Bonus Features: The Eye of the Ice Storm · 10:44pm Jan 12th, 2023
Haha, happy fun times are happening! Yup! Nothing emotionally charged happening here ::clown horn honk::
Let's lighten the mood.
Q: So the boys, huh? Why do you love Timber and Flash?
BEVIN: The eternal question!
So I have a particular bugaboo about certain things: one of them is latching onto characters who tend to be widely hated by the fandom reasons that I feel are unfair or untrue. Another one is that I love it when a disliked or ignored character gets a moment to shine and it's this total reveal of how great they actually are and we either had them all wrong or we just hadn't given them the space to show it yet.
Another one I have is doing justice to the under-written romantic foil characters who typically don't get much character focus so much as they just hang out as a prize or a prop for their romantic interest. Don't like it when girls are relegated to that, and I didn't like it here with the boys.
So basically, I was a goner no matter what. I had already come up with so many ideas for Flash by the time Legend of Everfree came out and I had a burning need to make him so interesting and sympathetic and full of potential that the fanbase would come around on him. And even though I wasn't involved with the storyboards on LoE, I was around people who were working so hard to make that movie the best it could be, and to try and make these new characters as likable and interesting as they possibly could, that in figuring out how to do that, you inevitably end up falling for them yourself. We were all rooting for Timber and Gloriosa to be hits before the film even came out, though I don't think we were terribly surprised when Timber wasn't well-received. But for me, it's just the same thing. Time to roll up my sleeves and figure out what it would take for me to love them if I was a viewer. So naturally, I headcanoned myself into loving them both for their potential, and once I have that it's really hard for me to let go of it.
Especially when the groundwork is already there, which they both had in spades!
Flash in particular is the sort of character I wish we got more of in a lot of stories - I keep calling him the Charlie Brown of EQG, but he really is in a lot of ways. He's this high school rocker guy, but also a gentleman, who was supposed to get the girl he liked, but then he just didn't. I'm not sure if he ever even got an explanation, either, he just got ghosted and left to deal with it, which is a pretty sucky position to be in. But instead of getting bitter about it or tearing himself apart trying to figure out what he did wrong, he just learns to accept that he's not going to get this thing he wanted and he's probably not going to get closure about it either. He just gets his heart broken and has to move on, and that's not a headcanon thing, that's in the actual movies! He's doing this really decent thing quietly, in the background, for two movies, a music video, and some short TV episodes, and I love that so much!
Timber has his own stuff going on once you get past the surface, he's got history and internal conflict, he's got his own insecurities and his own weirdnesses-- the first thing I latched onto with him was how socially awkward he could be, but unlike Sci-Twi, he had the confidence to own when he messed up and not make a big deal out of it. Which I loved and I think says a lot about him, and I wish we had more examples of that sort of thing out there.
They both had so much unique potential as characters, and I thought for the group dynamic as well. Personally, I wasn't interested in just redoing FiM in EQG form-- FiM was already being FiM, and EQG was becoming its own thing more and more, and taking some things like the high school setting and the potential romantic relationship dynamic were ways to explore new aspects of friendship that FiM hadn't done already. I really liked that.
MARVEL: ::concurring intensifies::
I’ve grown to really love these two over time, both as a fan of the canon series and as a fan-writer.
On top of what Bevin said with Flash, which I 1000% agree with, he’s also later characterized as just a huge fan of the Rainbooms, which is the sweetest thing ever and so him. He’s the guy who won’t lash out if he has to move on from the girl he likes! The guy who instead of getting pissy that he doesn’t have superpowers, decides he can support them and cheer them on from the sidelines! Non-toxic masculinity!
There’s also so much interesting stuff you can read into with him and Sunset. Flash was the one to breakup with Sunset when she was at her worst. I think that right there says a lot about him – like, sure, I just praised him for cheering on others, but he’ll also speak up when he thinks something’s not right. Even if it makes him Enemy Number One of the meanest bitch in school (and maybe, someone he cared about a lot). I’m so interested in their evolving relationship from lovers to enemies to friends. Whether or not you think Flash started out as a one-note cool guy love interest, he got to show his true colours if you really look for them.
Timber, my boy, he’s a different story.
I always thought he was a fast-talking, corny dork and I liked that about him. He’s the character who will make a pun just for the groans, because the groans also come with smiles. But thinking about what he says and how he comes across in that movie, it’s pretty clear just how isolated this guy is. His biggest “secret” that he doesn’t normally tell people is that he… wants to go to the mall like a normal teenager?
You start to wonder about him.
His parents are also not around anymore, so it starts to paint this picture of somebody who was raised in a pretty unique, remote location. As much as he loves it, it’s isolating to be the one who stays put while people come and go.
Then his big entertainer personality starts to make even more sense. And, I want to hug him.
Timber’s clever, and even when I write him as comedy relief, he’s a class clown after my own heart. There’s just a kid there who wants a friend who won’t leave. Hard not to relate to that.
And for our moody stormy atmosphere, have some songs from the soundtrack!
- Lightning Strike (What if This Storm Ends?) by Snow Patrol – “What if the storm ends/And I don't see you/As you are now/Ever again”
- What If by SafetySuit – “What if what I want makes you sad at me?/And is it all my fault or can I fix it, please?/Cause you know that I'm always all for you”
- You’re Somebody Else by Flora Cash – “Well you look like yourself/But you're somebody else/Only it ain't on the surface/Well you talk like yourself/No, I hear someone else though/Now you're making me nervous”
- Like Sin by Chase Coy - "You say we should talk just like we used to/That's the kind of thought I'm so afraid of getting used to
- Undermine by Watsky - "I don't know, I don't know/What to say, what to say/Either fuck you or I'm sorry/Guess it just depends on the day
Sorry for the damage I did/Fuck you for the years that we lost/Maybe there's no saving us left/But I still say I love you under my breath" - Sink In by Amy Shark – “Is there a bone in my body that's not weak for you?/Well if you find one let me know/I can still feel the way you hold me next to you/And I don't want to feel it anymore”
- Favourite Ex by Maisie Peters – “You were my best nights and worst fights/And couldn't care less/You were my gold rush to cold touch/Favourite ex/And all of the others cancel out each other/And it's always you left/You were my no sleep, cried for weeks/Favourite ex”
- Exile by Taylor Swift ft. Bon Iver – “All this time/I never learned to read your mind (never learned to read my mind)/I couldn't turn things around (you never turned things around)/'Cause you never gave a warning sign (I gave so many signs)/So many signs, so many signs/You didn't even see the signs/I think I've seen this film before/And I didn't like the ending/You're not my homeland anymore/So what am I defending now?/You were my town/Now I'm in exile, seein' you out/I think I've seen this film before”
- My New Best Friend is Loneliness by Aaron James – “Well I know it's wrong/To be waiting on what never seems to come/Well I know just how to handle this/My new best friend is loneliness, it's nothing new/To be nothing without you”
- I Need Some Sleep by Eels – “I need some sleep/Time to put the old horse down/I'm in too deep/And the wheels keep spinning round/Everyone says I'm getting down to low/Everyone says you just gotta let it go/You just gotta let it go/You just gotta let it go”
- Wise Up by Aimee Mann – “It's not/What you thought/When you first began it/You got/What you want/Now you can hardly stand it though/By now you know/It's not going to stop/It's not going to stop/It's not going to stop/'Til you wise up”
- If I’m Unworthy by Blake Mills – “I found a new meaning for the oldest words in use/And now I no longer ask myself,/"What have I got to lose,/If I'm unworthy of the power I hold/Over you?"”
- I Wouldn’t Trade you for the World by The Bachelors – “I wouldn't trade you for the world/Or the heavens abo-o-ove (heavens above)/I have heaven here on earth dear/Since you've given me your lo-o-ove”
Stay empathetic,
Marvel
P.S. We've got one third of the story left and I'm so excited for you to see it.
maybe it's just the fact I've been overanalysing their characters for so many years but there really are things you can say about them if you paid enough attention! I don't think it is talked about enough but the fact they show a love interest getting, essentially, ghosted by who he likes and then having him realise he has to move on? where do you even get something like that in a kid's show? it's in the background, sure, but the maturity is there and I 100% wish people (not just the show writers, the fans who write) did something with it. seeing Flash so fleshed out in Empathy really is a breath of fresh air!
and Timber, holy hell. the difference between these two despite sort of playing similar roles: Timber's got the personality speaking for him, Flash has got the actions/decisions. so taking Timber's personality and an almost-hidden (but you can honestly piece it together with logic) backstory and drawing it out into him using his personality to repress all the negativity he's got in his head? fucking gold.