Watching Assassination Classroom For The First Time And I’ll Tell You, I Don’t Know What I Was Expecting

what an icon

jason being jason pt. 1028473615526474829

Thinking about how I would write an adult Scooby-Doo series, because I think it can be done.

The first thing I’d do is make the characters actually be adults.  Still young, but adults, in the mid to late 20s range.  Mystery Inc. is a private detective type business that they run together.  In this universe, the supernatural/ghosts/etc are real, but not necessarily common, so when they take on a case, the culprit might be a person disguised as a monster, or it might actually be a real ghost.  The stakes can be higher; sometimes a bad guy is legitimately trying to kill them.  Sometimes the mystery they’re trying to solve is a murder.  Sometimes they actually get hurt on their cases.

Fred: the core of Fred’s character should be that he’s incredibly kind.  Like, give a stranger the shirt off his back kind.  The “Fred can’t talk to potential clients because he might take a case for free and we need to eat” kind.  He’s an honest and good person and sometimes gets himself into trouble because he assumes other people are too.  While he’s not very good at reading people or noticing ulterior motives, he’s brilliant when it comes to mechanical or engineering type stuff, so he’s the one who keeps the mystery machine running, builds their gadgets, and of course, designs the traps.

Daphne: she comes from old money, and her parents absolutely despise her life choices, to the point where they haven’t officially disowned her, but they have basically cut her off, so she doesn’t actually have access to any family money.  Growing up wealthy has granted her a variety of skills, including speaking multiple languages, horseback riding, and fencing.  She’s very into fashion and jewelry (even if she can’t afford it anymore) and has extensive knowledge of both that can occasionally provide a vital clue in a case. And even though her parents have cut her off, Daphne still has a wide network of contacts she can ask for favors sometimes, because she’s personable, and people tend to like her.  Daphne is also very emotionally intelligent, and is usually the one who can spot when someone is lying to them.

Side note - I ship Fred and Daphne, so I think I would start them off as an established couple for this universe.  Dating, engaged, married, I don’t care.  They are stupidly in love, ride or die for each other.  There’s no will they, won’t they, no worries about cheating.  They are in a healthy, happy, loving relationship, and no one (not even Daphne’s disapproving parents) are going to mess that up for them.

Velma: she is the forensics nerd who sometimes gets super excited about the wrong thing at the wrong time (”He was mummified in seconds? That’s so cool!” “Velma!  His wife is standing right there!” “Oh.  Sorry.”).  She’s not purposely insensitive, she just gets laser focused on her work and forgets to filter herself sometimes.  She’s also the one who can get so fixated on solving whatever mystery they’re working on, she’s willing to bend or maybe break laws.  Is breaking and entering really so bad?  Not if it gets them answers.

Shaggy: he is still the comic relief, but he’s the comic relief by being the only person in the group that actually has common sense.  He manages the business’s finances, he’s the only one who knows how to cook, and the others tease him for being a coward sometimes, but Shaggy maintains that if a ghost with an axe is coming for you, running is the only sensible option.  He should also have a range of random knowledge that sounds useless, but sometimes saves the day (ex ventriloquism, origami, the history of spoons, etc).

Scooby: as this is a universe where supernatural creatures exist, Scooby is an ancient eldritch type being that took a shine to Shaggy when he was a kid, and took the form of a talking dog to befriend and hang out with him.  Aside from the talking dog bit and not aging, he never uses his powers in a way that anyone notices.  The audience is not told upfront that Scooby is an ancient eldritch being; it should slowly be hinted at throughout the series so the audience put it together, but the characters never realize it.  Scooby genuinely considers Shaggy to be his best friend, and cares about the rest of the gang too.

Middle East Eye

Israel may cut off Palestinian banks from global banking system next week

The decision by Israel's finance minister to isolate PA banks would paralyse Palestinian economy

Palestinian banks could be cut off from the Israeli banking system starting next week following a decision by Israel’s finance minister to cease dealings between the two financial institutions, according to a report on Thursday by Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has two days to convene a cabinet meeting to discuss reversing plans by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to isolate Palestinian banks from both the Israeli and international banking systems. The Palestinian economy is based on the Israeli currency, the shekel, making it reliant on ties to Israel and its financial dealings with the rest of the world must go through the Bank of Israel and Israeli banks.

We call this Apartheid.

fanfiction was such a good idea. like put those guys in situations

💥🙌👏

“Time continues to pass. That’s why time eventually creates farewells, and it always leaves people with regrets. If you love someone, you have to tell them now, before your fleeting days become filled with regrets. In some ways, the biggest gift that time leaves us with is the memories we have of loving others. That’s why, before it’s too late, you have to shove your embarrassment aside and confess your love to your loved ones.”

— Reply 1988 (2016), ep 7

I donated to a gofundme for someone in Gaza. Do you accept those donations for commission?

Yes! Any donation to a cause that isn't bigoted is welcome for comissions. Just send me a message with proof and your request.

I am so stressed out rn. I have a massive pile of coursework to finish and the exams are going to be the death of me

a scooby doo series set in community college where the gang is in a criminology class and end up in a huge debate on the first day of class that leads to them starting a podcast talking about local urban legends, only to realize things aren’t quite adding up and they go to investigate for ~journalistic authenticity~ and end up solving a real-life crime disguised as supernatural occurrences. this happens every week and they’re frequently featured on the school newspaper. they only have twenty listeners

Azula as the Ophelia of the Avatarverse (Warning: possible mention of self-harm and/or suicide)

If I had to compare Azula to a well-known literary character, it’d be Ophelia from Hamlet. It might seem weird to some people to read that. On the surface of the narrative, Ophelia is very much a passive victim, and Azula would set you on fire if you ever described her that way.

The worst thing to call somebody is crazy. It’s dismissive. “I don’t understand this person. So they’re crazy.” That’s bullshit. These people are not crazy. They strong people. Maybe their environment is a little sick. (source)

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. (source)

Banishing me was they best thing you did for my life. It put me on the right path. (source)

Nevertheless, there are strong parallels between the two in that they’re both teenaged girls whose mental deterioration is directly connected to their toxic environments and the failure of the adults in their lives to intervene before a major mental health crisis.

Even so, most analysis of these characters take a more individualistic approach, aiming to understand what’s wrong with Azula or Ophelia instead of examining the conditions that lead to the outcomes of these characters. In essence, they ask, “What is her problem?” when a more fruitful question might be, “What’s going on that allows this to happen?”

When Ophelia appears onstage in Act IV, scene V, singing little songs and handing out imaginary flowers, she temporarily upsets the entire power dynamic of the Elsinore court. When I picture that scene, I always imagine Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes, and Horatio sharing a stunned look, all of them thinking the same thing: “We fucked up. We fucked up bad.” It might be the only moment of group self-awareness in the whole play. Not even the grossest old Victorian dinosaur of a critic tries to pretend that Ophelia is making a big deal out of nothing. Her madness and death is plainly the direct result of the alternating tyranny and neglect of the men in her life. She’s proof that adolescent girls don’t just go out of their minds for the fun of it. They’re driven there by people in their lives who should have known better. (source)

You could argue that Ophelia’s fate is a consequence of the rottenness in Denmark. Thus, her decline and death can be read as an indictment of the court at Elsinore. Ophelia clearly needed help from the moment she found out Hamlet killed her father. But where was everyone? What were they doing? Why didn’t someone say or do something?

The same thing can be said about Azula. What befalls Azula at the end of the show is a direct result of the corruption of Fire Nation society. That moment by the bonfire in “The Beach” was a cry for help, but why did no one see it for what it was? Why did no one even attempt to help? Where were the grownups who could have stepped in? True, it would’ve been tricky considering her disposition and social status, but not impossible.

More importantly, what does all of this say about the societies that Ophelia and Azula live in? What’s going on in a society where people so clearly in need of help aren’t getting it? What does that say about who that society deems indispensable and who it deems disposable?

How are we encouraged by the narrative and by audience reactions to notice Ophelia’s vulnerability but not Azula’s? How does this reflect our society’s attitudes towards teenaged girls who are mentally ill? What are some things we can do differently to push back against those attitudes?