtapes. So, who got you into all the stuff that you were into, and that you could pass along?

J: So, you know, for me, growing up listening to NEW, growing up listening to classic rock, CVX 101, I remember listening to WNEW and hearing The Clash’s London Calling. And hearing them playing Lost In The Supermarket, you know, the hits. The real baseline stuff. And then just, you know, seeing a Rolling Stone magazine lying around somewhere. Like, I couldn't tell you even what issue it was or where it was, but I remember seeing it and seeing a picture of The Ramones. And you know, back then before the internet, you had to do a lot of detective work if you wanted to be able to find the bands that you liked, or you wanted to be able to kinda, get turned on to something. Like, you actually had to do the leg work, so I just did. I went around and I was like, looking for stuff and trying to find stuff. I had an older kid on my block and he was really into like, Skinny Puppy and, you know, that's- I quickly realized that industrial music wasn't for me. But you know, I would backtrack and I would ride by bike places like, I mean, there was St. Mark's Records. When it was over in Harrison, I'd ride my bike there and I would buy stuff. There was Let It Rock.

F: Let It Rock was huge.

J: You know, trying to find places. There was Two Tone in Passaic, like, there were places. Like, these little oases where people who were into punk rock, and into new wave, and into alternative music could go and find something on a local level. Because I mean, certainly wasn't- weren't getting it at the shopping malls.

F: Yeah. Remember how hard it was to kinda like, to break in, because when you would go to stores like that, like I remember like, my first couple experiences at Let It Rock, like, it was so intimidating.

J: Oh yeah.

F: Like, you weren't welcome there. You know what I mean? Like, it wasn't like, "Oh, hey! You don't know really much about this, let me show you some stuff. You should have this record!"

J: Which is a terrible business model, to be mean to your customers.

F: No, yeah, I was like- yeah, seriously. Like, that dude did not want anyone in there. He had like, a one-eyed cat, and it was rough, dude. It was rough. And like, I think, I feel like too, correct if I'm wrong, but like, all the records had like, real snarky like, descriptions on them too. Like, you know, "Not as good as The Misfits." And then you go to The Misfits record and it'd be like, "This band sucks too." That was like, "Oh, alright."

J: I got drunk one night, and I was meaning to ask him, because he owns a bar now, and I was in the bar, and I was like, "They must sell shit, man." I gotta ask him, "What do you like?" Because you know, I feel like at this point, after 40 years of like, shopping in his store, and like, you know, drinking in the bar, I paid to see it at this point, so I wanna know.

F: Yeah.

J: My thing was, I found all these-

F: He was probably into like, Creed.

J: He probably really listened to Creed. It's like his dirty secret, you know. He actually wears like, dad jeans. I uh, so I got into all these bands and there was a Sam Goody in my town as well, which had some of the stuff. Like, I got my first X tape there, and it was not the one I wanted, but it was the one they had, and that's what I did a lot of when I was younger. I bought a lot of tapes by the band, but like, later era when they were on major labels, where it was like, I had to buy it because that's the one they had, and it's not the one I wanted. And then- but I knew about all these bands.

F: Right.

J: So, this dude, Frank Di Maria moved into my block, and I heard him playing guitar in his house, and I just went up to his house and I just rang his doorbell.

F: Wow!

S: Oh my god.

F: That takes balls!

J: I'm like 13, 14 years old. I mean, but have you met me, man?

F: You got the horse tools.

J: I got the horse tools!

F: That's what you need to go and knock on a door, you need a couple of tools from a horse.

J: Yeah. And he's like, "Hi," and I'm like, "Hey, I heard you playing guitar. You wanna hang out?" And I mean, I'm like 13, 14 years old, but I'm like, "He lives in my neighborhood, what harm could come of this?" Kids, don't go and knock on stranger's doors nowadays.

F: Right, yeah. Jesus.

J: Lots of harm could come of it. This was a very long ago. So, we went up, and he had all these tapes, and he had all the tapes that I wanted.

F: Oh wow.

J: And he was like, "Here, man, you can borrow these tapes." And he's like, "If you, like, wanna just borrow them," he's like, "just go to like, the store and get like, a box of blank tapes. Just dub them." And he had like, Hüsker Dü, he had The Replacements, The Pixies, Camper Van Beethoven. Like, all the stuff that I'd been reading about that I couldn't find anywhere was right there. And he was like, "Here, take it."

F: Holy shit.

J: So, I went- I got my mom to like, drive me to like, the five and dime, and I bought like, a box of like, 120 minute tapes and I taped everything and I wore every one of those tapes out.

F: Wow. That's awesome.

J: And that's how I got into the music I got into.

F: See, that's the thing, right? Like, I feel like, with that uh, type of situation where you kinda, like, you discover it. Like, you have this ownership over it.

J: Right.

F: That holy grail moment where things have been, you know, passed down and it's almost like you've been handed the scrolls. You know what I mean? It's like, "Here. Take this, son, and make something of it." And I feel like it sticks with you longer. Like, it's not like, "Oh, I just found this on, you know like, a website or something. And I have like, 16 discographies in my pocket and I don't listen to any of them." It's like, throwaway.

J: Music becomes disposable.

F: Yeah.

J: I mean, the reason you were able to eventually hear Jawbreaker when you were, was because my mom wouldn't let me go to New York to go to concerts. She thought like, if I went to New York I was gonna get murdered. So my friend Livio-

F: Opposed to hanging out with some guy down the street.

J: Yeah, that- just walking and knocking on your neighbor's door was fine. My friend, Livio, he would go to shows at Maxwell's. And her thing was, "If you wanna go to shows, you can go with him, as long as you don't go to New York." But it was, every show that you would've gotten in New York, you got at Maxwell's. Maxwell's was in Hoboken, which is maybe like 15 minutes from my house. It was a small club, held about 180 people. I saw some of the best shows of my life there. Like, I saw Jawbreaker there, I saw Face To Face there, I saw everyone. Everyone who came through. And it was great, but that's how I got to see those bands. And then, when we met in high school, I was able to kinda, just be like, "Here, you're- this is gonna be your first-" I think, was it 24 Hour Revenge Therapy, I handed to you, and said, "This is gonna be your favorite record."

F: Yes, and it immediately was. I think also, too, like, those were like, the opportunities I got was going to The Pipeline with you, and getting to see like, you know, The Bouncing Souls, and Westend. And I think that was an aha moment, for me at least, too, because it was like, finding like- these weren't, you know, bands like Jawbreaker or Black Flag or something like that, like bands that had like, done it or were like, legends of their time. Like, this was like, "Oh wow, these bands live around us, and they're doing it on a small scale, and I could do this kind of thing." And then I think, The Pipeline was a really good bridge to go to local like, VFW hall shows for me, and that was even like, "Holy shit. Wait, I can go see these bands with like, a can of soup?" Like, that's crazy, you know? And then to realize like, it wasn't even an actual club or anything. Like, kids were putting the shows on.

J: Yeah.

F: And that was a fucking like, that was like somebody had like, shot me in the head with an opportunity gun, kind of thing.

J: So, Shaun, how about you? What got you into music? Like, where were you finding your music? Because you were actually on the other side of Clifton.

S: Yeah.

J: In a very different neighborhood.

S: Yeah. I think my first show was Felix Frump-

F: Oh shit!

S: When I was a freshman.

F: Nice!

S: Yeah. But me, it came from-

F: Where?

S: Where was- you were probably there, right?

F: Yeah, maybe. Lyndhurst American?

S: Maybe. I think I went with Eugene.

F: Okay, yeah. Yeah.

S: Yeah. Me, it came from skateboarding. The whole skateboarding culture. I was skateboarding in grammar school, and high school, this is what you listened to, you know?

F: Right, yeah.

S: I just went along with what we were doing on the streets, you know.

J: Yeah.

F: I think that was my other outlet, too, was when I started skating and hanging out with Costa, and all those dudes. Like, he would just go to- we would go to the mall and there would be a Sam Goody, but he would just steal tapes.

J: Right.

S: He would just steal it.

F: He would go in, and then he'd be like, "Oh, I got these three. What do you think? Which one would be good?" And then he'd be like, "Put your hat out." And I would be like, "What?" And he would just shove them all in my hat.

J: See, this is where having a small head comes in handy, because there's head room to steal tapes.

F: Yeah. Yeah, so that's why you always had like, a fucking scally cap with you because you could steal tapes with it. And uh, and that's how I found like, you know, he had gotten like, some Pennywise tapes, and uh, Agnostic Front and stuff like that. And yeah, so, that was the other way I had to find out about- but he never let me dub any of his shit! I would just have to steal it and go to his house and listen to it.

J: How rude!

F: I know, I know!

J: Maybe that was his way of getting you to come over and hang out.

F: It's possible, it's possible. I think I was just- he just didn't wanna get caught, I think is what it was.

J: Yeah, because back in the day when you were actually physically copying music, the feds are really gonna be able to track you down for that. "Oh, he's got a bootleg R.E.M. tape in his pocket! Watch out for that guy."

F: Dude. I love that band so much.

J: "It's got the sad songs on it."

F: "It's got the sad songs. Go get that sad boy." Oh man, so alright. Well, alright, so, what made you wanna then go from just being an observer or a listener, to someone that did it? Like, what made you think that you could? And what made you wanna start writing your own songs?

J: So, what made me wanna start writing my own songs was the inability to be able to play other people's songs. So, a lot of it-

F: Okay.

J: I mean, I learned how to play guitar, and a lot of it came from- part of me was convincing myself, "Well, I could write my own songs, and I'm doing it because I want to." But the other part of me, the reality was like, I wasn't good enough to play other people's songs.

F: Yeah!

J: I mean, I'm like 14 years old. You try playing All Along The Watchtower. You know-

F: Fuck that, dude.

J: I could squeeze those 6 chords of The Wind Cries Mary out, no problem. But you know, some stuff was really above my pay grade.

F: Uh huh.

J: So, I started to try to write my own songs and also, you know, I've always been creative. I've been creative since I was like, a little kid. And it was an outlet that, because I loved music so much, I just wanted to be a part of it. So, I started writing my own songs, and you know, a lot of that, you know, I was showing you and-

F: Do you remember the first song you ever wrote?

J: Do I remember the first song that I ever wrote? Uh, the first song I ever wrote, I don't really know. I gotta go back. It'll come to me. After I get home tonight, it's gonna come to me and I'm like, "Son of a bitch, that's what it was." But yeah, I don't fully remember what that first song was. But I just kept writing, and I kept writing more and more songs, and I kept getting a little bit better. A lot of it was like, knocks of the things I was listening to.

F: Right.

J: But a lot of it was, you know, me just trying to take whatever rudimentary knowledge that I had of playing guitar and singing- which I still can't really do-

F: Eh, it doesn't matter.

J: And just stretch it out. Just stretch it out, and I'm like writing lyrics and taking care of stuff that way. When I knew that I could do it too, right? I remember the exact moment. I was at Maxwell's, and it was Mr. T Experience, and The Parasites, and The Smugglers. And it was Valentine's Day, they did a Valentine's Day show at Maxwell's. And I was talking to the bass player of The Parasites at the time, and he was like, 19.

F: Wow.

J: And I was like, "You're only 19 years old?" And he's like, "Yeah." And I think I was like, 15 at the time. And I was like, "But you're from California." "Yeah." "But you're in New Jersey!" "Yeah, I'm on tour." I was like, "But you're only 19."

F: "Is your mom here?!"

J: "Does your mom know?" I mean, I actually asked him, "Does your mom know?" and he was like, "Nah dude, it's cool, man. I'm over 18, I can do whatever the hell I want." And he was like, drinking a beer and he was all cool and stuff, and I was like, "Man, like, he's only 4 years older than me." Because you know, at that point, you're looking at people in the records that you're listening to, and you're looking at people like, on MTV, and you're looking at, you know, people at the shows you're going to. And you just know that everyone is at least 10, 15, 20 years older than you are.

F: Right.

J: But to see someone who is- I probably could've went to high school with if he got, like, left back one year. He might've. I don't know. I shouldn't pass judgement but I'm just saying.

F: I mean, if he was cool, he did.

J: He was- I'm sure he got left back. He was pretty cool, man. But that was the thing. I just kinda sat there going, "I could do this. I could put a band together, and I could go on tour." And a lot of my life has been, just kind of, making a decision. Deciding I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna give it my all, and kind of, just making things up as I go along. And that's kinda what I did. I mean, I went to school and I grabbed you, and I was like, "You're joining a band."

F: Yes, exactly what happened, yeah.

J: And you were like- he was like, "I don't know about that." And then I just showed up at your house and your mom let me in. She was like, "Who are you?" And I was like, "I'm John."

S: You do that a lot, huh?

F: Yes, you do, yeah.

J: I was like, "Your son's starting a band with me." And then, you kinda couldn't say no.

F: That's exactly what happened. Because I remember that first day you came over.

J: Yeah.

F: You came, and we went down in my basement, and you were like, "Oh, you can actually play chords and stuff, you can play guitar." And I was like, "Uhhh kinda?" And you were like, "Alright, cool. Like, I'm gonna get us a gig." And then you left! That was it. Remember that?

J: And then I did!

F: Yeah!

J: And then we had to put a band together.

F: I know!

J: Yeah.

F: Yeah, that was scary as shit.

S: That's funny.

F: Yeah.

J: But I mean, granted, it worked out pretty good.

F: Oh no, thank god. It was honestly like, I would have talked all that shit like, "Oh yeah, I wanna do this band. I wanna do the band, I wanna play a show," but it wouldn't have happened.

J: Yeah.

F: Like, I needed you to be like, "Oh, okay, so now this is our band. These are the guys that are in it, and we're playing next Thursday," basically.

J: Yeah. I mean, that's one of the things that I, you know, no matter-

F: You can't teach that, by the way. That's like-

J: Thank you.

F: Like, a quality that you have that is- I don't know, I mean, that's- I don't know if you're- you must've been just born with it, I guess. Like, just to have the balls to be like, "Hey, listen, this is what I wanna do. I'm gonna fucking do it, and nobody can tell me that I can't."

J: You know, I will tell you that, having getting bullied a lot as a kid, definitely made me lack confidence in a lot of ways, and like, you know, I'm still working through a lot of stuff with it. Like, just, it sticks with you. However, the other side of it is, I hit a point where I'm like, "Well, like, if people like, think I'm shitty, or people think I'm a piece of shit, or like, if people are just gonna talk shit anyway, I'm just gonna do whatever the fuck I want."

F: That's, yeah.

J: It's something that like, I can't always harness, but when I do, man, I just kinda was like, "Well, fuck it."

F: It's like a laser beam.

J: It's a laser beam, and I just go to town and then I just tell you, "You're starting a band with me and we're gonna figure this out on the fly."

F: That's fucking amazing, man. I love that shit. Because I feel like a lot of people are, you know, maybe are dealing with that same thing, where they're like, "Oh, you know, I don't really fit in anywhere. Um, I'm getting shit for just trying to be myself, I'm getting shit for trying to hide, I'm getting shit for- no matter what I do." And you could either, you know, that branches off into two ways. You either be like, "Alright, well, fuck it. I'm just gonna do whatever the fuck I wanna do anyway, because I'm gonna get shit either way." Or you try to hide even more, you know, and then you hate yourself so much that, like, because you didn't do all the things that you wanted to do because people were telling you that you suck.

J: Yeah, I hid on the inside, but on the outside, I was like, "Hey, world, it's me!" And I just kinda went- like everything in my life, I've just kind of- you hit that saturation point where you're almost like, you know like, that whole- you're a teapot. And you know, just riling up, getting hotter, getting hotter, and finally you just gotta scream, you gotta let it all out. And for me, it was just like, "Alright, well, I'm gonna start this band." It's like, "Well, I don't wanna go to college, I'm gonna go on tour." And then I just did that. And then it's like, "Well, that didn't really work out, so now I have to figure something else out. So, I'm just gonna kind of do what I want until I figure out what my third act is."

F: Yeah.

J: And that's that.

F: To go back a little bit, I had one of those moments too, where I saw somebody doing it, and then I realized that they were almost my age, and then it was like this, "Holy shit," moment of like- I remember, we were at Warped Tour. You were- we were together.

J: Right.

F: We were at Warped Tour.

J: We hung out a lot.

F: Yes, we did. Yeah yeah. All my defining moments, I feel like it was me and Hambone, and probably Shaun.

J: Yeah.

F: So we're at Warped Tour, like you do. It was in Asbury Park. Breathing in lots and lots of dust, and it was a two-fold that day. One, Humble Beginnings had won a contest or something and opened the tour, or opened the show, rather. And they were a local band in Jersey. I think they were from, maybe a little north from us, but like, you know, they played VFW halls and all that shit. And all of a sudden, they were on this major fucking tour, and it was like, "Holy shit." Like, "They're on a stage with like, other bands that are huge, like NOFX and all this stuff.” And that was, "Holy shit, like, one of us can- we can do this."

J: Right.

F: And then, two was, Anti-Flag played, and Chris 2 just joined the band.

J: Right.

F: And I mean, you know, I should probably text him, but I'm pretty sure he was like, maybe 17 or something like that.

J: Yeah.

F: And of course, we were like, you know, I was 13, 14, but it was like, "Holy shit," like, "This dude is on stage, with a band that I love, playing, and he's not that much older than me. Like, I can do this. Like, how do I do this?" And then I turned to you, and you were like, "Well, we're gonna just do this. Basically. That's how we do it. You just follow me, kid."

J: Yeah. So, we're going a little long on this episode, so we're gonna-

F: Oh, we are? I'm sorry.

J: No! It's our show, we can do whatever the hell we want. However, in order to be able to put them out monthly, we gotta wrap it up so we can record another one. What we are gonna do though is, we're gonna take a quick break, and drink something weird that Frank brought us back from Chicago. We're gonna talk about it in the next episode.

F: Yeah.

J: In the meantime, I'm gonna leave you with this thought. Imagine this. It's that moment in your life where you see a kid your age doing it. Right? And you're like, "Shit, I could do that too." Imagine a lot of people out there right there, who never actually do that, and then they get to be our age, and they're looking back at those kids saying, "I should've did it then."

F: Right.

J: So, the thought I'll leave everyone with today is, that we are truly lucky that we kind of, followed the course that we did. Maybe it was unorthodox, maybe it doesn't work for everybody, but man, it worked out pretty good for all of us.

F: Yeah, thank god, man. Thank god for the people that took those steps and let us know that it was okay to be fucked up, and young, and follow your dreams.

J: Absolutely.

F: You know? Yeah, I don't know where I would be without the ones that I saw do it before me, and the ones that gave me the push to fucking try it on my own, as well.

J: Well, cheers to that. So, join us next month for another episode of Casual Interactions. Until then, hold onto your friends.

#frank iero #hambone #shaun simon #casual interactions #4 #casual interactions 4 #full transcription

[madilayn]

The Deathworlders - Adam Ares & Ava Rios

The Deathworlders is a masive piece of work, also known as the Jenkinsverse.  You can read it at https://deathworlders.com/books/deathworlders/chapter-00-kevin-jenkins-experience/

It is updated fairly regularly, but it will take you a while to reach the point where you are waiting for chapters!

It’s a huge sprawling space epic with so maany characters that it cam be hard to keep track of them   There are points of humour and points of absolute terror and sadness.  It’ very well written, and you will become invested in parts of it, and care about characters. 

There re so many intertwined stories, that you will find something that will appeal to you.  I’ve found myself completely invested in two of the stories in particular. 

This piece is looking at the relationship of Adam Ares and Ava Rios and how its treated.  In particular, how Ava has been treated, and why I feel it’s a completely unfair treatment of her. 

There are some spoilers, so it’s under the cut.

WARNING LONG POST

One of the big subplots of the Deathworlders series revolves around Adam Ares and Ava Rios.  They are introduced in about Chapter 10.  15/16 year olds – Adam is the son of San Diego Detective Gabriel Ares who was investigating a murder that involved Terri Boone.  

Gabriel gives his son advice on dating, and when Ava is pointed out to him, he advises Adam that he should ask her as Ava was very interested in him as well.

 So – we have two mid teens and we are later given information that they are each others first romantic attachments.  They went to the same school – and probably didn’t know each other very well (in the manner of high school teens).  

 Their first date was to the roller derby (and incidentally – it was the first – and really only time – Adam completely deferred to Ava’s interests.  This is important in the light of what subsequently happened with them. At that first date, there was an incident engineered by The Hierarchy that resulted in Gabriel Ares being seriously wounded – badly enough that he would not be able to continue working with the San Diego Police Force.

 We next see them in Florida where Gabriel has taken them after he was recovered somewhat.  The idea is to have a bit of a holiday to take their minds off what has happened.  They are in Florida when the destruction of San Diego occurs.   Leaving Ava orphaned – the only people aive that she knows are Gabriel and Adam Ares.  

 In the narrative, Hambone clearly shows Ava as being severely traumatised by this – more so than Adam who still has his father (though he is traumatised).  

 Kevin Jenkins arranges for them to emigrate to Cimbrean, with the aim of Gabriel taking up the role of Chief of Security (Police Chief).  However, nobody seems to have really thought about Adam and Ava, much less investigated their mind set and trauma after what has happened.  

 In fact, when they get to Cimbrean they discover that Gabriel will be living in an apartment in one area of Folchtha and Adam and Ava sharing what is, in effect, a Tiny House, some distance away.  

 Remember – these are 15/16 year olds who are still going to school – and will be doing so on Cimbrean. Even the other children make comment about this (Sarah Tisdale says hwo lucky they are as she has to still live with her parents and younger brother).

 And apparently Gabriel Ares is in agreement of this.  At least, he makes no objection to it.  

 So – we have two teenagers, in their first romantic attachment, both having undergone serious trauma, being forced to live alone while their only parental figure is living at some distance to them.  And nobody even offers any form of counselling to them

In many ways – you can blame what they become from here on in, and theire actions, solely on the adults who have put them in this situation.

I have no doubt that had they still been living with Gabriel, he would have noticed the signs of trauma emerging.  And it is entirely likely that the pair would have drifted from romantic into sibling relationship naturally.  

 The reality is – it’s rare for your first boyfriend/girlfriend to be your last “one and only”.  

 They are confronted then with other things – the Tisdales open marriage and the family’s relaxed attitude towards ndity (the whole swimming naked in the lake – it take much longer for Ava to be able to do this wheeas Adam is able to jump in almost immediately).

 Then comes the next tragedy – Sarah Tisdale is murdered by a member of The Hierarchy when the three children notice something unusual at the construction site.  Adam and Ava are unable to stop “free spirit” Sarah from trying to see closer what is happening.  Sarah has no survival instinct.

 Sarah’s death affects the whole Colony – from Owen Powell downwards.  However, the two that it affects most by witnessing the whole thing ae Adam and Ava – both of whom blame themselves for her death.  

 And once again, absolutely zero counselling is offered to them.  And yet it is this incident that shapes their future career paths and determinations to make a difference.  

 All of this without one person questioning their motives.  

 For Adam it’s easy – he has a military career path that he can go on, and he makes this decision without discussing it with Ava  just presenting her with his decision and the assumption that she will accept it and just wait for him to be through with the training.  

 When Ava decides to go to the London School of Journalism (encouraged by her teacher) Adam duestions her about being in London.  However, they are both in agreement that it will be 4 years of training for them both and they will be able to meet up.  Adam’s objection about her being in London means he won’t be able to see her as much as he would like.  He never once asks her opinion.

 This becomes a repeating pattern in their relationship.  Adam makes decisions for his career, expecting Ava to just fall in with them and be there waiting for him when he is ready.

 In this – Adam is displaying many teenage boy traits – where a girlfriend is to be there for when he’s not hanging out with his friends and her role is to watch admiringly from the sidelines.  

 Fair enough when you are still school kids, but it doesn’t work as you get older.  

 At no time, does Adam ever take any interest in Ava’s course or life.  Or even really want to meet her friends.  As BASEBALL points out some time later, Adam had no idea that she was already very well known as a photographer and had a website of her own.  He rightly points out to Adam that he (BASEBALL) knows more about Adam’s girlfriend than Adam does.

 He’s no the only one – many people try to get Adam to understand that he’s being really inconsiderate and that he’s actually lucky Ava has stuck by him.  Adam is constantly surprised that there would be any doubt that she wouldn’t.  

 In London we have Ava suffering.  She loves Adam but every time that she sees him or speaks with him, it becomes all about Adam and she is left (afterwards) feeling sidelined.  

 Early on – we see them on Cimbrean over Christmas and they are supposed to be holidaying together. Except they are only together at night. Adam continues his training regime and Ava is left to fend for herself.  

 Even Gabriel notices and mentions it to Adam – who is (yet again) confused that he might actuaslly be doing something wrong.  Ava confronts him, and we see that confusion and then Adam tries to make Ava feel guilty about daring to want him to think of her.  That his career is more important because it was all about helping people and even brings Sarah up.

 Adam isn’t manipulating her consciously – he’s too innocent to do that.  He just hasn’t ever moved into a more mature mindset and it’s not helped by the intensely masculine and “brotherhood” environment of his training and then the SOR.

 In their relationship, all contact is initiated by Ava but the subject in the contact is always all about Adam.  Usually because Adam is making decisions for them both without letting her know – even if he’s had plenty of opportunity.  Even when Ava calls him with exciting news for herself, Adam never hears it because they end up fighting due to yet another decision Adam has made and not bothered to let her know about.  

 He never does find out what she wanted to tell him, and it doesn’t even seem to bother him.  

 Once again, BASEBALL calls him on it, but Adam does nothing.  

 This then tips things over the edge for Ava, and results in her becoming quite a hated character – both by a lot of readers (in fact, some of the comments about Ava from make Redditors are really disgusting) and also the SOR as a whole.  (though they never really accepted her at all – she was clearly an interloper when she did interact with them).

 Whilst in London, Ava has made some friends.  The first of these is a housemate who takes her out to a bar, whee they meet the other two men.  These men are more than happy to get together with the two ladies and one of them, Sean, makes it quite clear he’s attracted to Ava.  Ava, however, firmly shuts him down and tells him right from the start she is in a committed relationship.  

 Now  remember – at this time, Ava is 17 and has until now, had a very restrictive world view and experience.  

 Her friends see her relationship with Adam, and are not happy with how he treats her.  Ava is also aware it’s not great, but she loves Adam enough that she will accept it (not happily, but does so).

 Sean, however, seems to hate Adam from the start, and is always trying to push himself into Ava’s consciousness.  But he’s subtle.  He IS manipulative and he’s manipulating Ava for all he’s worth.  Sean never looses an opportunity to diss Adam – either subtly or more obviously.  

 When they do meet Adam, Ava’s friends react differently.  But Sean is the only one who is hostile, and the two put on such a show of masculine posturing that even Ava can see what is going on and is annoyed with them both.  

 And later on, she again reminds Sean that Adam is her boyfriend and how much she loves him.

 Sean tells her he has a crush on her, and Ava admits that if she didn’t love Adam and wasn’t with him, she might have a crush on him.  Might.

 For the next few years, Sean doesn’t loose an opportunity to push that he loves Ava 0 subtly and in a way that she feels quite bad about rejecting him.  

 He has ingratiated himself into her life in a way that she couldn’t get rid of him – he’s the one who helps get her work known – helping her to set up a website and become known as a photographer.  

 But it’s quite clear that nothing Sean has done is just for Ava.  

 It’s after Adam tells Ava that the SOR has been posted to Cimbrean and that he has taken on a 16 year/lifetime enlistment with them that things reach a head.  

 Ava feels, not unreasonably, that this was definitely something that he should have discussed with her.  Yes – the SOR had required an answer quickly, but Adam made absolutely no attempt whatsoever to contact Ava.  Even justifying not even bothering to e-mail her, let alone calling or texting her.  

 It is this that they have their major fight over, when Ava calls him to tell him her news (as he was in a plane en-route to Germany so the unit could travel to Cimbrean).  

 This does push Ava over the edge and is the ultimate reason that she starts looking at her life.  

 And the conclusion she comes to is the conclusion of a confused, frightened and inexperienced young girl, not a young woman with any sort of romantic experience behind her. Certainly not a conclusion and an idea that any honourable person would take her up on.  

 Ava goes to Sean and proposes an affair – an affair with a finite ending (the end of her University course it would appear) with no strings attached.  Basically to meet her sexual needs and personal needs whilst Adam is away.

 And when Adam does come to visit, or when she goes to Cimbean, she would be wholly Adam’s girlfriend.

 In fact, in all of this Ava sees herself as totally being Adam’s girlfriend and sees Sean as a lover and a friend.  

 Sean sees tihs as an opening, and takes what she offers, but still puts Adam down whenever he can and when he sees Adam makes subtle “ownership” moves towards Ava.  

 Ava tells two people outside of her very very small circle of friends (two other people).  One is Gabriel Ares (who guesses something is going on) and BASEBALL who also guesses (much more accurately) what is going on.

 This is really the start of Ava’s very bad relationship with the SOR as BASEBALL makes absolutely no bones about his very low opinion of her.  Even though he can understand and feels that Adam is treating her badly.  

 But absolutely nobody who could help her, gives her advice not to do so, or any other options.  Even Adam’s father, who thinks of her as his daughter by now.  Not one person sees her decision as that of a confused and hurting young women, who has no idea how to deal with how she is being treated.  

 Not one person.  And yet, afterward, they all feel quite justified to judge her as untrustworthy and as the villain in the whole situation.  In fact, the whole attitude is “poor Adam” rather than trying to find out from Ava why she did what she did.

 The SOR as a whole, even takes it one step further to actively dislike and distrust and not hesitating to say so to a number of people – both on Cimbrean and on Folctha. Once again, leaving Ava completely alone and vulnerable.  

When Adam does find out, once again, he’s not willing to ask Ava, but immediately kicks her out of his apartment.  Eventually he does start listening to her, and they begin to heal, but that takes time, and he does nothing to try to change the opinion of the SOR

 When Ava is caught up (through no fault of her own) in Operation EMPTY BELL, the attitude of the SOR towards her confuses even the troops on the ground, but, to their credit, are not influenced by it.  

 However, Ava discovers that her reputation as untrustworthy, to the point of being a security risk (which is, frankly, ridiculous!) goes up to the CIA level.  You can see how this hurts Ava, and adds further to her trauma.

Ava seems to be painted as something of a jezebel, and is described by both Powell land Sean as a user. Basically, they feel that she uses her “womanly wiles” to use men.  It’s a very very misogynistic view of her.  

 Everybody agrees that Adam did not treat her well, but nobody bothers to see just how badly he did treat her, and the effect it had on her.  

 It’s almost as if they expect Ava to behave in a much more adult way than Adam simply because she’s a female.  As if she’s not allowed to make mistakes.  Not allowed to wand Adam to put her first.  Because Adam has is MISSION and Ava can’t possibly be as important as that, or have anything as important as that in her life.  

 All in all, the treatment of Ava and Adam is incredibly stereotypical with the woman as the villain who ruins the poor innocent man, who does it deliberately and then goes on to deliberately use men for her own designs.  

 When in reality, we don’t see Ava do this – in fact we see her floundering on as a human, as a teenager who has not had any sort of life experience and who makes major mistakes because she has had no adult guidance plus the added problem of being the victim serious, and untreated, mental trauma.

 As I said earlier – in the course of things, maybe Adam and Ava would not have stayed together as a couple. However, whatever chance they had was doomed by the fact that neither of them was given the sort of support and advice and, more importantly, mental health help that they needed.

 Adam does go on to a much more mature relationship eventually with Martina Kovacs, but Ava’s mental issues mean she is left alone romantically with nothing in sight.  And with the reputation of an untrustworthy woman who does not deserve romance.  

 Hopefully this will change, and Adam and Martina between them will change the minds of the SOR about her, and also help her to find somebody who will value her for the person she truly is, and give her the loving, mature relationship that they have themselves.  

 Because Ava deserves it.

#Deathworlders #Jenkinsverse #adam ares #ava rios #character study

[intellectualambassador]

Girl Meets Farkle

Part 2 in my Girl Meets... Series. 

Although it was only Mr. Matthews, Farkle had to admit he was still a bit nervous about seeing him. In all his years of public education, he’s only been called in to see his teacher three times...

Mr. Matthews didn’t say what it was about, but since this hasn’t happened often, he wasn’t optimistic. Rounding the last corner before Mr. Matthews’ class, he saw a glimpse of long, silky brunette hair leaving. 

Riley Matthews. 

If there was one thing he wished he could understand... it was her. A different problem for a different time. Farkle thought to himself as he entered the class and made himself comfortable in his desk at the front. 

“Farkle! Glad you could make it.” Mr. Matthews chirped. 

“Didn’t really have much of a choice, hambone.” 

“Touche, Mr. Minkus. Do you have any idea why I called you in today?” Cory asked. 

Shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders, Farkle was clueless, really. To say this didn’t happen to him often was an understatement. 

“Am I in trouble?” Farkle asks, getting the most pressing question off his chest.

“Not at all. However... there are some things that we need to discuss. Namely, group dynamics. Farkle, if you could describe your group of friends, how would you?”

Without even skipping a beat, Farkle launched into a very brief, but accurate assessment of his group of friends. 

“Well... right off the bat Lucas is a good guy. He means well and he truly cares about his friends. Even though he gets away with quite a bit because of his face, he never intends to hurt anyone. He’s truly one of my best friends. Zay has become one of my favourite people. Last year, around Christmas, I was sad because Smackle and I felt that we didn’t know much about him. So, we got him a board game and we played with him a few times. He started to really open up to us and trust us... I was so thankful that he did. Turns out we had a lot more in common than I initially anticipated.”

“Good to hear, Farkle. You were always one of my most observant and brightest students. 

“Thank you, Mr. Matthews. Smackle and I have had an interesting relationship. Starting out as my arch-nemesis, then becoming my girlfriend, then breaking up and becoming just friends. I thought it would affect our friendship, but it had the opposite effect. It strengthened it. And while we ended up being different enough to date and fall in love, our experiment didn’t end the way I thought it would... but I’m grateful for the opportunity to try and figure out what love meant...”

Listening intently, Mr. Matthews takes a moment to really observe Farkle. It almost shocks him that out of all the six, he’s the one who changed the most. He never thought that he would be teaching Stuart Minkus’ kid, but also helping him grow into the man that he is before him today. 

Life is something else... Cory thought to himself. Bringing his attention back to Farkle, he starts to speak again, apparently leaving the best for last. 

“Maya... she’s a ray of sunshine. There’s not a single person I know that’s tougher than her. It’s interesting, when she went through her identity crisis where the ‘thought she was Riley,’ I thought she would end up losing herself. But, she ended up coming back ten times stronger. And she blossomed into this wonderful woman that I’m proud to call one of my best friends. She’s down-to-earth in the best way possible, and always had a capacity to understand where people were at, and relate to them in a way that most couldn’t.”

Nodding his head in absolute agreement, Mr. Matthews swears to himself that he’s not tearing up, Farkle is. 

“And Riley...?” Mr. Matthews asks, with a peculiar look on his face that Farkle couldn’t quite understand. Choosing to ignore it for now, Farkle paused for what he believed was a moment too long before giving his thoughts on Riley. 

“Riley... Riley is the glue that holds us together. She always believed in us, even when we didn’t deserve it. Our first year of high school would have been so much harder without her. She’s the only person I know who could make everyone in the room smile, just by being who she is. When you guys thought you were going to London, I freaked out because I thought I would never get to see her again, but after really thinking about it, I think it was because I...”

“Love her?” Mr. Matthews said, with an understanding look on his face. 

Not even worth trying to hide it anymore, Farkle just nodded sadly before turning his head in the direction of the door because he swore he heard someone gasp, but was too wrapped up in this conversation to think about it. 

“Farkle. When you were in the seventh grade, you had told me that you loved Maya and Riley equally. I have to wonder... do you have any more insight on that now that you’re a bit older...?

“Hm. Yeah, I do. At the time, I truly believed that I loved them equally. And I did. Maya’s rebellious and mysterious nature intrigued me, while Riley’s bubbly and positive nature made me feel safe. However... over time as we got older and got to know ourselves better... it became clear that I did love them equally, but I didn’t love them in the same way.”

“Oh...? How interesting” Mr. Matthews chimed in. Farkle resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the obvious way Mr. Matthews was happy that another one of his lessons was being played out in front of him. 

Continuing on, Farkle figured he might as well try to see what he can make of this while he’s here with Mr. Matthews. 

“With Maya, I will always love her, and care about her, but our relationship was purely platonic. It always was. We never had that connection. However, with Riley... it became more clear to me that I couldn’t ignore my feelings for her. We always had this unique way of relating to each other when we really needed it. Lucas says that I keep Riley grounded and Maya asserts that Riley keeps me hopeful. We seem to balance each other out in a way that... people who aren’t ‘just friends’ would do.”

Farkle hoped that he hadn’t crossed a line. It was one thing to be talking about your feelings for your best friend, it was another to be talking to her father about them. But, what can he say? He’s a scientist and every good scientist wants to understand if their hypothesis is true. 

“You can relax, Farkle. I’m not going to hurt you.” Mr. Matthews laughed. 

Unaware that he was holding his breath in for some time, he released all that air he was holding onto and visibly relaxed into his seat. The gears of his brilliant mind were turning. Who? What? Where? When? How? And most importantly... Why? 

“Farkle. Mr. Matthews said with conviction, gaining the young genius’ full attention. Do you know why I asked you the things that I did?”

“Not really, Mr. Matthews.”

“Well here’s why. As you guys grow older, you’ll continued to be tested and you’ll make mistakes, learn, grow, and become wiser. When we thought we were about to leave for London, I had told you guys that you had met the World for a while now. You had been aware of what it had to offer, and I hoped that you guys would stick close to one another as you got older. 

Your friends are important, and you know this. But, what else is important is to remember that only you can decide how you feel and it’s okay to be wrong. Farkle, you have grown immeasurably since I first met you. I can’t speak for Riley, or tell you how she’ll feel once you decide to let her know how you feel. But, like you once said to all your friends, ‘if we’re not honest with each other, everyone gets hurt’. Learn. Grow. Live. Equal may not mean the same, but that’s okay. Lying to yourself and the people around you isn’t.”

“T-To be honest Mr. Matthews, I’m scared. I don’t want this to change things. I love Riley more than anything, but I would hate to lose her as a friend.” Farkle blurted out. 

Moving towards Farkle, Mr. Matthews put a comforting hand on his shoulder, reminded of the days that he was wrestling with his own feelings and how confusing they all were. 

“I understand. Change is scary. But, often times, it’s the only way we can move forward in a meaningful way. You guys have been through a lot. I have full confidence that you’ll get through this too.” 

“Thank you Mr. Matthews. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

“Don’t I always?!” Mr. Matthews joked, earning a small chuckle out of Farkle before he grabbed his things and walked out the door.

Good luck, Mr. Minkus. Cory thought, collecting his teaching materials and locking up, hoping he could beat rush hour and make it home for dinner. 

Farkle, deep in thought, decided to start walking, hoping he would end up at a place that would give him the answers he was looking for. Before he knew it, he was at home, giving a quick greeting to his parents, before heading to his room. 

Opening the door, he was surprised to see the one and only Riley Matthews patiently waiting for him on his bed. Shaking his head at everything that had happened today, he just sighed contently, walked over and joined Riley on the bed, knowing they had a lot to discuss. If the look on her face was any indication, this would be a long conversation. 

“Riley.”

“Farkle.”

“I... guess we have some things to talk about.”

“Yeah... yeah we do.” Riley agreed, while gently covering his hands with hers and giving Farkle a smile that was only reserved for him. 

-I.A

#gmw #girl meets world #riarkle #riley matthews #farkle minkus #riley x farkle #farley

[thebigladjake]

AX3001: TV Show - Cognitivation: Main Characters and Roles in the Story

Alex, the PSI Prodigy

Alex is a young and adventurous boy in his small hometown, a self proclaimed protector, he roams the town with his trusty stick and keeps all evil do-er’s in order! He loves his home, his family and his friends. But, is suddenly forced to put on his big boy shorts and face the world outside of his hometown. The world is a big and scary place, Alex will be tested and his own emotions will come into question as he wonders. Why me? Why am I the ‘PSI Prodigy’.

Alex was the first character designed and is the heart of the whole series. His journey will be one full of self-discovery and self-doubt, I want to capture the pressure of expectations of children and how they can effect kids. The whole prodigy thing may be toned down, since I'm not the biggest fan of prophecy stories. I'm undecided, but right now, I think this will give him the added depth he needs and could be relatable to kids that may have the pressures of expectations, I know I certainly did.

Alex's name was originally Andy because he was actually inspired by a character called Alex, that Alex being from the Indie JRPG game known as YIIK (Y Two K, not Yiik). A game that suffers from several problems such as severe tonal shifts, terrible endings that make the entire game redundant and a character who is insufferable that doesn’t learn to change his ways and is rewarded at the end of the game. Alex is simply an awful character from an awful game and I was going to call my lead Andy, but that name wasn’t really vibing with me. So, I kept Alex since it was more gender neutral too, so boys and girls can reflect their own feelings onto him. It may still be subject to change, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Of course, as our lead character, I gave him a pinkish red and a gold colour combination. The red not being a strong red since red is a very strong colour and I didn’t think that level of passion would be embodied into Alex so soon. So, he’s simply a pinky red. The gold elements are there to reassure his good boy status, with the badges on his bag being a reference to the badges on Hambone’s hat from my first year film. Just a little Easter Egg that puts a smile on my face, like how Pixar or Disney may just throw something in there as a nod.

I chose the shorts as I’ve not drawn a lot of characters that wear shorts and a young kid that likes to run around would probably want the best clothing for the job. So, shorts it was. The cap too was to give him a unique silhouette compared to the rest as he’s the only one with the hat and very rarely will we see him without it. He also carries a gold coloured backpack that he keeps all of his helpful items inside.

Alex’s primary attacks are the most potent PSI abilities that Frank has ever seen and he teaches him how to activate them. Alex’s PSI abilities are both helpful for the team’s defence and offence. While physically, he wields a powerful stick that his Dad found and gave to him to use on his adventures.

For a main character, Alex gets the job done and I’m looking forward to where his character will go over the course of a season and over the course of this project.

Frank, the Frantic Freak

An aimless twenty something year old still living at his parent’s house, Frank is unemployed, never goes outside nor does many people know of his existence and since he doesn’t bother anyone, his parents just kind of let him exist. A member of the Orb.Net forum, he honed his PSI abilities purely from nonstop training with spoons. Bending them with his mind because he saw it in a movie once. Frank knows of the oncoming threat and for the first time in forever, leaves his room to embark on this epic quest with Alex. To save his world, a world he doesn’t even truly know.

Frank was always meant to be an outcast, original concepts were of him to be occupying a house where the kids would prank his house and get him to come out and shout at them. Until he finally catches Alex one day and recognises his psychic powers, taking him inside and telling him everything he knows about the oncoming invasion. Alex would then understand that, even though he’s a crackpot, he means well and is just misunderstood. While I loved this concept, I wanted to make Frank just a little stranger, so I went with the unemployed aimless twenty something who just practises psychic abilities in the comfort of his room.

Design-wise, Hector came first and then Frank was modelled after him. Since the brotherly resemblance was an important part of their design, it was important to nail what a younger brother of a family would look like first. And once I had the traits off of Hector, I used and tweaked a few things to make Frank older and also give him a few new design quirks. The main ‘quirk’ being his hairstyle as hair is always important to my character designs. I took Hector’s hair and instead of having the hair be styled up into a point, it was like an explosion. Symbolising his psychic powers being more volatile and dangerous with his hair all messy where his powers come from.  

His facial expressions were important to show that he was a bit nutty, Ghiaccio from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure served as inspiration for that. Just the way his face angrily distorts just gives him a different feel compared to the regular characters.

His outfit was just simple loungewear because since he doesn’t care about who sees him, he’s not going to dress up too nicely and definitely not going to wear clothes that are restrictive and make him uncomfortable like jeans. Compared to the rest of the colourful cast and even his brother, Frank’s colours are incredibly limited and a way to counteract this a little was to give him mismatching socks. Just a little asymmetry to make him stand out more.

Frank’s weapon of choice is spoons, not really as an attack, but a way of calculating how powerful his PSI attack is going to be. He also bends them regularly and spent most of his savings on spoons so he can always stay on top of his psychic abilities.

Frank was a part of the original four, he’s an idea I’ve liked for a long time and is now a character that I will really enjoy working on and writing for.

Hector, the Apathetic Assistant.

Hector is just a kid that’s kind of done with it, just everything that’s going on in the world. What he thought would be a regular friendship, unfortunately turns into a big adventure and he’d just rather have the life of a kid. But, it’s too late for that now as Alex needs him by his side. Hector knows too much and if he’s only going to see his friend if he comes on this epic quest, then so be it. Hector doesn’t have many friends, but those he does have understand his extreme loyalty.

Hector was created as a contrast to his crazy brother, being much more relaxed and apathetic to this whole world ending thing. In the initial concepts, there were going to be four main characters much like Earthbound has, but I decided to increase it when I thought about Alex’s and Frank’s roles and how it might be a little strange if some stranger suddenly shows interest in this young boy. So, I figured a good catalyst would be a little brother to the crazy stranger! Alex has someone to be friend with and gets the plot started too.

I also thought it was quite amusing that it was the little kid that was the cynic and the big brother has much more enthusiasm about the world. Like the strangeness of his brother has no effect on him to the point where Hector is like, “Oh god here we go again.”

Hector and Frank have near identical colour schemes, their primary colours being green and greenish hues. It was all in contrast to Alex’s bright red, white and gold elements that make him look like an adventurous youth. Hector has dirty blonde hair and pale skin, sort of to hint at the fact that he and his brother are a little odd.

His hairstyle was created to be similar to Frank’s, but being styled and maintained because Hector does care about his appearance since he is the one who will be seen by others. It was made to contrast against Frank’s hair explosion, with Hector spiking up his hair to meet all at one point. I also like to think Frank also had hair like this at one point.

Hector and Frank also have weird shapes ears compared to what I usually do because some people do have weird shaped ears or other body parts and it will never be brought up in the show that they look weird. It’s purely visual to normalise these little oddities, that people shouldn’t judge someone for the most trivial things.

Hector’s weapon of choice is his backpack full of spoons, I chose this as I was drawing his pose and thinking about the relationship between him and Frank. Frank’s obsession with spoons to keep his PSI abilities in check requires a lot of spoons and I just had this sudden image of Hector with this great big bag full of spoons on his back. Hunched over a little as he looks annoyed like “I’ve got to carry this around all day...” And since it’s such a heavy bag, I imagined him using it as a weapon whenever in combat because Hector doesn’t have any powers and Frank only taught himself PSI. However, the less spoons he has, the weaker it becomes, effectively making Hector weaponless at certain points.

Hector is a great character in my opinion who I feel turned out really well as he was everything I wanted him to be. He filled a gap in the story nicely and I got a nice character out of it. An absolute win in my book.

Benjamin [Benji], the Anti-Social Armourer

A renowned child genius, famous in the orphanage for his Tools of Destruction. The other kids never interact with him if he doesn’t want you to, having a strange attachment to his box. Hiding under it when he feels threatened or if he just wants you to go away. His only friend is aware of his skills and is a member on the same forums as Frank... Which sets a mission to get him adopted into motion...

Benji was created as representation of shy kids and how hard it can really be to come out of your shell and make friends. Wanting to stay in somewhere that makes you feel safe and secure. Also, as a representation of kids that others may consider weird and outcasts, so we could get a closer look at him and show kids not to judge a book by it’s cover, maybe even give a kid they consider weird in their own life a chance of friendship.

Benji does have one major source of inspiration and may just have to go a few more designs before I’m truly happy with this design. Near from the manga, Death Note. Near was the replacement of the main sort of rival character, L, and is a child genius himself that displays some cases of social awkwardness. While Benji does have a lot of these similarities, the main aspect of Near that attracted me was that whenever he had a scene, he’d often have toys surrounding him and he’d play with them while deducing the whole mystery of the series. I feel one of the reasons that this aspect is my favourite thing about him is because I’m still quite fond of toys and sometimes fiddle about with them.

A specific scene (I can’t find a better screenshot I am sorry) where Near was surrounded by model train tracks with the trains going around him resonated with me, I saw him placed in a safe space where he’s protected by his toys and that imagery immediately gave me an idea of a boy that hides to be protected, but uses his toys to fight rather than help him think.

His weapon being model cars and toy trains with motors in them, creating ticking time bombs, I felt was a nice way of weaponizing Benji for the conflicts they will run into. Carrying a toolbox within his box, never getting to see his operations, only the results of when he converts a plane into a homing missile.

Benji needs a little more work, in my opinion, but so far, I am happy with this character.

Lottie Sweet, the Tough Nut.

The younger sister of Dentist Gloria Sweet, Lottie is a no-nonsense thirteen year old and always has a serious pouty face as she’s out and about. Using a Skipping Rope as a weapon, she has mastered the art and uses it to keep people away from her at a distance. While she remains unfriendly, deep down she has a good heart and a strong sense of justice.

Lottie came to be as a younger sister for Gloria Sweet, she was created to add a little bit of conflict between the main crew. With her not having very high opinions of any of them and then she has to work with them, causing her to try and take the lead. However, things don’t go as she planned with Gloria and Frank often getting her out of trouble.

Since Frank and Hector turned out so nicely, I thought to make the group an even six by giving Gloria a sister. While Frank and Hector were purposely designed to have very similar colour schemes to hint at the fact that they are brothers. The only shared colours between the sisters is the skin tone and hair colour. I chose the orange and purple for Lottie because I felt it was striking and that matched her personality, plus nobody else had those colours on them.

The Skipping Rope as a weapon came to me because I imagined a girl using her imagination to see one as a whip and just like that, it stuck. One of the charming things about Earthbound was that characters had specific weapons, Ness had baseball bats, Lucas had sticks, Jeff had guns and Paula had... A frying pan. Not stereotypical at all... With Lottie not being that kind of girl, I felt a more sporty weapon could work and the Skipping Rope was appropriate as both a sporty weapon and a girly weapon, depending on how you look at it.

I have also never designed a younger girl character, so this was a nice exercise to do. As well as just a nice design, I really enjoy drawing her pout and her wider eyes. Usually I go with the round eyes, so it’s nice to change up the eye shape. Her hair was definitely fun, as it’s usually my favourite part to design on a character, I remember the girls in my school tying their hair back whenever they did activities. Obviously, it’s so their hair doesn’t swish around in their face while they do things and I added the little hair strands on the front of her head to sort of hint to how intense her movements may have been. Since two strands have come loose.

I wanted to create a sporty girl and I feel like I did. Lottie was a successful design that I am really proud of.

Dentist Gloria Sweet, the Healer.

Gloria is a sweet and passionate dentist, that understands not everyone likes her line of work. So, she takes their feelings into consideration and tries to make everyone’s experience comfortable. Born with these PSI abilities, she was just able to do them rather than training to enhance them.

Gloria was one of the characters first characters I thought up back when I had created this series. Inspired by Earthbound, my initial group was made up of four people with three people being PSI users with Gloria filling the healer role that the Earthbound series typically has, the one character that learns the healing moves. Although, more characters have an array of offensive moves to go along with their healing abilities, Gloria was created much more as a support ally rather than an offensive fighter.

Gloria’s PSI abilities had to play a role in her field of work and the first job that jumped to mind was a doctor. A doctor that healed their patients using their PSI abilities, that then evolved into a dentist as a lot of people don’t like the dentist and are scared of going to them. Luckily, the mad dentist I had was long gone at the time and my dentist helped to inspire this idea, since she’s nice and it’s always an easy time for me (Though that’s probably because I care about my dental hygiene.)

Since people viewed it as an unpleasant experience, I thought it’d be nice if she was a really sweet character that makes her business by ensuring her customers shall be fine if they have anything done to their teeth. This also played into her design, I didn’t want to give her blue eyes like Lottie and I didn’t think brown eyes looked all that great. Then, I tried red.

Again, it was a play on the whole scary dentist cliché. People find her incredibly unsettling as she’s staring at their teeth with those red eyes, but are quite comfortable with her personality and painless operations. I really liked how this turned out and I just love how it contrasts with how she is as a person. Very happy with how Gloria turned out from an initial concept.

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