The RWBY Fandom came together on post
www.tumblr.com/iamafanofcartoons/714857308133441536/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
And discussed why RWBY was an enjoyable show for each of them.
Hmvw2015:
For me, RWBY filled the void left behind by Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.
It’s one of the few shows I’ve seen (aside from Adventure Time) that grows up with its audience.
The fight scenes are so incredible! They’re lightening fast I would have to rewatch the same episode at least twice or thrice! Easily rivaling those done by Studios Gainax or TRIGGER, or Titmouse.
Since every character, place, and object have connections to fairy tales, mythologies, folklore, and classic novels, it did a great job portraying them to their root inspirations. Plus, I’m always digging deep into their designs and backstories.
The music is almost top tier to the music from the Disney Renaissance Era. Maybe even better than that. The songs add another layer of foreshadowing for the characters, and they’re fun to listen to~!
It tackles issues like self-worth, abuse, and death.
The series basically screams “Women’s Rights” and “Gay Rights” and proud of it. :D www.tumblr.com/hmvw2015/715987868852666368/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Ammy246: I've always enjoyed the characters, and I like how there are 4 badass female protagonists who are each enjoyable to watch. I also like how the villains are actually threatening, so the heroes have to put effort into earning victories unlike many works of fiction. The animation always excites me, because you never know what you're going to get. And, don't even get me started on the amazing soundtrack.
Cinnamonrollfuckhead: it tickles all the right things about me. i got in trouble for reading in classes when i finished my work early at school, it was nearly always history or mythology. i was an ancient Egypt kid. i read outside my age group. if Snapple wanted to employ me to write factoids for their caps i would take it. i was hooked on RWBY immediately despite being older than any of the main characters. i found an unlikely character to relate to in Jaune. i loved how it balanced serious and goofy themes.
Satoshi-mochida: Some stuff I like about the show is that it's pretty fun and entertaining to watch, has constantly improving writing and animation(the CRWBY recognizing ACTUAL criticism, and working on those), with smarter and deeper than some may think moments, well-done characters, great music and songs, and probably more. I even cosplayed as Jaune(and the 'HuntsMan' with a Wonder-Zwei plush)with my then-girlfriend before COVID hit and other stuff happened, and enjoyed doing that.
Haunted-meatsack: I'm waaaaay behind but I started watching for the fight choreography, music, and battle skirts. Plus I'm a sucker for small girls who kick ass with GIANT weapons. Then the story and characters kept me coming. I need to catch up.
www.tumblr.com/haunted-meatsack/715895495101497344/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Bumblebyfan: I like RWBY due to a lot of reasons, for starters, the relationships between the main characters, and how they constantly help each other, I also really like the whole fantasy setting and how funny it is at times, I also really liked how they handled Ruby’s arc during season 9, as someone who has had... intrusive thoughts
www.tumblr.com/bumblebyfan/715730749688561664/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
XLBINGO10: one thing that i particularly like about rwby is that the characters aren't dumbasses. i feel like so often in shows i watch there's an episode conflict where the characters make an obviously terrible plan that will clearly backfire horribly just for the sake of the episode plot and it's always painful to watch, so it's really nice to watch a show where that doesn't happen.
www.tumblr.com/xlbingo10/715707865708527616/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable.
Sir-Somewhat: I love the cast.
I honestly can't say there is a character I am not fond of in some way and that includes the villians.
I love the idea of semblances and the faunus.
Also I want more faunus lore. Given the existence of the Ever After I have to wonder if the Faunus came from another world created by the Brothers.
www.tumblr.com/sir-somewhat/715323283721076736/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Ghost-of-Sparda: Rwby was a show I found in college that I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy, but as I watched it- I found myself completely enthralled in the world created by Monty Oum and his friends. It’s story has me on the edge of my seat every episode, and it’s anime vibes make it a treat to watch. It’s not perfect, I will admit that- and there have been times where I didn’t agree with a direction of story telling at first. However there hasn’t been a show that gets me as excited as RWBY does since I was a kid.
If you grew up watching anime, or grew up watching anime- I’d give RWBY a go. If you are still not over the Owl House/ She-Ra/ ATLA/ LOK/ Naruto/ or any other amazing series with crazy fights and an amazing story: I recommend Rwby as your next obsession.
And if you want to give anime a try, but are still dipping your toes into the medium- Rwby is a good half way point for newcomers.
www.tumblr.com/ghost-of-sparda/715237926532956160/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Aspiringwarriorlibrarian: I really like the characters and their arcs, tragic villains, the triumph of hope and healing, and the fantasy elements.
www.tumblr.com/aspiringwarriorlibrarian/715056039519830016/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Miki-13:
I love how they use fairy tales and myths as inspiration but execute them in really interesting ways, as well as how human and grounded everyone feels while inside such a fantastic setting.
www.tumblr.com/miki-13/715136165044469760/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Thatringboy: For the same reasons above, I’m also in love with the complex motivations behind the antagonists. Mercury hated the world and needed an enabler, Emerald needed security, Cinder snapped after a lifetime of abuse (just like Mercury), Hazel wanted revenge, Lionhart wanted to save himself, Raven wanted to save herself, Tyrian is just insane (based), Watts wanted petty revenge, Neo wanted revenge but doesn’t know what to do afterwards, CC wants to fulfill their cruel purpose, and Salem just wants to finally die. Torchwick was a comical villain who posed a dangerous threat, the Malachite sisters were doing their jobs, Ironwood was a victim of his own paranoia, Cardin was just racist, Cordovin worships her superiors, the Fennec brothers too, Adam wanted total control over everything and everyone in his life and would stop at nothing to get it, Ilia believed in a cause, Tock was following orders, it’s all so varied and exciting!!
www.tumblr.com/thatringboy/715138435689676800/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Pyrokinetic-murder-hobo: I honestly fell in love with this project immediately back when the red trailer was first introduced to me.
Though the animation for RWBY was simple and understandably a lot of people regard it as not the best. Even V1 and the original 4 trailers had a living soul to me and there was a certain charm to the characters and the animation.
What kept me coming back is I find myself being unable to predict where the show will go and it honestly keeps me drawn in that my thoughts and predictions are completely circumvented. The show doesn’t follow the trajectory of really any other media and Monty navigated it masterfully.
There’s so many relatable characters and the situations they are put in are approached not perfectly but in a human way as to be a human (even if you have copious amounts of power) means you’ll definitely trip up.
But simply put I’ve loved this project since the beginning with the 4 trailers and could write a dissertation on why I love this show and include a long list of different things I love ranging from OST to characters to design animation. But maybe a talk for another day
And it made me some awesome friends on tumblr of course too which is a major plus (you better know who you are lol)
https://www.tumblr.com/pyrokinetic-murder-hobo/715072709057478656/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
iamafanofcartoons: For me, RWBY is a change of pace.
It allows for women to be shown as independent characters, just as smart and strong as male ones.
It doesn’t use fanservice , you don’t have internal monologuing during fight scenes, you don’t have people screaming random attack names, and the music and designs are great.
I appreciate the humor, its not toilet humor or degrading humor like a lot of anime.
It also tackles difficult themes like abuse, leadership, morality, and debate.
It also takes the white male savior trope so common in the fanfics that people use to promote their OCs, and takes a giant dump on that garbage. If anything, when people say “the fanfics are better than the show” you’ll see them promoting a white male savior trope above all else.
Finally? Its a pro-LGBT show on many aspects, which amusingly infuriates a lot of straight shippers who defend their straight white male character who they put on a pedestal.
www.tumblr.com/iamafanofcartoons/715040015347040256/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Grimmgrinningghouls: for me RWBY is a comfort It has been for 10 years I literally would not be who I am today without this show I'd probably still be a closeted lesbian living in a conservative household with an abusive father and a mother who hated me hell I may not even be here But instead I'm living across the world from them and I'm okay As okay as I can be Its helped me through so much and its introduced me to people I have become life long friends with These funky little lesbians are part of my life and they will be till the day I die
www.tumblr.com/grimmgrinningghouls/715064091163721728/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Snowqueenofmyheart: Agreed to the above, as well as being able to enjoy a story that centers women in a way that doesn’t reduce them to simplistic tropes or fanservice. I’ve been looking for more female-centered material over the last several years, and stumbling upon RWBY turned out to be a real joy in that regard. Across the board, you have so many compelling female characters, heroes and villains alike. Not to mention two main characters being explicitly in a queer romance is a delight and a relief. www.tumblr.com/snowqueenofmyheart/715058819349233664/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Youraveragecatastrophe: well first i love fantasy so we're off to a good start between the monsters heroes and magic the characters are a very strong point of this show. they're well fleshed out (even many secondary characters including villains and despite the big cast!) and they get the opportunity to develop and evolve i love the themes! love and hope and caring about each other and all that the fights are really fun to watch especially with the unique weapons and everyone's different fighting style the story is really compelling and well written too! also gayness. can't forget the queerness really this show has everything
www.tumblr.com/youraveragecatastrophe/715058708953071616/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Foulfirerebel: The music was what first made me get interested in RWBY. The hard hitting rock that also carried quite a bit of meaning into it if you truly took a moment to listen to the lyrics.
So, from there I watched V1 at a friend's house and felt it was good. It did a good job with the action scenes, and setting things up for the characters.
Volume 2, however, is where I truly fell in love with the show. The appearance of Cinder, of Ironwood, the food fight, the investigation into Torchwick and the White Fang, the dance and hacking sequence! Everything pointed to something more going on. Something hidden waiting to spring forth!
V1 was a great entry point, V2 convinced me to stay and hooked me, and when I finally marathoned V3 I was EAGER to watch V4 and onward. Any and all quibbles I may have had melted away when the Fall of Beacon happened.
So, long story short, I love the story. I love how things are built up and come back further down the line (Jaune's issues, Ruby's issues, etc.). I love how the characters do go through a lot and need help getting back up. I love how sincere and earnest everything is without a hint of irony.
I love the slow burn relationships, and that the show doesn't end with those relationships just being established. I love that, despite everything, this one little indie show has continued going past everything that's happened in a decade since it started. I love that the story is engaging, the characters are deep, the writing is great, and that I'm even feeling bad for the villains which I don't normally do.
RWBY may not be the most perfect thing ever, but frankly I love that the writers do see and incorporate feedback into their work. I love that, unlike how Halo or Star Wars do things, you don't necessarily need to have read all the side content to understand things too.
Most of all is I love how this show has improved on every level: animation, writing, voice acting, etc. It's just so refreshing. It's the Little Engine that Could continuing onward and getting better as it goes.
And hey, being a Bumbleby shipper since V3 and being vindicated in V9? Cherry on the sundae. It's been a wild ride, and I'd love it to continue.
www.tumblr.com/foulfirerebel/714989613562904576/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Maor-Koren: RWBY is one of my favorite shows, it take a unique concept and make it very enjoyable to watch.
The main and side characters are all unique in their own way and very enjoyable.
The story is really good.
The animation, fight scenes and the design of the characters and places are all very pleasing to the eye.
And the music is phenomenal.
Don’t let other people make your opinion! look at the show and see for yourself if you like it or not!
www.tumblr.com/maor-koren/714954350873788416/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
But-a-humble-goon: Rwby is, in a word, earnest. Its characters are unashamedly sincere, affectionate and vulnerable and the show understands not only that these things are not a weakness but that there can be no greater measure of strength. It’s a story overflowing with heart that categorically rejects stoicism and nihilism and never once apologises for itself. Nothing has ever hit me harder and I do mean that.
www.tumblr.com/but-a-humble-goon/714953671346176000/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
mikey-polo420: I watched RWBY Because i was drawn in by the trailers when Monty was alive and i liked the idea of cute girls fighting monsters with giant weapons, then i wanted to see their journey through beacon and now i've become invested with the Messages of hope the show presents, i love each of my precious children and want to see them achieve their happiness , i want to support RWBY to it's conclusion because that's what Monty wanted, it's what his friends wanted and they deserve to complete his Brain child.
www.tumblr.com/mikey-polo420/714951464721743872/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
mooninoir: i started watching when vol. 1 was still going, with a fansub (!) working hell and back to translate each episode as they came out. i remember waiting every week to see a new episode, and when the last episodes came, i was entirely invested in this sci-fi fantasy series with fairytale elements and wanted to know what would happen next.
and, for me, it's an endearing series that i enjoy watching, even with its flaws. it's fun, but it also has a heart. i like how it didn't shy away from telling a broader story. vol. 3's gut-wrenching finale was for me what made me realize i was not there just for the amazing fights and cool soundtrack, but for the characters and how they live in this crazy world. it was amazing to watch its worldbuilding evolve to such great lengths and see the characters i like to grow and learn and evolve along with it. they are done well and don't feel misplaced in the narrative. it just flows nicely and i guess the latest volume proved that to me (the themes, the motifs, the characters' choices, and the visuals) everything comes together, y'know?
and i just... like it. i like rwby. i really do.
www.tumblr.com/mooninoi714949733681102848/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Tumblingxelian: Why do you watch this show?
I watch RWBY for the cool characters, interesting setting and engaging overarching story and arcs, plus some gorgeous animation, sets and awesome music.
What makes it appeal to you?
Women, including queer women, are center stage and given tons of dynamic personality, agency and exploration in ways I rarely see done in other series.
www.tumblr.com/tumblingxelian/714943623381303296/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
feifiefofum: look, the ad on the tin was cute girls doing violent things and looking great while doing it. that was the impetus for me to follow the show, i was there when it started with the famous red trailer to yellow trailer.
the writing then wasn't bad, a bit condensed because, y'know, shoestring budget so everything was very tight time wise. but y'know, you didn't watch the four trailers and get sold on the story- which was good by the by, but it wasn't exceptional. it was by the numbers, hitting what they need to hit, but good. you didn't think it was spectacular.
but then volume 3 hits you out of nowhere, and you realize, oh, the writing is phenomenal actually.
rwby has deceptively good writing that on the surface is good par for the course that lulls you into complacency, and then manages to sideswipe you with incredible twists that you don't see, but on looking back, the seeds for the twist were planted from book 1 on. the world is slowly and meticulously rolled out to the viewer, the characters shine, and the action, while still spectacular, become secondary to the characters and the world.
i started watching rwby, expecting cute girls doing violent things. and they deliver on that, and if you come watch rwby just for that, it delivers that. i didn't come in for hearty world building, intrigue, and lore so deep you can get lost in it. the writers write on a razor's edge, giving enough lore for a backdrop and setting the stage, but if you decide to dig at any trail, you can get lost in it. the concept of dust, the name of the world itself- frankly i think it's a masterclass in giving enough to keep the story going but having enough in the back that every new twist that they lay out can be found to have grown from a seed that was planted in an earlier volume.
i dunno who traded their soul away to keep track of all that world building and lore, but that excel sheet must be something to behold. rwby throws u-turns that you don't expect at you, lulls you with a sense of 'okay, i see your tricks now' and somehow manages to turn you around again, and have it make sense.
frankly, it's a little frustrating, i've been bamboozled and led by the nose.
and i love it for that. i'm delighted by the ride i'm on, and i hope the show keeps going.
www.tumblr.com/feifiefofum/714920887601790976/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
aspennntree: I watch rwby for several reasons- mostly for the characters, i find some of them really relatable
also i just genuinely enjoy the story and the visuals and find the show very comforting
i also like the people i’ve met in this community that are kind and i like having people to share my interests with
i’ve made many new friends being in this community and it’s something i’m very passionate about, i just really enjoy it genuinely
www.tumblr.com/aspennntree/714906439613906944/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Tokufan400: Even with everything, I can't bring myself to stop watching RWBY. I got back into it after talking with some friends in highschool, and I've been doing my best to keep up with it since. I have love for the characters (Weiss is the best), and I do feel a sence of amazement that a western project like this ha s grown so much. Not to mention the amount of art, comics, manga, and fanfics that have spawned from the show. Do I have problems with RWBY? Yes. I will probably never stop ranting about something the show does to tick me off. But I do the same for Star Vs and Kamen Rider Zero One, both shows I still hold a love for. Hell, I might do the same for Amphibia and Owl House down the line if I do a re watch. So yeah, still love RWBY and I want to be around to see how this story ends.
www.tumblr.com/tokufan400/714910475313446912/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Howlingday: So, I was in high school and I was watching Red VS Blue. Then I started watching Rage Quit. Then Achievement Hunter. Play Pals.
Then my sister and my high school crush were like, hey, try out RWBY. I mocked them by saying "It should be Ar-Dubyoo-Bee-Why". Then I got into it and, well, I liked it the more I got into it until I was caught up to Volume 2. Then Death Battle had the Yang VS Tifa fight (PLEASE, NO REMATCH), and I was rooting for Yang. Then I saw Volume 3, and I was shocked, dismayed, and devastated at the sudden heel turn. I've been hooked ever since.
So, to answer your questions.
I watch RWBY because it's fun, and I want to know where the story goes. I loved the fun had at Beacon, and I want to know what happens next.
The appeal comes from the desire to see these group of friends fight to save the world from the Grimm. I want to see them thrive against a world where everything is stacked against them! And I want to see them flying kick someone in the face to the sound of the most amazing butt-rock since Crush 40 Sonic (No offense MGR)!
So, yeah, I love watching RWBY because it's a story to be told. And I'm going to openly sob when the story finally comes to an end.
www.tumblr.com/howlingday/714865441082851328/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Gorillageek27: i watch because, okay i was kinda turned off by it at first, just "what is this anime shit?", but i watched it and it's the most out there animated thing i can think like. Rwby is a show that somehow got me appreicating animated projects and you can tell the writers and animators have fun with it.
www.tumblr.com/gorillageek27/714864574777671680/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
lithominium: Its endearing, the lack of amazing animation in vol 1-3 is made up for in how much love was put into it. The characters are fun and loveable and the writing is goofy but unlike some other media ive watched its very good at knowing when to keep the tone consistent. Its very gay and i love gay and its got one of the greatest slow burns ive ever seen with great payoffs which always happen when they should. I like the setting and the lore and the weapons and the semblances. Its such a good show
www.tumblr.com/lithominium/714869719134535680/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Everafterfrisk: I love RWBY for a ton of reasons but to keep it short: • The Facial Expressions of the characters match really well with the tones of each scene • Amazing character designs that can just tell you so much about them before you get to know them •The animation: RWBY imo is best 3D animated series, most of the time 3D animes tend to be stiff and lifeless But RWBY gives its fights alot of finesse and creativity to go along with Like here's a few examples:
(V9) Weiss and Blake using gambol shroud's blade to propel Yang while simultaneously having Yang use Arma Gigas's Sword www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9RQnk7Oueo
(V3) Yang closing Flynt's Trumpet making his quartet backfire on him www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLu3_LKG_A8
(V4 Short) Ruby using the recoil of her weapon to bounce out of the way from a Grimm and trip him up using her Scythe catching him into a Hurricane formed by her semblance (13:54) www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivns4_clQ_c
There's even a full in depth analysis on the fight choreography from the earlier volumes to check out www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMQfm0RsY6o
• Themes of Unity,Self identity,Acceptance,Loving oneself, Finding hope in the most dreadful scenarios and the list goes on
• The Protagonist Ruby Rose is a breath of fresh air similar to say Deku from BNHA where both know the world isn't exactly kind but still try to help the best they can; even if it results in them destroying themselves to get there as their series's goes on
•The Villains are all pretty realistic in their motivations being not afraid to fall victim to arrogance while simultaneously being victims of either the world's actions or their own °The show doesn't swindle you into thinking that just cuz they have sympathetic backgrounds that they're immediately good They have to work for it and atone for misdeeds such as Ilia,Emerald and Hazel or doesn't believe their actions are unwarranted like Salem and Cinder or has a lack of empathy for the world around them like Mercury or Tyrian or Wants to do the right thing but lets the ends justify their means(Ironwood) or Living only on the fear of your actions(Lionheart) or The world has dealt so much injustice to you that you felt giving it by ten thousand fold would remedy it ( Ilia and Adam)
▪︎ The Music is just PEAK for me The Sound design,everything just speaks volumes of the scene www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS4HvQ5BP-1gKp4Ou4PRkqdEDvnNqdTGS
www.tumblr.com/everafterfrisk/714883876389044224/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Blakistan: I think RWBY was first suggested to be me on the grounds of “lots of really cool fights” which, while not ultimately the point of the show is still a big plus! Monty was an absolute wizard when it came to fight choreography and CRWBY has done a fantastic job keeping up that legacy. Ofc that was only the thing that got me to look at the show in the first place - what made me stay was the incredibly well done character-driven story. Following along and exploring the arcs of all the different characters in the show helped me through tough times and shaped a lot of who I am as a person today - Blake and Weiss’ stories in particular did so much in helping me find hope that I could grow as a person because that what the show is: hope. So uh yeah, if you like deep, interwoven character narratives that don’t shy away from growth, change, or the ugliness that sometimes crops up along the way with those things, definitely give RWBY a watch www.tumblr.com/blakistan/714867196992585728/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Well....point is? There's so many reasons to love RWBY
And I ask that you give RWBY a chance
https://www.reddit.com/fortheloveofrwby/comments/17mmk65/xel_writer_mark_zschiegner_marylizabetha_and/

For those who don’t know, in episode 12, at the end of Maarva’s hologram monologue, she says “Fight the Empire!” However, if you look carefully you can see that it’s been dubbed over, and the original line was “Fuck the Empire!” It was changed by Disney higher ups who didn’t want that word in the show.
I, like many others, think this was for the best. As much as I am against censorship of swear words and think that corporations have too much control over art, in this particular instance it dramatically improved the final product.
With all of that out of the way, here’s my query. Assuming the show DID have the full freedom to use as many swears as they wanted whenever they wanted, where do you think the swearing would have made sense, or perhaps even elevated the show?
If I had to pick one major spot, it would probably be Kino’s speech in episode 10. I think Andy Serkis’s portrayal of that rage and contempt of the empire would have been far more suited to harsh expletives like fuck.
I also see a world where lots of swearing happened during the heist, particularly by skeen. And I also feel like Cyril would have called Maarva a bitch at some point.
What do y’all think?

New version of the FB2 file with all Jerry stories in it!
You can download it from Discord here (no need for an account):
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/973312469051248697/1240775293950496901/Legend_of_Jerry_-_Posting_Order.fb2?ex=6647c98a&is=6646780a&hm=1ba520ec9b68562c5c01ca79bc633d6cab2da405a10f48510b440f8b14fbfc1b&

Changes (since last release on reddit)

16.05.2024

• Updated:
  • Jerry and the E-Girls up to part 35
• Added:
  • Greg and the Broken A/C
  • Jerry and the Sad, Broken, Tragic Ex
  • Vintress and the Fateful Hunt
  • Jerry and the Hunt
  • Jerry and the Men in the Mirror up to part 6

What is this?

A collection of main stories, spin-offs and vignettes written by u/MjolnirPants to date - compiled into a single FB2 file in the order of posting for comfortable reading!
Currently it includes:

• Legend of Jerry - Posting Order
• Jerry and the Goddesses
• Jerry and the Tradecraft
• Glenda and the Oracle
• Kathy and the Spirit of Terror
• Jerry and the Agency
• Jerry and the Crash Landing
• Jerry and the Lost Little Girl
• Sookie and the Girls' Night Out (A Legend of Jerry Vignette)
• Gary and the Ole Holler Moonshine
• Kathy and the Great Big Ball
• Inanna and the Potty Mouth
• Aaina and the Bullies
• Sookie and the Edgy Stan
• Jack and the Dysfunctional Family
• Cynthia and the Semi-Decent Proposal
• Sookie and the Post-Traumatic Stress
• Jack and the Stupid Magic Fuckers
• Sookie and the New Guy
• Duke and the Road Trip
• Jerry and the Chwistmas Miwacle
• Jerry and the Hurtful Rumor
• Glenda and the Happy Fun Story Time
• Jerry and the Downer Date Night
• Julie and the Rednecks
• Jerry and the Birthday Party
• Marty and the Welfare Check
• Geoff and the Prime Mark
• Kathy and the Nice Talk
• Jerry and the Apocalypse
• Kathy and the Groundhogs Day Flying Lesson
• Aaina and the Disney Vacation
• Glenda and the Family Reunion
• Zelda and the Mating Hunt
• Jerry and the Overkill
• Sookie and the Tricky Dick
• Gary and the Nightmare
• Nick and the Big Move
• Jerry and the Adoring Fans
• Inanna and the Babysitting
• Nick and the Quest
• The Most Reluctant Warrior: An Interview with Jerry Williams
• Sookie and the Bad Dick
• Inanna and the Ritual
• Jack and the Leg Day
• Kathy and the Empty Nest
• Jerry and the Human Resources
• Martin and the Summoning
• Jerry and the Warlock
• Ava and the Tourist Trap
• Inanna and the Glorious Combat
• Julie and the Night Off
• Sookie and the Same Old Dick
• Geoff and the Big Score
• Yarm and the First War
• Jerry and the Day Off
• Sara and the Body
• Kathy and the One Night Stand
• Eric and the Clockwork Girl
• Gary and the Domestic Dispute
• Jerry and the Lost Kingdom
• Jerry and the New Year's Resolution
• Liam and the Little Secret
• Jerry and the Villainous Monologue
• Sookie and the Scintillating Synchronized Sex Stuff
• Erinne and the Brave New World
• Jerry and the Reunion
• Roger and the Career Day
• Sookie and the Sleepover
• Glenda and the Morning Sickness
• Jerry and the E-Girls
• Greg and the Broken A/C
• Jerry and the Sad, Broken, Tragic Ex
• Vintress and the Fateful Hunt
• Jerry and the Hunt
• Jerry and the Men in the Mirror

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Writing this for folks whose home park is OG Disneyland and are considering or planning a trip to DLP. Whether that's you or you're looking for advice in the opposite direction, feel free to AMA!
I wrote up some aspects of my trip in this post, for reference. For context, I visit Anaheim a few times a year for 2-3 days each -- sometimes alone, sometimes with others -- and have been to Walt Disney World a handful of times (mostly for a single day while visiting my in-laws in the Orlando area).
Stow yer weapons: this is gonna be long. I'll talk atmosphere, attractions, food and drinks, and tips geared toward this audience. (I won't cover shows or character greetings, since they're not really my thing.)
Atmosphere:
Disneyland Paris is widely regarded as the most beautiful of the castle parks, and I agree. The attention to detail is stunning, from the horticulture to the rock work to the stained glass in the castle. The land transitions are smooth and beautifully executed, and the park generally feels more deliberately planned (probably since it wasn't built in a year and haphazardly swapping parts for the next seventy, like DLCA).
The park is bigger than Anaheim's, probably close to Magic Kingdom size, so add a minute or two to your commute time when crossing from one end to the other.
Some can't-miss experiences and details unique to DLP (skipping the rides since I'll cover those next, but including walk-throughs):
MAIN STREET

• The arcades on either side. Don't miss either of them! I enjoy the Discovery side with steampunk visions of cities in the future.
• If you can tour Walt's, do: the salons are themed by original lands and are charming. The home goods store named after Lily also has some nice turn-of-the-century fixtures and creative interior design.

FANTASYLAND

• The dragon. I mean, it's a dragon under the castle that snorts smoke!
• Shop interiors, especially Snow White and the Merlin shop. The beanstalk was closed when I was there, sadly.
• Cinderella's glass carriage near the Auberge.
• Sleeping Beauty's Castle. Do the walk-through. Eyvind Earle would be proud. The rectangular topiaries are a nice touch.
• The Alice in Wonderland labyrinth! Charming surprises, a true dead end, and a climb to a super neat park view in the center.

ADVENTURELAND

• The marketplace and Aladdin cave. Reminiscent of the Morocco pavilion at Epcot (sadly, I haven't been to Morocco). The restaurant has a very cool lived-in market look if you can take a peek inside. Even the windows have faux Maltese balconies/muxrabija and hanging wares.
• Adventure Isle. It's basically their version of Tom Sawyer's Island, so you can clamber through caves, look through Skull Rock, run around a pirate ship, and generally pretend you're eight. Genuinely photo-worthy.

FRONTIERLAND

• Peek into their version of the Golden Horseshoe. It may not be a replica of Calamity Jane's, like ours, but it's handsome and bigger.
• Phantom Manor's horticultural and exterior design. There's just more space for cool themed plants, and the queue design gives you time to admire them.

DISCOVERYLAND

• Steampunk everything! This is where we got our Astro-Orbiter and our short-lived, ill-fated redesign from the late 90s. It looks way better on them.
• The submarine walk through is really fun. Not sure how much it resembles the original walk-through from 50s Disneyland, but it's a low-key and visually rich treat, especially when it's sunny out.

Rides:
Some comparisons and contrasts. Didn't ride everything (e.g. carousel, teacups, Autopia), so I'll just share notes on the ones I did.
Big Thunder: Best version I've been on, period. It's on an island, so you plunge in and out of the darkness to get there, and the seats are actually divided so you're not body-slamming the person next to you every time you careen around a corner. Don't sleep on the detail and theming! Only bummer: no goat trick.
Pirates: Great queue: caves and little sneak peeks into scenes. Caribbean themed instead of bayou, restaurant included. Different structure and order of scenes, and frankly sort of confusing (e.g. Jack Sparrow is on the treasure pile among the skeleton tableaux for his little monologue). The sword fighting scene is unique to DLP (I think).
Fantasyland dark rides: Pinocchio is almost exactly the same as in CA. Snow White is more like the pre-COVID version, but even creepier; it's definitely the most divergent from the current CA version. Peter Pan is close to its CA version, but feels slightly larger?
Small World: More granular Europe, cute America section, generally quite different in layout. White-clad finale is a fair with a Ferris wheel and such.
Haunted Mansion/Phantom Manor: Identical ride track and Doom Buggies, but totally different storyline and different tableaux, particularly at the finale, which is a Western town instead of a graveyard. They don't put scrims in front of the frontier town zombies, which makes them creepier somehow. It's a unique take and a must-do.
Space Mountain: This one blows ours out of the water. Catapult launch, several inversions, much faster and darker. Be aware they don't have pouches for your stuff and will instruct you to put it on the floor. I stepped on the strap of my bag because I was certain I was gonna lose it.
Star Tours: Identical, though one time I got narration in English and the other time in French. May be randomized?
Railroad: No primeval world but they do have their own Grand Canyon. Circle tour is a must; you cover completely different ground and get a great pano of the whole park. My train was in compartments rather than long cars.
Indiana Jones: This is not the Jeep tour by any stretch; it's an outdoor roller coster that rattled my teeth out of my head. Think an extreme version of Goofy's Sky School with the unbanked turns. KEEP YOUR HEAD BACK. And even then, don't be surprised if you get off with sore ears and a buzzy headache that last a few minutes.
Food and Drinks:
I talked extensively about this in my other post, so I'll just note a couple of comparisons.

• Alcohol is more widely available in the Paris park, akin to DCA. Your best bet is wine or a kir (or a beer, if you prefer) unless you're at a place with a dedicated cocktail menu.
• The little stalls across from Small World serve things like ham and gruyère sandwiches and gauffres and sweets, with beer and wine available. Meh by Paris standards, but decent snacks that you wouldn't find in Anaheim.
• Unique themed dining. Captain Jack's has sub-par food, but if you're a fan of the Blue Bayou, it may be worth it just for the Caribbean nighttime theming. Boats floating by, and a more defined/secluded space than the sea of tables at BB. (Who goes to BB for the food anyway?) Agrabah restaurant has the most divergent theming and food from anything you can get in DLR.

General info/advice:
I have a lot of good news for Californians, because Paris is a cakewalk in comparison. I'm sure I hit a slower period, but it's so easy to go with the flow without playing nine-dimensional chess on your phone every three minutes.

• Stay at a hotel on campus! The great news is that the hotels, parks and shops are after security, so you won't have to leave the bubble for your whole trip. Say goodbye to waiting in line for bag check behind one billion strollers every morning. If you're staying in the DLH (covered in my other post), you basically roll out of bed and through the turnstiles.
• Early entry was EMPTY, and since it was 8:30 instead of 7-7:30, it felt downright luxurious. Hit those Fantasyland rides like they're going out of style. I hit Peter Pan twice before 8:40. That one does fill up later and skipping the line costs an absurd amount of money, so morning is your best bet. Not everything is open for extra magic hour, though, so do check your map.
• The park is significantly bigger and you're going to do a lot of walking. It's not as easy to jump from point to point in rapid succession as in our little jewel of a park. Plan accordingly.
• That said, take the time to really slow down and enjoy your surroundings. No need to travel halfway across the world just to bang out a bunch of rides. It's fun to check out the beautifully executed transitions (John Hench would be proud). There's even a list of horticultural treasures within the app.
• Express pass is way easier than Genie Plus. I don't recommend getting the full day; the one day I did it, I failed to break even on what I would have spent skipping the line for individual rides. Get it for the rides you want if the line looks too steep for you. They're generally valid either immediately or within 5 minutes.

I'm tired of typing, and you're doubtless tired of reading, but if you have questions about the Studios park, feel free to ask in the comments.

I want to take a moment to thank the RWBY Fandom for coming together on post www.tumblr.com/iamafanofcartoons/714857308133441536/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
And discussing why RWBY was an enjoyable show for each of them. Everyone here had a fantastic reason, and I am grateful to each of you!
Hmvw2015: For me, RWBY filled the void left behind by Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. It’s one of the few shows I’ve seen (aside from Adventure Time) that grows up with its audience. The fight scenes are so incredible! They’re lightening fast I would have to rewatch the same episode at least twice or thrice! Easily rivaling those done by Studios Gainax or TRIGGER, or Titmouse. Since every character, place, and object have connections to fairy tales, mythologies, folklore, and classic novels, it did a great job portraying them to their root inspirations. Plus, I’m always digging deep into their designs and backstories. The music is almost top tier to the music from the Disney Renaissance Era. Maybe even better than that. The songs add another layer of foreshadowing for the characters, and they’re fun to listen to~! It tackles issues like self-worth, abuse, and death. The series basically screams “Women’s Rights” and “Gay Rights” and proud of it. :D www.tumblr.com/hmvw2015/715987868852666368/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Ammy246: I've always enjoyed the characters, and I like how there are 4 badass female protagonists who are each enjoyable to watch. I also like how the villains are actually threatening, so the heroes have to put effort into earning victories unlike many works of fiction. The animation always excites me, because you never know what you're going to get. And, don't even get me started on the amazing soundtrack.
Cinnamonrollfuckhead: it tickles all the right things about me. i got in trouble for reading in classes when i finished my work early at school, it was nearly always history or mythology. i was an ancient Egypt kid. i read outside my age group. if Snapple wanted to employ me to write factoids for their caps i would take it. i was hooked on RWBY immediately despite being older than any of the main characters. i found an unlikely character to relate to in Jaune. i loved how it balanced serious and goofy themes.
Satoshi-mochida: Some stuff I like about the show is that it's pretty fun and entertaining to watch, has constantly improving writing and animation(the CRWBY recognizing ACTUAL criticism, and working on those), with smarter and deeper than some may think moments, well-done characters, great music and songs, and probably more. I even cosplayed as Jaune(and the 'HuntsMan' with a Wonder-Zwei plush)with my then-girlfriend before COVID hit and other stuff happened, and enjoyed doing that.
Haunted-meatsack: I'm waaaaay behind but I started watching for the fight choreography, music, and battle skirts. Plus I'm a sucker for small girls who kick ass with GIANT weapons. Then the story and characters kept me coming. I need to catch up.
www.tumblr.com/haunted-meatsack/715895495101497344/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Bumblebyfan: I like RWBY due to a lot of reasons, for starters, the relationships between the main characters, and how they constantly help each other, I also really like the whole fantasy setting and how funny it is at times, I also really liked how they handled Ruby’s arc during season 9, as someone who has had... intrusive thoughts
www.tumblr.com/bumblebyfan/715730749688561664/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
XLBINGO10: one thing that i particularly like about rwby is that the characters aren't dumbasses. i feel like so often in shows i watch there's an episode conflict where the characters make an obviously terrible plan that will clearly backfire horribly just for the sake of the episode plot and it's always painful to watch, so it's really nice to watch a show where that doesn't happen.
www.tumblr.com/xlbingo10/715707865708527616/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable.
Sir-Somewhat: I love the cast. I honestly can't say there is a character I am not fond of in some way and that includes the villians. I love the idea of semblances and the faunus. Also I want more faunus lore. Given the existence of the Ever After I have to wonder if the Faunus came from another world created by the Brothers.
www.tumblr.com/sir-somewhat/715323283721076736/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Ghost-of-Sparda: Rwby was a show I found in college that I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy, but as I watched it- I found myself completely enthralled in the world created by Monty Oum and his friends. It’s story has me on the edge of my seat every episode, and it’s anime vibes make it a treat to watch. It’s not perfect, I will admit that- and there have been times where I didn’t agree with a direction of story telling at first. However there hasn’t been a show that gets me as excited as RWBY does since I was a kid. If you grew up watching anime, or grew up watching anime- I’d give RWBY a go. If you are still not over the Owl House/ She-Ra/ ATLA/ LOK/ Naruto/ or any other amazing series with crazy fights and an amazing story: I recommend Rwby as your next obsession. And if you want to give anime a try, but are still dipping your toes into the medium- Rwby is a good half way point for newcomers.
www.tumblr.com/ghost-of-sparda/715237926532956160/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Aspiringwarriorlibrarian: I really like the characters and their arcs, tragic villains, the triumph of hope and healing, and the fantasy elements.
www.tumblr.com/aspiringwarriorlibrarian/715056039519830016/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Miki-13: I love how they use fairy tales and myths as inspiration but execute them in really interesting ways, as well as how human and grounded everyone feels while inside such a fantastic setting.
www.tumblr.com/miki-13/715136165044469760/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Thatringboy: For the same reasons above, I’m also in love with the complex motivations behind the antagonists. Mercury hated the world and needed an enabler, Emerald needed security, Cinder snapped after a lifetime of abuse (just like Mercury), Hazel wanted revenge, Lionhart wanted to save himself, Raven wanted to save herself, Tyrian is just insane (based), Watts wanted petty revenge, Neo wanted revenge but doesn’t know what to do afterwards, CC wants to fulfill their cruel purpose, and Salem just wants to finally die. Torchwick was a comical villain who posed a dangerous threat, the Malachite sisters were doing their jobs, Ironwood was a victim of his own paranoia, Cardin was just racist, Cordovin worships her superiors, the Fennec brothers too, Adam wanted total control over everything and everyone in his life and would stop at nothing to get it, Ilia believed in a cause, Tock was following orders, it’s all so varied and exciting!!
www.tumblr.com/thatringboy/715138435689676800/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Pyrokinetic-murder-hobo: I honestly fell in love with this project immediately back when the red trailer was first introduced to me. Though the animation for RWBY was simple and understandably a lot of people regard it as not the best. Even V1 and the original 4 trailers had a living soul to me and there was a certain charm to the characters and the animation. What kept me coming back is I find myself being unable to predict where the show will go and it honestly keeps me drawn in that my thoughts and predictions are completely circumvented. The show doesn’t follow the trajectory of really any other media and Monty navigated it masterfully. There’s so many relatable characters and the situations they are put in are approached not perfectly but in a human way as to be a human (even if you have copious amounts of power) means you’ll definitely trip up. But simply put I’ve loved this project since the beginning with the 4 trailers and could write a dissertation on why I love this show and include a long list of different things I love ranging from OST to characters to design animation. But maybe a talk for another day And it made me some awesome friends on tumblr of course too which is a major plus (you better know who you are lol)
https://www.tumblr.com/pyrokinetic-murder-hobo/715072709057478656/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
iamafanofcartoons: For me, RWBY is a change of pace. It allows for women to be shown as independent characters, just as smart and strong as male ones. It doesn’t use fanservice , you don’t have internal monologuing during fight scenes, you don’t have people screaming random attack names, and the music and designs are great. I appreciate the humor, its not toilet humor or degrading humor like a lot of anime. It also tackles difficult themes like abuse, leadership, morality, and debate. It also takes the white male savior trope so common in the fanfics that people use to promote their OCs, and takes a giant dump on that garbage. If anything, when people say “the fanfics are better than the show” you’ll see them promoting a white male savior trope above all else. Finally? Its a pro-LGBT show on many aspects, which amusingly infuriates a lot of straight shippers who defend their straight white male character who they put on a pedestal.
www.tumblr.com/iamafanofcartoons/715040015347040256/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Grimmgrinningghouls: for me RWBY is a comfort It has been for 10 years I literally would not be who I am today without this show I'd probably still be a closeted lesbian living in a conservative household with an abusive father and a mother who hated me hell I may not even be here But instead I'm living across the world from them and I'm okay As okay as I can be Its helped me through so much and its introduced me to people I have become life long friends with These funky little lesbians are part of my life and they will be till the day I die
www.tumblr.com/grimmgrinningghouls/715064091163721728/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Snowqueenofmyheart: Agreed to the above, as well as being able to enjoy a story that centers women in a way that doesn’t reduce them to simplistic tropes or fanservice. I’ve been looking for more female-centered material over the last several years, and stumbling upon RWBY turned out to be a real joy in that regard. Across the board, you have so many compelling female characters, heroes and villains alike. Not to mention two main characters being explicitly in a queer romance is a delight and a relief. www.tumblr.com/snowqueenofmyheart/715058819349233664/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Youraveragecatastrophe: well first i love fantasy so we're off to a good start between the monsters heroes and magic the characters are a very strong point of this show. they're well fleshed out (even many secondary characters including villains and despite the big cast!) and they get the opportunity to develop and evolve i love the themes! love and hope and caring about each other and all that the fights are really fun to watch especially with the unique weapons and everyone's different fighting style the story is really compelling and well written too! also gayness. can't forget the queerness really this show has everything
www.tumblr.com/youraveragecatastrophe/715058708953071616/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Foulfirerebel: The music was what first made me get interested in RWBY. The hard hitting rock that also carried quite a bit of meaning into it if you truly took a moment to listen to the lyrics. So, from there I watched V1 at a friend's house and felt it was good. It did a good job with the action scenes, and setting things up for the characters. Volume 2, however, is where I truly fell in love with the show. The appearance of Cinder, of Ironwood, the food fight, the investigation into Torchwick and the White Fang, the dance and hacking sequence! Everything pointed to something more going on. Something hidden waiting to spring forth! V1 was a great entry point, V2 convinced me to stay and hooked me, and when I finally marathoned V3 I was EAGER to watch V4 and onward. Any and all quibbles I may have had melted away when the Fall of Beacon happened. So, long story short, I love the story. I love how things are built up and come back further down the line (Jaune's issues, Ruby's issues, etc.). I love how the characters do go through a lot and need help getting back up. I love how sincere and earnest everything is without a hint of irony. I love the slow burn relationships, and that the show doesn't end with those relationships just being established. I love that, despite everything, this one little indie show has continued going past everything that's happened in a decade since it started. I love that the story is engaging, the characters are deep, the writing is great, and that I'm even feeling bad for the villains which I don't normally do. RWBY may not be the most perfect thing ever, but frankly I love that the writers do see and incorporate feedback into their work. I love that, unlike how Halo or Star Wars do things, you don't necessarily need to have read all the side content to understand things too. Most of all is I love how this show has improved on every level: animation, writing, voice acting, etc. It's just so refreshing. It's the Little Engine that Could continuing onward and getting better as it goes. And hey, being a Bumbleby shipper since V3 and being vindicated in V9? Cherry on the sundae. It's been a wild ride, and I'd love it to continue.
www.tumblr.com/foulfirerebel/714989613562904576/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Maor-Koren: RWBY is one of my favorite shows, it take a unique concept and make it very enjoyable to watch. The main and side characters are all unique in their own way and very enjoyable. The story is really good. The animation, fight scenes and the design of the characters and places are all very pleasing to the eye. And the music is phenomenal. Don’t let other people make your opinion! look at the show and see for yourself if you like it or not!
www.tumblr.com/maor-koren/714954350873788416/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
But-a-humble-goon: Rwby is, in a word, earnest. Its characters are unashamedly sincere, affectionate and vulnerable and the show understands not only that these things are not a weakness but that there can be no greater measure of strength. It’s a story overflowing with heart that categorically rejects stoicism and nihilism and never once apologises for itself. Nothing has ever hit me harder and I do mean that.
www.tumblr.com/but-a-humble-goon/714953671346176000/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
mikey-polo420: I watched RWBY Because i was drawn in by the trailers when Monty was alive and i liked the idea of cute girls fighting monsters with giant weapons, then i wanted to see their journey through beacon and now i've become invested with the Messages of hope the show presents, i love each of my precious children and want to see them achieve their happiness , i want to support RWBY to it's conclusion because that's what Monty wanted, it's what his friends wanted and they deserve to complete his Brain child.
www.tumblr.com/mikey-polo420/714951464721743872/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
mooninoir: i started watching when vol. 1 was still going, with a fansub (!) working hell and back to translate each episode as they came out. i remember waiting every week to see a new episode, and when the last episodes came, i was entirely invested in this sci-fi fantasy series with fairytale elements and wanted to know what would happen next. and, for me, it's an endearing series that i enjoy watching, even with its flaws. it's fun, but it also has a heart. i like how it didn't shy away from telling a broader story. vol. 3's gut-wrenching finale was for me what made me realize i was not there just for the amazing fights and cool soundtrack, but for the characters and how they live in this crazy world. it was amazing to watch its worldbuilding evolve to such great lengths and see the characters i like to grow and learn and evolve along with it. they are done well and don't feel misplaced in the narrative. it just flows nicely and i guess the latest volume proved that to me (the themes, the motifs, the characters' choices, and the visuals) everything comes together, y'know? and i just... like it. i like rwby. i really do.
www.tumblr.com/mooninoi714949733681102848/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Tumblingxelian: Why do you watch this show? I watch RWBY for the cool characters, interesting setting and engaging overarching story and arcs, plus some gorgeous animation, sets and awesome music. What makes it appeal to you? Women, including queer women, are center stage and given tons of dynamic personality, agency and exploration in ways I rarely see done in other series.
www.tumblr.com/tumblingxelian/714943623381303296/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
feifiefofum: look, the ad on the tin was cute girls doing violent things and looking great while doing it. that was the impetus for me to follow the show, i was there when it started with the famous red trailer to yellow trailer. the writing then wasn't bad, a bit condensed because, y'know, shoestring budget so everything was very tight time wise. but y'know, you didn't watch the four trailers and get sold on the story- which was good by the by, but it wasn't exceptional. it was by the numbers, hitting what they need to hit, but good. you didn't think it was spectacular. but then volume 3 hits you out of nowhere, and you realize, oh, the writing is phenomenal actually. rwby has deceptively good writing that on the surface is good par for the course that lulls you into complacency, and then manages to sideswipe you with incredible twists that you don't see, but on looking back, the seeds for the twist were planted from book 1 on. the world is slowly and meticulously rolled out to the viewer, the characters shine, and the action, while still spectacular, become secondary to the characters and the world. i started watching rwby, expecting cute girls doing violent things. and they deliver on that, and if you come watch rwby just for that, it delivers that. i didn't come in for hearty world building, intrigue, and lore so deep you can get lost in it. the writers write on a razor's edge, giving enough lore for a backdrop and setting the stage, but if you decide to dig at any trail, you can get lost in it. the concept of dust, the name of the world itself- frankly i think it's a masterclass in giving enough to keep the story going but having enough in the back that every new twist that they lay out can be found to have grown from a seed that was planted in an earlier volume. i dunno who traded their soul away to keep track of all that world building and lore, but that excel sheet must be something to behold. rwby throws u-turns that you don't expect at you, lulls you with a sense of 'okay, i see your tricks now' and somehow manages to turn you around again, and have it make sense. frankly, it's a little frustrating, i've been bamboozled and led by the nose. and i love it for that. i'm delighted by the ride i'm on, and i hope the show keeps going.
www.tumblr.com/feifiefofum/714920887601790976/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
aspennntree: I watch rwby for several reasons- mostly for the characters, i find some of them really relatable also i just genuinely enjoy the story and the visuals and find the show very comforting i also like the people i’ve met in this community that are kind and i like having people to share my interests with i’ve made many new friends being in this community and it’s something i’m very passionate about, i just really enjoy it genuinely
www.tumblr.com/aspennntree/714906439613906944/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Tokufan400: Even with everything, I can't bring myself to stop watching RWBY. I got back into it after talking with some friends in highschool, and I've been doing my best to keep up with it since. I have love for the characters (Weiss is the best), and I do feel a sence of amazement that a western project like this ha s grown so much. Not to mention the amount of art, comics, manga, and fanfics that have spawned from the show. Do I have problems with RWBY? Yes. I will probably never stop ranting about something the show does to tick me off. But I do the same for Star Vs and Kamen Rider Zero One, both shows I still hold a love for. Hell, I might do the same for Amphibia and Owl House down the line if I do a re watch. So yeah, still love RWBY and I want to be around to see how this story ends.
www.tumblr.com/tokufan400/714910475313446912/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Howlingday: So, I was in high school and I was watching Red VS Blue. Then I started watching Rage Quit. Then Achievement Hunter. Play Pals. Then my sister and my high school crush were like, hey, try out RWBY. I mocked them by saying "It should be Ar-Dubyoo-Bee-Why". Then I got into it and, well, I liked it the more I got into it until I was caught up to Volume 2. Then Death Battle had the Yang VS Tifa fight (PLEASE, NO REMATCH), and I was rooting for Yang. Then I saw Volume 3, and I was shocked, dismayed, and devastated at the sudden heel turn. I've been hooked ever since. So, to answer your questions. I watch RWBY because it's fun, and I want to know where the story goes. I loved the fun had at Beacon, and I want to know what happens next. The appeal comes from the desire to see these group of friends fight to save the world from the Grimm. I want to see them thrive against a world where everything is stacked against them! And I want to see them flying kick someone in the face to the sound of the most amazing butt-rock since Crush 40 Sonic (No offense MGR)! So, yeah, I love watching RWBY because it's a story to be told. And I'm going to openly sob when the story finally comes to an end.
www.tumblr.com/howlingday/714865441082851328/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Gorillageek27: i watch because, okay i was kinda turned off by it at first, just "what is this anime shit?", but i watched it and it's the most out there animated thing i can think like. Rwby is a show that somehow got me appreicating animated projects and you can tell the writers and animators have fun with it.
www.tumblr.com/gorillageek27/714864574777671680/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
lithominium: Its endearing, the lack of amazing animation in vol 1-3 is made up for in how much love was put into it. The characters are fun and loveable and the writing is goofy but unlike some other media ive watched its very good at knowing when to keep the tone consistent. Its very gay and i love gay and its got one of the greatest slow burns ive ever seen with great payoffs which always happen when they should. I like the setting and the lore and the weapons and the semblances. Its such a good show
www.tumblr.com/lithominium/714869719134535680/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Everafterfrisk: I love RWBY for a ton of reasons but to keep it short: • The Facial Expressions of the characters match really well with the tones of each scene • Amazing character designs that can just tell you so much about them before you get to know them •The animation: RWBY imo is best 3D animated series, most of the time 3D animes tend to be stiff and lifeless But RWBY gives its fights alot of finesse and creativity to go along with Like here's a few examples:
(V9) Weiss and Blake using gambol shroud's blade to propel Yang while simultaneously having Yang use Arma Gigas's Sword www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9RQnk7Oueo
(V3) Yang closing Flynt's Trumpet making his quartet backfire on him www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLu3_LKG_A8
(V4 Short) Ruby using the recoil of her weapon to bounce out of the way from a Grimm and trip him up using her Scythe catching him into a Hurricane formed by her semblance (13:54) www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivns4_clQ_c
There's even a full in depth analysis on the fight choreography from the earlier volumes to check out www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMQfm0RsY6o • Themes of Unity,Self identity,Acceptance,Loving oneself, Finding hope in the most dreadful scenarios and the list goes on • The Protagonist Ruby Rose is a breath of fresh air similar to say Deku from BNHA where both know the world isn't exactly kind but still try to help the best they can; even if it results in them destroying themselves to get there as their series's goes on •The Villains are all pretty realistic in their motivations being not afraid to fall victim to arrogance while simultaneously being victims of either the world's actions or their own °The show doesn't swindle you into thinking that just cuz they have sympathetic backgrounds that they're immediately good They have to work for it and atone for misdeeds such as Ilia,Emerald and Hazel or doesn't believe their actions are unwarranted like Salem and Cinder or has a lack of empathy for the world around them like Mercury or Tyrian or Wants to do the right thing but lets the ends justify their means(Ironwood) or Living only on the fear of your actions(Lionheart) or The world has dealt so much injustice to you that you felt giving it by ten thousand fold would remedy it ( Ilia and Adam)
▪︎ The Music is just PEAK for me The Sound design,everything just speaks volumes of the scene www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS4HvQ5BP-1gKp4Ou4PRkqdEDvnNqdTGS
www.tumblr.com/everafterfrisk/714883876389044224/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Blakistan: I think RWBY was first suggested to be me on the grounds of “lots of really cool fights” which, while not ultimately the point of the show is still a big plus! Monty was an absolute wizard when it came to fight choreography and CRWBY has done a fantastic job keeping up that legacy. Ofc that was only the thing that got me to look at the show in the first place - what made me stay was the incredibly well done character-driven story. Following along and exploring the arcs of all the different characters in the show helped me through tough times and shaped a lot of who I am as a person today - Blake and Weiss’ stories in particular did so much in helping me find hope that I could grow as a person because that what the show is: hope. So uh yeah, if you like deep, interwoven character narratives that don’t shy away from growth, change, or the ugliness that sometimes crops up along the way with those things, definitely give RWBY a watch www.tumblr.com/blakistan/714867196992585728/lets-talk-about-what-makes-rwby-good-or-enjoyable
Well....point is? There's so many reasons to love RWBY

5 Main points, why the ending is a masterpiece:

1. It stayed true to itself by not bending to any rules other, older storys established. Wich is what made GoT popular in the first place.
   
2. Destroying countless pointless fan theories and predictions and instead stayed true to what it wanted to tell. Even if that meant backlash. Message Was more important than a pat on the back.
   
3. It shuffed an ugly mirror into its audience face, wich they didnt like the reflection off. Only Story i know that successfully made viewers accomplize in its storys greatest crimes. It forced viewer to question their understanding and interpretation of the story and even to a degree their worldview on a whole.
   
4. This ending basicially was made to rewatch the entire story and see it with different eyes. I dont know any story that went for 70 hours, that, when you rewatch it, have a completely different view upon. Its like Inception, Shutter Island or Saw in an longterm story. Never done before, never to be done again.
   
5. It expected its audience to be smart and treated it like adults. No more spoonfeeding or unneccesary explanations of or by characters and storys, we have followed for 70 hours.
   

And tragicially the same reasons for its greatness are why people reject it:

• they wanted established, safe storytelling, that takes no risks. They were conditioned by mainstream publishers like Disney to expect to receive headless, lessonless timekillers.
  
• they wanted their fantheories and predictions to be correct, season 8 smashed majority and most popular ones, shutting down all the things people thought were already written in stone. Except Mountain vs. Hound maybe, all of their predictions were wrong.
  
• they didnt want to be lectured regarding their choices and have their worldviews hanging in the Balance. They wanted them to be confirmed as correct by the story.
  
• they dont want to rewatch, because they dont want to spot everything they missed and to admit mistakes.
  
• they wanted characters to turn to the camera and explain all their motives in 5 minute long monologues and wanted to be feed the 10th reaction of jons parentage reveal.
  

5 Main points, why the ending is a masterpiece:

1. It stayed true to itself by not bending to any rules other, older storys established. Wich is what made GoT popular in the first place.
   
2. Destroying countless pointless fan theories and predictions and instead stayed true to what it wanted to tell. Even if that meant backlash. Message Was more important than a pat on the back.
   
3. It shuffed an ugly mirror into its audience face, wich they didnt like the reflection off. Only Story i know that successfully made viewers accomplize in its storys greatest crimes. It forced viewer to question their understanding and interpretation of the story and even to a degree their worldview on a whole.
   
4. This ending basicially was made to rewatch the entire story and see it with different eyes. I dont know any story that went for 70 hours, that, when you rewatch it, have a completely different view upon. Its like Inception, Shutter Island or Saw in an longterm story. Never done before, never to be done again.
   
5. It expected its audience to be smart and treated it like adults. No more spoonfeeding or unneccesary explanations of or by characters and storys, we have followed for 70 hours.
   

And tragicially the same reasons for its greatness are why people reject it:

• they wanted established, safe storytelling, that takes no risks. They were conditioned by mainstream publishers like Disney to expect to receive headless, lessonless timekillers.
  
• they wanted their fantheories and predictions to be correct, season 8 smashed majority and most popular ones, shutting down all the things people thought were already written in stone. Except Mountain vs. Hound maybe, all of their predictions were wrong.
  
• they didnt want to be lectured regarding their choices and have their worldviews hanging in the Balance. They wanted them to be confirmed as correct by the story.
  
• they dont want to rewatch, because they dont want to spot everything they missed and to admit mistakes.
  
• they wanted characters to turn to the camera and explain all their motives in 5 minute long monologues and wanted to be feed the 10th reaction of jons parentage reveal.
  

I think it's about time I share my journey to discovering and falling in love with Tally Hall.
Even though I'm very new to them, they're becoming important to me as well. I didn't really know them that well, I just knew them as the guys who did the song from the "Do you like how I walk? Do you like how I talk?" meme and the "Hidden in the Sand" song everyone uses in FNAF animations. I heard "Turn the Lights Off" in my graphic arts class and was pretty surprised when some kid noticed it and said "Is this by Tally Hall?" They had more stuff? All I really knew was that they got popular, went on an indefinte hiatus, but still had their mark on the internet as a whole.
One day though, I saw a video pop up in my recommended: "The Mind Electric - A Twitter Musical" I watched it, and I was pretty confused and creeped out by the song and literally thought it was a fanmade FNAF song. I then looked the song up and listened myself and didn't like the reversed parts, so I THEN found a lyric video for the Undistorted Version (I obviously didn't know there was two versions at the time) and was sadly underwhelmed at the time, confused as to why people held it as such a masterpiece. Later I found the Demo 4 version used in a fnaf video, but otherwise I didn't auite understand why people liked it. To me, it was just a creepy song, just a demonic Bohemian Rhaspody and nothing more,
BOY WAS I WRONG.
I also had added "&" to a playlist with overstimulating music, and thought it was pretty good, but I didn't think about it too much.
Fastfoward to 2023, where I found Allytall's ultimate mashup version of TME and decided to give it another chance. And...I was BLOWN AWAY. I loved this version so much and considered it THE version, the ONLY version.
But then I learned it was from an album. A little album called Hawaii Part II.
I did some research on Hawaii Part II, read a few articles and the like. One article mentioned that there were three songs that captured the adventure of sailing/exploring: Isle Unto Thyself, Stranded Lullaby, and Dream Sweet in Sea Major. And since I had just gotten back into Candle Cove at the time, found that quite fitting. The one I listened to first was IUT, right in the middle of class at school.
Oh. My. GOD.
I fell head over heels in LOVE with this song. To me, it has a sort of Fruitger Aero sound, and it has a dreamlike feeling that made me feel serene and safe, and reminded me of childhood. It was a song I could close my eyes and turn my brain off to, and it was a comfort song for me after that day.
The following day, I decided to listen to the rest of the album.
Words literally cannot even begin to describe how incredible this album is. There's just so much to love. Every single song has its own feel, with the romantic ballroom-dance of White Ball, the drama and dread conveyed in Murders, the insanity of The Mind Electric, finally ending with the melancholy beauty of Dream Sweet In Sea Major. All of it is so carefully crafted together, woven into a story to go with it. It is a masterpiece, and it's my favorite album of all time at the moment.
Then I learned Miracle Musical was related to Tally Hall. Wait, the guys from earlier? THEY (well, ONE of them...) made THIS?
It was then when I finally started to appreciate them and tried out a bit of their music. The first of which was Good Day. Again, wait, THEY made this? They made something THIS good and THIS happy sounding?
I remember one of the ones I fell in love with was Spring and a Storm. I listened to it in the middle of my theatre class, and was, again, blown away. It has a sort of "Here Comes the Sun" vibe to it, so hopeful and filled with optimism that it made you want to cry of joy. This song embodies my life's motto: Life is about creation.
And then The Bidding. Thought the humming was weird, but then it got AMAZING.
Then I learned more and more and more about them. T.H.I.S came along. Happy Monster Band was a thing. Rob Cantor did music for Disney. He did that Shia Labeouf song I heard about. They were in a CRAYOLA COMMERCIAL? AND THE SIMS 2? They did THIS MUCH STUFF? That's incredible! They're EVERYWHERE!
The more I learned, the more I listened, the more and more I watched, my love for them grew and grew and grew. Even though I'm VERY new to the Tally Hall fandom and JUST got into them this year, I now feel as if I've known them all my life. This is kind of a cliche thing to say, but something about them is just unlike any other band; the lyrics being so clever, ranging from childlike and silly at first but are deep and existential, the band members themselves, EVERYTHING is just so amazing. I don't know why it took me so long to get into them because this is one of those moments where you listen to a band and think "ME. This is MY kinda thing. They wrote this for ME.".
I know this whole monologue of mine is just sorta rambley since I'm tired atm, but this is really the only way to describe all of this. They've been racing around in my brain, in and out of my head, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
What an incredible band. I mean that. Truly incredible.

In the Post Title, enter the information from lines 1, 2 and 4 (e.g., Genre - Title - Author).

1. Teen & Young Adult / Entertainment / Non-Fiction
2. Survivors Have Special Needs: on Set
3. Book 1 of Survivor on Set: The Aftermath of Sexual Abuse
4. Hillary Hawkins, Jade McKenzie Stone
5. https://www.audible.com/pd/B0D1VZJY1R?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWU-BK-ACX0-395032&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_395032_pd_us
6. TBD
7. https://www.hillaryhawkins.com/actress-activist-advocate-actress-writer-producer-voice-proverbs31-8-9.html
8. Available in Audiobook/eBook
9. Let's learn what we can do to help survivors be more comfortable on set. Hear real life experiences and please help. 14 pages / 27 minutes.
10. Survivor on Set: The Aftermath of Sexual Abuse Book 1: Survivors Have Special Needs: On Set is a brief but detailed non-fiction manual to help tv & film producers, cast & crew get a better understanding of what it’s like to be a sexual abuse survivor on set and provides some helpful tips and suggestions on things you can do to help create a more supportive safe space for your actors who may struggle with what we call “survivor moments” when everyone else is okay. We have quotes from anonymous, anonymous actress & anonymous actor speaking from real life experience. While there are surely a plethora of other experiences to share, this mini book serves as a beginners guide to understanding a survivor’s plight and shares what YOU can do to HELP, on set. These little basic things may make a big difference in the life of someone you would least expect is a survivor of horrific sexual abuse. Remember, you’re dealing with actors and actors “mask” well. But it’s okay to take off the mask and ask for help. So we not only provide tips for what others can do to help the survivor but a few things the actor survivor can do to help themselves.

We have quotes from anonymous, anonymous actress & anonymous actor speaking from real life experience. While there are surely a plethora of other experiences to share, this mini book serves as a beginners guide to understanding a survivor’s plight and shares what YOU can do to HELP, on set. These little basic things may make a big difference in the life of someone you would least expect is a survivor of horrific sexual abuse. Remember, you’re dealing with actors and actors “mask” well. But it’s okay to take off the mask and ask for help. So we not only provide tips for what others can do to help the survivor but a few things the actor survivor can do to help themselves.
There are some things you may not have thought of that you can start to implement right away when working with actors that may be survivors. Whether you realize you’re working with a survivor or not, there are some things you can keep your eyes open for if you want to make sure they’re doing okay.

• Chapter 1: Sound, Top, Fingers & Pants
• Chapter 2: Fittings & Wardrobe Changes
• Chapter 3: Call Times & Travel
• Chapter 4: How to Make a Survivor More Comfortable

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S):
Hillary Hawkins is creator of “Actors Anonymous Hotline” a series about actors in need of help in the entertainment industry. She previously worked in social services, in Research & Evaluation for Safe Horizon and in Child Protective Services for the State of New Jersey. She cares deeply for survivors of any form of abuse and has successfully completed trainings in child sexual abuse, teen relationship abuse, stalking, domestic violence and the criminal justice system & more. She is also and actor known for her work on Nickelodeon and has also worked with Disney. www.HillaryHawkins.com
Jade McKenzie Stone Survivor ❤️ PTSD Specialist. PTSD stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I don't have to study it. I've lived through it. For clarification, my survivor status makes me a specialist in the field. I hope you never have to know what it's like first hand but thank you for caring about others. And please if you care, download the book.
ABOUT THE NARRATOR: The audiobook version is narrated by a 3X Voice Arts Awards nominated narrator. She was nominated for Author Performance Best Voice Over - Voice Arts Awards - for her work on "Molestation Monologues" & more. She has narrated over 100 audiobooks, done voiceovers for DCFS, UNICEF, American Red Cross, World Health Organization, Digital Impact Alliance, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and more. ❤️ She is passionate about using her voice to effectuate positive change in the world and is thankful for platforms such as this one, Amazon, Audible, ACX etc. and appreciates everyone who takes the time to listen and takes the time to care. She prays healing for all survivors. Love.

2. Review Synopses (summarize longer reviews)
   
3. Trigger Warning (Sexual Abuse)
   
4. Audiobook: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0D1VZJY1R?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWU-BK-ACX0-395032&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_395032_pd_us / eBook: https://www.amazon.com/Survivors-Have-Special-Needs-Aftermath-ebook/dp/B0CY4MV38Y/
   

A NEW Audiobook was released today and it's on Audible & Amazon! My association is publisher. Thank you in advance for taking the time to listen and stay safe. ❤️
Survivor on Set: The Aftermath of Sexual Abuse Book 1: Survivors Have Special Needs: On Set is a brief but detailed non-fiction manual to help Film & TV producers, cast & crew get a better understanding of what its like to be a sexual abuse survivor on set & provides helpful tips & suggestions on things you can do to help create a more supportive safe space for your actors who may struggle with what we call survivor moments when everyone else is okay. We have quotes from anonymous, anonymous actress & anonymous actor speaking from real life experience. While there are surely a plethora of other experiences to share, this mini book serves as a beginners guide to understanding a survivors plight & shares what YOU can do to HELP, on set. These little basic things may make a big difference in the life of someone you would least expect is a survivor of horrific sexual abuse. Remember, you're dealing with actors & actors mask well. But its okay to take off the mask & ask for help. So we not only provide tips for what others can do to help survivors but a few things the actor survivor can do to help themselves. There are some things you may not have thought of that you can start to implement right away. Whether you realize you're working with a survivor or not, there are things you can keep your eyes open for to help make sure they're OK. Chapter 1: Sound, Top, Fingers & Pants Chapter 2: Fittings & Wardrobe Changes Chapter 3: Call Times & Travel Chapter 4: How to Make a Survivor More Comfortable ABOUT THE NARRATOR: 3X Voice Arts Awards nominee Hillary Hawkins is writenarrator of "Molestation Monologues" (Author Performance, Best Voice Over), creator of Actors Anonymous Hotline a series about actors in need of help in the entertainment industry & an actor that has worked with Nickelodeon & Disney. She also worked in Child Protective Services for the State of NJ & in Research & Evaluation for Safe Horizon. Narrator of 100+ books. HillaryHawkins.com ©2024 Hillary Hawkins Production, LLC (P)2024 Hillary Hawkins Production, LLC
https://www.audible.com/pd/B0D1VZJY1R?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWU-BK-ACX0-395032&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_395032_pd_us

Master sculptor Anraku Ansaku has been making toys since 2004. Before then he produced an anime series called “Panda Section Chief” (ぱんだ係長) beginning in 1999 and another anime called “Great Monster Gogamejira” (大怪獣ゴガメジラー). Having been inspired by Disney’s “Pinocchio” in high school, Anraku Ansaku threw himself into visual media. Determined to succeed, he would become an animator at a production company and receive several awards for his work in various manga series. Eventually wanting to see one of his own characters come to life in three dimensional form, Anraku Ansaku decided to make his title character of Gogamejira into a sofubi. Having always liked toys but with no experience sculpting, he taught himself by studying magazines like “Hobby Japan” and taking inspiration from the works of Marusan, Bullmark and M1. Today Anraku Ansaku is a staple in the sofubi collecting community in his own right, producing popular original works along side licensed properties like Godzilla and Gamera.The origin of the name Anraku Ansaku comes from one of his ancestors, Anrakuan Sakuden. A Buddhist priest from the Edo period in Japan, Sakuden was a devotee of the tea ceremony and a poet. The name Anrakuan comes from the name of the tea house that Sakuden built and lived in after retiring in his seventies. He was made famous as the author of the Seisuishō (醒睡笑, Laughs to Wake You Up), which is a collection of humorous anecdotes. Anrakuan Sakuden is known as the founder of rakugo (落語), a popular form of comic monologue performed by storytellers in Japan. Anrakuan is also known as the founder of the Anrakuan school of Japanese tea ceremony.
There is a fantastic interview over at https://sofvi.tokyo/Anraku_Ansaku_interview with more detailed information.

I feel quite divorced from this experience. At the time, I was younger and felt more pious in my desire to come into contact with God.
Context: Father had passed away, grandma was sick, older brother was violent and schizophrenic. I was suffering life limiting anxiety but working full time to live (sort of) independently and looking for meaning in life. I had my own place and my girlfriend would stay around for days. I listened to hellacious NDEs that freaked me out but made me desperate to attain sinlessness. I secretly married my girlfriend, I told my university I cheated on a test by sneaking in notes, and I prayed not to be burned alive forever.
The event: I went to bed feeling an undesired but palpable anger. I swallowed it deciding not to let it cause an argument with my partner or manifest in any way. I felt it was my anxiety stiring me up. I had a lot to he angry about but I resented the emotion. Without awareness or preparation, I had fallen asleep sitting with my pillows at my back. Comfortable nonetheless. The dream I had situated me on a frozen lake. I was with someone. I pointed into the sky where clouds framed the blue-sky like a love heart. It was so pretty. I remember saying, "I bet that's what heaven is like." At this point, the dream turned sinister. I was very used to nightmares. Nightmares plagued me as a child. I was also very tired of them. So when I noticed the orange roaring flames glowing as they charged up from under the ice I was completely lethargic and simply resigned myself to it. So far I have described a simple dream. What follows now is the strangeness. Cut to black. The flames didn't consume me and I am now completely awake but with closed eyes.

"NOT THE DANGER OF JUSTICE"<<<

It is important that I express how this message was communicated to me. It was unlike anything I have ever experienced before or since.
It wasn't an intuition. It wasn't a thought. It wasn't internal monologue. It wasn't external monologue. It wasn't sound. It wasn't language. It had no volume.
It was as if someone had authoritatively thought something into my own thoughts.
The strange construction didn't strike me until later, "not the danger of justice"? It was the experience of how it was communicated to me and what followed that seized my attention at first.
When I opened my eyes, I was sat in bed comfortably with my back against my pillows and couldn't mobilise at first. Instead, I felt a number of sizzling raindrops rain down my upper body. It was a pleasant feeling as if being sprinkled with something magical from a Disney movie. Highly peculiar.
Finally, a few short moments later, I could move and with that I immediately took to prayer and then considered what had happened to me.
A Skeptical Response:
I have described a young man under a lot of stress. It could have been an episode of sleep paralysis, with some kind of hallucination, and some overactive nervous system sensations.
My Personal Response:
It all felt very meaningful. The fact I experienced what I experienced as I experienced it seems extremely coincidental for it to be explained away. Why didn't I simply wake up or experience typical sleep paralysis or have communicated something less crytic or utterly nonsensical - as one might expect given over to anxious dreams and the subconscious. Instead, I received an experience that was deeply meaningful. I still wonder about what was communicated, "Not the danger of justice", Was this reassurance against my fear of damnation? I think so. Those flames I feared and the hellish torment described by fear mongers isn't the danger of justice.
I wonder if that means there is another danger to justice. Such a curious expression, "danger of justice".
Maybe it was God saying He isn't the danger of justice. Maybe we are the ones who produce the dangers.

When I started acting in highschool I was mysteriously drawn to classical playwrights. In particular, Shakespeare and Marlowe. When I went to conservatory in NYC, I rebelled against this passion. My reasoning was "why do we insist on the exhaltation of archaic dead authors? Where are the new "Shakespeares?" I suppose I was disenchanted seeing that most Broadway productions were Disney adaptations and revivals of Andrew Lloyd Webber.
I left the conservatory and a few years later I came across this YouTube video. I came to believe firmly that the pen was closest thing to a wand in modern times and our writers are our Sorcerers. I had never read or seen the Tempest as I heard it was a comedy and I was far more drawn to the heavy stuff like Hamlet and MacBeth. When I heard these three soliloquies, it was like a spiritual experience. Shakespeare reaches such towering heights in this play that for those who truly hear it, it's like hearing the thunderous echo of the world's greatest Magus centuries after he died. I hope this forum enjoys these monologues and the absolute masterful way Gielgud brings them to life!

The reason why I feel this way is because we find out near the end of Ventus’s campaign in Birth By Sleep that Xehanort had goals to start another apocalyptic war called the Keyblade War to see if a new world will be created in it’s wake. We’re even treated to a flashback of Xehanort monologuing to Eraqus about why he wants to do this. Things get heated between them, leading to Xehanort using his dark powers to scar Eraqus’s face.
From that day on Eraqus should be very wary of what Xehanort may do, lifelong friendship be damned. This gets even more frustrating when you take into account everything else that happens in BBS. In the game’s prologue he is informed that Xehanort has mysteriously gone missing conveniently around the same time these dark creatures called the Unversed have surfaced.
While Eraqus does task two of his pupils, Terra and Aqua to find Xehanort, he still doesn’t tell them why it’s really really important to find him. It gets even worse when his other student, Ventus leaves to go pursue Terra. We eventually find out that Ven is actually a very crucial part of Xehanort’s plans to initiate what could be the end of the world.
So at this point Eraqus really should tell his prized student, Aqua at least why it’s not only important to find Xehanort, and to make sure Terra doesn’t get corrupted by his new dark powers, but also why Ven needs to be brought back home as soon as possible. Even if all this doesn’t stop his students from doing side quests in the Disney worlds, I would still give major props to Eraqus for making the attempt to get them to take this more seriously.

Ok Redditors, Andor is hands down my favourite thing Disney has done with the IP of Star Wars with its great cast of characters, bone chilling monologues and stunning story and plot progression which scratches an itch I can’t explain.
I’m asking for manga recommendations you think are similar to Andor, could be a rebellion story or something with good politics to grip me in. I don’t mind long stories, I’m caught up with one piece.
But yeah I’ve not seen many anime/manga which tackle what Andor portrays so if anyone has recommendations please please please share!! :)

I've made this post around 4 months ago, talking about my first contact with the mod and how i didn't understand bat shit that happened around me; So, after my THIRD playthrough with the mod, i wanted to share my experience as some sort of Player Guide for future users, as well as an proper review, i'll link some screenshots i've took through also, as you may find them interesting
So, for starters: This mod is genius, really. Incrivel, an experience you must play through once; and that your character will wish he didn't live through. And i know that you're expecting an "you must play slowly" message now, or me telling you to do all the sidequests, and explore every place, and spend 20 hours on it; Also know that now you're expecting an "gotcha" of my part saying "but trust me on this one, play slowly, do every sidequest"... But i'll be honest, there are sidequests you can skip without really losing much on the experience; Many places beyond where the main quest/main sidequests send you weren't finished, and it gets really tiring to focus on loooooong monologues from THAT one character; but if you wish to enjoy the mod, do the sidequests, some are really fun and actually challenging that one quest involving the wolf shaman had me pulling hairs from how absurd those wolves were and will spoil you greatly with riches and some nice trinkets

Some meta-points i'd like to address:

• I dont encourage you to play through Beyond Reach with your leveled character. Reasons being that the overall story will treat you like shit in the start, an nobody, and as the plot progresses, you'll receive more respect, naturally more strength too. So, really, my suggestion is that you plan your playthroughs with this mod being the first experience your character will experience; an backstory if you will. As soon as you're level 5, the two npcs that start the quest will be available on Whiterun.
• Your character will NOT survive the plot: That is, not mentally and/or spiritually. Beyond Reach is the only mod i know of that will get you looking at your character and having pity of his newly acquired depression and/or PTSD; It is the perfect mod for turning an Morally good character into a psychopath, coldhearted killer, bloodthirsty assassin or at the very least into a broken morally-grey character.
• It touches very, very sensitive topics, but yes, you can kill the bad-bad guys and rip their heart, tear out its head or whatever your "hero" might find plausible in the moment of rage.
• Talk to NPCS after finishing their quests! I've found that many recognize your success/failure in some, even when the mission journal doesn't mention it; You'll find many enjoyable explanations in the status quo of the story, and no, most of them are NOT the long boring monologues, you'll actually enjoy them, really.
• You'll be batshit rich depending of your modlist, consider having any mod that'll give you things to waste that money; be it making things more expensive, or limit yourself to not loot every body you kill, because its quite easy for you to have 8k+ gold by the start of the mod just by selling some gear and jewelery; even more so for the completion of the quest. If you need a example, in my current run i had probably 13k by the early-midgame, some small armors i've given myself through cheats, i roleplayed that each were very expensive; Started looting just the more important valuables and by the end of the mod, threw away 10k as "traveling expenses + being robbed" as i "chose" to go alone without the merchants help.
• There are skill checks, most notably, in one of the most interesting quests, you'll have a One Handed skill check. Many very important speech checks too, i recommend having some mod that gives you some speech skill xp by having conversations and/or any other method.
• This mod is a great way to train your restoration and alteration skills, in a story sense and in meta sense too; great trainers.
• You need to be somewhat familiar with some console commands, because things might break. I recommend having player.sqs , setstage and stopcombat around.
• If you struggle w/ being lost in some missions, yeah, its normal. If an door is locked and you've been searching for a long time as to what is the supposed path you should take, most probably you gotta walk outdoors through another door. Quest markers just dont take you there.
• The wiki is your friend! really. You should keep it around, you must probably will need it.
• If you're using MCO just like me, keep in mind that in 3 crucial moments of the game you'll need to hit an stationary object that most probably will take you ages to "damage" properly because of your animations, i recommend either having a moveset that can hit standing still in some sort of way, or changing to first person, or being absurdly insane with magic and being able to throw 5+ spells at a target constantly without losing mana, lol.
• For the light hearted, there are no jumpscares, dont worry. There is, however, one specific moment of the game where you'll have your ears destroyed. I actually got really crazy over this in my first playthrough, because it was so loud i couldn't figure what the fuck i should do; for that moment, try to remember to "use your staff on the button in the wall" you'll understand when you reach that point ;)
• For roleplayers, your character will interact ALOT with the Daedra, take that as you will.
• Many quests award you with spells or powers, interact with your magic menu often :)
• Many enemies are really unfair, some are meant to be, some shouldnt lol; There's no wrong in going godmode or TIM in some moments, if it fits your cinematic per se; but refrain from using it frequently. You can level up relativelly easily through the quests/sidequests without having to resort into grinding.
• Also, poison and disease damage: you'll learn to love equipment enchanted with resistance to those.

So, for an proper review:

The dialogue can and will get tiring if you're not skipping through every message; some characters speak in a very difficult way for you to understand, if you're not a native english speaker ( just like im not ) you might find yourself lost at times, so really take your time to understand the dialogue.
The story is really great, very gritty and dark, and not in a edgy-sasuke uchiha way ( even though i really like edgy stuff lol ). The sidequests directly interact with the main quest and plot of the story and help you understand many things you wouldn't have understood before otherwise, rewarding you very well for such. It was very difficult to understand in my first playthrough, but you can fit in the gaps with videos on the topic and browsing the wiki, i recommend this video
I really like the worldbuilding and the constructions, you might and WILL think the world is ugly and unfinished at first look, and that is because the main region you'll be doing most of the quests is POOR, ravaged by the main enemy faction and other rogue-individuals; an land ridden with floods, curses, death, plagues, necromancers.. its fucked up. However, once you cross over that main region, you'll find places most beautiful, like going from a grey, bleak and dead cemetery to a disney fairytale kind of difference; there's a very clear distinction between one side of the map to the other. The world around you is decaying, people are decaying in the literal and figurative sense, you'll find corruption, immoral monsters, liars and tyrants by the lots. It really shows how REALLY fucked the region is, and makes it really enjoying to experience.
The voice acting will be the biggest issue you'll find. Its just really dated and inconsistent; you'll have insanely high quality voices, then the audio quality of a csgo kid rambling as to why you didn't drop him your awp. In some moments, there is no voice acting at all, but that really should not turn you down from playing through the mod; it will annoy you in many moments, but you learn to adapt to it without it being a hassle
The main quest characters are very memorable and enjoyable, some of them you'll really enjoy and like the moments where they're following you; one of them is actually insanely strong as a follower im talking about you, missionary .
Explore. Please. DO explore, i found the most memorable quests and dungeons to be hidden; NO, you dont need to go all-out on spending 10 hours looking at scenery and entering that random cave; most of these hidden locations are directed to you through some sidequests that are really easily skippable.
The last sequence of events is very confusing, very, specifically, the earlier sequences of them. If you took your time through the sidequests and dialogue you'll understand 50% of the story, with the remaining 50% being split in two, in my opinion: 25% of it is meant to be confusing and not explained/understood by the player, as some of the details and explanations/reasons are bigger than the character in some way; and the other 25% are behind very, VERY shakespearean dialogue.
The heavy topics the mod warns you about are, in my opinion, dealt with in a great way. I honestly recommend you not pick the censor option, even if you're sensitive. ( obviously, you know better than me about what topics are way too triggering for you. ) the disgust, anger and feelings they make you feel through the quest really help not only in enjoying the grim story and help you develop your character.

Do you like planning your playthrough? Here's a mostly spoiler-free of some sidequests you should interact with and when.

1. Just after starting the mod, you'll pass through a missive board, why not take a look at them?
2. Very early in the mod, passing through one of the main towns, you'll hear some rumors, you should deal with them as soon as possible.
3. You'll also struck conversation with a character there, you should take his quest.
4. When you reach the second main town you'll pass through, do the main quests until you're offered a mission from an very important figure in that place; You should finish the quest i mention in 2. Do the whole sequence of events there.
5. Follow the main quest, you'll eventually be contacted by a child asking for a favor, you should do her quest. An heads up, i find the enemy present in this quest one of the most unfair ones in the entire mod, just absurdly OP; either have a loardorder where you're insanely OP early, or stock in potions; or, for cinematic reasons, TGM. I dont recommend doing TIM there, because you'll probably level up alot of Light/Heavy Armor, and we dont like cheating do we? Ironic.
6. Follow the main quest. An quest involving another hero will appear; After finishing it, do not rush in to the next main quest, instead, go to the main kingdom of the region and do the quests that'll appear in your way there, until you're granted access to the gates. Then, go back to the main quest.
7. Follow the main quest, up until this point, you'll reach the moment of the game MOST fitting to do the sidequests. Dont forget to talk with the person who shares the same title as yours for his quests; just dont do the repeatable missions. Dont immediatelly finish the main quests, pick up more side quests in the way: I recommend talking to one of your priest friends back in the 2nd main town, he might have an interesting quest for you to take. Maybe look into the missive letters you took in the start? Also talk with the Arch-Bishop in the main kingdom, you might find some new dialogues, and one of the best sidequests in the game in there.
8. Follow the main quest until you're introduced to an important person of such kingdom; Then, do the quest A Dual Soul and the Wayward Witch, you'll be given it by one of the of the people you were asked to talk to in the prior main quest. Dont forget to talk alot while doing that sidequest.
9. Finished such quest, follow the main quest, You'll be entering the final sequence of events now. Explore the interiors of the place that quest takes place into, take your time.
10. When you've finished the prior main quest, you'll enter the No Turning Back point. Continue through the main quest.
11. You will be guided through the last events quite well, enjoy ( or not ).

​
I hope you guys enjoy the mod as much as i've enjoyed. I recommend checking this video too, really worth it.
Here are some screenshots i selected to share: Imgur Link

Ah, well it’s that time of the week but no series video in sight, now this review series will cover video not often judged or talked about in this sub as to give more attention to videos to hate on.
Today’s video was skipped by most due to it looking like an obvious copy of the Girl Wears Box Video where our lead is traumatized at the age of five because a boy told her she was ugly. Needless to say it was stupid.
But now, we look at its seemingly copy, there’s a lot to cover and no time to waste.
A boy is coming to a new school and we don’t see him wearing a box, rather an oni mask. A girl walks by and is like “woah buy Genshin Impact!” Yes this video is a version of the original video all while being a 20 minute ad.
We get a copy of the license action Grinch gag where the Child Grinch wears a bunch of stuff to cover his face. The Bully explains the Genshin ad making it really obvious he plays it. No beating around the bush here.
We learn that he was hiding a shitty makeup job with plastered scars, cream noticeable on his nose, I know the make up department gets no funding but try harder guys.
At home the kid is playing Genshin, which you should be too instead of reading this review as his mama enters stop reveal the school is putting in the Jungle Book as the school musical.
Now this is a weird choice considering Jungle Book only exists as a children’s play on stage and the more popular Lion King seems to make more sense. Until you remember this kid needs to play a human role so he can be himself and all that bullshit.
Now you have fallen into my trap! You will be forced to listen to me talk about musical theatre and still read the rest of the review because you have to know which score I give it and what video I plan on covering next. Anyway, Beetlejuice is a musical based on the 1989 Tim Burton film of the same name. It stars Alex Brigthman and-
Back to the actual review, the kid wants to try out as an animal and it’s his favorite movie. Not to judge kid but really? It’s not even the best Disney film but hey, you do you and you don’t have the best taste in video games either.
The mom’s all like “oh try out for Mowgli.” Which bitch, that isn’t how things in theater work, let the kid try out for what role he wants to be.”
Mowgli don’t wear a mask, which isn’t true. In fact masks are like poison to the stage. But now he doesn’t want to audition and now he does. It isn’t as bad as the girl from the talent show video with Lily Singh where she decides to quit and rejoin the show multiple times over the course of five minutes.
He watches the ending of Jungle Book and says the lines out loud, theater kids do a lot of things, that isn’t one of them. In math class it’s partner work time which bully is like “ha ha.”
Teach writes the question in the board and gives like two seconds before asking bully the answer which he gets wrong, probably because he gave them no time to work. Main Boy correctly answers leading to bully say that anime fans are nerdy.
Look I don’t think anime fans are that smart considering how some of their fandoms act. I seriously need an insult name for main boy but calling him ugly isn’t good. He is quite the dry actor so I’m sticking with Dry.
Dry head to the audition where the process is just reading a monologue for the character you want. It’s a musical, why aren’t they singing? Although I should be grateful that there are no songs since all Dhar songs make me wish I was deaf.
Dry reads the monologue with his normal voice, no impression, and happy tone for what seems to be an emotional monologue. Yet the video believes this is good acting, the director says he should try out for Mowgli which he shouldn’t say because it’s his job to see what role he is good for, not base it each student off each role they try out for.
Bully puts a mask to his face and insults Dry, the mask looks like it’s worth 25 cents, it’s the wrong bear fur, and I doubt they use masks since they block actor’s ability to emote properly.
Dry runs away and bully gets kicked out and properly punished. He protests he was Mowgli last year which is stupid. Why would a school put on the same musical twice in a row? Why would the kids do it? This is stupid.
While playing Genshin, CONSUME, he reveals his school which coincidentally happens to be where his fellow player goes to school. And then they decide to meet up at dark in an empty location.
At the location, a pedophile shows up, kidnaps Dry, and the video ends. If course that is the realistic ending for trying to meet a player if a game with a pedo problem, instead it happens to be bully. All the stars had to align for that to happen.
He gives the math homework which he had a spare copy of, and bully says he goes by his middle name somehow since no substitute has called out his first name
Friendship montage. Bully helps him get good at romancing Girl, playing Genshin, which you should to https://apps.apple.com/us/app/genshin-impact-v4-5/id1517783697.
At the end, the bully’s bully friends show up and confront bully about not being a bully. so bully is all like he’s a loser and I’m using him. And guess who happens to be walking around the corner? It’s bad actor, wow. He trips and falls like a dumb ass and shouldn’t he know he’s lying? What’s the point of this third act break up?
We learn the fucker ran home to have a pity party, how he did that on foot implies he lives next to the school. This pity party takes place on OPENING NIGHT! Now tonight isn’t the night to have a pity party because not showing up will make you look like a dick.
The director is trying to stall as it’s apparently been hours since school ended and the show is about to begin. However if the lead vanished before a show, the understudy would just be asked to take his place.
It seems there is no understudy as the show might have to cancel. Wow shitty actor who gives a shit about no one but himself. Thanks a lot dickweed.
Bully manages to run to his house to apologize to Shit Actor. So this gets him to go back to put on the show. He dashes into stage and seems to say an ending monologue despite just showing up. A kid says look at him, gives a long pause, says he’s a good actor suddenly the show is over. Huh? He just showed up!
Also musicals doesn’t end with a monologue, they end with a song. God, The kids go to play more Genshin and all live happily ever after playing Genshin forever.
This video sucks , an overly long ad for a shitty mobile game with a bad representation of what a musical is like. The acting is bad, cut and dry with forced coincidences to move along the plot. And Bad Actor nearly getting his show canceled over a minor comment makes me really dislike him. 2/10
As for the future, April 1st I have a special surprise, and after that I have two videos in mind. One involves Neela being a sad white girl with daddy issues, the another is another evil foster mom video. You’ll find out soon, until then, enjoy your time.

Hi! So recently my mom decided that she would was going to start finding an agency to book my little sister in. My mom got in contact with NYLA and became good friends with one of the managers I’m guessing? Anyways, he was a pastor apparently but decided to start working with talent agencies to help kids. blah blah blah lol So my little sister started joining this course, aka these zoom meetings where she learns about acting and learns monologues. My mom apparently payed A LOT of money to do this and won’t tell me how much. I wanted to sign with a talent agency for a bit now and was doing my own research and felt like it was a bit fishy, that my mom had to pay at all for something.. I have faith my sister will probably book some jobs considering she’s got the talent for disney/nick/ etc. But I just worry for my mom putting her faith in this manager to help my sister, and i don’t want this money to be wasted considering she’s ALWAYS had a poverty mindset, and we’ve always been careful with our money. and i can’t even approach her with my worries because it will turn into a “well i invest in your future” talk. i really don’t know what to do….

Intro
So I think I watched all of the ATLA episodes. This was before streaming was popular so it's very possible I missed it and I don't make it a habit to watch re-reuns. Same for LoK. When I heard about the live action, I was not excited, simply from what I have seen and heard about other live actions.
But I thought to myself, at least it will visibly look pleasant right? So this could be something I watch while I'm high. So that's what I did. TLDR I paid attention in I think the first 2 episodes, weed knocked me out until maybe the 6th or 7th episode. And then I saved the rest of it to watch it sober. Honestly I wasn't planning to from what I remember from the first 2 episodes, but I have thing about finishing...
Love The Proper Representation
I don't hate everything about the show. When I saw the trailer, I was excited to see Asians getting the proper representation we deserve and I was excited to get the the water tribe get properly represented. And I think it is a good sign to see studios willing to take this seriously. Movies and TV are a visual auditory medium for storytelling. So all of this matters.
Some Good Here And There
There are some good moments in this show. One of the Best comments on this thread already pointed it out. The 41st division's backstory. In the original, Zuko's unit saw a different side of him from the banishment story. But the one here was actually much better. Unless I am remembering the original wrong
I think the fight scene choreography was pretty decent and it visually looked great. Exactly what I wanted for a live action avatar show. It also seems like the show did a decent job at trying to be faithful to the original series from a story perspective.
Pacing
I know there are some complaints about pacing but there is a lot in ATLA and Netflix has very limited episodes in their series. There are pros and cons to this. On one hand, limits don't let it becomes something ridiculous like Naruto or One Piece. On the other hand, while ATLA could be slimmed down a bit, it isn't all that fatty with fillers. I wish Netflix has the option for series to have more episodes so that there can be more world building.
Blue Spirit Switch Felt Forced
And continuing from the last section, this is why I felt like that part with Aang and the Blue Spirit felt forced. It could also be because I missed 3-4 episodes while being knocked out on weed. But to me it did feel like Aang was too quick to see Zuko's side after he saved him from prison. It's not like their encounters were sparse, but it didn't feel like they have enough history for me to feel anything in those moments
Younger Actors' Lacking In Performance
I'm not the artsy type so I usually can't tell if an actor is actually bad or if they are just written/directed poorly. I can however say that is the case here. The actors that portrayed their characters well are Ozai, June, Zhao and Iroh. I thought for the most part the actors did a really good job portraying these characters. I will talk about my misgivings to Iroh but he is tougher to play than the other 4 simply because there is just more to him and he gets more screen time so there is more to pick on.
I would say Pakku was pretty alite as well but being angry and stubborn was his character so it was easy since it was so shallow. Sokka did all right as well. Not amazing, but all right. Like Sokka in the show, he has some serious moments and comedic moments. But the former ends up taking center stage more with the latter sometimes missing. And I think it has to do with the show focusing on a more serious tone due to the lack of episodes
Characters who I thought was done poorly was Aang, Katara, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee. A lot of times when I was watching their scenes, it was like I was looking at cardboard. The actors can say the lines and try to emulate the proper emotions with their face, but the rest of their body language just simply didn't sync up with that. And I think the director knows this as well which is why there are so many stand-still cinematic shots centered on the character when they monologue. Because when they don't do that, you noticed this flaw a lot more.
The only thing I can attribute this to is them being younger actors. They are less skilled than their more seasoned casts. And it is very noticeable in this show. And I will discuss why I think that is the case in this show. But I don't think it's a case where actors are bad simply because they are young. There are shows/movies where kids CAN play their role well. Stranger Things is a great example of that even at their youngest age in the first season. Nothing is stiff and everything is very fluid and dynamic.
Iroh Could Be More Calm
This one will be short. I think the actor, did a pretty good job with Iroh. And I could be measuring this all wrong because I was knocked out for part of it. But recently Youtube has been advertising some clips of ATLA to me. And LoK as well.
With the Iroh scenes we get in the live action show, the actor did a good job at showing that empathetic side and the wise sage. But there is also a calmness and levity to Iroh that isn't shown in this show. Instead he is almost always serious. So I don't know if this is the actor's fault or if it's the director's fault. Because as I've mentioned in the above, it seemed like the comedic tone of this show was only sprinkled in here and there.
Visual Accuracy Matters Because It Is A Visual Medium
Everyone has talked about this to death but yea Azula, Mai and Ty Lee are kind of a bit chubby. I don't think Katara should get as much hate though. She may not be perfectly accurate to ATLA but I don't think she was too far off either.
I don't recall if this was a Youtuber or someone else, but they mentioned that it could be the fault of the people who made the wigs. Could totally be possible.
But one thing I hate about this discussion is people who make points about "how it doesn't change the story". A show is a visual auditory medium for storytelling. The VISUALS MATTER. So yea I was very thrown off by how those 3 looked and very confused why those specific actors were chosen. Because as I've mentioned before, they aren't very good actors to begin with. So they are taking Ls in both the visual representation and the acting department.
Asians Still Suffering From STEM focus
As mentioned in the above, I've given the younger actors quite a bit of shit specifically about Azula, Ty Lee, Mai and Aang. And I'm going to have to put this one on my community.
Historically our parents have always pushed us into STEM and not so much the arts. And I think as a result, the pool for Asian representation, while not empty is smaller. And look, not everyone is going to be a winner. Not everyone is going to be a Steven Yeun, Michelle Yeoh, Ali Wong or Simu Liu. But we increase the chances of that if there are more Asian Americans that engages in a career in the arts.
I've noticed that Millennial and Gen-X parents in my community are steering away from that "must be STEM" notion a lot more. But not entirely. So I hope that improves in the future.
Looks Like The Show, Sounds Like The Show, But Doesn't Feel Like The Show
So I think the show was a bit too focused on hitting the story plots they wanted to hit and create a spectacle. Which btw, they should. However ATLA wasn't great simply because of those things. It wasn't just cool because superpowers are amazing. It's not just cool because it has a good storyline. But it was enjoyable to watch because, for a lack of a better term, it has this Disney element to it. Side note, not a huge fan of Disney.
But what I mean is this, if you watch a lot of modern Disney movies and this is very well showcased in the Marvel ones, they interleave comedic relief with serious/dramatic moments and intense/engaging actions scenes. ATLA did that as well and it did it really well. One of the biggest problems with this show is that the comedic part was largely gone. There were a few quips and there but not much. There are moments they try to sprinkle that in but the execution was just not there. And it just simply wasn't wacky enough. I think ATLA could of really worked with a tone like Guardians of the Galaxy. I think that would of fit this very well.
But because they didn't do this, it didn't feel like an Avatar show and ended up feeling like someone's edgy side project.

Did hard mode last year, so though I'd try and take the next step.
 
Title with a Title - Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman - 3.5 stars
Not the best book I read all year, but possibly the most fun, and the series only gets more entertaining as it goes along. Also definitely an example of a book that is elevated massively by listening to the audiobook, which is top notch.
 
Superheroes - Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots - 2.5 stars
This was almost a DNF for me. There was nothing wrong with the writing really, but the main character is so unbearably insufferable, and so blatantly wrong in her logic and motivations. It’s perfectly possible to write a main character who is also a villain, but you must give them some quality for the reader to latch on to. And what the hell is up with her last name being ‘Voldemort’ backwards? It’s never mentioned in the story, and it sticks out like a sore thumb.
 
Bottom of the TBR - Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan - 4 stars
Had this one knocking around for years, and this square was the chance I needed. It’s barely fantasy, having more of a fantasy feeling than any fantasy elements, but it just feels close enough to include. I enjoyed it a lot. I’ve got a real soft spot for anything that makes it feel as though the real world might be just a bit more magical than it seems.
 
Magical Realism OR Literary Fantasy - The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker - 5 stars
Fantastic. Truly magical in the very best way, and my only five-star rating in this year’s bingo period. The perfect example of something that I would likely never have got round to if I hadn’t wanted it to fill a bingo square. It’s tragic, it’s funny, it’s heart-warming, and it’s just so magical.
 
Young Adult - The Sinister Booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix - 3.5 stars
I’ve loved Garth’s books since I was a teenager. This particular series isn’t as strong as his Keys to the Kingdom or Old Kingdom series, but it’s still pretty fun, and all the characters are generally very likeable.
 
Mundane Jobs - At the Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard - 3.5 stars
I wanted this to have such a higher rating. I absolutely adored the first one in the series, and was so excited to read this continuation, but I found it really, really slow going. It wasn’t bad at all, but the changed dynamic between the two main characters wasn’t quite as enjoyable to me as in the first outing.
 
Published in the 00s - Blade of Tyshalle by Matthew Woodring Stover - 3 stars
I really enjoyed the first book in this series. The concept was extremely interesting and the blend of sci-fi and fantasy together worked really well. This second book isn’t as strong. It just takes all the stuff from the first book and goes too far with it. There are still plenty of great moments, but they’re buried in a muddle of ideas.
 
Angels and Demons - The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams - 3.5 stars
In many ways this is fairly standard urban fantasy PI noir stuff. A gritty wisecracking protagonist, a complicated supernatural love interest, a couple of humorous sidekicks. It’s all there. Luckily, I’m a sucker for that kind of thing, and therefore this neatly hits that spot.
 
Five Short Stories - The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherine M. Valente - 4 stars
Maybe I should have used this for the superhero square and skipped Hench. I got a lot more out of it, even if the individual stories do tend towards the tragic.
 
Horror - Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher - 4 stars
I’ll admit that this is skirting on the very, very edge of being acceptable as horror. It’s not really that scary, but I’ve got no taste for the real spooky stuff, so this had to do. I’d heard a lot of good things about the author without having read any, and it was worth it. It’s a fairy tale but in the older sense, where things might just be a little bit darker than Disney would have you believe, and I suspect Kingfisher will make another appearance on a bingo card before long.
 
Self-Published OR Indie Publisher - The Stone Road by Trent Jamieson - 4 stars
This was a pleasant surprise for me. It was one of the squares I was worried about finding a selection for, and then I stumbled across a recommendation for this, and realised that I’d read several of the author’s other books a few years ago and I remembered enjoying them. This one was no different. The story itself is good, but it’s the mood that really makes it. There are certain other books that I’ve read that have a similar sort of ‘dark dream’ atmosphere, and I usually enjoy them.
 
Set in the Middle East – The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdulla - 4.5 stars
Really loved this one, and it’s another that I may never have read without bingo. Again, I think it’s more the mood that the setting invokes than anything else. Reading this just made me feel as though I was in the desert, surrounded by hot sand and magic.
 
Published in 2023 – Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh - 3.5 stars
There’s a lot going on in this book, and in many ways it’s all a little bit Ender’s Game. I don’t mind issue driven spec fiction, and I’ve found myself drawn more and more to it over recent years, but this book tries to cram in a lot of issues, and it can at times get in the way of other things like character and plot consistency. It’s still decent though.
 
Multiverses and Alternate Realities – The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson - 3.5 stars
I’m still not convinced that I haven’t rated this too highly. When I think over to the other Brandon Sanderson secret project books, this one doesn’t quite stack up as well. It’s not that it isn’t still fun, but I didn’t know how to put my thoughts into words until I read another review that called it “shallow”, and I think that’s it. Sanderson gets a lot of stick from certain quarters for his books using cool ideas and neat magic systems to cover up the lack of depth in certain areas, but I think this is the first time that I’ve actually felt it.
 
POC Author – The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson - 4 stars
I think I liked this in the end, but it really took a lot longer than it should have. It’s weird that a book I’ve rated four stars could have been a DNF without too much difficulty. Multiverse stuff is always difficult because you’ve got to try and balance out making the other realities different and interesting without going over the edge into overcomplicated territory. In my opinion at least, it mostly manages it, but I can’t deny that there are a lot of wobbles along the way.
 
Book Club OR Readalong Book – Orconomics: A Satire by J. Zachary Pike - 3 stars
This was a standard fantasy adventure story, which would be fine if I hadn’t been promised so much more. I’ll admit that maybe that’s my fault, but I’d read reviews and comments suggesting that this was the next coming of Pratchett, and that it was hilariously funny, but I just didn’t really find that. Even the actual economics stuff that the premise seemed to be based on only really crops up a little bit in background scenes. It just wasn’t what I was expecting.
 
Novella – This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone - 4.5 stars
This is one of those that will divide opinion massively. You can either get on board with poetic time travelling queer epistolary sci-fi romance or you can’t. Luckily, I’m in the former category. Lovely stuff.
 
Mythical Beasts – The Last Echo of the Lord of Bells by John Bierce - 4 stars
The final entry in this particular series, and it delivers pretty much exactly what you need from a finale for this kind of series. There are big climactic battle scenes, there’s a fairly happy ending for most of your favourite characters, and plot threads get wrapped up whilst leaving the door open for some interesting developments in the future should the writer choose to return. There may have been slightly too much climactic battle, given that it makes up most of the book, but too much is better than not enough.
 
Elemental Magic – The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang - 4.5 stars
Another one from the recommendation list and boy did it deliver! These are only intended to be short reviews, but this is probably the book on this list that I could easily write a couple of thousand words about. It’s just crammed with interesting characters living in this absolutely vibrant world that is built on this crazy contradiction between the old and the new, between science and magic, between modernity and tradition.
 
Myths and Retellings – In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune - 4 stars
This book won’t be a surprise to anyone that’s read any of Klune’s recent works. It’s very much of the same spirit as The House on the Cerulean Sea or Under the Whispering Door. If T.J. Klune is going to spend the rest of his career writing quiet, gentle, queer love stories that focus on found family and how to be human, honestly, I’m fine with it.
 
Queernorm Setting – The Endless Song by Joshua Phillip Johnson - 3 stars
I enjoyed the first book in this series and expected the same from this second entry. I was a little let down on the front. It’s not that the book is bad, but it feels super rushed, whilst trying to introduce a lot of new characters and a whole new setting to boot. I feel like this should have been a trilogy, using this second book to introduce the new focal character, and then use the third to bring everything together, à la His Dark Materials.
 
Coastal OR Island Setting – Half a War by Joe Abercrombie - 4 stars
Anyone can die. Anyone can get character development. Anyone can get their comeuppance. Joe Abercrombie is nothing if not consistent with his theming. This is supposedly YA, so it’s not as hardcore as First Law, but it’s absolutely got all his hallmarks. Grey grey grey.
 
Druids – The Moonday Letters by Emmi Itäranta - 3.5 stars
I gave this a rating, but that was more of a formality. This was easily my hardest square to find a book for, and I eventually settled on this based on a recommendation on the list. This is a perfect example of one of those books where I can see that it’s good, I can see why people like it, and yet it just isn’t for me.
 
Featuring Robots - The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz - 4 stars
Short and sweet. A super simple romance on the surface, but with a lot to say about humanity and what makes a person a person.
 
Sequel - Waybound by Will Wight - 4 stars
See my review for The Last Echo of the Lord of Bells. My feelings are identical.

Apologies for the delay on the next 4-H story! I've been taking time to contact old friend, getting in touch with pals of decades past in my quest to provide for you an accurate tale regarding the 4-H days.
I COULD just embellish, hammer out from a memory that's suffered under repeated blows to the head, however thick it may be, and whose vault oftentimes finds itself a victim of the thief known as Father Time, but you, dear readers, my dear friend ReddX, you deserve the Real McCoy.
However, during a recent celebration of three family birthdays (When you have a family as massive as mine, you consolidate birthdays by Month so that we can gather the family, but won't lose dozens of weekends out of the year) I conversated with my younger brother, Mongoose, over beers while sitting on the patio of our parents' house during one quiet Spring evening, basking in the glow of citronella candles and sipping an amazing IPA called 'The Way Home', I heard stories from Mongoose's butcher job while he was waiting to start his career as a market research analyst.
When he got started, he didn't quite know when to stop and he opted to write them down. I asked if these tales could be shared here and as Mongoose found our gracious, illustrious and golden-voiced host, ReddX, to be apt both of vocalism and commentary, he has given his blessing to share this chronicle.
Deep-lore fans of ReddX will have already known of Mongoose from the Burger Beard saga and the ongoing 4-H tales!
In the interest of expounding upon trace amounts of science, it behooves me to deliver a moving monologue of the miasmic misadventures maligning Mongoose as he battled the bleak-brained, blank-stared, banal, barmy, baffling, buffoon, Bongwater.
These tales originate from Mongoose's job as a butcher at a grocery store, having taken the advice of a friend of the family when he asked him 'How do I get my dream job?'
The family friend's answer: Get ANY job and use it as a springboard to your desired career and SHOW UP to it so you have people telling your dream job what a great employee you are.
Thus, did Mongoose the college graduate become Mongoose the Butcher.
This tale is a side-story in the Zuccaverse, but this one is told by Mongoose himself!
He is not a man who is prone to exaggeration and believes the facts should speak for themselves.
But before we begin: shoutout to my brother Mongoose, his chipper wife Orca, his son Gearhead and his daughter Tardigrade! And shoutout to ReddX, to whom we all owe a debt of gratitude for providing us with free entertainment! Do us all a kindness and hit that Like Button and leave a comment, even if it's just to say 'YOU STINK, ZUCCA!' as it helps Redd's Al Gore rhythms!
It's time to warm up the pipes, ReddX... The Maestro, as you dubbed me, is back!
The tune is 'Goldfinger' ;3 (I'm running out of Disney songs XuX;)
​
Bongwater, he's the manThe man with the crappy touchA moron's touchSuch a house squatterBeckons you to take a puff on his bongBut don't go onSlurry words he will pour in your earBut his lies can't disguise what you hearFor a roasted fowl knows when he's wrecked herIt's the choppy mess from Mister BongwaterCoworkers, beware of his brain of mushFingers he'll crush!Slurry words he will pour in your earBut his lies can't disguise what you hearFor a cut of meat knows when he's on the chopperIt's the sucky touch from Mister BongwaterCoworkers, beware of his brain of mushFingers he'll crush!He loves only potOnly potHe loves potHe loves only potOnly potHe loves pot
​
It is at this point that I turn over the holding of the sacred storytelling flashlight to my brother! The writing henceforth is entirely his work and it is my honor to give the floor to him!
Take it away, Mongoose!
\Starfox 64 stage start chime**
"Good luck!"
Bong Water and his Arch nemesis the Learning Curve
Written by Mongoose, the brother of Zucca
I don’t buy it when I hear the phrase “people are stupid”. Oh? Relative to what? To the average? Well the average person is of average intelligence by definition. Perhaps relative to the speaker? Well done. Be proud of your intelligence and remember to cultivate it. But don’t waste too much time stressing about how smart you are. Instead figure out what you can get your brain to do.
But I digress. Perhaps we are stupid relative to humanity’s challenges? Oh? But we’re still alive aren’t we? That’s at least a necessary condition for not being so far doomed by want of intelligence. No, I’m someone who, as a matter of fact, does have some faith in humanity. But I say all this as a preface to a story of a truly remarkable man.
Remarkable, unfortunately in the sense that he is by far hands down the stupidest human being I’ve ever met in my entire life. He’s so far on the wrong side of the bell curve that only those with extraordinary neurological disorders beat him out and they have a valid reason for it.
You may think it unkind of me to speak so poorly of someone with such a handicap. But as you shall soon note in the following story, his want of intelligence is only surpassed by his immoral, dishonest cheating behavior, so I don’t feel too bad for it. His name is omitted in respect to his privacy, but shall hence fourth be known simple as Bong Water. This nick name won out over Dick Cheese, as I’ll explain below. This story takes place over the course of my time employed at Whole Foods as a meat cuttebutcher.
​
The players;
Mongoose: The recently graduated and unemployed young man who just moved to Texas with his new wife in search of greater fortunes. At this point in his life he was undergoing an existential crisis where he was learning that his beloved study of economics wasn’t the panacea he thought it was, and that having a degree didn’t necessarily promise a good job.
Bong Water: A recently released ex-convict. I’ll omit most of the details for later as I find it best to take this person in small doses. He is of pale complexion, average of height with straight wiry hair that was in the early stages of receding. He had an angular face and small pitch black eyes and a somehow disorganized, distant voice. Most notably, something about his countenance made it very uncomfortable to look into his face for too long. (Zucca's commentary: I'm beginning to suspect Bongwater might be an Eldritch abomination.)
Note; For those who do not know, bong water is a technical term from weed culture. Water located in the bottom of a bong serves to filter out much of the carcinogenic material from smoking marijuana. Stoners of the past have experimented with drinking this water in search of a high, but such experiments have consistently found the water to be completely useless. (Zucca's commentary: I'm getting flashbacks to Old Man from Phelous' Beauty and the Beast reviews... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxlBmJdtMVA )
The Boss: The department manager of this particular meat department at our store.
Father of One: One of the main people training myself and Bong Water. A stout, third generation Hispanic man with a wicked sense of humor.
The Cajun: Straight from Louisiana with the Cajun accent and everything.
Old-Timer: One of the older employees . A crotchety old Texan with a temper, but very skilled and great at training.
Scarecrow: A somewhat self involved gentleman, lazy and entitled. Be that as it may, he was otherwise a good worker in that he always did his job and would do you favor.
Welder: A highly reliable dude who was nearing completion of his welder training. Smart, funny, helpful, the works. Bong Water's name was his idea.
Orca: Wife of Mongoose. Recently promoted to shift supervisor at Starbucks. So named because she loves swimming and played water polo during high school.
Part 1. The Interview, the Orientation and the Turkey Degreaser.
I first met Bong Water during a round of interviews at the Whole Foods we were both destined to work at. The Boss had two openings and two seemingly eager people. At the time I was desperate for work and rather feeling down about myself. I used my 4-H training to convince the Boss that I knew my cuts of cattle and sheep. It seemed to do the trick. After the interview, I wandered around the store where I bumped into the other guy vying for work.
“Hey man….you think you got it?” As I said before, something about this guy made it hard to look right at him. His voice was oddly distant,
“I think so.” I said. “You?” But he seemed to have a different track in mind.
“$11.50 an hour is a lot of fucking money man!”
“I-uh-yeah man, should be good. Especially here in Texas, the cost of living is so low.”
“$11.5 an hour is a lot of fucking money man.” With the exact same tone and inflection.
So I tried to match his tempo. “Yeah man, we’re gonna have some fun on it.”
But he just stood there staring for a good long while. I was going to step away but he spoke “What are you gonna spend yours on?” He said it like he and I just stumbled across a treasure chest full of gold and now were entertaining our wildest fantasies.
“Oh, a roof over my and my wife’s head and food on the table of course.”
“Co’ on man! I’m gonna buy fucking alcohol man!”
“Yes… of course, that too.” I tried to sound relaxed, but I took my leave, not knowing that this was as normal as he would ever be.
The following week was orientation. They had us go to the main store in the region where an HR lady was set to give us the basic training and orientation that all employees get. It was the standard stuff about what in particular made Whole Foods special and we were meant to memorize the material and be able to regurgitate most of it to customers. I saw Bong Water there. Apparently he got the job just as I did. We were setting in classroom like chairs with little fold out desks for taking notes. The HR lady began with a lengthy slide show of Whole Foods corporate history and company line. About halfway through, while on a slide of the company founder, Bong Water piped up. “Hey, do you guys do drug tests?” The room fell silent.
The HR lady just stood looking incredulously at him with her mouth slightly open. The whole room turned to look at him. You could hear a pin drop. Bong Water remained oblivious to everyone’s gaze as he stared on at the HR lady, waiting with bated breath for her answer. I found myself looking for the camera were I could make a face like Jim Halpert.
“No…we don’t.” She answered him slowly. What happened next will stay with me until the day I die. The reader should be advised that I changed no dialogue and took no liberties throughout this story.
“Good!” He said. “Because I don’t have a problem!!” he said slamming his fist on his desk. “I don’t have a problem. I don’t have a problem.” I looked around at everyone else in the room to confirm I wasn’t insane. Nope, he said it. Several young women were holding back laughter. Others thought it was some kind of joke. But off all the people in the room, only I was destined to work directly with this guy.
The first day, Bong Water and I found ourselves at the bottom of the job's hierarchy during the night shift, which meant we would starting out cleaning things and cutting lots of chicken meat. The floor was slippery and regrettably, our special order boots hadn’t come in yet. Father of One and Welder took up the first part of our training. We were to clean out the Turkey grinding and poultry storage room. After removing everything which must not get wet, whole chickens, turkeys and such, all that was left was a big empty room and an industrial sausage grinder.
After Father of One finished blasting the room with hot water, Welder explained a few basic points about disassembling the sausage grinder and he switched it to de-greasing mode and proceeded to make a critical error in judgement...
He handed the hose to Bong Water who reached out and grabbed it about a foot from the actual nozzle and violently yanked it from Father of One’s hands. Chemical de-greaser began flying in every direction. Bong Water began to scream and panic as the whole room was coated.
“Choke up on it!” Welder shouted. But Bong Water held the hose at arms length looked away and slammed his eyes shut like he was Indiana Jones and the turkey de-greaser was the Ark of the Covenant.
He screamed back “I can’t!” all while we were collectively trying to keep the chemical out of our eyes.
Out of options, Bong Water tried moving around to shoot the de-greaser in a less problematic direction, unintentionally playing keep-away with the hose from Welder, Father of One and myself.
Finally, Welder grabbed the hose and bent it, cutting off the spray. Absolutely covered in de-greaser and now wet through our clothes, Welder and Father of One decided that the rest of the training was going to be a purely visual demonstration. Working as a meat cutter basically means working in a refrigerator, so we got very, very cold that day. But of course, the worst was yet to come.
​
Part two: Wrapping chickens and continued indications of his character.
The next day Bong Water and I were being trained to wrap up trays of chicken in tight plastic wrap by Old Timer. The machine which helped on this task was off to one side of the department.
With enough practice, one could make our product look nice and presentable. But it wasn’t easy to get there. The work requires the ability to toss up the tray while pressing the clear plastic downward for a tight, clean fit. Old Timer came over with a large metal tray holding about 12 individual styrofoam packs of chicken breasts that needed to be wrapped up. (Zucca's commentary: Be advised, Mongoose hates the word 'packet' and will die on the hill that it is a superfluous entry in the English lexicon. Just though you should know that! >:3) About 90 pounds of chicken all told. Old Timer set the tray down on one side of the machine, the side Bong Water happened to be on. On the other side was myself. Two large trash cans were sitting on either side. Today the machine happened to be covered in a lot of clutter, like wrappings and paper sheets.
Old Timer said “Here, let me throw this away” while he bundled up the trash to dispose of on the side closest to me, Bong Water took the initiative and grabbed the tray of fresh chicken and poured it all into the trash can closet to him. Old Timer returned to the other side with his hands reaching, expecting to find trays of chicken, but finding nothing instead, he stood there for a awkward second and slowly, deliberately said “Bong Water…where is the chicken?”
Bong Water was taken aback by the question. “Hey man, you told me to throw it away.” He said in a relaxed, but indignant tone.
Old Timer spun his head around to face me with a wide eyed smile reminiscent of the Joker. My eyes were as wide as dinner plates. It happened so fast and so unexpectedly. I didn’t know whether to laugh, gasp, or what. Old Timer closed his eyes. “Stay here, don’t touch anything. I’m getting more chicken. Don’t throw it away this time.”
“Wait? I shouldn’t throw away chicken?” Bong Water asked.
Old Timer winced. I knew he was biting his tongue. I happen to learn he was only just recently reprimanded for being rude to coworkers. “Only when it’s appropriate.” He said through gritted teeth.
“So, I should throw it away?” Bong
I could have sworn I saw steam coming from Old Timer’s ears. “I think we should ask first.” I said trying to play the peacemaker.
“Yes” Old Timer hissed.
“Who should we ask?” Bong Water inquired.
Swear on me mum, I could see Old Timer’s eye twitching uncontrollably.
It was getting late one day in the third week of my employment there and I was doing the dishes of the day. Bong Water was cleaning out the turkey grinding and storage room which he had technically yet to master, but the Boss figured that putting him on that work alone would get him up to speed.
I saw him approaching with the drill of the grinder dripping turkey meat all over the floor. In theory he was supposed to clean it off before moving it to prevent injuries. He walked up to hand it off to me to clean but before he did, he held it up, looking at it admiringly.
“Hey man, can you imagine if this was a dong?” At this point I had already had enough conversations with him to resolve to talk as little as possible with the man.
I gave a non-committal nod and “Mmm.” in response.
In reply. He took to exploring this notion of his further. “Yeah, it’s like a horses weiner!”
But things only really got creepier when he gave it a thousand yard stare with a his pair of beady little black eyes.
He mumbled “Yeah, that's right, dumb bitch.” under his breath.
My nostrils flared in agitation. Father of One, Welder and all the rest told plenty of dirty jokes (very dirty jokes). But there's a difference between telling jokes for an audience and telling jokes for yourself.
I decided to break him out of his trance. “Hey man, I think you’re suppose to clean the grinder equipment before taking out of the storage room. We could slip on that meat.”
He scoffed. “Man, I don’t give a fuck man, man. I ain’t got no shit.” And he carried on with his task. But at least he was walking away.
​
Part three: 'The band saw almost takes Bong Water’s life', 'Bong Water almost takes Bong Water’s life on the trash trek' and 'A false prediction'.
The department has a band saw, and for anyone who doesn’t know, its purpose is to cut through bones like they were made of wet paper.
On the third day, they tried training us on the safe use of the band saw. Everyone watched nervously as the Boss gave instructions.
There is a long safety list which must be observed every time one uses this machine. 1) Don’t use a cut glove; if it gets caught, the metal weave will get stuck on the blade on the blade and your hand will get sucked in and you’ll loose it (The hand AND the glove). 2) Keep your eyes on the blade and your limbs. 3) Don’t talk while using it. 4) Always ask a supervisor to watch you work on it for the first couple weeks until they can trust you with it.
On the first day we learned these rules, Bong Water managed to break all four in one go. At the time, he was talking to people over his shoulder while using the saw. They were trying to calmly tell him to stop. Father of One saw his arm heading for the saw, he grabbed both Bong Waters arm and collar and violently ripped him away from the machine. All that was lost was part of his sleeve. Bong Water spend the rest of the day muttering incoherent curses against Father of One.
Rule number 5) Bong Water isn’t allowed to use the band saw.
I wasn’t here for this one, but Scarecrow and Welder told the story over some beers at the bar down the street.
Late one night near closing time, Scarecrow was trimming some beef tenderloin, Welder was breaking down the beef storage room and Bong Water was cutting some chicken for the meat case the following day.
Scarecrow looked over at Bong Water and asked him to slide over a garbage can for him. The floor was slippery enough that with a solid kick, a trash can will fly from one end of the department to the other, which is why we need to wear special rubber boots while on the job.
Upon hearing this request, Bong Water turned to face the can, he stared for a good long while as the greasy cogs in his head noisily cranked.
“You can just slide it over, don’t even have to move.” Scarecrow informed him.
Bong Water, keeping his knife in hand as if the act of placing it safely on the counter would render it lost to the cosmos and began slowly scooting the can over to Scarecrow. And by slowly, I mean glacial. It took him about ten entire minutes to cover the length of the department all the while Scarecrow keep repeating every possible variation of “No, just slide it!” he could possibly imagine.
But Bong Water was a man on a mission and in fact the dread quest nearly took his life because at the end when he finally got the trash can to its destination, he tripped and fell with the knife still in his hand. But instead of impaling himself, he landed on the flat side of the blade.
The Cajun warned me that Bong Water had repeatedly accidentally stabbed himself when the Cajun was trying to train him how to cut beef and that I would stand clear. He assured me that the Boss wouldn’t let this slide and Bong Water would be gone before the week was up.
Bong Water was, in fact, not fired.
​
Part 4: The 8 piece and the Criminal Mastermind.
There’s lots of not so funny details about his performance at Whole Foods. Like, not removing all the raw chicken from the dishes and equipment he cleaned. Or that he tried to cheat the punch in/punch out system. He even asked me to punch in for him so it would look like he got in on time. I refused. He was rude to customers and his supervisors who criticized his performance. But there are a few instances worth reporting on.
About a month and a half into his time at Whole Foods, Bong Water had yet to master any of the skills required of him except washing dishes. Incredulity began to grow among the staff as to why the boss hadn’t yet fired him was beginning to fuel speculation that something strange was happening behind closed doors. Nepotism? Blackmail? A sordid love affair? But more on that later.
In theory at least, Bong Water could cut up a chicken. He had done it a few times before. This day, a customer asked him to take a particular whole chicken, remove its skin and cut it up into the standard 8 pieces. I was working on pork chops at the time and watched as he took the order, but didn’t seem to grasp what was being asked of him. He kept asking the customer to repeat the request a few times and when he seemed confident he finally set to work while the customer finished his shopping. There were about five people other than Bong Water at work.
My eyebrows practically jumped to my hairline as I saw him grab the cleaver. Absolutely the wrong knife for the job. His eyes went vacant (Well, MORE vacant) and then... it began.
WHACKWHACKWHACKWHACK!!!!
Suddenly the song 'Butcher Pete' starts playing in my head.
Bong Water started slamming the cleaver down on the chicken over and over again with all his might.
He took huge gouges out of the table. No one dared approach to stop him. After about a minute of hammering down on the chicken, all that was left was a strange soup of chicken meat, skin and splintered bones. (Zucca's commentary: Now THAT'S what I call a 'Fowl soup!' ;3 )
For a second I thought he must have been angry. Perhaps his home life had cultivated new complications, perhaps he heard something that upset him that morning.
But no. He looked down at his work with a simpleminded joy, smiled and nodded like the insanity he'd displayed hadn’t just happened, like it was a job well done.
Wrapping up this revolting mess proved to be a challenge as the splintered bones were poking him through his gloves. He put a price tag on it and handed it to the unsuspecting customer who had only just returned.
He practically had to drop it in his basket to keep from getting his skin stabbed by raw chicken bones. Confused, he unwrapped the unholy contents and simply stared in disbelief. Not knowing what to say, flabbergasted beyond reason, the man simply said “You... didn’t take the skin off...?”
Bong Water was deeply offended at this insult to his honor, his craftsmanship and his person. His beady black eyes twitched with anger and he retorted “This chicken can’t have skin, it’s already dead!”
I had to evacuate the area to keep from busting my gut laughing. Last thing I saw was the Boss's assistant offering his apologies and promises to fix the situation.
It was rare for the Boss to be there during the night shift as he was the one who generally opened the department.
But on one such occasion I saw Bong Water approach him with a sad, deflated look. He informed the Boss that his grandmother had passed away.
The Boss, putting a supportive hand on his shoulder, told him to take a couple days off and that he would personally pick up his shifts. He told Bong Water that he himself was very close with his own grandmother and that he understood the pain.
Bong Water took off and the Boss and I finished the closing.
Walking out the front door nearly at midnight, Boss and I saw him, right there in the food court area which is at the exit of the building, partying and laughing with friends in front of the What-A-Burger.
Now if anyone has any doubts that perhaps his grandmother really did die and this was his particular coping technique, a week before the conclusion of this tale, that same grandmother somehow managed to pass away all over again.
​
Part five. 'That f*cking chicken...'
Closing time was generally given to the two newest employees. Which sadly meant that it would fall to myself and Bong Water.
One night not too long before the end of this tale he and I were in the mist of closing. For those who don’t know, meat processors have a whole bunch of rules that we need to follow to respect different religions (don’t mix pork with other meat), standards for true organics (don’t let non-organics make contact with organics), and sanitation for self evident reasons.
Bong Water ignored these rules in the same way a gangster ignores the laws. He could sorta recite the rules and show you the right way if you really pressed him (but that was always touch and go), but past that, once you weren’t looking he would just go back to not following the rules. So part of my job wound up being setting up stations to be Bong Water proof so that he didn’t have to remember the rules.
So, I had to use some deception on this particular night. I knew Bong Water never cleaned out the poultry area properly, which involved breaking down the equipment, moving everything into another cold room, throwing away meat that fell on the floor into the trash and sanitizing and de-greasing the entire room. I was doing the same task in the beef and pork room on the other side and I could not keep an eye on him. So I told him that I found out that The Boss was going to be in the next morning and would see our work. So, yes it sucked, but we had to do our jobs and follow the rules.
I finished work on my side and was happy to realize that Bong Water hadn’t come out yet. I figured this meant he was working hard. So I went on to other jobs line cleaning knives and covering, shelves and disassembling the band saw. I started to get annoyed as more and more time past. I could hear the hose running, so I knew he was doing something. I crept over and looked through the little window on the door. It took me a while to realize what I was looking at.
The room was still full so right away I knew something was wrong because we don’t use the hose while product is still in there. There was Bong Water, holding on to the de-greaser hose shooting a powerful blast of extremely hot water with all the intensity of a novice firefighter blasting the water cannon for the first time. What was he blasting? I took me a second to realize it was a whole chicken underneath an empty aluminum rack. Slowly, very slowly bits were being cooked and falling off to meet their eventual fate down the drain. The chicken was slowly disintegrating from Bong Water’s chemical onslaught. And there he was with fire and determination in his eyes. It simply didn’t occur to him to roll the feather light aluminum rack away from the wall, pick up the chicken and throw it away.
I’ll confess I didn’t believe my eyes at first, I thought I must be misunderstanding something. But no, he got frustrated and added his own scolding to the dead fowl “come on you stupid f*cking chicken!” I was going to go in there and make things right, but I realized three things. First, no product was being reached by the splatter. Secondly, it was such a light day, I could just leave him to his own devices while I finished up. And finally, I figured that as long as I was quick he was hurting anything, so no big deal.
By the time I returned, the chicken was mostly just a set of bones with the last bits of meat hung on. I suggested my grand strategy of moving the rack first and then picking it up, he agreed, having at this point feeling entirely defeated by the bird.
Incidentally the last thing ever I heard Bong Water say as we parted ways at the front door was his mumbling his frustration “stupid f*cking chicken.”
​
Part six. Orca’s visit.
Over the course of my time at Whole Foods, I managed to land an internship at a big Economic Development Corporation. One day I forgot to bring my nice office clothes. I texted my wife, Orca, to ask if she could bring them. Being the amazing gal she is, she got dolled up and headed over to hand them off and show off what a catch she is.
I happened to be in the back when she swung by and it happened to be Bong Water who took the bag from her. To put it mildly he was enamored.
After I got to the front and stole a little kiss from her, I resumed my work.
Bong Water approached me while I was preparing some pork tenderloin. “Man, your wife is so hot.”
I held back a reaction and just tried to close the conversation off at “thanks.” But he pressed on. “Man, she’s so hot.”
“Yup. I’m a lucky man.”
“She’s hot.”
“Yes.”
“Your wife is so sweet.”
I wanted to tell him to piss off, but so far the strategy of being a bad conversation partner worked well on him.
“My girlfriend is hot too. Not as hot as yours. And she’s not as sweet as yours. My girlfriend is mean and her kid too. You know how those blacks are.”
“…..”
(Zucca's commentary: Truly, Bongwater is a shining example to all to show that we too can overcome our misgivings of others based on immutable characteristics!)
One day, I had come in to shift and should have suspected something was amiss.
The sun was shining a little brighter, birds were singing, insect life had returned.
Nature was healing.
It occurred to me that I hadn't seen Bong Water all day, but Boss was around, working the shift normally reserved for our hero.
Father of One had informed me that he'd be taking over the shift because, and I quote, 'That headcase is no longer on the team.'
We were finally free of this ghastly presence. As mysteriously as he had arrived, so too had he vanished.
Come to think of it... it was remarkable that he left so quietly that nobody knew he was even gone.
​
Part seven. Aftermath and speculations as to Bong Water’s past and why he wasn’t fired.
Over some beers at the bar, possible explanations circulated as to why Bong Water was still gainfully employed, even though he had failed to master any skill, constantly lied to the boss and put himself and others in danger.
One coworker had found out from him that he had just gotten out of prison and for that reason she speculated that he must be a child predator. She admitted she didn’t have anything to justify that belief outside of his overall creepy vibe.
I contested that it didn’t explain why he hadn’t been fired. I thought it was more likely that our employer was in some work placement program for convicts and that the kickback was greater than the net loss that Bong Water consistently produced.
Others thought that he and the Boss were related. But that was quickly shut down because of the grandma thing.
It was also proposed that instead he might be related to the owner of the store.
Another idea that got floated was that the Boss couldn’t spare any workers.
But that didn’t make much sense considering how much turn over there was in prepared foods at the time. It was suggested that he was trying to get fired so he could tell probation it was out of his control.
This was only refuted after he got fired as someone in the fish department next to ours informed us that he was begging for his job back when he finally was actually fired. The higher ups in the department all agreed that everyone was being honest with the Boss about his terrible performance.
We all committed to maneuvering him to the least dangerous jobs. To this very day it remains a mystery how he managed to stay on for all those months.
Sometimes I wonder what became of Bong Water. I try to remember to be grateful for what I have. If I got slammed in my head so hard that I loose what intelligence I have, I’ll need to remember to try and be a good person at least. I finally got that job in economic research, but I’ll always be grateful for my time working at Whole Foods.
Mongoose out.
​
And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen! My brother Mongoose's recounting of his adventures alongside the most Kevinist of Kevins!
Thank you all for tuning in on this one! Y'all remain the best audience in the world! Remember to hit that thumbs-up button, okay? And drop your theory as to why Bongwater didn't get fired for so long! ReddX's Al Gore rhythms can always use the boost! Mongoose and I had a lot of fun journeying down memory lane on this one! Oh, and remember friends: As in nature, as in life, Mongoose wins!
Zucca out, now!