#reference to the donuts episode!

[samwise1548]

This episode had me so flustered I don’t even know why!!!!

[ID: Three drawings of the artist sitting on a couch with headphones on and a cat in their lap. The first drawing is of them listening contently with a hand on their cat. An arrow pointed at them reads “listening to magp 6” referring to the sixth episode of The Magnus Protocol. The second drawing has them shooting up in their seat, a blush on their surprised face. Their cat is scared by the sudden reaction. From their headphones a speech bubble reads “Celia [speaking]: Lena, these little donuts are amazing! Where do you get them?”

The last drawing on the bottom is a closeup of the artist, the blush taking over their face. Their internal thoughts say “Sam, if you don’t romance this woman, I will!” with a faded lesbian flag behind the text. \End ID]

#Jonny is the only creator who has ever been able to make me fall in love with two of his female characters on first appearance #the other is Annabelle cane #she is my love <3 #my thoughts #Tmagp thoughts #tmagp #tmagp spoilers #the magnus protocol #the magnus protocol spoilers #magp6 #Celia ripley #I wanna listen to the new episode again just to hear her voice again. guys I’m going insane #my doodles #my art

[magicalwarriordiamondheart]

Welcome to the official Tumblr for Magical Warrior Diamond Heart! 💖

Valerie Amaranth, an ordinary 16 year old, has her world changed forever when she receives the power to transform into a magical girl: The legendary Crystal Warrior, Diamond Heart! Now with the help of Diana, she must find her allies, defeat the Nightmare Agency, and rescue the missing princess, Rosalia! Magical Warrior Diamond Heart is an otome visual novel inspired by magical girl anime. Play as Valerie and decide the fate of the world, eat delicious donuts, and even smooch lots of cuties! Will Val defeat the Nightmares, make new friends, and find love? Or will she meet her tragic end?

✨ Available for PC, Mac, Linux, and Android devices ✨

💖Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Magical Girl, Comedy, Drama, Action

💖Rating: 13+ for Violence, blood, body horror, drug reference, language, and crude humor. Click here for a more detailed content warning list.

The free-to-play version of the game will have

FOUR adorable and distinct characters to smooch (Sophie,  Ethan,  Zacharie, and Opal)

A friendship route with the fairy Amber, if you'd rather not smooch anyone at all!

Male, female, and a nonbinary love interests to pursue.

Dozens of beautifully illustrated original artworks

Partial English voice acting from a very talented voice cast!

200k+ words of content!

DLC content to include:

Even more adorable DLC characters to smooch! (Alex,  Liam, Clover, Chandra, and Diana)

Even more artwork gorgeous artwork to admire!

Extra bonus episodes!

400k+ words of content!

🌸 Official Website 🌸 Meet the characters 🌸

🎀 Youtube - Watch clips from the game, occasional devlogs, and other little videos I come up with! 🎀 TikTok - Silly memes and videos about the characters! 🎀 Twitter - General updates, but with way less talking space 🎀 Patreon - Exclusive updates, WIPs, and early access to builds 🎀 Discord - Community server, chat with other fans and post about secret spoilers in the backer build channel lol!

🌸 Tag List 🌸 FAQ 🌸

Try the game! I've been updating it with new episodes and content so keep an eye out! If you're interested in keeping your build updated, check out this guide!

#magical warrior diamond heart #mwdh #magical girl #magical boy #mahou shoujo #visual novel #otome game #indie dev #game dev #visual novels #visual novel game #indie games #queer games #lgbt games #need a proper pinned i think.... #Youtube

[ponett]

i played through alan wake for the first time. here are some things i loved along the way:

the literal first words spoken in the game being "stephen king once wrote..." as alan tries to gas himself up as a writer

alan only being able to jog for a little while before getting tuckered out because you're playing as a novelist

alan feeling the need to point out an extremely obvious The Shining reference in his narration

you put the lime in the coconut

all of the random shit the taken say, but in particular stucky going on about his hot dog rankings

looking at the novels on alan's shelf and realizing how fucking huge he made his name compared to the actual book titles

all the episodes of night springs, but in particular "the quantum suicide" and "absence of creativity" ("Is that too moronic, indeed? Who can tell? It's a fine line between the stupid and the sublime... in Night Springs.")

barry's puffy red jacket being the brightest, most saturated color present in any scene he's in

agent nightingale being a direct inversion of cooper from twin peaks, who HATES small pacific northwest towns, AND having to work with their sheriff's departments, AND their coffee, AND their trees!!

the never-ending list of author names nightingale will call alan

the evil bulldozer that tries to kill you, foreshadowed earlier by the manuscript page "Wake Attacked by a Bulldozer"

one of the patients at the lodge being a game dev and hartman going "he works on... video games. it's trash, of course. but it does involve some small creative effort"

when you're talking to the old gods of asgard at the lodge and tor is routinely smacking the table with his squeaky hammer the entire time

alan and barry driving with the cardboard cutout of alan in the back seat

the rock concert segment

alan jumping like this

the dopefish poster upstairs in the bookstore

the camera panning over during the live action talk show bit to reveal that the other guest sitting next to alan is sam lake himself, who does the max payne face when prompted by the host

the fact that this game has driving segments and you can do donuts and drift into enemies

and, of course... the energizer and verizon product placement

great game

[py-dreamer]

So... I know I'm late...

But yea! I said I was coming back with some stickers and I kept my word! I would've hoped that I could've completed the sheet in like a day but as you can see...that didn't work out

I know I've been a bit MIA lately but burnout sucks. I do have a lot of WIPS I really want to work on but again, it seems that the ProcrastiNation hath struck my feeble mortal brain again.

But anyways:

I headcanon Aroace Mei, just a personal headcanon (disagree if you like) I also like lesbian Mei but thought I'd give some aroace appreciation

Silktea was only given 1 episode but OH BOY did it fuel our wild shipping habits. And I jumped on the bandwagon. It's a reference to that scene in She-Ra where Scorpia tells Catra she 'didn't want to do this' then wraps kitty up in the blankey and cradles her like a wee baby. And Sandy would do that for any friend, I will die on this hill

Saw a fanart where Mk had a pig nose themed pacifier and I just yoinked that idea. The pig hoodie and the pacifier seems like something Tang would do for Pigsy (also to get away with free noodles cause who can say no to that face?~)

Mac showing Wukong the lantern. What can I say, mans' fascinated by them pretty lights. Though our little performer's eyes seem to be straying from the show (^u ')

I know many people have issues with shipping with Nezha and such and I know the two had a rough history but y'know what fans do; they love to make the people who kill each other soulmates (platonic, romantic or otherwise) Even if it wasn't romantic, I still love the idea of them being buddies and just chilling, the danger noodle prince and the angy prince snuggle and watch a movie (mainly from Nezha 2019 but I also saw New Gods and can I just say, I want those two twinks to bicker then kiss awkwardly and I want Yun Xiang to BEAT. HIS. ASS) but in case anyone asks, I do perceive Nezha to be a consenting adult in general outside shipping drama and if the two are adults, it does make my heart squeal when I see these two hold hands and whatnot

HOW COULD I EVER FORGET MY SPICYBOIS, inspired by that one Ponyo kiss scene. I was actually gonna make a bigger piece but then I saw someone do it already in a much better fashion than I ever could and I just gave up on the idea but Ig here, its just like the two cakes mentality and I gave it a go. Hope I could do the concept justice

Have spider queen or scorpion queen ever interacted before? No. But they are both queens and I believe Spider Queen's confidence could rub off on Scorpion Queen and she'd appreciate the company of Spider Queen's children henchmen. Also she give yummy food so lesbian venomqueens for the win

Redraw of that moment with Peng and Azure. I normally detest that bird but these two do get some gears grinding and whatever anyone says. Neither of those two are straight. I'll tell ya that.

Toxicinsanity is another rarepair that had like 1 sec screen time. I don't think they'd ever work out in canon and had virtually no chemistry. I still love all the fluffy ship content I can find of them though and if it ever were to happen. I think the mayor would scare the sh!t out of Syntax

Let's get at least one hetero couple here, Chang'e and Hou'Yi are a couple of favorites ngl, I took most of their outfits from Over the moon cause both of them looked stunning, Chang'e especially. I've seen people ship mah girl with other people and while I do agree it's healthy to move on, in my heart she will always long for Hou'Yi

Also irl, on valentines, my mum took us out for lunch, she treated us to bubble tea and donuts. We walked home so I waited to drink mah drink in my room while I drew and I accidentally finished it all... I'm so sorry mum

f*ck I forgot ironbull. Uhh....I'll draw something later, rn I need to go to bed before I get yelled at...

click pic for less sh!ty quality!

#lmk #my beloved #lego monkie kid #pog champ #py's_art #lmk mk #lmk red son #happy valentine's day #lmk fanart #spicynoodles #lmk mei #lmk wukong #lmk macaque #lmk pigsy #lmk tang #lmk sandy #lmk huntsman #lmk syntax #lmk spider queen #lmk spider demons #lmk mayor #lmk scorpion queen #lmk nezha #shadowpeach #silktea #lmk freenoodles #Inkyfeathers #toxicinsanity #venomqueens #lotusdragon

[godtier]

so i got an email from RT about the last season and i'm kinda annoyed

first there was this:

brother, just say it was because of the strike lmao c'mon now. we all know that's why you're pushing it back

tho don't get me wrong, i will always support a creative team pushing a release date back to perfect the product (whether it's a show, movie, or video game), but this was just stupidly phrased and they coulda just said it. i'm guessing WB was like "no don't mention it at all for the love of god"

then there was this:

now the way this reads to me is that only first members get to watch the season?? traditionally, first members got the release ... well, first. then, non-paying members got the release a few days/a week later. that makes sense to me and it's how it's been since forever. the last time i bought a first sub was for the shisno paradox trilogy and i didn't need to be coerced into it; i wanted to see it as it came out. doing it like this seems really fuckin stupid.

and, in case anyone missed it, rt already removed all seasons of rvb off of their youtube channel. so the only "official" way to watch rvb (aside from DVDs/blu-rays) is their site.

not only that, but just seven episodes? and yet it's gonna be released as a (presumably) feature-length film? so if we're to assume the "movie" cut is gonna be about 90 mins long (being generous here), that means each episode is gonna be about 12-13 mins long, which is fine... but just seven? idk, for the last season, i would have thought they'd have gone all-out and produced a more "standard" length season.

for reference, the average season length (not counting rvb: zero) is about 19-20 episodes. the season with the smallest number of episodes (again, not counting zero) is s17 with 12. i'd have been satisfied with 12, but 7 is just... what. how are you gonna wrap up an entire 20+ year-long series with 7 episodes?? if the episodes were 30 mins long each, then i'd be like "aight let's go son" but if my assumptions are correct, 12-13 min long episodes isn't enough

idk, i was probably gonna renew my first sub anyway, but the fact that they're locking it out entirely unless you either buy first or buy WB's movie-version... it just seems yucky

tbh, if you ask me and consider all the main cast seasons, rvb ended with s17. it had the best wrap-up imo (aside from s5, but only OGs will agree that's a good ending point, myself included), and it tied up everything neatly and left it open-ended. the boys had their biggest adventure, donut got to shine (yes i'm biased), and it ended in a place where you could feasibly imagine them living out their lives in peace, like they deserve.

it's been a long time since i was active in rvb fandom (and it was here, on this very tumblr!) but i'm wary about going forward now. i'm gonna watch it somehow, but i've gotta figure out the best way to do so. i'm hoping they either clarify that they meant that first members are getting it ... first (as it has always been) and the wording was just bad, or they roll back on that stipulation and just leave it the way it was.

#red vs blue #rvb #rvb restoration #no spoilers #kinda annoyed tbh

[halfcarrotikemen]

So I finally found a way to watch tristamp in English dub (I only ever watched the series in Japanese). I haven’t done any deeper thoughts and analysis, and I’m only halfway through the series but here’s my impression so far:

- I love English dub Vash, especially his gibberish noises, such a chaotic dumbass (affectionate), and although some of his jokes and mannerism didn’t translate as well as I hoped, they did a very good job. They deserved two dozen donuts. (although if you hold me at gunpoint and ask me to choose English or Japanese Vash I will choose the Japanese version with a thin margin because I have personal bias towards Matsuoka Yoshitsugu [he’s from where I live lol, and I’m a big fan])

- I’m also in love with how they play Legato and Roberto, especially Legato, I was surprised by the lack of the feeling out of place (Is that the right word? sorry my brain suddenly stopped working in English) that you usually have when you hear a show dubbed in another language you’re not used to hearing. So smooth. And they nailed the drunkle speech with Roberto.

- I honestly was disappointed with the lack of accent in Wolfwood’s speech (maybe I just didn’t hear it correctly? Idk) because he speaks in heavy Kansai dialect in Japanese, even when he was a child (also casting Hosoya Yoshimasa really emphasized the accent). A huge missed opportunity on the English dub, in my opinion. I was expecting Wolfwood with a heavy Southern accent or something. And on that note they also missed the chance to add some dialect for the worm hunters on episode 4.

- English dub Meryl feels mature and a lot more pulled together to me compared to the Japanese version, which sounds very pristine and innocent until she starts learning about the world. It makes her a little… out of place for me who’s used to Meryl speaking in a very polite formal Japanese to everyone (even when she’s yelling in rage or when she’s cursing people). I think it suits Meryl from ‘98 anime more than tristamp Meryl. Probably because you can’t really translate her distinct way of speaking accurately, it’s not anyone’s fault, just a matter of different language. But I guess I like the Japanese version better for Meryl. I just love the way she speaks, shame there’s no English equivalent to her speech style.

- I don’t like English dub Nai. I’m 100% going with the Japanese version in this. Not the performance, though, I know translations are really hard and I do think the English VA did a great job, but as someone who’s used to how Nai speak in Japanese, the dub just… didn’t feel right. In Japanese Nai speaks in a relatively rougher manner compared to Vash (in how he chooses his words, also the subtle but different way he talks to humans and to Vash) and it didn’t show as much in the English dub. And his pretentious speech that sounds like some people from the church near my house doesn’t get carried to the English dub, I guess. In English he just sounds like a scary villain to me, while in Japanese I can feel his emotions and (warped) love towards Vash just from his words. I saw someone pointing out that Nai refers to the dependent plants with feminine pronouns, and it’s even more prominent and emphasized in the Japanese version. They’re not wrong. Maybe in English it can come across as a bit misogynistic(?), I don’t know, but I like how he does this in Japanese, because to me it feels like he’s always trying to refer to them as “persons” and not “things”, although his treatment towards them is contradictory.

This ended up longer than I expected but overall I enjoyed the English dub and I love analyzing different languages. I wanna know how it feels for people who know absolutely zero Japanese watching the series in English dub and in Japanese with English subtitles. I know that there were differences in the subtitles and the dub but for me I can’t compare English sub and dub because I’d just go with my Japanese interpretation if I watch the subbed version (or I’d rather just ditch the subtitle altogether because sometimes it’s making my brain confused when I speak both languages).

Also to people who write Trigun fanfics in English, where do you base the character speech from? I don’t know how to translate Japanese dialects, so Wolfwood, for example, is very difficult for me to write in English.

#trigun #trigun stampede #my ramblings #I am not very good at articulating #and my thoughts are always branching everywhere #anyway I want to write a fanfic but I have no idea how to write the characters speech #I only know the Japanese version of all trigun media #and I don’t like reading comic/manga so I’m kinda reluctant to re-read the manga in English #I read Wolfwood’s lines in Hosoya-san’s voice even in English fanfics #unrelated note #I’ve been trying to convince my therapist to watch trigun lmao #she said she’s gonna watch it today

[serendertothesquad]

"Wordsville" and the Problem with Cash-Cow Copies

[note original day of creation was February 15, 2024. just...just for reference. trust me bro.]

Hello.

Tonight I am in a silly mood fueled by sleep deprivation.

That means you all get an introspective blog that I will complete within a week and then ask "why'd I write that?"

So here's what's on Seren's lovely table of discussion tonight...

Put...put away the glasses. You don't need your glasses. This is the highest-quality thing I can get.

But et voila. A little project in the works called Wordsville.

Now, at this point you might be asking why I'm referencing "cash-cow copies" in the title. And whoo-hoo...oooooh...well, I don't want to make this some kind of clickbait blog, so I might as well perfect the atomic bomb in five minutes and land it on you folks.

What if I were to tell you that this is a blatant, shameless, slap-a-digital-coat-on-it-and-call-it-a-day copy of Odd Squad?

Ahhh, see, now I have you intrigued. Hopefully. If you are, then peep down below and let me discuss things a little more in-depth for you non-believing hacks asking me if I'm borderline insane.

So to put things in perspective, allow me to explain what Wordsville is, starting with my own personal summary.

Wordsville is an up-and-coming episodic (not to be confused with serialized, that's a whole 'nother ballgame) TV series that is produced (and will later be distributed) by Sinking Ship Entertainment and is made with assistance from WNET, a PBS station located in New Jersey, and TVO Kids, PBS Kids's girlfriend from Canada that's definitely real.

It was announced back in October of last year with a press release from Kidscreen, which didn't give much info aside from the following blurb:

Wordsville stars two child detectives on the hunt for missing words that are causing chaos in their town.

Sounds a little familiar, don'tcha think? Two kid detectives, finding something missing...and that "something missing" is causing chaos where they live?

Oh, but if you think the similarities end there, then no. No the absolute fuck they do not. I've got my bathing suit on and God damn it if I'm not gonna jump all the way in the pool instead of dippin' my little toes in there.

Doing a little bit of digging reveals more tidbits from a casting call for the series. It's rather wordy (ayyyyyy I did a funy), so let's take it piece by piece and discuss accordingly.

Wordsville is a town populated entirely by kids

A town that is populated entirely by children? Now c'mon, surely that doesn't ring a be-

...Ah. Whaddya know. Yes it does.

And with the adults as useless and idiotic as they are, it might as well be a town full of solely children. Next question.

and it’s a place where words matter. A lot. Every kid citizen has a special connection to words. And that means that if something happens to a word, there are far-reaching consequences.

A special connection to words? Like how there are children who have a special connection to normalcy? Stopping, oh, I dunno, hypothetically speaking...

...oddness?

Okay okay, I'm reaching just a wee bit here, but you can't read this and not tell me it echoes the funny kids math show to some degree or another. If an odd thing happens to a person, the whole town suffers. You've seen it. I've seen it. It's been the basis for many an A and B-plot. Must I elaborate? Good, because I don't plan on it. Continuing.

If the Main Street Baker bakes delicious donuts and they all mysteriously disappear, nothing else in Wordsville can taste good until they are returned.

Town Baker walked so Main Street Baker can sprint while blowing their lungs out.

If the Town Doctor’s soothing medication gets swiped, the whole town gets uncontrollably itchy until the medicine-napper is uncovered.

Ignoring the incredibly dark implications of this as well as the implications of this shoddy knockoff town having only one single doctor...

Dr. O walked so the Town Doctor can sprint while blowing their lungs out...over their massive paycheck.

(I technically could have also put New Dr. O too, but I'd like to spring for iconic OG's here. New Dr. O is neither iconic nor an OG.)

And let me remind you that "Torontonians get uncontrollably itchy due to something odd" would, by technicality, classify as an odd problem. Because...I mean, y'know...the cause is something odd happening. Doing shit with words is odd. This needs absolutely no explaining.

If the Local Scientist does an experiment with electricity and all the lights in town go out, they won’t come back on until the experiment wrecker is revealed.

Yep, I've taken shots of every IPA I can. We nearly hit the main character quadfecta, if you discount Dr. "bro thinks she's part of the team" O. All they needed was a bit about a high governing body and we'd round out the quad squad in proper with Oprah!

There's also a sneaky lil' crumb in the form of that blurb relating to Oona, who did, indeed, experiment with electricity in one episode and wound up proving why she can never take up Crossfit.

Hmmmnnnnext!

In each crime, the episodic word disappears and can’t return until the mystery is solved. The impact of the missing word is felt all over town.

This is another one of those things that I gotta wrench a hammy for in terms of comparisons, because about the only thing I can reasonably compare Odd Squad to is the second sentence.

See, here's the thing. You get oddness that happens to a person. Oftentimes, that oddness spreads to other people, whether directly (in the form of diseases and disorders) or indirectly (like the Town Baker's cakes being split in half, which wouldn't please Torontonians poppin' in for a whole cake and eyeing the display to get a feel for one). In a sense, normalcy disappears and, well, it can't return until [insert partner pair here] solve the case. It's kinda the entire schtick of Odd Squad as a franchise. It's formulaic, just like how Wordsville's "words disappear and nothing can be normal until the word returns" schtick is formulaic.

Is it a stretch? Perhaps. Mileage may vary. I think it's a bit of a stretch, personally. But hey, I'm a grown adult critiquing a ripoff of a kids STEM show. I shouldn't be talking. But I didn't start this fandom nearly 10 years ago just to let Sinking Ship's piss-poor attempt at really capitalizing on one of their biggest franchises sliiiiiide right by me on a floor smooth enough where I'm falling on my ass every 10 seconds.

Luckily, best friends and partners Sage and Chase are on the case and run the only detective agency in town. These tech-savvy sleuths solve mysteries entirely virtually because their reading, listening and digital literacy skills are their greatest strengths. Sage and Chase always catch their culprit and make sure everything is right with the word.

Now where in the McFuck do I start with this one? The PAW Patrol catchphrase thrown in complete with shared name? The fact that there is only one detective agency in the entire town? The fact that Sage and Chase are best friends as well as work partners? Or the pun that made me actively cringe in a way I haven't felt since Whitney told James she wanted to go on the lake?

I mean...this is about Odd Squad, so...I guess the second one sounds most plausible.

But that doesn't need explaining either. There is only one detective agency in town. There is one Odd Squad precinct per city or per state.

No, neither does the third bit. I already referenced Olive and Otto above. You should know what's up.

(I've also read that blurb five times now and...well...we'll get to the digital stuff in a bit. That just needs a whole side-set of word vomit.)

-------------------------------

In my digging of this series -- which, well, wasn't all that much -- I managed to find a few blurbs on our two main characters. The casting call for them, funny enough, called for, and I will quote this exactly, "talent to look 9."

As in, they want the actors to physically look 9 years old.

Which puts that qualifier in the same ballpark as Odd Squad UK's "talent must be Canadian but live in the UK". But at least that prerequisite actually had a legitimate earnest reason behind it, which is that the production needed to be Canadian in a lot more than just the "Canadian prodco works on a British series" sense. Hiring kids who have to physically look 9 years old and will probably be yoted onto the street the second puberty hits them like a truck is a practice not even the most egregious bosses of family-owned-and-operated businesses could pull off.

But enough about the qualifiers. Let's get started on our character comparisons and civil cidiscussion! (Oh the irony...)

And remember this: the casting call was handled by Larissa Mair Casting, who previously did casting for Odd Squad. So that means there will be tinny lil' crumbs of bonus material for me to dissect and discuss! Huzzah! Aw God why can't this happen for Odd Squad UK...man, I'm gonna have to go into my sobbing corner...

First up, we have Sly Sleuth, originally referred to as "Sage" here. I'll also be referring to him as "Sage" in this blog.

Sage is a great detective; thoughtful, extremely logical, and talented at getting information out of people.

Thoughtful of others. Logical. And can wrench information out of suspects like a badass.

Yep, we got an Olive that got hit with an Olando-fied beam. (And because half of you don't know who Olando is: Sage is meant to be a male Olive. I hope that clears things up for you.)

What else?

Nothing related to vocabulary or literacy gets by this investigator. Suspects can underestimate Sage but that is always a mistake. Sage doesn’t scare easily and won’t take no for an answer, traits that make an excellent detective.

You could tell me this was how Olive was meant to be written in "My Better Half", word for word, and I would honestly believe you. Right down to asking, "Her name was Sage in pre-production?"

About the only place I can draw the line here is at Olive not scaring easily. We don't know Sage's backstory -- and once again, this is an episodic series, so don't expect much in the way of plot, backstory included -- but Olive, at least, has a legitimate reason for all the times she covers her ears at loud noises or sharply reacts to something startling.

The former is because of The Censor-Friendly Bullet Massacre of '15.

The latter is because Dalila Bela marched straight out of a viewing of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and never looked back.

I...can't really say either applies to Sage. At least not yet. We'll have to see if Sinking Ship decides to bring Wordsville into its lil' multiverse that Odd Squad and Dino Dana and Endlings and Playdate already share.

Sage is also wise, which is why the name “Sage” is completely appropriate.

Sooooo does that mean his name is Sly because he's cunning like a fox?

Well then in other news, Olive is named such because she was inspired by the famous Law and Order character Olivia Benson. I have fifteen folders that back me right the hell up. Also I contacted Sinking Ship the other day, they explicitly told me.

No, no, but in all seriousness. Olive, too, is very wise. Historian buff, knows her shit about Odd Squad, doo-dah, doo-dah.

Anyway, next up we have Chase, who was renamed to "Gabby Gumshoe". (I'll be referring to her as Chase in this blog, as well.) Let's see what's on the chopping block for her in terms of our favorite food-loving, hella tall, crazy silly blorbo.

Chase is a fantastic detective, but is also goofy[,] funny, visually oriented, and, like the name suggests, loves the “chase”.

Now there's a man who got hit with a yassified beam, right there.

I'll leave it up to you folks whether you consider Otto to be "visually oriented". But in terms of "loving the chase"...yeah, I'd say that fits.

To lay it down: Otto is a rookie agent. Common sense would lead anyone to assume that he has an absolute blast solving odd cases and absorbing every bit of knowledge about Odd Squad that he possibly can. He finds out a villain's on the loose? He's right there, by Olive's side, workin' to catch 'em. He finds out oddness has run rampant throughout the town? He's right on that shit.

Chase, on the other hand, is someone I wouldn't call a rookie. It's made quite evident that she is, for all intents and purposes, seasoned. Seasoned enough that she manages to keep the detective agency she works for afloat and get approval from the others in Wordsville, Sage included. This, perhaps, is because she's not really meant to be an audience surrogate in the same way Otto is. Otto, at least for the first few episodes, serves as a way to ease the audience into Odd Squad and show them what the organization is and what they do without yoting them into it and leaving them asking "Where am I?" more times than a drunkard. Chase doesn't fill that role, because it could be argued that such a show like Wordsville doesn't really need an audience surrogate. Whether that's true, though, remains to be seen.

People tend to underestimate this investigator, but Chase often notices things like a chocolate stain when someone said they didn’t like chocolate or a squiggle of icing that turns out to be the antonym of the word they’re tracking.

Y' take Otto's...Otto's love of food...and y' put it in a gorl...and BAM you got a character.

...

That isn't a joke. It's dead-on serious. Even the casting call script pins Chase as a kid with a sweet tooth! It's just Otto but with a less diverse palate! Otto eats everything! This kid eats sweets! God sakes, give her some juice, make her Oprah, I don't give a shit, fucking hell I'm driving 50 minutes to Burger Ki-

Chase is also great with computers and incredibly artistic. A graphic note taker[,] Chase loves to draw, has a great eye for details, is a big fan of the “zoom in” function, and really enjoys creating animated re-enactments of Word Mysteries.

All right, we finally have somewhere we can draw the line.

No, not at being tech-literate. With being artistic.

Otto's artistic talent kind of varies throughout the franchise. In drawing on paper, he's pretty solid for an I-just-recently-turned-10-please-praise-me-year-old. In making paper airplanes, he's solid enough to take down a grown-ass man and rock his sunglasses when he's done for.

In computer drawing...well...if you can believe it, concepts like Ibispaint and Photoshop don't exist in the world of Odd Squad. (Okay, maaaaybe Photoshop does. I don't think it does. But it could be a good in-universe justification for it.)

We don't know Otto's digital artist merit because we never see him make any digital art. All of his art is solely non-digital. On Chase's side of things, she lives in an era where digital drawing is, like in real life, the norm. It's a contrast that might be one of the more glaring ones when it comes to comparing these two shows.

Now, as for the "creating animated re-enactments" schtick...if that isn't an excuse for Sinking Ship to work their animation magic after the Sandy Cheeks movie, then I honestly don't know what is. If you wanted to make the show animated, you could have made it animated. Would've been cheaper, too!

(And "Word Mysteries"...it's not as grating as Wild Kratts's "Wow Fact", but it's edging pretty close. I blame WNET. That's solely a PBS thing right there. TVO Kids would never.)

----------------

So we've gotten the discussion about the two main characters out of the way. Now we can dive into the heartier meat. The kind where's it's purple on the inside but you still digest it anyway.

I'm talking, of course, about the sample scripts- script. Singular. There is one script. Uno.

Now, lemme give you a bit of a rundown: casting calls for Odd Squad -- really, most shows, but this is a blog about Odd Squad -- often come with sample scripts. This is so talents can read their parts aloud for the camera and have the tape submitted to the casting agency for consideration. Odd Squad in particular has had quite an interesting ride with sample scripts, from entire episode plots being adapted into final products (with a bit of tweaking) to characters having names different than what they're named in the final product (which is the case with both Sly and Gabby). They're nothing on the scale of ABC Me dropping episodes earlier than PBS or shorts getting dropped as an alleged April Fools prank, but they're pretty damn good crumbs to chew on.

The sample script starts out with Sage and Chase on, of course, a video call. (Sinking Ship made a Zoom reference once. Pray they do not make another by the name of a friendly drug called "Speed" or that term for peeing known as a "Whiz".) Chase explains that she just gave her office chair's wheels a tune-up, which, of course, makes her hungry. Hungry enough that she declares a "cookie break" and immediately takes out a ginormous cookie from hammerspace that just made the European bakery down the street from me start sobbing. (Look, they make good cookies. Giant cookies. Cookies I need two hands just to hold properly. Trust me, it's- it's massive.)

However, when she bites into the cookie, she finds that it tastes absolutely gross -- "not sweet, not even sour". While she ponders if her body has forcefully rejected one of the best sweet treats known to humankind, Sage begins to grow suspicious and asks if it's a Word Mystery they need to solve.

Which is, coincidentally enough, when the Main Street Baker calls in a fit of hysteria, explaining that their "delicious donuts" are gone. And because we can't take enough from Odd Squad, we get a bit of "literal humor" in the form of the donuts both being delicious (probably) and them spelling the word "delicious" prior to their disappearance. After Sage explains what "delicious" means as well as what synonyms are, it's shown that the culprit also struck other pastries, up to and including gingerbread people, which Sage absolutely takes personally because he's a kid of pure culture who gives a big "fuck you" to holiday-specific treats being enjoyed only during said holidays.

Chase, in true Otto fashion, decides to take more bites of her cookie and instantly regrets it. Sage, in true...well...Clint Eastwood fashion (I shit you not, that's literally what it says in the script), declares that they need to find the word "delicious" and fix the pastries.

And...yeah, that's about it. Like I said, there's really not much to go on with casting call sample scripts. Especially not ones from Larissa Mair.

My conclusive thoughts on it, you ask? Well...they can try to hide it, but all it's doing is enforcing my point. From the Main Street Baker having donuts missing similar to how the Town Baker had bagels missing in "Soundcheck", to Chase being an idiot who is obsessed with food the same way Otto is (right down to his willingness to drink Odd Todd's pickle juice when it tasted gross in "Bad Lemonade"!), even down to the "literal metaphor" kind of humor as it applies to singular words. Am I stretching? Perhaps. But these supposedly insignificant pieces are just part of the bigger picture, the larger issue at hand in this long-winded piece.

------------------

The digital aspect of Wordsville is one of the ways they decided to put a twist on the precedent that Odd Squad set. And it's so blatant and in-your-face that it's on par with shoving a red flag in someone's eyes to blind them.

But here's the thing. The digital aspect been done. Amusingly enough, by the same company.

Lockdown is a show that fits right in with the others at the Shows-Made-During-the-COVID-Pandemic-About-the-COVID-Pandemic club. It was a way to capitalize on something in society that probably will never be relevant again until around 2050. Maybe even earlier than that, at the rate we're going.

I haven't seen it, so I can't speak much about it, but from my side of things it looks a lot like Unfriended if it took place during the pandemic and wasn't a horror movie and involved teens and not young adults/adults/I haven't seen the movie in many years bite me.

But the main difference between Lockdown and Wordsville, relevant to this editorial, is that Lockdown has a legitimate reason to be shot entirely on electronic devices. It's part of the plot. It works, I'm sure. For Wordsville, it makes no sense for the outline and isn't just limiting, but is downright insulting for something "rooted in the 21st century". It's good to be unique when making a show, but there's such a thing as trying too hard to be unique to the point where it's detrimental to your show's quality. Making the show be a digital-only angle isn't a smart move, especially for a detective procedural.

And if it's trying to differentiate itself from Odd Squad...well, do I got some bad news for you.

The show already did an entire Zoom parody in the span of an 11-minute episode.

And I still hate it with all the vitriol of an old woman who hates kids playing with beach balls in the yard pool. It sucks ass. It's entirely unneeded when you have three children sitting around the same table. I could vomit on you all day about it. But at least it's far more justified than Wordsville having its entire formula based on it. You can rip off a show without being limiting.

(don't. seriously. don't.)

------------------

Before we get to the conclusion, I need to dive deep into Odd Squad's own popularity and explain it a little more beyond just little "trust me bro" tidbits.

If you've been following it for as long as I have, then it's no secret that Odd Squad is one of Sinking Ship's cash-cow franchises. You've got the main series, six different spinoffs, a live show, a book...and I didn't even provide a whole damn list! Point being, it's huge. It doesn't have many roots in pop culture, but from a certain angle, it is an absolutely massive franchise that continues to grow, even in spite of its controversies.

Unlike works such as SpongeBob or Bluey, Odd Squad isn't popular enough to get bonafide ripoffs. The formula is relatively easy to copy, and if anything there are shows that have a similar premise but aren't even close to ripoff territory (K.C. Undercover, for example). It's just that, for all the ripoffs people have done of shows and movies over the years, the motivation for industry bigwigs in taking Odd Squad and running with it just...isn't there. I can connect it to Disney or Dreamworks or Viacom all I want, but at best they have a vague awareness of it that only goes as far as "oh, that's a thing, I guess". At worst, they see it as a pile of shit that would never turn a decent profit.

It could be argued that Sinking Ship wasn't all too well-known in the entertainment sphere up until Odd Squad came around. Looking at their resume doesn't show all too much in the way of what's popular. This is Daniel Cook, Roll Play, Playdate...they don't stick in your head, right? Yeah, none of them stick in my head either. Odd Squad was their first big hit for them, something that really helped them gain ground as a company. It's the one that's pretty much linked with Sinking Ship in news articles. Like husband and wife, but for the TV industry.

But to Hollywood bigwigs, that means about as much as finding a stick on the ground. I guaran-goddamn-tee Bob Iger is not going to put his grubby little hands on the funny kids math franchise and twist the hell out of it. The only way that's happening is if you run "Odd Squad, but make it Disney" through an AI generator. (Which, for the record, I have not done. You can't really replicate Odd Squad characters in animation without making them look like they walked out of yet another Law and Order spinoff that's far more kid-friendly.)

However, even with Odd Squad's varying popularity, there are shows that go just a little beyond having a similar premise to it but don't dive into ripoff territory. Sort of like a next step up.

A long time ago, a few friends and I in an Odd Squad Discord server were discussing the show Numberjacks. You know, that show that Jacknjellify may or may not have used as inspiration for Four's design? Yeah, that's the bitch.

The show has a few similarities to Odd Squad. You've got the focus on math, a system for exiting the couch headquarters that's similar to the tube system, and even the existence of kid agents and incredibly odd villains, one of which, need I remind you, Twitter tried to make into a sexyman for all of two days to varying degrees of success.

I will admit, I haven't seen Numberjacks in several years. In fact, the last time I saw it was when it was brought up as an Odd Squad ripoff. If I recall correctly, the episode that I picked to watch on a whim was "Seaside Adventure", wherein a few numbers take a vacation and trouble occurs. Or something like that. I really can't remember many details.

One thing I do remember, though, is distinctly thinking that I could see the Odd Squad similarities, but...it's not a ripoff. The series premiered in 2006. By that point, Tim McKeon and Adam Peltzman were off on their own ventures as they wrote for cartoons and other things. Thus, Odd Squad hadn't been birthed yet. If anything, Odd Squad took cues from Numberjacks, not the other way around -- but even with the existence of Odd Squad UK, we don't know that for sure. I don't even know how popular Numberjacks was in the UK. I'm a dumb lil' American, not a Daphne-Moon-esque English woman.

Since then, I haven't found anything that has come close to what Wordsville aims to accomplish. Granted, though, I have not looked very hard. I'm moreso keeping an eye on PBS to see if they're going to try and rip off Odd Squad rather than keeping an eye on any random B-lister studio. (And no, I'm not talking about WNET. They are a PBS station, but I'm referring to PBS as a whole entire network, not a sole affiliate.)

------------------------

So the question remains: is Wordsville an Odd Squad ripoff?

Yes. On multiple counts. Right down to the name inspo. Guilty as charged. Right to jail.

From it being for the 4-7 demo not unlike Odd Squad's own 4-8 demo, to Sage and Chase being referred to as "Word Detectives" in lieu of "agents", to it being a detective procedural not unlike Odd Squad and its spinoffs, to the synopsis of the show being described as having "a case rooted in a vocabulary lesson" similar to Odd Squad having episodes rooted in STEM lessons, to it actively encouraging the audience to solve mysteries along with Sage and Chase...to Sage and Chase having alliterative theme naming...

Yeah, safe to say, we've got ourselves a ripoff.

There's no denying that Odd Squad is a fantastic franchise. Even through all of its issues, including financial controversies, heavy criticism, and mistreatment from PBS, it has remained strong for nearly 10 years, and will stay strong for many more. Maybe one of these days, it will plant roots deeper into pop culture and become one hell of a phenomenon. We'll have to see.

But the fact that Sinking Ship Entertainment has to resort to borrowing a concept that is unique in its nature, a concept that has already been done, a concept that has been given life and creativity by the people who birthed it, and then try to pass it off as its own original IP is not a good look on them. It's been done similarly before with their other big franchise, Dino Dan -- key word being "similarly" because it's one show and three spinoffs focusing on different characters. That isn't the case with Wordsville, though.

Put it this way: it's a company ripping off not someone else's IP, like many other companies have done and continue to do. It's a company ripping off their own IP.

And really, it doesn't matter how it's done. Stealing is stealing. At the end of the day, all it shows is a complete lack of creativity and a complete craving for the almighty dollar. More so if it's a company stealing from themselves and passing it along as okay.

In spite of this, however, I am perfectly willing to give Wordsville a shot when it comes out. Not so much to see if it's good (though my curiosity is piqued), and definitely not to hate-watch (which has the opposite intended effect on a show or movie), but to see just how far Sinking Ship is willing to push the envelope in affirming viewers and industry buddies alike that this is not, by any and all accounts, a copy of Odd Squad. I want to spot similarities. I want to take whiskey shots until I can do a zoom-zoom to a hospital and then ask if they've got a bottle on board the rig. I want to give a full, I-watched-this-show-now-here-are-my-overall-final-thoughts addendum on the entire issue.

As of now, Wordsville has no narrow timeframe. All I know is that it's releasing this year, likely on TVO Kids in Canada. Whether PBS as a whole will adopt it into its roster -- and if anything, it'll be WNET-exclusive, otherwise we would've heard something about it at the TCA Winter Press Tour a few days back -- for American audiences remains yet to be seen. Rest assured, though, that I'll be keeping an eye on it and rushing to it as soon as the first episode drops. After that, I'll give a proper addendum so I can finally put this issue to bed. Along with myself. Revenge bedtime procrastination is a bitch.

Thanks for reading. This honestly started out as something silly, but then I became analytical. So you got a mix of both in this one. This may or may not be the norm. Day-by-day, y'know?

Seren out.

#seren speaks #odd squad pbs kids #odd squad #wordsville #sinking ship entertainment

[mythserene]

Lewisohn: rewriting history in the area where we trust him most – the songs performed

-In which Lewisohn rewrites a Beatles story and completely changes the songs sung, and coincidentally changes them in such a way so that if you know your Beatles trivia you'll think that Paul completely hogged the mic for two-thirds of the show-

Although I’ve come to a place where I’m more surprised to find a Lewisohn quote that turns out to be accurate than I am one that’s butchered, I have tended to believe that he is trustworthy on things like dates and songs performed. I’ve felt like that’s probably his anchor, and that he shapes the rest of his narrative around that.

But perhaps the habit of taking license cannot help but spread into other areas, because I am discovering that neither dates nor song lists turn out to be sacred with Mark Lewisohn.

As far as dates, that is part of a bigger piece that has been tangling me up for a few weeks, but his version of “the Beatmakers” performance shows that Mark Lewisohn will write what he wants, and that he has zero compunction in changing history to suit himself, regardless of subject.

In Chapter 22: “Right then, Brian — Manage Us,” a primary theme is that every promoter was done with the Beatles when Brian Epstein came along. Brian Kelly, especially, is given the role of being fed up with them, and Lewisohn uses “the Beatmakers” performance—Gerry and the Pacemakers and the Beatles going on stage together—as an example of how bad everything was just before Brian stepped in. (I do believe that Brian was a godsend, but that doesn’t mean that Lewisohn’s narrative is supported in every area, and in some places he stretches a lot more than in others. This is definitely one of those areas.)

Here’s the story: before going to the Litherland Town Hall performance, Bob Wooler had been drinking, maybe with the Beatles, and in Lewisohn’s version, Gerry seeing that they were all drunk sent “Gerry Marsden scuttling to the pub around the corner.” Every telling I’ve seen, one way or another, is in agreement that Gerry Marsden as well as Wooler had been drinking, and that the Pacemakers and the Beatles all played together with Wooler introducing them as “the Beatmakers.” Lewisohn adds some highly unlikely Preludin into the mix—“John, pissed and pilled…”—but I’m not going to take that on here.

Along with the chance to tell a riotously colorful story—one that in Lewisohn’s telling goes much farther than any of the source materials I’ve found—the main point of the tale is for Wooler to give us the climax of the—(all unsourced, other than this single, butchered Wooler quote)—frustration Lewisohn tells us promoter Brian Kelly was feeling: “Brian Kelly was fraught with anxiety over it. It was only a short episode and a bit of a shambles.”

The quote by Wooler that Lewisohn uses to try to prove his point, and the one and only reference he gives to support any of his “Brian Kelly fed up/Epstein must save Beatles” narrative is a modification of one of those Lewisohn monsters I call a “donut.” (There’s a hole in the middle. However in this case, as in many others, he also adds words that were never spoken.)

THE ACTUAL WOOLER QUOTE:

“Brian Kelly was fraught with anxiety over it, but the audience liked it. It was a bit of a shambles really, so I lowered the curtain on the proceedings.”

LEWISOHN’S REWRITE:

“Brian Kelly was fraught with anxiety over it. It was only a short episode and a bit of a shambles.”

And while I am very interested in what Lewisohn is using for his Brian-Epstein-saved-the-Beatles-but-Paul-tried-to-thwart-him narrative, I felt the need to pause to look at Lewisohn’s massive and nonsensical alterations to this performance, especially in the songs the improvised combo-band played. (And yet how very authoritatively Lewisohn does it.)

The whole section has problems, but let us deal with the songs.

Mark Lewisohn says they “thundered through four numbers”—

The Beatmakers thundered through four numbers—“Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “What’d I Say” (extended mix), “Red Sails in the Sunset” and the new Ray Charles record “Hit the Road Jack”—during which John, pissed and pilled, slid from the piano and slumped on the stage.

—‘Tune In,’ Lewisohn – Chapter 22 (Emphasis mine.)

Sticking to the songs, the page referenced in the footnote first quotes Bob Wooler:

“They did a few numbers like ‘Hit The Road Jack’, swopping instruments and the like.”

—FOOTNOTE 9: ‘The Best of Fellas’ – Bob Wooler (Emphasis mine)

Then the next paragraph quotes Gerry Marsden, and I’m going to add boldface to the songs he says they played:

“It worked very well as we all knew the same songs and all played the same songs. Paul, John and I took turns on the piano and Les played the sax. We did ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, ‘Johnny B. Goode’, ‘Great Balls Of Fire’, ‘Pretend’, ‘Blueberry Hill’, ‘I’m Walkin'’ and ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’, probably some others too.”

—FOOTNOTE 9: ‘The Best of Fellas’ – Gerry Marsden (Emphasis mine)

So, either they performed exactly four numbers, including an “extended mix” of Paul wailing ‘What’d I Say,’ —or— they performed at least eight numbers and “probably some others, too.”

“The Best of Fellas” version from Bob Wooler and Gerry Marsden that is referenced in the footnote makes sense in ways that Lewisohn’s rewriting doesn’t. Marsden begins by saying that they all knew the same numbers, and moreover what Lewisohn is telling us is that Paul took over the mic for three out of four numbers, and went so far in his spotlight-hogging selfishness as to sing an “extended version” of ‘What’d I Say.’ It’s a particularly egregious “if you know, you know” insertion that conjures up a very damning image of Paul in this otherwise “mutual mood of cooperativeness.” But not only is Lewisohn’s song list not supported, if Paul had hogged the spotlight that way it’s only reasonable to believe that Marsden would have remembered that, and certainly wouldn’t have described the collaboration in the way he did. And if Paul was hogging the mic and spotlight and had sung song after song where he was the lead, Marsden absolutely, positively, would not have rolled off a list of songs that didn’t include a single, solitary Paul song. That is simply beyond belief.

Gerry Marsden’s recollection also makes a lot of sense in that it’s natural that he would best remember the songs where he sang lead. And indeed, out of the seven songs he names, four are Pacemakers’ songs. (Including the one Wooler names and Lewisohn decides to agree with: “Hit the Road, Jack.”) And none of the songs anyone names are songs where Paul sings lead. Two are John songs and the other is a George song, which lends credence to Gerry Marsden’s “probably some others, too” comment, because it’s likely that there was at least one song where Paul was lead.) But in Lewisohn’s seemingly fabricated four-song list, other than “Hit the Road, Jack” they’re all Paul numbers. So not only does Lewisohn choose to have Paul singing an extended version of a scene-stealing “What’d I Say” but he slyly tells us that Paul basically hogged the microphone for seventy-five percent of the numbers (and even more of the time) that this “cooperative” was on stage together. Now, if you’re not a hardcore fan with a fair amount of knowledge this will probably slip past you, but if you’ve got a dog in this hunt, and especially if you already think Paul McCartney is a self-obsessed prima donna, you’ll get the picture Lewisohn is so deliberately painting. And I write deliberately very—well, deliberately—because if a writer makes the decision to veer away from the record and create a very specific, very limited, and very fictional song list for an anecdote about two groups deciding to get together and sing, and more than two-thirds of the songs chosen for the historical rewrite are Paul songs—and then that writer even goes to the trouble of telling readers that Paul sang an “extended mix” of one of those songs—then of course it’s deliberate. Lewisohn didn’t choose his reinvented song list at random out of a Bingo cage.

Here are the songs referenced in the footnote versus the songs that Lewisohn says they sang.

SOURCE MATERIAL SONG LIST/USUAL LEAD:

“Hit the Road Jack” ✓ /Gerry Marsden

“Roll Over Beethoven”/George

“Johnny B. Goode”/John

“Great Balls Of Fire”/Gerry (and Paul?)

“Pretend”/Gerry Marsden

“Blueberry Hill”/Gerry Marsden

“Sweet Little Sixteen”/John

“I’m Walkin'”/Gerry Marsden

LEWISOHN’S SONG LIST/USUAL LEAD:

“Hit the Road Jack” ✓ /Gerry Marsden

“Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”/Paul

“What’d I Say” (extended mix)/Paul

“Red Sails in the Sunset”/Paul

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P.S. If you haven't been reading all of @wingsoverlagos 's work, you absolutely have to. She's done so much and Lewisohn's inventions are so much worse than I realized.

#the beatles #beatles #mark lewisohn #lewisohn is making stuff up again #dr frankenquote #lewisohn #the beatmakers #bob wooler #fine tuning #tune in #paul mccartney #john lennon #gerry and the pacemakers #the best of fellas

[bonzos-number-1-fan]

TMAGP 6 Thoughts: Old Friends

Lots to talk about this time although maybe not lots to say. We'll see. This was a Jonny episode so that's bound to happen. Either way spoilers for episode 6 below the cut.

So, I think we all know the biggest thing here; mini-donuts are finally confirmed. Okay, for actual serious things; Alice likes Choco Liebnitz and has confirmed to have immaculate biscuit standards but alternate biscuit spellings.

For the stuff that largely doesn't matter we've got a "surprise" 4th returning character, a new avatar in a fun new flavour, and a statement you know people are going to try to cram into the desire theory.

Starting from the bottom up for no real reason this was a very overtly fear driven episode. I'm not going to spend too much time on this bit because I think trash talking this theory is in poor taste. But I don't buy it and think it's often very strained and ignores big chunks of things to justify itself, and seems to forget just how much of TMA was wrapped up in desires too. The cosmology was always set up to have some people running away from the Fears and some people running towards them. TMP hasn't really done much different there to my mind and this episode is a pretty hard break away from a lot of the things people like to latch onto for the desire theory.

Needles up next then and I'm a big fan. Harry Roebuck obviously did a great job, and the different formats continue to do some great work. There isn't really a lot to say about the incident in general other than the above. It's all pretty normal stuff outside of the fun with the format. But what is interesting, apart from another character we'll see return, is that Needles is both very close to and very far from a TMA character. Both ways you can take that. Obviously there are some pretty big Stranger and Spiral vibes here. Like, if you throw Needles next to Nikola they'd seem totally normal. That's almost certainly not accidental because of how it contrasts to the rest of them. Pain isn't out of place for the Stranger's lot as a threat but it is in such an extreme example of it. Needles is more about pain than they are about anything else they're not preying on the fear of the uncanny. That would typically be a great fit for The Desolation except the way it manifests here is pretty distinctly not part of the Lightless Flame's lot. The Hunt or the Slaughter are also bad touchstones here because Needles really seems to be about a slow and restrained sort of pain that's out of place in those ideas of it. Which is all to say this the most overt showcasing of different manifestations so far. We've seen lots of stuff like TMA fears but twisted in TMP already but I think this one is deliberately set up to hammer that point home. We see something that is on first glance very at home in TMA until the details leave it without a solid home in Smirke's 14.

Finally, the wonderful return of Lowri Ann Davies as Celia. Celia Ripley at that which I'm sure isn't a reference to anything. So, I'm sure some people will say this is more likely to be the Celia native to TMP but to that I'd say there probably isn't one. There is likely a Lynne Hammond in TMP but I doubt she also lost her name and took a new one. Combined with the whole "I don’t scare so easy these days." comment (especially if taken with her namesake) I think it's the contrarian stance to suggest this isn't TMA's Celia at this stage. It might obviously change as we get more info but another TMA character, especially a relatively minor one, shouldn't be a surprise in the TMA sequel. How she got here is more interesting because it's likely not how JMJ managed it and probably a more calculated effort through The Gap or a similar anomaly. Either way, very excited to see where that goes.

DPHW Theory: Another set of fairly unexciting numbers. This is good and bad. The more this occurs the more likely it is I'm correct and called it very early, but it's also less fun to dig into. Either way it's 4824 which makes a good deal of sense overall. I'd expect D to be a little higher just from the statement but Needles doesn't seem like they want to kill anyone really and it's the liminal state of uncertainty that is the sweet spot for them. Pain is their game though and an 8 is a very strong showing for it. So that's all good. 2 for H also makes sense they seem to be able to disable people but not in an overtly supernatural way and I wouldn't say it was a particular focus of the ordeal. Finally, a 4 for W tracks pretty well for out pointy Distortion-lite new friend.

CAT#R# Theory: CAT1RB leaves little to be said beyond what I've already said other than what it was that I said last time probably isn't right. But I've not found a CAT#R# theory that I particularly love yet so nothing of great import has been lost.

Header talk: Back to some measure of normalcy here with Injury (needles) -/- intimidation. And I might as well talk about my current ideas for how crosslinks work. For the first few eps I had a pretty solid idea based around emotional states. Regret, Trespass, Dysmorphic, and Guilt (assuming 3 was misfiled) all seemed like the central emotional weight of each incident. But then Musical happened and that didn't fit with that idea. So I thought maybe it's about preoccupation. It's not strictly emotional but it's driven by what the incident's subject has at the forefront of their mind during the events. That would track with each of them. But then, of course, Invitation happened which makes that theory not hold up. Afterwards I thought that it might be the vector instead and the more I think about it the more it makes sense. Crosslinks might describe the route an incident takes to manifest, how it finds its way into reality. Harriet's regret pushes her to contact whichever avatar Frankenstein-ed Arthur, RedCanary's trespassing triggered the Institute's protections, Daria's dysmorphia shaped how she was able to sculpt herself, Dr. Webber's guilt drew him into the infection's grasp/the plant life in the garden spread the infection, the violin collects its payment through music, and Voyeur claimed another victim via invitation. And now we have Needles who intimidates their victims for the fear they crave. I'm sure the next episode will ruin this theory too but that's half the fun.

#the magnus protocol #tmagp speculation #tmagp theory #klaus = kl4-u5

[asunnycoffee]

Even if we are to ignore your repeating history of being a complete nutcase, there’s no doubt about it that you perpetuate many of the same beliefs you seem against. “Oh, Lilys against Asian people.” ..how? Because she dislikes anime? Your own Trans Girl Bad nonsense is absurd, especially for someone who’s apparently trans (which I honestly have a feeling is just being used to make yourself look better but I digress.)

Like, truly, what do you gain from continuously targeting indigenous trans women like this? What, do you get your rocks off to harassing a literal cancer patient? Surprise, cunt: You’re failing miserably.

Go get therapy and learn what words mean. Or just grab the nearest bottle of bleach when you’re thirsty. Either one works.

You’re an insane freak who clearly needs to be put in some form of (or really just) an asylum.

There is a fine line between having your own distaste for the majority of anime considering overused tropes and issues with sexism and flat out disregarding an entire culture. Let’s say she hasn’t implied our country’s bombing was a good thing, that doesn’t erase the fact how claiming “Japan has more billboards than people” and “the jelly donuts controversy is the same as the censored gun episode” are the most ridiculous statements I’ve heard.

2. I came out as trans when I was still a fan of Lily, so do not try to claim and I’m “faking it” as a means of clout. My identity is none of your business, bitch.

3. Lily isn’t indigenous in any way shape or form. Looking at a few of her posts regarding native issues is key evidence.

4. I have not harassed Lily. Like at all. I had my issues with Ginger and responded, but I’ve never done that with Lily on the basis of how I’m literally unable to considering she blocked me.

5. I’m already trying to get into therapy. English also is not my first language, but I doubt that’s what you meant. And no, I will not be drinking bleach for you.

6. I’d prefer it if you didn’t refer to me as insane, freak, or say I belong in an asylum. I’m going to assume you aren’t aware of the ableism in these statements, so I forgive you for these insults if that’s the case.

7. Addressing your first argument: Where have I shown a pattern of being racist? Provide any form of proof or just shut the fuck up.

#tw ableist language #likely unintentional but still looking out for those triggered by that kind of shit #lily orchard

[erikiara80]

Joyce, Hopper and Terry's message

I've already talked about the many Kali-Henry parallels, but there are other very interesting things. For example, like other people pointed out, Axel's mask is also at Melvald's (and the girl's mask is a tiger, hm)

Brain damaged. The only close up we get of the tattoo is in 2x01. Mike also mentions brain damage in S3, when he's worried about El. So, 2x01, the first time we see Kali, starts with a police chase, Brain Damaged tattoo and Kali creating an illusion that causes a car accident. What could it mean for El? If you follow my blog, you know my car crash theory. A car accident in the past that involved Hopper, maybe drowning, and then being revived? (Breath! She wasn't breathing)

A bald man even says to El: You're dead! We're all dead! (Ten in 4x01: Ellis and Six. Dead. They're both dead)

The only bald child in the show is Sarah. And she's dead. And the other scene where we see bald people (the prisoners) and kids are mentioned, is when Hopper yells at Dimitri that his son is not his son.

But this also seems connected to Joyce. In this scene we see Kali and El in front of a wrecked green car (there's also a green car in Terry's memory), the words mom and Janice (J, like Joyce), No. (number) and Ace.

Green car, mom J, police, El, car accident and Kali (Number One)

But speaking of Sarah. Dottie wears a clown mask. There are clowns on Sarah's pajamas, and Will was scared of clowns.

In 2x07 we see a flashback of what Kali does before the police chase in 2x01. I think it could be another hint at what happened in the past, maybe even what caused the car chase and the accident. Kali kills a man connected to the lab: one of the articles El reads in 2x05 is about the abduction of a newborn boy from a hospital by a nurse, who is later found dead from a gunshot wound in her house. Name of the journalist: Frank Williams

This extra, a blonde pregnant woman. El's mother? But the number on the bus is 4+2+2= 8 (or ten, if we count the other 2). Not eleven. Eight/Kali makes people see or not see whatever she chooses, so I wonder what is true and what not in Terry's memories.

The song that plays in this scene is Runaway

All your life all you asked is when's your daddy gonna talk to you. But you were living in another world, trying to get your message through

Then shot of the cops. This reminds me of Hopper seeing and hearing Sarah, but telling himself that it was all in his mind.

(end of the episode, when El sees her dad in the void, Mike says almost the same words. He too is trying to get a message through. I need to get through! I need to get through! I need to warn them. It's a trap!)

The cops are drinking coffee. Like coffee and contemplation (and donut). First thing Hopper says, when Flo tells him that Joyce can't find her son. And he has his coffee mug in S2, when he and Murray talk about the girl, the "russian spy".

In 2x05, at Terry's, before El enters the room, this is what they're saying on the TV:

Name a way you occupy your time when you're having a boring day at work. Drink coffee. "Drink coffee" said Mike. ... Yeah! Five answers will beat it, Lynn. [Lynn] Visit with other employees. [host] "Visit with other employees!" Terry: Rainbow.

Mike? Well, maybe not our Mike. I'm thinking about the many Michael Myers references, and Mikhail not being Dimitri's son.

Drinking coffee when you have a boring day at work -> coffee and contemplation. So, the first thing they do is connecting Terry and Hopper. And they do it in S1 too, when Becky says twice, with a smile, that Terry and Hopper would get along. They even have the same octagon table. Eight again...

The name Lynn. Like Vera Lynn? Her song, We'll meet again, plays after the sauna scene in S3, when we see the crowd of Flayed people. A song about Vera Lynn is in Pink Floyd album The Wall (Ross posted the photo of the poster a few weeks ago) which was released in 1979. I could be wrong, but...

Vera Lynn-> 1979, and Terry's first word, after Lynn says "visit with other employees", is rainbow

Could this be a hint that Terry wasn't just a subject of the experiments, but worked with Brenner? (employee) That she was Mama to Brenner's Papa?

Back to the coffee. Not only do they mention it on the TV, but then Terry shows El two coffee mugs, when she changes the channels, after a police chase (Kali calls Hopper policeman) But why would Terry show El police chases and coffee mugs? The other commercials seem about the lab. Terry is not just randomly changing the channels. She's talking. And for some reason, she's including Hopper in her message.

Blonde woman. Not sure if she stands for Terry or Virginia.

The score: 91, 64 -> 9+1, 6+4. Ten and ten. One and One. Or two. Lol, or eleven. I have to make a post about all the other things they show on that TV.

After the blonde woman, Terry shows El donuts. Many identical donuts and Was it worth the trip? Imo, a hint at the lab kids.

Then a Computer Supercenter. The Lab. MkUltra. I think Will's visual aid about Alan Turing hints at that too, not just at his queerness.

Then the police chase and the coffee mugs. But, like I said, if all this is about Terry and El's past, what does Hopper have to do with it?

Unless Terry is connecting El and Sarah. Maybe in S5 we're going to see Sarah's story in the lab, but I doubt it, or maybe Sarah and El were swapped at the hospital (after the car chase?) and that's why there are so many parallels between Hopper, Joyce and Terry?

Joyce and her coffee mug! But the coffee is drugged. Interesting.

Another big clue, imo. Ray was in Vietnam (here) And there's an extra who resembles Hopper in Terry's memory

It's just crazy how connected Joyce, Hopper and Terry are.

#el hopper #kali prasad #terry ives #jim hopper #joyce byers #st parallels #st theory #st analysis #stranger things

[blurban-form]

Queenslanders

Many locations have housing types that because of local conditions become very common and come to define an area. Los Angeles dingbats, auto worker housing in Detroit, and Texas donuts are some examples.

But we’re not here to talk those, we’re going to talk about Queenslanders, the type of house the Heelers live in. Like so much of “Bluey”, they’re depicted very realistically.

Queenslanders are the term for a type of house that became commonplace in Queensland, Australia, particularly in Brisbane. (Note the term can also refer to the construction style, so other types of building could be called Queenslanders too.)

They date back to the 1840s when Brisbane was expanding rapidly. Queensland's population increased rapidly from 30,000 inhabitants in 1861 to half a million by 1901 due to a mining boom. Housing was needed that could be constructed rapidly. In the early 20th century, these homes were available as kits from lumber suppliers but were also built by home-building firms, they could be constructed rapidly while maintaining a high level of quality.

Construction and Features

These homes tend to be large: this was intentional as when Brisbane was developing, a minimum lot size was specified to prevent very cramped/dense slum areas that had become an issue in other Australian cities.

These homes were constructed of readily-available low-cost materials: wooden planks and metal roofs, typically a single-level on wooden “stumps”.

This use of these stump posts as the footings for the house had multiple benefits. It protected against flooding (i.e. this lower area could flood without destroying the home’s contents), keeps bugs out (the posts would use metal caps to keep ants from climbing up into the house), and allowed the homes to be built rapidly without the need to smooth out/level the terrain with earth-moving equipment, and also allows the building to be easily moved, raised, etc. if need be.

Note how the Heeler’s house appears to have part of the lower level upgraded while part of it is still an unimproved crawlspace-type area.

Other features include:

Spinning rooftop ventilators to allow hot air to be expelled from the house.

Gabled roofs with steep pitches, typically with fireproof metal roofs (originally corrugated iron, now steel as used on barn roofs), as this was material readily available, could stand up to heavy rains, and was easily replaced in the event of cyclone damage. (Most episodes of Bluey show the house with flatter-style steel barn-type roofing, but “Hammerbarn” shows corrugated metal!)

They have verandas (porches) that wrap around the house but do not enclose the house entirely. Sometimes these get enclosed to create additional indoor living space. The veranda serves as an indoor/outdoor space, and can even be used as a sleeping area in the summer.

The crawlspace area could be used as a shaded play area, workshop, etc. and many were ultimately upgraded into living space but this eliminated the protection against flooding. (This space would be vulnerable)

Inside the rooms are connected and designed with lots of openings to allow for airflow to keep them cool. (As there was no air conditioning at the time.)

(When I did the series of house walkthrough posts I noted how there are often open windows and good airflow throughout the house)

These homes have a light, breezy feel, often being compared to treehouses, or tents. This can also be a criticism; the walls can be thin (making privacy an issue) and hard to insulate, which wasn’t a consideration when they were constructed.

These features combine to make these homes well-adapted to the warm & humid climate of Queensland, where rainfall is heavy and the average summer temperature is typically in the range of 23–36°C (73–97°F). Brisbane is located in a low-lying swamp area and is prone to flooding.

They began falling out of favour after WWII. One reason for this was that earth-moving technology had improved meaning it was no longer necessary to build using stumps, as uneven land could be levelled for building.

References

#Bluey Queenslanders #Bluey architecture #Bluey housing stock #Bluey

[theonewhospeaksinweird]

💜🖤(Katakuri Head Canons)💜🖤

💚 = Lime/Lil Spicy

💛 = Lemon

💙 = Sad

❤️ = Angsty (won't do many of these unless prompted)

💜 = Fluff

💔 = Heartbreak (rare unless prompted)

🖤 = Normal

Okay, soo like I have at least 6 story ideas in my drafts, but they're gonna take forever to finish, and I feel I haven't posted much of anything for the few followers that I have, so here is (for once) a short drabble!~

I see these all the time, and my mind is just stuffed with this mochi man, so I gotta relieve some pressure!~ These are gonna be all over the place with how I think things about him are.~ Enjoy!~

<コ:彡ミ☆<コ:彡ミ☆<コ:彡ミ☆<コ:彡ミ☆<コ:彡ミ☆

🍩 I feel that sometimes people display Katakuri as so serious, mister grouchy grr grr all the time, but that's just because we mainly saw him when the Strawhat were literally being terrorists. Like, remember how blushy he got with Brulee after his fight?? (Refer to picture at top) This man is literally a softie inside and out with people he's comfortable with!~

🍩 If the incident with Brulee getting hurt as a child bc of him never happened, he'd be so silly with Daifuku and Oven!~

🍩 Like, he'd still be the most serious one, but they'd basically be like Luffy, Zoro and Sanji, haha!~ (I'm literally feral for fanart of those three doing silly shit together!~ 😭)

🍩 Cue Katakuri and Daifuku fighting 24/7 over stupid shit while Oven laughs on the side, and then Daifuku and Oven bantering like children while Katakuri just disassociates beside them.

🍩 I just imagined Katakuri in that tiny shirt Zoro had on in Water 7 while carrying all his little siblings, HELP-

🍩 This isn't a head canon but the one cover art of Katakuri finding out Luffy's the 5th Emperor and him laughing at it while eating donuts with Brulee and Cracker kills me everyday!~ 🥰 He looks so happy and relaxed with them, and his laugh is "BAHAHAHAHA"!!

🍩That cover art just proves he's the sweetest thing!~ He would TOTALLY fall into Strawhat shenanigans if he meets up with the crew again now that Big Mom is gone!~ Kind of like how Zoro is after the time Skip, reserved but still indulges from time to time.

🍩 On the Big Mom being gone note, he is definitely the new captain of the Big Mom Pirates, which he'd probably rename to the Charlotte Pirates or something to get away from Linlin's shadow.

🍩 I can just see Perospero coming home from Wano, all pissed and aggravated from being punched around like nothing by everybody there, yelling at his siblings to do things.

🍩They all just stare, blank faced, at him before pointing to Katakuri running things saying he's the new captain.

🍩 Peros would be livid, going on about how he's the oldest and how he almost DIED fighting alongside Mama in Wano.

🍩 And all of them are like, "Too bad, so sad, Big Brother Katakuri is better. Skill issue, ig- ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯" And list all the healthy things he's been doing for the islands and family while Peros was gone.

🍩 Katakuri is standing right there, a little flustered at the open compliments, trying to tell them to at least give Peros a chance, but Peros is over it.

🍩 Bro just storms out, claiming he don't want the job no more! Petty af for a few days, grumbling about inefficiencies and punishments for stuff done wrong.

🍩 And Katakuri just shakes his head and says they don't do that anymore because it was hurting someone in the family.

🍩 Eventually, Peros sees all the things he's trying to change not just for the crew, but for how their entire family acts and lives.

🍩 They agree to co-captain just so Katakuri isn't left yet again with everything on his shoulders.

🍩 Katakuri's still busy but his siblings try harder to make him take more breaks, especially Brulee and Cracker.

🍩 It would take a while until he relents, kind of acting like Squidward in that one episode where he keeps coming back to the Krusty Krab thinking SpongeBob is gonna fuck everything up, haha!

🍩 It's not that he doesn't trust his siblings and their capabilities, he's just not used to NOT being needed to hold everything together.

🍩 Once he's relaxed in that aspect, I think he'd slowly come out of his shell and start to go out without his scarf.

🍩 At first it's just in his home, which freaks out his staff into thinking they're gonna die by seeing his full face, and then with some hyping from Brulee, he starts going out without it.

🍩He is absolutely a nervous WRECK walking around feeling so bare without it but the townspeople love him so much and say how handsome he is and how COOL his teeth are that he almost CRIES-

🍩 Like, you can't change my mind on this sappy thought bc remember how the people on Pudding's island were when she went back after the wedding to make the cake?? You can't tell me everyone living in Tottoland doesn't ADORE Katakuri, the man who is always protecting them and kept Big Mom in check the best he could all these years!!

🍩 It's so cute how he tries to pull up a scarf that isn't there when he's trying to hide an emotion, and when he realizes what he did it only makes him flustered! ☺️

🍩 Flampe is disgruntled, maybe even still let down, at this development and tries to trash talk him to her siblings, but for once everyone is like "Shut up, little girl, you're literally slandering your brother who loves you very much, wtf?" And she just shuts down!

🍩 I NEED to believe that Brulee like slapped or punished Flampe somehow when she heard all the things she did and said to Katakuri when he took off his scarf during his fight w/ Luffy! 🙏

🍩 Katakuri isn't mad or anything, just hurt, and tells Flampe that he hopes she can love him again, and finally gives her the pets she wanted but doesn't deserve and that makes her little less bratty

🍩 Katakuri's newfound courage to walk about without his scarf leads to Pudding being less ashamed about her third eye, and MAYBE she starts acting like her normal self with a hint of sadism here and there.

🍩 Secretly, Katakuri fiends for ANY new info on Luffy and his crew, talking about them with Brulee who is the only one willing to listen to his fanboy ass.

🍩 When it's revealed that Big Mom was defeated in Wano, he still thanks Luffy for it even though Kidd and Law are the ones that actually took her down.

🍩 It was a Luffy domino effect, so it counts as a Luffy win, trust 👍

🍩 Obviously, he keeps the black hat that Luffy left on him after his fight, and can't help but laugh every time he sees it sitting on his desk. It's a joy boy affect 🥺

🍩 I know Film Red isn't canon, but I can just imagine the aftermath of that with Brulee now being taken with Sanji like Pudding, and those two just gushing over the Strawhat cook to a disgruntled Katakuri who doesn't like the way they talk about the skirt chasing blonde.

🍩 Mochi man holds some respect for Sanji too since he heard how he refused to poison the cake he helped Pudding make for Mama during her hunger rampage. He saved his sibling's lives and much of their territory from being destroyed.

🍩 Still didn't stop him from rolling his eyes at every squeal over his chivalrous words and actions-

🍩 With Katakuri as the new captain, the Charlotte family actually starts healing and acting like a true family over time.

🍩 Katakuri makes sure that the youngest siblings don't grow up with the same traumas all of them grew up with, reassuring them in their appearances and abilities when he can.

🍩 He's an irredeemable villain to you, but he's my special little princess mochi man 🥰

<コ:彡ミ☆<コ:彡ミ☆<コ:彡ミ☆<コ:彡ミ☆<コ:彡ミ☆

That's all of my random thoughts and ideas for Katakuri and his family!~ I see why people do this, it's fun to just type what comes to mind and not have to make sure it's sensible in a story, haha!~ I might do one for him again but him with an S/O.~ Maybe him and a few other of my favorites.~

There's not enough for him, I swear I've read everything everywhere already, so now I must make everything I want myself.~ It's a curse to always like side characters that are shown to have depth but aren't given the screen time to explore it!~

Ugh, anyways, see you next time, dearies, I appreciate any feedback and interaction!~ Mwah mwah!~

#katakuri #Charlotte katakuri #big mom pirates #drabbles #charlotte katakuri drabbles #charlotte katakuri head canons #katakuri head canons #one piece #mochi man #big mom pirates head canons #knacks writes #one piece head canons #wano spoilers #whole cake island spoilers #one piece spoilers

[on-this-day-btvs]

November 23, 1999

I Will Remember You aired for ATS season 1, episode 8. This was the first of two Buffy appearances in ATS. In a 2005 Angel magazine poll this was voted as the readers' favorite ATS episode. Often this is referred to as "IWRY." This is the last time ever in the Buffyverse that Buffy and Cordelia interact.

Angel eats a lot of food in this episode: donut, apple, chocolate, yogurt, peanut butter, ice cream, chocolate waffle. Buffy joins him in eating ice cream.

(image credit to buffyversefans) (Angel magazine poll details)

#ats #ep: 1x08 i will remember you #angel #buffy summers #buffy x angel #bangel #month: november #date: 23 #year: 1999

[urlocalbowserfangirl]

Say to hello to my new PMATGA OC Sydney that I've requested @verogoblin to draw my PMATGA OC with Betrayus

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Bio

Full Name: Sydney Lee Miller

Other names: Syd, Syðn3y (Gamer Tag), Sydney-San

Age: 14

Gender: Female

Pronoun: She/Her

Species: Pac-Person/Pac-Walker (Which is a reference to Wolfwalkers)

Occupation: Student, Future queen of the Netherworld (Formerly), Team member of Pac-Man, Cheerleader of Maze High cheerleading squad, Idol of Pac-World and PacTokyo

Alignment: Neutral

Skills/Weapons/Abilities: Plasma Sucking Cannon, Martial arts, Pac-Hammer, High Intelligence, Dancing Skills, Gadgets, Singing Skills, Technology expertise, Fourth Wall Awareness

Vehicle: Motorcycle, Hover Board

Goals: Protect Pac-World from Betrayus and his ghost army (Formerly), Rule Pac-World with Betrayus (Formerly)

Home: Pac-World, PacTokyo, Netherworld (Fomerly)

Hobbies: Dancing, Gaming, Singing, Drawing, ETC

Appearance: She is a red Pac-Worlder with Black hair with red tips on her hair. She wears a Gir hat that her older sister gave her on her 6th birthday, red eyes, red and grey arm warmers, Kandi bracelets, spike bracelet, pyramid stud cuff, black nail polish, black and red fluffy leg warmers, and black heeled boots.

Height: 3 foot 5 inches tall (Same height as Pac and Cyli)

Gender: Female

Horoscope: Sagittarius

Disorder: Autistim/ADHD

Sexuality: Bisexual

Personality: Sydney is an intelligent, Short-temperted, upbeat, serious, flirty, shy, sarcastic, beautiful, kind, tomboyish, and attractive girl. When she's excited or grossed out, she switches to her Spanish to Japanese language. She has also been known to be a bit stubborn. Despite this, she is also courageous and able to fight. Sydney also lives in PacTokyo with Elliptica before she becomes a teenage idol.

Powers/Abilities: Shapeshifting into a Pac-Wolf, Healing, Super speed, Possession skills (Only when she's a ghost)

Voice actor: Jessica DiCicco, Fairouz Ai (Japanese dub), and Colleen O'Shaughnessey (Pac-Man And The Ghostly Adventures (2013) and Pac-Man and The Ghostly Adventures 2 (2014) video game)

Family: ???

Siblings: Mayumi Miller (older sister), Quinn Miller (younger sister), Kenzo Miller (baby brother)

Relatives: Daniella (future younger daughter), Blinky (future oldest son), Pinky ( future older daughter), Inky (future older son), Clyde (future younger son)

Love interests: Lord Betrayus, Cylindria

Pets: Miko (Fire mouse), Fluffy (Biological pet)

Friends: Pac-Man, Spiral, Elliptica, Sherry, Sir C, Spheria Suprema, President Spheros, Fluffy, Fuzbits, Blinky, Inky, Pinky, Clyde, Dr. Buttocks, Butt-ler, Fluffy, and Tip (Frenemy)

Enemies: Skeebo (Rival), Specter, and Apex

Likes: Ghosts, Bacon, Animals, Wolves, Scenecore songs, Hot Topic, Music, Helping others, Video Games, Death Metal, Kandi bracelets, Fashion, Ice Cream, Pocky, Cake pops, Painting, Pizza, Going on secret dates with Betrayus or Cyli, Donuts, Animes, The Netherworld, Chocolate, Mint, Brownies, Pac-It-In Burgers, Ogle's Infamous Slug-Dogs And Roach Burgers, Puppies, Nether monsters, ETC

Dislikes: Betrayal, Liars, Making fun of, Thieves, (When Skeebo tried to steal her power berries), Getting kidnapped (As she had once kidnapped by Betrayus or Dr. Buttocks in a few episodes), Being seen as a damsel in distress, Being grounded from her electronics, Her friends and family in danger, Cheaters, King Spooky hurting Betrayus, ETC

Status: Alive/Dead (As a ghost)

Quote: "Live from PacTokyo and Pacopolis, it's your girl! You know her, you love her! Sydney Lee Miller! -Sydney's first line in the TV series of season 3

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Trivia

● Like Pac, her parents mysteriously disappeared after The Great Pac-World War. She was too young to remember them.

● Her friend Spiral said that she’s stubborn like her mother.

● Sydney calls Cyli "Koibito," which means "Sweetheart" in Japanese.

● She met Betrayus during Halloween night, when she was 6 years old.

● Sydney was based on Marcline, Sticks The Badger, Princess Daisy, and Ms. Chalice

● During the few episodes, Sydney has her own berry dispenser which resembles to Cylindria’s.

● Sydney can play the guitar, and quite decently so. She was taught by her sister.

● Sydney was abused by Betrayus after she and him broke up during the Pac-World War. Her hair was red gradient before he made her a Pac-Walker AKA a Pac-Wolf. She really has to hide that identity from Pac or Cyli.

● Sydney could sing better than Skeebo in Pacopolis, which could attract all of her fanboys and fangirls.

● As for Syd, she has a big appetite like Pac when she's alive. But she's a ghost, she eats Slugs, Slug Dogs, Fried Slugs, Roach Burgers, Maggotroni & Cheese, Weevil Waffles, and Sludge Stew. Proving that she both like the Pac-World side and the Nether side.

● She is the fifty-ninth Pac-Man female to be the protagonist villain of the show, the first being Mr. Wolf in the flim of The Bad Guys.

● Syd knows the location of the repository and Tree Of Life except all of the other ghosts in the Netherworld, including Betrayus, Dr. Buttocks, or Butt-ler.

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#pac man #pmatga #pacman and the ghostly adventures #pmatga fanart #pacman sona #pacman oc #fan character

[yukidragon]

I was curious about whether the bad yogurt combo could possibly shed some more specific light on Joseph’s traumatic past.

Like maybe coffee was constantly used to keep him alert for long hours while being overworked on learning lines, maybe the rum sauce reminded him of using alcohol to cope (potentially even past alcoholism? He had to remind himself he was ‘clean now’ and could be whoever he wanted to be).

Maybe the cashews reminded him of snacking on packets of nuts when he didn’t get enough time for a proper meal break. (Though art shows it was donuts being held in his mouth while busy reading lines.) Nuts are also served at bars alongside alcohol.

Also Ian apparently liked cashews on pizza… I have no idea how Jackseph could possibly even know that but perhaps it briefly crossed Sunshine’s mind while making Jack his yogurt. I can’t imagine he would have liked that.

Ps. I love your in-depth interpretations and discussions on Jack. I like digging into interactions and lore.

Aww, thank you so much! Reading that made me very happy.

I think your thoughts are very insightful. Nuts are a pretty popular pairing to alcohol, which is often used as a drug of choice for coping with stressful situations, much like Joseph's cigarettes. Coffee could be argued as another drug due to the effects of caffeine, though a more benign one. With the bags he had under his eyes and how tired he was in some of the teaser art, it does seem like he would need that pick-me-up to make it through the day.

While I find the reference to Ian with the cashews to be very interesting, especially when they're part of the worst yogurt combination... I don't think that's related to the trauma response. Really, it might just be another deliberate parallel between Ian and Joseph that's being drawn in the story.

When you get down to it, Ian and Joseph have a lot of similarities. They're both actors, they both want love, they both want MC specifically, they're both friends with MC, and they both have been given the role of Sunny Day Jack. I suspect that there's going to be deliberate echoes in Ian's story that relates to Joseph's and how badly that ended. The cashews might be another hint at that.

Interestingly enough, combining caffeine and alcohol is actually really bad for you. As I recall from an episode of Food Theory, caffeine dilates the arteries to increase blood flow and makes the alcohol concentration in the blood increase to dangerous levels. This combination has led to people being hospitalized or even dying. It's not exactly the best combination for one's health, but some people do it anyway despite the risks.

Sadly, sometimes people get addicted to things that are dangerous and unhealthy due to stress or other factors. The entertainment industry is absolutely rife with stories of substance abuse, and I suspect, sadly, Joseph was among those who dabbled in various kinds of drugs.

It's entirely possible that Joseph could've even been pressured to partake in addictive drugs like alcohol, smoking, or even illegal drugs because of social pressure. It's sadly an all too common problem, especially when in a situation where a person feels they must conform to the group or risk being outed from it.

Joseph was homeless and struggling to get by before he joined the SunnyTime Crew Show. He apparently had no love as a kid and rebelled, maybe even falling in with a group that smoked and did awful things just to fit in. It's entirely possible that he is especially susceptible to peer pressure just on the off chance of being loved.

Sadly... this is even reflected in the present. Jack will be whatever MC wants him to be. He makes that clear. He'll give them whatever they want. If they asked him to do something... he'll probably do it, even if reluctantly, if it means they'll love him, need him, and won't forget him...

Jack might be clean now, and he might want to stay that way, but he's desperate enough to get his hands dirty with blood in order to keep his sunshine... so who knows how far he'll go just to be loved?

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur

#Sunny Day Jack #Something's Wrong With Sunny Day Jack #SunnyDayJack #sdj #swwsdj #Headcanon Ramblings #Ask