i just wrote the ending of chapter 2. holy shit. the other scenes aren't fully completed yet – they're about 50% done on average – but i just wrote the (unedited) end of chapter 2. we're making progress and i honestly can't wait to polish it up, code and release it to yall.
I just watched the Fionna and Cake finale, and putting aside any debates about the ending, the animation was absolutely gorgeous in these episodes! I was pleased to see them keep up the fun visuals all the way to the end, especially in the Casper and Nova segments.
As I was watching those, though, I couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity.
Whimsical, unrealistically textured 3D elements?
Retro game interfaces? Where had I seen this style before?
It wasn't until I got to the credits that I realized.
got approval from the wife that it's in fact a mandate from heaven that i discuss j2's insane bond so:
i think i have a lot to say actually but idk how far i'll get in this post but like. one of my Gifts in life is my pattern recognition like all the bitches in my life will tell u how good it is.
that being said in the mentally ill pandemic era i binged all of spn and like. almost every j2 interview and convention that exists. mostly from the early seasons but probably until like 2016ish. and like i am not a j2 truther in the sense that their wives are beards and all that weird shit but would not be surprised if they ever fucked. at all. i do think they're platonic soulmates at minimum. like that relationship is crazyyyy.
they met in their early 20s and spent most of their adult lives together. they were like the only ones to try out for their roles. if u know ur spn herstory u know jensen originally was going to go for sam. met jared saw how fucking good he was as sam and decided to fully commit to dean as he wanted that role but was following agent's advice. they've talked abt their immediate connection, the similarities in their backgrounds. after auditions went out together and found out how much they clicked. they were friends before they even got the roles. and honestly some of their shit is eerie. they married their wives the same year, 2010. they're middle children, each with one older brother and one younger sister. both their older brothers have J names and both their younger sisters have M names, and they have J names. they have a lot of dates in their history that line up. two of jared's kids are march babies like jensen is. jared's other child is a december baby and so are two of jensen's kids. their kids refer to the other as "uncle." it's fun. actually now that i think abt it i wonder what their synastry looks like.
kripke has discussed how sam was originally the "main character" which is very evident esp in those first 2 seasons. he watched the way jared and jensen worked together and knew that he had to adjust and play into that relationship more than anything. he realized that the core of the show had to shift into being about sam and dean bc of j2.
to go back to the pattern recognition things--very early on i started seeing the way they gravitated to each other, occupied each other's space, mirrored each other's mannerisms. jensen used to be very shy in interview and as the years progressed you could watch him open up, reciprocate jared's physical affection and, in addition, initiate it. pretty soon you could see them saying or doing something at the same exact time, spontaneously. they started thinking like each other. people talk a lot abt how jared opened jensen up and helped him be more confident but also? jensen's effect on jared also becomes super apparent. jared is prone to anxiety and excitement--of all his emotions being turned all the way up--but jensen regulates that and taught him how to regulate. you see jared get more comfortable being still, being in his own skin without vibrating out of it lol.
sometimes i think about 0220 "what is and what should never be", the episode in which sam and dean aren't close as part of dean's djinn dream and how j2 have talked about how distressing that episode was to film. how they had to make conscious efforts to not occupy the same space and stand so close together and talk the way sam and dean spoke with earnest intimacy. it threw them off, it didn't feel right. and you see that uneasiness in the episode which i thought was really good.
like if u watch the cons and interviews u notice pretty quickly that a lot of sam and dean's mannerisms are actually j2 and they brought that to their roles. jared and jensen actually loved being together. it was worth it to them, the long and difficult days of filming. they chose to live together for a year. they spent more time together than most two people do. they saw each other more than their wives and kids. they knew each other's habits, preferences--they shared clothes and their free time and their vacations. they weren't the pair of co-stars that ends up hating each other--they enjoyed each other. look at this quote: "Nine months a year we're stuck with each other literally 24 hours a day, seven days a week because we're working on the show. Even doing stuff for ourselves in between isn't possible. We're constantly together. And even when we're not actually working together during the nine months, or the other three months out of the year for that matter, we always find ourselves choosing to hang out and be together." also this quote: "It's really special. You know, he's been around for births and deaths in my life and vice versa. Triumphs and losses . . . and he's not the only one, obviously. It's been he and I for the longest, but I've met a lot of people that have changed my life and remain pretty special to me."
in cons i'll see them adjust each other's hair, clothes. one particular incident comes to mind in which jared had a snotty nose and jensen literally wiped it with his shirt sleeve. sam and dean don't stand close together bc it's sam and dean--jared and jensen also just stand that close to each other. if you watch closely, in some cons jared starts biting his nails and jensen will touch him and he stops. their body language is so comfortable, they intentionally drag their chairs closer so that their knees touch, they'll fix up each other's coffee, they cover for each other when the other isn't in a good mood without discussing it beforehand. they have traditions--like going to the same place for dinner together after every wrap on the seasons, just them--like it's an anniversary lmao.
other actors who worked w them on set have commented on them saying that they look at each other and have entire conversations without saying anything, or that they react the same way in a similar scenario when they aren't together. like yeah that's what happens when u have a partner who's that close for so long.
all this is why i'm always saying that if spn rebooted it would be shit--sam and dean were so good and so central because it was jared and jensen playing them. j2 had this intimacy that translated so well with the mirroring and the comfort. it truly was like they grew up together, which is what you want in a pair playing brothers.
