#(( she's gone through SO much growth and shit is FINALLY HITTING THE FAN WITH PLOTS AND LORE

[royalreef]

(( Though that said. If anyone wants to interact with Miranda after she’s gone through a whole damn lot of character growth and completed her ascension as a Total Wifegirl, or even to interact with Virina, my beloved Virina — please let me know.

[uhthor]

Liv,,, the Loki finale,,, a tragedy. I want to hear all of your rants about it and also fuck d*sney

hello sweetie it’s been almost 48 hours and i’m still in shock and disbelief that the finale was that messy but i’ll try my best!

first of all, kang was the highlight of the episode. yes, his chat was long and complicated but jonathan majors was very very good and i cannot wait to see more of him in the mcu!

second, loki himself was incredible as always, sylvie was incredible, mobius was incredible & hunter b-15 was incredible. i have qualms about how messy it all was in the end with ravonna and wtf she been off doing (why were the minute men in ohio finding her on earth? there was no real conclusion to that, no real ending to her storyline and hunter b-15’s self realisation and rebellion which annoyed me to no end) and the ending was a dumpster fire cluster fuck. all three of the shows have been so ambitious with their plotting in the first 3/4 of the series and then the finales are just trying to wrap up so many things that nothing gets the justice it deserves and they need to Stop That Right Now because they just fall FLAT and disappoint

but the k!ss...... literally ruined the whole thing for me. loki as a character went through so much growth in a six episode series and i couldn’t be prouder of the way he changed and learned to believe in himself and that he was worthy of happiness. it’s truly some of the best work we’ve seen with loki in the entire mcu in my opinion.

miss minutes offered him a place in the timeline where he kills thanos and rules asgard and the loki in episode one would have jumped at that opportunity quicker than anything. episode six loki shed a few tears and remembered that he was worth more than that. that the cause was worth more than that, that people other than himself were worth saving and rescuing from the tva.

is that not the most incredible growth for loki? is that not the best growth we have seen alongside his growth in ragnarok? his main reasoning for not killing kang was to be able to help others and for sylvie to be okay. the fact the writers turned all of the growth he had made due to meeting sylvie on its head and had them kiss will always be disgusting to me.

they set the series up so well for loki to discover self love and worth through meeting sylvie, especially in that he said he just wanted sylvie to be okay in episode six — to me it will always still stand that loki learned to love himself and believe in his own worth through discovering he cared about sylvie in a non romantic way and that it changed him as a person. seeing a storyline of loki learning to love himself after a decade in the mcu of being made to be so inferior to everyone else by the people around him would have been the biggest love letter to loki and to loki’s fans, and tom.

it’s just so unfair and sad that they went down the route that they did. loki and sylvie had such a good relationship, something i saw parallel loki and thor’s relationship in the last ten years, and after loki was taken from the timeline and never allowed to see thor ever again, something good and stable and healthy loki could have had in his life from then onward.

but noooooo they had to make it romantic. they had to make things weird and they had to throw away a relationship they’d built so nicely with loki and mobius, too. people keep claiming that it wasn’t a romantic kiss and that sylvie was doing it to manipulate him and hit him where it hurts but as i re-emphasise again... there are literally thousands of other ways she could have done that. she could have hugged him. she could have just straight up pushed him. she could’ve pulled a hans of the southern isles and cupped his face and THEN pushed him. there literally had to be no romance involved. it was a choice made directly by marvel to engage in a selfcest relationship. there’s no ambiguity about it.

it also irritated me that people were saying it was typical for loki to fall for himself. we’re seeing a loki in this series like we’ve never seen before. he is so afraid of being alone and very clearly hates himself so much that to me, i don’t think he’d ever fall for himself. yes, he’s narcissistic, but he’s acknowledged that it’s only covering his absolute fear of being alone. i don’t think in any given circumstance would loki fall for himself because he loves himself. loki doesn’t love himself, which is one of the tragedies that this series focused on and created a beautiful journey with.

by meeting sylvie and learning that he cares about her and that she cares about him and believes that she deserved her own happy ending made him realise that he also deserves that, too. that’s the greatest love story that marvel should have written in this series after all the shit loki has been through. having him loving sylvie because she replicates his own self love and wanting her to be okay and have a happy ending is the way it should’ve gone. they are the same person, variations of the same person. her name is literally sylvie laufeydottir. they’re practically siblings. musical composer for the show natalie holt has said and i quote that loki looks at sylvie like he looks at his mother. ?!!!??!!!!!!??!??!? they’re family and it’s so so fucking weird for them to be romantic. it just ruined all of the work and excellence they provided in the first five and a half episodes and it pissed me off so bad. marvel have the uncontrollable need to pair every m/f that speak to each other for more than five minutes (st*ggy), even if they have no chemistry (bruc*nat, st*ron), EVEN IF THEY ARE RELATED OR THE SAME PERSON but won’t touch same sex relationships with a barge pole. funny, that

i just wanted the finale to solidify all of this — loki finally learning to love himself and discover that he has self worth and cares for others after his journey through the mcu being one of pure pain and suffering. i just wanted it to make sense and set up something with a tiny bit of coherence but i left the series more confused than i have ever been and just angry and betrayed really.

obviously i will watch season two and can only hope that things are fixed (wtf is going on with ravonna, hunter b-15, where is kid loki and allokigator, was the k!ss truly romantic, will they denounce all the selfcest etc. etc.) and don’t even get me started on the ending with mobius... not a jet ski in sight just fucking suffering. like twelve of my mutuals predicted he’d have his memories wiped yet it wasn’t any less painful when i saw it happen. justice for wowki, the actual only good and coherent and healthy relationship to come out of this series </3

also can someone PLEASE tell me if they saw casey anywhere cause eugene cordero was credited but i never saw my boy ONCE! he deserved BETTER!!!!

ok think i’m done tldr: fuck the finale i am gay and confused

[threeletterslife]

NALGCF...

DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T READ NOTHING A LIL GREEN CAN’T FIX (I MEAN, UNLESS YOU WANT SPOILERS)

「 background 」

i thought i had this idea in my drafts for longer, but apparently not. i came up with it on may 28th, 2019 at 11:26 a.m. (or so google docs tells me). i started off this story with FOUR things in mind

1. the title HAD to be nothing a lil green can’t fix  2. yn is eccentric as fuck 3. jimin and yn grow up together 4. jimin founds out yn is not real

then from may to late february, i just wrote down a whole list of crazy shit i’ve seen people do on the internet and just made yn do it LOL. someone on tiktok painted a qr code on their jacket and i was like holy shit that’s smart and made yn do something very similar!

it’s rare when i come up with the title of a fic first, but i knew that for this work, i wanted my motif to be GREEN. honestly, i didn’t have anything plotted for this fic for a LONG time. i knew that yn would be a cRaZy, i-don’t-give-a-fuck character and that jimin would be more mellow, but i didn’t know what the problem of the story would be for a while. initially, yn was going to be a figment of jimin’s imagination. he’d gone through a lot of trauma after his mother had left, so yn was sort of going to be like the ‘guardian angel’ type of spirit to him. i was THIS close to making jimin schizophrenic, but i realized how depressing the whole story would be if i made that happen... and i didn’t want another sad story

so i knew yn would then have to be REAL. but that was hard because i had no idea what the problem of the story would be. (the problem had originally been jimin finding out yn was not real lol.) i had to get inspo from my best friend to finally figure out the main obstacle in yn and jimin’s friendship: yn’s boyfriend. believe it or not, from then on i fucking FREE-STYLED. i don’t freestyle, periodt. but something about this story let me?? i think i wrote the whole story in a span of less than a week. but as i was writing, i didn’t know what was going to happen next LMAO

it was a WILD journey. (i don’t think i’ve ever, EVER free-styled a story in my life... until now, that is)

originally, i wanted the story to be a friends to lovers!au, but one of my friends told me that was kinda cliché (he didn’t know that i was writing a fanfiction lmfaoo). but my best friend told me if i ended another story where the couple separated or didn’t fall in love, she’d like neck me or something. I HAD SUCH A HUGE INTERNAL DILEMMA. i finally decided to just write and see where my words took me

i was around 17.6k words into the story when i finally knew how the story would end. it wouldn’t make sense for jimin to go through all that time away from yn and heal himself to just fALL back in love with her. that’s not character development. that’s falling back to bad habits. and it would make even LESS sense for yn to pop out of nowhere and just be like ‘omg jimin i love you too!’ so i knew the two were not going to end up together. (i also had to change the f2l!au into something else LOL.) if anyone asks (no one asks) but if anyone asks what my favorite scene to write in the whole fucking 19.2k word-fic, i’d hands down without a doubt choose the cafe scene where yn and jimin reunite after two years. i teared up a bit writing that, actually. it was like seeing my two babies coming together after dealing with so much hardship over the years

but my favorite line of the fic is the last one. i was on a writing spree on that last day (i think i wrote 3k on the spot) and that line just came to me. i thought it was a great way to end the story

「 inspiration」

this story was actually pretty heavily inspired, in the beginning, by a book by fredrik backman called my grandmother asked me to tell you she’s sorry. that book made me cry like four different times lol. i recommend if you’re into reading!

also,,, yn did a LOT of the things i’ve always wanted to do when i was younger but i was too afraid to try. i guess she’s the inner me but with a FLAIR

「 extras」

hilarious fucking fact. so, as i told y’all already, i FREE-STYLED the shit out of this story. but one of the FUNNIEST things happened:

okay, so, remember that birthday scene at the restaurant? the one where yn’s flaunting her new red marker that joon had gifted her? WELL. I NAMED THAT MARKER RM BECAUSE AND ONLY BECAUSE IT WAS JOON’S STAGE NAME. BUT AS I WAS GOING BACK AND EDITING, I REALIZED RM CAN ALSO STAND FOR RED MARKER ISN’T THAT FUCKING CRAZY I DIDN’T PLAN THAT SHIT

my friends who helped proofread the story thought i did it on purpose LMFAO

also, originally, the story title was not going to be in the story at all. i usually like it better when the title is left out of the story idk. but my brain decided it would make sense for yn to be a cafe owner and her cafe would be named nalgcf so that was that LOL

「 motifs/lessons 」

i had two important motifs in the story: the color green and the weather. not gonna lie, i was never a huge fan of green until i started writing this. green symbolizes greed, yes, cunningness, yes, but it also symbolizes growth, action and life. i wanted to make it very clear that life doesn’t turn out the way you always hope it does. there will always be slight modifications in your dreams. no dream can truly come true because there is no light without darkness; but that’s okay. you take what you get and you live with it. that is what green is to me when i wrote nalgcf. it is the color of moving on from things you should not be stuck in

the weather motif is more of a symbolization for ‘things will get better.’ no matter how hard the storm hits, how excruciatingly bright the lightning bolts are and how loud the thunder roars, clear weather will come. 

this story is about coming of age as the au suggests. you get to see both characters develop before your eyes. i guess what i’m trying to say is, there is nothing wrong with change. there is nothing wrong with being normal. there is nothing wrong with being eccentric. it’s okay not to know what you want to do in the future. it’s all right if you’re friend-zoned. nothing’s the end of the world, honestly. (unless there’s a meteor hurtling at us from space, but that’s an au for another time)

i think nalgcf holds the lesson that change is a part of life. people around you will change. you will change. the whole goddamn world will change. sometimes it’s good to just not give a flying fuck

[callioope]

Finally finished Community! Thoughts below. I can’t say they’re coherent or insightful, but thoughts below. I’m still sorta processing everything so I’m not even sure I’ll settle on these thoughts, but they are my immediate impressions after binging this thing in 2.5 weeks. (Whew!)

First, a preface: Prior to this binge session, I had seen one episode many years ago, but whatever episode that was I have no idea because none of them felt familiar to me. More importantly, though, I used to see a lot of Jeff/Annie stuff in my dash back when the show was still airing. So, that informs my preconceptions of the show before I started.

Overall impressions: 

The first three seasons are pretty solid, and honestly I didn’t really feel like season 4 missed a beat from them. At some point towards the end of season 4, or maybe early season 5, I stumbled on the season 4 controversy and was pretty surprised because I still enjoyed it. Season 5 actually felt like the beginning of a decline and season 6, whew. That was almost painful to watch. It felt pretty dry, lacking in the show’s original magic, and definitely forced, which was even addressed in the season finale. And speaking of the finale, despite some brief entertaining meta moments, it didn’t really feel like a good ending for the whole thing. But I suppose we’re still due that movie, right?

What I loved about the show was how much fun it had and the relationships between the characters. It seemed to do a good job of shaking up interactions so we got to see different sets of characters interacting. Troy and Abed’s dynamic was the most interesting to me (I think I’m going to have “Troy and Abed in the mooorning!” stuck in my head lol). The blanket fort episodes were pretty great.

Couldn’t stand Britta/Jeff moments. Didn’t like the idea of the woman Jeff just wanted to bang finally giving in. Would have been terrible if that had ended up (man did I hate the set up at the end of season 5! fortunately that seemed to be a ruse to make a point, like Jeff and Britta getting together “just because it was how the show started” wasn’t really a realistic ending. I’m looking at you How I Met Your Mother. I bet that was intentional. It probably was? When did HIMYM end? I have no idea because time stopped making sense after I graduated college. 

Troy/Britta was interesting, and I was into it, but when it fizzled out that also made sense. Troy/Abed, hmm? Idk. Maybe. Haven’t settled on that. I sorta feel like they’re missing a person, like they should be Troy/Abed/??? I just feel like they have that dynamic where they need a third person. But who? Britta? Eh. Idk. 

Speaking of Troy, I really wished he could have made it back for the finale, at least! That was sad. 

And now for no reasonable transition but just because I just binged 6 seasons in 2.5 weeks and am trying to remember all my thoughts throughout: Chang. Chang was pretty annoying. Honestly it was a miracle I made it through season 1, I made it through in spite of him. He was better when he wasn’t a teacher anymore but still kind of grating. Not my brand of humor, sorry.

Let’s see, what else? Oh, Pierce was also awful. In a different way from Chang but still pretty unbearable. Does it make a difference that I’m watching this post #metoo? Or did everyone agree he was unlikeable from the start? I rarely found anything redeeming about his character and he always felt like he just didn’t fit. (Side note that I had no idea Chevy Chase was in Community until I watched the pilot! It’s funny how much tumblr manages to spoil with gifsets and also not spoil.)

Jumping around again -- so I obviously knew Donald Glover was in Community but I feel like. The next time I watch Solo. That it’s going to be very weird seeing Troy there. Mostly because I know if it was Troy playing Lando it would be mindblowing to him. I hope whenever they make the movie there can be some throwaway reference to this.)

(also oh shit but i did not realize until I looked it up on imdb during like season 3 but Annie!!! was Trudy!!! in Mad Men!!! I did learn this fact before the Don Draper reference)

The Dean’s weird obvious crush on Jeff sort of made me uncomfortable. i mean the parts where he clearly fantasizes about jeff (the puppet thing for example). outside of that I thought the dean had some good moments, and I enjoyed the plot with the study group rescuing him from chang, but whenever he weirdly hit on Jeffrey it felt like negative representation. sort of like “look at this sex-crazed deviant harassing jeff” and that was bad. i mean it felt like harassment. is this supposed to be some sort of comeuppance for Jeff’s womanizing ways? If so it still feels off to me. Is there something I was missing there? I don’t want to upset anyone or be out of touch since I’m the noob here so please if I’m off let me know. 

What else??? I’m probably forgetting so much because I watched it so quickly. Everything’s sort of merging together.

Oh! Britta!! I did see in a negative review that Britta’s character kind of got screwed with and I do agree with that. I wasn’t a big fan of Britta but it did seem like her character development (what development) really stalled. And the jokes about her being terrible at psychology were overdone. I get that she’s supposed to be the screw up but let her have something she’s good at? I guess. I mean I guess she did end up helping people so it sorta worked out but idk, didn’t feel like they put her character to good use after season 4. 

I’m saving Jeff/Annie for last. As I stated above I was predisposed to thinking this was gonna be like THE ship of the show. I didn’t hate it, but it definitely wasn’t what I was expecting, namely because I didn’t realize the age thing was going to be such a prominent part of it. (Didn’t realize the age gap from the gifsets! ...or at least didn’t remember it) I do get the chemistry there, but there were some scenes that felt really awkward to me. I was waiting for it to get better and it sort of had its ups and downs. Loved the “teamwork” dynamic to their scenes, but sorta hated the paternal vibe. Jeff’s “I do this as a coping mechanism so I don’t have to address my feelings for you” sorta made sense, buuuut I also thought that scene Got Weird. Also didn’t feel like we got sufficient closure. Maybe we weren’t supposed to. But I felt like for as much weight as they tried to lend it at the end, there could have been more obvious development and build up towards it. Like, for as much time as Annie clearly spent pining over Jeff throughout the whole show, she really didn’t play a large role herself in the final episode. In one scene, I think it was one of the pitches, someone tells Jeff he’s not really thinking about what Annie wants, and I would have liked Annie to have a chance to speak to that, but even when Jeff finally admits he “let her go,” she barely says anything. So, idk. 

I worry that the movie would reset the status quo. I don’t really like that kind of thing, when season after season there’s no real progress made. It was a staple of sitcoms, sorta the point, but I like a show that an be funny and have character growth. (I’m looking at you, The Good Place! not every show can be the Good Place...) It did feel like we got character growth here. I think what I’m actually worried about is the Gilmore Girls Effect, where it’s allegedly ten years later and nothing has changed. That was a disaster. If they do a movie, I hope they think realistically about where the characters would have gone during the time that elapsed. Like reasonably. 

Anyways. Those are some very loose thoughts I basically just word-vomited immediately after finishing the last episode. It’s definitely possible I missed some things, as I was sewing masks during most of season 6 and some of season 5. And I watched them really fast in general. So who knows what I’m forgetting. It’s all a blur. I’m gonna stop myself before I embarrass myself even further. And probably go read some fic. Yeah. 

[calliecat93]

Red vs Blue Season 17 Review, Part Two

(Part One)

This got long (it’s around 11-12 pages) so I decided to half it. Continuing on from where Part One ended, we continue the Character discussion with Grif.

So..., I’m sorry. I really am, but this season suuucked regarding Grif. He got it better than Simmons and Sarge, but not by much. It wouldn't be so bad if S15 and S16, two seasons that took MAJOR steps in developing his character, didn’t exist. Last season, Grif was the closest thing to the main protagonist that we had. He went through the most character development, began sorting out his issues, quit whining about his problems and instead tried to work through them. Begrudgingly yes, but still he made the effort. And in the finale, he not only showed that he grew by rejecting the pizza to stop Genkins, but then realized Genkins true plan and was too late in stopping it. There was a ton of build-up for Grif’s character, especially since he was the one most tied into the plot at that point, and the finale especially set up plenty of chances with him… and I guess that the season got paradox’d along with him because it forgot all of that.

Okay to be fair, Grif never complained about the mission and did his part willingly, and I did legit love how he got revenge on Tex. There is also this subtle theme of Grif being legit angry and hurt by Donut’s previous betrayal, just compare his calm but noticeable anger to Sarge’s more comical execution suggestions in Episode 7. There was also him assuming that Donut was betraying them again in Episode 10, and I find that interesting especially since he was the same way last season regarding Doc. May have been unintentional, but it’s still noteworthy. But the problem is they don’t really let Grif show his past development. Like in Episode 2, he’s the only one willing to hear Donut out and what he’s describing feels familiar... and it’s promptly dropped and forgotten. Grif finds out that something horrible happened to Huggins and while he does express worry... it once again gets ignored. Then she comes back and Grif’s allowed to be relieved for a minute or two before that too is promptly dropped. Yeah, he apologizes and it’s cute to see him happy to see her… but they never talk about what happened in S16 and never truly reconcile, so it felt wasted.

Grif was the only guy who knew what happened before the paradox aside form Donut… and nothing results from it. When he sees Genkins for the first time after, at a point where everything from the finale should really be hitting him, what’s his reaction?, His mind goes to pizza… even though he had outright rejected it which was supposed to be THE big sign of his character development. Okay, maybe that one’s an overreaction on my part. But the point is while I don’t mind Grif not being the main character since Donut is perfectly fitting and needed the development, it doesn't excuse how badly they dropped the ball with him after these past two seasons. And I’m not asking for anything dark and angsty, what I’m asking for is consistency. Let us see Grif’s growth and development from the past two years. Let us see how the past season really affected him and helped him grow due to it, especially since this is the end of the storyline that allowed said growth. They were able to do it with Tucker, and it took only a minute or two to do so. Sadly, what they gave for Grif wasn’t good enough and I really hope that whoever helms S18 will make an effort to at least try and improve it.

I will give them credit though with both him and Sister. The finale legit teared me up with their scene. It retcons Grif being drafted… but honestly? I prefer this. It makes sense that Grif would want to go out on his own and left for college/enlistment. It makes sense that Sister would be upset with him and have her own guilt about the fire. It kind of explains how even though the two clearly love each other, they’ve been kinda distant and a little awkward since Sister came back into the cast. And learning that she set their childhood home on fire and their mom is now in a trailer park… ti adds a lot to her as well. She’s not just a walking sex joke anymore, she’s a three-dimensional character and I am SO HAPPY to have that. The two didn’t get much, and I ranted about why that’s a problem with Grif, but I did enjoy them getting this moment.

Finally, let's talk Cosmic Powers… oh wait, they didn’t appear at all. Yeah, that was bullshit. I know that people had issues with them, but there was SO MUCH potential with these characters. I guess that they can do stuff in later seasons, but them being completely absent felt… weird. We only got Huggins, and THAT left a shit ton of problems. I was happy to have her back… but her return was so awkward and forced that it really feels shoved in. Nothing between her and Grif gets resolved, and my anger about that I cannot properly convey. She’s there and then after Episode 8, she’s dropped. We don’t even see her reunite with the Cosmic Powers after how pivotal she had been before. Huggins was reverted to a plot device. That is bullshit. Utter bullshit.

So yeah, I think I made it clear how annoyed I am at how the Reds and Blues got treated this season. It’s how I felt in Freelancer when Carolina came out of nowhere and it became about her and Church while the others (aside from Wash, and that’s very arguably) were put aside, and in S9’s case technically not even there. The difference though is that the end of that arc DID give them some solid stuff, like going to save Carolina and Church despite having no obligation to do so, that to me cemented them as a team. It’s something that every season following always had near their ends, but… I never really felt like we got that moment here. And I do understand that some characters were going to have to be shafted due to the number of them. Carolina at least got lucky since her plot tied directly into Wash’s plot, so there’s something to show on her end, the repetitive ‘Carolina is guilty’ theme aside. In other words, the Freelancers again get attention and Donut lucked out, while everyone else just… existed, I guess. I’m sorry, I know I sound harsh and I hate getting that way. It’s just really, really frustrating to me.

At the end of the day though, I cannot sit here and say that I hated it. I know the above… bazillion paragraphs may not show that, but that’s just hindsight hitting in. The Reds and Blues did have some legit funny bits, like Sarge’s speech in Episode 6, and Caboose and Tucker got some small but nice scenes. The Labyrinth really gave some interesting perspectives, Sarge especially I was not expecting. I don’t even mind Grif’s that much since I can at least see how it would fit with his character, even if I do think that a better reflection of his development could have been used but meh. No one felt OOC to me, just underutilized. I really did enjoy Donut and Wash’s arcs and putting my fan opinion aside, I cannot call those arcs bad. I had a fun time seeing those arcs unfold, Wash’s outright made me emotional. So is the execution flawed? Big time. But was it all bad? No. I liked what we got… just, next time I hope they balance it out better.

Story

The story of the season goes like this. Time is broken, and Genkins is breaking it even more to free Chrovos. With the others trapped in the past without knowing it, Donut has to go back and free all of them and then stop Chrovos from being freed. That is the basic plot of the season. For what it’s worth, the first half is really good. The bizarre pacing form last year is gone. The plot went fast but it felt right. There was little filler and the stakes were set up right away, so we got to get right into things without any distractions. They were funny, had character development, and when Wash came back in the interactions with him and Donut were really enjoyable. Episode 5 was a fanservice episode done well, not overstaying its welcome and actually having a point. It and Episode 6 wrapped up the first half very well, bringing the gang back together, letting Wash and Carolina reconcile, and setting up the second half with Huggins’ return and Genkins tossing off the kiddy gloves. It was straightforward, never wasting our time and always kept the story moving, but still had plenty of good jokes and character bits. I really enjoyed those first six episodes, especially due to Wash and Donut’s interactions. Hello new OTP~

Sadly, the second half I felt wasn’t as good. Episodes 7 and 8 were by far the weakest of the season. If only for their awkward exposition dumps. As much as I love Huggins, her re-introduction felt forced and rather rushed. The fact that she was dropped after Episode 8 did no favors. It really says something when I went from being ecstatic that she was back to starting to wonder if her remaining dead would have been for the best. That is NOT something that I should be thinking. The other episodes were better as the straightforward pacing returned and had great emotional scenes with the Freelancers. Genkins tricking Chrovos was also a move that took me by surprise but in a good way. I admit that I wish we saw more of the guys fixing the paradoxes, and I REALLY wish that we got to see some of the alternate timelines because of all the ‘what-if’ potential. But I can understand how that would cause things to drag, so it’ll have to remain as fanfic fuel. On that though, both Genkins and Chrovos were super entertaining villains. Not much else to say there, I just loved them so much~

The Labyrinth is a terrifying concept that I love… and I kinda feel would have been a better as the main plot setting instead of the Everwhen. Just have Chrovos use her limited power to send them in there as punishment for Donut’s betrayal against her and let Donut try to indirectly break them out, having to recruit Wash to help. The same concept, but it allows for more opportunities for character development, both funny and dark. But that’s just me, of course. I do really like the concept though and it was a nice look into the characters psyche. Carolina and Sarge’s were my favorites, the former because I like seeing Carolina against her demons, and the latter because it really lets us have this deeper look at Sarge that we never really get that really adds to his character in a new way. But they didn’t all work like Simmons was utter bullshit and I am NOT happy with how it was a joke, and not even a good one. Still, good concept.

The biggest theme of this season is, of course, the time travel… and that’s all that I can really say because trying to talk about anything good or bad will kill my brain. Yeah, I did not understand any of this. So… the Everwhen is connected to Chrovos’ prison due to it being the backswing for The Hammer. Okay, that makes sense. So… the Everwhen takes you through time? How did it end up existing? How can it exist with Chrovos’ limited power? How are the Reds and Blues memory wiped? Yeah, there’s the paradox, considering that Wash was in the present, shouldn't they have been as well in a similar state? One where they both did and didn't time travel instead of being trapped in their past memories? It would make sense if The Everwhen was more or a simulation or a copy of the past that Chrovos put them in… but it seems to imply that it’s just another form of time travel like the time guns due to Huggins being able to go through it. It’s really, really confusing and the show really doesn’t do a good job at properly explaining it. And that’s not even going into the black hole stuff with Huggins that I’m not even going to bother with. I’m more confused than I was with the time travel stuff in S3, and that nearly made my brain melt. Now I fully admit that this could just be me being an idiot, but… yeah, you do NOT want to think too hard about this particular aspect.

Then, of course, we have the finale. I’ll give them this, they wrapped everything up better than I thought that they would. I have no idea how the fuck Genkins became Chrovos makes sense, but I have given up on understanding time travel at this point. Plus it makes for a good ‘Hoist by His Own Petard’ story and it was a shocking as Hell twist. I’ll give them that one. I kinda do like how Chrovos, while not good, is more benevolent than she had first seemed and hey, she’s imprisoned but still around. The ending was kind of abrupt, but it leaves plenty open for future seasons, lets Donut complete his character development, and hey Lopez lived! Burnie avoided losing his only remaining character! Yay!

The season did very good with pacing and keeping its focus. It had plenty of funny and sincere moments and I was engaged all the way through. I never knew what was going to happen next, which really speaks to how unexpected the season was. For that, it stands above the previous two seasons, which were rushed (S15) or just bizarre (S16). But the season failed in its character writing outside one or two of them, properly explaining exposition dumps that just left me confused more than S3 did, and it’s second half felt much more rushed and awkward as a result. It felt like they tried to cram in two seasons worth of information, kinda like S15, only they tried with just six episodes this time. By the time of the finale… I liked it, but I shouldn’t feel relieved that the season is over. S16 left me wanting more, feeling emotional and anxious for what the next season was going to bring, while this one just made me feel like how I felt after RWBY Volume 5: just utterly done and glad that I have a year until the next season.

So taking in my above critiques, both in this and the Character section, why is that it that I think it ended up that way? This is of course just speculation on my part, but if I really had to guess I would say the 12 episode count. Yeah, I really think that we needed the standard 19, or 15 at least. Not because of episode runtime or anything, shows like Steven Universe has done a lot with only 11 minutes per episode after all. But it’s because it means they had a very limited amount of time to give this season what it needed. You see, 12 episodes is great because you have less filler to add, can keep the plot focused and moving, and you can properly develop the characters closer to the plot such as Donut and Wash. It is not good, however, for long-term character writing for those not as directly involved in the plot, means you have to cram in as much as possible without properly setting it up, and the end result can come off as rather rushed and sloppy. This format works for RWBY since, while every season has its own plotline, it has a long-lasting narrative that each season contributes to that can justify some of the choices, like shafting a character in favor of others. But for a show like RvB, which usually tells a complete story in generally two to three seasons, it doesn’t work nearly as well.

At first, I thought that going with this format was okay. As I said, the first half was paced very well and kept things moving in a satisfying way. But once we hit the second half, it had little to no time to explain things properly (like the time travel) or give characters who had ongoing developments the focus that they needed (like Grif and Huggins for example). They really had no idea what to do with the other characters, which yeah that’s gonna happen with a big ensemble cast like this, but they handled it in the worst way: demoting everyone but a select one or two into essentially background characters. The episode count limited ways in fixing many of these problems, and unfortunately, it showed. Time is always going to be the biggest enemy to shows like this, after all. The format could work if they decide to continue with it, which I’m not opposed to. But I do think that they need to work harder on figuring out how to make RvB work with a more limited episode run. Which if they go into a new storyline with the episode count in mind instead of continuing one, I think is very feasible. We’ll see.

Would I call this a bad season? No. Absolutely not. I had a really fun time watching this season, the first half especially, and I was ultimately glad that I watched it. As I said, the pacing was a lot better. It never dragged or got boring, and I was fully engaged as much as I was annoyed. But the season is still flawed. The second half felt more sloppy, the exposition was not done well, and it suffered very badly in balancing its characters, prioritizing Donut over everyone else. I feel like the season simply wasn't given enough time to do all that it needed to do, and as a result, we got what we got. It’s good and one that I recommend, but like all seasons it has its issues. Ones that maybe annoy me more due to what I’m a fan of than others in all fairness.

So then, what’s my opinion of Jason Weight’s writing? I think… that he did a really good job! Yeah, I’ve critiqued stuff, but I did overall enjoy what Jason brought to the series. There were a LOT of really good jokes, plenty of emotion, and the characters overall felt like the characters,. Given the circumstances of more or less having to finish a story that he himself didn't conceive (he WAS an assistant writer last year, but Joe was still the showrunner and got the final say) I think that he did the best that he could. I would love to see him come back for RvB18 and be able to craft his very own arc because he showed a ton of promise both here and with the last season. If he can’t because of his own show (that I still need to see, haha…) or other reasons, I can certainly understand. But if he can come back, I’d really love to see what he does. I do ultimately wish that Joe got to finish his own story, but I think that Jason did a good job of carrying it out, and I am grateful for both of their contributions to the series. Love you guys~!

Final Thoughts

Well, that was longer than I had intended. Guess I had a lot to vent out. Well, let’s wrap this baby up~

S17 is not a perfect season. I think that I’ve made my issues with it very clear. But I would not at all call it a bad season. I hope that I illustrated that just as much as I did with the criticism. As a fan, it could have been better. As a critic, the season was overall done competently and I can’t fault what we did get. I overall had a great time watching it and looked forward to each new episode. That’s all I ever ask for, to have fun. Hopefully, S18 will improve on these issues, but no matter what, I’ll definitely be there for when it starts.

[neoblogcrying]

Transmigrator!Binghe pt.7

Phew, I finally got this up! I honestly was going to try to complete this entire arc with this chapter but I was almost at 4000 words... so I decided to stop here. I’ll finish with the next chapter! Inspiration came from Pizziccato’s ask/answer [x] . Some dialogue was taken/improvised from BC’s translation found: [x]

-

I’ve have you know that I’ve successfully ascertained that it was indeed anxiety that was making my heart beat erratically in my chest. Ever since Shizun smiled, he’s been frowning ever since.

Was it because he saw my face that I ruined his mood? I remained in the corner, trembling slightly in fear that he would start torturing me any moment. I could feel my muscles tensing with every movement he made, making this way more exhausting than anything else.

At this rate, I’d much rather get out there and walk the rest of the way, but I’m sure Shizun won’t let me. Even if he did…  Ning Yingying would likely hold a fit, and then I’d be forced back into the carriage to save Shizun face.

Black lines appeared on my face as I thought about this more than likely scenario.

I could only impatiently wait for what was to come (or not come). Every bump on the road would spike my anxiety in fear that it would make Shizun remember about my existence. My heart came close to stopping multiple times during this this travel period.

I’m such a pitiful protagonist, aren’t I? I know, I feel bad for me too.

With every movement from Shizun driving my anxiety to a peak, I closed my eyes shut tightly and tried to focus on anything else. Contemplate on things like… what I could do to reduce my affection points with Ning Yingying. Who my future lover was supposed to be (because face it, I don’t plan on failing), and whether the system was going to continue trolling me like this?

There had to be a loophole that I could take advantage of.

Maybe it’s because I kept thinking myself into circles, time passed faster than I thought.

Shuang Hu City wasn’t large, but you could say that it was bustling with activity. We met with the man who was pleading for help from the Cang Qiong Mountain sect, Old  Master Chen. Apparently, two of his concubines died under the ‘Skinner’s’ hands.

“You cultivators must make a decision for us! I don’t dare let Butterfly leave my side, for fear that she’ll lose her way and be killed by that unnatural creature that very day!” The old man mournfully groaned, with tears dripping down his face. I understand that things are different here, but this is too jarring for me, who is from the modern era.

He’s not called ‘Old Man Chen’ for nothing, you know? He’s 60 years old and this concubine he’s fondling is probably a teenager by the looks of things! I was screaming in my head internally, hoping to call child services on him, but that doesn’t exist in this world.

I bit the inside of my cheeks to keep me from saying anything uncouth. This wasn’t my world and thus I had to adapt to their customs, no matter how much I didn’t want to.

Shizun, being the lofty expert, he was, coldly turned around and left. Ming Fan was left behind to greet the Old Master and go over some of the details with. This was the usual, so none of the disciples were surprised by it. It was one of those things, you know? It made you want to admire him.

We all dispersed, and I was thinking about what to do about this. It was weird that I hadn’t gotten a mission from the System yet, but I knew it was stupid of me to think positively now. It was only a matter of time before the system gave me the order to do something to progress the plot—unless…?

Hey, was this scene written in the original series?

[System: Answer, this scene was not written in the original series. This is a background story that the readers have no knowledge of.]

If that’s so… why do you still deduct OOC points from me if I act coldly towards Ning Yingying? Shouldn’t I be able to get away with it? --- That is what I wanted to ask, but I knew the answer to that even without asking it.

Even if I let loose because this wasn’t a part of the original story, it could still be referred to later. If I were to act differently, it raises the chances that this will be referred to in passing. A confusing narrative wouldn’t do anyone in this story any good.

I shook my head in dismay at the thought.

“No good? How about I ask Shizun first? I’m sure he’ll agree!”

I heard Ning Yingying’s voice beside me and I whipped my head to the side to see that she already ran off to find Shizun’s room. W-what was she saying just now? I was lost in my thoughts and I wasn’t listening. SHIT!

WAIT. NING YINGYING, COME BACK! Don’t do something that will put me in trouble with Shizun! I quickly followed after her, but she made it to Shizun’s door before I could bring her back.

“Shizun, Ying-er wants to go out for a turn in the market. Does Shizun wish to join me?” She asked him politely. My steps came to a steady halt and I let out a sigh of relief, fists unclenching, and shoulders relaxing. Luckily, she didn’t say anything that would trigger my death flag.

“If Ying-er wants to go out for a turn, go and find some of your apprentice-brothers to accompany you. This master still has things to do before we face the Skinner.”

Ning Yingying turned her head and flashed a playful smile and with light steps, she trotted over to my side. “Join me, A-Luo. Why don’t we look at the market together? We can see who else wishes to join us.” She grabbed my arm and tugged me along.

As I expected, my arm tensed up upon being touched. This wasn’t because I was nervous or anything like that, but I didn’t feel comfortable having this level of closeness with a girl. I’m a gay man, after all.

We didn’t bother to ask Ming Fan, because he was busy. He was probably doing most of the legwork for Shizun, so he wouldn’t have the time to check the market with us—luckily for me.

Speaking of Shizun, I personally think that he’s such a scummy character. For what reason did you have to hate me from the very get go? What did I ever do to you? He’s an authoritative figure, but he lets the other disciples bully me, and he sometimes joins in himself! Trashy.

That said, I was secretly excited to see what he would make of this Skinner. If I was right, this was probably the work of a demon, if I had to guess how a novel would progress. It’s not often you get to see a Master showing off his finesse and skills! Not only that, our Shizun had good looks! (Let’s ignore the fact that he’d probably come second to me once I grow up.)

What? I may think he’s trashy, but I won’t deny a good-looking man when I see one.

Walking side by side, we checked the market, looking at everything they had for sale. So many trinkets and food lined the market stalls and I looked on with amazement. I could only look on from afar when I was younger because of how poor me and my mother were.

Ah.

My hand unconsciously reached for my chest to grasp at nothing. Right, I don’t have my pendant anymore.

I’ve been dragged here and there to different stores and stalls by her already and even my saintly patience was coming to an end. Just as I was about to say something, Ning Yingying gasped aloud.

“Look! That looks so cute!” Ning Yingying let go of my arm in her excitement and she rushed to a store that sold accessories. It caught her attention and she was enthusiastically looking over the trinkets with a serious eye. “This one, isn’t it cute?” She pointed to a purple butterfly hairclip.

“I believe we should return soon. The day is getting late and surely the others will worry if we tarry much longer.”

She pouted in response, looking miffed. What? It’s true, so why are you upset?

[System: Ning Yingying feels slighted by Luo Binghe’s lack of interest in her appeal attempt. -10 affection points.]

Nice! Keep it up and she’ll move onto someone else, like Ming Fan. Then, he’ll hate me less, that jealous bigot! Still, 10 points is too little, but I’ve been burned enough to know that I should be grateful with whatever I can get.

“Hmph! No way! I want to stay out longer! If you want to go back so soon, catch me and drag me back!” She complained and ran off.

W-what a willful girl! Did your brain turn off? Have you forgotten that the Skinner is out there and it only attacks young girls like yourself!?

[System: Ning Yingying’s thoughtless action impedes her intelligence growth factor. -30 points.]

Whatever, I’ll deal with that later! I hastily gave chase and as soon as I turned the bend—she… she disappeared! How is that possible? She can’t just up and vanish into thin air! My heart beat quickly in fear. She’s gone. She’s really missing!

My feet hit the ground faster, and I could feel the ground shifting underneath my feet as I ran up and down the street, looking for her. I kept repeatedly calling her name, but no response! This isn’t good, this is really bad! She’s gone! Was she kidnapped in broad daylight? Did the Skinner capture her?

There’s no other way about it than to ask Shizun for help! I’ll accept my punishment later! She’s an important character in the progression of the story, so we can’t lose her yet, and I let her run off like an idiot!

I ran as quickly as I could (which is quite fast, might I add. As expected from my Protagonist stats), and I burst through the door. “Shizun!”

Inside was both Shizun and Ming Fan. He must have been giving Shizun the results of his research.

Shizun kept his cold visage even with me appearing so suddenly unannounced. “What is the matter for you to shout so loudly and be in such a panic?” He’s really got a face of ice.

I mentally shook my head of useless thoughts.

“Apprentice-sister Ning Yingying and this disciple went outside during the day to the market. I urged her to come back, but he refused. She ran off and I gave chase, but after she turned a corner, she disappeared. This disciple searched the entire street but couldn’t find her. I fear she may have been taken. I came back to ask for Shizun’s help. I will accept any punishment Shizun gives me as long as we can return her safely!” I solemnly pleaded for him to help Ning Yingying.

As much as I found her constant stickiness to be annoying as I didn’t return her affections, I didn’t hate her. She may be an idiot, and she may be overly sticky, but she had a good heart. Out of everyone on this peak, she treated me the best, and she only wanted the best for her. You could say she was my only friend on this peak, and I’d hate for her to die in some unnatural way.

“Luo Binghe! You…” Ming Fan seethed, but he couldn’t finish his sentence when an elegant motion from Shizun stole both our attention. Shizun’s sleeve waved, exploding the teacup that was sitting on the writing desk.

My entire body broke into shivers and I felt weak at the knees. Today is the day I die, but please, at least let me see that Ning Yingying is safe! I avoided my gaze to stare at the ground, wanting to escape from the anger that was emanating from Shizun’s face.

“Since things have already happened, there is no longer any use for words. Luo Binghe, you’ll be coming with me. Ming Fan, you bring your fellow apprentice-brothers to ask the Chen Family for their assistance in searching for your apprentice-sister. We will return her safely.” He spoke so resolutely with a commanding voice.

I dare not think he added the last part to soothe my panicked feelings. I knew that Shizun had a particular care for the apprentice-sisters, so that had to be his consideration of not wishing to lose a ‘flower’ of his peak.

My head continued to hang low as I dreaded the worst. I am quite used to receiving a beating, and as much as the system told me I had a Golden Halo that protected my life, I truly didn’t believe I could live to see another day because of how I lost Ning Yingying.

“This matter is all of this disciple’s fault. If Shizun wishes to punish me, this disciple has no regrets. This disciple only wishes to be able to help find apprentice-sister Ning Yingying and bring her back safely. Afterwards, even my life can be given to Shizun.”

Please… please let me see her safe. Aside from my mother, she’s the only one who treated me with genuine kindness. It’s such a shame, if I was straight, I’m sure I would have held feelings for her… but I’m gay. I just can’t see her that way, no matter how hard I could try. Keyword being ‘could’ because there’s no way I would try.

I know my preferences very well, thank you.

“Come over. Bring me to the last place you’ve seen your apprentice-sister.” Shizun’s cold voice spoke and I nodded my head slowly, hastily moving out the door to lead the way. The quicker I lead the way, the sooner we can find Ning Yingying!

I stopped when I reached the location I lost her, and I turned to Shizun to see he stood there with his eyes closed. I didn’t know what he was doing, but I could only guess he was trying to feel for any traces of anything suspicious—like evil energy.

Slowly he started walking with his eyes still closed and I trotted after him like a duckling, with anticipation growing in my chest. Ning Yingying, just wait! We’ll come and save you!

With every step we took, my confidence in finding her grew—until we stopped at a rouge shop.

“…”

“…”

A rouge shop?

“Could it be that the murderer isn’t hidden in this shop, but that they’ve visited this establishment before? Entering a rouge shop… a woman?” I heard Shizun murmur to himself.

An idea hit me.

Hey, system. Since this scene isn’t shown to the readers, it won’t be an issue to change some things, right?

[System: That is correct. As long as the changes are reasonable, the system will not punish the protagonist. What do you seek to change?]

I bit at my lower lip as I thought about this. I’m sure this mystery was going to be more contrived than I was willing to waste my time on.

Is it possible to make this mystery easier to solve?

[System: It is possible. Will you like to pay 100 points to activate Easy mode?]

YES!

After a couple of seconds, we could feel a strong evil energy! It raised goosebumps all along my back.

H-hey, isn’t that too much? That’s way too easy. That’s like kindergarten level easy.

We both proceeded towards the evil energy, and after about 500 steps, the path we were following deviated sharply from the city area and then we arrived at an abandoned and deserted house.

There is a pale lantern of the poor, dilapidated front date. It’s a haunted house, for sure. Something that you can find demons in.

See? I called it. The skinner had to be a demon. Shizun turned towards me who had been following him silently up until this point. I was hoping that if I avoided his attention, he wouldn’t send me away, but it seems like he finally remembered about my existence.

“Return to the Chen estate. Contact Ming Fan and tell him to bring all the sutras with him and lead all your apprentice-brothers to come here together.” He gave this order.

I was about to answer, but I saw an ominous shadow appear from behind Shizun. IT’S THE SKINNER! The only reaction I was able to make was the shrinking of my pupils and recognizing that my heart skipped a beat.

A gust of yin wind blew and the front gates slammed open. The Skinner attacked Shizun! That’s the last thing I saw before I too, was knocked out.

“A-Luo… A-Luo, wake up. You’re … -ring me. Are you okay?” A whimpering voice beside my ear sounded, but it kept cutting out as I was struggling to keep my focus together.

I recognize that voice! I shook the sleep away from my head and—NING YINGYING! She’s still alive! Thank goodness! I almost wanted to cry—but no good protagonist cries so easily.

My tears aren’t cheap.

“You’re awake! Thank goodness! I was so worried you’d never open your eyes again! Now… there’s… only…” Ning Yingying’s once ecstatic reaction turned very timid and flustered. That wasn’t a reaction I was familiar with.

Following her line of eyesight, I saw--!!!! THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE SIGHT!

SHIZUN. WAS. STRIPPED. BARE!

SHIT, HE’S AWAKE!

In my panic, I turned to look away, flushing a deep red.

I’M GOING TO DIE, I’M GOING TO DIE! HE’S GOING TO MURDER ME IN COLD BLOOD. HE WILL RID OF ANY AND ALL EVIDENCE OF THIS BLACK STAIN ON HIS REPUTATION!

AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK YOU, YOU SHITTY-ASS SYSTEM!

EASY MODE, MY ASS! WHAT USE IS AN EASY MODE IF IT RESULTS IN TRIGGERING MY DEATH FLAG!?

I quickly turned my gaze away from Shizun who was still unconscious.

“I feel so bad for Shizun…” Ning Yingying whispered quietly under her breath.

Feel bad for Shizun? Feel bad for ourselves! He’ll kill us to keep his honor intact, I’m sure of it! You’re such an idiot, Ning Yingying!

Shizun was tied up with his top half stripped bare. He still had his pants and his boots on, thank goodness.

No, I won’t admit that I took the time to admire his pristine white skin.

“Shizun, you’ve finally woken up. Yingying is very scared…” She whimpered pathetically. Is this… a ploy to trigger his protective feelings towards you?

[System: Ning Yingying has chosen to summon tears to curb Shen Qingqiu’s anger. +20 crafty points]

What a sly fox! Good job, Ning Yingying! Honestly, I’m in awe.

A burst of weird laughter came from behind Shizun.

“Cang Qiong Mountain Sect’s great and lofty expert is nothing great, it seems. The world’s number one big sect, the Cang Qiong Mountain sect is only at this standard. This means the Demon Realm’s rise is just around the corner.” The voice from before burst into loud laughter once more.

The person was covered entirely in black veils, with a coarse voice that was unpleasant to hear.

“The Skinner?”

“Hehe~ The famous Xiu Ya sword has fallen into my hands, I’m so happy! Shen Qingqiu, oh Shen Qingqiu, even if you break open your head, you won’t be able to guess who I am!” This demon seemed so sure of themselves, even I could guess who they were. Even without the use of the easy mode.

“What’s so hard to guess?”

“…”

“You are Butterfly.”

I nodded my head in tandem to his conjecture. As expected from the intelligent Shizun. You’ve come to the right conclusion. Let’s ignore the Ning Yingying who is looking very confused next to me.

“Impossible! How could you guess my identity correctly!” She cast aside the black veils and demanded to know irritably. How couldn’t you know?

Even if I don’t care for women, I’m not blind enough to not tell you are a woman by your silhouette. Look at the décor of this place. This isn’t something you can find in any random place. If we’re going by classic novel tropes, the culprit is always who you least suspect—the next ‘victim’ to be. Knowing that this world is a part of a novel made it easy to guess that it had to be you.

I’m not sure what information Shizun had, but I’m sure his reasoning is unfathomable to the rest of us, and he deemed us too unworthy to impart his great wisdom, so he didn’t open his mouth.

Butterfly gave up on waiting. “The Skinner is untraceable not because I have an exceedingly high ability, but it’s because I always switched skins after killing someone. By wearing the skins of those women and imitating their behavior, I was able to pass unnoticed in the confusion of the search for the next target.”

“That’s wrong.”

Huh? What’s wrong, Shizun?

“Where is it wrong?”

“Even if you switched skins after you killed someone every time, for example, after killing butterfly—you don her skin, you become ‘Butterfly’ but there is still her skinned body left over. Won’t someone find it strange if there are two?”

!!!

He couldn’t be referring to DNA analysis, could he? I thought of it myself, so maybe that’s why I’m so sensitive to his words… but…it couldn’t be?

Call me crazy, but… Shizun shouldn’t be able to have his mindset, right? For me, someone from the modern era, we have such a thing as DNA analysis, but the Shizun of this world shouldn’t have knowledge of such a thing, right?

It’s possible he has some magical method as a peak lord… but this is too weird. If I’ve transmigrated into the novel, what’s to say another person couldn’t migrate over as well?

Let me guess, you won’t let me know?

[System: Correct. The system cannot let you know if another person is a transmigrator like yourself.]

Figures.

It’s not a problem if I figure it out on my own right? Will you stop me from testing him?

[System: The system has no power to stop you from making your own conjectures about Shen Qingqiu.]

Perfect.

If he’s another transmigrator like me, maybe we can come to an understanding. If he’s another transmigrator, I can tell him, right?

[System: Answer, that is false. You are the protagonist and the readers are following your moves constantly. Any scene you are with Shen Qingqiu are regarded with high importance due to the bullying aspect. Therefore, you will be unable to tell Shen Qingqiu without letting the readers know of the truth. IF you found Shen Qinqiu to be another transmigrator, you must keep your silence.]

You really like to kick me down, don’t you? Just when I thought I found myself an ally, you kick me down.

A/N: Fufu yes, both of them asked for Easy mode, which means it’s SUPER EASY MODE. lol

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[pricefudge]

Avengers Endgame Rewatch - Spoilers!!!

So, I went and gave in to my baser desires and watched Endgame again. Beware, massive spoilers ahead, especially on the ending and my opinion on it. Because I need to shout it into the void. Long and Rambly.

I know a lot of people have a problem with how characters were treated (Thor’s depression as a joke? Not okay.), but I see the sense behind it. To be honest, and as much as I live in the timeline Thanos got out from and IW never happened, Tony Stark had to die. Because, we all know, we fans are craaaaazy sometimes. We would have bothered the creators so long until they revived the Iron Man Franchise with RDJ at the head and we would have lost our collective shit because it wasn’t what we wanted or expected (I mean, look at the whole Fantastic Beasts shitstorm) or worse gotten another actor - ha, no. Let’s let the poor actors retire. Same thing, but to a lesser extent, with Captain America and Black Widow. 

So. much.

foreshadowing

I mean, with Tony it was obvious from the beginning. Movie rule - every character that gets happiness and domesticity dies (a dog gets mentioned? Character dies. Kids to go home to? Character dies. I won’t risk everything! Character dies. That whole fucking Howard Stark the Greater Good Scene? Character. effing. dies.)  Believe me, the second time around I almost cried every time Tony was on Screen. That whole Morgan interaction? Cryyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Like every Tony fan, I felt vindicated at the beginning of the movie, the little argument he had with Steve. Yes. Tell him. First time around it was more cringe. Second time, YAS MAN. And, god, I can’t stop gushing about Dad!Tony. The growth. The love. The moment he was finally able to give Peter a hug. My heart was so open, my crops are watered (with my tears) and my skin is clear (due to tears washing away everything).

But I hadn’t expected the foreshadowing to hit so hard with Natasha. Like, whoaaaaa. Don’t do anything stupid. See you in a sec. Until later. Like whoaaaa, there were so many goodbyes directed at Nat and in my panic for Tony I completely missed it the first time. At least she got to say some kind of goodbye. Whoa.

And I imagine, Clint went back for her bones sometime. Or sent Carol. Because due to Soul Stone teleportation and very important goal, he couldn’t get her body back to the future, but like hell is he leaving his family there. She’s the girl he gave a second chance, the one he watched grow from machine to person, who pulled him out of the darkest spot he’s ever been in. The only reason she was even alive these last five years is bull-headed determination that there has to be something that can be done - she was the only one to stay at the Avengers compound. Did Not Move On. This was what she lived for and what she gave her live for. He probably interred her on compund grounds or next to the plot his family’s going to be resting in.

Now Captain America, Mister Steven G. Rogers. I do absolutely dislike his ending, but. BUT. Imagine the absolutely mind-boggling shenanigans he had to go through to keep the timeline intact. No, Sir, I am not Captain America. No you didn’t see me lift that car to get my son’s toy from under it. No, Peggy just married someone who looked extremely alike. No my name is Steve Rodgers, with a d, you see? Peggy probably took Howard Stark into the know, so he could hack all official files and exchange the picuters of Steve with some other dude. Probably explains his obsession with finding Steve, And their kids! Well kids, you’re gonna see Daddy in a lot of pictures and movies, but you must never tell anyone that he’s at home. And you’re gonna meet him at my funeral in the future, but don’t tell him anything! He doesn’t know yet he get’s the girl! It is a bit hilarious.

But people being mean on him for leaving behind Bucky - boy knew what Steve was gonna pull. “I’m gonna miss you, Bud! and “How could ? You’re taking all the stupid with you” for like the next five seconds? NAH. Bucky knew Steve wasn’t gonna come back spry and shiny. He was gonna pull some bull-headed thing. Bucky probably saw a picture of Older Peggy and Older Steve and thought - huh, she definitely got a type! - and suddenly time travel is a thing? Light-bulb moment! Ding ding ding! Get the girl :D. Don’t forget, Bucky was always right next to Steve during doing stupid things. He knew and approved. Don’t forget, he got a lot of healing done in Wakanda. Time for some healing for Steve.

On the other hand, Thor was just absolutely mistreated. I mean, props to Marvel for realizing emotions and trauma exist (again), minus points for handling. At least he is not magically healed and fit at the end through some heroic-fight-panacea. I loved Thor in Ragnarok. Why did you do this to him? I mean, I heard that Chris Hemsworth wasn’t interested in any more movies after Thor 2, understandably, so maybe it was in part to honour that decision. Shitty, but well........ And Bruce’s growth, puff. Where is it gone? Bye, Hulk, gonna miss your smashing. But at least he got in touch with his inner self. Even literally, hi Ancient One.

Every. Ducking. Character. Loved it. So many people, stories, faces, all together. 

And for all the very, very dedicated Loki stans out there - do it like me, live in timeline a) where Thanos left and nobody died or timeline b) where Loki got the Tesseract in NY, noped out of there and lived happily in shenanigans until Thanos went to get the Tesseract. Or timeline b.1) where Loki gave the Tesseract to Thanos and became one of his Children (like, Yikes). This evolves into b.1.1) where Thanos wins or b.1.2.) where the 1 in 14 million happens again and Loki also lives, because Hulk like Puny God and wants to redeem him. And to further these shenanigans let’s make b.1.2.1) where Loki long ago learned healing magic from his Mom, who Loves Him tm and manages to keep Tony alive, injured, but alive. Happy endings for all!

I mean, Endgame gives us ALL THE POSSIBILITIES. Endless timelines, endless headcanons, endless fic.

Once again, and louder for the ones in the back, THANK YOU TO ALL THE ACTORS, FILM CREW, SUPPORTERS, DIRECTORS, SCRIPT-WRITES, CATERERS AND EVERYONE ELSE WHO MADE THIS JOURNEY WITH US!!!!

[ohsnapitzlovehacker]

Thoughts on The Junior Ch. 11(?)/ in General

Gather round kiddos, I think I’ve finally anchored my thoughts after sorta avoiding tumblr, Monday. Also, disclaimer, I KNOW this a just a game. Cool.

Since the junior began, I’ve enjoyed it immensely. Even with how things have gone down, the ebs and flows of the fandom’s moods and just general hate geez fam, I really did like it. I even decided to romance Nathan on my side device cuz why not? I was intrigued.

We joke about how dumb MC is and how’s she’s always putting her nose in somebody’s business, the entirety of the sophomore series which I’d like to forget, and how somewhere along the line she lost her identity and labeled herself the “Mom friend” but with no personality outside of that. All these are valid points, and I’ve felt some annoyance too, but one thing I’ve realized is how much I relate to MC and how much of her is similar to me.

No excuse, and once again, I know it’s only a game, and I may or may not be projecting myself onto MC, but like....she was my first choices MC. I named her after me. We’re even the same age. She had a sucky second year of college, *I* had a really sucky second year of college, she’s dealing with life-or-death situations in her third year that involve her putting everything in herself and not asking for help, I just WENT through my third year and did some things similar and equally dumb.

Um...not sure where exactly I was going with this, so I’ll go to my next point and try to wrap up 😂 just like MC was trusting of certain characters and thought they had her back, I’m the same way. So to see the whole Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde performance from you know whos, was kinda triggering, and I didn’t even realize. And finally, the The Freshman series takes place over a span of time, and the most realistic thing about the game, and the thread that weaves inspite of all the necessary drama and low key weak plot lines (sometimes!) is how all the characters have grown in someway.(And even if they didn’t grow, we got to grow to see their true colors, so to speak)

I guess what I’m trying to say is, yesterday was a good chapter and I still enjoy this book cuz I see myself and some experiences, this fandom can be kinda nasty when they don’t like something and will make it known whether you wanna hear it or not, oh oh oh and *Nathan is #canceled 😂🎊🤷🏾‍♀️

*For the drama, it’s def great fun to have him as a LI and then turn around and shit hits the fan. However, I find it really hard to stomach (in a hyper realistic situation) when you think you know someone and it turns out, not only do they **NOT have your best interest at heart, they take it one step to far and are actually evil personified (looking at you Beau and Ass...I mean Kass).

**I had similar reactions with Claire, Becca, and Sebastian, the strongest with Becca, but I will gladly eat my words and say that Becca redemption arc and growth was one of the best things to witness and it’s very nice having her in our corner 😆

[kitto-toberu-sa]

Tri Spoilers

I feel the new trailer has kinda spoiled some of the films best moments since they take some of the tension out of it... On the cast talk, they didn’t say much of interest, since we hadn’t seen the movie, so anything interesting would have been a spoiler...

Cast Talk Sora’s va had invited other cast members to her concert and they came, so she felt like they were family. They twirled around in the uniforms and said they thought the movie was interesting. Next broadcast is those two + Mimi, with Takeru as the MC, because he’s cheerful and able to chat. He called himself ponkotsu (useless, terrible etc) and said he found it difficult, so Sora should do it, but she said she was ponkotsu too. Mimi’s va is the ‘you can do it’ senpai, so the announcer said the three of them probably balance each other out lol

Warning: I was working on three hours of sleep and did have a teeny tiny bit of alcohol before the movie (I get tipsy easily :/) so I may or may not have missed something. 

Shipping moments - honestly whenever someone asks me about a ship moment I never know if they’re talking friend or romance. Because in all honesty, character A can look at B and half of tumblr will say it’s code for them dating. So when y’all say ‘moments’ I never know what you’re thinking because half of you exaggerate nothingness into canon. So when I’m asked about moments, I talk about times when characters interacted. I hope that clears things up.

Also please slow down on the shipping asks. I deleted over 10 messages. Patience is appreciated. So is not being rude. I’m happy to talk about literally any ship, but don’t spam me and demand answers. You make your ship and the fandom look bad. (Also why are y’all on anon I don’t bite lmao)

We start off with a flashback, done in an old timey style (like old movie cinema noises, flickering visuals etc. I thought it was rad like it made me so happy I love it) HIMEKAWA AND DAIGO ARE DIGIDESTINED. (HE’S A GOGGLEHEAD I LOVE HIM) So we see their final story and that’s hella cool but I can’t read kanji and some of it was written in kanji so :/

Looks like she was possessed like Hikari? Glowing eyes and shit, mentions of light, hope, Yggdrasil and homeostasis. (Apparently they were the original chosen which seems kinda blegh to me but w/e)

So they both know they’re chosen and Maki works her butt of to try and get them back (looks like she may have made reboot in order to reach her partner?). At one point Daigo tries to get her to STOP (even though she just wants to see her partner??? Bakumon/Tapirmon)

“I’ll be your new partner”

I fucking squealed HOW CUTE

But also what a dumb confession you nerd. This looked to be high school or uni btw. She was favourable to that. It seems they dated for a time but he forgot everything? (Which explains why she’s so bitter 24/7)

In any case, the kids are stuck in the D World with no way to contact anyone (Gennai isn’t answering) or to get home. They eat. Koushirou goes on a lecture about Oolong because Mochimon said it was nice. Mochimon is looking for a polite way to say ‘I honestly don’t care’ since Koushirou is rambling about it while everyone is doing their own thing. Sora made food for everyone. Everyone’s bonding but Piyomon is being an unreasonable bitch. I can understand her being scared, confused etc, but she’s full on aggressive the whole movie, and it literally makes no sense. It’s distracting, not like the first Piyomon we knew and it doesn’t advance the plot or characters.

Ah, there’s also a few scenes where they’re trying to bond with their Digimon. Hikari’s whistle smells like her so they bond pretty quick and it’s pretty cute. Tsunomon is hiding even though yamato is standing ages away just looking over his shoulder. Lots of ‘DON'T EAT ME PLZ’ which is cute and Mochimon is adorable.

Koushirou is busy so Mimi tries to feed him!!!! He goes bright red and puts his laptop in front of his face, saying he can feed himself. I’m screaming everyone loved it they’re SO CUTE. Sora made some weird shit with jelly beans and whipped cream. Koromon is the only one who likes it. Everyone else thinks its fucked up. I wouldn’t eat it.

Everyone Digivolves because of food? Palmon has a cute scene where she’s all like ‘Am I cute~?’ and Mimi is like YAAAAS YOU ARE! YOU’RE THE DIGIWORLDS NEXT TOP MODEL (okay not a direct quote but shush) which is super cute since Mimi wasn’t impressed with having an ‘ugly’ digimon originally so it really shows her development and growth.

Meikuumon appears, runs away and then disappears through a portal. Meikuumon is very odd, going from crying to being incredibly angry the whole time. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. Meiko gets to the Digital World after her Digivice changes.

Sora is upset because Piyomon is being a bitch so Taito try to comfort her. They sit on either side of her, so it’d be an excellent opportunity for them to both show interest in her. Or for Yamato to go ‘dude, my girlfriend/love interest, back off’. But no. Apparently neither of them know more than ‘Sora’s upset’ and have no idea what’s really wrong or how to help, so they’re using each other as back up to try and make her happy.

How many years have they known each other now? They should have some type of guess at how to help her inidivdually. It makes me wonder if the epilogue is tri canon because this could have set Sorato up perfectly, but if you didn’t know the epilogue, you honestly never would know. Everyone would assume it’s Koumi that’s the official pair.

Agumon floats by on a log? So Tai goes to help and Sora walks off. Tai says the same line Piyomon said about taking care of herself and she’s all like ‘don’t say what Piyomon said!!!’ as if Tai knew about it??? The whole scene is funny, but it’s filler and just goes ‘boys and girls are SO different they CAN’T understand each other?!???!’. It’s basically Taito speaking in unison and going ‘girls are troublesome’.

Considering they don’t know how to comfort her and they’re constantly together, I wouldn’t say it’s a win for anyone but Taiorato fans, and due to the bad writing, I don’t think you can call it a win.

At some point they’re discussing Meiko and Hikari’s like ‘ehhh Takeru, don’t you have a crush on her?’ and he’s like ‘don’t worry, my number one person is...’

-looks at Yamato-

‘Isn’t that great, oniichan?’ (Taichi)

Tsuntsun Yama makes his appearance again. I LOVE IT.

Everyone (Meiko not included) is deciding what to do and Jyou is old reliable Jyou again. Takeru mentions how he’s like Jou of the past and Mimi wonders if he’s responsible now because he has a girlfriend to look after. Jyou can tell by her tone she doesn’t believe he has a girlfriend. I live for these jokes tbh.

Everyone gets separated when the big bad attacks. The scene of Jyou/Pata/Pal is adorable, since we see Palmon and then it pans up to Jyou. It looked so dramatic but then it’s Jyou and two weak/girly looking Digimon against a stormy sky and everyone just burst out laughing. 

Tai and Gabu are together. Tai’s shouting for everyone. Gabu joins in.

“YAMato... kun”

He’s too embarassed because they aren’t close enough and stuff to just say ‘Yamato’. Tai is a bit miffed that Gabumon won’t use honorifics on him lmao Gabu’s the cutest little muffin and everyone loved it. It happens again later when he and Yamato are reunited and Yamato is like ???  why honourifics??? and Taichi’s still pissed he doesn’t have honorifics lolololol

Anyone Tai and Hikari meet up and Tai’s like ‘well all their memories are gone it sucks’ and Hikari’s like ‘I don’t know. This way, Plotmon doesn’t remember all the bad things that happened to her. I think it’s okay this way.’ AND DAMN THAT HIT ME. Abuse isn’t something you just magically get over. It’s a lifelong fight. Honestly it was really simple and wasn’t elaborated on, but it seriously touched me. It says a lot about Hikari and her relationship with Tailmon to me.

Palmon draws Mimi on some rocks. Koushirou and Yamato are together and Koushirou just shows photos of everyone having fun which is cute, but do we really need all this bonding stuff? Tri has been really well character driven, but it rebooted to 0 character for the Digimon so I just feel like it’s a bad decision and I’m worried about the time it ate up, since it leaves less time for plot.

Piyomon and Sora are in the desert, Piyomon tries to ditch, they find Meiko. They go recoop and Piyomon doesn’t want to talk to Sora but she happily does whatever Meiko says? Which considering how little she trusts Sora, why would she trust some random human she just met? It’s honestly so cringey and Sora and Meiko were uncomfortable with it, and it made no sense. Sora deserved better.

Ken appears to Sora and Meiko. He shows himself to be Gennai. But apparently is NOT Gennai, but is on the Digimon’s side. Whatever the fuck that means.

Also, he licked Sora’s face while pinning her down and felt all over her to steal her Digivice. It made me hella uncomfortable. It wasn’t necessary, the cast is already freaked out by him, he’s stronger and smarter than them, so it did nothing except make the audience uncomfortable. Sora didn’t make much of a reaction either, so it was weird and unnecessary and not what Digimon is about. 

Maki finds her partner but obviously it doesn’t remember her. She seems really shocked? Like what the fuck? She probably knew this would happen, or the amount of time it’s been could have changed things. Instead of being understanding or sad, she goes berserk and grabs it and shakes it? Girl needs to chill (honestly made me uncomfortable, like imagine shaking a small child? ew)

(Meanwhile, Huckmon fills Daigo in in Maki’s office and just info drops really. Daigo has some nice hacking skills tho. Mostly cuz he knows Maki too well lol)

By the end of the movie everyone except Tailmon is at their final form iirc. That was pretty rad, except I’m pretty sure Takeru’s digivice said MagnaAngemon instead of Holy? Also, Butterfly was playing instead of Brave heart for some of the evolution and that’s weird and wrong. (I love it but it isn’t the evolution song :/)

The end battle is everyone going ‘oh shit Sora/Meiko are in trouble lets get Gennai away from them’ and for some reason they’re on a boat? Okay then. Taito run off with Hikari and encounter Seadramon. Hikari is left to float by herself while the other two drown. They're ultra gay because Taichi can’t swim enough so starts drowning (even though he should theoretically be more athletic than Yamato? Or at least equal) so Yama comes back and swims around him to save him? But they both drown and the AguGabu’s friendship saves them and they Digivolve. As you do. They monologue and shit, but, as much as it’s my OTP and Yama is bae of baes, it didn’t fit the tone, the situation or anything. It wasn’t important. Generic friendship stuff.

Nobody really brings Sora back to her normal self, but Piyomon comes to her senses after Sora tries to save her and is repeatedly smashed into a mountain. Meiko does try to comfort Sora before they’re all attacked and is all like ‘Digimon are our partners’ and using the words Sora used to comfort her (this is right before Meikuumon attacks her too lmao so Meiko tries to help Meikuumon and then they’re all attacked by gennai).

So the others come up with a plan to distract Gennai from SoraMei (which backfrires because Sora runs off to help everyone and he can teleport? So he’s like lol thanks for leaving Meiko wide open nice).

JYOU FULL ON TACKLES GENNAI IT’S BRILLIANT AND COMES OUT OF NOWHERE FUCK DIGIMON I’M USING MY FISTS WHAT A BRAVE GOOD BOY

Piyomon gets captured, Sora tries to save her and is smashed up against a wall of ice numerous times. Piyomon digivolves, mostly everyone else does and a giant Tentomon appears?!? Because Koushirou used a hologram, nice. There was no reason for Palmon and Gomamon to be on the sidelines. Nice fight tho. Takari scene were ice is crashing and Takeru is looking out for her, but that’s what he’d do for anyone, and I’m honestly sick of her needing to be saved (happened like, three times this movie? Yuck no thanks)

Anyway Gennai plot drops and I don’t really get it but it looks like he was using Maki to make reboot so Digimon who were sealed away could be reborn and Meiko is needed for some reason (maybe due to Meikuumon’s virus?). Yggdrasil seems to be the big bad. Gennai is trying to get Meikuumon to do something but it won’t so he strangles Meiko until she passes out (I honestly don’t believe she’s dead) and Meikuumon evolves.

The end.

---

My thoughts:

Weakest movie so far. Many scenes were enjoyable but since the Digimon are memoryless, it didn’t add to development, character or plot wise. Enjoyable scenes were also dragged out too long, leaving little room for plot. Plot came out of nowhere and was unexplained (where the fuck are the 02 kids) and Sora honestly just cried a lot. This should have been her and Meiko’s movie, because Taito didn’t do much plotwise and Sora’s arc was written too weakly to carry the movie. At the end of the movie everyone kinda paused, going, ? oh, that’s it? It didn’t feel like a complete movie

Felt a little like filler. I enjoyed it, but I’m very worried about the pacing the last two movies need to fit everything in.

Especially if the epilogue is canon. They’re either glossing over everything (ie Sorato) or … I don’t know. Like, to show a relationship, all they need is Sorato standing next to each other, Yamato attempting to comfort her alone and like, one or two lines a movie where they show concern for each other on more than friends level. But Koumi + Jyou/Mystery Woman get more than that, so it’s worrying to see how it will end out.

I honestly don’t care if they rehash the epilogue. I like it as it is, but unless they did something majorly off like pair Meiko with Yamato I’d probably be happy with it (I only wouldn’t accept this as it comes out of nowhere). I don’t think there’s really been tonnes of Takari hints (some, yes) but I wouldn’t mind betting that Koumi has good chances of being canon, though Mimi doesn’t always seem to realise Koushirou likes her, so maybe not. But if any couple was going to be canon that wasn’t originally canon, that’s where I’d put money.