#//ignore the fact that i haven't watched the most recent seasons for most of them

[r3dblccd]

9 shows I could watch 500 times

tagged by: @irrwicht

tagging: @caelcstis, @sourspices, @frxgmcnts, @finalsurvivorgrp, @dozenrozez, @moonfl0wxr, anyone else who wants to share

Serial Experiments Lain (need to rewatch it soon honestly)

Another

Death Parade

Semantic Error (love me some enemies to lovers trope. That 'Warning, I will kiss you in a minute' scene - spectacular, amazing, groundbreaking, never been done before---)

The 8 Show (I know I only finished it recently, but I'm pretty confident that this show is gonna be one of my favourite ones this year)

Yellowjackets (Juliette Lewis can step on me)

What We Do In The Shadows (gay vampires and a fancy witch hat (iykyk), what else can I say; finally a documentary done right)

Our Flag Means Death (gay pirates, what else can I say)

Good Omens (gay demon and angel against Heaven and Hell in the middle of the end of the world, what else can I say; you get the drill. All I needed was David Tenant to say "My point is *burp*, my point is... Dophins, that's my point" and I was completely sold, yes, indeed, the point is, dolphins. Highly recommend the book too, and I'm so looking forward to the upcoming graphic novel.)

Special shoutouts bc I can and will do whatever I want (this is for series I quite enjoyed, and may watch again, but I'm not that obsessed with them):

Wellington Paranormal (2018-2022)

BEEF (2023)

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024)

Theatre of Darkness: Yamishibai (2013--) - It's kind of giving "Are you afraid of the dark?", but like with Japanese urban legends, or is it just me? Maybe it's just the story within a story kind of format that makes me think of that.

Bonding (2019-2021) - I'm giving them some extra points because at least they tried a little harder in season 2, plus I just view it as a silly little show to put on that you don't have to think too much about rather than a serious show trying to do very accurate representation. (and at least is much better than the trash fire 50 Shades of Grey is)

[galactic-rhea]

WDYM Anakin is Luke and Leia's dad

I dunno if this post will reach the Star Wars fandom but I hope it does because I'm sure you all will get a good laugh at me.

As of recent I have developed a good hiperfixation for Star Wars, the thing is I knew nothing. NOTHING about Star Wars besides the fact it had aliens and...a war...in space? And funny swords. And main character is Luke or something, I spent over 20 years ignoring anything about Star Wars and somehow missing most references out there.

And recently, literally less than a month ago I saw a gif and said to my partner "oh this guy this guy looks cool, this gif looks nice" and he said "Oh well, he's a good character." And it all developed into me watching Clone Wars, the animated series you know and...and I was kinda blown away, on my opinion the show IS GREAT. And I love every character and their interactions, I love how much they focus on side characters, and they all seem very well written. I got hiperfixated really fast and saw Anakin and I was like "Omg, babygirl. He's a blorbo now."

And because of the show, this was super unexpected, but somehow I also got, really got, into the ship with Padmé because omg, cool woman. Literal happy squeaky noises of someone who was in a bad state and needed some good ol' distraction and comfort.

Now, like I said I knew nothing about Star Wars as a whole. And I still haven't watched the movies, besides the ocassional gif?

So imagine my shock, my surprise, my...bewilderment when I realized.

"Wait a minute, LUKE IS ANAKIN'S SON?! HOLY-"

Ladies, gentleman, and others, I think I came very late to this party and I don't even know how it took me so long.

Not only that, but because of this sudden love for the series, I went to my friends circle like "BESTIE, GUESS WHAT, I HAVE A NEW BLROBO AND A NEW FAV SHIP AND EEEP"

And my friends are like "omg that's amazing, what is it?"

I tell them, and of course they all know these characters and they all react like they know this very bad secret fact and I got told several times already "Please, don't watch the episodes 2 and 3 alone, it will hurt."

I feel like blissfully walking among rainbows and blue skies while everyone else know that my future is doomed. Somehow.

(Uncomfortable silence)

Not only that, but then I spent a whole deal of time thinking "Where the heck I have seen these guys" cus there was some fmailiarity I couldn't just point out and then one day I woke up, brushed my teeth and of all sudden I realized and it was such a shock.

Do you know how SURREAL is to get very into a character, and into a ship, and then realize they're the same from that super widespread meme that has been around for who knows how much time?

I swear I thought that meme was from some old medieval fantasy movies or something.

But alas, Star Wars now is EVERYWHERE. People do references to Star Wars ALL THE TIME and it's just now I'm catching them.

I got spoilers. From a meme. In a youtube review that had nothing to do with Star Wars hah. Everything is a spoiler, the world is an apparent spoiler. Now I'm here, trying to avoid spoilers from something everyone seems to know, even my family knows. It's so surreal and I wouldn't have it any other way 😂

Anyways, if you read until here, know that a wild ride still waits me, cuz I'm only starting Season 3 of Clone Wars and I don't plan to watch the movies until I finish the series.

And yes, I made this blog just to ramble freely about SW and draw stuff because it sparked my inspiration after a long art block.

Have this doodle I drew after watching the two first episodes, my offering for you reaching this far.

Note: Wouldn't Anakin and Padmé's ship name be Animé? Cuz that's hilarious.

[itsclydebitches]

With all the discussion of CRWBY/RT's apparent obsession with heroic sacrifices in RWBY as of late (and how poorly framed/managed they are), a part of me can't help but wonder if they're trying to chase the high of Epsilon/Church's sacrifice at the end of Red VS Blue Season 13. (Here's the scene in question for context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5jM_mrOqec) Which I will admit, I found to be a pretty good scene as a sendoff to the character and at the time thought it was a nice way to end the show. Though RT ended up souring it by continuing on with season 15.

Thank you for the clip! I obviously have no idea what RT's motivations might be regarding the prevalence of these sacrifices - is it "chasing the high" or is RvB just early evidence of a writing trend? - but regardless, I like this a whole lot more than what RWBY's been giving us. I think this has a nice balance between the somber, emotional soundtrack and the funny one-liners that sound like they're core summaries of many character's personalities (unlike Weiss who suddenly becomes the comic relief). I like that Church (if I'm right about how is speaking there) doesn't actually end with "...I hate you all the least!" but has his actual goodbye speech once he's privately recording. I'm missing a ton of the nuances of his argument, but I like that it at least comes across as thought out: he's reassuring the AI voice that he's sure about this, he lays out how the sacrifice will hopefully help the others survive, he acknowledges that he's only here in the first place because of them, and there's some element of being "held back" that this sacrifice would do away with. Finally, I LOVE the self-referential acknowledgement that heroes don't get to see if their sacrifice was worth it (which is one of the problems with having Penny die and then chat with Winter, or Ruby drinking the tea and then waking up fine in the tree: suicide presented as just a journey where you don't really lose your connection to life), ending with the blank screen. We don't get to know if they win either! We are emotionally connected to Church in this moment, experiencing the story through him, and like him we don't get the reassurance of knowing whether the others survived! (Well, until you hit Season 14, apparently lol). You've just gotta have faith that the sacrifice meant something - "aint that a bitch."

And all this, I want to stress, is coming from someone who has NEVER watched more than like two episodes of RvB,which I've now totally forgotten. This scene is the entirety of my context... and I enjoyed it. Which I bring up largely because of the Moistcritikal drama. Personally, I take issue with the idea that someone's negative opinion of a clip is unreliable because they haven't seen the rest of the show. Does that mean then that my enjoyment is unreliable too? Most RWBY fans wouldn't say so because, after all, why would you get mad about others agreeing with you? They're only up in arms because he was critical of the show, rather than praising it, despite both situations stemming from the same ignorance. To say nothing of the fact that criticism is dismissed even when fans (like me) do keep up with the canon, a ton of the side material, are immersed in fandom, and are present for every major development. Doing everything "right," apparently, still doesn't earn you any trust in your opinion, so... why was all that necessary again?

I do believe that context (for obvious reasons) can severely skew an opinion one way or another. For example, I recently saw a new Magnus Archives listener saying that although they were loving the podcast, it really took them out of it to try and believe that all these people just happened to write down perfectly composed, poetic narratives about their experiences. I so wanted to say that there was a reason for this. That, eventually, the podcast would reveal a canonical explanation for how this occurs, taking what's originally a huge aspect of suspension of disbelief - arguably to the point of annoyance - and reframing it as a major worldbuilding detail that enhances the enjoyment instead of detracting from it. So there are obviously cases like that, just like I might enjoy the RvB scene more or less depending on my experience with the rest of the show... but that doesn't mean my enjoyment now is wrong? Nor is Moistcritikal's lack of enjoyment wrong. I find the 'Oh, you just don't understand and you're willingness to speak on the topic without every scrap of information is insulting' to be, itself, a pretty insulting response. This desire to invalidate someone's honest opinion of what they've been given is an issue on its own, but beyond that, a good show should be able to read well even without the rest of the context. Hasn't anyone ever analyzed a clip of a show in school that they enjoyed? Gotten excited over an ambiguous moment in a trailer? Decided to watch something based on just a video/GIF-set here on tumblr with no other info? Good media is good even when you don't fully know what's going on and bad media will read badly without the distraction of already being emotionally connected to the show. Toss in the fact that people can pick up a fair bit of context from the scenes themselves and that Moistcritikal had fans in the chat explaining the situation. People can still look at a clip and think the dialogue is badly written, or the acting shoddy, or the animation poor, or the whole conflict - once explanations are given - to be pretty badly conveyed. None of this takes an intimate knowledge of nine Volumes to develop an opinion on. Moistcritikal might miss character dynamic details like Yang standing in front of a passive Blake to 'protect' her from her little sister, but he can still respond to the general gist of the situation and the ways in which it was executed.

[sarcasticsciencefictionwriter]

For the fic asks :)

1, 3, 6 and 12

Hi, thank you so much! 🥰

1.OTP?

Helen/John. Kind of funny coming from someone who writes so much Teslen, huh?

I loved Helen/John when I started watching Season 1 and I stand by that. They're both such complex characters, they have so much history, so much pain, it's just ahhhh!

3. NoTP?

Hmm. Going to Stargate for this one, because I've read and/or liked pretty much every ship in Sanctuary with no problem.

Pretty much any ship involving Daniel. But especially Jack/Daniel and Sam/Daniel. (I've developed a hatred for Daniel recently, but I stand by these regardless of that).

6. Show us a bit of a WIP!

I still haven't worked on Enigmatic Confections since the last posting.😂 But here you go, from Tesla's Moving Castle:

Helen had to take a moment to simply process everything that had just happened. Or not process, as it turned out. She could not make sense of it all, so she tucked most of it away in her mind for later consideration, leaving some to mull over as she got to work. Getting to work seemed like the best thing to do, considering that her staying here and helping Vatreni now hinged on the fact that she had told Nikola she was going to clean for him. Nigel had taken up residence at the workbench, seeming to decide to ignore her for the time being, as if doing so would make her go away. That was fine with Helen. She had work to do. She tied her hair back more securely with a ribbon, so that it would stay out of her way, and went hunting for an apron or something to use while she was cleaning. She always had one when she was sterilizing the clinic, though Helen supposed that she wasn't going to be encountering any blood here. Only massive quantities of dust and dirt, which was worse in her mind. She supposed she should have been glad that there were only a few rooms instead of the entire castle she had thought there was. Though that also meant that she had less time here, if Nikola only intended for her the disaster the castle was right now and then kick her out. Those pleasant thoughts in mind, Helen rolled up her sleeves and went hunting for things to clean with.

12. What's the funniest or craziest AU idea you've ever come up with?

... I don't know. Maybe my hanahaki AU? Let's go with that for now, though you can click here and judge some of them for yourself. (As in, ones I haven't actually written a word for yet. The ones I have pieces of aren't listed).

But yeah. Hanahaki. Helen repressing her emotions for Nikola, getting hanahaki as a result, and only being cured when she actually talks to him about it. Complete with Victorian language of flowers symbolism. Because yes.

Of course, this is just my opinion, and I tend to feel they're less crazy the more I write them/play with them, so there's that.

If you want to read it again: Hanahaki + Teslen

[cbrownjc]

Well, I mean . . . some book Devil's Minion fans have only just realized the show is actually doing that relationship at all just this season. And maybe only after this most recent episode.

Because from what I saw (and anyone is free to correct me if I'm wrong), a large majority of them -- as well as just many book fans in general -- thought the whole Devil's Minion relationship had been cut out of the show because of Daniel's age-up. Like, before Season 1 even aired. They never even entertained the idea that Daniel being old meant it could still happen. Some even refused to watch the show because they were sure Devil's Minion had been cut out, and so didn't even watch Season 1 at all.

And then, of course -- on top of that -- you also had some saying that the show had straightwashed Daniel's character along with aging him up. Because of, from what I've gathered, scripts that were written and leaked at least a year before production on season one started (and were rewritten only one month before production began and so were completely outdated by the time Season 1 was filming); but then also because of Daniel's line in episode 1x01 about only going to gay bars to score drugs and "doing what he had to."

It was . . . interesting how many people just declared the show straightwashed Daniel's character because of his age and/or that comment when asked by Louis about Polynesian Mary's. And ignored the tells that Daniel was obfuscating something with that reply . . . and that maybe he didn't want to share his past sexual history with a vampire that he only remembers almost killed him once . . . and that him having been married to a woman didn't mean he was straight and was actually just hiding that he was bisexual . . . and that he looked to have some internalized homophobia going on which would fit given his age and generation . . .

So yeah, as far as what I've observed of the book side of fandom, there was only a tiny -- at most -- group who thought Devil's Minion was going to happen on the show before it first aired. And I'm sure more began to think so as the season progressed. But even after Season 1 was done, there were still many more book fans/readers saying Devil's Minion was cut from the show, here and on other social media platforms. Even with all the context clues that were pointing toward the opposite. (I, personally, was very close to sure that Devil's Minion had happened in the past by episode 1x04. And pretty much 100% there by the end of episode 1x06.)

It's been forever and a day since I was in book fandom, so it was very much a surprise to come in and see that the majority of it thought Devil's Minion was cut out of the show just because of Daniel's age up. And when Rolin Jones himself had already said at Comic-Con in 2022 that if that relationship was important to you as a reader of the books, then you would be happy. I mean, yeah, showrunners as a whole have lied more than once about such things and upcoming storylines, but I was at least willing to give the man the benefit of the doubt since this was the first show he was ever running and didn't have a track record about lying about such things yet. (And before this, I was in Game of Thrones fandom, so yeah, lying showrunners? D&D holds the crown for me wrt that.)

So yeah, if I had to guess, I think there are many Devil's Minion book fans who really have only had two episodes -- of Season 2 -- to actually come to the realization that yeah, Devil's Minion actually is happening on the show. And that yeah, it is going to happen -- in the present day timeline -- with one of them being 70 years old, and looking it.

But I do want to be fair and say that I'm sure some who are genuinely worried about how it will be adapted and if the show will get their dynamic right. That's valid. But I personally haven't seen any misteps yet. (Because trust, I will call it out if I think there's one.) But that doesn't take away from the fact that some vocal parts of book fandom completely dismissed Devil's Minion happening on the show and that reason was because of Daniel's age and thinking he'd gotten straightwashed. Long before and after Season 1 aired. Despite what the show was hinting at to the contrary.

i think the biggest reason why some book devil's minion readers don't like tv devil's minion is because y'all just don't like old ppl. you just don't like the fact they aged daniel. i'm sorry you're so blinded by your ageism that you can't see past it to find how ingenious it is that they made daniel older. what a bunch of cowards.

[hopeymchope]

I haven't fully watched the new Higurashi yet (you can include spoilers for OG higurashi and the sequel in your answer, it's fine!) but from what I've heard and seen myself, Satoko was extremely out of line towards Rika and nothing Rika could've done could justify how Satoko basically abused and tortured her. The fact that they reconcile at the end puts me off because how can you forgive someone who forced you to relive your worst traumas?

*MAJOR SPOILERS FOR 2020-2021'S "HIGURASHI GOU" AND "HIGURASHI SOTSU" ANIMES HEREIN*

I wasn't sure how to speak to this Ask because the Ask itself is a massive spoiler (and obviously it's possible some people here might not be wanting that), but it's also Anonymous. So I have to answer it publicly if I'm even gonna respond. I guess I'll just roll with the huge spoiler warning there, put a bunch of spoiler tags in, and hopefully that'll do enough.

God how I hate Gou and Sotsu, though. *sigh* It's not the sequel story I hate the most out of any sequel ever, but it's definitely one of those sequels that... any time I go back to the original, it's tainted by the knowledge of what canonically came later. It'll never not be damaged by these things. Taking a story that had a beautiful and satisfying ending for decades, then going back to add a new sequel that not only undoes the triumph of that ending complete but ALSO radically reinterprets one of the beloved characters into a villain now is just... SUCH a "fuck you" to everybody who ever loved the original.

There’s nothing like hugging it out after 100 years of physical and psychological torment.

But that long-ass video I recently linked to also taught me a lot of things about how it turned out the way it did — and where you can go to get a better version of the same basic tale. Though even then, I still have a lot of misgivings.

For starters, I learned that franchise author Ryukishi07 wrote down the basics of what was supposed to happen in every arc and the overall narrative for the anime team at Passione, and then he let them handle the details. The actual scripts were handled by the writers at Passione, and Ryukishi07 said he was frequently shocked and surprised by what they did in the storyboards and scripts. He wouldn't have written things that way himself. But because he A) believed they were the experts when it came to animation, not him, and B) has always embraced other creators coming in and giving their own narrative spin to the 'When They Cry' multiverse, he always signed off on/approved anything they showed him, no matter how much it deviated from his own vision. Which, I'd argue? Was a big mistake. Because when you're giving us the first official full sequel to such a beloved story solely in anime format - there's never going to be any other "Ryukishi's version"? That means you need to make sure the characters are being done right and the events make sense. You need to make certain it's all true to that original tale. No, maybe this isn't the medium you're comfortable writing in. But that doesn't mean you can afford to look the other way when you think "Wow, that's completely NOT what I intended" over and over.

Secondly, I learned much more about the manga adaption of "Gou" and its own unique take on the sequel — which is called Higurashi Meguri. By the time Sotsu was finished airing, the "Gou" manga was just wrapping up, and the mangaka embraced the opportunity to do take the same framework and tell a version of the story that is significantly different. The result is that the manga is much more in line with the characters and tone of the original story than the anime was, because the author has seen how much the anime didn't work and is able to course-correct in a million small ways. The same basic events are there, sure. But it's all about a hundred times better-handled so far. 

HOWEVER... there are some flaws that are going to remain inescapable. When you end one season/series on a cliffhanger that you proceed to ignore for like 13 episodes before you get around to dealing with it in the second season/series? That’s stupid, and it’s an example of something kind of inescapable in the structure of the damn thing. More importantly, as far as I'm concerned? The entire concept of this sequel was doomed from the fucking jump. Getting a version with better writing and better motivations and more believable actions on the part of the characters is GOOD, sure, but that doesn't mean it's not STILL a huge "fuck you" to have these basic events take place at all. Y'know? Like, I respect Meguri, sure. But I still don't particularly WANT it.

...this is all a really overlong lead-in to my point, which is that: In Gou and Sotsu, they sometimes try to imply that Satako isn’t really in control of her own actions, Or at least, the Satako we’ve always known isn’t in control? There’s seemingly a new, second personality in there - a “witch” who may or may not have been brought into existence by her interactions with Eua inside the sea of fragments. (And again: The whole “a god-being inside the physical domain of the the sea of fragments is communicating with Satako to cause her to become corrupted” is something I find inherently bad and dumb that you can’t really ignore in this story.) So this arguably removes some degree of guilt from Satako? (This is heavily muddied by how the storytelling handles the whole “Dual Personality” aspect in a bad way, but that’s another can o’ worms.) 

On the flip side, the alternate telling of these events in the Higurashi Meguri manga takes this idea much farther, making it far more blatant that Eua damages Satako’s mind against her will and forcibly manipulates Satako into her new corrupted form. Satako is far more of a victim in Meguri than she ever is in the anime; it’s obvious that she’s not in control of anything anymore. She’s just a puppet that Eua is using to ensure that Rika continues to be “interesting.”

So I guess my point is, yeah, I get what you mean about the anime in particular. I guess this is supposed to be an exploration of how their relationship became too co-dependent, but it really just makes Satako look like a psychotic asshole. But in the manga? Well, Meguri isn’t finished, but at this point, I can far better understand why someone would forgive Satako in THIS scenario. It really isn’t her fault that this happened to her OR Rika. 

[chicoriii]

Season 4, Episode 14 - Sentibulleur (Sentibubbler)

I just seen the episode today, because I wasn't looking forward for another Alya-centric one, I'm already sick of it. I did it only now when have more free time. It's the first time, since I'm a Miraculous fan, when I'm starting watching a completely new episode without feeling even a bit of excitation. I'm not gonna lie that I enjoyed it, I don't, because it's not my cup of tea. This is why this post is more about why I dislike Alya favouritism than Sentibubbler itself. But I need to clarify that I didn't enjoy the episode mostly because of personal taste, I'm not trying to say it's "objectively" bad (though opinions are never objective, only facts could be). If you love Alya's arc, it's completely understandable that you probably love this episode as well.

I thought it would be a DjWfi episode (to be clear, I haven't seen any trailers of it, only one screenshot, which was said to be from this episode, but I don't remember seeing that moment in it at all, and the ending card), but poor Nino was just a background character. This is literally an "Alya is amazing" episode in which she is saving the world with a very little help of Ladybug and even less of Chat Noir, who is treated more like an offending trash. After watching it, I see fan edits like that are even more accurate to describe season 4 (not made by me, I just stole it from Cartoon Apocalypse's video).

Adrien was supposed to be a deuteragonist and a second main character, but Alya is much more like ones than Adrien has ever been. He has never gotten as many episodes focusing on him as much like those with Alya in a season (and we can be sure, it's not the last one) and he has never be as much the main hero in a fight against villains in any of them. Instead of giving him more screentime, he's putted even more in the background than before, because Alya needs to shine. Why they can't do it without treating Adrien that much unfair? I'm not gonna hide that I hate it and it makes me feel that maybe I should stop watching the show, since it looks like it's not something I really enjoy anymore. Adrien is my favourite character, so I'm really pissed of that Alya is stealing his role. We will see, but once I will be sure that Alya favouritism is gonna last forever, I would consider stopping watching the show seriously. Especially that doesn't go hand in hand with good writing. In this episode nothing as much absurd like in Optigami happened, but I still have one big issue.

It's not a problem with Alya herself. I'm used to like her, even if she's been annoying me sometimes before S4. But I don't know what to think about her this season, since I have some issues with her writing. I just don't like the idea of as much favouritism any of the characters who are not the original main ones, especially if Adrien is treated that bad by the writing at the same time. I would say the same if it was Kagami, who is my third favourite character in the show, after Adrien and Plagg. As you see, I like the Japanese girl even more than Marinette, but I still don't think that making her more important than the protagonist would be okay (it would make no sense, but you know what I mean).

Besides, I've seen people speculating that Alya is going to fuse the fox with ladybug Miraculous in an episode in which Marinette is akumatised (if one will ever happen). Don't you see how much unfair to Adrien/Chat Noir it is? Alya is already getting much of special treatment, more than a character who was supposed to be the next most important one after the current Guardian of the Mother Box. An episode with Marinette as an akuma should be the one in which Chat Noir is saving her without help of any other heroes, just like she has saved him alone in Chat Blanc. If there was a fusion of the fox and ladybug, it would mean that's not a story mostly about Marinette and Adrien anymore. It would make it clear that the writers are not even try to hide the fact that's now it's Alya the second most important character. Adrien could be the third one at best, Chat is only a sidekick of the Ladies, not really a hero equal to Ladybug anymore. Besides, episode like that is most probably the only chance to see Tikki using her power without a wielder. Wouldn't it really interesting to see what bad happens when Tikki is using Lucky Charm all by herself?

And to be fair, this season has really way too much Alya generally, I'd like to see more other heroes, not just Rena Rouge and Rena Rouge over and over again. I want more new Miraculous wielders and since Ladybug is calling the old ones (though she definitely should not do it), I want to see them in action too. We need to get a full transformation sequence of Ryuuko at least once. But the more episodes they are released, the less I believe it would ever happen. Good thing that they found few seconds to show Chat's sequence (only a second time in 10 episodes!), but still no Cataclysm. I wonder if they are even going to show it after season 3.

I have no idea what writers are planning to do. If they're want Alya to be a permanent Miraculous holder who is treated like co-guardian by Marinette forever, why they write her that way? Why isn't she really noble and careful? Why all those red flags she's giving Marinette (those she always ignore anyway): like letting Mr. Ramier know that Ladybug's the Guardian now, though she asked her to keep it as a secret, or stealing a Miraculous that almost made Ladybug's identity exposed. Are any of those events be relevant later? Are they there to show that saying Alya everything about the Guardian things and giving her the fox Miraculous permanently are bad decisions? If yes, what's the purpose of Sentibubbler? This episode doesn't seem to be really significant, it's more like another one fan service for Alya stans. The previous ones were actually important, this one could be missed without much a loss for the plot. The only reason it could be seen as significant is to make Marinette letting her guard down even more. But isn't she extremely careless already? After revealing her identity, she immediately started to tell Alya all the Guardian secrets, gave her a code for the Miracle Box, as well as the Miraculous permanently, despite her identity being exposed and all the wrong things she has done. Marinette is already dealing completely reckless with Alya, there's no reason to make her even more. Besides, that dream can't be a prophetic one, right? I remember that adult Bunnix really believed that exposing Ladybug's identity is something what Alya is able to do (from her time at least), but I think it's impossible to happen in real. That's why I see this episode as the most "fillerish" from all of this's season those have been released till now. Other ones introduced new characters or Miraculous wielders at least, nothing really new and crucial happened in this one. There's nothing bad in fillers, but why another Alya-centric one? Why not focusing on a character who hasn't been favoured this season instead?

The most stupid thing in this episode is that Rena Rouge made an illusion in which Ladybug says that she won't give the Miraculous to her anymore, for two reasons. One is that Gabriel bought that very weak lie without questioning it at all. It's clearly a plot armor. I know that they tend to make Gabriel very dumb when they need it from the beginning, but it's extremely stupid even to him. Hey, Gabriel, you know Rena Rouge's identity for some time now and Ladybug has been already giving Rena the fox few times before after her identity being exposed. Why that sudden decision? Isn't it suspect? Second is that it's been portrayed as a clever thing, while it makes Alya unable to be Rena Rouge anymore, if they don't want to show to Shadow Moth that was a lie. I'm not talking only about the battles, Rena can't be seen in public, since Ladyblog is not the only place which is showing content about the heroes. So then there's no reason for Alya to keep the fox anymore. Unless I interpret it wrong, and Marinette doesn't think it would make Gabriel stop going after Alya. But to me it looked like that and that's also make Marinette dumb anyway, because she is still unable of seeing how dangerous it is for her best friend. Alya's plan worked once, but it doesn't mean it would work again, once he discovers the lie, it would make him even more suspicious of a bond between Rena Rouge and Ladybug. Marinette is risking not only safety of Paris and the whole world, but also safety of her best friend. Why everyone is able to see that obvious thing, not only the girls but also all of the Kwamis? I'm not going to change my opinion that they are dumbing down all the characters who are involved in it and that's just bad and lazy writing.

And where's Su-Han when he's needed. I've been working on the English subtitles for the French dubbing of Furious Fu recently and now I remember that he said that he's going to observe Marinette and take the box from her is she makes a slight mistake. She's keeping making bad decisions, but he still isn't showing. That was a lie? Because if he doesn't see anything wrong in how's Marinette is dealing with her guardian duty, I'm gonna to lose the rest of my faith in the writers.

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I'm so sorry. I wanted to be active on Tumblr at least a bit after seeing this episode, but I still don't feel motivated. It's painful to say that season 4 is mostly a disappointment to me, especially that I hate the biggest story arc of it.

[bimormondisaster]

Hi! I'm an ex-mormon and some of your recent posts really interested me. Feel free to ignore this (it turned into a pretty long essay), but I wanted to share some thoughts about why many ex-mormons are so hostile to queer mormons. Maybe you've heard all this before, but I wanted to share

Leaving a religion (especially a high-demand religion like the Mormon church) is a very difficult process. For a lot of ex-mormons, the church was an extremely important part of their lives before leaving, and losing that often triggers a grieving process. And for many, anger is part of that grieving.

This does not excuse any hateful or abusive behavior. Many ex-mormons go through this phase without telling Mormons to kill themselves or that they're all in a dangerous cult. What I do want to emphasize is that this a phase.

I find the idea that many ex-mormons convert to ex-mormonism to be accurate for most people first leaving the religion. They feel lied to and hurt, and many haven't worked through the idea that there is only one true way to experience spirituality, they just change their idea of what that truth is. And they've been taught that when you have "the truth" it is a moral duty to spread it far and wide.

For most ex-mormons who went through this phase, though, it ends. It is a phase in their grieving process that they get through, and they are able to break out of that black and white thinking. You probably don't encounter many of these ex-mormons though, because they aren't as likely to seek out current queer Mormons, and if they do their less likely to say anything because they've learned (finally) that their opinions don't matter all that much.

This sounds a lot more like defending ex-mormons than I wanted it be. I don't think I need to defend us to you, as far as I can tell you don't have any problem with chill ex-mormons. I just wanted to explain the headspace of angry ex-mormons, because I find it to be pretty interesting and thought you would too.

To summarize, I find it interesting that your posts seem to distinguish between angry ex-mormons and ex-mormons who are chill with people who are still in the church, when in my experience those aren't two different groups but the same people who change over time. Obviously this doesn't excuse any cruel behavior, but I thought it might be of some small comfort to know that even though it may feel like talking to a wall trying to get through to these people, they are on their own journeys and will likely eventually come around and realize that being Mormon is just as valid a way of living as not being Mormon.

Dear Anon,

First I want to thank you for respectfully reaching out. It’s good to hear from other perspectives. I also want to warn you that I may be a tad all over the place. To try and minimize that I am going to quote you then respond to that quote. I hope this helps to keep things clear.

Before I do that I want to share a theory I have. Queer members and exmormons share a similar path to deconstruction. I’d go so far as to say that we at points have shared the same path. For me, the only reason I stay is that I felt that was what I was “called” to do. I have no hate in my heart for those that leave or those that stay. All of us are different.

Another thing you should know is that I was on a very thin line of growing up in a cult. My birth mother was one phone call away from packing up and living in a tent in someone’s backyard because “it was the end days”. I grew up believing that whatever the next season was that was it, that was when we would leave. I left at sixteen and am still in the process of healing.

I say that to let you know I have experience with the stages of grief when it comes to your beliefs. I have had the unique experience of deconstructing twice, both of which aren’t, and probably never will finish in this life. I don’t mean to say that I know all or have more experience considering everyone has a different story I am as clueless to yours as you are to mine.

Anyway, that’s enough preamble.

“Leaving a religion (especially a high-demand religion like the Mormon church) is a very difficult process. For a lot of ex-mormons, the church was an extremely important part of their lives before leaving, and losing that often triggers a grieving process. And for many, anger is part of that grieving.”

I agree! The grieving process is a very important part of leaving a religion or changing your belief system.

“I find the idea that many ex-mormons convert to ex-mormonism to be accurate for most people first leaving the religion. They feel lied to and hurt, and many haven't worked through the idea that there is only one true way to experience spirituality, they just change their idea of what that truth is. And they've been taught that when you have "the truth" it is a moral duty to spread it far and wide.”

Yes! This is what a couple of my posts were about. You put it beautifully.

“For most ex-mormons who went through this phase, though, it ends. It is a phase in their grieving process that they get through, and they are able to break out of that black and white thinking. You probably don't encounter many of these ex-mormons though, because they aren't as likely to seek out current queer Mormons, and if they do their less likely to say anything because they've learned (finally) that their opinions don't matter all that much.”

Actually, I know quite a few exmormons who are out of the anger phase or in it a different way. Many are a part of Queerstake. Some are irl friends. Anger is a stage of grief. It is meant to be moved on from, however, people can relapse even after reaching acceptance.

“as I can tell you don't have any problem with chill ex-mormons. I just wanted to explain the headspace of angry ex-mormons, because I find it to be pretty interesting and thought you would too.”

You’re correct in the fact that I don’t have a problem with “chill” exmormons. I do want to mention again that anger is a stage and you can relapse. It isn’t the person or the stage that I am upset with. It is the actions that they take. But I’ll get into that in a moment. I do find this quite interesting and once again thank you for sharing!

“I find it interesting that your posts seem to distinguish between angry ex-mormons and ex-mormons who are chill with people who are still in the church, when in my experience those aren't two different groups but the same people who change over time.”

I’m going to be honest, they are completely two different groups, but that does not mean that a person can’t switch between the two or even be in both at the same time.

“Obviously this doesn't excuse any cruel behavior, but I thought it might be of some small comfort to know that even though it may feel like talking to a wall trying to get through to these people, they are on their own journeys and will likely eventually come around and realize that being Mormon is just as valid a way of living as not being Mormon.”

Thank you for sharing. It is a nice reminder that people change.

Other thoughts

I want to remind you and everyone reading this where this started. While tumblrstake was watching and talking about general conference Exmormons and nonmembers decided to come into the tag and post things from saying they hated it trending to suicide baiting us. It was a triggering event that I am still dealing with.

Anger is a natural emotion. I have no problem with people expressing anger, I have a problem with them seeking us out to harass us. There is a line that shouldn’t be crossed yet constantly is. That is my problem.

I hope this helps,

Zen

[flowerbunbunny]

Montrum, Monster's journey chapter 1

The shoreline is peaceful as the man tosses out his line, waiting for the fish to take the bait. He looks around nervously. His other companion scoffs at him. "What, haven't you heard the stories? Boats going missing, chunks of them appearing days later with scratches and bite marks... no survivors..." he trails off watching the water.

The younger companion shakes his head at the seasoned sailor, concerned. "Next you'll be telling me that those rumors of mermaids are rea- hey!" he yells out looking over the boat causing the other man to jump in surprise. The group looks over somewhat shaken by the stories, though they sigh in relief after seeing what appears to be a girl swimming in the water. "Come on then, she's too far away from shore to be swimming." They row over, growing concerned as they see some driftwood and hear the sweet voice calling out for help reaching towards them from the waters.

They finally get close enough to make out a face, the younger man blushing at the clearly naked woman with vivid red orange hair and large blue bloodshot eyes, puffy from crying. "P-please... help..." she cries out softly as the younger man grabs her hand, grunting in surprise at her grip.

"Just hold on, alright..." he almost tips over but his other companions grab him, hauling the shaking girl up. The older sailor hands her a towel. She goes limp clinging to the towel around her as the younger man tries to comfort her, not noticing the small vial in her hand.

"S-shipwreck... strange creatures..tried to.. I lost my clothes." she stammers embarrassed by that, a blush staining her cheeks. The younger man feels bad for her and helps wrap her up in the towel, pulling her up next to him as the others watch.

"Strange creatures you say...so the stories are true. Mermaids!" the older man frowns. The others glance around seeing bite marks in the driftwood getting a little nervous. The once calm water now seems eerie. "Alright men, let's regroup with the others and help this little lady back to the shore." He smiles at her. She nods, as the vial in her hand starts to drip onto the floor of the boat.

They row back, regrouping with the other two boats, the girl looks around seemingly nervous as if she is inspecting the boats and men. The young sailor pats her shoulder as she shudders starting to cry almost melodically again. The man remains unaware of the liquid leaking out of the vial and onto the fishing boat.

"Sorry.... I shouldn't be so upset...but it was so terrifying..." she stammers, her shaking hands causing the towel to drop slightly. The sailor blushes from this, feeling compelled to comfort her. He hugs her gently just as he feels water pooling around his boots. The other men notice this and look down in confusion.

"Um...what the hell is this?" asks one of the sailors, the rest look over at the pool of acid leaking from the vial. The sailor holds the girl closer, his face flushed. She nuzzles into his chest and practically sits in his lap.

"You mean the highly corrosive acid giving your boat a leak in mermaid territory that you are currently fishing from?" the girl says hiding a grin and shrugs as the men look at her. shocked. "No idea."

"Wait a second...shit throw her overboard!" the old fisherman yells, but the younger man holds her tightly against him. "N-no...why?" he asks looking into her eyes as she cups his cheek, her fangs showing in her smile. The man notices the fangs, though the panic fades quickly as she kisses his cheek, melting away into bliss.

"Please.. Stay with me? Let me take good care of you..." she asks softly. He feels himself nodding completely lost in her eyes. The other men watch in confusion, trying to bail the water out of the ship but failing.

"Snap out of it man, that's one of them!" the seasoned sailor yells, fed up with it all and grabbing a harpoon ready to throw it at her. She giggles and starts to sing softly, causing most of the men on board to stop and listen, shifting uncomfortably in their seats as the man holding her tighten his grip. Other voices join the girl increasing the power of the song. The man leans into her.

"I can save you from them...will you be mine?" she asks as the boat slowly sinks. The older man grits his teeth as his hold on the harpoon slips. "No...I won't let you!" he yells using the last of his willpower to throw the harpoon, lodging it deep into the young sailor's back.

Bipsy flinches a little, watching with wide eyes as the young sailor she was seducing takes a harpoon for her, slowing dying in front of her. As the fresh blood runs down his back mixing with the water, all hell breaks loose. Mermaids appear from all sides of the three boats, especially the sinking one, to claim their victims. The sailors panic, and get dragged underwater Some frantically grab harpoons in an attempt to fight back, but it's all hopeless. The young mermaid on board is still frozen in shock. Though she snaps out of it after hearing a sharp whistle. She scrambles to the water. Just as she gets close, a hand grabs her leg causing her to stumble and fall.

"Not a step closer...monster..." The seasoned sailor glares at her, some blood is running down his arm from a bite mark.

Bipsy growls and yanks her leg up, biting his hand hard. "I'm not a monster, you are! Starving my people and invading our home!" she yells angrily.

"Your people are myths... we need to survive to- " he screams in pain as he gets dragged down by another mermaid. She shudders at this as another sharp whistle pierces the air, her cue to get moving. She gracefully dives off the boat showing her true form, a blue tail taking the place of her legs as she swims quickly to the next boat with another vial mumbling to herself. "First mission, don't get in trouble, don't get distracted..." she uses her powerful tail to dive up and over the next boat, which was already being attacked by other mermaids. She smashes the second vial of acid onto the floor. The mermaids swarm the terrified sailors, while she swims away ignoring the carnage, finishing her task by simply tossing the next vial.

It doesn't take long before there are no survivors, just the acid ridden boats. Even though it is her first mission, she remembers others boasting of how they would destroy small fleets of fishing boats in the blink of an eye. But something feels wrong to her as she relaxes back in the water swimming around the corpses to check for wounded merpeople. There is no excitement from her first successful luring, no thrill that another man would willingly sacrifice himself for her. That thought even causes her to shudder feeling almost nauseous as she follows the others back down to their home.

The warm water feels good but does little to ease her distress as they swim deeper, through the tall patches of seaweed emerging to a large clearing. Bright coral surrounds the area and various species of intelligent and colorful fish swim next to their merperson. Stone structures that have been standing for centuries lay around the ground along with houses built into the coral. But as she swims, she is once again struck by the emptiness of her once thriving home. Many structures are abandoned, the once great buildings filled with food and merfolk are empty, and the merpeople that swim by look sick and bony. The few children out of their homes swim slowly searching for food, some frighteningly skinny. She sighs sadly after seeing what humans have done to her home, and her once great people. She breaks away from the school to head to one of the ancient buildings on the seafloor, illuminated by various plants growing on the wall. Bipsy enters a large room with various pillows of seaweed on the blocks of dead coral. She enters bowing her head to the four elderly merpeople seated. She gives her report.

"I was able to seduce and distract the men like I was told, though it was a little odd. Sirs...the man I seduced, he took a harpoon for me... and none of them seemed to realize that merpeople are real and right here! What if they don't realize what they are doing to us?" she asks curiously.

The elders are pleased with the success of the mission, though somewhat exasperated by her questions. "Little Bipsy... this man as all men do, simply wanted to use you for what you have been blessed with, the perfect tool for us." one of the elders states, as if this is obvious.

Bipsy flinches a little, disliking being referred to as a tool. "And...the fact that they don't think we are real?"

"Silly child, they all know, they fear us so they pretend as if we do not exist." he continues. The others nod proudly, continuing to discuss the greater question of what to do about the famine. "Little Bipsy, you have shown much promise in the selection process even if you are almost... painfully curious. Well, you are dismissed." he waves his hand, as she leaves the chamber..

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The soldiers have been out at sea for at least a day now. They were crossing enemy territory, but most of them were confident enough that they would end up surviving this mission. For one, the North supplied them with ample amounts of weapons, and allowed them to travel with five military grade ships.

"No sign of the enemy, sir.", said a soldier looking through a spyglass. They were watching for ships that weren't raising the right colors. The captain looked pleased, "Good, we should reach land by tomorrow." The captain was a veteran, he was recently commended for the skill he had shown during a hard fought battle with the Eastern Empire over one of their ports. The East ended up having to retreat and surrender one of the few ports they have. The captain thinks on what he will be rewarded with for this next great victory as he goes below deck.

The captain opened the door leading to a room. Inside, a man was sitting down, his face hidden from view by a silver mask. The room was just an ordinary room, except it was isolated from the rest of the sleeping quarters. The man looked up to see the captain's face, his expression hidden.

"We'll reach land in a few hours,'' said the captain, "I suspect the South would be guarding their ports heavily."

The man said nothing, only looking at the captain. The captain thought this soldier the North sent him was a bit odd, but at least he didn't answer back.

"Anyway, if you prove your worth, maybe I'll assign you as my personal bodyguard." The man said nothing still. After some awkward silence, the captain got the hint and left the man alone. A few moments after the captain left, the man pulled out a knife hidden under his sleeve looking at it and inspecting it, proceeding to make sure it is sharp and ready.

The man was their so called "trump card" but the crewmen didn't know why this bizarre, and seemingly awkward man would "bring them to victory".

The five ships continued sailing. The sea was calm and quiet save for the sound of a few birds flying above. It would be nightfall when they would get sight of land.

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Underwater, the young mermaid swims excitedly to one of the smaller huts along the corals, with a garden of flowers and reeds growing behind it. A full fledged adult mermaid is tending to the flowers, humming a lullaby when her ear twitches a little. "Bipsy is that you?" she calls out. She is answered by Bipsy hugging her tightly from behind and snuggling into her.

"I did it teacher, I helped stop the boats so you can eat! Look Coral!" she says excitedly, holding up two meager fish. "I was able to grab them for you, because I did a good job."

She chuckles turning around and patting her excited student's head gently. "Good job, I knew I didn't make a mistake picking you...even if this has nothing to do with healing."

"I know...but that's how I learned to develop the acid I made on my own for this, which worked perfectly by the way!" she says giggling happily while moving to help tend to the flowers with her mentor. "Coral... there was something I found to be a little odd... I didn't feel good like my sisters did on their first mission, or anyone else for that matter. It was just sad to me that someone died for me and I let them. And the fact that they didn't even seem to know we exist. How can we attack them for invading or stealing our food if they don't know we are here?"

She sighs seeming a little hesitant. "Bipsy... you've always had trouble with hurting others, you are an excellent scout and lure beautifully, but there is a reason you are with me learning to heal others. So don't let it bother you too much my little pacifist." she says smiling a little, inwardly feeling bad for someone with such a strong attitude towards violence living in this time.

"How about you go collect some of the flowers off down the current, where you can almost see the shore, I know you love that." she smiles softly. The young mermaid squeals in excitement. She grabs a bag containing some shells and squid ink to write with just in case. "And take your finder fish too!" she yells after her, shaking her head as her student rushes off.

Bipsy whistles gently, and a small blue fish darts up to her. Its long body is clearly built for speed. It swims around her whistling and clicking a greeting. "Hello to you too, ready to go to the far reef?" she says petting its spine and it spins, using its echolocation to get a fix on the direction and swimming off.

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As the young mermaid swims along with her fish, she sees a strange sight, large boats sailing right above her heading for her home. She resurfaces, and notices the ships are flying the red, white, and black flag of the Northern Empire. She makes her way towards one of the ships, climbing up the outer metal frame that protects the ship. She grabs some seashells and a pen from her bag and starts to take notes treating it as an unexpected scouting mission. She notes how there are probably hundreds of men on board the ships, how the metal structure seems to make the ships more resistant to damage, and how her acid barely seems to cause a dent on the metal.

She frowns and clambers up the frame some more. The ship has little windows on it from which she can peek through. She notes how the crew seem to be armed and ready for something. She overhears two of them talking.

"You think the South Will attack us?"

"Probably, though Cap'n says we shouldn't worry too much, we have a trump card with us."

"What, that weird masked man who locks himself in his room? Oh please, what's he gonna do?"

Bipsy wonders to herself who they are talking about and shrugs "Well I've gone this far..." she says softly to herself. Ever inquisitive, she continues clambering to the side, careful not to make too much sound. She ends up near the stern of the ship, where she sees two men. One of them is wearing a silver mask, and the other seems to be a naval officer of sorts.

She watches them for a while, until she hears the masked man say, "Something's not right, we're being watched." She freezes up. Her ears twitch nervously, hoping he isn't talking about her. The man approaches the window. She gets nervous, diving back down and calling her finder fish.

Bipsy isn't alone though. Something else is watching from the sky.