BOB'S BURGERS 3.02 - Full Bars

We got a new poster ahead of the premiere of Season 15 in less than two weeks' time!

“But you can’t hyperfixate on that trio it doesn’t even make any sense they literally just share a voice actor and that’s it” shut up actually

I present the Sarah Mabel Louise Combo

Check out this beautiful comic that the Amazing @devilh0rnsinc did of one of my favorite scenes from my current favorite of my fics, "And In the Backseats We Just Tried to Find Some Room to Breathe", which tells the story of Sylvester, Rudy, and Louise's ride home after the "we're still a family dinner" in "The Amazing Rudy"

I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS SOOOO MUCH!!! I particularly love the lettering, which just so beautiful in itself, and the facial expressions that just capture the awkward sweetness of this moment so perfectly!

NOW, let me tell you how great Devil was to work with! Because, you see when I sent her a commission request, I did not ask for a comic. I just thought about a picture, like the last frame, and suggested she maybe have Louise saying her last line of dialogue here.

She came up with the suggestion of making it a comic and she came up with suggestions of abridging Louise's dialogue from the story so it would fit on one page- and she fit in more of Rudy's dialogue than I hoped or thought possible! (She also, very politely, reached out to me on here when I hadn't responded to one of her ko-fi messages because I didn't see it because my email is always so full.)

While she was working on this she told me how much she loved the fic and loved working on this and I think that really does show in the final art. If you are thinking about commissions some art, for a fic or just generally, please reach out to her.

THIS IS JUST SO FREAKING BEAUTIFUL, MAN!

Happy anniversary to Bob and Linda Belcher, the parents tumblr wishes they had <3 (I like to think Linda would simply perish if the kids did caramelldansen for her)

5 days delayed but here it is.

BOB'S BURGERS 2.04 - Burgerboss

He had sex then we happened. Deal with it!

here is the stuff inside bobs burgers clue (srry it took me a bit to post i was making lemon bread)

"The Amazing Rudy" and the Evolution of Rudy and Louise's Friendship (Long Post)

Rewatching "The Amazing Rudy" last night made me feel like I finally want to write a little (using the term loosely) analysis about why I love the final act of that story so much. (I thought about doing this during Roudise Week but was too busy with fics.) I think the ending of that story is so wonderful not just because it is sweet in itself but because it reflects one of the things that I love about Rudy and Louise's friendship- that it has grown and evolved over the course of the show.

A lot of stories begin with characters who are always friends, the origins of the friendships are unexplored or pretty simple ("they grew up next door to each other" etc.). Or you get stories where the characters go through one adventure together and are suddenly BFFs. Rudy and Louise's friendship isn't like either of those.

It seems pretty clear that the events of "Carpe Museum" are the first time they've interacted much- but they don't immediately become besties after it. In Rudy's next two speaking appearances ("The Unnatural" and "Bob and Deliver") he doesn't interact with Louise at all. And when the Belchers enter the juice caboose in "The Kids Rob A Train", Rudy introduces them to Beanbag by saying he knows them from school- not that they are his friends. And there are some moments in that episode that I think are really important for their friendship- in particular, the moment when Rudy tries to get Louise to give him the bag full of candy through the train window and she's convinced he'll take it and ditch her, and the moment at the end with Rudy's fake severe allergic reaction- and Louise's panicked response.

But I'm not interested in going through every moment in their friendship. (I mean, I am. Absolutely. But not in this particular post.) What I think is really interesting about Act 3 of "The Amazing Rudy" is looking at in relation to the two episodes where conflict between Louise and Rudy plays a big role- "House of 1,000 Bounces" and "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy". Looking at those episodes, you can see Louise learning how to better read and respond to her friend's emotions.

In "House of 1,000 Bounces", Louise leads the rest of the party guests in stealing the bounce house from Dahlia. Rudy mentions twice that he'd be happy just to do the spoon puppets, but nobody listens to him. And then he blows up at them in Ranger Jail. (And, I think it is interesting to note that he is not just mad at Louise, but at all his friends- "I didn't want to steal that bounce house, but none of you would listen!") Louise tries to make things right by organizing the play with office supplies- and Rudy thanks her for that. But she never apologizes to him for not listening to him earlier- and it seems like maybe she never even noticed he was unhappy until he blew up at her.

At the beginning of "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy", Rudy communicates pretty clearly to Louise that he's feeling stressed because he isn't going to be able to return to his dad's for two weeks; Louise acknowledges that, but then gets caught up in her excitement over the Blaster Bridge, leading to Rudy getting upset, her calling him a weenie, and him asking her to leave. It's pretty clear that Louise recognizes right off the bat that she screwed up- she's taken aback when he asks her to leave, and then there's the whole bit while walking back with Tina and Gene where she decides she can fix things (not that she can yet acknowledge that things need fixing) by moving the bridge. At the end of the episode when they are blowing up the bridge, Louise finally says the thing that she couldn't say earlier in the episode or in "House of 1,000 Bounces": "Yeah, well, I'm sorry I kept pushing you when you were stressed out. And I'm sorry I called you a weenie...And I'm sorry, I didn't just say sorry right away. I'm not great at that, maybe. And I'm glad we're friends." Admitting that she is not great at apologizing right away- or generally acknowledging others' feelings and when she's hurt them- is a big step for Louise.

I know some fans are kind of tired of "Louise learns a lesson" stories, of which "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy" is certainly one, but I don't mind them, if they are actually entertaining and if the lesson stays learned. After all, if a show is going to be on the air for over a decade, why not let the characters have some growth and development?

Act 3 of "The Amazing Rudy" shows that Louise did learn a lesson from "House of 1,000 Bounces" and "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy". In "The Amazing Rudy", without Rudy saying anything specific directly to her, Louise alone among the Belchers realizes just how stressed out Rudy is and why. There is some really great, subtle writing, voice acting, and especially animation, that shows that Louise understands that something is troubling Rudy more than he is willing to admit. After he slips up and talks about the food he ordered, you can hear her suspicion and concern when she asks: "What you ordered?" Then, in Act 3, when Bob is getting ready to drive Rudy back to the restaurant, you can see that Louise is paying attention to Rudy, keeping her eyes on him the whole time, while not saying anything until she proposes her idea about walking back to the restaurant with him. She is the only one of the Belchers to recognize what is truly bothering Rudy- which he may not even have been able to articulate himself: that he feels lonely.

Bob and Linda are clearly (and reasonably) looking at Rudy's situation from a concerned parent's perspective: everything will be okay if Rudy is back with his parents who are worried about him. in Act 3, Tina seems to be very much sitting at the adults' table (metaphorically)- worrying about Vicki's pants and if Bob has his keys. Gene's focus is primarily on getting back to his baked potato lasagna. None of this is to understate how kind the other Belchers are to Rudy in the episode- but at that moment, none of them are as focused on him as Louise is.

In "The Amazing Rudy" neither Rudy, nor any other character, says that he feels lonely or isolated- but its clear from the episode that that is one of his real sources of sadness in that story. He is a kid surrounded by adults who are kind of focused on their own stuff- the scene where they are waiting for their table is the best visual illustration of this but their are others- for example, the multiple conversations where he is in the backseat and his dad is in the front. And then when his parents and their partners are literally on the same level as him- when they are all sitting down for dinner, he feels that he has to be center of attention to make the situation less awkward. He has to perform as The Amazing Rudy (or Rudy the Illusionary Visionary).

What Rudy really needs throughout the story is a friend- and Louise recognizes this without him having to say it. And she not only recognizes the cause of his pain- she comes up with a way to address it, by going back to the restaurant with him.

From "House of 1,000 Bounces" to "The Amazing Rudy", Louise goes from ignoring-and perhaps not even noticing- that Rudy is upset because she took over his birthday party with her bounce house scheme to recognizing and coming up with a plan to address a pain Rudy is feeling that he does not (perhaps cannot) even articulate. And, to me, this doesn't seem unrealistic or out of the blue. Rather, it seems like a logical growth of their friendship, building on "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy", as well as other episodes, with plots or subplots about their friendship that I haven't really talked about ("The Hawkening"; "Bob Actually", among others) and other non-Rudy-focused episodes that show how Louise is developing to be a more emotionally aware person ("Flu-ouise", "Thelma and Louise Except Thelma is Linda", "Prank You For Being A Friend". etc.).

Rudy and Louise's friendship is not the focus of "Bob's Burgers". Not even close. I did the math once, and I think Rudy's in just over 10% of the show's episodes. But I still think that, with Rudy and Louise, the show has done one of the best jobs of developing a friendship on television- from classmates who didn't really know each other, to friends who are still learning about each other and figuring out how to communicate, to friends who can pickup on each other's nonverbal cues and know just the right thing to do.

And I love that.

(P.S.: Someday, I will be able to think about this episode without tearing up. That day is not today.)

Art by Lunarcane (from Reddit)

forcing everybody to look at the baby belcher christmas cards LOOK THEY ARE SO SMALL

There’s something about Rudolph Louise. I love her

Fans of The Great North, hope y'all enjoyed your time as champions throughout the past year and now, with Season 4 on the way in less than a few weeks...despite being pushed back from the Fall schedule because of the strikes, but that's not what we're talking about, your time as champions will come to an end in less than 30 minutes. Handing the crown and the title of “champion” to the next fandom up. And looking at the results, if it stands once poll closing hits, y'all did your service in keeping this particular series' seat warm because it's your cousin show, Bob's Burgers, going for a third title. Passing the baton from Judy Tobin to Louise Belcher.

while i work on new stuff, here’s something simple from a few months ago!

I've waited a year to post this.

Happy day after Thanksgiving, y'all.

Bob's Burgers, Christmas in the Car (S4: E8)

This is actually the day after Black Friday but I wanted to post this anyway.

'cause i believe in you more than i ever believed in me

⠀

S13 E9 ; Show Mama From the Grave

Bob's Burgers

Aww this one's so soft and sweet. Hits so different from a regular bb outro song. Plus teddy having dinner with the Belchers :]

"She's Charming"

"She's Wise"

"She's Kind-of a Thought Leader"

"And She Does A Great (Lucky) Duck Voice"