CW: Brief mention of drugs (steroids)

You cannot convince me that Mike isn’t overprotective of Dustin and Lucas after he comes back from California, like they saw so much trauma and Mike would be doing an impression of a Doberman guard dog to protect them

“…..Why’s that old guy glaring at you?” Mike asked Dustin and his friend sighed before shrugging.

“He’s one of my neighbors, he thinks I’m a devil worshipper now and keeps telling my mom to bring me to church to get saved” Dustin mumbled, and when he looked up Mike was gone. There was a flashing white outline where his friend once was.

What-

“HEY, GRANDPA. MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!”

“MIKE NO”

———————————————————————

“The basketball team wants me dead” Lucas mumbled into Mike’s side, and Robin thinks she just saw a pair of dog ears appear on Mike head. And then flatten with the narrowing of his eyes.

Like an angry, angry doberman.

“Have they been messing with you?” Mike asked, and Lucas made a sorta noise.

“Mostly they just say stuff, and they keep trying to get me thrown off the team and put stuff in my gym locker” Lucas blinked when he felt Mike’s hand land in between his shoulder blades and pat.

“Okay, I’ll take care of it” Mike said softly.

“What’s that mean?” Lucas slowly asked, poking his head up.

“Don’t worry about it”

“If anything, that sentence has now made me worry-Mike want the hell does that mean?!”

Robins eyes widened a bit, and Steve raised an eyebrow at her when he passed by her and heard her whisper. “the grunge godfather”

———————————————————————

Three days later the town is buzzing and besieged with gossip.

Someone told someone who told everyone that Dustin’s neighbor had been using his retirement money to invest in opening a strip club in Kentucky. The man was practically shunned by every woman in Hawkins.

Strangely on that same day, the basketball team took a hit as the coach had to let three players go when he was given evidence that they’d been using enhancing drugs.

Robin had slowly looked to Mike when she heard the gossip straight out Steve’s mouth. And she wasn’t the only one, Dustin’s head shot clear off the table and Lucas flew into the room.

“What did you do?!” Lucas wheezed with a shocked expression. Will and El and Jonathan looked between him and Mike with confusion.

What?

“Who said I did anything?” Mike asked, and Robin once again called him the grunge godfather.

“That is the response of a grunge godfather” Robin pointed at him.

“Mike, how did you get my neighbors bank statements?” Dustin wondered. And Steve opened his mouth, mostly to say there’s no way Mike could have done-

“My dad is his accountant, and his desk is never locked” Mike hummed.

Only to choke and stare wildly at him with the rest of the room.

“And the steroids-how did you know they were on steroids?” Lucas asked, scratching his head. “Actually I kinda wanna know more how you figured out those three were the ones who bothered me the most”

He hadn’t given Mike names, so how did he get them.

“I’m in drama with a girl who used to date number twelve and she hates the team with a passion” Mike shrugged. She’d been happy to give Mike some information for the small price of promising to be her practice partner for next year. “She told me he shared the stuff with his buddies, and I found out which guys bothered you by bribing the water boy”

“Oh my god, you are the grunge godfather” Steve whispered as Dustin and Lucas blinked at their best friend.

“Im not a-I just don’t like when people mess with my party” Mike only grumbled.

“Replace party with the family, and you do sound like a godfather” Jonathan snorted a bit. “Am I under the umbrella of protection too?”

He’d meant that as a joke.

Then Mike’s eyes went to the side and Will’s head shot up. Cogs turning.

“Wait a minute” Will said slowly, and pointed. “Mike, were you the anonymous caller that called and told Lonnie’s probation officer to check his car?”

That had been seven months ago, Joyce had got the call from her ex sister In law and threw a party.

It was quiet, and Mike.

Shifted, and made a kinda motion with his hand. And Jonathan choked, clutching his chest.

“Okay listen, the people who moved into your old house told me Lonnie kept calling and saying awful shit about you guys while drunk so I mean” Mike started.

“You know the people who moved into our old house?” Will asked, eyebrows almost to his hair.

“…….Yeah” Mike only said that, unwilling to admit that he’d gotten to know them cause one night he’d had a nightmare so bad he’d run to the Byers house in the middle of the night without thinking.

The new owner hadn’t called the cops, or even raised a bat. She’d just opened the door and saw him in the state he was in and let him in to calm down.

And that was how Mike found himself invited to come eat dinner with her and her daughter and son sometimes, they were eight year old twins and they were a bit obsessed with DND when he told them about it. It was adorable.

“When did you start knowing people?” Jonathan asked incredulously. “You didn’t know people like this, to be able to tap them for information, ten months ago”

“……..”

Jonathan’s eyes narrowed.

“Did you?”

“Let’s talk about something else-“

“MIKE”

Okay, but the Lucas one made me laugh 🤣🤣

Like, here’s my own version of how that goes down, based on one of my favorite Family Guy clips:

Lucas: Mike, why do you have a sword? 😥

Mike: I just wanna talk to them. 😊

Lucas: Mike, No! You can’t! 😰

Mike: I just wanna talk to them. 😊

Lucas: Mike, this is insane! 😰

Mike: I just wanna talk to them. I just wanna slice them. 😊

Lucas: MIKE!! 😰😱

There’s going to be a comic about the Spengler family fighting SKELETON PIRATES and I haven’t seen a single other person talking about it, what gives? Where’s the hype?

Damn… now why do I have the weird urge to write a fanfic about Trevor fighting the skeleton pirates, and gets hurt in the process?? Like, bro doesn’t even process that he got hurt till everything is said and done and has to be taken to the hospital.

Why do I have the urge to write this??

Or maybe you could write a fanfic in which Trevor wins the fight through being quick and clever 🙂 Maybe you could write about him and the rest of the Ghostbusters going on fun pirate adventures instead 🙂 Where nobody gets hurt 🙂

Yeah… you do have a good point. I think I fell in the angst train too deep. Also, I would’ve done this through the message/reply button, but I couldn’t access it, so I did it through a reblog. Sorry that bothered you. But don’t worry, I’m not mad at you for saying that. Like I said, you do have a good point. I will definitely think about it. Maybe it is time I do something more lighthearted when it comes to fanfic writing…

There’s going to be a comic about the Spengler family fighting SKELETON PIRATES and I haven’t seen a single other person talking about it, what gives? Where’s the hype?

Damn… now why do I have the weird urge to write a fanfic about Trevor fighting the skeleton pirates, and gets hurt in the process?? Like, bro doesn’t even process that he got hurt till everything is said and done and has to be taken to the hospital.

Why do I have the urge to write this??

*wakes up and checks social media while drinking coffee*

*Sees this and being mentioned*

*stops drinking coffee* Welp, I’m still on break from uni, why not??

So, I’m gonna start with my overall thoughts of the movie, and I think it was… okay. Decent even. It’s not the worst, but it’s easily one of the weaker movies in the franchise. If I had to rank it with the other four GB movies, I’d put this in #4, just barely about the 2016 movie (please don’t attack me for this!!). So yeah… it’s decent. Now that we got that out of the way, let’s dive into my issues with the movie.

1. Phoebe Being the Main and Her Relationship With Melody:

Now, don’t get me wrong, I really do like Phoebe. She smart, she’s funny, she had this quirk and charm to her that, in the right hands, makes for a really enjoyable character. In FE, this isn’t present that much. Yes, I understand that time has passed, and she 15 now. She’s a teenager and like any other teenager, she wants the freedom and independence to form herself. I was once a 15 year old girl as well, I get that. But… Phoebe, honey, there a rules for a reason. You’re still young, and the rules are there for your safety. Also, as someone who comes from a Mexican family and background, you cannot get away from calling your mother by her first name. That’s just asking for the chancla.

The other issue I have with Phoebe in this movie is her relationship with Melody. Now, I know a lot of people ship them, and I’m firmly in the camp that both the Spengler kids are part of the LGBTQ+ community (I HC that Trevor’s Bi, and that Phoebe is lesbian). I would love to have LGBTQ+ representation in the Ghostbusters universe. But… I don’t really see this one working. Mainly since one person in the relationship is a ghost!! And you know, they actually remind me a lot of these two:

Especially when we start both movies with Melody/Megera working with the villain and then coming around to help the hero. But the reason Megera works but Melody doesn’t is because the former is a well rounded character. Sure, Meg’s sarcastic and sassy, but she also had moments of being vulnerable (I won’t say I’m in Love, her talk with Hercules shortly afterwards, her sacrificing herself to save Hercules). And it’s because of that is why people love Megera. It’s why I love her. With Melody, we don’t get the vulnerability. The most we get is with that scene of her and Phoebe talking in the basement. So, yeah. That’s my piece.

2. Trevor Should’ve Been Main Character:

So, when I think of Ghostbusters Afterlife, I like to think of it as Phoebe’s story. The story of this young girl who doesn’t fit in with kids her age and discovers her family’s legacy that fits her perfectly and is able to grow more confident from it is so intriguing. So, naturally, I think that for FE, it would make sense for the movie to focus on someone else, and naturally, I think that should’ve been Trevor. Around the end of September, I read this small story called “Souls on Ice: An Frozen Empire Re-Write” on SquidgeWorld (which is like the Beta version of AO3 from what I see). In their story, Trevor’s the main character, is the one kicked off the team, and is the one to have a complex relationship with a ghost. Having a story of a young man wanting to prove himself and that he can provide as much as everyone else while also wanting to escape the shadow of a successful sibling is so interesting and I know Finn Wolfhard would’ve been able to pull it off. He’s a very good actor.

3. Too Many Characters

Now, if you have good writing and direction, I do think that you can do a large ensemble well. This movie… doesn’t have that. Now, this isn’t a dig on the directors and screenwriters, I’m sure they were trying the best they could with that they were given and with dealing with the Executives. But there are just too many in FE. New characters such as Lars and Melody don’t either serve much to the plot or I just don’t really find enjoyable. The only new one I liked was Nadeem, who I did find funny at times and served his purpose as the McGuffin well, but other than that, he really doesn’t serve that much as well.

When it comes to Callie and Gary, and Pdocast and Lucky, I really do feel like they should’ve switched roles. The previous movie makes it clear that Podcast and Lucky are definitely part of the new team alongside Trevor and Phoebe, and they should’ve stuck by that by giving the former two more to do other than MC’s best friend and comic relief/sometimes exposition explainer respectively (Also, some clarification regarding the whole Trevor/Lucky thing would be nice). And I do like Callie and Gary, but they serve better as supporting roles.

And finally, regarding the OGs, I honestly feel like the movie would’ve been fine by just keeping Ray and Winston on board, and not have Peter and Jeanie since those last two really didn’t serve much in the movie.

Overall, less unnecessary characters, more development for more prominent ones.

4. The Deleted Scenes Provided Much More Context:

Like any other movie that spends about 2 hours, it’s inevitable that some scenes would get the cut to avoid the film being longer than it should be. But, man, there are very interesting things we missed out on. The most prominent example in FE was the deleted scene between Trevor and Lucky right before Garakka arrives. I wished that they kept this in the final product!! It gives Trevor so much more development and the struggle of trying to figure out who you are compared to everyone else in your family is a very intriguing concept. The scene where they caught everyone else up to speed, yeah, I could actually see why they cut that off, since we already know what’s going on, but I don’t think it would’ve hurt the movie if they did. But you wanna know the one thing I wished they kept from the teaser trailer? The team fighting outside and wearing those red jackets. Like, seriously, a final battle set in the snow filled grounds of New York would’ve been amazing to see!!! And I love the red jackets that they gave them. It blends well with their uniforms!!

So yeah, I definitely wouldn’t have minded for this movie to be actually two hours long.

?? 5. Frozen ??

So… this is more of a minor issue than a big problem. When your movie is called “Frozen Empire”, similarities to Disney’s Frozen is kind of inevitable. But when the plot is very close to the Disney movie, minus the parts of the sisters and the twist of true love, yeah… I just wish that they did more and different things with this.

So… yeah. Those are my grievances with Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Again, it’s not the worst of the franchise, but it could’ve done so much better. So, here’s to hoping that the next movie (if we get it) improves from this!! Thank you so much for reading and have a nice day!!

My fellow Ghostbusters fans!!

After seeing @pythoness94 post about a lack of Trevor Spengler fics, I decided to contribute to the cause by writing and posting my own. If you like Trevor and Fleetwood Mac, then you might enjoy this!!

IT WAS THE SHIT. IT WENT SOOO HARD CHAT. READ THAT SHIT NOW

Me rn:

Thank you!!

My fellow Ghostbusters fans!!

After seeing @pythoness94 post about a lack of Trevor Spengler fics, I decided to contribute to the cause by writing and posting my own. If you like Trevor and Fleetwood Mac, then you might enjoy this!!

IT WAS THE SHIT. IT WENT SOOO HARD CHAT. READ THAT SHIT NOW

TYSM FOR THIS FIC IT WAS DELICIOUS ♥️

Thank you so much!! I’m happy that you liked it!!

My fellow Ghostbusters fans!!

After seeing @pythoness94 post about a lack of Trevor Spengler fics, I decided to contribute to the cause by writing and posting my own. If you like Trevor and Fleetwood Mac, then you might enjoy this!!

IT WAS THE SHIT. IT WENT SOOO HARD CHAT. READ THAT SHIT NOW

Oh my god, thank you so much!!! I really appreciate it!!

Is there anyone else on tumblr who loved Afterlife but hated Frozen Empire? Please, there’s got to be more of us.

Well, I wouldn’t say hate, but more of a dislike. Don’t get me wrong, I adore my queen, Phoebe Spengler, but I wish there was more focus on the other characters (*cough, cough* Trevor *cough cough*) so they can get development. I actually read your remake in SquidgeWorld, and I really liked what you wrote (though admittedly, this is cause I’m such a Trevor kinnie!! I adore my boy!!).