#((Yeah though now they're really fitting into those roles!))

[computerwarrior]

((Trimming it down.))

@not-that-dillinger

Ed was quite comfortable, despite the loss of the covers. The house may have been old, but it was well insulated and AC was in working condition, and despite the lateness of the year, SoCal as still quite warm.

…As was Ark, snuggled up next to him. The warmth and slight pressure of her next to him was comforting, reassuring that he was safe, even in his subconscious as he slept. He shifted and curled around Ark, an arm wrapped loosely around her waist.

-

When Ed put his arm across her, Ark cuddled a little closer, then remained motionless for the rest of the night in his embrace.

Ark had never shared a bed, or even a room or apartment, with anyone, but it appeared that she quite enjoyed having the comforting and safe warmth of someone else there with her.

It was a far cry from how she had slept on the Grid, first in a standard System Monitor apartment, later, a desolate apartment away from any warmth or energy.

She liked it here in the User world much, much more than she had her lonely life.

((This is a companion piece to this thread.))

[Side B: Rescue]

Haste was the word of the cycle and Ark moved quicker than ever.

Her and her lightcycle flew across the Outlands and straight for Tron City, making up for the time she had lost while she was out.

As she traveled, deep underneath the surface of the Outlands, one Gridbug, out of many, became poisoned for no discernable reason.

Ark knew where the Occupation had most likely taken Ed, and the increased guards around the building confirmed her suspicions.

She remained stealthy as long as possible, revealing herself only when she could sneak no further.

Ark fought her way through the building, alarms blaring as she took on multiple Sentries at a time. The narrow hallways worked in her favor, as only a few Sentries could approach her at a time, so she was never outnumbered in a way she couldn't handle.

It took all of Ed's will not to shrink back from Clu as the guards brought him to the tyrant.

Clu grinned like a Cheshire cat. Whatever he had planned for Ed, it was certainly much worse than what he had just been through. It looked like Clu wanted to say something. Probably to intimidate Ed, play with him before doing... whatever.

Ed had plenty of experience of taking control of situations. He also knew how to be a menace.

Beat Clu to the punch. Hit him where it hurt.

Ed opened his mouth, but before either of them could say anything, the sound of fighting came from the hallway.

Ark?

Ed had no idea if it was her or not, but if there was fighting coming this way, it was likely they were coming for him. At the very least, fighting meant they were against the occupation, and thus a potential ally.

Ed twisted sharply, then dropping down to break free of his captors. He backed away, and pulled off one of his boots. It was hefty; much heavier than his loafers.

Ed chucked it, then the other, at Clu.

Without waiting to see if either hit their mark, Ed turned and ran.

Behind him, there was the heavy thud of one of the boots hitting the ground, and an angered, pained roar from Clu. He approached the fight as cautiously as possible, while also not loosing speed. (The guard or Clu catching hi would not end well, an he most certainly would not get another chance to escape.)

He sighed with relief when he recognized Ark's lightcycle.

[scoonsalicious]

7.4 Bucky*

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader

Summary: Lily McIntyre, trainer for new SHIELD recruits at the Avengers Tower, has been in love with her best friend, Bucky Barnes, from the moment she met him. She's been content with her role of the #1 girl in Bucky's life, even if it means she has to sabotage a romantic relationship or two. It'll be worth it when he realizes that they're meant for each other, right? There's just one small problem: Lily McIntire never expected Bucky Barnes to fall for You.

Warnings: (For this part only; see Story Masterlist for general Warnings) Language, Explicit Sexual Content Minors: GTFO; I don’t serve your kind here (hand stuff(f receiving))

Word Count: 1.3k

Previously On...: You got it on. In the woods.

A/N: Ugh, my beautiful long weekend is over. No more days off from work until Junteenth.

If you ever feel so inclined to support my work, hop on over to buy me a coffee; it's much appreciated! <3

NOTE! The tag list is a fickle bitch, so I'm not really going to be dealing with it anymore. If you want to be notified when new story parts drop, please follow @scoonsaliciousupdates

Thank you to all those who have been reading; if you like what you've read, likes, comments, and reblogs give me life, and I truly appreciate them, and you!

“I’m gonna end up falling in love with you,” she had said to him, and Bucky could barely believe his ears. He made love to her again, under the stars, assuring her with every thrust, every kiss, every caress, that he felt the same. 

After he’d taken her apart once more, he’d grabbed his discarded shirt and dipped it into the stream. Wringing out the excess water, he brought the wet cloth back and used it to gently clean her folds. He’d made such a mess of her, but the sight of his seed oozing from her core was one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen. It was all he could do to keep himself from bending down and using his fingers to push it all back inside of her, where it belonged, where he wanted it to always belong, from now on. 

But there would be time for that, later. 

For now, he helped her dress, and using the combined lights of the flashlights on their phones, they managed to collect the rest of the picnic gear and made their way out of the clearing, hand in hand, and back to the parking lot, Major leaning against his arm and occasionally letting out a contented sigh that filled Bucky’s heart.

When they reached their cars, Bucky was surprised to see Major had arrived in a pickup truck. “Not sure what kind of car I was expecting for you, sugar,” he said with a laugh, “but a pickup wasn’t it.”

With a smile, Major lovingly patted the truck’s hood. “Yeah, wasn’t my first choice, honestly, but when I  started my business, I needed something that could transport shit to The WarZone from our suppliers. It’s grown on me, though. Speaking of,” she added, her face falling a little, “I should probably head home; it’s already nine o’clock, and I have to work tomorrow.”

Bucky felt his heart sink. The last thing he wanted to do was say goodnight to her. “Spend the night at the Compound with me,” he offered again, bringing his hands to her waist. “It’s closer than your place, and I don’t want to say goodbye to you just yet.” He brushed a strand of hair away from her face and offered his most pleading puppy dog look. “I can bring you back to your truck in the morning.”

Major sighed in feigned reluctance. “I suppose I could be a little late tomorrow,” she admitted. “I think my boss will understand. I happen to know for a fact that she’s quite fond of your dick, so she might make an exception if I tell her I was out late riding it all night.”

Bucky laughed and pulled her to his chest. God, he loved the feeling of her as she wrapped her arms around him, the way she seemed to fit perfectly into the dips and curves of his body. 

“To hell with it,” he heard her mumble into his chest. “I’m gonna take the day off tomorrow.” 

Bucky pulled back and looked down at her, trying hard to stifle the grin that was threatening to spread across his face. “Are you sure, sugar?” he asked her. “I don’t want you putting your business in any kind of jeopardy because I’m trying to be a bad influence.”

Major shook her head and smiled at him. “Honestly, things over there run so smoothly now, I don’t need to be as involved as I am. I just like keeping an eye on things because, well, the business is my baby, you know?” Bucky nodded, he did understand; she’d devoted so much of her life to making it a success. “So, I can afford to take a day off here and there to spend time with you,” she said. 

Bucky grinned and pulled her in for a kiss. “Since you’re playing hooky and don’t need to worry about being home early,” he said, “how ‘bout we finally eat dinner? You’ve got to be starving.”

Major let out a low groan. “God, yes, please. Don’t get me wrong, I fully enjoyed our alternative activities, but damn, boy– you had me working up an appetite.”

“Gimme one minute,” Bucky said. He hauled the picnic basket into the back of Major’s truck and spread the blankets along the bed. He grasped Major by the hips and gently lifted her over the tailgate before hopping in, himself. He propped up some pillows against the back of the cab, and sat down against them, spreading his legs and motioning for Major to sit between them, with her back to his bare chest. He then rummaged through the basket and retrieved their forgotten sub sandwiches and lemonades. 

While they ate, Bucky pointed out constellations to Major, telling her the stories behind the figures in the night sky. He loved how much more could be seen out here than back in the city. He’d always loved space, and Major listened to him with rapt attention, asking thoughtful and poignant questions, letting him know that she was both paying close attention to everything he said, and that she admired his interest. 

“You’d make an excellent astronomer,” Major commented, after Bucky had pointed out the tiny dot that was Neptune, far off in the unfathomable distance.

“When I was a kid, that’s what I wanted to be when I grew up,” he confessed with a nostalgic smile. He’d never told anyone that before– not even Stevie. When you were a kid from Brooklyn, growing up during what would become known as The Great Depression, the idea of making a career out of looking at stars seemed so fanciful as to be almost insulting. Bucky had known there was no future in the cosmos for him, only a life of hard, manual labor, doing what he needed to do to put food on the table for his family.

Only, that never even came to fruition, either. One measly letter from Uncle Sam had ripped away all his dreams, and his reality.

“Well, it’s never too late for a career change,” Major said, her tone only half teasing. “I mean, you’re only in your early hundreds. You’ve got time.”

And now, here was Major, simultaneously both reality and dream, and when she said he could be an astronomer, she had Bucky believing it.

Once their food was finished, though, Bucky couldn’t resist sliding a hand down the waistband of Major’s jean shorts, seeking out the warmth and wetness of her folds.

“Bucky!” Major sucked in a breath as she arched her back into his chest. “Fuck!” He slid two of his flesh fingers inside of her, working them in and out at a leisurely pace with one hand, while his vibranium hand pointed out the stars of one of the smallest constellations, Delphinius.

“That’s the Dolphin,” Bucky told her as she grasped onto his forearm to support herself. “The stars aren’t very bright, but the myth is that Poseidon– doll, how can you pay attention if you keep squirming like that?” He knew she couldn’t see him, so he had no need to hide the mischievous smirk that covered his face.

“Bucky,” Major whined, and god, how Bucky loved the sound of it. He brought his lips to the crux of her neck and shoulder.

“I’m trying to teach you about the stars, doll, and your mind’s completely elsewhere,” he teased. He brought his vibranium arm down to join his flesh hand, and used it to work her clit, until Major was a crying, shaking mess in his arms.

“I’ve got you, sweet girl,” he assured her as she came down from her high. He made sure to hold her close to him, loving how her whole body shook with the aftershocks of her pleasure. Pleasure that he had coaxed from her. 

“You are a bad boy, Bucky Barnes,” Major said with a laugh once she’d found her voice again. “And you definitely do not play fair.”

“If you think I’m bad now,” he offered with a grin as he kissed the top of her head, “just wait until you see how bad I’m going to be when I get you back to the Compound.”

<- Previous Part / Next Part ->

[greynvms]

Colour theory with the main cast

Basically, there are two main trios in Assassination Classroom, atleast that’s what I believe :

• Nagisa, Karma, and Kayano

• Nagisa, Karma, and Korosensei

And I just find it so ironic that they also have the most popular colours as their hair colour, but like, why not go into depth about it?

 

Nagisa, Karma, and Korosensei are obviously more well known; literally, most official art is based on them (excluding manga fanart in this).

Also, their main colours are the primary colours (red, yellow, and blue); it’s almost as if they were designed to be remembered like that. Most people learn the primary colours at a young age, and it’s a very easy concept, kind of like it’s easy to understand that these three are the main focus. Plus, Karma and Nagisa naturally have their hair coloured (wow, what a shocker). and Korosensei made himself that for reasons I genuinely forgot, but I think... it was so he could be more presentable looking to the class. Yeah, I really don’t know.

They have quite a bit of stuff focusing on the three of them (when they went to the cinema in Hawaii and how the whole class civil arc was focused on Nagisa and Karma fighting to get their opinion on how they should deal with Korosensei in the future). In addition to that, they’re the three characters with the most screen time and are ranked the most popular in the fandom:

Going back to the colors, they have almost the exact same traits as their main colour.

• Korosensei: inspires, optimistic, energetic, creative, kind of egotistical (?) and the list really goes on.

• Nagisa: loyal, relatively calm, reliable, pretty responsible, passive, etc. (also, the idiom "out of the blue" really does suit him).

• Karma: strength, attention (shown clearly in the class civil war), courage, confidence, and aggression (again, the idiom "seeing red" fits him when the class starts to argue about killing or saving Korosensei).

Now, in comparison to Nagisa, Karma, and Kayano, they're a completely different story. Although the three are known, Nagisa and Karma are obviously more popular (as shown before in the old ranking chart), and their scenes together as a trio isn't a lot, as well as official art (since Korosensei is in quite a lot of them), most I've seen is promotional material, like merch or the Blu-ray CD covers.

Clearly, they're not the primary colours—at least not for paint, that is. They are the main additive colours, which are basically the colours that produce white light and are used for laptop, phone, or iPad screens, so it's a bit trickier for people to get their heads around compared to red, blue, and yellow for paint. It's as if they're right there, but you can't see them; they're not obvious, but they are indeed there.

Now here's where the true comparison comes in: Kayano and Korosensei are not naturally their “colour”. Kayano dyed her hair from black to green, and Korosensei personally decided to become yellow when he could've very well picked any other color. With that, Korosensei is genuine about the traits he has that are shared with the colour yellow, while Kayano is not genuine and it's all an act (except negative traits like inexperience and possibly envy), but slowly she gains those green color traits throughout the show, especially after her whole arc (growth especially, encouragement, generosity, etc).

Overall, even though Nagisa, Karma and Korosensei are the main focus of the animanga, Nagisa, Karma and Kayano truly do drive the narrative forward and do play key roles (not saying Korosensei doesn’t he definitely does).

I just found this really interesting, and I live for colour analysis in characters, so yeah 😯

[brookstolemybrand]

I already talked about Sabo being kind of a parallel protagonist to Luffy, but Koby is in some ways maybe even more so (especially since he was introduced literally in chapter 2)

Sabo is Luffy's dad's protégé

Koby is Luffy's grandpa's protégé

(Sidenote: Luffy kinda took Ace's place as Shanks' and Rayleigh's protégé, arguably; I mean it would have made a lot of sense for former Roger pirates to act as mentor figures for Roger's son, wouldn't it? In a different story that put more importance to bloodlines, Ace would have been destined to be the next King of the Pirates for sure. Ace is kind of a decoy protagonist)

With Koby it's even more obvious when you look at the known SWORD members and how many of them have some kind of legacy position, or at least we can assume so even if we don't know for certain (like with Hibari suspiciously sharing Akainu's dialect). In theory, Garp's grandson would fit into SWORD perfectly.

And of course Garp very much intended this to be Luffy. It's not even subtle that Koby is the replacement grandson lmao

(Say what you want about Dragon's (lack of) parenting, he definitely didn't put any pressure on Luffy. So with Sabo it's not really the same, it's not like Luffy refused to follow in his father's footsteps; he didn't even know he had a father, much less what those footsteps were. But the parallels are still there)

But yeah, I think their personal connections to Luffy, as well as the way they're set up in positions that Luffy plausibly might have had in some alternate timelines, makes them Luffy's counterparts in the Navy and in the Revolutionary Army. Which allows them to function as pseudo-protagonists for the audience when Luffy isn't present and to take on plotlines that would otherwise feel like they should be handled by the main characters (like taking on the Blackbeard Pirates and the Celestial Dragons respectively)

Narratively speaking, as the plot gets bigger, you kinda need these secondary protagonists to carry the parts of the story that Luffy can't be there for

The three of them also represent different shounen protagonist archetypes:

I kinda struggled to phrase this myself (and honestly I just have a very limited reference pool for shounen anime) so I googled it and I'm stealing the terms from this post

Basically Luffy is the "Idiot Hero", Koby is the "Boy Wonder" and Sabo... well actually I think Ace is the "Punk Martyr" (he took the martyr part a bit too seriously rip), and Sabo is the secret fourth thing: the Cool Competent Guy (even though Sabo is also a punk, he just hides it better)

Luffy is a Goku, Koby is a Deku, and Sabo is... idk I guess he would be a Lelouch (look, I'm talking about character TYPES, not saying they're the same kind of person)

... Well actually Sabo is more of an Enjolras, but Les Mis is not a shounen manga—

SIKE, IT IS, I'M COUNTING IT

(That's a really good adaptation of Les Mis btw, I could gush endlessly about Takahiro Arai and how well he understood not only the core of the story but also how to adapt it into a visual medium, really leaning into the vivid metaphorical imagery in Hugo's narration and then adding to it his own, it's SO GOOD)

(To immediately nitpick myself: Sabo is more like an amalgamation of all the Amis de l'ABC but it's easier to say Enjolras for short. Also yes I know Enjolras isn't the protagonist, but he has protagonist energy)

Anyway... what was I saying?

Right, I was gonna talk about the hero thing, because heroism is actually a big theme in One Piece:

Luffy doesn't want to be a hero, BUT KOBY DOES. He might be sheepish about calling himself one, but it was his dream, and by all conventional standards he accomplished it: he's now a Navy Hero

Sabo is more of a reluctant hero; he wanted to be a pirate like Luffy but chose to become a revolutionary instead. He's fully committed to that role though, even willing to accept the title of regicide if it helps the cause (this btw also makes him similar to another character in Les Mis, the Conventionist who... okay fine I'll stop)

As a marine and a revolutionary, Koby and Sabo are on the opposite sides of the whole "hero" thing. Although well, neither of them are extremists so at the same time they're not that opposite either, more like just each others' counterparts on opposing sides, but still

It makes sense that Koby, whose ambition was to become a hero, would gravitate to the conventional and widely accepted form of heroism: military heroism. Meanwhile Sabo, the reluctant hero, was driven to become one exactly because those socially accepted forms of heroism in reality exist to maintain an unjust system and there need to be people who step up to oppose that system, it's heroism out of necessity

You could also say that Koby becomes a part of the system because he wants to be a hero, Sabo becomes a hero because he wants to escape the system...

(Sidenote: I actually have a hunch that Dragon is probably more like Koby in terms of personality and ambitions, he's just a Koby who became disillusioned after learning the truth about the navy. That's the vibe I get anyway)

Either way, both of them are a good contrast to Luffy, who insists that he's not a hero and who chooses to just follow his selfish whims, which is why he's the pirate, he picks the least "heroic" career option. And that's why he's the protagonist, because this is a pirate manga

That said, as it turns out, his selfish whims are pretty heroic anyway, and he ends up being the one who has the most freedom to do exactly what needs to be done, BECAUSE he's not a hero

(Is that extremely dangerous? Sure. Could it end really badly? Yes. But Luffy isn't supposed to be a role model, he's literally a pirate)

But it still helps the narrative to also have heroic characters who aren't only motivated to help people who give them food lol

(I kid, but ykwim)

It helps that there are heroes even if the protagonist isn't one, because otherwise the audience might start wanting the protagonist to become the hero

And then it wouldn't be a pirate adventure story anymore, it would become a hero narrative

....

.... I know I should end the post here but you have no idea how much I'm holding back a rant rn about the marines and how much they suck and why I find Koby so frustrating as a character... That's another post tho

[waitingandwishing]

(Cross posted on tumblr and AO3)

Prev - Next Chapter

“I understand now, she’s manipulative and… Annoying.” Y/N complained as they walked down the hallway. Five nodded.

“She’s onto us.”

“Must’ve been that file.” Y/N said, looking around. “We should’ve waited.”

“The apocalypse can’t wait, Y/N...” Five whispered, “We need to act now.”

“Fine, but I’m using those Vietnam grenades.” Y/N crossed her arms.

After that, she and Five reworked the plan to fit better and ended up spying on the tube room. They saw Dot head inside, container in hand. Five grabbed the girl's arm and jumped inside, hiding in the corner.

"Get this to Hazel and Cha-Cha immediately." Dot was saying as she handed Gloria the container. Gloria hesitated, confused. "Immediately." Dot repeated.

"Okay, yeah." Gloria said. Dot walked out and Gloria put her glasses on, reading the label on the container. "Who are they?"

Five jumped, leaving Y/N behind and landing behind Gloria. He hit her hard in the back of the head and she collapsed. "You know everyone loved Gloria right?" Y/N said as she stepped out of her hiding spot.

"Shut up and cover me." Five said as he grabbed the container off the floor. He sat in Gloria's chair and Y/N closed the door. She hid Gloria and stood in front of the desk.

"Protect Harold Jenkins." Five read out.

"Guess we're killing him." Y/N said without looking at Five. "What are we gonna do about Hazel and Cha-Cha?"

"We aren't going to do anything," Five said as he typed. "They're gonna do our work for us." He stood, two containers in hand and notes, he waved the notes in Y/N’s face as she snickered.

“Oh man, I’d love to see that happen.” She smiled. Five stared at her before putting the notes into the containers and slid them away as Y/N kept watch, peering out the crack in the door.

"You know that's not how we do things here." The duo looked up and saw The Handler smiling at them from across the room.

Five leaned on a tube casually and Y/N smiled. "Where's Gloria?"

"Off." Y/N shrugged. "Wasn't here when we arrived. Thought we'd save her the trouble and us the wait."

Behind her desk, Gloria groaned as she started to wake up. The Handlers smile faded and she dropped her hands to her side. "You're a great disappointment to me."

"That’s what my dad used to say to me." Y/N, coming up beside Five.

"You can't change what's to come." The Handler ignored Y/N. "I truly find it so odd you can't shed this fantasy. You're a first grade pragmatist. And you, Y/N... I mean you seemed like a great employee, a role model for all of us to attempt to copy. You both belong here with us."

"I don't belong anywhere thanks to you." Five said. Y/N shrugged.

“I don’t play by rules, Handler.” Y/N shrugged.

"You made me a killer." Five said angrily.

"You were always a killer." The Handler said calmly. "You both were." She bent down and unzipped the leg of her dress. She straightened with a pistol in her hand. "I just pointed you in a direction."

The Handler shot at them and Y/N stopped the bullet, turning it and aiming it toward The Handler before Five jumped the two of them.

The Handler shot three more times. At that point, the girl heard yelling outside and alarms started blaring. "Security breach in tube room." It was saying, over and over again.

Y/N and Five were crouched in a gap between tubes opposite each other. Five was hidden behind a trolley. As The Handler walked through the room, Five slid the trolly out at her. She caught it with her foot and shot at Five who jumped away.

Y/N stood and stopped the bullets from coming after her, aiming them towards The Handler as fast as she could. She ducked, though Y/N did manage to mess that perfect hair of hers. She spun and shot, Y/N jumped aside and out of nowhere Five grabbed her and jumped away.

"What's the rush kids?" The Handler asked calmly as she stood and looked around. "We're just getting started. Is this really how you want the last line of your reports to read?"

The duo jumped behind her. "When I'm done I'm just done I guess." Five said.

"You can't keep this up Five." The Handler said, pointing her gun at the two.

"Watch us." Y/N grinned.

"We all know that even he has a limit." The Handler went on. "You owe me." She pulled the trigger. Again and again. The gun clicked with empty amo. The Handler lowered it and checked.

"I do owe a debt." Five said. He jumped them both behind her and held up her Vietnam grenade. "But it's not for you."

Y/N pulled the pin out and Five rolled it across the ground. "Shit." The Handler said quietly as it stopped at her feet.

They dived out of the room and around the corner, Y/N covered her ears as the bomb blew and people screamed. Five grabbed the girl's arm and jumped into the briefcase room.

He grabbed one and Y/N reached into his pocket, pulling out the other grenade. She pulled the pin and dropped it, running out with Five.

"Hey," The man at the desk outside said as we ran. "What are you-?" He was cut off by the explosion.

Y/N and Five spun, he held up the briefcase as a shield and they both hid behind it. Then Five jumped them back to 2019.

Y/N fiddled with the hem of her shirt as Five was rambling on about something. He said something about Harold Jenkins and how they were going to kill him. Sounded easy enough. "Harold Jenkins was that one guy that Reginald was being rude to." Y/N chimed in before adding, “When we were younger.”

"How the hell do you know Harold Jenkins?" Diego asked.

"He was the one that I gave that… Um… Oh! He was the one I gave that pin to," Y/N said as she recalled the early memory.

"I remember that," Five said in a low voice. He said that he didn't like Y/N being so touchy with the fans and that there were creeps out there.

"The boy was Harold Jenkins," She explained. "He was being abused, and wanted an escape. Father turned him away."

"Of course he-”

"I think you were just upset about how he was touching Allison." Y/N interrupted Luther and grimaced.

"None of that matters now," Five harrumphed. "What matters is that he's responsible for the apocalypse. So we have to find him, and we have to do it now."

"How's he related?" Diego asked.

"How am I supposed to know that when this is all I'm going off of?"

"So his name is all you've got?"

They continued to bicker as Y/N tried to wrack through her brain for solutions. However, for some reason, Y/N kept on thinking about Vanya. She was still being shunned away from all of this and she felt… Really bad.

“Y/N, you helping?” Five called out to her. She looked up.

"Yeah, I'll bite. Let's find Harold Jenkins." Y/N smiled. Five nodded.

"Thank you, Y/N." Five said before turning, "Well at least we've got another competent person on our side."

"I hope that's a compliment." Y/N sighed.

As Y/N, Five, Diego, and Allison all stepped out of the car, Allison said, "We have no clue what Peabody is capable of."

"Yeah, he didn't seem like much of a threat earlier," Diego noted dismissively.

"Besides," Allison said, "Look at Five."

"Thanks," the short boy grumbled as Y/N muffled a laugh.

"Good point," Diego agreed. "So what's his deal with Vanya?"

"Let's ask him after we kill him," Five suggested.

"We can't just kill her boyfriend, you know how emotionally distressed she'd be? She'd hate us forever." Y/N frowned.

"You're too soft for your own good, Y/N." Diego said.

“She’s our sister, we should care for her well-being, Diego.” Y/N argued.

“Yeah, well right now we’re caring about the world's well-being.” Diego said.

Y/N gritted her teeth and sighed. “Well right now, I don’t care if the world ends as long as we’re all together.” She crossed her arms.

They all went around the back of the house, Allison on our tail as the guys continued their discussion. "Y'know," Y/N said quietly, "This is kind of like the old days. Breaking in, saving the day."

"Yeah, it really is." Allison smiled.

They opened the back door without a problem just as Y/N heard the loud crash of breaking glass. Allison approached Diego's sprawled figure on the floor, Five not far from what Y/N guessed was a spatial jump.

"Subtle," the tall woman jokes.

Five's hand wrapped around the doorknob. "Y'know the door's unlocked?"

Diego rolled his eyes as he got to his feet. "Yeah, well it worked, didn't it?" he groaned. "Spread out," he grouched, walking down a hallway. "Just yell if you're getting shot or something."

Y/N wandered up the stairs and began looking around, silently observing each room she went through. Eventually, she found a hatch to the attic in the hallway, and decided to give it a try. Carefully climbing up, the room Y/N found startled her. "Hey, guys? Might wanna check this out," She called out to the other three.

Allison looked around. "Our faces are all burnt off," she observed.

"All but Y/N," Diego remarked. "You sure it isn't you that Peabody wants?" he joked.

Y/N chuckled awkwardly, "God, I hope not." She said, catching Five's sudden sour mood as he grumbled about something.

"This guy's got issues," Diego added.

Y/N looked at all of the burnt figurines and scratched posters before finding a small miniature figurine of herself. With mussed hair and a mask on, the miniature version of her had her arms in front of her face and her hands had plastic yellow light surrounding them.

"This isn't about Vanya," Y/N realized. "He has problems with the Academy. Leonard and Harold are the same person."

Beside Y/N, Five let out a shaky sigh as he fell back, hitting the floor with a soft thump. "Five?" The three of them knelt down around him. "He's bleeding," Allison said.

Y/N gritted her teeth, "We need to go right now." She said, her head going back to mission-mode. “Start the car!”

_____________________________________________________

"Y/N? Y/N!" Diego waved his hand in front of her face. She felt herself breathe heavily as her mind raced faster than she could process.

"Y/N!" Luthur shook the girl. Y/N blinked and cleared her throat, looking up at Luther with a slight smile.

"Yeah?"

"You were zoning out." Diego said, "You never zone out when something like this is happening."

Y/N slowed her breathing, "Yeah, I'm just tired. Sorry." She sighed, "But, I think I should get some water alright?"

"Yeah, you should probably get some water." Allison said. Y/N nodded, exiting the room and going downstairs to get some water.

As she poured herself a drink, her thoughts whirled around like a storm. 'Do any of your SIBLINGS even care about you? Imagine if Five died, what would you ever do with yourself?’ A slight dizziness washed over Y/N, and she felt an inexplicable sense of dread. Her heart began to race, pounding so hard she could feel it in her throat.

Y/N took a deep breath, trying to steady myself, but it only made things worse. Her chest tightened, and she struggled to get enough air.

‘You’re a useless and self-centered brat who can’t handle conflict herself. You hide away until your emotions get the best of you and then you blow up, pushing everyone away from you just like you’re doing now!' Her hands started to tremble, and she could see them shaking uncontrollably. The room seemed to close in around her, and the walls felt like they were inching closer.

A wave of heat surged through Y/N’s body, followed by a chilling sweat that made her skin clammy.

Y/N tried to focus, to remind herself that it was just a panic attack and that it would pass. But her mind was a whirlwind of fear and confusion.

Her vision blurred, and she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She needed to get out, to escape this suffocating space, to leave, to go anywhere else but this house.

Anywhere else but by her family.

_____________________________________________________

"God… What're we going to do about this?" Diego asked, "I don't think this is a dehydration kind of problem."

"She's got to be stressed, I mean with everything that's happened I'm sure one of us would break down at some point." Allison said. Diego shook his head.

"But we both know Y/N, and we both know she never really cracks under pressure. The pressure usually just… Eases itself out." Diego sighed as he looked at his sister.

"Right, I mean, she called me about how she was started to crack again but…” Allison looked as she saw the small weathered hands of her sister and the slightly chipped mask on her face. Diego pursed his lips, looking back at Y/N with concern and worry.

_____________________________________________________

Y/N blinked, opening her eyes and sitting up from the bed. What happened? She sighed and figured she probably passed out. She frowned, getting out of the bed and going downstairs. She heard voices in the kitchen and went downstairs.

"See? There's your maiden, Five." Klaus said. Y/N didn't even want to know what was happening.

"I passed out?" Y/N asked. Klaus nodded. "Alright… So…”

“Dad killed himself.” Klaus said and Y/N widened her eyes at the sudden information before thinking.

“What…?” Y/N scrunched her face in confusion, "Y'know what? I don’t even want to know. I just wanna get the hell out of here and fix the apocalypse before it happens.” Y/N sighed before turning to Five, "Is that coffee?"

"Tastes like shit." Five said. Y/N nodded.

"Well, let's find that piece of shit who ends the world and then kill me and we'll all be happy." Y/N smiled. Five whipped his head to meet hers.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I just thought that we'd also end up exterminating me when we kill Harold Jenkins. Was… That's not the plan?" Y/N frowned.

"That was never the plan!" Five sighed.

"Oh… Mummy and daddy are fighting again… I'll see myself out…" Klaus said and trotted up the stairs, away from the tension.

"Look, Five, it's alright, I'll just… Cease to exist. It'll be easy." Y/N smiled, "I'll just…" She mimicked a gun and pointed it to her head.

Five took her hand and placed it in his. Y/N liked it, it felt… Warm. "No. That's not going to be an option, alright? We. Are. Not. Killing. You." Five said angrily, "We'll… Find something else to do after Jenkins dies, alright?"

Y/N sighed, "Alright, but if I do end up killing everyone… Then… You have to kill me, alright?" Five hesitated before nodding.

"Fine, but it won't come to that." Five said.

“Don’t be so sure.” She said quietly.

Five sent Y/N with Allison, and then Allison and her were now hanging around the house that Vanya was currently living in. "Are you sure this is a good idea, Allison?" Y/N asked.

"Yes."

"Alright, be careful," Y/N said. She nodded and the two of them got out, Allison entering first.

Solemn violin music poured out of the cabin, and small objects like chairs and windchimes rocked back and forth in a strong wind that came from the same location.

"Vanya?" Allison called over the loud sounds. "Are you there?" She opened the door and stepped inside, while you loomed by the doorway. "Vanya, what's going on?"

Startled, Vanya lowered her bow, staring between the two of them. "What're you guys doing here?" she asked.

"We're here to visit you," Y/N said. "Are you okay?"

"Uh… Yeah."

"There's something… Strange going on," Allison noted. "What's causing it?"

Vanya seemed more sure of herself, as if she were a new person when she straightened up and said, "I am."

"What are you talking about?" the taller woman asked.

"I'm making this happen." She said, "With my abilities," Vanya added. "Turns out I've had them this whole time. Weird, huh?"

Y/N smiled, "That’s amazing, Vanya.” Y/N said excitedly. Vanya visibly relaxed with a smile before turning to Allison for reassurance.

Allison inhaled sharply, "That's incredible."

Vanya caught the hesitation in her tone. "But?"

"Can we talk about this in the car?"

"Why?"

"You won't wanna hear it."

Allison sighed, "Leonard Peabody? His real name is Harold Jenkins." Vanya stayed quiet. "I couldn't find anything about him in the library, remember? It's because he doesn't exist; Harold Jenkins does. He was imprisoned for twelve years. He murdered his father when he was thirteen."

"That's crazy."

"But it's true," Y/N said. Both of them turned to face her. "If you don't believe Allison, then at least believe me. I didn't see it before because he had aged so much, but I met Harold Jenkins over a decade ago. He and Leonard Peabody are the same person."

Vanya's shoulders sagged before Allison was in her face again. "We were in his house. He has pictures of all of us with our eyes gouged out!"

"Allison-"

"What?"

"We'll tell you everything when we get in the car, promise, but it isn't safe here!" She grabbed Vanya's arm and tried to pull her towards the door.

"Stop!" She pulled away from the taller girl and lowered herself onto a chair.

"Hey, don't grab her. Even if she's in danger…" Y/N placed her hand on Allison's arm, "If someone told me someone I loved killed someone and tried to grab me, I'd be hesitant as well."

Sighing, the woman knelt down in front of the violinist. "I can't imagine how hard it is for you to hear this… But we love you, and I just wanna be here for you, as your sister."

"There's no way," she mumbled. "I love him. This makes zero sense. And my powers, I just, I don't know what's even going on," she whimpered, covering her head. "I dunno what to do."

"… I might understand a little bit," Allison said. "When we were four, Dad said you were sick, and you had to be quarantined. We were so young. None of us knew to question him, not like we do now. But then he told me to do something that I didn't understand… Until now. He wanted me to make you think you were ordinary. He made me his accomplice."

Vanya blinked a few times. Y/N stared at Allison with a mix between shock and horror in her eyes. "So this is your fault?" Vanya hissed.

"I… I didn't realize- "

"You knew this whole time? That I was like you guys?" She shot up out of her chair angrily.

"No, no! I didn't really understand until today, until I saw you, and-and all of this!"

"Now everything makes sense," she spat. "This is why you never wanted me around!"

"What? No!"

"You couldn't risk me threatening your place in the group, your- your dominance."

"That is not true!"

"You couldn't handle that Dad might've found me special!"

"You are special, Vanya!"

"Stop saying that!"

"We can start over now!"

"You destroyed my life!"

"Oh, please, Vanya," she scoffed. "We can move on!"

"I'm moving on, but not with you. With Leonard."

"With Harold, you mean- "

"With Leonard! The only person who has ever loved me for me! Someone who's not Y/N!" The words went through Y/N's chest like a knife. The atmosphere in the room suddenly changed, and a presence filled it, one that seemed familiar. "Look me in the eye and tell me you aren't threatened now," she growled at Allison.

As a wind filled the room, Allison hesitantly said, "I don't want to argue with you- "

"Then go!" Vanya hollered. Something crashed.

"I'm only trying to help- "

"I don't want your help!"

"Vanya, I love you!"

"Stop saying that!"

"Allison." Y/N placed her hand on Allison's shoulder, "We should give Vanya some space. We should go."

"Vanya, are you okay?" Allison ignored the girl.

"Go!" The lights on the ceiling shattered, spraying glass everywhere.

"Please don't make me do this," Allison whimpered. "… I heard a rumor- "

Vanya's bow sliced through the air, and a line of red was suddenly across Allison's neck. The both of them lurched forward as blood leaked through the wound and she toppled to the ground. "Allison, no!" Vanya cried out. She mumbled the same word over and over, "No, no, no!"

Y/N breathed in and out, trying to calm herself as her eyes filled with tears. She cleared her throat and ripped her shirt, placing it over Allison's neck. She flicked her hand as the bleeding started to slow. "That should prevent any more blood loss," She mumbled.

"I didn't mean it," she sobbed, "I'm so sorry," she cried, her fists balling up the fabric of her shirt as she leaned into Y/N.

"Hey, hey, hey. It's gonna be okay, everything's going to be okay." Y/N comforted her. Vanya cried in her arms. "Everything's gonna be okay, Vanya. I got you."

"Vanya!" Leonard's shout turned both their heads as he opened the door.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She wailed against Y/N’s shoulder.

"I forgive you, Vanya… Calm down, breathe in and breathe out…" Y/N whispered to her.

"You did what you had to," he said. "Vanya, we need to go!"

"I can't leave them here!" Vanya cried as she was pulled out of Y/N's arms, she fought against him, "No!"

Vanya's hands covered with blood, sobbing hysterically and sputtering out apologies as she was held by the very man the others were hunting down. "Vanya." Y/N said. "It's going to be alright." She got up and turned to Leanord. "If you hurt my sister, or my family. I will come after you and kill you. That is a promise… Do you understand?"

"Please Y/N, don't- don't send me away!"

"I'm not, I promise - I promise that I'm not" Y/N said shakily as her voice cracked. "The others are most likely on their way here. They'll see Allison and you and Harold and they'll think the worst."

Vanya wailed. "I just need to diffuse the situation. I need to explain what happened." Y/N said, "They trust me. And I need you to trust me too."

"Let me fix this. Let me at least try." She shook her head, sobs still pouring from her shaking lips.

"Hey, hey, hey." Y/N took her sister's hands, "I will protect you and I promise I will try to explain what happened." She held her hand out. "Sisters promise, alright?"

"R-right…" Vanya's voice was shaky as the two of them left.

Y/N's hands trembled as she looked at Allison's injured body and lifted her hand, cocking her head to the side as Allison’s body floated up, yellow light shifting around her body as Y/N walked out with her body.

_____________________________________________________

"Hey, uh, Y/N?" Five called out to the girl who was looking out the window. She turned around, her eyes still red from crying. And yet she still smiled.

"Hey, Five." Y/N's voice cracked as she wiped her eyes, "Probably should be moping in my room, shouldn't I?"

"No, not really." Five sat down next to Y/N.

"Can you just stay here with me?" Y/N asked, turning to Five. "I think I like your company…" Her voice was quiet, a mere whisper, but Five heard. And he stayed. He held her hand as she rested her head on Five’s shoulder.

"Thanks, Five." Y/N chuckled. Five frowned.

"What-"

“For being here with me… For all of us.” Y/N said quietly, “It must’ve been so hard coming back and going through all of that.”

Five looked at her in a way she’d never seen him look at her before. He suddenly cleared his throat loudly, "It’s nothing, I’m just… Glad it’s over.”

[bereft-of-frogs]

ugh I think I have another #Theory, this time to the solve to the 'how to kill a Jedi without a weapon' riddle, I truly must be stopped --

I think people are off-base assuming it's with the Force, because I feel like Mae would have already figured out choking/lightning or whatever, I believe the Force counts as a 'weapon', and clearly the poison was a weapon (see: Qimir after 'so you did it, you killed the Jedi without the poison) so I do think it's metaphorical rather than semantic. I believe the theories that it's about corrupting a Jedi to the dark side and 'destroying the dream' are closer than any 'it's because she's meant to do it with the Force/her bare hands' or 'it's about killing an unarmed Jedi' (though that second one has potential, why else is she grabbing for the lightsabers but leaving them after they're dead?). But another solution could be destroying the Jedi's legacy.

I think they're going to frame Sol as the rogue Jedi who trained Mae.

I have like, so little textual evidence for this. This is probably as out of thin air as the 'Vernestra/Indara is the Sith' theories so maybe I who live in a glass house shouldn't be throwing stones about how much I dislike those theories after proposing this one. But I'm really thinking that only Sol is going to make it out of the forest battle alive next episode, aside from Osha and the Sith crew, and there's going to be some kind of chase that leads them away. So Vernestra shows up on Khofar (the lightwhip scene in the trailer is almost certainly Khofar) to find the bodies killed with a lightsaber and everyone else gone.

I think they go off and unpack whatever happened the night of the fire on Brendok, there's all kinds of confrontations/fights/reveals/etc in episodes 6 & 8 (episode 7 is definitely the Jedi POV of the flashback) and the season's going to end with at least Sol dead (maybe Mae too) and Osha turning to the dark side to become the true acolyte. It was already set up last episode that the Order doesn't suspect the Sith, they're pretty convinced it's a 'rogue Jedi' who trained Mae, and Sol did some kind of shady stuff during that meeting. (Not including himself on the list of targets, keeping Mae and her survival a secret.) Even I sort of started to suspect him, but I think that's a red herring, just to set up why Vernestra might end up distrusting him. So Vern's feeling kind of weird about the secrets Sol's kept about Mae (because it's more than just 'he thought she died', Yord said even the existence of Mae didn't end up in Osha's file), but she still trusts him and there are innocent explanations for all this she writes off, so she sends him off with a bunch of other Jedi to go get Kelnacca. But now the whole crew she sent out is dead, clearly killed with a lightsaber (they know Osha doesn't have a lightsaber, and reasonably suspect Mae doesn't either considering Indara was killed with a knife, Torbin poison, and she left their lightsabers behind), and Sol's gone...I think it's fairly reasonable suspicion especially if later Osha turns up as the acolyte.

(There were a couple early things that seemed to deliberately set her physically apart from Mae, the marking on Mae's forehead and her tattoo. Why would they do that if the Jedi believed the identical twin thing right away? Why would they need some proof of their identities unless there's a second role reversal and they need some other way of telling it's Osha and not Mae?)

So yeah in this Sol -- ray of literal sunshine, good Jedi, kind person -- gets his legacy destroyed (one apprentice dead, because I'm pretty convinced Jecki doesn't live out the season, though I'll be happy to be wrong -- the other turned to the dark side) and his reputation tarnished by accusations of being a rogue Jedi training dark side assassins. There you go, you've killed a Jedi without a weapon.

And I feel like this would fit the kind of meta narrative they've got going on, as sort of a mirror of what happened to the Order as a whole at the end of the PT, heroes transformed into traitors.

I have no additional evidence for this. My theories are not spiraling at all. I love weekly releases and am being very very normal about having to wait between episodes. :) so normal *vibrates intensely*

[thecoolerliauditore]

Well! This is probably better formatted as an ask than as a reply to your comment, so... tumblr user thecoolerliauditore! Whatre your "#thoughts" on adolesence of utena?🎤

oh boy. mic'd up. okay crazy

(oh my god i wrote fucking a lot im sorry)

So first things first. Enjoyable movie! I liked it and it's high point for me is definitely the art, cinematography and overall spectacle. And I'm always happy for more Utena, so I'm very glad I got to watch it!

But just from that you can probably gather that I. Might not have the highest opinion of the movie otherwise.

Don't get me wrong it's still a very solid and fun watch and I liked it but I just think it's vibe is very. distinctly different from the series? It actually reminds me a lot of what I expected Utena to be before I watched it, if that says anything. Very artsy and symbolism-y, but the characters felt distinctly less human than in the show.

Utena herself I actually think is the biggest downgrade from show to movie, maybe as a consequence of so much of it being mainly from Anthy's POV (not a bad thing Ily Anthy <33) but her motivations felt very. ??????? to me several times in the movie. Especially when it came to her relationship with Anthy and Touga. The car thing is like absolutely my favourite thing to come out of the movie and I rewatch that car wash sequence and chase scene sooooo much but I do think it's funny she Literally turns into a vehicle for Anthy's development.

Anthy is cool I don't have any beef with Anthy and I never will. Her flashback scenes are really awesome, the sound design in this movie especially in those scenes is sooooo‼️‼️‼️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 I personally don't really know what to make of the "sequel" read of this movie but I do think it makes the most sense for how Anthy acts here.

Mixed feelings with Akio. On one hand I think it's very fitting that Anthy-in-recovery would now see through his facade and see him as pathetic instead of menacing, but on the other hand he really just feels like a complete separate entity to show Akio. His scenes are really funny though.

I think my hater tendencies might have a strong basis in the fact that I think it. grits teeth. understandably considering the runtime sidelines my favourite characters from the show -- Wakaba gets reduced to the plot-irrelevant best friend role her Black Rose episode worked to challenge, Nanami is entirely erased and Shiori. Is maybe the one I have the most thoughts about because they essentially gave her an entire new thing to do independent of her plot with Juri and it's??Actually really awesome to me. Like she WOULD is the thing she WOULD do this and I've talked about before how hilarious it is that while she's literally having sex with a guy all she talks about is Juri.

But the plot treats her with this? Idk if I'm just not getting it or what but it feels like she's treated very unfairly and her comphet isn't acknowledged as comphet. It's almost like they needed someone to fill the mean girl role and they knew Nanami wouldn't go down well so they shoved Shiori in there and said good enough.

The shot of her license plate being run over by the remaining black cars is heartbreaking to me but like. Hey Juri hey so your crush is um Fucking Dead yeah uh you should know?

Idk just. very strange treatment of her character that feels very anti-utena to me. Her depth is hinted at but not explored, and what we're left with is kind of. Making me sad.

Speaking of Shiori the sex scene with Touga might be my favourite thing to come out of the movie other than the final car sequence. It's not only gorgeously animated but horrifyingly portrayed, I always read it as Touga forcing himself to focus on the butterflies to avoid having to acknowledge his rape and thus they're shown so significantly in the flashback. Idk if that's. Right but I think it's neat.

Touga himself is. Interesting I guess? Idk it feels again very anti-utena to me to even attempt at redeeming Touga or making him more sympathetic when the message I walked away from the original show was that his actions are horrible but they can't really be judged by me, an audience member, when he too is a victim of the system. No problem with the CSA, I think it makes enough sense in addition to the rest of the character, but turning him into literally an innocent child who died trying to play prince instead of acknowledging that he is 1. an abuser and 2. still a victim of the system who can one day move on from it makes me feel. Again a little sad. Out of all the characters he feels the most detached from the original to me and I honestly wonder what the intention was here, especially if we're looking at this as a sequel to the show.

I think other people might have stronger feelings regarding Touga and Utena's kiss scene than me. Personally I just umm. Good for them but thumbs down hashtag just my opinion

The other student council members are fine, I think. Cuts galore but whatever it's a movie. I do think it's a massive shame that they had Utena just straight up beat Juri when one of my favourite things about their dynamic in the show for me was that she never actually beat her fair and square. But whatever man. Kozue is Also Here.

The film is also like. I don't like using this word because wOw UtENa Is CoNFUsInG but it is genuinely like. Very incoherent? It feels like to me a a list of scattered unused ideas from the show and some semblance of an epilogue for Anthy that got mushed together with some really beautiful visuals.

I don't really get who the target audience is? If I hadn't watched the show I'd be confused and lost. If I have watched the show I'm still confused and lost but for entirely different reasons.

The scene where Utena chokes Anthy the fuck out and then the really beautiful iconic dance sequence embody this to me where these scenes are GORGEOUS on their own and make my brain tick but the first time I watched it I was like. ???? weren't you fucking her ass up a moment ago.

Utena with short hair is cool I like.

I think that's about it holyyyy. Okay awesome I'm sorry man.

[far-from-fran]

What are the examples of your "cringefail x [gender]failure" ships? xD

I'm so glad you asked!!!!!!😁

@kpchrs

Ok! So! I'd probably have to start with Hijack!

Hijack

Hiccup (httyd) x Jack Frost (Rise of the Guardians (great movie btw😊)) If we're going by htty1 Hiccup would be the boyfailure, and Jack would be the cringefail. But, if we're talking about httyd2, then Hiccup would be the cringefail and Jack would be the boyfailure. The shit they go through and the way I write them really fits that dynamic.

Ashnifico!

Asha x King Magnifico (Disney's Wish) King Magnifico is kind of like a cringey and underappreciated dad, it's so funny. Like, he's supposed to be this intimidating and evil-as-fuck villain, but he's just so cute. Like, look at him twirl:

"I'm glowing! :D"

This is after he's turned evil too, so. Lol

And, Asha is the girlfailure, because... she's just a mess of a character. 😂 Like, I love her, but she's a mess. All the characters kind of are, but, that's kind of why I love them.❤️

Roceit!!!!! :D

Yeeeeeeeeeesssssss! Ok!

Roman "Creativity" Sanders x Janus "Deceit" Sanders from Sanders Sides:

There's a (too) big section of the fandom that (only) sees Janus as this suave and debonair mystery man, which is definitely what Janus wants to be seen as. But, in reality, he's just a big dork! (affectionate)

Picks him up and hold him under a flashlight Look at him! LOOK AT HIM!

So, Janus is the cringefail.😂

Roman! :D Roman is the boyfailure. My mans is... Not Winning. (Which is partially his own fault) (Who said that!?👀)

He's so good, though! I love him! Like, more Roman being happy, please! Enough with the ANGST! (lighthearted... also kinda serious.😂)

I have a fic for them planned. (When don't I? Lol) Well, it's for all the Sanders sides, but it's going to feature roceit heavily. Which I said I wasn't going to do, because I wanted to feature all the sides equally, but here we are.😂 I hope I can get the first chapter out soon!😁

Hmm. I had another one I wanted to talk about, but I don't remember what it was right now.🤷

Well, anyway, here's some honorable mentions:

Hiccabela

Hiccup (httyd2) x Isabela Madrigal (Encanto)

I think calling Isabela a girlfailure is a bit of a stretch, since her whole thing is being perfect. But, she's a bit of a girlfailure in my eyes, so that's all the counts.😌💅🏾

Quick Hiccabela edit I did:

Bunnydoll

Jax x Ragatha (The Amazing Digital Circus)

I hesitate to call Ragatha a girlfailure, but, eh... she's not exactly Winning. Which isn't entirely her fault. It's, like, 90% Jax's fault.

Jax is definitely a cringefail, though. To me, at least. I guess he would technically need to fail more, but whatever. There's only two episodes out, as of writing this, but I'm pretty sure he's going to be failing a LOT more in the future.😂

Hmm. Maybe, I'll switch the roles? Jax is the boyfailure and Ragatha is the cringefail? Eh, whatever.🤷 It works either way.😂

I JUST REMEMBERED!!! I almost sent it without talking about the Cringfail x Girlfailure ship of all time.😂

GuitarSpear

Adam x Lute (Hazbin Hotel)

Adam is just... the worst, and Lute is a girlfailure, because, like, girl Raise your standardsssssssssss!!!!😭 (affectionate) I can't wait to see more of them in season two.😊

But, yeah.😂 Those are my "cringefail x [gender]failure" ships. Feel free to ask more about these or any of my other ships. I ship a lot of stuff. Oh! There's a crossover ship tournament going on, if you want to vote. No pressure. It's just for fun anyway. I put in a link to the hashtag if you're interested: Crossover ship poll tournament. It's hosted by Rapunzel Crossover Queen. They're great!😊

[tailless-whale]

Disclaimer: this post is mostly just me working out my feelings, trying to figure out how I feel etc. Also it's kinda long.

Ok so my partner is coming out as nonbinary (they/she) and I have a lot of thoughts about it...

I'm super excited for them!!! That feeling of accepting that you're trans is overwhelming but also so thrilling. I remember when my egg started to crack and I was like "fuck, I really am a boy". I got such a thrill when I accepted who I am. I'm so excited for them to be feeling that way and to be going through that journey because it's something I'm experiencing myself and it's been absolutely fantastic. Sure there were some painful moments but the positives far outweigh any negatives I've experienced. I'm happier than I've ever been in my life because I'm finally living my authentic self, and I'm so excited to see my partner go through all that and find herself. I love hearing how they're feeling and seeing how she gets a little happier when they tell me about her plans to transition.

I've also been thinking about and reevaluating my sexuality in relation to her gender identity. I struggled with my sexuality a while, and only recently (thought I had) figured it out. I used to identify as pansexual, but when I started dating again I found that I'm much more attracted to men than I am to women. For the past year or so I've identified primarily as a gay man, and my partner's transition has made me question that. I love my partner dearly and I plan to stick with them regardless of how they identify, but I do worry. I think I'm primarily attracted to masculinity, and I'm concerned that my attraction will wane if they decide to be more feminine. I don't think it will, but I do worry. I am a little frustrated though - I thought I had finally figured myself out, that I had a label that fit me - and now I don't know what I am all over again.

I've also been thinking about the challenges they'll face as a nonbinary person in a binary world. I identified as nonbinary for a long time before transitioning to a binary trans man, and it was hard feeling like I couldn't quite express my gender without facing opposition from those around me because I wasn't conforming to traditional gender roles. I don't think she'll have many problems with their friends, but I think some of her family will be a different story. I can see some of their family misgendering them out of ignorance or prejudice, and it's difficult and dysphoria inducing to be misgendered by people close to you. I don't like that she'll probably have to deal with that because I know how badly that hurts. I don't want her to feel pain because they're pursuing what makes them happy :(

I'm also wondering if their gender identity will change over time. Mine sure did! I knew from the beginning of our relationship that although they identified externally as a cis man, that they certainly are not a cis man. To be completely honest, I've been waiting for them to accept that they're not a cis man, and to actually do something about it. I've watched them try to perform masculinity in the same way that I tried to perform femininity before my egg cracked. Our second date they told me they didn't like their name and they prefer to go by things other than their birth name, and that they've already tried out a few names. When I asked them what name they would have chosen for themselves, I filed that answer away and nearly a year later, she told me that she was thinking of going by that same name they told me our second date. They've made so many offhanded comments that made me say "oh yeah, they're definitely not cis" that I was surprised this didn't happen sooner. I'm so happy that she's starting to accept, and perhaps eventually embrace their newfound gender. I do wonder if they'll ever go full girl, but I don't want to push them towards something they don't want or something she's not ready to do yet.

They're planning on shaving off their beard on Thursday and I'm super nervous about that (they started growing it when we first started dating; they've had a beard the whole time we've been together) but I'm happy that she's doing what makes her happy. I know I'll love her regardless of how they choose to look 💜

Also, I love using they/she for her!!! It feels so natural; I always felt weird about calling them a he. I keep wanting to call them my girlfriend but I still need to ask how she feels about that... I default to partner for now but I'll admit while writing this post I accidentally typed "girlfriend" a few times and had to correct myself.

Regardless of my worries, I'm super happy and excited for my partner and I'm looking forward to holding their hand every step of the way as they embark on their journey to trans their gender. I'm literally giggling and kicking my feet thinking about how it feels to reach different milestones and feel validated in one's identity, and I'm so psyched to see them experience those feelings. This is the start of a new era for them and it's so exciting to see how excited she is to do this! :D

[mysticstarlightduck]

Personality Through Quotes Tag

I was tagged by @illarian-rambling (here)! Thank you so much (:

MY PROMPT WAS: "A quote about siblings"

YOUR PROMPT IS: "A quote about their relationship with money (in the past and nowadays)"

I'll go with the main cast of "Of Starlight and Beasts" for this one!

Corah: "Oh I wish I had siblings! I've always wondered what that would be like - I mean, I've seen enough siblings around that I have a rough idea, but that's always such an individual experience. It would've been cool to have someone my age, other than just regular friends, around at all times. Though I'm sure we'd have driven Dad crazy with our antics if that was the case - I was chaotic enough on my own (giggles)."

Arammys: "The bond between siblings is among one of the strongest there is, and often one of the purest. At least that's what I...think - in my intuition, I mean. I haven't had any progress in recalling my memories, so I can't speak of my own experiences with siblings - if I had any at all - yet. But something tells me that my intuition might be right, at least in my case. At least I hope so and I want to remember whoever they were, or are."

Eidan - "I didn't have any siblings or parents, but my older cousin fit both of those roles perfectly throughout my childhood - he was the closest thing I've ever had to a true family. We didn't have much - we often had nothing at all - but we had each other, and he always kept me safe, and was always there for me when I needed him the most, even if we sometimes annoyed each other to no end. And though he was not my brother by birth he was by choice - and I just wish I had known how lucky I was before it was all too late."

Masen - "You know, having siblings ain't what it's cracked up to be. Especially if you have a twin. Yeah, it's all loyalty and mushiness until they've got something else they want to achieve - and that something's more important than you. Then they stab you in the back when you least expect it and run off with the people with the money into a perfect new world where you're not invited - Yeah. (shrugs awkwardly) I realize this got a bit too specific, my bad."

Kyran - "What even is there to say? You're born, and so are they, you grow up trusting one another until they start hanging out with shady people and become someone you barely recognize, and then you annoy the hell out of each other and don't speak for the next five years. Oh, and then they blame you for leaving them when they were the ones who made that mess to begin with -"

Elias - "(Without a drop of emotion in his voice) My siblings are the reason I truly believe I will have gone fully grey before 30. I'm almost certain they're trying to make it a competition. They're twins. I do not know where I went wrong with my life but here we all are. Now pass me the rum."

Tomasa - "I don't have any siblings, Gods know Ma had enough trouble keeping me in line when I was a little ankle biter. But I've been told having 'em is like flipping a coin. You are either best friends for life or want to kill each other. Sometimes both, from what my friends tell me, ha! I don't really fancy having any siblings of my own, if I'm being honest - but having someone I could prank 24/7 does sound really tempting. I guess Arammys will have to do (laughs, already plotting her next prank on the poor, unsuspecting mage)"

Nimwen - "I've learned your true siblings aren't always those you're bound to by blood. They may be, sure, but not always! Sometimes, the strongest family bonds are those we choose, bonds nurtured like a small weed that grows into a mighty tree - and I personally know that to be one of the most important truths of life. "

Rin - "I never really cared for that. That's just another word - and that's it, a word. Most bonds are a fantasy made to comfort the hearts of the common folk from the harsh truth. Real people are fickle, they don't care for you when they've got no use for what you have to offer. My Nest surely didn't. (There's a moment of pause and a sense of sorrow behind his eyes before he shakes it off with a sly smirk, hiding it) But who cares for that sentimental junk. Besides, gold's a much more reliable company, don't you think?"

Leora - "Family is the most important thing in the world - by blood or by choice it matters not as long as the sentiment is there and it is pure. I would do anything for my siblings and I know they would do anything for me. I know this all too well. Where we come from, you learn to make your actions and your words count - you never know what tomorrow might hold and you must cherish those you hold dear, always, because they can be taken from you. At least, that's my perspective."

Florynce - "Mine have been dead for many years now. I remember all of their names." (You think she's about to say something else about them, but she changes the subject so jarringly you almost feel whiplash) "I don't wanna talk about that. Do you want to see this cool bug I found? It's glowing."

Tagging: @mk-writes-stuff, @eccaiia, @the-ellia-west, @memento-morri-writes, @little-peril-stories, @littleladymab, @kaylinalexanderbooks, @talesofsorrowandofruin @doublegoblin @oh-no-another-idea @cowboybrunch @ybotter @thepeculiarbird @crowandmoonwriting @your-absent-father @rickie-the-storyteller @jasperygrace @jay-avian @saltysupercomputer @winterandwords @autumnalwalker and OPEN TAG

[coridallasmultipass]

rosedave for the fucked up ship bingo

Omg, they actually get a bingo for me!!

I was filling it out and skipped 'pool of blood' because I was gonna go back to use a redder colour, and then I finished going through the first pass and was like, 'Oh no, there's no bingo!' Except I read it again and remembered, oh right, forgot the red.

But yeah, awwww! Dave/Rose was baby's first Homestuck ship lol. Like day 1 of reading it I was like, 'they need to date, now!' (Before I even got to all the ectobiological implications, but by that point, it kinda just added to it because of the way they interact.) ((Playing with them like dolls/psychological torture.))

About the t4t one, just a personal comment, I have a whole like, story outline set up where Dave and Rose both being trans plays a role for Bro and Mom (both also trans) to talk (argue, over the phone) about Sburb and stuff. I just reread my outline and hfffff really wanna clean that up. (It's more of a Bro thing tho, so I won't get into that here.) But yeah, Dave and Rose are both queer too, which is always nice.

And 'divorced' is probably more like the Alpha versions, but I feel like that counts, too, since we didn't get to meet them directly in the comic. For the alphas, they seem like the type to be in and out of a relationship with each other all the time, always making headlines like 'Strider and Lalonde spotted holding hands at local cafe! Did their breakup last?' Or like completely mundane shit like that. While they're both intoxicated, D will initiate a breakup over some trivial argument, and then come crawling back to R begging her to come back the next morning. He has the divorce lawyer on speed dial, but both the lawyer and R know the divorce isn't going anywhere, and to just let D blow off steam with legal threats as usual. Idk. I could talk for days ab the alphas, but it's gonna be a lot of like, my ideas of them, rather than what we see in canon, so I'll just leave it at that for now.

Man, tho, that bingo line. So true.

They're terrible for each other in that they were made for each other - each of their fucked up shapes fits the other. I especially love how Dave seeks out Rose to make her pry the information out of him that he's too embarrassed to say flat out, or even when he is actually opening up. He knows Rose is going to tease him, and yet he seeks that out anyway. All of their interactions are just pure gold.

They DO die in a pool of blood together (alphas, but also when betas go godtier just without the blood I guess).

Incredibly mixed feelings!! I shipped this before I got to the related part and had to reconcile with that lol. I mean it wasn't that hard though, since you're basically spoonfed this ship (whether familial, platonic, or romantic/etc) with how Dave is the butt of all the Freudian and incest jokes, but also how comfortable they are with being themselves around each other. Teasing example that I love:

And WHERE is the content?! Fr, where? Whenever I DO see content of them tho, it's really great, so credit where credit is due, there IS content, I just don't happen across it as often as I'd like to.

Speaking of content, I'm gonna include two of my faves, bc 'thinking about them always and forever' lol. SUGGESTIVE stuff as follows:

I'm always thinking about that one fan art of Dave and Rose on the bed (adult only: https://coridallasmultipass.tumblr.com/post/737296482257043456 ) or the one where they're on a wall niche (also adult only: https://coridallasmultipass.tumblr.com/post/739893243737702400/have-you-ever-drawn-any-rosedave-i-love-those ). [Ugh are the links adding?? Just gonna put them down as text, and hope it inserts.]

So yeah. Man, this post got long, sorry about that.

[fandomidiot]

Never really made one of these before and I know this sorta thing has probably been talked about but I read this paper about consent in Teen Wolf (focusing a lot on Scott and Allison) and I guess it got me thinking about how consent is kind of a major theme surrounding Scott in season 1.

So there's the obvious in the pilot episode "Wolf Moon". Scott is alone in the woods when he is attacked and bitten by Peter in wolf form. This is already a pretty violent and traumatizing experience but it's one that Scott literally can't put behind him because Peter has forced this transformation on him. And yeah "It's werewolf powers. They're so cool. What's he complaining about?!". The thing is, YOU may want these abilities but Scott never asked for them.

The thing about Peter's bite though is it doesn't only turn him into a werewolf. It splits him and his entire world in two. He is the teen or the wolf but he is never both. He is the wolf in this crazy, horrifying part of his life with the people that know (Stiles, Derek, Chris) and a teen in this blissful, innocent side with the people that don't (Melissa, Allison).

In his werewolf life, he constantly has people forcing him to accept these labels, roles and identities that he, again, never asked for. Stiles informs him he is a werewolf, which he promptly refuses. Derek comes along with his "we're brothers now" speech, which he is not a fan of. Chris shows up and starts shooting at Scott because he "hunts those that hunt others", a description Scott doesn't fit.

But then there's the other side of his life where he gets to just enjoy being a teenager. He gets to play lacrosse and fall in love with Allison (a relationship in which they both have full autonomy). These are quite insignificant in the grand scheme of things but he clings to them so desperately because they're things he got to choose for himself.

[PS: while looking around Tumblr to see if anyone already made a similar post I saw this really good one that discusses agency and autonomy in TW in regards to all seasons & characters so check it out]

[brionysea]

what is possessiongate?

several people have asked for a post explaining the possessed mike wheeler theory, so i thought it was about time i made one!

(disclaimer: i didn't originally come up with this idea, but i have thought about it a lot and i made a lot of the connections i'm going to talk about myself)

possessiongate is a theory that vecna is in mike wheeler's head and has been for a while (a year, as of season 4, which is why mike and will talk about that so much even though it doesn't match up with the timeline of will moving away from hawkins). it's not that far off from what everyone knows is going to happen anyway with mike getting vecna'd. the main difference is that this theory argues for mike's actions being directly influenced by that shared headspace, rather than just dying because of it

this is a possible explanation for why mike has been so fickle about whether he's "the original mike" or "the remake" that everyone's been complaining about for the last few seasons; because there's been a long term mind fight going on between him and vecna

foreshadowing

let's look at the first conversation mike had with will that was explicitly about will's possession

mike: you're like a spy now. a superspy. spying on the shadow monster. if you know what he's seeing and feeling... maybe that's how we can stop him. maybe all of this is happening for a reason. will: you really think so? mike: yeah. yeah, i really do. will: what if he realises we're spying on him? what if he spies back? mike: he won't. will: how do you know? mike: we won't let him.

the idea of mike being a superspy is already present here, since mike and will are almost immediately grouped together as spies. will could have talked about himself, as an individual, taking the risk of spying and being a possible liability, but he talked about both of them instead

will tapped into his connection to vecna to get them the "CLOSEGATE" message, and mike's the one who knew will could do that, because it was his idea in the first place. mike is definitively capable of seeing and using that advantage when it's available to him, proving he could fit the role laid out in this conversation

the "crazy together" scene also serves as foreshadowing

mike: sometimes i feel like i'm going crazy. will: me, too. mike: hey, well, if we're both going crazy, then we'll go crazy together, right? will: yeah. crazy together.

will felt like he was going crazy because he was at the beginning of his possession storyline. mike is essentially making a prediction that they'll both get possessed in the future, which will agrees to

mike: el? i've been meaning to tell you something. it's just, being broken up, it's been hard. and... i like that you and max are friends now. it's just, i was so jealous at first, and... and angry. and it's like i wanted you all to myself. and now i realise how unfair that is. and selfish. and, like... i'm sorry. i just, like, i've never felt like this with anyone before... and... you know, they do say it makes you crazy.

mike feeling jealous and angry and possessive about el becoming friends with max doesn't make sense if they're supposed to be his own feelings. mike isn't possessive of el. he doesn't want to hide her in his basement forever. when mike reached out to el over the radio in season 2, he wasn't begging her to come back, he just wanted to know that she was alive. he was fine with the idea of el going somewhere far away and living her life, like she almost did with kali and the ives family. mike doesn't get all prickly when other people pay attention to el or vice versa like he does with will. but if mike can feel what vecna's feeling, and vecna's mad because his plan of isolating and weakening el has started to fall apart, those emotions make more sense

we're meant to presume ("that's presumptuous of you," says max, after which dustin questions if that's a good thing) that what mike's talking about with el is love, and there's only one character who has actually said that phrase: the lady from the police station after jonathan got arrested. she assumed that he did something stupid defending nancy's honour, but that's not what happened. jonathan beat steve up because steve was talking negatively about will and joyce. if love does make you crazy, it's the familial kind, not romantic love

(this is from the same episode as el and mike's conversation — both scenes end with dustin interrupting)

even on a simple relationship level, mike and el's isn't what it appears to be. but once el starts asking what mike means, it becomes really clear that he isn't talking about love at all

el: what makes you crazy? mike: you never... you never heard that term... you know, like the phrase, like... "blank makes you crazy," like the word... el: "girlfriends"? mike: no, no, no, no, no... not girlfriends. el: "boyfriends". mike: no! no, no, not boyfriends either. it's like... it's like a feeling or... el: a feeling...

mike thinks he's going crazy again ("blank" makes you crazy... like possession? like "crazy together"?) because of a feeling ("it's like i feel what the shadow monster's feeling") and it's an independent issue from his love life. we're supposed to think it's about boyfriends or girlfriends but mike says that's not it, and despite his best efforts ("you never say it"), that blank never actually gets filled in

following the timeline of season 2, we know that will's possession wasn't successful. this was directly because of mike's actions and ideas — he didn't let the demodogs find them in the lab by suggesting they sedate will, he came up with the idea to put will in the shed and try to get through to him, and he pulled will out of a possessed state multiple times. but didn't vecna already know that nobody would let will go without a fight? didn't he learn that in the first season? isn't he supposed to be smart? what's smart about trying the same thing twice when he already knows it won't work?

vecna was spying on and trying to get something through will. i think that something was mike. who else was there to spy on? who else was constantly glued to will's side throughout season 2 (creating an association between his character and the concept of possession), always within convenient surveillance range? mike's a pain when it comes to his constant foiling of vecna's evil plans. it would be smart to keep an eye on him

and that would be all well and good, except that season 2 is the one season where our team of good guys won — supposedly — with no strings attached. sure, the bit of the mind flayer that was in will escaped, but after bob's death, there were no more casualties until the jump to the next season. it's exactly what they set out to accomplish. what was the point of spying on mike if vecna didn't even use it? even finding out their location near the end was inconsequential, because el dealt with the demodogs in seconds and they didn't attack the house again. when contrasted with the loss of el in season 1, the loss of hopper in season 3, and the loss of max in season 4 (all of which happened during the final episode and the climax of the overall story — the season 2 equivalent of which would definitely not be the escape from the lab, where bob died), i find the happy ending a bit suspicious

when did mike get possessed?

while inside hawkins lab, vecna made will point out the hub as, vaguely, "important". mike said that vecna's immediate plan was to simply kill the group in the lab and vecna insisted that he was lying. the only person vecna could identify was "my friend, mike" (not joyce, who he would have recognised if all he was drawing on was will's memories and emotions instead of his own knowledge). mike's plan then hinged on going into the tunnels and setting the hub on fire, which was, again, suspiciously successful. they had the fake out of something happening to dustin on the way there, but then nothing actually got in their way, which is very weird and untrustworthy considering how the tunnels reacted to hopper poking around (they could have done something like the vines attacking nancy, robin and steve in the creel house). mike's plan went off without a hitch until he got grabbed by a vine on the way back ("you step on a vine, you're stepping on a bat, you're stepping on vecna")

this sequence of mike getting trapped by the vine, concurrent with el trapping the mind flayer and will getting exorcised, is when i believe the possession began. or shifted, i suppose. will's could have been a trick; the obvious possession that they can feel proud of themselves for seeing through and stopping so that they don't notice the more subtle one. what kind of idiot pulls the same move twice, right?

...ahem. anyway-

the imagery of a vine wrapped around the ankle is similar to max getting grabbed by the ankle in vecna's mind lair (vecna literally being in max's head until she pulled an uno reverse card and walked into his instead), and to el getting grabbed by the ankle in the cabin shortly before losing her powers. these are both internally supernatural situations. what happened to mike in the tunnels didn't look like will getting possessed, but that doesn't necessarily mean there wasn't something else going on. mike's stuff has always been more subtle. vecna wasn't able to stop mike from making connections and urging people into action and generally getting in his way, so he needed a newer, smarter approach in removing this annoying obstacle — he needed to use mike's best qualities (his intelligence, his intuition, and his tenacity) against him

there's about a month between mike going into the tunnels and seeing el at the snow ball. like will said, vecna leaves possessed people alone until they can do something for him, and then they're activated. i believe they showed us this moment for mike

the rest of his friends have left (will suspiciously pushed into leaving by mike), he's sitting alone, and then he perks up after seeing el walk in

mike's behaviour at the snow ball doesn't really make sense. last time el tried to kiss him (before she left to close the gate), he froze up, not leaning in, until hopper called her away. there was mike's speech to will in the shed before that, where he most likely realised something about the nature of his own feelings. now he's suddenly pushing will away and obsessing over el? it's weird and inconsistent and not in line with what you'd expect from him. yes, mike's a wheeler and wheelers are prone to fits of conformity, but mike also started a public fight with troy for saying something homophobic when he was 12 and he never takes his parents' conformity advice seriously. he thinks being a weirdo is a good thing. this is strange. especially when you remember the mind flayer creepily watching over all of them while mike danced with el

i often see this stuff being interpreted as just mike dealing with growing up and figuring out his sexuality, and that would be believable enough if this was just a coming of age story, but it's not. it's a supernatural horror coming of age story. things like will's ptsd and max's depression are turned into grandiose supernatural threats, but mike dealing with his sexuality in a heavily homophobic era (which we saw as early as season 1 could lead him to suicide) isn't? that would be a colossal waste of potential, and i honestly can't see this show passing up an opportunity like that for a main character to take the more grounded route instead

how would a show like stranger things present forced conformity through a character like mike, who's too headstrong to just conform on his own? by taking away his agency in his own life

why did mike get possessed?

there's the stalker song that played at the snow ball. every move you make, every step you take, i'll be watching you, and so on. while it's been linked to vecna's obsession with will, the lyrics themselves started playing over mike while he creepily stared at el from across the room, languishing in the shadows (what if the shadow monster spies back), as he tends to do. the song playing over mike and el talking, dancing, and kissing, holds the promise of mike and the romantic relationship that's officially forming between him and el being used to keep tabs on her, just like will was used to keep tabs on mike

(if you really want to tie it back to will — because these three character arcs are obviously connected — let's play with a hypothetical for a second: say you're vecna, and you want will on your side. how do you make that happen? you failed to take him twice because his friends and family refuse to give up on him. so how do you make him give up on them? on his life? simple! by making him think that mike, the person who makes him feel like he's not a mistake and who makes him want to keep fighting, isn't an option for his future anymore)

will: and if she was gonna lose you, i... i think she'd rather just get it over with quick. like ripping off a band-aid.

(needless to say, a year-long possession streak during which he's been slowly killing mike's spirit is not "getting it over with quick". mike just getting vecna'd definitely wouldn't be enough for what he's trying to accomplish. if you die that way it's over in a second. will plainly lays out that mike is his weakness — or his strength, which is kind of the same thing — and that going after mike slowly is the best way to get to him. vecna has been in will's head. vecna knows this)

el is arguably at her worst when she's existing in relation to mike as a romantic interest. she consistently does stuff like spy on her friends, lie to mike for months, physically harm max, exclude will, slam doors in hopper's face, and ditch all of her friends in the name of her relationship with mike. el never apologises or even takes responsibility for her actions. mike has done things wrong too, but in accordance with heteronormative gender roles of the time (watched any 80s films recently? the girl sits there and looks pretty, because she's a prize to be won, while the boy chases after her and puts in all the effort), el is blameless while mike gets all the blame. it consumes her character, makes her harder to watch, and most importantly, it makes her easier to kill

the romantic relationship between mike and el clearly had a negative impact. it isolated them, it turned them into brainless little teen drama machines, and both of their individual characters and the group's shared ability to strategise and make plans together took a drastic hit because of it. that's very convenient, isn't it? one season prior to mike and el becoming official, el was a powerhouse who shut a gate right in vecna's face and mike was constantly getting in vecna's way. then they got their happy ending of finally kissing at the snow ball and almost immediately after, they became so annoying and distracting in their relationship that it derailed from anyone in the group attempting to make good plans

by the big planning point of season 3 (the argument in the cabin), not only is mike too distracted by the romantic drama of juggling his relationships with will and el at the same time to come up with an effective plan, but no one else is taking him seriously either. they brush him off and ignore him the second the instant-regret-love-confession (which was probably a result of vecna's meddling, since mike usually keeps his feelings very close to his chest instead of airing them out in front of a room full of people) derails the argument, even though he was really the one making the most sense. mike was neutralised and they moved forward with a stupid decision instead of letting him talk them out of it, which butterfly-effected into the group going on the run from the cabin and everything that happened in the battle of starcourt — hopper "dying" (which is the reason why hopper, el, will, mike, jonathan, joyce and murray weren't in hawkins for season 4), the catalyst for max's death (and therefore the catalyst for the downfall of hawkins), and el losing her powers. that is very convenient for vecna. some of his biggest obstacles are out of the way and for the first time, the good guys only kinda win. that's a huge difference from season 2, and it serves as a stepping point towards their first complete loss in season 4. for a villain who's actively being framed as this manipulative mastermind, i can't believe that was just a series of unlucky coincidences

this approach continues to work into season 4, with mike being shipped off to california to make el cry and to make will miserable while all three of them aren't allowed to directly interfere in the main plot. all the drama mike caused is very suspicious in the season where vecna essentially feeds on teen angst (i wrote a very lengthy deep dive into season 4 mike a while ago, which you can read here). mike is activated to make his first few days in california weird for everyone, to push el back into the monster/superhero mentality (which vecna uses to demoralise her when they face each other), and during mike's monologue (not to be confused with vecna's monologue from two seconds earlier... wait-), which successfully distracted el and kept her from saving max

the characters picking up on it

jumping into season 3 after the snow ball, el and mike are kissing while listening to music again. the music is explicitly mike's pick this time, and it's all about "never surrendering" and "i can't fight this feeling anymore". while this does reflect on his tenacity and inability to give up and how existing in the world when you're different is a constant fight, most songs that feature in stranger things have a deeper meaning (especially when they're diagetic like this), and the music is telling us that mike (who is immediately acting like a different person) is fighting something

hopper (the person joyce went to about will's possession, the person who realised will was "talking without words", and the person who heard the music mike was blasting in the cabin for six months) says that something's wrong with mike, that mike's relationship with el isn't normal, and casually talks about killing mike for "corrupting" el. that's an insane reaction to a teenager being mildly obnoxious, but a fairly reasonable one to the villain — a grown man with a disturbing habit of targeting teenagers and pre-pubescent children — inserting himself into hopper's teenaged daughter's relationship which solely consists of them making out

mike doesn't understand what's happening to him, but he knows something is. his feelings get dismissed too often to make anything of it in season 3, but he gets the chance to think a bit harder about it in season 4, after a lot of prompting from will. usually when mike's freaking out about something, he paces until someone snaps at him to cut it out, but in season 4 he spends most of his panic sessions totally frozen. it's visually different from anything he's had to personally deal with before. he spends a lot of time wondering why he didn't say a mysterious "thing" (which he never explicitly spells out) during his fight with el. that fight was setting up for mike's monologue, which distracted el and let vecna open the gates. mike didn't say what he wanted to say, whatever that was, because he couldn't. he wasn't in control, and you can tell by how confused and off-kilter he sounded while trying to explain his reaction to the roller skate incident

subconsciously, though, mike is aware of what's happening. he's dropped a lot of hints about it ("why am i the bad guy?" is my personal favourite) and when jonathan subtly questions this habit ("maybe it's hidden in the code somehow?" "what you just said makes no sense"), mike shows that he has no clue he's doing it

jonathan actually figured out what was happening to mike back in season 3, almost immediately after setting foot in the basement, because mike exclusively speaks in code and jonathan's great at hearing the things people aren't saying. this is probably the reason why they got put in the same group for season 4

jonathan seemed to think that mike's consciousness was gone or heavily suppressed for a while (which is a kind of funny but mostly sad explanation for all that glaring people have been making jokes about — he wasn't glaring at mike, he was glaring at what he thought was the thing that had either killed or was holding mike hostage while wearing his face), but when mike kicked up a fuss while trying to protect el instead of being cool with needless death and murder like the rest of the flayed (who tried to kill nancy and jonathan, like, yesterday), jonathan looked surprised and realised he was wrong

from there jonathan protected mike, physically shielding him from the flesh flayer right along with will (and actually leaving will for a second to make sure he could pull mike back) when it burst into the cabin. nancy and will were talking about the flayed turning into monsters, and jonathan saw that happen to a guy from the hawkins post, so he was probably concerned about mike (this weird anomaly who's flayed but somehow still himself and hasn't transformed into a killer blob monster, for whatever reason) getting too close to the killer blob monster that absorbs flayed people into its creepy hive mind. jonathan also didn't mention what he'd realised about mike to anyone, since el was looking for the flayed so that they could kill them ("maybe i'll just kill mike," says hopper), and nancy was totally on board with that (jonathan gave mike a very weird look when this came up). everyone ganged up on mike very quickly during the argument, so i can see why jonathan would be hesitant to share his findings with the class and risk endangering mike (there's a queer allegory in here somewhere...), whether that's through his friends or vecna doing something to him once the secret's revealed

will and his Upside Down Compass Powers had spider-sense moment after spider-sense moment while in close proximity to mike in season 3: sitting next to him at the cinema, watching him walk away with el on the hill, and while mike's running up to him outside castle byers. will said that he "didn't want to believe it was anything at first" while laying this sequence of events out as indicative of something he didn't want to be true, which is strikingly similar to max's initial denial over billy being possessed

the things will's sensing don't make sense if they have nothing to do with mike. either will's range is huge, spanning all the way to the steelworks while sitting in the cinema with mike (there was a long panning shot across hawkins to show how far away the thing will's supposedly reacting to is), or will's range is so tiny that it takes vecna personally showing up for will to realise that the mind flayer is trying to kill jonathan and nancy a few floors above him while he's in the hospital waiting room. it can't be both

will only noticed what was happening in the hospital when vecna took control of the flesh flayer. that could easily reflect on will getting spooky feelings around mike but refusing to put the pieces together because, in his own words, he would fall apart without mike. it's easier to believe mike's weird behaviour is just about a girl rather than because the man who ruined will's life is in mike's head

lucas, mike's dustin-assigned best friend, questions and doesn't understand mike's behaviour several times in season 3 (he did that a lot before too, but that's a different brand of Mike Mysteries). the rest of the party (excluding el at first, although she gets there when mike acts weird on the phone and blatantly lies to her) are disappointed, confused, and angry because of how he's acting too. lucas seemed to suspect something when he reunited with mike in max's hospital room, showing the same intuition as when he knew something was wrong with max (reminder: the thing wrong with max was that vecna was in her head)

el seems to fully pick up on and question why mike's so different once they're both in lenora and not distracted by acting fake, in a way she wasn't allowed to before ("but friends don't lie" "yeah, well, boyfriends lie"), because intentionally upsetting her and belittling her as much as mike does at that point is weird behaviour for him. he's naturally gentler with both el and will than he is with most other people, so for him to upset them that much is extremely bizarre

dustin: i told you, joyce has this new telemarketer job. she's always on the phone. mike won't stop whining about it. max: yeah, but this phone's been busy for, what, three days now? that's not joyce. no way. something's wrong. nancy: she's right. it can't be just coincidence. it can't be. whatever's happening in lenora is connected to all of this. i'm sure of it.

el has very good hearing and a habit of hearing mike whether he wants her to or not ("you do realise we can still hear everything you're saying, right?"), so she most likely heard mike and will's argument at rink-o-mania (especially since she heard angela's group perfectly seconds after the boys walked away). a few days later, after vecna told nancy to send el a message, el went into the void and heard dustin say that mike's actually been calling will an annoying amount but wasn't able to get through, which mike definitely didn't mention when will blamed mike for never calling. el knows this is weird because mike told her that he called her every night for almost a year with no shame, and the rink-o-mania fight was so ridiculously public and coupley that it wouldn't make sense for mike to suddenly be holding back. from there, prompted by max and nancy's refusal to accept the easy answer, el figured it out, just like when she knew that billy was "wrong" while max refused to see it

why didn't anyone notice sooner?

this is kind of a frustrating question for me. the real answer is that mike simply needs to be in trouble for season 5 to work (which is why characters like joyce and dustin are being kept away from mike for large stretches of time when he's acting strange — they're too intelligent and too active to not figure it out and help him too early). the answer that makes me angry is that mike wheeler is haunted by double standards. nobody would ever leave will alone to fight off possession for a year (and counting — there's probably going to be a time skip in season 5) like the characters who know about this have done with mike. it's impressive that he can hold out for as long as he has, but that doesn't mean he doesn't need outside help (although i suspect that's the point)

it seems to have something to do with the superspy angle. anything mike knows, vecna knows. if mike doesn't know about the possession then vecna won't be expecting to have to guard things from him as closely as he would from someone like will, who's consciously aware of the connection between them while mike's operating on subconscious knowledge. it can be turned into a tactical advantage, which is kind of mike's whole thing. as long as the others are careful with what they let him know, this might be the key to getting max back and/or killing vecna for good. mike did say a connection like this could be how they stop him, and it looks like he's going to keep working with will to do that, paying off the "crazy together" prediction

hopper knows something about mike that he promised to share with joyce (and the audience) during their date. joyce didn't show up and it still hasn't happened yet (although they keep reminding us of it). whatever information hopper has might explain why he didn't do anything in the six months between season 2 and season 3, if he really did figure out what was happening to mike that quickly

jonathan also promised to tell nancy everything, which probably has something to do with what he noticed about mike during their side quest. jonathan witnessed the monologue, so he has a solid understanding of how this specific style of possession works now. he also has the motivation to actually do something about it after finding out that will is in love with mike and couldn't handle losing him. jonathan told will that everything would be okay, and making things okay for will means fixing mike

for everyone else, mike's weirdness is predominantly blamed on his relationship with el (in an "annoying shallow teen romance, look no deeper, nothing to see here" way), or his feelings for will, if you're looking at it from a fandom perspective. but both mike and dustin call that bullshit. mike calls the way max frames everything about his motivations and his... whole character, really, around his romance with el, bullshit (max also deliberately does this when lucas tells her he knows something's wrong, obviously deflecting from the real issue). there's a not insignificant amount of categorically defining mike as not just a love interest, because that diminishment of his character is what the writers (and vecna) are banking on to hide what's really going on with him, but they also have to include enough clues that it doesn't come out of nowhere

mike prioritises other people over himself as a defence mechanism against his abandonment issues (because his family stopped paying attention to him around the time holly was born, making him think he needs to offer people something so they won't lose interest in him and leave him behind). the narrative can't validate that by presenting his habit of framing himself as someone who's useful and needed solely because he's the therapist friend, not because he's a person who's deeply cared for and deserving of help, like it's objectively true, so they're going to have to challenge it instead. saving him from possession, where the only thing to gain is mike's continued existence, would be a good way of accomplishing that

the timeline

mike is making things difficult by having a ridiculous amount of willpower, so it takes a bit of work to figure out when he's mike and when he's not mike. i don't have the whole thing figured out but sometimes, he just tells you!

this is from when he first entered the tunnels. nothing's messed with him yet, so he's at 100%

in early season 3, hopper says that mike has spent every single day for the past six months in the cabin with el, implicitly ignoring his friends (you know, the people he would and has jumped off a cliff for? those friends?). mike, from what the others have said about his behaviour, has spent those six months losing. "he likes it cold", and the months between december and july are mostly cold ones in this show's setting. this lends significance to season 3 taking place in the summer

hopper tells mike that something's wrong, but because he lied to get mike into the car (away from el) in the first place, mike doesn't listen to him and calls him crazy (you know, the thing joyce and will and nancy and even mike himself have been called whenever they had an out there theory? a theory that always turns out to be right?). hopper's scheme is successful in granting el and mike some space, but it's not until will gets sick of mike not acting like himself that mike actually snaps out of it. vecna was distracted by the other flayed at the time, as he'd recently put his plan of building the flesh flayer into action, as well as by what el and max showing up meant for his first direct interaction with el since she lost her memories. he was probably underestimating mike after six months of success and failing to pay him much attention, which continues into the next episode. the sauna test demonstrates mike's ability to fight back (and possibly hints towards the existence of some kind of mental shield or ability to hide, since billy had no idea what they were planning and even vecna looked surprised when mike snuck up on him with the bat), and confirms that mike and el both fighting for each other is vital to their survival

i believe mike is in control a lot more often for the rest of the season, but he still has to deal with the consequences of what vecna's already done through him. mike's definitely himself in the season 3 epilogue (i think he reclaimed something during the battle of starcourt, particularly when literally escaping from the mind flayer with max and el's help), but he cares about el's feelings and the whole situation is super confusing from his perspective ("i don't really remember... what did i say, exactly?"), so the getting back together thing kinda just... happens to him. mike's unresponsiveness during the kiss is especially disturbing in the context of this theory, where he's literally had no agency throughout their entire relationship (not that i'm blaming el; she doesn't know yet, she's still young and very sheltered so probably not that informed about consent, and she's been tricked by this whole thing too — their makeout sessions at the start of the season were difficult to watch for a reason — but like. yikes.)

mike immediately gets called "a shitty knock-off" when he gets to california, where he's at a disadvantage because of the 70/30 split with vecna ("he's been telling us his plan this whole time"). vecna having to focus on mike at first explains the inconsistent pattern of the murders in hawkins that robin couldn't decipher. vecna backed off once el left to get her powers back, and mike immediately did the most mike thing ever: got into a verbal sparring match with government agents ("so, what, we're just supposed to trust that you're the good guys? whoever you are?")

will reminds mike of who he is in the painting scene, because things have gotten so muddled in mike's head that he doesn't know anymore. this draws a parallel to mike's speech in the shed when will was possessed

mike reunites with el ("is it really you?" "it's me. i'm here" — that's literally the most loved one fighting possession dialogue i've ever heard). there's vecna's ridiculously long monologue, during which he confirms the whole mastermind angle, then he tells el to pay attention right before mike gets activated again to give the other monologue. mike was at 100% this time, plus he got a boost from actually eating something for once ("too much flavour awesomeness can't overpower your battery, can it?" — eat your damn food, michael), and will's speech convinced mike that happily accepting affection and fighting for his own existence is worth it, but they're still in a pizza freezer ("he likes it cold"), and vecna has enough power to open a mega-gate

there's a whole lot of reluctance in the performance, so mike is clearly fighting it anyway (he talks about "you have to fight" and "can you hear me?" and "i'm right here" a lot — i like the part where he says he's not scared of el, because after she realised what their relationship has actually been like for him, she must have felt guilty for being part of his choice getting taken away), but the distraction still works. mike goes back to normal (relatively) after el temporarily pushes vecna out of his and max's heads (using these two specifically to hurt el was revenge for when they worked together to protect her during the battle of starcourt), and from the two day time skip, we find out that el has stopped talking to mike. she probably realised what will did all the way back in season 2: vecna can spy through mike

[not-poignant]

salut pia!

ive been wondering? how do you handle/change modes when you’re writing across AUs/fics? i mean not only the personality/attribute changes (like role reversal with ef and gwyn) but also change in…oh how do i say this..when a character is a MC in one but side/minor in another? bc they are different devices to different stories, how do you keep an overview of how much you reveal, go into so as to not side track from the main story or change the “flow”. example: whenever theres mentions of gender identity and betas somethin somethin feeling like omegas somethin somethin comes up “casually” sirens go off in my head and then i realise wait faber is NOT the MC in this story this is not about him him but its a little bit about him him. and then i feel like im standing behind a glass wall looking from Utb/Utg to Utr screaming at faber but he is a NPC here so we dont know whats going on in his head. that scene with ef and him eating carrots?…. i would give my right foot and skin tone copic markers to be a fly on the wall in fabers POV (the timelines probably wont align for it to happen but would you ever consider sth like this?? a scene overlapp across stories i mean?)

i’ve mostly read within that universe but ive also read spoils where your characters have completely different..positions? roles? weight? than in rainbow. so yeah how do you keep it all “appropriate” or “fitting” for their roles in different stories. like a puppet master

cheers xx

Hi anon,

So this is going to be not very helpful, but I don't write this stuff down for the most part.

This is the stuff I find so easy that this is why this is my job, in a way. I don't have a list of 'different Efnisiens' to keep track of, or 'different Gwyns.' They become themselves within the story. If I read a chapter of the story I get back into it (actually often I just need to listen to a song or put on the right playlist). Every version of a character is kind of there right now. I know how each would respond to something, and how those things would be the same or vary based on life experiences and the question etc.

I don't do really much at all to change modes. I just...do. There is no overview. It's all in my head. I'd say some of this goes down to how long / how many years I've spent studying character and dialogue overall. But even when I was younger I found this pretty easy, and transplanting characters into different situations to see how they'd react similarly / differently was one of my favourite kinds of exercises even when I was a teenager.

Some of it is knowing focus. Faber's side story is interesting, for those who like Faber and/or Underline the Red, hints about his gender struggles are fascinating, but they can only ever be hints, because I'm mindful that many readers aren't interested in Faber except as a minor character, and haven't read Underline the Red.

The focus is always Efnisien and Gary. Other characters can have their own lives and motivations, but it won't be more than that in the main story. Though I can go into a bit more detail because of the length of the story which is really nice for building out side characters / ensemble cast.

As to crossover perspectives, I don't know! I know we'll see some of Faber's perspective of Efnisien arriving at Hillview in Underline the Red, but obviously things impact characters differently at different times, I don't know what will be most important by the time we get to Faber's side of things. I used to write alternative perspectives as side chapters for Fae Tales though, and that could be a lot of fun.

so yeah how do you keep it all “appropriate” or “fitting” for their roles in different stories.

I saw a video by Hank Green I think once where he said the reason sportspeople are so good at their sports is in part because they're physically often the best at that sport anyway. Like, ballerinas have a certain build, swimmers have a certain build, and any training they do works to support that and make them better, but they were 'built' out for those sports in the first place. Some people have yoga bodies. I have a swimming body and swimming shoulders.

And I feel like this is true sometimes with writing. I don't try to keep it appropriate or fitting, I just know that the ensemble characters can't matter as much as the main characters in the course of the story. That's what a story is. That's what a main character and an ensemble character is. I would say years of experience has made this part of writing mostly easy and fun for me, so I don't have to think or overthink about this stuff anymore. At worst I might think 'was that too much Faber? Eh, it's helping Efnisien, it's still important to the plot and his character arc.'

I'm 'built' for writing big worlds with big ensemble casts where all the characters are important but where the focus is only on a couple of main characters per story. I'm built for character-focused stories and seem to be very built for transplanting characters I love into different worlds (and different roles) to see how that changes things. I started wanting to write these kinds of worlds and characters when I was 10 years old, and had my first sprawling ensemble fantasy series started by the age of 11. By the age of 15 I had a 3 novel fantasy trilogy built out with about 20 significant characters, and it was ridiculous and silly but that was what I wanted to write.

And I guess you could say I haven't really changed, I've just gotten better at it. I hope to keep getting better at it! The challenge now is to figure out how to break down some of these skills so I can share them with others. But...I do think there's an element of 'this is just what I love, it's a special interest, I don't know how to convey that I have 30 years of special interest in reading, writing, and studying this thing across television, manga, manhwa, fanfiction, AUs, and fictional series.' There will be teachable skills in that, but I don't know how much osmosis / absorption / and being obsessed with entangled tapestries of stories makes up what I do.

In some ways it would be 'better' if I was built for more conventional storytelling. My bank account might like that more! BUT, I'm doing okay where I'm at, because I love it, and I try to share that with other people and see if I can tell stories that resonate with them too.

(There are aspects of what I do that are very hard for me - timelines, aspects of worldbuilding, pacing in the first arc, and so on, but the actual characterisation part, and creating multiple versions of the same character is as easy as breathing. I could give you four more different versions of Faber in an hour. Maybe even twenty minutes. It's not hyperbole, it's just...how I daydream, what I think about. And it's fun!)

I'm very very very lucky that other folks are willing to read the same characters across different narratives, because it's a very strange thing to do in writing outside of fanfiction, case in point being that we almost never see any other professional authors doing it with their original works. x.x

[ppenguinpperson]

Please tell us about the thoughts on patho! Sanya and patho! Yura. Please

of course, thank you for the ask!! i will preface this by saying that these roles might (and are likely to) change, like the bachelors role did - and that thats ok!! this is all just for fun <3 and i also want to say that im gonna alter the world of patho a bit, which, i think is also fine, since its an au !! fun times:) thoughts under cut

so, i'll talk about yura and arthur, then sanya (and sergei, sorta), and then them as a trio/duo.

patho!yura takes on the role of andrey stamatin. its a bit odd, but it fits. i changed yuras pants because i dont like andreys pants. its as simple as that. yura, like bachelor!dmitry and patho!arthur is from the capital. he studied with arthur and all that. young geniuses, you could say. though they haven't worked on as many architectual structures as the canon stamatins have, the few that they Have worked on are well known! whether or not they're liked is a whole different story. i wasn't sure who to put as the stamatin brothers, really, as the only brothers in pafl are nikita and kolya, i think? or tsar and arthur, sorta, iirc ferrys said a time or two that they think of each other as brothers or something like that. but! nikita and kolya will have.. different roles.. and tsar doesnt strike me as an an andrey nor a peter... so !! yura beletsky and arthur sokolov (his surname was in that one character sheet) are. the. umm. i dont know what their name would be but i think they're 'partners' - or at least, yura calls them that. (because of their colleague status, of course, since they work together so much. they can be gay too i guess. sigh. long live yaoi) yuras personality is pretty much the same as in canon, but hes a bit. hm. well, id say he acts like he's better than you, but hes just overcompensating. still very sad and depressed and all that.

arthur in this.. he's more depressed than angry in this one. i dont know. i havent thought of him all that much, truly and also !! youve only asked me for my thoughts on sanya and yura !! not arthur !! i dont have to tell you anything.... i WILL one day. believe me. but only when i have better thoughts

sanya! as you may have noticed, she's still albino in this au.. and, heres where my lack of knowledge on town on gorkhon comes into play !! so ! imagine that the steppe is like, zone-esque, or something. again, this au is just for fun, and though i Do think about it a lot, i dont think about it enough for me to have coherent thoughts. so! sanya. the townsfolk, i think, claimed she must be related to the worms in some way since shes an Albino and Strange and Defiant and a Rebel. so i think that at some point they started making that worm connection as an 'explanation' for her behaviour. so. i think, at a young age, rather young age, her father (and sergei sorta, i guess? but hed have been .. in his teens at the time, at least.. and since sanyas mom dies in childbirth no matter if shes a mutant or not, shes dead in this, too) sorta sent her to the cemetery. sanya is grace <3 she hangs around and maintains the cemetery a lot. its better than dealing with judgement and such. at first, at least. when shes a kid. soon she starts getting lonely, wishes to engage in society, to make friends, but, well. town on gorkhon is a small town. im sure she has some friends, though. 'friends'. maybe the little kids in the town and the like, yeah? maybe the kid gang? but i doubt shes close with them in any way. this is the first iteration of patho!sanya that i like in any way. its possible, likely, that ill change this, some of it at least, but! this is how it is for now.

during patho's main events, the stamatin brothers have already been in town for a few years. in this au, the architect bros are in town for 2 years before the plague breaks out. during those 2 years, sanya comes to 'admire' yura. envies his way of life. maybe they hang out a bit... since sergei is away studying to become a surgeon, he wouldn't be there to spoil their friendship - but, he also wouldnt be there to introduce them in the first place. .. but also, just bc sanya spends most of her time maintaining the cemetery and such doesnt mean she never goes out to town, for shopping and such, maybe. so. i think they start hanging out. not a lot. yura thinks shes a bit lame maybe. cringe. but, they start hanging out!! i thinkkk . ivan could be bad grief if i dont find anyone else. so, i think, sanya would get to meet him, too, and therefore also yana. shes not all that close with them, but, she does think theyre cool... and the gang thinks shes fine. shes there!! yana still thinks of her as "baby", arthur still thinks of her as "why are you even here", yura still thinks of her as "heheheheehhehe wont stop teasing you".. idk where tsar comes in but hes also "you are alright!!!"... only diference is. she doesnt fight all that much with ivan:( so sad

a lot of this is just incorehent thoughts ! but thats all i can muster up at the moment.. hope its enough !! and if its not !! my askbox is always open:D ask whatever whenever 👍

looks left looks right. ferry if you see this im sorry for doing cocomelon shit to your ocs..

[destinygoldenstar]

AnalyzGolden Ranks Every Disventure Camp Season 2 Character

I'm ranking every Season 2 character in Disventure Camp.

I've actually been hyped to do this one, believe it or not.

Even though I think I prefer the Season 1 Cast, the Season 2 Cast actually has a lot going for them. There's quite a few interesting contenders here.

This show is actually pretty decent at handling its characters and getting you a good taste of who they are and why they're here.

I don't want to sell Total Drama short, because obviously that's iconic, and its characters are iconic, but all that show needed to do was make its characters funny with their gimmicks and only a handful were dynamic and/or complex.

Here it's more focused on the arc and their situations instead of their comedy. I can see that being a double edge sword to some, because if characters aren't being funny you just get a ton of angst instead and then the show itself becomes less fun to watch...?

Like, I can see that.

But idk, I might have a kink for angst, so it doesn't bother me.

Keep in mind this entire ranking is just MY opinion based on how I viewed things. So... HOT TAKE ALERT(?????)

Idk, maybe I'm basic and all my faves are the fan faves. Idk.

There's no such thing as taking a tier list objectively.

This order ISN'T based off of elimination order. Because I have A LOT more to say about the Post Merge characters than the Pre Merge characters. So I wanted to space it out. So it's random.

So let's get into it!

Who are we starting with...?

CONNOR

?

...I mean, I did say this was random. But it still feels weird to start with this one.

Whatever. We're starting with the old man.

I think the biggest reaction I had towards Connor was his elimination.

"I'll leave voluntarily."

...

Why...? Why would you do that?

You could've all worked together to get Yul out.

I'm not mad. Just disappointed.

Oh who am I kidding? I'm pissed off.

And I hated it.

That episode was a double elimination. Which, yeah, I guess that needed to happen, but the way he just quit like that really gave me NO respect. And it told me that this was just a filler character and they had no plans for him.

YES I KNOW HE DID IT FOR RIYA'S SAFETY. I KNOW HE DIDN'T CARE ABOUT THE MILLION. I DON'T CARE. THEY COULD'VE WORKED WITH THE POLYCULE TO GET YUL OUT.

Outside of THAT, however, there really isn't a lot to say about Connor. His screen time is so minimal that if he wasn't associated with Riya, nobody would see him as a memorable character.

He just didn't really do anything aside from be Riya's friend, and give Oliver a job offer, which went nowhere cause he got back with Krystal in the same scene.

You only care about Connor because Riya cares about Connor.

I can't really say there's anything to HATE about him though.

He's a nice guy with very good intentions. He just wants to hang out with the kids and feel young again, and not come to terms of his age and his new role in life. That's wholesome and sweet. And I'm sure that relates to plenty of Gen X people.

But I'm not Gen X, so...

Idk, I think the biggest disappointment is how minimal his arc was and how minimal he was utilized. I like the idea of an older figure trying to fit in with the younger generation. But they don't really do anything with it.

I think there was, like, TWO SCENES in the FIRST episode and nowhere else, where Connor tried to bond with a Millennial character but didn't understand the gen's lifestyle.

Two scenes that also didn't go anywhere, cause this is the only time he ever interacts with those characters.

And then two conversations with Riya later, and he's cool with being a mentor now and he's come to terms with his age.

Two talks with one person does not equal a fully fleshed out satisfying character arc, bucko.

Idk, I think if Connor had more screen time, he would've worked for me better. But as is, he's just there as a support character.

I will say I do like his friendship with Riya though, even if that's all he ended up being here for. It was nice seeing Riya bonding with someone in a similar culture shock situation as her. And his perfume gift for her and his goodbye to her was genuinely really wholesome.

Again, you care about him because Riya cares about him, and he's basically all Riya has left now because everyone else hates her.

I saw a comment on my reactions about a ship name. Uh... I don't ship these two. I don't really like it because of the age gap. (29/50) I like them much better as friends.

I'll give him a C Tier.

Yes I'm putting these on my Season 1 Tier list as well. We're combining the two.

And the one I'm using has the All Stars variations. So I'll use those for All Stars too.

AIDEN

Okay, so I spoiled this one in a post already, so I'm just gonna start with the ranking.

I think Aiden is a solid B tier character.

I just realized EVERYONE whose name starts with A is in the B tier. Uh... wow. That's ironic.

I actually LOVE Aiden's character... CONCEPTUALLY.

A trans boy who altered his appearance to appeal to the show and get casted, and due to these things, isn't very confident in his identity.

THAT IS GREAT AND THAT MAKES ME ROOT FOR HIM.

I LOVE that Aiden is trans. 🏳️‍⚧️

Trans rep is so rare as is, so any trans rep that isn't a gross stereotype is a win in my book.

The scene where he comes out as trans is also very well done and very sweet. I liked it.

I also LOVE his character design.

The half and half black and white hair is very visually striking, and the addition of the black and white stripes on his sleeves adds to compliment it so your attention is on the top half of his body. And the red shirt is such a strong center piece. It also tells you about his character as someone who went hard and out there in the appearance department to appeal to others.

AMAZING character design. Really.

Aiden himself is also very likeable and sympathetic. I felt for him when he got used by James and I wanted to see him come to his own. He's also flawed, like, he has some anger issues and a grudge problem, but it's in a way that's endearing and never really annoyed me.

I feel like he and Jake would be great friends.

And most of this shines from me due to the voice acting.

The voice acting in this season... really is not that good. I don't think anyone is arguing in its favor aside from "It's an indie show, cut them some slack." And they do get better as the series goes on.

Aiden's VA is the one exception. From beginning to end, this guy is AMAZING voicing the character and making you invested in him and what he's feeling.

...and unfortunately that's where the positives end.

Yeah, as much as I like Aiden, I feel like more than any of these other B tiers, he is WASTED POTENTIAL.

And you KNOW I mean that, BECAUSE HE IS A FINALIST.

As much as I like his concept, they don't really DO anything with it.

That scene where he comes out as trans? That's in Episode ELEVEN.

...OF THIRTEEN.

There was ONE hint outside of that which alluded to him being trans prior to that.

In Episode 4, it's a confession challenge where they have to confess to harsh truths about themselves. Krystal asks which one of them had sex reassignment surgery, and nobody answers that question.

This question does not get brought up again until Aiden comes out and confirms that question was talking about him. Again, in Episode ELEVEN OF THIRTEEN.

At that point, the trans rep kinda just feels like lip service. They did the bare minimum to get this trans rep in.

Now, I'm not saying a character's queer identity should be the only thing about their character that matters. No. Not at all.

What I'm saying is that I wanted this to matter to Aiden's story more than it appears it does. Because of what his character is.

Using subtext, it's heavily implied that Aiden's lack of faith in his abilities comes from his trans identity and the fact that nobody found him interesting, attractive, or appealing. Especially not the show. So he altered himself to appeal to what other people wanted. (His appearance, I mean, not his sex.)

But he never talks about it outside of Episode 4 and that coming out scene. I would've personally have had the coming out scene two or three episodes earlier. Because at least then you could have a lot more healthy interactions with James.

Speaking of, because of that coming out scene being associated with James, as sweet as that scene is still, and the fact that the subject is minimal as is, tells me that Aiden's individual struggles and growth IS NOT what matters to the story.

Whether or not he'll smooch James is what matters.

Yeah... these two didn't work for me. I'm sorry.

You know why I found Aiden sympathetic? Because he had to be stuck with THIS MOTHERFUCKER the entire time.

I'll get to James later, but for now I'll just address the relationship.

I will say, they're not AS BAD as I made them out to be in my reactions. James DOES get better and DOES become a better person. And the scene where they make up is very well done. They have SOME good and sweet interactions. Even if I can count them all on my hand.

So I GET IT. I UNDERSTAND why you'd ship them. Because ON PAPER, this is a GREAT 'they hate each other until they love each other and grow from each other' story. It's just the execution that rubbed me off the wrong way.

Especially at the start of the show, James has some pretty predatory behavior towards Aiden and exploits him for internet views. (Like seriously was that supposed to be a plot twist? I figured out that was what he was doing from the first episode.) He does a lot of stuff that Aiden is uncomfortable with, lies to him to get him to do what he wants, and influences Aiden to do some very impulsive messed up things.

Combine that with James' hostility towards other people, and you have the bad outweighing the good in my head.

Which is a problem, because the finale has them as your HEROES, and them getting together is the happy ending. It's a problem if I am therefore routing AGAINST their relationship prior to that finale.

Again, James DOES get better, so it's NOT AS BAD AS IT COULD HAVE BEEN.

SIERRA AND CODY ARE TEN TIMES WORSE. And if you asked me to pick James/Aiden or Sierra/Cody, I would take James/Aiden in a heartbeat.

I just personally found the beginning behavior James had towards Aiden, lusting over this clearly uncomfortable and introverted trans boy, and exploiting him for Internet fame, very GROSS.

I UNDERSTAND THAT'S THE POINT. But, idk, I would've just preferred them mutually not liking each other at first and then growing to like each other and then becoming lovers. You didn't need this predatory stuff. Just have Riya be lying about James' exploits, idk.

I also found Episode 9 kinda gross for Aiden. (Though I feel like I should rewatch that Episode just because of my condition when I watched it.)

Karol returns and wants revenge on James and Aiden. James warns Aiden with proof to back up his claim. And what does Aiden do?

He puts a trap on Karol's sled to stop her from winning the race.

This causes Karol to crash her sled and end up in the hospital due to a broken leg.

And Aiden not only proceeds to continue to yell at Karol, AS SHE IS HURT ON THE GROUND, but James also PRAISES Aiden's actions as something to be proud of.

I'M SORRY, WHAT PART OF SENDING SOMEONE TO THE HOSPITAL IS THERE TO BE PROUD OF?

Yes I get Karol was gunning for you. STILL. What was wrong with just voting her out? You had the numbers!

Yes I know Aiden said he 'didn't mean to hurt Karol' when he did that. But, I'm sorry, you're sledding down a mountain without safety equipment. WHY DID YOU THINK THAT WOULDN'T HURT HER?

James ALSO does this. He does this towards Yul. (Even though I loved that one.)

So these two got not one, but TWO PEOPLE SENT TO THE HOSPITAL. AND THEY GET NO CONSEQUENCES.

Listen, murder is wrong, battery is wrong. Riya tries to kill Aiden. Karol kills everyone. But you know why I didn't take much problem with that? THESE CHARACTERS ARE VILLAINS.

BUT SURE, LET'S HAVE OUR HEROIC POWER COUPLE DO THE SAME THINGS, INSTANCES THAT ACTUALLY GET MEDICAL CONSEQUENCES FOR THOSE PEOPLE.

WHAT A GREAT LESSON. /s

This is part of Aiden's 'gaining confidence' arc by the way. He learns that murder is okay.

I guess murder and battery is bad only if you're a woman? It's okay if the boys do it?

WHAT A GREAT LESSON. /s

THAT'S NOT PROBLEMATIC AT ALL. /s

And that all leads to my biggest gripe with Aiden.

He is James' love interest. And that's the only thing that matters.

He has a relationship with TWO characters. Lake, and ESPECIALLY James.

His friendship with Lake is supposedly this tight bond, and I like it on paper, but it's so underbaked to give me that impression.

I think there was like, THREE SCENES TOTAL where these two talk. And only ONE of those scenes was them learning about each other.

Those other two scenes? It's a conversation about JAMES.

Idk, even if I count those two scenes, THREE TALKS DOES NOT EQUAL A STRONG FRIENDSHIP IN MY BOOK.

Aside from THAT, Aiden ONLY interacts with James. Any time he is NOT directly interacting with James, any other character he talks to is either a conversation about James and his feelings towards James, or meant to serve James in some way.

Again, there is ONE conversation with Lake where that's not the case. But that's it.

IT'S ALL ABOUT HOW HE FEELS ABOUT JAMES. THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS. THAT'S ALL YOU'RE TELLING ME.

I don't like it when a character is meant to be a love interest and that's all they serve to do.

Say what you will about Jake and Tom. They're messy and I don't deny that. BUT they are also strong characters on their own and can function on their own. AND they have relationships with characters that aren't each other. Tom is friends with Gabby. Jake WAS friends with Ellie. Tom and Jake both care for Miriam. Jake especially cares about Miriam. I got WAY MORE out of Jake and Miriam's bond than I did with Aiden and Lake's.

It also HURTS when in the finale, that's all Aiden serves to be in the end. To smooch James and help James win.

Aiden doesn't feel confident in himself to beat Riya, so he decides James should go do it instead. Meaning his so called arc about confidence meant nothing.

He doesn't even get to glide down the mountain. Like, I don't expect him to completely get over his fear of heights. But I felt like he could've sucked it up then and there at least.

Personally, I would've had James help Aiden win. I would've swapped the roles. Because then that not only showcased Aiden coming to his own to believe in himself and have that pay off, but it also sends a message and sacrifice for James that fame doesn't matter to him anymore. Then the 'money can't buy love' message to oppose Riya with HITS HARDER.

They can still share the money in the end. And with Rosa.

BUT NO. AIDEN NEEDS TO SERVE JAMES. HE CAN'T DO ANYTHING ON HIS OWN.

Sounds reasonable, right?

Well no. Not according to some of you.

I actually LOVE that you made this reply. I love seeing people disagree with me. It's fun. And you were respectful about it. Good for you!

(ANYONE can do this whenever you disagree with me btw. If you're respectful about it like this person is, then go right ahead and voice your take!)

All I will say is that I read it, and I SEE where you're coming from. But respectfully, I don't agree with it. For all the reasons I just said.

Like, no offense, but anyone could've told Lake to hit the canon to help James win, and the same results would've happened. That's not a very revolutionary Aiden action.

If you like this ship though, more power to you. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's a bad ship and it doesn't mean you shouldn't like it. James/Aiden shippers are really cool in my book!

I'll just be in my little corner holding Tom and Jake close. Even if I am the only one.

So yeah, I like Aiden, but I wish he was handled differently and I cared about his bond with James a lot more.

I hope he's in Season 3 and not on the same team as James. Then he can interact with other characters AND he can come to his own. I would like that!

MAGGY

Uuuuuuuuuhhhhh…. What’s there to say about her?

I actually don’t remember ANYTHING about her.

She is THAT much of a nothing character.

She’s shy.

She’s bullied for being a big girl.

She doesn’t have any arc or any development or any depth to her situation besides that.

And she loses to her bully.

She also does nothing in the episode she’s eliminated in.

I mean she punches Yul in the face. So just for that, I can’t say I dislike her.

She also is with Kai. But idk, that relationship is just “They crush, they hook.” End of story. No middle.

And then they run away in the woods to be freaky. Or whatever.

Sure. Whatever makes you happy.

C Tier. Nothing to say.

Unfortunately bottom of C tier because at least the rest of these guys contribute something to the plot.

Maggy contributes NOTHING.

But she punched Yul in the face and gave him a black eye. So I can’t hate her.

LAKE

When I was reacting to Season Two, I kept getting messages gushing about how good Lake is.

You all seem to really love this one.

Well… after watching Season Two for myself… I gotta say…

YEP. SHES AWESOME.

I am very much on your side with this one!

Like, this is easily the character with the most concrete dynamic character arc. Especially the one where it's the most solidly handled.

Like, I may LIKE a certain someone more, but I have to admit they kinda take a backseat in the middle of the sesaon.

Lake however? Every episode she's in, there's something that's progressing her story. As such, she stands out pretty quickly.

She was kind of a screen hog ngl XD

But I like her character, so it's okay.

Lake is a sweet teenage girl who is a major perfectionist. She is always studying, even during the summer ON REALITY TV, and she has an alarmingly strict diet.

But it's clear early on that one of this is from Lake's own free will. Her family is a bunch of control freaks who want her to be this prim and proper perfect person.

They set up several tutors for her to make essays and study, to the point where she has little to no free time for herself. They're homophobic. They forced a ton of eating disorders upon her. They even set up an ARRANGED MARRIAGE.

IN THE PRESENT DAY. AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE.

Yeah, no shock it's fucked up.

It was such a fucked up way to live that Lake straight up lost her natural hair. She wears wigs. And her parents chose what wig she would wear.

You'd think your child going bald from stress would set some alarm bells that you're a bad parent and you should lay off, but apparently not.

It's also clear from a handful of lines and from some facial expressions that Lake resents this lifestyle, but she really doesn't say anything or do anything about it because, well, she's a kid. She's been brainwashed to believe this was the best path for her when it's not.

I love her fight with Rosa in Episode 4 when Rosa calls out Lake's parents behavior of her. I love how Lake doesn't immediately pull her face turn to go against her parents and comes to their defense. She even says "Fuck this show, who cares?" At one point which was fun to hear from her.

Well, she doesn't say fuck. She's a good girl. But you know what I mean.

Lake should be allowed to swear.

Anyway, point is, I like how she doesn't immediately learn the lesson from the first time someone calls it out. She needs to figure that out for herself.

In a way, Episode 5's boring as all hell and needlessly hellish challenge was kinda smart. Especially if you consider what we've been told about Lake's homelife thus far, it does feel like a bit like it would send some flashbacks.

And let me tell you, I'VE BEEN THERE. I'VE BEEN THERE SO ANY TIMES.

I had a pretty horrible school life growing up. There was a lot of rules and pressure that didn't even need to be there, and kids and adults alike really got a kick out of it. And there were several times where I started crying from being unable to take it anymore.

So seeing Lake break down here and tell Krystal off was so heartbreaking but also so satisfying because it's Krystal.

And I like how despite expressing that hatred towards Krystal prior, she still takes the time to empathize with her and bond with her over their messed up families.

Lake isn't a bad apple. She's a genuinely good kid.

And her empathy here is rewarded by Krystal letting her stay and carve her own path.

And she does.

But you know what I love? Is that even though this is a 'good girl rebelling against her good girl status', it DOESN'T mean she becomes a more brash and defiant person. *Cough* COURTNEY.

She's still a very decent and nice person. She's just more independent.

I also like how she became an author. That's wonderful for her.

I also love her friendship with Rosa throughout the show. Like, I buy that she's besties with Rosa a lot more than I believe it with Aiden, I'm sorry. I loved watching them bond over Rosa's astronomy interest and writing and little things like that. I love seeing their friendship get challenged and resolved due to Lake's familial pressure. It also shows that Rosa CAN'T help everyone and they need to figure some things out themselves.

This is a really strong bond these two have, and it's very sweet to see unfold.

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about Lake having wigs. But I ended up really liking it.

I love the contrast from her straight proper and neat blonde hair at the start of the series, and then when she rebels, she switches to a more vibrant loud crimson red bob cut that of a punk.

The change actually says something about her character, and I really like that.

Do I think she should have won the season?

Uh... not really...?

Like, I love her, but I am perfectly okay with her not being a winner pick or even a finalist pick. Lake did not need to be a finalist for her story to hit. It doesn't matter to her if she won the money or not. What she wanted was her freedom. A chance to be herself. THAT'S her victory right there.

MONEY IS NOT THE ONLY VICTORY.

So girl WON.

I was just upset with the episode she was eliminated in, because SHE SHOULD HAVE WON THAT CHALLENGE. SHE WAS THE LAST ONE STANDING. IT WAS NOT FAIR.

Now that I'm thinking about it and talking about her, I'm putting her at the very top of S tier ahead of the other Season 1 characters on that tier.

CAUSE DAMN. THIS GIRL WAS AWESOME.

I can TOTALLY see what the hype with her was all about.

LIVE LAUGH LOVE LAKE INDEED!

KAI

I'm not gonna lie, this guy creeps me out.

"I find it calming to share a space with someone who emits such good energy. I can almost feel it in the air."

Okay you're a creep...

~~~

"I observed your good intentions with others, even though your vibrations feel somewhat turbulent."

I can't with this guy's voice and creepy implications, help.

"The universe said you should know."

"You should knooooooooowwwww. It will haunt you for the rest of your days, oooooooooooooooo."

Dude, you're a creep.

~~~

"I felt some pretty erratic vibes coming from you."

Erratic?!

I don't think you'd want to say that to someone. Maybe that's just me.

~~~

"No man, I don't do drugs... too much..."

WHAT THE HELL?!

THE FACT THAT YOU DO DRUGS AT ALL.

SO YEAH.

This guy comes in, he's getting up in people's businesses and making them feel exposed, AND HE SUPPOSEDLY DOES DRUGS.

WHO THE HELL IS THIS GUY?!

Like, this is by far the most 'WTF' character of this entire cast.

Just... WTF?!

And it doesn't even stop when he gets eliminated because then he goes to LIVE IN THE WOODS WITH A GIRL.

WTF?!

This man just creeps me out, and I cannot for the like of me take him seriously.

I'm also a bit disappointed that this plotline went nowhere.

Like, when they were showing where Kai and Maggy were after they were eliminated, I was expecting them to play a role in the finale, like using their zen powers to aid in the finale...

...but no.

Oh, I'm sorry, they DID, but they 'made Aiden happy'.

Cool... James totally wouldn't have apologized without you guys....

...yeah I'm saying that doesn't count.

This guy just creeps me out and I can't for the like of me take him seriously.

He also has THE WORST voice of the entire cast.

Like, I don't want to be too mean to the voice acting of this season. I get it. And they do get better as the show goes on. Especially the mic quality, cause in the first episode? GOOD LORD...

But Kai? He's just straight up hard to listen to. There's little to no emotion in anything he says, he has this very raspy voice so it's hard to understand what he's saying if you don't have subtitles on, the mic is especially bad with him, and the sleezy tone just makes some of his dialogue a whole lot creepier.

Every time this man speaks, my immersion of the scene gets dropped HARD.

Again, no hate to the VA. I get it.

What else...?

Oh yeah. There's one more thing.

This man DID do one AMAZING thing that now lives in my head rent free, and that I thank him for dearly.

And that is him, of course, READING YUL FOR FILTH.

"YES! YES I DO YOU MISERABLE PIECE OF SHIT!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH

GET HIM

"If you were a real man, you would realize how beautiful Maggy is! Her soul is so pure and her heart is so big that it would imitate the sun on a rainy day! But of course an idiot son of a bitchfucker could never notice it!"

😂👏

YEEEEEEESSS

"I'm sure you don't have any friends and your parents only sent you here to keep you entertained and get away from you for awhile! Sure now that you're not there, they're finally happy and I don't blame them! After all, all their son is, is just a piece of shit asshole motherfucker!"

YEEEEEESSSS

😂👏

GET. HIS. ASS.

GET HIS ASS DUDE.

READ THIS MAN FOR FILTH.

Like... DUDE. I RESPECT THE HELL OUT OF YOU FOR THAT.

You are C Tier, but you are an upper C Tier, which is a higher spot than you would have been otherwise.

Like... yeah this is in order. Better than Maggy? Yeah, because I feel something with him.

Better than Jensen? Yeah. Better than Derek? Yeah. Better than Will? Yeah. Better than Drew? Yeah.

I don't think he's better than Connor just because of Connor's friendship with Riya being so much more important to the story than whatever the hell Kai was doing.

Ninjago Kai is a much better character, but props to DC Kai for bringing justice where it belongs for that one scene.

ALLYSON

Btw, I know everyone calls her Ally in the show.

I call her Allyson personally, which is her full first name.

The reason why is a peeve I have with two characters in the same media having names that sound way too similar to each other.

And since these two casts do merge at one point, THIS DOES COUNT. Her name is way too close to Ellie, and I don't like that.

Same reason why I nicknamed Lill Lilly.

SO I AM CALLING HER ALLYSON, AND NO I AM NOT GOING TO HEAR CRITICISM ON THAT.

Anyway, now we can actually talk about Allyson.

Uh... she's there? I guess? I mean obviously she's there, she's a merge character.

I would say I like her though. She's really cute. I like her conceptually and that she's a gamer girl.

It's something I feel like the TDI Reboot WOULD do if they did do it.

The fact that she bonds with people through playing video games is really cute and solid characterization on what kind of person she is.

I like her off the wall way of solving problems.

She dances to stay awake. She makes a snowboard instead of a sled.

She's an outside the box thinker and she don't care what anyone thinks about her. It's really nice to have a character so sure of themselves like this.

I also really enjoy her bond with Tess. She starts off hesitant of the girl because of her crush on Hunter, but then grows to really care for Tess and help her out.

I think Allyson and Tess have better chemistry with each other than they do with Hunter, but that's just me.

(Tess/Allyson shipper?)

But I don't hate the choice to make it a polyamory instead. In fact I love the idea of a polyamory situation. You don't really see that rep anywhere.

So I DO like Allyson.

But... idk, she's kinda hard to talk about.

This is mostly because she's one of the more subtle and mundane characters compared to others. That's NOT a bad thing. But I grasp onto characters with a more emotional range a lot better.

Like, they really could have went all the way with her gamer girl concept and made her really geeky if they wanted.

But I can also kinda understand why they wouldn't want to do that, because then she would probably sound like a Gen Alpha brainrot YouTuber. And that would turn people off. So if that's the case, I would prefer her to be more normal.

That, and she also has the same issue Aiden has, and that her purpose in the story is to be a love interest for Hunter.

It's not as bad as Aiden's case, because again, she DOES have interactions with other characters that aren't Hunter. Tess especially. But Aiden is also a character with more emotional range, so that's why Allyson is lower than him despite that.

Allyson and Hunter are actually really cute. They're a nice pair and they have some cute chemistry.

And again, I really like how this love triangle ENDS, with it becoming a polyamory.

I was fully expecting this to end with Hunter choosing one of them. Expecting him to choose Allyson cause she was the one more open towards her feelings...? I guess...? That's what a lot of love triangle stories do.

UNLESS THEY'RE A HELLHOLE- *COUGH*

But NO. POLYAMORY REP. I LOVE IT.

But before that, it gets a bit dragged with the girls just waiting for Hunter to come clean about what he's feeling. And Allyson gets a bit paranoid in some parts, which would be annoying if it was exaggerated to be fair.

What I found awkward is that in Episode 9, where Allyson is eliminated, Hunter kisses her, and despite her admitting to wanting him romantically, she rejects the gesture and leaves him in the dust.

Like huh...? Girl, you wanted him this entire time. And when you get him you reject him?

I mean, I guess he DID say wait till the game was over, and she didn't want to hurt or betray Tess, so okay...

Another thing I found kinda off was her random tragic backstory she drops in Episode 7.

Her grandfather taught her everything she knows about gaming, and then he passed away three months ago prior to the show. She came to the show to escape that grief.

Cool...?

She and Jake would be besties.

But like, it came COMPLETELY OUT OF NOWHERE. There was NO sign she was grieving anyone's death. And she NEVER mentions or even HINTS at this before OR after this.

It just feels so random and so tacked on.

If the tragic backstory isn't going to affect the character in any way? Why even give them a tragic backstory, you know?

At least Jake's story about his grandma MATTERED to his character. We saw his grief with her. He told the audience a bit about his time with her and what she meant to him. It was a major playing factor in him bonding with Miriam. Which was VERY IMPORTANT for both of those characters.

It wasn't just a tacked on backstory for sympathy points, it played a key factor in the story's events.

With Allyson, it's just... there. Remove it, and nothing changes. We don't get any insight on her from this. It doesn't affect her relationship with Hunter or Tess at all.

I'd give Allyson a low B tier. Unfortunately kinda bordering C.

She's cute. I like her.

I would want to see her again, but just cause I think they could do more with her than what they did.

Flesh out that backstory more. Show off her gamer personality. Show off how that aids the people around her.

Do that, and she can go a lot higher.

KAROL

Oh boy, this one...

So, she's an Eva rip off.

She has anger issues. She gets eliminated in the sleep deprivation challenge. She comes back. And she gets eliminated the very next time she is able to be so.

So yeah, Eva rip off.

I rarely say that because this show is really good at making their own original characters. And similarities are really minimal so it's not very blatant.

Like, are you gonna say Gwen and Tess are the same character because they both wear all black? Come on now.

With Karol though? It's just really obvious.

I thought they were doing something with her in Episode 2 when they revealed she's an animal caretaker and she has a hard time bonding with people because of it. Which is a lot more than what Eva got already.

But then she gets used by James to be an elimination, and she spends the rest of her screen time bitching about James and Aiden.

Does James deserve it? Yes.

But she directs most of it towards AIDEN. Who let's be frank, was ALSO used.

It kinda gets a bit annoying. The only reason I wasn't totally against her was because again, JAMES deserves consequences.

She plays the serial killer and murders everybody to return to the game. Her first priority is to target James and Aiden out of revenge.

Cool! We have an antagonist!

But then she crashes her sled because of Aiden and she has to be medically evacuated. Before she could do anything.

...what was the point of bringing her back...?

I mean, okay, she DOES have a reason to come back. She's a player in Riya's character development and the advice she gives to her is very important to that storyline.

But, idk, SHE COULD'VE DONE SOMETHING ELSE.

So... yeah I don't think she was a good character. She's not horrible. The animal thing is pretty sweet. She's just kinda unpleasant.

OH SHIT... JAMES

James James James James James.

I mean, WHERE THE FUCK DO I EVEN BEGIN?!

THIS IS THE BEST CHARACTER, OBVIOUSLY.

DID YOU SEE WHAT HE DID TO YUL?

MAD RESPECT. MAD RESPECT.

DUDE JUST WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO POISON THAT BITCH TO GET HIM OUT OF MY SIGHT.

LOVE. NOTHING BUT LOVE.

Okay, now I rank him for real.

I went on a roller coaster of emotions regarding this character.

1-4, I didn't like him.

Episode 5, LOVED HIM CAUSE OF WHAT HE DID.

Episode 6-8, he was okay.

Then 9 onward I went right back to not liking him.

Some of you might then say it's very obvious where I'm placing him.

I didn't like that he won. I prefer Miriam's win. I would've preferred it if Aiden won. Or Rosa won. Or Riya won.

I don't like characters that have predatory behavior. I hate Sierra for this exact reason. The only time I don't mind it is if the character is a villain. But James isn't a villain. He ends up being our hero in the end.

So no sir, I don't like that he won a million bucks.

And I already expressed my distaste for James/Aiden's relationship.

So there. Low tier ranking. Right?

Well...

Actually, it's not that simple.

Out of everyone, this is the most "Where the hell do I rank this one?"

I do confess: I may have been too mean to this character.

Because everything I don't like about James is... kinda the point.

He's an unlikable hero. A jerk protagonist. He's supposed to start off the season sleezy and arrogant and dislikable. But as the season goes on, through trial and error and the power of love, he becomes humbled and develops into a much better person by the end. To the point where you DO root for him.

That IS his story. And I understand that now that I have watched the whole thing and processed it.

And upon reflection, you CAN see that arc very clearly.

The reason he poisons Yul is because he was targeting Aiden. Even if he doesn't want to admit then and there that was why he did it.

When he loses wifi in Episode 6 he becomes erratic, but by the end of the episode when he gets it back, he doesn't use it and instead spends time with Aiden.

Aiden asked him to confront him about schemes, and he actually obliges.

And of course, his apology in the finale.

THE ARC IS THERE. I SEE IT. I ABSOLUTELY SEE IT.

And honestly, I do RESPECT the arc and what James is supposed to be. IT'S A GOOD ARC. And they do show it in a pretty decent way.

It's just... idk, subjectively speaking, it's the execution that gets me.

He just does too much stuff that rubs ME off the wrong way, and thus it's hard for me to root for him at the end.

One, again, PREDATORY BEHAVIOR.

From the beginning, this man has his eyes set on Aiden and exploits him for Internet Fame. Even though he constantly says no. He keeps getting up in Aiden's business without his consent. And he keeps making lustful eyes at him.

Then he uses Aiden for a scheme to get rid of Karol. Something he DID NOT CONSENT TO. Aiden gets pissed and votes James in that Tribal Council.

But according to the show, Aiden is the one in the wrong because Aiden had a temper problem.

NO, AIDEN HAD EVERY RIGHT TO BE MAD.

I mean I GUESS James apologized. EXCEPT NOT REALLY...?

"No I'm just saying that to... apologize."

Oh?

"I don't regret having strategized in the game, but..."

Oh, no, he's not apologizing for shit. He's just making a scene.

That just told me that he had NO remorse for what he did to Karol.

And also, his apology there was about 'not including Aiden in his schemes'. One, he did, in Episode 2. Second, if he's talking about honesty here, WHAT IF AIDEN DOESN'T WANT TO SCHEME?

If Aiden ever said "NO. I don't want to do this." James is still gonna do it.

That's what that was telling me.

And then he straight up S/A's Aiden.

WHICH IS A BIG NO NO FOR ME.

And then he poisons Yul. Which, I LOVE THAT CAUSE THAT WAS YUL.

But IGNORING MY OPINION ON THE PERSON WHO GOT POISONED FOR A SECOND, it's pretty fucked of him to do.

You could've just, idk, swapped out the mushroom for breadcrumbs? Yul was going to be eliminated anyway. You didn't need to poison him to get him out of the picture.

What if Yul DIED from this? YOUR ASS WOULD BE IN JAIL.

Hell, your ass should be in jail for poisoning him ALONE.

But I guess it's fine because James gets no consequences for doing this.

Then he also sleeps with Aiden before he got consent to do that. And Aiden never really said in that scene it was fine. But compared to the others so far it's the least bad.

What does bother me is that we see that he posted a photo of Aiden in his sleep on the Internet later in the season. Which is messed up cause again, NO CONSENT. AIDEN NEVER SAID THAT WAS OKAY.

And then Karol comes back and she wants revenge on James and Aiden. And even though James DID ABSOLUTELY HURT HER, he is still portrayed in the episode as the good guy who did nothing wrong. And Karol is just 'overreacting.'

Which, SHE IS. I will give it that. BUT STILL. JAMES HURT HER IN THE FIRST PLACE. But NOT ONCE, does he EVER show remorse for that.

Instead when he tells Aiden and Aiden sabotages Karol and gets her hospitalized, JAMES PRAISES THIS.

DUDE. SHE'S IN THE HOSPITAL NOW. THIS ISN'T SOMETHING TO ENCOURAGE.

This man is responsible for not one, but TWO characters getting sent to the hospital!

Repeat what I said earlier:

Listen, murder is wrong, battery is wrong. Riya tries to kill Aiden. Karol kills everyone. But you know why I didn't take much problem with that? THESE CHARACTERS ARE VILLAINS.

BUT SURE, LET'S HAVE OUR HEROIC POWER COUPLE DO THE SAME THINGS, INSTANCES THAT ACTUALLY GET MEDICAL CONSEQUENCES FOR THOSE PEOPLE.

WHAT A GREAT LESSON. /s

This is part of Aiden's 'gaining confidence' arc by the way. He learns that murder is okay.

I guess murder and battery is bad only if you're a woman? It's okay if the boys do it?

WHAT A GREAT LESSON. /s

THAT'S NOT PROBLEMATIC AT ALL. /s

I'm just saying, I don't like that. I don't like that this is portrayed as okay.

If you REALLY wanted to have the finale parallels hit harder and see James as the good one in the end, then why are BOTH OF THEM attempted murderers?

Why is Riya seen as a bad guy for leaving someone hanging on a cliff, but James and Aiden get a pass for sending people to the hospital?

Every female character that dares oppose our beloved gay power couple is an enemy and a villain that needs to be put in their place, regardless of their reasonings. Is this season misogynistic? I think it's that...

Then he loses his temper over losing his phone, accuses Rosa of stealing it and attacks her, BEFORE HE HAD ANY PROOF SHE DID IT other than "Well she had a background".

If James had not exploded like that, Riya's plan would have failed and everything would have worked out fine.

But again James gets no consequences for this nor does anyone bring it up.

Then he shoves Aiden off a cliff.

...again, he gets a pass. Riya doesn't.

(Though I get the logic behind that one.)

And then it's revealed to everyone that despite gaining love and respect for Aiden, James is STILL using him for views.

(Before you say he stopped prior to Riya finding the phone: Riya says she saw a message pop up offering him money to take a photo with Aiden. You get those messages popping up the moment they're sent to you. So this implies James was still doing it.)

COOL. I LOVE THAT THE GOOD MOMENTS HAD ANOTHER GROSS FACTOR TO IT.

And James gets called out and cancelled for this. Yay-I mean oh no how sad...

This is the only times James EVER actually gets ANY sort of repercussions for what he does btw.

So he feels really bad about what he's done and he misses Aiden and nobody is routing for him, but all he cares about is making it up to Aiden.

Then, AT THE FINALE, we finally get his backstory about how he's an insecure guy who wanted fame to mean something. Cool. IT'S THE LAST EPISODE. THIS IS TOO LITTLE TOO LATE.

Then he wins a million dollars and gets his boyfriend back!

So like, the only consequence he got, he decided did not matter anymore. And since the people on the show routed for him again after his apology, what's stopping me from thinking he won some followers back too?

Yeah... it's a decent arc and all, but MAN THAT EXECUTION.

It was just SO HARD to like him when you factor in ALL OF THAT. IT'S JUST SO HARD.

But, here's the thing... James also has some good stuff to that as well. He's not the worst.

Despite my feelings towards the ship, there are some scenes where he NOT being predatory.

Helping Aiden with is fear of thunderstorms is sweet. The fact that he decides not to check his phone and hang out with Aiden is sweet and nice character growth. He keeps his promise to Aiden to be honest about schemes. I like the movie banter. And again, Aiden's trans coming out scene is very sweet because James approaches it well and respectfully. Which you don't expect from him.

And on top of that, after he loses his followers, I do find everything he does and says after that to be genuine. I do believe he feels guilty and regrets his actions prior.

And I do find his apology and confession to Aiden to be VERY GENUINE.

He's not likeable, but that's the point. He's supposed to be someone who grows to be someone better and sees that fame is not what matters.

Love is what matters. Staying true to yourself is what matters. Your life is what matters.

The Anti-Riya. Again. The parallels are there.

So, I DO see it.

I would've then had Riya win the money to bring that message home cause then she'd be alone and stuck in an identity that's not herself for the rest of her career and life, and James and Aiden run off happily ever after because money wouldn't buy their happiness-BUT WHATEVER. THAT'S MY OPINION.

YOU HAD A GREAT BUILD UP THERE. JUST SAYING. IT WAS RIGHT THERE.

So really, my biggest problem with James is that he ticks off boxes of things I don't like. Without those, he's actually a pretty solid character with a strong arc.

I... kinda DO want to see James come back. Shocking, I know.

But put him in Season Three, and have him NOT do those things, and BOOM, I might actually like him.

ALSO, he poisoned Yul.

ALSO, he lent money to Rosa. WHICH I RESPECT THE HELL OUT OF, SO MUCH. THAT IS THE ULTIMATE REDEMPTION RIGHT THERE.

So you know what? For those things, this is going to be a VERY SHOCKING ranking.

A low B tier.

He rubs me off the wrong way. But I respect the story they were going for, and there were SOME genuinely good things he did.

Now granted, that ranking is VERY generous. I might change that in the future. Just because this is, again, the most MIXED character for me. The most "WHERE THE HELL DO I PUT THIS CHARACTER?"

So are you happy? I didn't put him in a bad tier. I warmed up to him.

I still would've preferred a Riya win though.

SPEAKING OF, RIYA IS NEXT.

Uh...

IT'S NO SECRET I LOVE THIS WOMAN.

I supported her no matter what! I said "Hey, if you want to leave Aiden hanging off of a cliff, you do it girlie! I support women's wrongs!"

If Riya has 1,000,000 fans, I am one of them.

If Riya has 1,000 fans, I am one of them.

If Riya has 100 fans, I am one of them.

If Riya has 10 fans, I am one of them.

If Riya has 1 fan, I AM THAT ONE.

So... yeah, you know where she's going. I'm a bias bitch with this one. 👑

This is my queen right here.

She's an evil queen, but she's MY evil queen.

I mean Grett's also here. Screw it. We can have two evil queens.

THIS IS MY FAVORITE SEASON TWO CHARACTER BY THE WAY.

There's not gonna be any character from Season Two that goes above her.

I was just really fascinated with her the entire time watching the season. I pretty quickly gravitated towards her character.

At first it was just "This chick is hot." I admit XD

But like,

LOOK AT THIS DESIGN.

You got the curly dark ponytail, contrasted with the gold folded dress and the scarlet red jacket and sandals, two colors I LOVE.

(The hot colors are my favorite colors)

LIKE, THIS IS A SMASH FOR ME. THIS SPEAKS TO ME.

(I'm ace though. I just mean by looking fab 💅)

I immediately went "THIS IS A QUEEN RIGHT HERE" as a result. And then I supported everything she did.

There's also something else that made me absolutely obsessed over her.

For those who didn't see my Season 1 reactions, in Episode 10 of that season, Ellie found herself in a conflict where she needed to get out somebody from the Tom/Jake/Miriam alliance.

And then Tom tells her he found an immunity idol.

So I went "There you go. Steal the idol from Tom and you can nullify the votes in your favor."

But no. She doesn't do that. Instead she makes this very convoluted plan with Fiore and Alec to use Jake's PTSD against him to ruin his relationship with Tom.

Not only was the plan so convoluted, but it was also very disgusting.

And she kept insisting that it was only way she could have gotten what she wanted.

AND I WAS SCREAMING THE ENTIRE TIME FOR HER TO JUST STEAL THE IDOL.

And EVER SINCE THAT EPISODE, it has become a running gag on my blog whenever I post Disventure Camp, to go INSANE whenever an idol shows up.

So when Season Two comes around, RIYA JUST WENT AHEAD AND DID IT. SHE STOLE THE IDOL.

She PROVED to me that my argument was justified. Stealing the idol IS, INDEED, THE EASIEST SOLUTION TO EVERYONE'S PROBLEMS.

SLAY QUEEN👑

It also made perfect sense in the narrative as well. This plan was DIRTY, but it was genius to get herself to the finale.

It's the Final Five. Everyone is ganging on Hunter because he wins immunity all the time.

And if Hunter wins immunity again (which is what ends up happening), then who's out next? James and Aiden WON'T turn on each other, and everyone loves Rosa. So Riya would've been next.

And Rosa has an idol. So the plan was to steal Rosa's idol from under her nose, and frame Rosa for theft to get the others to turn on her. Then without the idol, Rosa takes the votes instead of Riya.

And even if they find out Riya did this? Doesn't matter. She has the idol. She can use it for herself and guarantee her spot in the finale.

IT WORKED. And I have to give credit to a great plan where credit is due.

Girl KNEW what she was doing.

The only reason she lost in the end was because of a canon malfunction.

BUT THERE'S UNIRONIC REASONS WHY I LIKE HER TOO, I SWEAR.

We associate her with being a villain character NOW, just because of where her story went.

If I was to compare her to any Total Drama character, it would be Julia.

Both of them are twist villains in their respective seasons, and became such after being fueled by fame and viewership and support for nasty behavior.

But wouldn't say they're the exact same character, because in Julia's case, her nice zen self was the act and her true self was her nasty self.

Whereas Riya it's actually the opposite.

Because in the beginning Riya is a genuinely sweet woman.

Her story is that she is an actress in India down on her luck because she can't get any roles in movies to keep herself afloat. Even before she came on the show, very few people like her and support her. It's implied she doesn't have a great relationship with her family, and she didn't have any friends even there.

So when she went to the west to try and aid her career, her depressing lonely life hit her like a truck from culture shock.

I kinda wish they did more with showing her culture shock, but what we did see of it was still good. And I bet any immigrants can relate to what she says.

What I found really interesting was that at the start of the season, Riya says that her policy is to stay true to herself to stay strong.

But then her being herself is the very root of her failures in her circumstance.

The acting industry is BRUTAL and DEMANDING. I know this from my schools. They only want the popular people who fit these criteria's and can fit the personas required correctly. If you go there and be yourself, you're not gonna get ANYTHING.

Trust me. I KNOW.

So I was suspicious of Riya's story from how her policy contradicts her means of success. AND I WAS RIGHT.

It's also how the show works. This and Total Drama. Reality TV is corrupting because what they look for is entertainment. If you're not entertaining, you're gonna get a bad edit and then people online know you, but won't like you. So you see people acting to make these characters to appeal to the masses and get not only their chance to shine but their shots to win. By any means necessary, that's how the cutthroat game works, and that's what the success there is. And i's very easy to lose sight of yourself and your identity.

It was one of the things and theming's I found so fascinating about Total Drama to begin with. So you can imagine it's a soft spot for me in this show, where it's straight up explicit that this is what they're going for.

Deep down, Riya is just a sweet girl with a dream to make it as an actress, but she feels so alienated to the world and people around her as is that she craves and what she NEEDS is companionship.

But nobody goes to talk to her. Hunter Allyson and Tess go to YUL of all people, and Kai is insane. So most of them just ignore her and she's at the bottom of her team.

Despite this, she meets Connor and learns they have some things in common, and they bond over their culture shock. She's one of the key players in helping Connor come to terms with his age, and as a result, he becomes a close friend of hers.

COOL! I HOPE HE DOESN'T GET ELIMINATED OR ANYTHING-

Op, he quit.

F for Riya for sure.

Connor leaves and he gives her a very expensive perfume as a birthday present. And Riya absolutely treasures it.

She values it because it came from Connor, obviously, but there are people around her without knowing the meaning making comments about his luxurious it is. So yeah, it was a very subtle detail I picked up on, and I have to applaud that writing choice to make the perfume be that significant.

She finds an advantage to help her get out of her spot on the bottom, switching two people. Taking Yul out (SLAY), and bringing in Rosa Maria. Who Riya takes the opportunity to gravitate towards as well to be her trusted friend and ally.

...to the point where she's kinda possessive over her.

Everything's great until the merge, where Lake comes back to the picture, and it's clear Rosa has more faith and trust in Lake than Riya.

It becomes evident when Rosa only reveals she found the immunity idol to them ONLY after Lake joins them.

Now, Rosa cares about Riya too, so it's not that. Riya's being paranoid.

But I kinda see Riya's POV here of feeling betrayed and like her bond with these girls isn't as strong as she thinks it is. And she becomes so paranoid of them abandoning her that she ends up doing it herself.

Which then leads to her starting to prioritize the game and her career over these friends, and in the process she ditches her morals and her sense of self.

It starts small, when she decides to not warn Rosa about the votes against Lake to get Lake out of the picture. For the reason being she wanted Rosa to herself.

Then Karol comes in and gives her some advice.

"We don't fit in this place. And although they may seem friendly, in the end we are not a priority for them. Sooner or later they will want to discard us."

Which cuts Riya deep because that's exactly what her circumstance is. That's how the game works.

The Green Team wanted to discard her at one point despite her not doing anything to deserve it. Connor left. And Rosa didn't trust her enough to let her in on her plans until someone else was in the picture.

And then she's here witnessing the boys getting Karol to the hospital, and they are PRAISED for it.

Of course that's gonna go in her head.

So is it any wonder she did what she did and completely ditched her sense of self, in favor of this ruthless, cunning, villainess character?

It was only THEN that Riya ACTUALLY got success.

And that's the saddest part about it. How she was enabled to become this by the show and the people around her. Fame became the priority.

And in the end, Rosa denounces their friendship entirely, and everyone else hates her. All she has is Connor, and even then, they're on the fence.

I wouldn't be surprised if she ruins that too.

I love not only how natural the build up was to this, but also the ambition to do this negative character arc.

It really hit a soft spot for me to get a character with this story and have it be as explicit as this. Really showing how this industry works and how people in this field get corrupted in one way or another.

I LOVE gushing over her villainy persona. I kinda made some gags out of it. BUT ALSO, I can't help but feel sorry for her. She learned the wrong lessons. She didn't have to do this to herself. At the end of the day, she isn't this demon from hell. She's a person. A misguided person.

It's also why I would have preferred it if Riya had won.

I KNOW SHE'S A VILLAIN. But hear me out. The build up was there! They could have done something REALLY ambitious here by having her WIN, but she LOSES what was actually important.

It would've been very unique and very interesting instead of the safe "The good guys win and the bad guys lose".

I genuinely want Riya to win this season.

I get she might be evil, but it's Total Drama so who cares look what show you're watching, BUT THAT WOULD BE SO POETIC AND BRILLIANT.

She came here as an outsider outcast with no social life and desperately wanted it. But because of the game and what her career needed to succeed, she had to ditch both that and her morality so she could find success.

SHE WINS AND SHE SLAYS, BUT SHE WON'T BE HAPPY. HER LIFE WILL BE MISERABLE AND AN ENDLESS CYCLE OF ACTING SHE CAN'T BREAK FROM.

I WANT RIYA TO WIN NOW. THAT WOULD BE SUCH A GREAT ENDING. TOTAL DRAMA WOULD NEVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

But sadly no. She loses and Connor forgives her.

So maybe there's hope for redemption in Season 3?

Probably. Probably not. Honestly, they could go either way.

And since Riya was a finalist in Season 2, obviously my ideal Riya win is out of the equation now. They're not gonna have anyone be a finalist twice.

But, honestly, depending on the arc, I could also see there being a good excuse for her to at least make it to merge of Season 3. Maybe even Final Five or Four. Whether as a redeemed woman who saw the light, or someone who doubles down and loses everything.

I'm gonna make a prediction post once I react to the Season 3 cast select. By prediction I mean elimination order.

When I predict an elimination order, it doesn't have much to do with my opinion on the character. If it was solely that, then look at that, Jake and Riya are my finalists. But obviously that's a no and that's not something that would happen. I need to be realistic on that front.

I don't know. I'm going off track now.

Point is, RIYA IS QUEEN. I STAN HER AND I LOVE HER.

ALRIGHT! WHO'S NEXT?😄

🙃

*Moves to the end of the row*

TESS! TESS IS NEXT!

Tess is great. I like Tess. She might be my favorite of the polycule.

Looking at her design alone and looking at her on paper, she just seems like a Gwen knock off.

And I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the original vision.

She’s a woman who dresses in all black, is antisocial towards people in the beginning, and is tied to romantic plotlines half the time because people have a kink for goth girls.

But I personally think because both of these characters stories go in wildly different directions, Tess can still be called her own character.

I already said I really enjoyed her friendship with Allyson. I forgot to say this before, but I also love how neither of them actively go to antagonize each other to win the guy. They're very mature about the situation, and it's really appreciative to see that in some characters.

Again, I think Tess has way more chemistry with Allyson than Hunter BUT THAT'S JUST ME.

I can definitely see why Tess and Hunter would bond with each other due to their shared lifestyles of never being able to connect with people.

Not because they want to be alone. Not because they’re lazy. But because they simply struggle in the world in the department.

In Tess’s case, it has to do with depression.

And yes, they explicitly say that.

So skip to 🖤 if you want to avoid the subject of depression.

Tess is an orphan. She has had nobody her entire life. No purpose, no peers, no nothing.

It got to a point where she had been diagnosed with depression and needed to take meds to prevent herself from being suicidal.

Hunter finds out this is what's going on with her, and he approaches her about it. And he is very respectful towards what is going on. He doesn't judge her. He just makes it clear he understands and wants to be by her side.

And since that point, Tess starts to open up a little more to Hunter and Allyson and form a bond with them. Even when she, at first, expects the worst in Allyson. She is proven wrong when Allyson helps her out of a panic attack.

It's clear that Tess's motivations didn't involve winning the million at all. She just wanted the experience. She just wanted to do something with her life and feel alive.

And in that sense, her victory is finally forming a bond with people that love and accept her for who she is. Even when it feels like there's no reason for them to do so.

I love her elimination for these reasons.

Tess eavesdrops on everyone else and learns they are planning to vote her off.

She COULD, if she wanted the million, try to scheme and prevent this from happening. IF SHE WANTED TO.

But as she approaches the unassuming Allyson and Hunter, what does she do?

"Guys, there's something I want to tell you."

"We are SCREWED. Nice knowing ya."

"I just want to say... thank you."

Oh? Awww...

"Thank you for not giving up on me. Thank you for insisting on reaching out to me, even though I'm a mess. I was horrible to you, and yet you treated me with kindness, patience, and love. I... I am very, very happy that I came to this camp. Despite many horrible things I've been through.... meeting you two has been on of the best things that's ever happened to me."

AWWWWWW. HONEY. OH MY GOSH...

I'm actually touched. SWEETHEART.

Tess... just quietly accepts her fate. Because she has decided what matters in that moment.

This wouldn't work for any other character. If it was any other character, I would have called BS, and that they could've absolutely done something to save themselves from winning.

But BECAUSE IT'S TESS, someone who got her win already, I'm glad they did it like this.

I have a loved one who goes through depression. And I myself am seeing a therapist. So in terms of how they handled the subject of depression itself...

I think it was pretty respectful all things considered. Again, I love how Hunter and Allyson approach it with her she has an episode. Said episode is very real for anyone going through it. Sometimes you just spiral into a sea of negative emotions and everything just feels hopeless and meaningless. It's very real.

I also LOVE that they NEVER treat this as a joke. That was one thing I was SCARED of when I saw the pills, but they took the subject with the seriousness it deserved.

And they NEVER spoke in any way that this a good thing to say or feel. They were merely just patient.

I really like that.

🖤

In terms of where I'd rank Tess...

I mean I think she's great. I'll put her in...

A Tier. Above Ellie? ...yeah, cause Ellie's stupidity REALLY bothered me.

I WISH they MORE with Tess's backstory.

That is the ONE reason why she is not in S Tier.

We know from ONE LINE that she is an orphan. That's it.

Other than that, we don't know how she got depressed, what her life was like to explain the depression, or anything.

Well, you can't EXPLAIN depression, so maybe that's not the right way to word it. But you know, knowing more about her past would've been nice to at least give audiences their own conclusions to draw.

I just feel like I SHOULD know MORE about Tess than I actually do.

Give her more backstory and she could be S Tier.

But I still love her. I also like that she's an artist. That's really cute.

HUNTER

HUNTER IS MY PICK FOR BEST BOY OF SEASON TWO.

...I'd give him B Tier.

Yeah... looking at this tier list and that statistic, I really didn't like the male characters in this season, huh?

Yeah, looking at the S Tier and the Stan Tier, only TWO boys in those tiers. WOW.

And neither of them are from Season Two.

Anyway, about Hunter.

It's kind of funny that the label he has is "The Player".

But uh... he's really not?

He just hangs out with other girls. That doesn't say anything about him being a romantic player. He's not trying to play with these girls emotions. Willingly, anyway.

He's more just an introverted guy trying way too hard to be social. Mostly because he doesn't get out a lot.

And it's actually kinda cute to see him try and fail to make social connections with these people. The card thing is really cute and awkward. And I love how oblivious he is towards romantic subtext.

I knew it was wrong, but I still kept reading Hunter as aromantic. He was giving me that energy.

I don't hate that it was wrong, I'm just saying.

Hunter is asexual. I'm not taking criticism.

He also has really good chemistry with the girls, and I buy he would struggle to figure out how to approach the subject of their relationship. Not because he's manipulative, but because he has a hard time sorting these things out.

CAN YOU SAY "AUTISTIC CODED"?

If I liked the other guys better, Hunter probably would be lower, but here we are.

He's just, a REALLY nice and genuine guy. He's never antagonistic towards anybody and is going out of his way to help them out and be respectful about what's going on.

This man KNEW a woman's depression meds were important to her, and he went out of his way to save some and keep them in a safe place in case anything bad happened to her bottle.

BLESS THIS MAN'S HEART FOR THAT ONE.

And even when he becomes target number one, it doesn't mean he's doing anything malicious. He's just a physical threat because he's constantly winning immunity.

EVERY TIME FOR BULLSHIT REASONS MIGHT I ADD.

Except the last time.

Episode 7, the ring holder said "Lol nope" to Lake.

Hunter didn't even win the Episode 8 challenge, Karol just shared immunity with him to stir the pot.

Episode 9, he loses his blindfold AND his partner going down the sled. BOTH OF WHICH were REQUIREMENTS. And yet he STILL got immunity.

It got RIDICULOUS. And kinda made it predictable that eventually they would HAVE to beat Hunter. Because if he bullshat is way to the finale and won, people would be LIVID.

Ngl, I kinda feel sorry for him that this became his circumstance in the merge XD

Dude did nothing wrong leave him alone.

But it's also because of the merge that Hunter isn't any higher unfortunately.

Once Tess is eliminated, Hunter kinda just becomes bland and I stopped caring about his plotline. I was just waiting for him to go home.

That and Hunter really isn't a character with a lot of emotional range, like I said. He has the same thing going for him that Allyson has. But at least Allyson had the gamer girl motif so she was a BIT more of a standout.

Oh and he allies with Yul at one point. WHICH IS A NO NO.

He says his reasoning is "If Yul is in the game, attention is on him and not me." BULLSHIT. HAVE YOU WATCHED SURVIVOR?

If you ally with a villain, and people realize they can't vote the person out, they're gonna decide to take out their allies. They have to if they want the villain out eventually. This is EXACTLY how you get a target on your back!

And that's exactly what happens. Once Yul is gone, Hunter has NO PLAN.

HE'S A FLOATER.

Anyway, mostly I'm just impressed that they made a love triangle that WASN'T completely annoying. In Total Drama that's a miracle. Nobody tried to kill each other and nobody was painted as a bad guy!

OH ROSA. SWEET ROSA!

GOD BLESS THIS WOMAN. OH MY GOD.

Listen, as we've established, I love the messy characters. I latch onto the messiness and unstable characters because they're so much more interesting to analyze.

But if everyone was messy, nobody would be, ya know?

Sometimes, you just need that one SUNSHINE in the cast. That one character that just handles everything thrown at them with a smile on their face and genuine kindness.

ROSA IS THAT CHARACTER.

Everyone else here has SOME sort of angst and trauma and drama going on. And it weighs them down. And while Rosa has trauma too, she handles it with her head held high.

And dammit, that's inspiring.

I previously called Rosa "The Paddington of this cast". And I still stand by that.

Not exactly the most dynamic, but they don't need to be. Their strength and their role in the story is to have their sunshine-filled goodness rub off the people around them to make the world a better place.

She very quickly stood out to me for being not only one of the nicest people ever, but one of the mot optimistic and happiest people ever.

IN A TOTAL DRAMA KNOCK OFF SHOW.

THAT'S IMPRESSIVE.

These settings are usually VERY mean spirited and sadistic and cruel. And yet despite that, she stays true to herself and doesn't let them wipe away her smile and positive outlook on the world.

Her story is also very interesting to me.

She's an extroverted Latina teenager from a not so safe neighborhood. There's a lot of scary messed up people where she's from. Despite this, she was a bit of a flirt with the boys that came and went in her life, all for happiness and satisfaction.

And then she got pregnant from that. And people did not take it the best way. Especially when it forced her to grow up fast. Teenage mother and all that. The lack of support and the fact that she had to become a thief to survive gave her every reason to look at the world negatively. But she still knew that wasn't the future she wanted for her daughter. So she held it together.

She came to the show to financially support her daughter and her future. And DAMMIT, I WAS ROUTING FOR HER TO WIN.

I thought she WAS gonna win for the longest time. She had everything going for her. A strong social game. She was physically capable. Nobody wanted to get rid of her for the longest time. If Riya didn't interfere, she probably would have won.

But she got money from James in the end, so you know what? Can I gaslight myself into thinking Rosa won?

Fuck it. ROSA WON.

It's a strong foundation that plays sense into all of her actions.

She's kind and social, and will give you a hug. But she also has a backbone and a bit of a no nonsense attitude. Especially towards bullshit like Yul existing and Riya's scandal towards her. Which the latter she had EVERY RIGHT to be pissed at, and I LOVE that she doesn't forgive Riya. That tells me Rosa isn't naive and knows when people can't be helped. And the former, GIRL WAS ABOUT TO THROW HANDS. AND SHE DID SO WITH A GODDAMN SERIAL KILLER.

HOW CAN YOU NOT STAN?

I also like how Rosa can't really FIX anyone's problems. She can give advice, but not everyone is gonna take it. Lake snaps at Rosa when she calls out her parents and they have a falling out. She straight up FAILS with Riya. Like, girl, why didn't you trust Riya enough to show her your idol sooner? After you knew Riya was weary about friendships. That said, I would still say Rosa was undeserving of what happened to her.

Oh, and she decides to betray her own alliance just because she felt bad for Hunter. Which is... girl, no. Hunter's not a bad guy so I get it, but GIRL. IT'S A GAME.

James still had to apologize on his own. Lake still had to find her independence on her own. Rosa's just there to be a light bulb. But I really like that for her.

She's also not above justice. She knows when to put her foot down and call someone out. Again, with Riya. And SHE was the one who suggested they sneak in Krystal's tent to steal Riya's perfume back.

I also love love LOVE that she's into astrology. That's a huge ME thing. But I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.

I love it when characters have hobbies like that.

I LOVE HER LIBRA NECKLACE, OH MY GOD.

I also, again, love Rosa's dynamic with Lake and how much of a mother figure she becomes for her. I also like how she stuck with Riya despite Riya being the outcast. It wasn't until Riya betrayed her that she ended that friendship entirely. Rightfully.

Is she a stan...?

Yeah.

THIS GIRL DESERVES THE WORLD DAMMIT!

She's a Paddington. That's all I'll say. She is a Paddington and a beacon of light in such a CRUEL, MISERABLE environment where there's so much deception and hate going around. And not only does she refuse to get pushed, but she also says that sweetheart. I SALUTE HER.

Sadly, I don't think she'll get to go far in Season 3 because she already has money from James. She might get some sort of conflict with Riya, but that's it. But you know, I would like to see that get fleshed out. I like to see a scenario where Rosa doesn't like a teammate and wants them to get eliminated. Rosa deserves that.

ALRIGHT, that's it with the contestants! Now we can move on to the hosts...

🙃

...oh wait, I did forget someone!

🙃

OLIVER

You remember Oliver, right? He competed.

Yeah I don't have much to say with this one. He was the first boot. His backstory is being a Gen Z employee. And he spends the rest of this season as Krystal's intern and getting abused.

Which, you know, I DID feel bad for him.

And he DOES serve a purpose to the story as someone who becomes very important to Krystal and her struggle to maintain her sanity. He's a light in her life. Despite the abuse, he doesn't lose faith in her and sees the best in her when no one else did.

It's nice. I like him. I'll give him a B tier. He served his purpose well.

I will say though, it was HIS FAULT that Aiden almost died. Dude is in charge of the safety equipment in this show! And he's been very good about that all season.

And then SUDDENLY he forgets to get anything set up in case someone falls off the FREAKING MOUNTAIN?!

OUT OF CHARACTER. BULLSHIT. CHEAP DRAMATIC EFFECT.

Who is this? Marcus?

Oh that's his name.

Uh... I actually have NOTHING to say. Why is this character even here? He doesn't do anything aside from be protective over the doll. Remove him and the season does not change-

-oh wait I just remembered the puppet.

She did kill everyone that one episode.

Just... WHAT THE HELL EVEN IS THIS THING?

IS IT A PUPPET? IS IT A CHILD? IS IT A DEMON FROM HELL???

I DON'T KNOW. But, idk, I kinda love not knowing in this case.

Top of C Tier just for the puppet.

KRYSTAL MCLEAN

Daughter of Chris McLean. Yes, THAT Chris McLean.

So, when it comes to this show, I don't really care about the hosts.

In Season 1 especially, their plotline just did absolutely nothing for me. And I didn't care about the duo's dynamic either. It was very boring.

Important, but boring.

KRYSTAL ON THE OTHER HAND.

Honestly, I actually DID dig her storyline.

She's certainly NOT Chris in terms of icon. But I really liked her.

I really liked her story about being a executive trying to do her job and get the show picked up to work, and dealing with childhood trauma and her way of being raised getting in the way of her actions and manic behavior.

Like, she was a bad person. And I don't deny that. Especially in the start of the season where she enslaves the campers in a challenge and tells somebody to throw their depression medication in a fire... it's disgusting. But it's also supposed to be.

But she wasn't very one dimensionally sadistic. She doesn't WANT to be that way. It was just due to how she was raised with her neglectful father being THAT MOTHERFUCKER, that she lashes out and lets those teachings take hold of her.

And it's not until she loses Oliver that she grows to realize she actually respects him as a person and she NEEDS him in her life. He put up with her when no one else did. Which is something that meant a lot to her. So she REALLY puts in the effort to be the best version of herself to keep him around, only to burn herself out because of how much of a culture shock it is for her.

Idk, I liked it, and I found it interesting. She was very interesting to me. Especially since she's tied to a lot of this show's lore.

So I'll give her an A Tier. She's the best host character.

*Groan*

This took me three days to make. But I can avoid it no longer.

It's Yul's turn.

Fuck this fucking piece of fucking shit from fucking hell...

I mean it's no secret I hate Yul. Right?

I think the reasons I hate him are pretty obvious as well.

Disventure Camp really likes fleshing out its characters and going beyond their stereotypes and roles. Making them far more human.

So isn't it great that we have a character that IS nothing but his stereotype?

And he's also one of the most COMICALLY UNLIKEBALE, SHALLOW, SADISTIC, OFFENSIVE BITCH BAGS I've ever met on a Total Drama season.

Like okay, he shows up, first thing that comes out of his mouth is a joke about a woman's menopause.

Then we find out he's here because he was cancelled in his country for SHOVING AN OLD LADY DOWN AN ESCALATOR.

Then he proceeds to bully Maggy cause she's a big girl. He continues to do this to the point where he costs his team the challenge just because he doesn't want anything to do with her.

And then he also tries to KILL AIDEN with a mushroom.

And then the entire time when people are calling him out on his crap, he proceeds to ignore all of it and insult everyone's race, gender, sexuality, body type, etc.

He was giving me Velma flashbacks if I'm being honest. (He's not as bad though cause at least we're supposed to not like it.)

He didn't NEED to be one of the most complex characters of the cast. But even the Total Drama characters that are meant to be their gimmicks and nothing else should at least have an entertaining gimmick.

So what's Yul's gimmick?

He's a biggot.

...where's the punch line?

Not only is that not funny, but it's also extremely problematic. For obvious reasons. And there's NO backstory to explain it either.

Like, you can be a villain and still not turn off half of your audience. Just saying.

OH WAIT, HE'S A VILLAIN. I'M SUPPOSED TO HATE HIM.

OKAY SO ALL MY PROBLEMS ARE NEGATED, RIGHT-?

NO.

Because as a villain, he's SHIT.

One, he's not even the main villain of the season. There is nothing about his character that serves any way to push the themes further. He has no impact on making Riya a villain at all.

Not that he needed to be, but this man wants to be Grett SO BAD. With NO understanding of what made Grett good.

Like, NEWS FLASH, HE DOESN'T DESERVE TO BE IN THE SAME ROOM AS GRETT.

He spends the entire game with his strategy being to be a biggot to EVERYONE, and rely on a four person alliance who stayed in that... BECAUSE.

Again, HE was the one who made the Green Team lose the kissing challenge.

You'd think a villain would WANT to win, right? He doesn't have any interesting strategy. He's just a douche for the sake of being a douche.

I mean, I guess he lies to Aiden to get a vote thrown...?

But that was James' idea, and that is BAD for Yul because then he gets in a tie with Maggy.

What if he lost that tiebreaker?

DON'T PUT YOURSELF IN A TIE LIKE THAT.

And then the only strategy he comes up with on his own is murder.

Great. I'm sure that won't backfire at all.

So no. Yul does not get points for being a villain. Especially if he's shit at the role.

Oh, and something else I find disgusting and really problematic about him:

Disventure Camp and Total Drama characters have labels. Something to establish their stereotype or something major about themselves.

Riya is the Bollywood Actress. James is the Influencer. Allyson is the Gamer Girl. Tess is the Asocial. Etc. Things like that.

Yul's label, the thing that defines him, is "The Korean Dancer".

...

His label includes his race.

See the problem?

There is absolutely NO redeeming qualities about this character WHATSOEVER.

It is my absolute HONOR to give this man the ONLY F TIER ON THIS LIST.

And the only way anyone is gonna join him is if Season 3 really REALLY REALLY fucks up their character.

FUCK YUL. FUCK THIS PIECE OF SHIT. I NEVER WANT TO SEE HIM AGAIN.

Okay, but I WILL say though: It is FUN to dunk on him.

He is one of those "So bad it's funny" characters.

Does shit to his ranking. But you know.

The DMs I've been getting talking about Yul have definitely made me like Yul more than I would have if I was just watching the show for yourself.

Like, some of your rewrite ideas for him? A+. I bet your fanfictions would make me like Yul a lot more than in canon.

So, I may hate the character and never want to see him in canon again, but I do love dissing him and bullying him.

When he was eliminated due to mushroom poisoning, I was laughing and cheering. It was hilarious.

And again, Kai roasting Yul lives in my head rent free.

Fuck Yul. Truly. FUCK. YUL.

And that’s my ranking! Let me know what all your thoughts are!