#*don't like my editing here. obviously i love the episode lmao

[lonesomedotmp3]

favourite boy meets world episodes 3/? - Cory's Alternative Friends I don't think I'm weird. I think I'm unique. Jedediah and Chloe say that every time you're not true to yourself, the earth weeps.

[iudex-of-dead]

My observations from Ep 4

spoiler alert! If you haven't seen episode 4 yet, what are you waiting for? 👀

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Edit: Sorry for the mistakes in this post, I don't speak English and I use a translator haha

• Okay, I found the whole beginning quite hilarious, from Agatha's apparent "insensitivity" to Sharon's death even she attempts to keep the coven moving on

• I also really liked Alice's backstory about her mother and as Alice is greatly affected by the mere mention of her mother , the internal conflict of Alice is clearly seen

• The passive-aggressive fight about Jen and Lilia hahaha "it was your fault"

• Teen is the guide of the group obviously, these witches would not survive without him

• The whole invocation of a "green witch" xD

Well, I guess Agatha really hoped something good would come out of it, as if she still refused to accept that Rio is the black heart that belongs to the coven ... And well, it's never good to be in denial, right? Haha

• And SHE IS HERE! Welcome Rio 💀🖤

We went from "attempted murder" to shameless courtship?? Helloooo?? "Surprise! Milady 😍🌺"

Agatha's reaction was also pretty funny, she's like "bitch let's keep that in private, u're embarrass me in front of my new bitches and my new son"

• The rest of the episode has quite a few interesting details and a very well-described background story, but I'm sleepy, So I'll just add more Agatha x Rio stuff

• With Rio's interactions towards Agatha throughout this episode I've realized that Rio is Agatha's lapdog, in retrospect it can be seen in episode 1, Rio gives that aura of "I need you like I REALLY NEED YOU" "please look to me"

That whole 'bad girl' image went down the drain the moment she lunged at Agatha and said "I've missed you." And then she proceeded to just do the gayest thing, yes, foreplay with knives and telling Agatha that "yes I do, it's black and beats for u" and licking her hand 🥴

Rio, you don't fool anyone, my dear. That was your way of warning your beloved that she was in great danger without seeing you so weak and needy But clearly YOU ARE weak for Agatha and YOU NEED her (like everyone else on this server lmao 🥵)

Proof of this is that she can't resist hanging around Agatha and she epically fell into Agatha's "trap", Then when Teen is resting from being injured and the other witches are like at a bonfire Rio just seems so casual and confident BUT As soon as Agatha arrives at the party she changes and looks like a scolded child haha

Excuse me??? That passive aggressiveness towards your ex?? Oh, and you have the nerve to chase Agatha 👀

Rio is obviously a lost case, the poor woman is damned in love and blames herself for having ruined her relationship with Agatha which really hurts me!

Agatha was emotionally weak, it was a moment of vulnerability (Because of Teen) in which she let Rio in because they know each other but Rio ruined it by mentioning "that boy isn't your" 😔😭

(really cares about Agatha and wants to protect her, It seems that Rio distrusts Teen or simply does not want Agatha to become too affective with him mistakenly thinking that he is her son)

I guess our queen Harkness will just put her walls back up, I'm very sad for Rio 🥺 Just keep trying and don't give up with your girl!

[accirax]

initial thoughts on DCAS episode 16

... is Derek really an incel? like, at the very least, shouldn't him being with Kristal prove that he isn't an incel? i have no qualms with Emily insulting Derek, but she should at least be accurate.

ooh, Emily going full villain mode? we stan :D

girl how would you possibly think this would work

so Ally has resorted to playing a fully emotional game, huh? you either get eliminated a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the Jake.

the music in this scene cracked me up. also, i think aleriya is (canonically) dead after this scene, if it hadn't already died beforehand. (i say canonically bc fans can do whatever they want)

d-does he still...? also, obligatory "just because Connor loves Riya doesn't mean she has any obligation to love him back, villain or not."

i really can't tell if this part of Ally's character arc is meant to be viewed as good or bad. like, the show is obviously telling us that Ally's overall trajectory is bad, and being needlessly cruel to other people for the sake of putting your own emotional wellbeing first could certainly be a part of that. but, there's also been a lot of commentary about how hard it is to be under the scrutiny of social media (likely from the crew's own experiences), so Ally learning to stand up for herself and what she needs could also be a form of wish fulfillment. hopefully it'll resolve as a multi-layered predicament in the end, but i'm just trying to figure out how Ally will respond to her edit in All Stars in either the finale or the Loser's Motel episode.

...can't you just wait, like, two more episodes to directly state the point of your character arc, essentially then concluding it? then i could be sure that you'd win.

HELP

lmao of course the nerd can't rock climb. he can carry 120 pounds on his back but he cannot ascend.

Connor is really fucking strong goddamn?

Ally really can't fight this, because this is the exact rationale that she was trying to use on Jake for their entire games.

i want to see people draw buff Grett in the style of the buff Natsuki meme from DDLC. but, also, go Grett!!!

the intense difficulty of a twelve piece jigsaw puzzle. Venus noted that it really sounded like Kristal was describing a slide puzzle, but I understand why that would've been really difficult to storyboard.

Connor you can't be this stupid (/j)

in-universe, i don't really understand how she beat Alec (he was really good at the block puzzle in s1 and it fits his vibes), but yay Grett! i knew she wasn't going home tonight anyway.

what else could it have possibly been, Ally? regardless, we're definitely setting up the pieces for Grett's downfall soon.

can you really count the TikTok challenge as a "Jake immunity win"? literally everyone except Gabby and Grett won immunity in that challenge.

for a moment, i really thought Connor was going to pull the Kim Possible "out there... in here..." thing.

so true Jake

this feels like a fanfic line

you know Jake's having flashbacks to his last final 6 experience.

well, while i certainly thought that it was Riya's time to go in terms of the cut, it does actually make more sense for Alec to go home here, no plot armor involved! (other than arguably the plot armor of not letting Alec win the challenge.) Alec is much more threatening in a final 3 situation because of his greater athleticism and intelligence as compared to Riya, and Grett is closer to Riya than Alec. it sucks to see one of my favorites go, but it's entirely logical.

Riya out here projecting ("little toy")

this was such a good moment. i especially love the storytelling without dialogue going on with Connor's reaction. anyways, if Riya wasn't going to win before, she's definitely not going to win now. you don't get hit with the "look at what a sorry state you're in" three episodes before the final and then snatch the W.

maybe you shouldn't have fired and humiliated your employees live on TV, then.

is this season going to end with Kristal resigning from the show? i thought that might happen to make way for Emily as the new host, but now that she's going more villainous, i don't think that'll be the cast anymore. maybe Derek and Trevor will take the show back over, as (I think) the more popular hosts in the fandom?

anyways. a solid episode! i think a good number of people saw the Connor idol play coming from a mile away, so it wasn't all that surprising that one of the major villains was going down. still, we had interesting strategy and some great character moments, especially for Connor. they're really making the best of his extended time in All Stars. and, hey, there are only two guys left, so maybe he'll make the finale! it doesn't really matter, though, because it's gonna be Jake. i'll keep riding the Jake winner train until he gets eliminated. not that i think that's going to happen ;)

see you next week!

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Hello from Camp Northfield! Well, technically, I'm sitting on a bench outside the Dickinson Memorial Library down the street from camp, but still. I barely have access to technology here since the camp has no service whatsoever apart from phone calls out of the office, so I had to walk 45 minutes to get to the library to post this, but I'm here, and that's all that matters! I got your post notification on the walk to the library, but I can't read it because it refuses to load up here in the middle of East Bumfuck, so I think next time I plan to come here, I'm going to have to start binding our stories as books so that I have some form of entertainment between teaching archery courses and meal times. I swear, sitting around in between groups is like a new form of torture with this heat. It's been straight 80s-90s with heat indexes pushing it into the 100-105 range. I thought I was tan, to begin with, but now I look like the afterpicture of some cheese-filled recipe you find online - crispy and golden brown. I swear, I'm going to end up melting out here.

Anyway, enough about camp and the blistering heat!

I didn't realize it would be so damn hard to work on one story at a time when I have ideas for two completely different stories bouncing around in my head. Now that I'm away from home and have nothing other than notebooks to write my ideas in, I'm realizing just how screwed I am, as ideas for everything under the sun have been vying for my attention. I swear, it's like a volleyball game with my last shred of a brain cell as the ball. STDP is obviously one with 33 pages of the next "episode" done while I'm still in the beginning stages of the chapter, but Camp Wanamaker 2: Electric Boogaloo has been bouncing around in the background like a child hopped up on sugar. That's probably not going to be the official title, by the way, but that's what I've been referring to it as, so that's what I'm calling it until I decide what else to call it 🤣

I'm also constantly pestered with ideas for three other stories - True Colors (Through the Valley sequel), The Mark of the Archer (Percy Jackson AU), and Unsinkable (a super long one-shot, Titanic AU I've talked about before). As these all require a lot of research (the last of the three being part of the birthday surprise I was going to work on for you as it's very Carrie/Miles-centric), they'll require more time to be worked on when I get home at the end of the month, but where I've already started on STDP and parts of CW2, I don't think they'll make an appearance for a while, especially not the multi-chapter ones.

In the meantime, I'm definitely going to be working on STDP as it's my primary story right now, but I'm working on CW2 in little bursts on my phone when someone with a hotspot stops to chill with me - writing down ideas and quotes and working on one chapter that's been gnawing at the bars of its cage for a long time now lmao. Like I said, I have notebooks, but carpal tunnel sucks, and I have to take a lot of breaks from writing STDP. Now, while you wait for me to get home from camp and write out more, I have a gift! Alongside my chapter title ideas (and a few of my side notes for a few lmao) that I plan on incorporating into a few stories when the time comes, I'm also giving you a random snippet I enjoyed writing that will go into CW2 further down the line and two other snippets - one from STDP and the other from CW2. None of them have been edited yet, and I think I wrote some parts more in the present tense than I normally do, but that's just how I do it sometimes when I'm scribbling things out, so I guess you could consider this your warning so you won't be too thrown off by that. Also, I left them a bit vague for a reason, and I won't say which one belongs to which story, but I'd love to see if you can figure out what belongs where. Besides, I'm always up for a bit of light torture, so enjoy!

Here are a few of my chapter title ideas to give you a good idea of how some of these stories will progress...

And now, I hope you enjoy these little tidbits of chapters you'll hopefully see soon after I get home!

[beingfacetious]

please give us the correct negative Ted lasso review

Oh my God. This feels like a trap but I can't help it

update from the other side, this is no joke 2k words long and it's not uh happy lmao so dead dove do not eat

TL;DR:

Bill Lawrence's involvement lessened every season and it fuckin' shows

There were arcs and plot points established over the first two seasons that the writers very obviously just changed their minds about for this season

Takes about this season being dark/ending sad on purpose are MUCH too generous. like giving WAY too much credit.

It turns out most of my feelings boil down to "it's not aggressively bad it's just nonsensical"

How tf was every episode twice as long as in previous seasons but everything important happened offscreen

FIRST OF ALL, since MONTHS before the season started airing, I've nursed a conspiracy theory that Bill Lawrence left the show because of creative differences with Jason Sudeikis and that therefore this season would be significantly less good than previous seasons. This started when I saw Bill tweet that he was going home, basically, and I figured we'd get "season 3 is in post" news shortly thereafter but instead there was that weird stuff about things being delayed because of rewrites...? Anyway, that is mostly to say that I was ready to think this season was worse because I love Bill Lawrence's storytelling and have forever and you should give Cougar Town a shot if you haven't yet it's no Scrubs but it's sweet

There were interviews early in the show in which I swear Jason/Brendan/whoever said they pitched the show to Bill because he's fuckin' good at TV and he basically said "this is a great idea but you're writing to the wrong ending, it should be this," and they were like "wow you're right that is a better ending." I can't find that now but I did find this from a more recent Bill interview:

I ran that show the first year because Jason was still shooting movies while we were doing the writers room. Then, at the end of that year, much like Gary with me, I was like, “Ah, I’ll spend a couple of months teaching him how to edit.” But after like a day or two, he’s like, “Yeah, I got it.” (Laughs.) So, the second year, we ran it together, and I’m only able to do other things now because that guy ran the show himself the third year, as it should be. It’s his voice and his world this season.

Now look, Bill Lawrence is obviously not trying to throw shade here because he's lovely and also this is a Hollywood Reporter article and how immature would that be, but I can throw shade for him and I will: Jason Sudeikis is a talented comedic actor and seems like a very nice man and he had a good idea for a show, and his instincts to involve an extremely experienced showrunner with an insane talent for feelsy found family sitcoms were good and he should have stuck to them!! Telling Bill Lawrence you're good after two days of editing instruction or whatever is stupid!! Insisting on your voice and your world when BILL LAWRENCE'S VOICE IS AVAILABLE TO YOU and also you CO-CREATED THE WORLD whatever gdi

OK fine I'll do Ted/Rebecca next. Obviously I was in for Ted/Rebecca. I wanted them to put their faces together. But look, I'm not a shipper over all else; over all else I want a good storyteller to tell me the story they want to tell. If I expect things or see them coming, that's not bad! That's good! If I'm surprised by things, that's good too as long as it holds together! "Subverting expectations" shouldn't look like spiting the audience, a lie is not a twist, etc. SO. If Ted and Rebecca were meant to be platonic soulmates, that's fine!!! I don't NEED them to kiss!!! But I do not believe these people are even friends in season 3, after season 1 and tbh most of my favorite parts of season 2 were about how much they impact each other's lives. That's a dropped ball and there's NO REASON to have not made time for them to interact meaningfully because every episode was so fucking long. Instead I guess we had to know how super sad Rebecca was about not being able to have children but not need to talk to anyone about it and immediately be fully over it. Also see a lot of lingering shots of Rebecca...looking at a matchbook...

sfjbkfgs early in the season they very obviously established that Rebecca's arc was going to be realizing she actually loves the team and wants to support them and see them succeed because of her own heart and not to spite Rupert, and I guess that happened but why didn't it happen gradually in ways I could see, why did it happen in an episode in which I'm supposed to have known all along that this has to do with her childhood self ?? and in which Rupert has a FULL personality change to facilitate her sudden realization. In what fucking world would he invite her to that meeting, because she's smart or because she brings ~diversity or because maybe he wants to sleep with her again? None of it tracks at all lmao but it was also the episode in which I really enjoyed Tony Head so whatever

speaking of not tracking, Nate.........I've never been invested in Nate especially but he was SO cartoonishly evil at the start and then kind of never again. I was braced for a redemption arc I wouldn't care about but that didn't even really happen?? he got a girlfriend and realized Rupert was a bad role model? it turns out his dad thinks he was a prodigy and always just wanted him to be happy, which, lmao WHAT where????? and what am I supposed to believe about Jade changing her mind about him btw because she's seen people be terrible to him at that very table before AND she has to know he loves the place and the food because he's there all the time, so what was the revelation that turned her from relatable-via-Nate-ambivalence to suddenly heart-eyes just fdslelugatw so much of my feeling about this season isn't even like it's bad it's just it's nonsense

One of my big complaints about the season is just Keeley's whole deal. Separating her from the team/rest of the cast was a wild choice. Barbara is fine but I also would have been perfectly fine without her and none of the other new characters for the PR side story added anything to the show. Especially if at the end Rebecca is just going to write Keeley a check for the chump change she needs to run the agency. Why didn't we just do that to begin with??? I guess this season I'm supposed to think Keeley ~learned to be independent in various ways but, again, I don't ?? And her needing to not be with Roy I guess as part of that and then get back together offscreen but then not really be together maybe but then also possibly having throuple vibes later that never get acknowledged feels, whatever, like something Bill Lawrence didn't write sdfjlsefaj,lwte I know this is my unsupportable argument that post I RBed was making fun of but idc

also Jamie wanting to be with Keeley at the end of the show feels extremely Harry Potter epilogue to me lmao Jamie you don't have to marry someone you went to high school with there are so many people

Roy was fine this season. He didn't have much to do but that's probably for the best lol. Him taking Ted's job is probably the only main character ending I feel like makes sense for this season and the overall show. Him training and begrudgingly becoming friends with Jamie was always funny.

OK one of the wrong reviews was basically like if you don't appreciate this season you don't appreciate classic tragic structure. Fuck off with that. First of all this was a sitcom about soccer so even if they were going for a classic tragedy in season 3 that's stupid and they shouldn't have been. But I also just don't think that's what was happening ??? I think I'm supposed to believe everyone gets a happy ending and I just don't. Like the whole oh it's sad that Ted ends up where he started and it's about how persistent optimism and kindness can burn you out or whatever, that's...if that's what they were going for, again, why tf, and also could we have seen that like. at all. Ted barely Teds for anyone this season (frex the previously mentioned never talking to Rebecca). ROY Teds more than Ted in season 3. If we got to see Ted trying to Ted even, like, twice, and either not being able to dig down and find the positivity or I guess noticing that he needs someone to be that for him, OK, fine. A Ted/Keeley scene would have been a PERFECT vehicle for this. Didn't happen. idk if we're supposed to think he's getting back together with Michelle but that would be so...so bad ??? like what about Tan Lines??? why even have Tan Lines??? even if not, we just left completely unaddressed her starting a relationship with their marriage counselor, which is also BAD lmao. God why did I have to see so much of Michelle this season. Michelle video calls every other episode and two lines for Dr. Sharon. Nonsense. lol one of my friends summarized Ted's ending as "yeah going back to the unfulfilling life that didn't work before the show started is a victory for our protagonist"

Even the soccer of it all re that whole thing was silly. Oh marriage counselor boyfriend is a bad guy because he doesn't care about the soccer game. Oh Ted is happy now because he's coaching Henry's rec league soccer team. like it's fine that EVERYONE is still together in Richmond but he's "home" now and still around soccer which is good because we definitely saw him learn to love soccer during the course of the show. sure Jan

(to be fair I am not the audience for "it's about the kid" plots so even if I felt like it worked from the start of the show for Ted to choose moving back to where Henry is, which I don't, I wouldn't care for it, so maybe those criticisms aren't especially valid) (I didn't care about JD's kid either)

speaking of the soccer though every single scene that revolved around the actual soccer team was essentially perfect. Great use of so many of those boys. Very few notes. Sam in particular had a few nice things this season and of course Colin. Another incorrect review by a critic I actually like very much was complaining about Colin's story this season and it being tired and overdone and not caring about Trent's or Isaac's parts of it, but I actually really disagree! It was well done and it was nice to see in the context of professional sports where, sorry, coming out and being received well is not a cliche thing that happens a lot! Also, hot take! Zava was a good part of this season! Nice contained little story that impacted some characters I actually care about plus he was legit funny! Sometimes things in a comedy should be funny! I'd honestly watch three more seasons of Richmond-focused half-hour episodes with idk probably Brett Goldstein in charge

I haven't mentioned Beard because I just never understood what I was supposed to think about him lmao. By far the funniest character overall but I never felt settled on whether he was meant to be a manic pixie comic relief BFF or if he was like...a real person?? It strikes me as potentially bad that he was so worried about Ted's mental state all the time and never really mentioned his own and that was sort of a thing in the weird s2 episode but then not again? I felt so much ire about so much else I didn't have any for him marrying Jane lmao but I do understand the people who are upset about that because that sure seemed pretty toxic, but wasn't it supposed to be played for laughs? Does that fit in a show that's supposed to mainly be about people treating each other well because we're all we've got? idk, RIP Beard, sorry your best friend in the world wasn't at your wedding because it would have been narratively underwhelming to see him leave and then see him back at a future major event or whatever

idk idk, season 1 Rebecca was one of my favorite characters ever and I was so angry in the middleish of the season about how much I felt like she was being wasted, but by the end I was just like...I mean, what's to be mad at. She's not even her anymore. Ted wasn't Ted anymore. Nate I guess literally reverted back to season 1 Nate which also is that...okay...him ending up lower than he started out feels not great

Good for Mae and the bar boys though, used just the right amount this and every season and always a damn delight

OK this is ridiculous I'm going to be done now. I do want to say I enjoyed several episodes this season a lot! A couple top 10 potentials! I really enjoyed the Amsterdam one actually because it reminded me of like a Nancy Meyers movie, very nice and warm, but it feels worth noting that that is not a feeling I would describe as being struck by fucking lightning :))))))

in conclusion maybe we as a nation can move on now from giving SNL alumni we find charming huge budgets and ethereally talented casts and collaborators and letting them get us emotionally invested in their midlife crises sandbox playing

[snowfallnight]

Ok Bad Sisters season 2 episode 1 thoughts:

***spoilers will follow, obviously***

- It's so great to see the girls back! I love them!

- The vibe does feel a little different though... it's the music maybe? A few odd cuts in the editing too

- Eva quit drinking hmmm...

- It's so nice to see Grace happy, which I'm sure will last at least 5 min

- Love seeing where everyone's at now, little and big changes. Nora and Bibi going for another kid, Urs and Donal have split which seems fair enough. Don't know what tf Becka is at with the loser bf. Maybe to make Matthew look better by comparison?

- Roger and Angelica oh my. They are a lot. I really feel for Roger, but also like... you are clearly upset that Grace is marrying someone else, so like are you regretting helping her because you think it was wrong or because she wasn't grateful enough to fall for you afterwards?

- I love Fiona Shaw so much, my god Angelica cannot read a room lmao

- Idk about detective Loftus, I noticed myself getting bored during the detective parts. Do love Thaddea Graham though, she's cute as a button

- Wait did the girls ever even tell Grace about George? I assumed they would have at some point even if the audience didn't actually see that conversation

- Roger wtf. Get it together !!

- Omg I can't believe Grace told Ian 😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬

- Girls go get Grace pls!!

I'm so glad this show is back omg what a long wait. This is an interesting starting point for the season, very curious where it will go from here...

[mahoushoujotechsupport]

episode 1, start! ok trying this again because my original post was community flagged for reasons i don't understand

so, this little goober decided to ride inside aerial on her trip from mercury to asticassia instead of like wherever normal passengers ride??? lmao

she really is a little cinnamon roll huh? and i love the added light novel details that she just automatically thought miorine was beautiful the first time she saw her here lol

and that she did, miomio

wow is this that suit that one person had during that big ass match in episode 13?

leave suletta alone, you jerks

oh, miorine-san, if only you knew what that girl would become

gotta wonder how in the world miorine dealt with pretty much being bullied by all these rich fucks. like how many failed attempts to try to go to earth had she had at this point that felsi and petra use it to make fun of her

see, if guel had realized secelia wasn't sitting on the couch, then maybe he wouldnt have asked suletta to duel against him later on

yeah, yeah, i know he mostly redeemed himself and didnt even end up being a weapons manufacturer in the end like his daddy (assuming the new asticassia isnt basically the elite's military training grounds like it was at the beginning), but god guel was such a fucking asshole

in this moment, suletta's like "this is nothing like my fair use expired copyright mangas"

there's no such thing as an ethical capitalist, but sarius definitely didn't like the way delling was running things

prospera was at least a tragic figure, but we never really got to know what the hell made delling the way he is. like is he just some stupid war veteran with ptsd who lost his wife? either way, don't care. he was an asshole for everything he did to miorine and just irredeemable in my eyes lol

funny how suletta talking about her mom is what gets miorine to be a little bit kinder to her in this scene just because of her own mother. yeah prospera was manipulative with suletta and it was her idea for suletta to go to asticassia, so that makes it a little funny that talking about prospera here is really what in the end allows miorine to open up her heart to suletta. sorry, miorine, guess suletta was kind of right huh?

sorry, lauda's just another character that will never be likeable to me either. he's just an asshole on top of being a total moron

so glad guel got his comeuppance

yeah, i wasn't gonna skip the slapping (editing my word-use here because i think saying sp**k got my original post for this episode community labeled... which i know now is not why because it got labeled AGAIN!!! and i still don't get why) but dang look at miorine's reaction to that. i still haven't decided if this is the moment miorine takes romantic interest in suletta for standing up for miorine or at the end of the duel later on this episode when she actually makes good on her promise

get him, suletta lmao

*wild tanuki noises*

bob, you're so fucking stupid. glad he's just stuck listening to secelia and el0n now

really wish we could know more about these two lol like rouji's an anxious little mess around everyone else, but perfectly comfortable with secelia

i was really hoping for another scene of these two in the cockpit together, but miorine would've just died inside calibarn

aerial really is such a cool mobile suit

and there it is. the final scene to shock literally everyone ever on their first watch. it really makes me wish i had started watching live instead of just before the first cours was almost over, i can just imagine ~the discourse~

i started right around when the grassley fight episode had finally been subbed by gjm so around episode 10 real air time i believe? and like yeah, i had kept hearing it be referred to as gundam utena, but i wasn't prepared for this lmao

we didn't get a kiss and we didn't get the wedding on-screen, but i am so so happy these two ended up married in the end and that they're both so obviously in love with each other

[gaymer-hag-stan]

A Tekken 8 Review That Nobody Asked for From a Longtime Fan Who Has Been Playing for Ages But Is Not a Pro - That Title Is Too Long

Having spent a little over 24 hours playing the game on my PS5, I feel like it's an appropriate amount of time to share my first thoughts on it. I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum so just skip the "Story" section and you should be fine.

General Thoughts

A pretty healthy roster, overall happy with who we got. I do wish Anna and Christie were here, and I also miss Lucky Chloe. With Eddy already announced and Azucena taking over the "cooky dance-y character" I unfortunately don't see Christie or Chloe returning, but Anna better fucking do!

They all look great, even the ugly ones, they look satisfyingly ugly, if that makes any sense. The girls still suffer from the Madame Tussaud's wax figure syndrome that plagued the entirety of Tekken 7's roster, but, maybe I'm gaslighting myself, I do feel like they look a bit less plasticky than some of the initial teasers? Most of the redesigns are great, the hair (Lili's hair has never looked better), water and dirt physics all finally WORK and I love how all the clothing animates with the wind effect, the Fallen Destiny stage is a great one to illustrate all of the above. We can see Yoshimitsu's fingers after three decades! I'd love to know the thought process behind this redesign lmao

I love that they finally, after so many years of other fighting games having it but being inexplicably absent from Tekken, they finally added Player vs CPU matches! FINALLY! Finally I can pick my character and my opponent of choice, pick their costumes and set a stage for them to battle. I'm so happy for this even though it might not make any sense to anyone.

Combo Challenges! We finally have combo challenge in Tekken! Another common fighting game feature inexplicably missing up until now.

Gameplay feels a lot of fun. I wasn't sure about the heat mechanic but it's actually a lot more fun than I initially thought! I tried out all of the cast and am slowly completing both their story episodes and an Arcade run for good measure. I am obviously still maining Nina. They have decided to simplify a lot of her combo throws and I am having fun terrorizing people online with them by breaking their bones! I'm also using Arcade Quest to learn how to play as Lili and Azucena, some basic moves and combos and whatnot. I wanna also do Zafina, Jun, Jin, Hwoarang and Xiaoyu as well eventually. I think these eight will be my main squad for the time being. As a side note, King and Steve feel extremely fun to play, I haven't picked either in ages, but with King I was really close!

The netcode is, surprisingly functional??? We did recently switch to an optic fiber connection type, but I'm still on WiFi and I am having zero problems!

Jukebox is thankfully back again! I literally spent an hour or more before playing the game at all to decide which song goes where lol

Something that scares me regarding upcoming DLC, is that I do not see a season pass being sold anywhere except the Deluxe Edition bundle that costs 40€... I'm sorry but I don't give a fuck about owning 32 identical gold costumes or Tetsujin or whoever the fuck as my Arcade Quest avatar... I only want Eddy and the other three (one of them better be Anna!) thank you very much!

Story

"The Dark Awakens"

Believe it or not I haven't even finished the main story yet as I'm trying to pace myself through all the modes and enjoy them, savouring every moment. At the moment of typing this I am almost halfway through and I must say, even though I am still firmly in the "Drop the cinematic NRS style story modes" camp, and I would much rather have had either arcade mode with proper, canon endings back, or a revival and repurposing of the Tekken Force mode, in an SF6 World Tour mode type of way, out of all of Bandai Namco's attempts at a cinematic story mode, from SCV to Tekken 8, this has been the most satisfying attempt so far. I love that they are fully embracing the overdramatic nature of Tekken along with its campy side and it's present from the very beginning, with Jin throwing his bike at Kazuya's helicopter! "A Fate Decided by Fists" were we actually get to choose which fighters advance through the first round was the biggest highlight so far! I did not expect to fight Azazel again in 2024! I miss his Tekken 6 design though, he no longer glows according to his remaining health or has his limbs crumble away into scarabs according to which parts of him you're hitting. Also, I do understand why they felt the need to overemphasize how "Jin was a good guy all along and he's not like Kazuya" to redeem him and attempt to portray him as a more traditional hero, but I think they went way too far. Literally every single cast member, characters who've never met him before especially, makes a point of how good a person Jin is. Also, I do understand that there were a lot of people complaining that most of the cast were ignored in Tekken 7's story mode and I appreciate that they tried to include more of them this time, but it's so half assed and superficial. Like, Lili, Asuka, Hwoarang, Leo (who finds their missing father, a forgotten plot point from Tekken 6 of screen without a single explanation) Xiaoyu, PANDA offer absolutely nothing to the story so far other than to just be there and tell Jin what a good guy he is. And I say all that as someone who is firmly on Jin's side and despises Kazuya.

Character Episodes

Thank god they have more than one single fight this time! I would have liked it if they found a way to make each of them be canon. Like, I think every single one of the Arcade mode endings of SF6 is canon, if I'm not mistaken, and most of them seem to take place before the events of the main story, as a way to give us a clearer understanding of why each fighter fights. I think Guilty Gear does exactly that too. Nevertheless, I do appreciate that each fighter has fights specifically tailored to them, with specific opponents. It's not clear to me yet if they're completely non-canon or not, as in Nina's she seems to have been hired by Lee to sabotage G Corporation and Kazuya, I pray to God this is true and she's not actually, willingly working for that asshole, like, I'm still in complete denial that they threw her entire character development from Tekken 4 to Tekken 7 to the trash can just to go "NInA WiLl WoRK FoR WhOmEvEr"... She's also suspiciously missing from the actual story like, she simply just appeared in ONE scene so far and then left without doing literally anything. She also seems to only have special interactions with Steve and Lee so far when others get a lot more. Her handling story wise in this installment is insulting, considering she's the most popular female fighter in the series and one of the most popular in the genre...

Offline Modes

Arcade Quest

It's cute... It's certainly a cool way to mask your tutorial and the avatars are kinda cool, but they're nowhere near as good as what Capcom did with SF6 and World Tour. I must say I prefer Tag 2's Tekken Lab over this.

Super Ghost Battle

Ghost battle, after five attempts is finally fun! Tekken 7's was by far the worst attempt as the game would automatically pick opponents for you, matching you with much harder ones if you were winning too much and much lower ones if you were losing too much so that you wouldn't climb the ranks as fast and it would artificially increase playtime. Now that Tekken has actual single player modes other that the story there's no need for that, and they made it work. You simply choose from a list, and the ones that contain unlockable (useless) customisation options for specific characters are actually marked so that you can attempt to get the item you want.

Arcade Battle

I love that they still included a traditional eight battle long Arcade mode, even though they could have just had the character episodes and call it a day. My slight nitpick, again, is that they're still doing this thing that they've been doing since Tekken 5 or 6 where the first few battles are characters in their default costumes and then a horde of Namco's customized monstrosities attack your eyes... This is a huge pet peeve of mine, I understand it in the context of Ghost Battle, and Arcade Quest, but I do not want to see goofy customs in other, "serious" modes. On top of that, the ghosts you get seem to be from the Super Ghost Battle's catalogue of freaks, and are therefore higher difficulty than most, which in turn makes them actively harder than the mode's final boss which I think is kinda hilarious!

Tekken Ball

I will admit, I only played a single match and never touched it again. It is actually challenging, I'll give it that, but I don't see the appeal. I'd much rather have Tekken Bowl again back instead tbh. Also I wish that stage was playable in normal modes too.

Customization

Avatar customization is kinda whatever, but it works well enough for Arcade Quest and I don't really visit the Tekken Fight Lounge.

Character Customization however is where I have an issue. While I've seen lots of cool customs of various characters from other games and IPs, including Shimbori himself dressing up Super Battle ghosts as DOA characters!, I don't really care for the customization options? My only real use for Character Customization in Tekken so far was to recreate past / alternate outfits. Like, in Tekken 6 I would buy the schoolgirl outfit parts for all the teen girlies, in Tekken 7 I recreated Nina's 2P outfit from Tekken 4 using her Blood Vengeance catsuit as a base, stuff like that. In Tekken 8 all I'm getting is a huge catalogue of Zara's apparel... And all the unlockable outfits are either their default look with less clothes on, or weird cosplays of other characters. Why? Tekken Character Customization peaked in Tekken 6, where every single one of the 40 (41 if you count Panda, who I think had some different options from Kuma) characters had his own personal selection of outfits and items, matching their personality and look. I don't want to play as Nina dressed up as Ada Wong or in a business casual for a 9-5 desk job. They made everything way too generic and bland and, on top of that, we don't even have trademark pieces like Nina's purple catsuit, her ponytail, Hwoarang's taekwondo garb, Xiaoyu's Tekken 6 battle costume. The Tekken 5 veterans should have had their Tekken 5/6/TTT2 costumes and hairstyles on top of their Tekken 7 ones.

Overall, I am very very happy with this game! It seemingly does almost everything right and I am glad to see it improving on, literally, every single thing over Tekken 7.

Score: 9 / 10

[changlixx]

hi. just found your blog and felt the need to say that i LOVE what you're doing. and also the need to share some of my own thoughts (over here hoping that this doesn't go against the guidelines in your pinned, lmfao)

despite me being a firm minsung believer (sorry if you're not LMAO, this is gonna be really awkward) i was always, like, really skeptical of other dating rumors. by other dating rumors i mean hyunlix, lol. i have thought that felix is into men from the get-go but the whole hyunlix thing never felt quite right to me. i've had my first "oh, are they...?" kinda thought after watching the recent changlix 2 kids show episode, but now going through your blog is just like... yeah. yeah they are. so thanks for that as well

the rest of this ask is gonna be a big tinfoil hat moment loosely inspired by you mentioning the possibility of changbin playflirting with hyunjin as a way to distract the public from the real deal because he might be uncomfortable with changlix shippers. it's also gonna be me taking my belief that changlix & minsung are dating and making it the baseline, so like... as i've said, if you're against minsung this will be awkward. LOL. but whatever :) i'm just some silly anonymous person on tumblr dot com

i think you're both right and wrong at the same time? as in, the playflirting is obviously happening to distract people from the real deal, but i don't think that it's changbin's decision to do so per se. i think it's the management. and yeah, ik that blaming things on the ✨ evil ✨management is like, poster girl for conspiracy behavior, but hear me out:

1. stray kids are quickly rising in fame and if i had to pinpoint when they started gaining momentum and had a breakthrough in the recent years, it would be 5 star era. full album, etc. with that influx of fans it's only natural that they would have to start being more careful with their reputation, which, of course, includes dating

2. coincidentally, the hyunjin/changbin thing started being pushed around the same time. even back then i thought it was weird, since it wasn't obviously just the boys having fun - i mean, no, i do think they're having fun and probably find the whole thing bloody hilarious, but it was more than just that. the way things they were edited, to include as many hyunjin/changbin moments as possible felt weird to me. i didn't even think of changlix as a possibility back then so it wasn't like i was biased, but i felt like the editors were just told to push hyunjin/changbin down the viewers' throats for apparently no reason

3. another coincidence - in the most recent comeback, right after their unit song dropped and people started freaking out because things began seeming real, the same thing started happening to minsung, except this time with hyunjin/minho

now i... don't think that the boys are being held hostage in the Fanservice Basement where the Evil Management is holding them at gunpoint. but i think it is highly possible that they were told to just up their game in the "fanservice with other members" department and that the editors were told to include more of these moments in the final cut. both as a distraction and as a safeguard. so every time there's a, say, changlix moment, people who don't really pay attention to the ships/don't care for that would excuse it with "well, changbin is like this with other group members as well, there's nothing suspicious about that", ykwim? they are also all adults and understand very well how the industry works, etc. i do find it weird that both times it's hyunjin at the crime scene, but then again - i think he also finds it pretty funny, and he's also one of the more popular members. any ship with him is guaranteed to have a certain amount of insane people ready to eat that up just because more fans means more crazies, lmao

but then again, this is just me and my tinfoil hat, oops. sorry if you do mind people waltzing into your inbox like this </3

hiiiiii sorry for responding super late, i hope you're still around to see this answer! thank you so much for this ask, i love it, it's so long and thoughtful! that said, i'm about to disagree with everything you said jdgfdsfsdg i'm sorry. first of all i don't believe in minsung at all. no hate to anyone who does, you're all smart and valid and beautiful but i don't think they're dating or they ever have been. i do think minho has a big sad unrequited crush on jisung or at least he used to but that's it. i think so because the minsung ship is treated as such a joke among the skz members. obviously it's the most popular ship in skz so the members love teasing them with it. i don't think they'd do that if they were actually dating. and now minchan is becoming a juggernaut ship in skz and chan is ON that fanservice train. he takes every opportunity he gets to make the minchaners happy bc he knows how to play the game. so that's the first point on which i fundamentally disagree with you.

the second one is the company involvement in changbin flirting with hyunjin. obviously there is a possibility that that's the case but i tend to stay away from what i call the larry excuse. the notion that the company is dictating what to do about fanservice and managing which ships are popular, pushing one ship when another gets too big or suppressing other ships feels silly to me. i don't think div1 concerns themselves with that. they just look at which ships are popular and push those because it makes numbers. also the larry excuse is just so lazy lmao. you can just say that it's the evil company's fault and no one can disprove it because no one knows shit about what goes on in that building. it's an easily defendable position. and that's why it's completely boring to me to discuss what the faceless people behind the curtain might be plotting because we will never know so we might as well just not even try to speculate, you know? i know we like to put every decision we don't like on the people we don't know, but i think the members decide what they do in terms of fanservice.

my point was that i think that changbin flirts with hyunjin bc he himself got a little uncomfortable with how big the changlix ship had gotten and he just didn't want it to be quite as centered. that's what it looks like to me based on how he interacts with felix and with hyunjin (side note, changbin's flirting with hyunjin didn't start around 5 star era, it started way earlier. maybe even as early as noeasy. i agree that it's gotten way more intense around 5 star but it has been going on for quite a while). i don't think he's actually trying to make people think he's into hyunjin, it's just playflirting. it's fun and it gets screentime and it makes people talk less about changlix. and it's totally working! changlix as a ship is becoming less and less popular and hyunbin is growing.

again thank you for your ask! i hope it's not disappointing to you that i disagree with what you said. but you know, i'm just one changlixer of many so it doesn't matter what i think!

❤️❤️❤️

[spicebiter]

So at the recommendation of @21ate I finished the EverymanHYBRID series and, if I'm being completely honest, my impression was a little soured by it. And, again if I'm being honest, it's mostly because this series didn't really need to have anything to do with Slenderman or any other pre-existing creepypasta. I genuinely think I would've liked this series as a whole and especially the ending more if it had been a wholly original story. Even the crossovers, I find, kind of detracted from what it has on its own merit.

The whole thing kinda reminds me of when I watched through every Hellraiser movie and just how many of them were originally other scripts that then cut and pasted Hellraiser elements in order to make another film for the series. While I do understand A: how something begins as a fanwork type piece and then gradually becomes bigger than that genre can hold, and B: how someone might feel the need to attach something with recognition to their work for it to find its audience and succeed, I personally find it difficult to move past that feeling of 'it should've been something else' for most things, and shows or movies of any kind are especially no exception.

All that said while I say I would've liked it more as an original story, I wouldn't assume I'd love it. I think the ending was maybe a little... rushed? compared to other parts. That may not be the right word but something about the second to last episode felt off from the rest of the series. Really from the moment Vincent began to work with Habit I wasn't certain what direction things were going in but I'm not sure it fits with what was laid out prior to that point. Habit's motivations and personality seem to be a little Off based on what was seen previously and the creation of the weapons to kill powerful things... It was a little lackluster to me. I don't want to trash on the series at all because it is clear that 8 years of a lot of passion went into it but something about that penultimate episode just didn't hit the mark like I expected it would. Maybe I misread the vibe or the direction of the story in a very big way or maybe it's one of those things where they did their best to make a satisfying ending and it inherently wasn't going to hit the same for everyone. Either way, I didn't feel anything was necessarily *wrong* with the last parts but it's neither what I was expecting nor is it the direction I personally would've taken the series, and that's neither here nor there.

On a more praising note, I didn't mention this in my other post but I wanted to say something about the way the series uses music because I think that alone sets EverymanHYBRID apart. Habit's penchant for Sinatra was a treat and the way there's almost always music playing while characters are in the car felt very nice, as I feel both with TV and other web series there's too much worry about copyright and how well you can hear the characters over the music and it removes from how natural a scene can feel. It's something you don't necessarily notice when it's not there, but when it is it brings a facet to a scene that elevates it in a specific way that I really enjoy. I think it's also an interesting creative choice to often overlay montages with some kind of music throughout the series. In the beginning it was obviously more of a nod to documentary/informative type videos but later it was an odd choice given how much normal scenes would feel natural, because that synthetic overlay usually isn't there for a series of this type. I especially liked the use of music in 'The drive west.', specifically the montage scene split by that moment at the gas station. It's the type of thing you'd see more often in a movie or TV show but not in a slenderverse web series and for videos with a more serious tone it's kind of hilarious? The idea of them editing this video where people are going through hell on earth and then adding a fun little montage with a music track is... lmao I don't even know what to say it's just really funny to me.

Anyway even tho I'm not a huge fan of the way it turned out I do wanna thank 21ate for recommending that I continue because there were definitely parts worth seeing and it gave me a much better idea of the series as a whole than reading about it on the wiki would have and I think that alone was worth my time

[theblogwithoutfear]

My thoughts on Echo

(Not that anyone's dying to hear my takes lmao) This is gonna be a long post so buckle up

I feel like a lot of people either really loved it or really hated it. I think I'm somewhere in the middle. There was a lot to love about it, there were some really great moments, but also there was a lot left to be desired. I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I hoped, but I want to be fair about it. I'm interested to see if people agree with me, if I'm completely wrong, etc. So feel free to tell me if I'm way off base with some of these opinions.

To start, here's the things I liked about it (in no particular order):

The fight choreography. The brutality of it was really something, especially in that first episode. It felt pretty grounded and real for the most part, which I really appreciated. That's one of the things that set Daredevil apart, so it's really great to see that Marvel's willing to go there again (although I think it got tamer as the show went on, wish the brutality would have kept up)

Maya's characterization, especially in the beginning of the show. I liked her moral complexity, I liked her refusal to be a good guy or a bad guy (wish that continued more throughout, tbh)

The canonization of the Netflix shows!!! We finally have acknowledgement. The scene with the hammer? The flashbacks to Fisk's father? Amazing.

Parallels between Maya and Fisk. I loved the way their relationship directly mirrored the way Fisk interacted with his father. Fisk in essence, becoming his father—the exact person he always wanted to avoid. And then Maya kicking the ice cream man when he's already down? Like that scene with the bully in DD season 1? Chef's kiss.

Sound design/editing. They made some really cool creative decisions here, especially for a show about a deaf person. Very cool.

Depiction of Indigenous culture. I'm not qualified to really speak on this, so I may be way off base, but it felt really respectful to me. It didn't seem to fetishize or exoticize Maya's heritage; it explored the everyday lives of her and her family, the way they partcipate in their culture. The combination of her powers with her heritage was beautiful to me.

The cinematography at certain scenes. I don't think it was exceptional throughout, but there were some great moments. The flashback sequences with her ancestors, the silent movie thing, and the scene with Fisk and the ice cream man all had pretty stunning cinematography.

D'onofrio's acting. But that's a given.

Disability representation. It felt to me like it was done in a very respectful, normalizing way, which is so important.

Alaqua Cox's performance. I was really impressed. Maya Lopez is her first role; and she's really killed it. I think at times she could have expanded her range a little, but overall, very excellent.

As a bonus (because the show's not about him and I don't want to make it all about him): Matt's cameo. Amazing. It was such a cool decision to show a Daredevil fight from the villain perspective. It made Matt look soooo scary. Also, I love the implications that he's being puppeteered by Fisk! Even after all he's done to take Fisk down, Fisk still has the upper hand. Fisk knew he was there, and lured him there to get Maya to fight him? As a training exercise? Really cool, interesting implications to be explored in DDBA.

So there's a lot to love about the show obviously. However, at least for me, there was also a lot to criticize—and the criticisms overpowered the good things imo. Again, that's just me, and if you loved the show, more power to you!

Here's the things that I didn't like:

Tonal whiplash. It felt like the show couldn't really decide if it wanted to be a dark gritty crime thriller, or if it wanted to be a heartwarming family dramedy. There was also a little too much "Marvel humor," if you know what I mean. It was just really jarring at times.

The bait and switch. Whatever your thoughts on the show, I think it's fair to say that it was WAAAY off from what the trailers gave us. The trailers relied so heavily on content from the original Daredevil show, and the way they were edited made it seem like it was going to be a lot closer, tonally and quality-wise, to Daredevil. They made it look way darker and grittier than the show actually was. To be clear: I'm NOT upset that Matt wasn't in it more. It wasn't his show, and I was more than happy with his cameo. I'm just irritated at the bait and switch from the trailers, both tone and content wise.

Fisk's characterization. This is probably the thing that irritated me the most. He was so weak here!! I wasn't scared of him at all. In Daredevil, every time Fisk came on screen I felt like my intestines were shriveling up in fear. In Echo, though, he just felt so vulnerable and helpless and almost pathetic. I mean, Daredevil showed Fisk's vulnerability, but it almost made him scarier. Here, though, he just felt like a run-of-the-mill Marvel villain. A bad guy, sure, but not really scary. (I think the exception to this is the ice cream man scene, which was excellent).

Emotional stakes. They were too low for me. The writers didn't really give me any reason to care that much about what was going on. I didn't feel terribly connected to Maya or her family; I don't know, I just didn't feel that we had enough investment in them. I don't really know how to solve this problem—it definitely wasn't a matter of screen time, because they got plenty. But for some reason, I just didn't really feel connected to any of them. I think my one exception to this was Henry; something about him was really compelling, and I really cared what happened to him. But with everyone else, I just felt sort of disconnected and a little apathetic. To make matters worse, though, it felt like the writers kept trying to use shorthand to make us care—they used different tropes and techniques to try to manufacture emotion; lots of sappy music and dialogue and things like that. But honestly, it all felt very unearned. It felt like emotional manipulation a little bit, if I'm being honest.

Fisk and Maya's relationship. We were just kind of told that they are close, and we get one scene of Maya as a little girl (again, the ice cream scene, which was great). But at that point, they were already close. I think I would have bought into their relationship more if we got to see how they first met, and why Fisk cared about her so deeply. The thing that sets Fisk apart from other Marvel villains is his great capacity for love, imo. But their relationship felt cheap and inauthentic, and I just didn't buy it. I think we needed more scenes like the ice cream man scene for their relationship to feel really authentic.

Why was Fisk willing to give Maya his criminal empire? Make her the queenpin? After she shot him in the head??? This is a man who decapitated someone after that guy embarrassed him. Maya attempts murder, and Fisk is like "take my business." It just didn't make any sense to me. Maybe it would have made more sense if we got some more in-depth views of Fisk's love for Maya, but as it was, this just fell flat for me.

Fisk felt out of character in a lot of regards, but one of them is that he never learned ASL. What??? He's a smart man, and very good at languages. In Daredevil we see that he speaks the languages of everyone he works with—Madame Gao, Nobu, etc.—because he respects them and because he wants to be involved and know the ins and outs of his people. But he won't even learn ASL for a woman who he supposedly sees as a daughter???

The contact lens thing. That was just so weird, I did not like it Sam-I-Am. I don't know, maybe they'll make it work better if they use it in DDBA, but who knows.

How did Fisk gain so much power again??? At the end of Daredevil season 3, which is now officially canon, Fisk was universally hated by the city after everything he did. But suddenly he has all this power, and it's unexplained. To be fair, I'll give the show a temporary pass. I assume that DDBA will answer some of those questions, probably gaining power during the blip, going under the radar until he has the media under his control, etc. But it felt weird not to have any acknowledgement of his current position or how he got there throughout the course of the show.

Fisk being defeated with Maya's new powers. I don't know, I think just the way it was executed, it felt really cheesy. Even cringey. I think the storyline of the ancestor magic could have been so powerful and cool against a different sort of villain. It would have been more impactful against a villain who had been set up as a more direct metaphor for racism or colonialism (I mean, Fisk is used as a metaphor for gentrification in Daredevil, but they never really go into that in Echo). I don't know, I think the way he was defeated was just really dissatisfying, and I was just disappointed.

Maya's powers in general felt a little underdeveloped. It's different than the comics, which is fine, but in that case, I think they should have spent even more time going over exactly what she can do. I don't know, again, it just felt cheesy at times. Which would have been fine in another show, but in this one, which was billed as a gritty, dark, crime drama, it just felt really out of place.

Her family members suddenly getting powers and then easily beating up Fisk's goons? That felt really cheesy to me. It made Fisk feel absolutely powerless and way less interesting of a villain. I just was never at all in any doubt that Maya's family was going to come out of it okay, because Fisk was not scary and they beat him so easily. It made the stakes feel really low. At the end of the show I was just like, "Oh, Fisk is weak. Guess Matt apparently is too, because Maya and her family took Fisk out in like five minutes."

Honestly, just the whole last episode. Before that episode, the show was at, like, a 7 for me. But the last episode dropped it down to a 5 imo. Again, a lot of the stuff in episode 5 is fine, but just didn't necessarily fit the genre or tone of the show.

I was probably going into it with expectations too high. But I think, considering the talent that Marvel has, the show could have been incredible. I don't want to blame the artists too much, honestly, because there's clearly a lot of great artistic choices throughout. The whole thing feels like the writers wanted to do risky, interesting things with the storytelling, and then studio execs swooped in and were like

"No! You have to follow The Formula™️! The lead has to believe in herself and help everyone with magic and the villain needs to be defeated really conventionally and easily. And you need to use lots of jokes and sitcom style banter. It has to feel like a MARVEL movie, because everyone loves those. No one has any complaints about how stale they've gotten lately. Stick to the formula."

So it just feels like a bunch of half-baked decisions and risks they started on, but didn't fully commit to.

Idk, I'll give it a rewatch in a little while and see if my opinion changes or not. But those are my thoughts at this point. Again, not the worst show ever, but far below the bar of what it could have been. A lot of potential, but overall not to the standard that I think it deserved.

I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts; if you agree, disagree, think I'm an idiot, etc.

(An obligatory Matt gif to end the post)

[tankgotstuckinthecircusgate]

hii i wanna hear about your fav barbara momentss

(also hope you feel better soon <3)

ohhh i love this question sm !!! i actually have a lot of them. anyway here's the list in random order:

1. all barbara + montoya scenes in s1. they're so fucked up and i was amazed that there's canonical bisexual character in the show. also in love w Barbara smoking weed in Montoya's apartment. she was so real for this (not for weed but depression) 2. that little dialogue between Oz and Barbara, when Oz shows at Barbara's flat to see Gordon. like "Men 🙄" "Don't i know🤗" THESE LOSERS DESERVED TO BE BESTIESSSSS!!! 3. when she visits her parents and they ask her about Jim and Barbara answers that they're happy. for the love of god MY WOMAN IS B RO K EN!!!! i love her. also i love this strain between her and her parents. i wish we saw more of their interactions 4. of course. of fucking course: barbara's psychotherapy session w lee. GREATEST WLW SCENE EVER FILMED!!!

5. okay there's super fucked up scene i don't even remember episode or season (i think it was s3?) anyway. jim had massive hallucination and there was elevator and barbara was in elevator boy uniform AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD I DIDN'T KNEW I NEED IT SO BADDDD. oh my god she looked awesome in this scene. also im in love with barbara being character who leads the mc through his consciousness. my girl was the narrative in this scene upd: i found screenshot of this scene!!! it's s3 ep7. i need to rewatch it. probably download and make edit. idk i love her sm here for no reason

6. scene where barbara shot butch at the end of s3. like this is literally peak of female rage and this is so cool that they show that barbara haven't forgot him for assaulting in s1. such a snake move from her. she was waiting this for so long. and she looked so satisfied w herself there. im prod of u girl🙏 7. everything related to her duo with Edward in s3. look at these sneaky pricks. i loved their duo so much i miss them (ofc i felt sorry for Oswald. but they had such chaotic bi swag it's amazing) "let's make gotham BEG" YASSSSSSSSSSSS YOU GO GIRL!!!

8. SCENE IN THE NARROWS. SCENE IN THE NARROWS. SCENE IN THE NARROWS. IN S4. dear god im eating this scene FOREVER. it makes me feel THINGS. im insane about Lee and Barbara's interaction here. Im insane about Lee here. Im insane about Barbara here. i love their transformation here. both character's and relationship (they almost handled conversation w/o mentioning Jim). also peak of romance. to me. (and kind of. "im a fool to want you" by frank sinatra vibes. to me) and. GREATEST WLW SCENE EVER FILMED N2!!!

9. "Barbara Queen! 🥰" scene. my girl slayed SO HARD. (also it took me to play m2 to understand what "capiche?" means lmao) look. look at her. she's a queen indeed

10. i posted this scene several days ago, anyway. jim visits barbara's club and shots smth, then tabitha raises a gun at him in return. and barbara's annoyed "seriously?" brings me so much joy lmao. she's so done with them

11. her arrival in s4. I LOVEEEEE HER SM IN S4 ITS INSANEEEE. i love everything about her. she's so cold. she looks gorgeus. she's depressed. she's my everything (my pfp speaks for itself lmao😭)

12. and when she visits Oswald in s4. i don't remember what happened in this scene but im talking bout this one:

i loooove how calm she is here. and how sassy oswald is she's observing things. she's calculating. i love her

13. of course. of courrrse: bride scene in s2. not to say that i like her in s2 much buuut. this is a certifed thompkean scene and barbara is obviously having psychotic & obsessive episode here and it's so interesting to watch

14. also i remembered scene in gcpd, i believe it was s2? anyway barbara comes to gcpd and calls jim and asks him "how do i look?" i love her outfit and that she beat up Jim after this. also i see parallels w virus!lee coming at gspd in s3. they're so girlfriends (i need to draw this au where they unite against jim ohgodddd) upd. i found someone's edit with this scene:

15. "this woman isabella. nygma said she was a librarian, right? who kills a librarian, i mean what's the motive?" and then she realizes oswald killed isabella. she looks SO HAPPY with herself. "you kn.. you know them!!! 😦😦😃😃" and i think she thought "omg bestie i've done the same thing to my ex!!!!" back then 16. scene in s5 "honey, im still amazing���" IM IN LOVVVVVE WITH HER THERE. LIKE. OH MY HER VOICE SOUNDS SOOOOOO LOW AND KINDA HOARSELY. YOU CAN TAKE ME NOW. IM ON MY KNEES OH MY GOD. also she looks so good in red 17. s4: "did you guys ordered thai?" "no" "good, cause i don't have any" *shots everyone in the room* i love her being rough and cold sm ohhh 18. when she's entering arkham in s2 having lana del rey vibes. queen 19. also i love these scenes in s1 when she discovers that selina and ivy was living in her apartment. idk there's something so soft about that 20. "disco vampire haircut" of course. iconic scene 21. "remember me?" when Nygma n Barbara took mayor Aubrey hostage. she's so sassy 22. this certifed thompkean scene. ofc. girl youre not fucking normal

23. and this one from s5 which i still haven't watched BUUUT ughhh THEM. wives.

there's more but im tired lmao. anyway i think i love almost every scene w her (except for s2. idk idk her psychotic episode portrayed a lil bit too cartoonish i think? idk this shit is actually way more scary in real life. also highly sexualized relationships w tabitha. i mean its ok if they had mostly sexual relationship and i aprecciate this as aro but y know. it could be portrayed way mooore elegant and subtle. or rough, doesn't matter) and THANK YOU SO MUCH for this ask. she's my comfort character and it's always nice to think about her😫😫💞💞💥💥 and i hope you're doing well too!!! actually thank you for this ask once again thinking bout her made me feel better lmao 😭😭😭

[divorcingjimmatthews]

episode 9 reactions hdhhskfhshfhd (spoilers!!!!)

the cicadas

RANDALL BETTER NOT DIE OKAY I STILL BELIEVE HE CAN LEARN TO BE NORMAL I STILL BELIEVE IN HIM

i'm like 99% sure julie won't die so i'm not worried about her but omg tabitha is going through so much right now with her child in pain/danger and being unable to help... T_T

i felt really bad for mari when she said she doesn't want to be like this 😔 she deserves to get better and to get to be fully herself. she's getting a lot of hate in the fandom that i feel is unwarranted, we've only seen her being really sick and even then she's always been trying to help the others

this should be its own post but i'd like to see a jade and marielle friendship, she would probably get REALLY serious with him if she hears him casually joke about how much he's into party drugs like he did around kenny, and tell him that he should count himself lucky to still be able to just get away from all that consequence-free. i also want a boyd and marielle dynamic, he's good at adopting troubled girls

team tabby

i don't need a lot to be happy. jade sitting as autistically as possible on the kitchen counter means everything to me. he's just so easy to love, like a cat. also i really appreciate the way the show moved heaven and earth to make jade and tabby end up alone together for the night. the matthews house getting demolished + the new horror making it so that no one can be alone at night + jim leaving his family to go on his crazy adventure at the RV... im grateful i truly am

jade really took the supportive role to tabby's lead in the investigation and i love that for them. there's something so special to me about this dynamic, we're so used to genius guy detective + layman sidekick, seeing it flipped is so special to me. tabby is so awesome that the rich genius guy is actually her sidekick! love them sm

victor, tian chen, julie and ethan were so so sweet i'm literally heartbroken about what ethan said to victor!!! now that jade just learned to be normal istg this poor man can't catch a break???? he's a kid and he's scared i obviously don't blame him but i bet victor was so hurt T_T still im really happy to see him be more social. he's in good hands with tian chen. i swear the new "can't be alone at night" horror was engineered in a lab to socialise the loners against their will like feral kittens and i'm so down with it LMAO like yes you can bet i'll write jade fanfic about this

EDIT LMAO POSTED BY MISTAKE HERES THE REST

jim... jimmy... jimbo...

what is he doing!! what is he doing!!!!!!!!!! fighting the rifle guy at colony house istg this man LMAOO tabby did the same thing when she just arrived they're so like that... like now you wanna get back to your family i get it but if you go out there you're gonna die. he looks so cute in that jacket btw now i'm officially simping for both tabitha AND jim just like jade

kenny and sara

im really enjoying these scenes even if i'm suffering so much for kenny and i just want to yoink him out of this depressing plot they got him in, he belonged in that room playing board games with victor the kids and his mom istg!!! but all the sara scenes are extremely compelling and omg kenny is just so !!! i need to hug him. he went through that to keep everyone else safe SIGHS

sara's got a... way of dealing with the whole thing that's for sure. she brought up like the worst possible conversation topic when looking at the map LMAO i just couldn't believe it was possible to screw up that bad. i kinda have a bit of paranoia specifically about going crazy and killing someone and then having to emotionally deal with that (just my brain being my brain dont ask) so her plot fascinates me because i've mulled over how i'd feel and how i'd deal with a situation like that so much. but i draw the sympathy line at hurting kenny and she's still hurting him so !!!!!!!! girl just shut up when he asks you to shut up it's not that hard arghh

really good insight about the place and peoples fears though. was she saying that the place gets stronger the more people it manages to kill? thats a really nice explanation for all the mix-and-match weird horror stuff going on together at the same time tbh, i like it a lot if it's like that. if khatri was afraid of god's punishment or something like that then i guess they're royally fucked (some of victor's drawings showed the place getting flooded...)

[noisetwister]

this is my current bsd collection with (almost) every piece of media from bsd LOL, a little bit of backstory:

i have a thing for data collecting (I'm a data hoarder hiding as a data preservationist basically 😭), and l frequently have like.. episodes? where i become convinced that [insert media here] will be erased forever and i have to have it physically to know it existed, usually at night and just with things I'm into. it struck bsd last night so i barely slept because i was collecting it all lmao. my hard drive #struggles everyday but i don't like to delete anything because yk, hoarding

almost all of this goes thanks to bsd-bibliophile's website, and i usually share anything I've collected amongst friends (but never the light novels where the translator asks you don't distribute, obviously).

While a lot of it attaches to me having to have media physically that is already widely distributed online, i also love collecting underground media on promotional DVDs, certain game editions and CDs etc (an example of this is my youtube @hatsuneuploads where i uploaded all of a special edition of the DTM magazine for the release of rin and len - a previously (presumably) not on the internet interview with some voice providers and a cubase official was uploaded by me which i was super happy to have done!! i also uploaded the DVD so anybody willing to find out what some of the songs are (over 50)/translate the interviews that would be very cool!)

irritatingly, a lot of the uploads for the light novels and most of the manga were in pdf format, when for light novels epub is the most widely accepted format (some were uploaded in epub which i am working on finding and downloading) and manga i much prefer cbz files (i might look into converting them).

I am also into book binding, so it is definitely on the table for me to book bind some of the light novels (but i kind of find issue with it personally when i can support the official English physical releases, so i might just book bind the way i like AFTER i have the money to purchase the official books)

also to note i would absolutely die for the manga set but i don't have the money rn 😭😭😭😭 its ok tho i will one day LOL

anyway its not much but i just like to talk about these things a lot cuz its interesting yk!!! and i'm such a bad fiend right now, I've been hooked on it since 2019 and it kind of comes and goes in waves lmao

[vertigoambrosia]

looking at some jujutsu kaisen again

nanami is hilarious; my man fucking hates work just like everyone else

i know spoilers about him but for now we stan one (1) guy who wishes he didn't have to have a job

it's really hard to skip the intro/ending themes on free crunchyroll (at least on the roku app) before the ads come in so i'm lucky the ending theme is really catchy

(i know i could just stream on my computer where i have adblock, but i like being able to watch shit on the tv)

i know about the hidden inventory arc so it's intereting seeing geto here

poor ichiji he's just a little normal guy

noooo leave junpei's mom alone!

that finger had extra crust on it

btw i can't believe in that ending bit gojo basically sent nanamin dickbutt

someone has to have made that edit, right?

what the fuck man! i was not expecting that to happen to junpei

poor guy

...why am i watching curses play popup pirate

nanamiiiiiii

oh no we're getting nanami flashbacks he's done for :(

oh no he's even prettier with the glasses off

i can see why people go feral for him on twitter

YUJIIIIIII

he said FUCK YOUR DOMAIN

uhhh thanks for the meatball recipe i guess?

oh it's tournament time now?

oh jogo has his body again

man i hate mahito so much

those stictches on geto's head are freaking me out; makes me think of lobotomy :(

oh new opening???

i love that nanami and gojo hang out

a robot??????????

man this show's tone is really all over the place

feels weird to have wacky tournament time right after that mahito fight

gojo is loveable but it must be a nightmare actually having to deal with him

new ending is quite skippable i miss the old one

ok now it's tournament time

maybe

ohhh todo is gonna get wrecked, isn't he? (like he deserves)

or wait he thinks he's found his soulmate or something because they both like the same type of girl

seriously what is this

LMAO at the inoki quote

ok for real though why is there a robot

i don't remember the third first year's name and i feel bad about it

tbh i don't remember a lot of student's names rn but it's different since she's a main character (or at least on the same level of character as megumi)

i'm tired of todo honestly

man todo really thinks he and itadori are a Fated Battle i guess

...what's a pepper-kun?

oh what the fuck is this creepy ass mechamaru shit?

omggg baby panda!!!

damn mechamaru probably isn't even that poor guy's real name

i hope...

'humans are creepy' that's such a funny way to put it

eat shit witch girl

oh that nail technique is siiiick

fuck yeah nobara!!

ok but if mai and maki are both rejected by the clan why is mai such a jerk about it?

like obviously mai's life in the clan sucks too, but i'm just not gaining the sympathy for her i feel like i'm suppossed to

ok i didnt' see her not even wanting to be a sorceror coming

maybe i'm being too harsh

another recipe?

ok can the chuunin exams finish already?

i love that this is supposed to be a curse felling contest but everyone's just doing pvp

man the eyes always closed character design really annoys the shit out of me so i'm glad at least kumo has a reason for it

ooo voice guy!

i love miwa and hate the kyoto principal

damn these clans aren't just dysfunctional, they're antiquated sexism dysfunctional

oh mahito's here to end the chuunin exams early

lmaooo wtf the old man's weapon is rock?

these post-episode skits are so weird

i should be asleep but i'm not :)

noo nue :(

and inumaki i guess :(

main boy is back!

hah i guess i'm getting invested enough to not have a lot to say

todo wtf

'imma let u die if you don't hit that move, bestie' (but also give you important advice)

finally after a lot of talking and exposition todo actually starts helping

man i really want to see what his technique is but it is also almost five in the morning and i've watched like six episodes in a row so i guess i'll stop here for now

[starseungs]

➳ 7:08pm. hjs

pairing: han jisung x gn!reader (ft. yang jeongin)

Riding the theme park's ferris wheel during the display was such a good idea to end the day. Looks like Jisung thinks so too.

genre/s: fluff, humor, boyfriend!jisung

warning/s: fireworks, ferris wheel rides, thirdwheeling (im sorry lmao)

wc: 0.7k

note: please accept this peace offering while my wips are still getting finished;; there's no angst on this one i swear

2022 ⓒ starseungs on tumblr. do not steal, repost, or edit.

"Woah, they went all out on the fireworks display, huh?" 

The dynamic show looked so much better from up in the air. Images of budding-like flowers painted the sky with loud bangs, before dissipating into the dimming canvas. Riding the theme park's ferris wheel during the display was such a good idea to end the day.

"The view is so nice..." You commented, amazed at the various pops of color littering the atmosphere.

"You're my best view."

Snapping your head towards the source of the voice, you found Jisung staring at you with a soft smile on his face—looking like a lovesick fool. But while the sudden compliment was flattering, it caught you off guard.

Just not in the way one would have thought.

"Is that the meme?" Your face contorted into silent confusion.

Jisung groaned in defeat, sliding down dramatically to slump on the seat. "Damn. I was hoping you wouldn't notice."

"Dude."

"Bro."

"What the heck?" Jeongin speaks up from in front of the two of you—a mix of disgust and disbelief pasted on his face. "How are you guys even dating?"

"Oh yeah? And why are you even here?" Jisung retorted, crossing his arms with a frown. You lightly slapped his shoulder at his childish actions—earning a whine from your now sulking boyfriend.

"Excuse me? You two invited me here!" 

"Right," you admitted, cringing. He had a point, you and Jisung did invite him on your date. "But obviously not in the same carriage…"

"So what am I going to do in a carriage alone, huh?" Jeongin pointed out, rolling his eyes at the both of you. Muttering to himself, he added, "This is ridiculous. I can't believe I signed up to be a thirdwheel."

"You could have said no, you know." You reminded him.

"Ugh. It's because I forgot you and Jisung were a couple now."

Jisung let out a strangled sound of offense at Jeongin's comment. "Do we not look like one?" 

"For someone who just called their significant other 'bro', you're one to talk," The other guy scoffed, completely done with Jisung's antics.

This clearly didn't sit right with Jisung though, because if you knew one thing about him, it was that he was the type of person to take these things to heart—even if he knew he didn't have to. 

Jisung's pride also shot through the roof at times. A trait you found attractive because of his confidence, but also annoying because he could be such a jerk during these episodes.

Eyeing him wearily, you noticed his nose scrunched up in distaste. He always did that whenever something was bothering him. But the kicker was not that. It was his obvious eyes—sparkling with brewing mischief. 

That's how you immediately knew he was up to something. 

"I don't know Jeongin," Jisung started, a bit too nonchalantly for your preference. "Personally, I think we look great together."

Jeongin grumbled at Jisung's words, taking it as the older bragging about having a romantic relationship. "It's not that you don't look good together. God knows how long we were waiting for the both of you to get together—Felix was literally about to try and mix some kind of love potion he found online into his brownies and force feed them to you."

Seeing that Jeongin was falling into your boyfriend's trap so easily, you sighed inwardly. There was no stopping now, so you just decided to let them be. They could fight as much as they wanted, for all you care.

"Then what's the issue?" Jisung pressed further, looking genuinely curious. He was executing his plan well with great acting—you had to give him that. Without noticing, you find yourself unconsciously smiling at his little plan.

"It's more so that you two don't act like one?"

And this was all Jisung wanted to hear, because the look on his face lit up a bit brighter. You had an idea of what he was planning to do, but with Jisung being Jisung, anything could happen.

There were small movements coming from Jisung's side of the seat, but before you could process what was going on, he had already seized your hands and quickly positioned them to wrap around his neck.

"Well, I hope this is enough proof."

As Jisung's face moved closer, Jeongin's cries of complaint started to fade into the background. Sure, you might be traumatizing the guy, but you could care less at that moment.

Because Jisung's eyes were exploding with so much love and adoration, overwhelming you with feelings that completely outshone the fireworks display outside. 

mastertag 🏷️ : @h0neydewmoon @prettybeoms @lhskokoro @bookishcalls