#Also my mom pretending he's the root of all evil as if both of them didn't conceive us together
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I'm moving to another continent in exactly a week and my family is more broken than it has ever been and boy has it been broken for a while <3 love the lil glass shards
#Del.txt#Bon salut mdr#Debating doing my brother a final act of kindness and writing him a letter detailing exactly what he needs to be doing#Aka. Stop using the abuse you inflicted upon me as the excuse for your inability to fix your issues.#Stop baiting me into talking about it with you when I have told you the only place we'd discuss it would be in family therapy.#Stop pretending your finances have been ruined by one event that happened years ago when I'm the one who's been#Taking the brunt of our Mom's inability to care for HER finances for years#Anyway get your shit together challenge#Will I see my Dad before I leave? Doubtful#Also my mom pretending he's the root of all evil as if both of them didn't conceive us together#Like you ALL dropped the ball lmfao#You all have your demons etc etc but my demons are YOU :-)#So.#Yay!
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The Story of Minglan
Two children??
When did the second child happen??
I hate how this drama just sidelined all the Sheng siblings and gives us NOTHING on them.
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OH MY GOD.
SHE DID POISON GRANNY!! THE IDIOT! THE ABSOLUTE IMBECILE OF A WOMAN.
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Oh, baby 😢
END THEM ALL!! I AM ROOTING FOR YOU!!
Also, Minglan as a character and this actress are both excellent.
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LOL, she can't even pretend properly.
She looks like a toddler caught elbows deep in her mom's makeup.
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Show that shiny spine, Minglan!
Once you try to kill the people she loves, she does not mess around.
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OH MY GOD, HE SLAPPED HER 😮😮
MINGLAN, END THEM ALL AND SALT THE EARTH!!
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I AM LIVING 🔥🔥
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Oof, I love this new powerful her!!
This was amazing! 🔥🔥
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That's right, Minglan! Don't let them sweep this under the rug!
Go on, Minglan, beat that drum! She really thought that she could poison people unimpeded and with no consequences like her evil sister whose entire useless family failed to hold her accountable!
Enough is enough!
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THIS FACEOFF 🔥🔥
He wants to hit her again so bad but he doesn't dare!
Also, you have got to love how Minglan is a "good child" and "best daughter" when it is beneficial to him, and how he is so willing to kill or disown her when his shitty reputation is at stake.
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That's what you get for following the lead of your shit sister.
Just because her spineless husband won't divorce her doesn't mean yours won't divorce you!
Also, this actress is amazing! Absolutely incredible performance!
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LMAO, I feel like these old nannies are the most sensible people in any house, always saving their masters from their own idiocy 😅
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Oh, Nanny Liu, she's an imbecile.
You're yelling in vain.
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Oh my god. How stupid must you be?
Imagine letting your sister whose own marriage is a septic tank of toxicity and whose own house is a hellhole manipulate you into blowing your own marriage up like this.
And Sheng Hong was super willing to sweep it all under the rug.
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And she's still in denial.
She seriously has rocks for brains and is then shocked and offended nobody will let her manage the household. The last time she managed the household, she set up an illegal money laundering operation for her shit sister which cost her all privileges and she still hasn't learned anything.
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The beef you have with Anthony on twitter is very pathetic and also the fact that you PRETEND Violet has haters when all that happened is that maybe a couple of kanthony shippers have said she was a bit too harsh with him cause god forbids audience members feel more connected with the protagonist and not his mom. Also the fact you want Kate to share screentime with Mary and Edwina again when she was treated like crap by them is not it for someone who claims to love Kate. But I guess it's not surprising when you're buddy buddy with that selcouth account who not so secretly hates Kanthony and Kate and has polite convo with the bloggers who call Kate a homewrecking whore. You know your friend writes fic in which Anthony is beaten up and Kate continues to be miserable post wedding for the sake of poor innocent Edwina?And thinks Anthony should give a fuck about Edwina doesn't let him call her by her first name? Tell your friend he eyefucked Kate at the altar in front of her, let me assure you edwina lovers he doesn't give a fuck about her brattiness the majesty. Leave Kate and Kanthony out of your mouth.
aww how sweet of you that you think y'all are the first people to dickride for anthony at the expense of female characters! i can assure you that i've been beefing with his stans since before kate's casting announcement. kathonies are not the first to drag violet to defend him, or even the first stans to demonise their male fave's mother while excusing his own behaviour. sienna/anthony shippers did the exact same thing long ago painting violet as the evil hag who wouldn't let poor little anthony run off into the sunset with sienna in s1.
also why the fuck wouldn't i want kate to fix her relationships with edwina and mary? i've criticised edwina repeatedly for never apologising to kate since day 1. that's something we never saw in s2 so yeah, i definitely want to see that and i consider necessary for them to rebuild their relationship on better terms after the wedding fiasco.
what i consider hypocritical as fuck is being totally ok with kate forgiving anthony when he hardly did enough to deserve her forgiveness after all the pain he put her through, but drawing the line at her stepmother and sister.
anthony literally ruined kate in 2x04 and not only didn't assume his responsibilities as he forced simon to do with daphne in s1, but had the nerve to propose to her sister the very next morning. so yeah, if i can support kate being with anthony in the s2 finale when he was calling her "the thorn easily removed" from his and edwina's lives just two episodes back, because that makes her happy, i can sure as hell root for her making up with the women that have been her entire world for the past 26 years as well.
as far as i'm concerned neither anthony nor edwina did right by kate in s2. edwina because she blamed her for anthony's actions and was ungrateful, when all kate had done was sacrifice after sacrifice for her to be happy. and anthony because he never showed kate the respect he demanded men to show to his sisters and chose to go after her baby sister only to publicly humiliate both sharma girls in front of anyone when they were at the altar.
i'm old enought to be able to form my own opinion about characters instead of joining fandom groupthink or liking/disliking them based on how their fanbase behaves. if that was my criterion i don't think there's a single ship i'd support in the bridgerton fandom, considering that i disagree with most kathony and benophie stans on twitter for always coddling anthony and benedict and excusing their misogyny.
and frankly, i'm extremely uncomfortable with the way you and many kathony stans talk about edwina. y'all are literally victim blaming an 18yo child for falling for a grownass man who went after her and ruined her in the eyes of society. you constanly infantilise anthony when he has more privilege than 99% of men in england, while spending your time talking shit about a teenage girl.
that's not holding edwina responsible for her behaviour towards kate, it's misogyny, plain and simple. she has every right to treat anthony like filth for the rest of her life after what he did to her and be protective of kate, like kate was of edwina when anthony was courting her, after his abhorrent treatment of both sisters.
a 30yo man not giving a fuck about a teenager he strung along and ruined isn't the gotcha that you think it is. except you clearly have such a sexist worldview that you consider him to be the "prize" edwina lost and kate won, rather than a man who hurt them both deeply and took advantage of his privilege over them.
if i should keep kate out of my mouth for wanting to see her have a healthy and wholesome relationship with her family, so should you people for being ok with anthony doing the bare minimum to win her after the hell he put her through.
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What is a smile to a war? : bnha 367
Have you ever wanted to die? Wish for the world to end? Have you ever lose yourself for a couple of minutes and felt like you wanted something really bad to happen to yourself or everybody else?
Has someone ever made you laugh in one of those cases— and just by that you realized how much you didn't want any of it to happen?
You were just upset.
Hold this concept in your mind, would you? Because the heart of the pro-hero thesis of bnha is that a hero not only saves your body or gets rid of the villains threatening you— they also save you from yourself sometimes, from the darkness within you; they prevent future tragedies with the force of their kindness.
Kid Deku watching a video of All Might's debut:
And he's smiling!! Mom... no matter what kind of trouble you're in... he'll save you with a smile.
⠀When we were first introduced to Deku and his admiration for All Might, the one thing the story made emphasis on was All Might's smile. Why?
Because if you're afraid and you see the person rescuing you smile, you relax, it makes you feel better, it tones down your fear and anxiety.
It gives you hope.
I won't be able to put all the panels I wish I could show you to support this meta, so I'll rely on your good memory about the manga, okay?
⠀
During the Hero License arc, we learnt that being a hero is much more than just knowing how to fight. We already knew part of it from All Might's first session (take care of the situation with the minimum amount of damage to both the property and the people surrounding the fight).
We learnt that the way a hero saves a person matters. Their words, their attitude, how they carry themselves and how they approach the victims and situations, it all matters.
With Bakugou and Todoroki we learn that the job of a hero also implies daily services, like helping kids and guiding others, stuff Iida Tensei (former pro-hero Ingenium) used to do.
That's an idea that finds its development along many arcs, the maximum point being after the War arc, with Ochako's speech. When heroes were giving up, she reminded them it was not only about defeating the greater evil, but also about wanting to see everybody smile together again.
It is an echo of Nighteye lessons to Deku and Mirio, of course. An echo we see in bnha 367:
A world without smiles or honor... has no... bright future.
⠀As you know, my thesis is based on the idea that the major problem with the hero society was how they forgot what a real hero was, but not because everything was exclusively monetized (it was still part of the problem, I gotta admit). No, the major issue was exposed by Tomura Shigaraki in his first speech in front of the UA staff and students:
Violence became comfortable for the bnha world, mundane even, to the point heroes stop trying to find the root of the problems so they could treat it and the civilians stop trying to help because they thought it was the heroes jobs, not theirs. Serious issues were getting overlooked, the system was getting corrupted and the effort of the heroes was shallow, superficial, even if well-meant.
Tomura/Tenko in his thoughts:
Everyone just passed by, pretending not to see, thinking that some hero would save the day. Who decided to make the world this way?
AFO "rescuing" Tenko, kneeling down to hug him:
You'll be okay now... I am here.
⠀Let's take Nana Shimura as an example; she was a great hero, we all know, the one who trained Toshinori and taught him that the people who smiled when they were afraid were the strongest. However, she was not perfect and she shouldn't be regarded as such. She failed her son and her family, something Kotaro was right about.
Can a hero talk about justice if they sacrifice their families to save others? Why some lives matter more than others? Why are heroes allowed to decide who lives and who dies, instead of helping everyone they can equally in the measure of their context?
Bnha narration:
People... are not born equal.
What is a smile to a war?
You could ask what is the sacrifice of a kid for the safety of the world, right? A life for the safety of the entire planet?
For Endeavor, what were his children and his family for the glory of his name and the glory of the hero industry, for example?
What is Tomura to AFO? Toga to the media?
What is Deku —a quirkless kid— to an entire society of people with quirks and cool abilities?
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We learned it through Kota in the Summer Camp arc and with Eri in the Overhaul arc. Both kids. One of them was a direct victim like Tomura of the hero society, the child of a broken family who had many reasons to hate what pro-heroes were; the other was a kid victim of the discrimination of quirks, a baby abandoned by her mother and used by criminal organizations for power and gain, just exactly what AFO did to Tenko/Tomura.
Deku could save Kota and Eri because he individually cared about them. No one told him there was a problem, he was actively looking. The same with Bakugo at the beginning, Deku didn't need a reason or a command, he didn't need the title or the suit, not even the quirk. He was doing the right thing.
Deku helped Kota because Kota was upset and he wanted to change that. He payed attention to Eri because she was crying. Same reason he found his way to help Bakugo, Todoroki and Iida.
What are they to Deku's journey of defeating AFO? Nothing. And everything.
Tomura talking to Doc Garaki and the LOV:
Every living, breathing thing just rubs me the wrong way. That weight in my heart is never gonna go away. So why not destroy it all?
⠀During his fight with Endeavor, AFO asked Hawks what was evil, what could be categorized as "wrong", why everybody got so easily offended. Then revealed that his main motivation of being a villain was because he wanted to make everyone bitter, everyone, inspired on those comic books villains.
In a way, it means "I am bad, everybody's bad too"
On the other hand, Tomura's motivation to destroy it all comes for the trauma of not being rescued. Why? Didn't he deserve it? Why people wouldn't help him? Isn't it because he must play the part of a villain?
Tenko asked his mother why his father hated him. Tomara also asked the UA staff what was the difference between villains and heroes using violence, the same way Toga asked Uraraka why people wouldn't help or save them (the villains).
There is real inequality in bnha: you have people like Spinner, Shinso, Hawks, Toga, Deku, Aoyama, Dabi, Tomura, Shouto, Hatsume, Aizawa... The list keeps on growing.
There are differences. Preferences even.
If you're a pretty metahuman to be used by the hero commission or a filthy "mutant" with a weak quirk, if you have a spooky quirk or a "villain" quirk, if you're quirkless or your quirk is not flashy enough or powerful enough, if you look creepy or are not "hero material", if you are hero material even if you don't want to be one...
Inequality. Discrimination. Society prescriptions.
AFO almost won, he almost made everyone mad and bitter, including Deku in bnha 367.
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Go read what Nighteye told Mirio again.
The fight against AFO (and what he represents) isn't a fight of just weapons. It was a fight with the hero society itself.
Their indifference, their apathy, their prejudices...
A smile matters in a war because why the fuck would you fight for if the only thing your gonna leave behind is a bunch of broken people who wish they were dead.
Why would you rescue Eri if you're not going to fight everyday with her trauma so that she can be happy? Why would you leave Kota to live in pain and anger without his parents when you can make his life full of light again?
What about the Cultural Festival arc?
Or rescuing Deku from his suicidal mission?
Going for Bakugo and Iida and fighting for Shouto to melt his heart??? Shouto going for Dabi???
This is why what Hawks did to Twice was wrong, because he forgot the principle of a hero:
Every lives matter.
Every smile matters.
The reason Tomura doesn't see a future is 'cause no one has ever showed him otherwise. No one saved him back then and no one has saved him (yet) in 20 years. No one told him he deserved to live and be happy, no one ever stopped and tried to make him smile or laugh or ask him if he had friends or if he liked dogs.
AFO killed Tenko the day he put those hands on him and has been dragging his body around in a parade— and even when Tomura was screaming about pain and injustice and screaming about the problem of the hero society, no one listened to him, no one tried ro reach him.
Dead.
Except Deku sees him.
⠀
Every moment of the manga, every mission and arc, every panel and interaction, it has brought us here: to Deku asking AFO if Tenko/Tomura is still in there.
What is Tenko's smile to the bnha war?
Maybe the end of it. Maybe the defeat of AFO. You have a wounded animal that will try to attack you because it's in pain. Here are your options: you can kill every wounded animal you encounter or you can go search for the cause of their pain and treat it, so the next generations won't arrive at your door full of desperation and rage.
Everyone can be a hero, because everyone can do the right thing, everyone can make others smile, everyone can save someone one day just by telling a joke or being gentle.
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A smile can prevent a war.
Which is more powerful than any weapon which could stop at war.
In summary, bnha is about a society ruled by violence and miscommunication learning that if they don't reach for each other, if they don't try to understand, if their only solution is to erase what make them uncomfortable... they're doomed to dissappear.
#bnha#mha#my hero academia#boku no hero academia#Bnha meta#Mha meta#Bnha spoilers#Mha spoilers#Mha 367#Bnha 367#Shan's mha meta#Shan's bnha meta#Shigaraki Tomura#Deku#Midoriya Izuku#Afo#All for one#All Might#Toshinori yagi#Bnha manga spoilers#Deku meta#Midoriya Izuku meta#Shigaraki Tomura meta#Bakugou katsuki#Todoroki Shouto#Iida tenya#league of villains#lov#Ua students#Long post
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Ok, so what in your opinion is the WORST mistake that the showrunners for Game of Thrones made in terms of content, either it's addition or redaction?
WARNING: Looooooong post ahead
Themes are for eighth-grade book reports
This absurd quote by one of the showrunners explains why exactly the show fell appart. They wanted to make a story... without themes. Anyone with a minimally functioning brain will tell that this is impossible because every story, even the simplest and least complicated story there ever, has a theme. Even a nihilistic story has a theme "Nothing matters". Every. Story. Has. A. Theme.
But Game Of Thrones didn't, at least not after the writers ran out of books to adapt and did their own thing. Everything every character did was no longer to build a narrative, but to essentially act as click-bait. The focus was to make people keep watching, not on making any content that was worth watching.
The first four seasons had it's problems, just like the books had it's problems, but Martin's writting was so brilliant that it managed to stay good even while being handled by absolute clowns. The moment season four ended was the moment the show stopped being an adaptation and became it's own thing - and like I explained before, said thing wasn't a story.
Shock
Both the show and the books had MANY shocking, heart-breaking and downright horrifying scenes: Daenerys being raped by Drogo; Bran being pushed out the window after accidentally seeing the queen fucking her brother; the whole deal with Craster and his daughters; the Dotrakhi destroying Mirri's village and her revenge against them and Daenerys; Ned's death; Melisandre giving birth to a shadow baby that killed Renly; The Red Wedding; Jeoffrey's death; Tyrion killing his father; Theon being tortured by Ramsay...
The difference is there were REASONS behind the shocking scenes Martin created. Even when you look at things like rape and torture scenes and threats of rape/torture - Martin used those scenes to remind us that the world he created is an EXTREMELY dangerous and downright vile place, and that the characters are never truly safe, and that there are WAY worse things than just being killed.
Dumb & Dumber on the other hand, gaves us scenes like an evil, former man of the night's watch evily making an evil speech to his fellow evil men, evily drinking whine from a human skull while nameless women were being raped in the background - but little does he know that Jon Snow, the hero, is about to wreck his shit. It takes something that could realistically happen (and that did happen in the books) and takes it up to eleven because the writers think shock is the same as quality and that the audience is SO STUPID that they need to practically make the actor jump out of the TV, grab us by the shoulders and scream "I'M EVIL! I'M THE BIG BAD! ROOT FOR THE HERO TO KILL ME!"
Pretty much every bad guy became a parody of Jeoffrey, ironically enough because the writers took Jeoffrey too seriously. He was a cruel, sadistic character, who had WAY too much power - but he was also a spoiled baby whose reply to Tyrion bitch-slapping him wasn't a threat, but "I'M TELLING MOM!" Jeoffrey worked because he was only allowed to do his thing whenever smarter, more competent characters like Tyrion and Tywin where not around, meaning his actions, while inhumane, never reached the point of no longer being believable.
The horrible things that happened to the characters no longer felt "right". For instance, Sansa had just been taken to the Eerie by Little Finger, who has a weird complex in which he sees her both as the daughter he never had with Catelyn AND as a replacement for Catelyn, and she was starting to truly be a player instead of a pawn... and then the writers realized "Oh shit, we should have not cut the Jeyne Pool/Fake Arya' plot, that was important" and forced it on Sansa, making Little Finger hand her on a silver plater to Ramsay and turning her into a victim AGAIN, this time to a man that dramatically fights his enemies without a shirt own, practically saying "come at me bro"
Compare this to Ned's beheading, or Catelyn and Rob being betrayed and killed by the Freys. These moments were shocking and downright depressing - but they were earned. The writting was on the wall for anyone to see: Ned was at the mercy of Jeoffrey, and the Starks had given the Freys, who are notoriously disloyal, a reason to resent them. These twists felt completely natural, were the only logical way for the situation the characters were in to play out, AND they had consequences to plot instead of just making the audience gasp and then being forgotten about.
Plot armor
It's kind of ironic and almost tragic that the show that became famous for killing characters later became the worst type of high-stakes series, putting the characters in situations they could NOT survive, not even if a goddamn miracle happened, and having them live anyway. What's even worse is that it happened repeatedly. If I had to see Jon Snow almost die and then survive anyway one more fucking time I was going to lose my mind.
There's no bigger proof that there were just no consequences for the "main" characters anymore than watching the second, third, and fourth episodes of season either. The first sets up that this battle against the night king and his army of undead is likely going to kill the majority of them, if they're lucky... and then in the third we see the plot armor in all of it's "glory", and then in the forth we find out that the Dotrakhi, who had ALL been killed, actually still have half the numbers they had the night before, somehow. Even red-shirts weren't dying anymore.
DORNE
This disaster needed it's own session because HOLY SHIT, it's a miracle/tragedy that everyone didn't go "Fuck it, I'm never watching another episode of this stupid show."
The Dorne plot in the books isn't perfect, but what the show did to it was so fucking bad that I'm pretty sure the writers didn't even read the Dorne chapters in the books, they just looked at a wiki, wrote down the names of a few characters and then did their own shitty thing.
In the books, Doran Martel is a clever, dangerous man, who pretends to be harmless so people will understimate him and step right into his trap. In the show, Doran Martel... died. That's it. I can't remember anything else that happened to him. Add him to the list of "Brilliant characters that became stupid due to shitty writing", I'm sure Tyrion, Varys and Little Finger will love making him company.
The sand-snakes, one of the main driving force of that plot, were all distinct characters in the books, with their personalities, goals, methods and motivations - basically they were created by a writer who knew what he is was doing. In the show they were all the same "character" who could be perfectly described by that horrible, cringy, PAINFUL line one of them (I can't even remember which) said to Bron "You want a good girl, but you need the bad pussy" (Seriously, if that actress ever kills the show-runners as revenge for having to say that, she'll be 100% justifyed in doing so)
And we cannot forget the driving force behind that unwatchable shit show: Ellaria Sand. In the books, the death of Oberyn made her believe that revenge only leads to more blood-shed. In the show, his death enraged to the point of wanting to avenge him and his family, and she did this... by killing his family. If that doesn't explain how insane and stupid this plot-line was, I don't know what will.
Hype = Character assassination
Many shows are based around the conflict between the bad guys and the good guys. Game Of Thrones is not one of these shows. Or at least it wasn't. As they ran out of ideas, the writers started mutilating every single character until they could be label as "Good" or "Bad", regardless of what felt right to the story and to the point that there was nothing left of said characters. Stannis's actor, Stephen Dillane, straight up said that the only thing he got from being on the show was money and that his character's motivations and decisions were nonsense - ironically enough, that kind of brutal honesty means that the writers had THE perfect actor play Stannis, and wasted his fucking time.
Here's a list of the characters that fell victims to this horrible fate: Catelyn Stark, Tyrion Lannister, Sansa Stark, Arya Stark, Jon Snow, Melisandre, Stannis, Jorah, Daenerys (bonus points for being mutilated into being both a generic, shitty "hero" and a generic, shitty "villain") Greyworm, Rhaegar Targaryen, Lyanna Stark...
Pretty much the only character who became more complex in the show than she was in the books was Cersei. While her book self was never just a "Generic Evil Queen", the show version of her was far more sympathetic, which made the stories she was part of interesting. Too bad the writers ran out of ideas of what to do with her after season six and just left her by the window drinking whine until Dany showed up to kill her. Which brings us to...
Why is this happening?
Cersei was seen as a threat in the last two seasons based on nothing but the things she HAD done. Her story just ended the very second season six did, but since she was still alive despite being one of the bad guys she had to die... I guess. She (and by extention Jaime) joined the list of characters that had nothing to do, but were still around: Davos, Theon, Yara, Melisandre, Bron, Sam, Gendry, Bran (the last one being SO unnecessary that he was cut from season five and no one noticed)
To combat that issue, the writers gave characters "motivations" that made no sense. For exemple: Sandor Clegane. His only reason to be in the show was so he could kill his brother. The problem was that Gregor was already dead. He was a walking corpse. There was nothing left of the abusive brother Sandor once knew, meaning he had no reason to fight him, and that, to keep Sandor around, the writers should have come up something new (like the redemption that book fans have been waiting for, and that has a lot of backing evidence). You might as well have had HIM be the one to randomly fly out of nowhere and kill the night king despite having no connection to him.
And since we're talking about the night king... Arya was the one to kill him. Why? Because the writers ruined Jaime's redemption arc, meaning that the only fitting ending for him was to die with Cersei, and so Arya could not kill Cersei despite wanting to, having the ability to do, AND having heard a prophecy that said she'd "Shutting brown eyes, blue eyes, and green eyes forever", the last one being the only one she had not done AND applying to Cersei. But Dumb & Dumber admitted they had no plan for this, so now that they were at the last season, they needed to do something with it, and they retconned it to mean Arya would kill the night king...
But Arya killing him meant Jon had nothing to do, so Dany had to go mad so he could kill her. To "hint" at that, they ignored all the not at all subtle foreshadowing the previous season had of Dany and Jon having a kid, and they even showed her getting jealous that he was technically the true heir... even though that made no sense since they were going to rule together anyway, and even after Dany went full "Mad Queen" she ASKED HIM TO RULE WITH HER. But anyways, he kills her and becomes king...
Except he doesn't actually become king and him being a secret Targaryen has no effect in the plot, because Bran needed to become king so there'd be a reason for him to be alive, because his magical powers turned into a plot-device. A plot-device that wasn't used at any goddamn point. Seriously, the only thing as bad as Bran becoming king was Euron's existence - dude was THE most useless villain ever AND the worst Jeoffrey parody.
A darker story (literally)
I could not end this rant without bitching about this. What is the point of spending an ungodly amount of money on sets, costumes, make-up, special effects... and then using such poor lighting that no one can see what the fucking is going on?
Anyway, this disaster of a series was so absurd it should be used as an exemple of what NOT to do.
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Bud I’m sorry to swing into your inbox uninvited like this but my soul is having an OOTS renaissance thanks to your content in the tag and did you say Leverage AU
haha holy SHIT this got Long. but yes. i’ve been. Thinking. (also literally Never feel like you have to apologize for sending me messages. i was Hoping someone would ask me about this. now i have an Excuse to share EVERYTHING ive written abt it :3)
Obviously, Roy is the leader/brains of the outfit. He grew up having some Strong Opinions abt what’s Legal versus what’s Right due to tragic backstory involving the death of his little brother which was definitely SOMEONE’S fault for negligence but since there technically wasn’t any illegal behavior, there were no consequences for it. Also he’s still angry at his dad bc he thinks his dad is also partly culpable (and also also just a dick). He’s the Moral Backbone of the team (alongside Durkon, more on that later) in basically the same way Nate was in og Leverage. He’s actually not the best at figuring out what people want (that’s Haley and, shockingly, occasionally Elan), but once he has that info, he is the absolute best at figuring out the ideal plan of attack to use in any given case.
Haley is still a thief. I mean she maps to Parker almost PERFECTLY. Her dad was a thief & a conman, her mom wasn’t but knew about it and mostly accepted it, but she died tragically in a mugging gone wrong or smth, which made Ian crank the paranoia WAY up and taught Haley to do the same in the name of “safety”. Let’s keep the “Ian is in Trouble and Haley needs money, Fast” which is why she signs on to the first job in the first place. She’s less acrobatic than Parker, tending towards finding (or making) weak spots in security, but she can still make a tumble check when she needs to.
Elan is the grifter who is somehow an Idiot but also not???? It baffles everyone. When he’s playing a part for a con, he’s FLAWLESS, but then the rest of the time he’s just. No Thoughts Head Empty. He probably gets lured in initially because he’s decided to try his hand at being part of a full team, rather than the two-man cons he’s been running that invariably end w his partner conning him as well and stealing half of his take. Also he likes the idea of being Crime Friends. He’s that tweet where it’s like, Roy: “after the heist is over, we split up and never communicate again” / Elan: [about to unveil his Crime Buddies Forever Friendship Quilt Puppets]: “never?”
Vaarsuvius is the hacker/gadget person. They have a Vaguely Snobby Yet Unidentifiable accent, dyed(?) purple hair (nobody has ever seen their roots) and nobody knows who they “really” are or where they came from, but they’re good at what they do so everyone just accepts the mystery. They probably got suckered into the team by their initial employer (who I’ll get to Eventually, lol) framing it as a challenge to their intellect, like, “oh, I see, you’re not smart enough to make this team work for you...” to which they were like Fucking Watch Me and also melted his computer. Anyways. They are joined (digitally) by their Intrepid Friend And Co-Conspirator (his words, not theirs), a fellow hacker known only as Blackwing, or, on certain forums, Blackwing_Bird. (In the first season, V only occasionally references him when saying they’re “calling in extra help” or smth for a particularly complex hack job. He starts showing up a little more in s2 and eventually by the start of s4 is a regular & established presence, but only appears as actions in a computer interface or output.) Elan is convinced he’s an AI, Belkar doesn’t think he actually exists, Haley pretends she doesn’t think he exists, and Durkon and Roy try not to think about it too hard, as long as B and V still get the job done.
Belkar is the hitter. He is on the team bc their initial employer got him out of jail for it. He doesn’t have a tragic backstory, he just likes doing violent crimes. As the series progresses, he grows some empathy & stuff, but really only for people who actually deserve it. Assholes still get decked. It’s all very touching. (Also he has dwarfism caused by achondroplasia. It doesn’t actually bother him and is useful in fights bc his opponents frequently have no fucking clue how to approach him, but he likes Pretending to take offense at stupid things just to see how far he can go with it.)
Aaaand last but not least, Durkon is the least involved member of the team. He’s actually a career criminal and Roy’s mentor, and wasn’t a member of the initial team that [redacted, I’ll tell you later, PROMISE] put together for a couple of reasons, the main one being that he’s Officially retired in order to spend more time with his family, which consists of his mom, his friend (not girlfriend) Hilgya, baby Kudzu, and a truly stunning number of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Roy frequently calls or visits him for advice and he Occasionally shows up to help out on local jobs, but generally he avoids doing crime if he can (as part of a deal with Hilgya, who is also a career criminal; basically, they’ve both cut back on the crime in order to provide a more stable home environment for Kudzu. But sometimes, you gotta do a little crime, and in those cases, Sigdi enjoys spending time w her grandson.)
NOW. THE BIG REVEAL YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR. Who got the team together in the first place?!
The answer: Lord Shojo (or whatever Normal Person Name you want to assign him). Now this is where it gets tricky: he had them do a thing that they thought was good, THEN they thought it was BAD, but then when they confronted him he revealed that it Appearing to be bad was actually a test of character and would they consider working as basically internal investigators for him? But then he had a heart attack, so, rip. But THEN it turned out that he’d left them a bunch of money anyway and they were all feeling kind of Inspired so they formed the Order of the Stick, LLC (which, no, i am not coming up with a new name, actually, because I just don’t care. someone else can come up w a justification for that name, tho, i’m sure it’s possible). Also Miko was there and was unhappy abt their actions, and also their general existence.
Moving on. Villains!
Redcloak is the Sterling replacement, because that DEEPLY amuses me.
Xykon is a season-long main villain, probably one that Redcloak finds himself working for but then “teams up with” (read: blackmails) the Order to bring him down bc even Redcloak finds Xykon distasteful. That’s season 3, let’s say.
Tarquin is another season villain, say season 2. Nale probably shows up pretty early in s1, actually, as another recurring antagonist like Sterling but uh. Less good at it. Anyways the s2 final 3 eps deal with them (accidentally) discovering that Tarquin runs some Evil Empire Company, then trying to outplay him and take him down. Idk if Nale still dies in this version tbh.
Tsukiko is a one-off s1 villain who returns briefly in s4 alongside Miko, who has gone well and truly off the rails.
Season 1 finale has to do w Roy finally getting Vengeance for his little brother.
The vampire squad is the s4 finale villain who do smth terrible to Durkon and then get the Mother Of All Revenge served up to them by the Order.
I envision the show as being 5 seasons (like og Leverage) but I’m not going to sketch out s5 because I think it should be based off whatever happens in the current story arc, possibly involving some legacy of the OotSquiggle.
Other stuff!
The Order of the Squiggle is a legendary criminal team from the 60s who stole a BUNCH of famous shit & then proceeded to legendarily implode. This has no bearing on the plot I’ve sketched out, I just think it’s fun.
The Sapphire Guard members should probably be reworked as FBI. I don’t care about most of them but I do think that Lien and O-Chul could be like, FBI agents who Choose to look the other way while the Order does their very-much-not-legal-but-still-fair Justice Crime, and maybe even help them out on occasion.
So, the Final season-by-season outline, based on everything I’ve written so far:
s1 e1: getting the team together, doing a con for Shojo, then at the end he dies and the gang is like “dang what now?" and intend to split up except then they Don’t.
mid-s1: Nale shows up and tries to trick the Order, but then gets beat like a drum.
late s1: Tsukiko is an underling of the Villain Of The Week, winds up in police custody. But She’ll Be Back.
s1 finale: Roy’s Vengeance: The Vengeaning. also we meet Redcloak as an antagonist.
s2 e1: the truth abt Haley’s father comes out
early s2: The Two Live Crews Job but it’s the Order vs the Linear Guild and the Linear Guild ARE all bad guys.
mid-s2: Redcloak returns. ugh.
late s2: the sapphire guard FBI makes its first appearance, hello O-Chul and Lien.
s2 pre-finale: once again they’re in conflict w Nale over smth, he spends the whole episodes making Cryptic Remarks, they basically beat him (like a drum!) but then the stinger at the end is that Tarquin reveals himself and Elan is like “Dad?!”, roll credits.
s2 finale, part 1: Elan is hanging out w Tarquin bc he’s DEEP in Denial, the Rest of the team tries to take Tarquin down, but it doesn’t work.
s2 finale, part 2: Elan finally gets a clue and they manage to beat Tarquin. still haven’t decided if Nale dies or not, but I’m leaning towards yes. also they rescue Haley’s dad.
s3 e1: fuck dude idk.
early s3: Redcloak shows up, AGAIN, everyone groans. he has blackmail on them, he wants them to take Xykon down.
mid s3: The Rashomon Job but it’s about stealing the Talisman of Dorukan and it turns out that Nale was there too (“oh!” Elan says. “I was wondering why I looked so weird in all those mirrors! But it wasn’t my reflection, it was Nale’s!” “Sweetie, that wasn’t Nale’s reflection,” says Haley. “Huh,” says Elan, “so the mirrors were broken?”, cue eye rolling from everyone else.), and the Successful thief was Hilgya, who’d nabbed it from the owner before it even went on display.
s3 finale: they beat Xykon, actually factually, because he deserves to get his ass Thoroughly kicked, even if only in AU form. Lien and O-Chul are there, so are some other less helpful FBI people. There’s a bit where O-Chul Exact Wordses his way out of telling his superiors about the Order’s less legal activities without technically lying. King shit.
s4 e1: doesn’t really matter. maybe smth to do w some legacy of Tarquin’s company to set up the drama w Malack & Durkon later.
early s4: Durkon gets SENT TO PRISON. Malack approaches the Order abt this because sure they have Different Ethics but they’re still Friends. (Roy is surprised and a little hurt that he’s never heard of Malack, but he ignores that in favor of Let’s Get Whatever Fuckers Did This To Our Friend.)
immediately after that: Miko and Tsukiko return as a Team, preventing the Order from working on the Durkon situation
mid s4: Redcloak makes another unexpected & unwelcome appearance but he’s maybe a little less of a dick? the Order collaborates with Malack & his Crime Buddies (hello, Vector Legion) to pull one over on him tho, because “less of a dick” does not mean “a pleasant or decent person”, and also he was mean abt Durkon being in jail, so he totally deserved it. he still gets whatever he wanted tho, just takes a blow to his pride. also prevents the Order from helping Durkon. they’re having a LOT of setbacks wonder why that could be, not to make sure the season fills its whole length or anything, no sirree
s4 finale: something something taking down the organization, headed by Hel (yes that’s her real name), which framed Durkon for their Big Crime. Durkon goes free and Extra Firmly retires, For Good, He Swears, but says he “met someone new” who might be an asset.
s5 e1: minrah joins the team! and the episode is set in like, somewhere really snowy. that’s all i got.
the rest of s5: don’t know, don’t care, it’s open-ended until the comic finishes up.
#mine#ask#corvidcorgi#order of the stick#oots#leverage#leverage au#oots au#au#outline#haha this thing clocks in at 1.9k words because i am LITERALLY incapable of shutting up#hope u enjoy it bc i spent Way Too Much Mental Effort mapping out how the OotS plotlines might play out in a leverage setting#and then promptly ignored Most of that in favor of making it funnier & dumber & more villain-of-the-week#(bc lbr the comic is Good but it's got an overarching plot form that the Leverage story style does Not jive with)#i'm not tagging all these characters lol
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13x02 the rising son
21 transgressions. enjoy.
#1: dean criticized sam for wanting to protect jack, and then devalued jack’s entire existence to an “it”.
sam: “look… losing mom and cas, that’s a lot to process, dean, especially on no sleep. and the kid...”
dean: “the “kid”? come on, man, you know how this plays out. kook, when we try to bend the rules, pretend that the bad guys aren’t so bad or that things will get fixed, that’s when people that we care about get hurt. and then we end up doing what we should’ve done in the first place, which is end the problem. so this time, let’s start with the obvious. soon as i find a way to take care of… it.”
time tag: 3:17
#2: after sam failed again to make dean see jack as a child, he tried to make dean see jack as an asset. dean refused to listen or consider any of sam’s insights, and admitted that he is giving up on family, which is something he claims he would never ever ever ever ever do.
sam: “dean, “the problem” might be our only shot at saving mom.”
dean: “mom’s gone. there’s no fixing that.”
time tag: 3:44
#3: jack was happily watching scooby doo and bothering nobody, so of course dean walked over and scolded him, then turned the tv off. apparently watching tv is illegal now yall!!
time tag: 9:03
#4: told jack to take the couch and threw a bible at him. luckily, sam isn’t a child murderer and made sure jack felt welcome. sam = good dad. but, dean winchester is already worse of a father than john was. you hate to see it.
time tag: 9:11
#5: dean criticized jack for eating the exact same way he does. mocking a 3 day old child just for the sake of it, just to make himself feel better. he is pathetic. idk why jack and sam put up with him these next 3 seasons.
dean: “you can slow down, you know. that’s stuff’s not gonna disappear.”
sam: “ever seen you eat, dean?”
time tag: 10:02
#6: yells at jack for copying his movements. he’s 3 days old...3 days old. 3.
time tag: 11:35
#7: sam has been rooting for jack to not be evil. he is focusing on WHO jack is not what he is. dean, however, is counting on jack being evil so he can murder him. the confirmation bias is real here. any instance of jack showing humanity dean just tunes it out. this conversation should remind you of dean’s view of sam in s4/5
donatello: “yes, well, not so much anymore. but, uh…look at you. the waves of power… so intense.”
dean: “maybe less human than we thought.”
donatello: “fascinating. you know, i’ve met your father. your power’s nothing like his. not dark, not toxic.”
sam: “that so?”
dean: “not yet.”
time tag: whole time but 15:58
#8: he was a dick to the tattoo artist for no reason expect that he loves to take his anger out on others.
time tag: 16:44
#9: when in doubt blame sam! when in doubt accuse sam! when in doubt manipulate sam! wooohooo!!!
sam: “so you heard donatello. no evil vibes from jack.”
dean: “proves nothing, except that you’re way too attached to this kid. you need to see this for what it is, okay?”
time tag: 16:54
#10: lessons from our sexist macho man icon:
jack: “it hurt.”
dean: “okay, see, sometimes, things hurt, so you just man up and deal with it.”
time tag: 17:21
#11: some more of dean refusing to listen to other’s correct observations of jack, because there is no changing his mind that jack is evil. he doesn’t need proof that jack is evil, because he doesn’t want it. he wants to murder jack regardless of who he is. dean only cares about WHAT jack is. sigh. 2x03 i miss you.
time tag: 18:43
#12: dean claimed that since cas loved jack, jack is therefore responsible for his murder. even though it was literally lucifer that murdered cas, not jack. so, using dean’s logic: sam and john killed mary, sam killed jess, dean killed john, sam killed dean, sam and dean and bobby killed jo and ellen, dean killed sam, dean and sam killed cas multiple times, sam and dean killed kevin....etc etc. do you see how fucking stupid dean is being rn?
sam: “okay, look, yeah, jack is on lucifer’s family tree. but we don’t know if that dna is stronger than Kelly’s, or his connection with cas.”
dean: “oh, you mean the connection that got cas killed?”
sam: “i’m just saying, jack doesn’t have to be evil. we can teach him not to be.”
time tag: 18:53
#13: dean called jack ‘the devil’ which made jack so upset he ran away. this is a transgression obviously towards jack, but also towards sam. dean said that a 3 day old child (who literally hasn’t done anything wrong) is the devil. he said it in front of his brother who was tortured by the ACTUAL devil (and michael) for centuries. it’s insensitive and fucked up beyond belief for dean to use his brother’s abuser to try and manipulate him to conform to his beliefs on jack.
NOT TO MENTION that dean is the only member of team free will with absolutely no supernatural abilities at all. he does not understand jack. he does not understand lucifer. dean is the LAST person who should have a say in if jack is good or evil.
time tag: 19:25
#14: this is a abuse apology. many victims of abuse are manipulated to apologize for them and sympathize with them. this is a prime example of that:
sam: “dean doesn’t hate you. it… look, sometimes the wires in dan’s head get crossed and...and he gets frustrated, and then he mixes frustration with anger, and...and fear.”
jack: “why would he be afraid?”
sam: “because dean feels like it’s his job to protect everyone.”
time tag: 20:45
#15: did the writers include this scene to emphasize that dean is john (but worse)....because that’s exactly what it did.
bartender: “i hated my old man. I ran away myself. see, my mom would never stick up for me. but…you know kids. no matter what, they still want the old man’s approval. well, that’s how it was with me, just…”
dean: “you know, that’s, uh, that’s how it was with me, too.”
i’m not sure what dean is referring to here because based on what the bartender is saying, sam would relate more to her story than dean but ok! sure! pity party time needs no logic
time tag: 22:17
#16: sam had to seperate jack and dean in order to protect jack. sam felt that jack was safer with a man that had no soul (donatello), over his own brother. and he was right!
time tag: 23:11
#17: dean made fun of sam and jack by calling jack sam’s “new pal” as a way to not only degrade jack, but also ridicule sam.
time tag: 27:08
#18: dean is angry that sam isn’t blindly following along with his plans for jack’s death. and everything sam tried to say to get dean out of his child murdering mindset goes in one ear and out the other.
sam: “point is…if you and i are gonna do this, keep jack on the right side of things, then...then we have to be on the same page.”
dean: “okay. well, that’s the problem, though, sam, ‘cause we’re not on the same page. like, at all.”
sam: “all right. you know what? i know what’s going on here.”
dean: “oh. okay. well, please, tell me, what’s going on here?”
sam: “you thinking mom is gone and cas is gone, and that jack can’t be saved. dean, after everything we’ve gone through… we just lost people we love, people who have been in our lives for a long time. everything’s upside-down. i get it. but we’ve been down before. i mean, rock bottom. and we find a way. We fix it because that’s what we do. and jack w-wants to do the right thing. jack’s scared to death of who he is, and he’s scared of you.”
you know who else was scared of their father figure? dean. and sam. and now jack. dean stans can hate john all they want but the truth is dean is far worse. they both deserve a special place in hell together
time tag: 27:19
#19: the mental gymnastics it takes to come to this conclusion about jack. to ignore any and all proof that jack isn’t evil. it’s shocking how strongly dean holds onto hate and his need to kill.
sam: “dean, wait a second. the kid came through for us today. jack saved us.” dean: “no. no, whatever that was, that was a reflex. it was a sneeze. maybe next time he sneezes, he kills us. goodnight.”
time tag: 39:32
#20: dean drove jack to self harm. dean then proceeded to angrily tell him off and call him names for doing so.
dean: “okay. what the hell? give me that. you...don’t be an idiot. look, a, this is not gonna do anything to you, okay? and b, you… what the hell?”
time tag: 40:35
#21: this is psychological abuse. this is child abuse. this scene is as bad as the panic room of s4. disgusting. and some people actually ship this man with this child’s father (castiel). get help.
dean: “you know, my brother thinks you can be saved.” jack: “you don’t believe that.” dean: “no, i don’t.”
jack: “so… if you’re right?”
dean: “if i’m right… and it comes to killing you… i’ll be the one to do it.”
time tag: 41:07
#13x02 the rising son#this episode took me like 2 hours to do oh my GOD#heavy#spn#dean negative#dean critical#jack kline#<3#tw verbal abuse#emotional manipulation/abuse#tw self harm#pity party tag!#controlling#gaslighting#hypocrisy#sexism#belittling#anti dean winchester
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Tagged by @just-like-playing-tag ! Thank you so much for thinking of me ! I’ve even been re-checking your blog recently so it makes me happy. ^^ Anyway let’s go !
Rules : Tag 9 people you would like to get to know better / catch up with!!
Last song : I often switch between different songs, so it’s hard to make a real choice. But recently, because of the Tsukihime trailer, I started to listen a lot to ReoNa ! She makes epic music and has a very voice reminding me alot of Aimer (and I like her a lot already so you can guess I like ReoNa’s style as well). I also listen on repeat to Harumaki Gohan’s last album “Futarino”, there’s so much emotion in his music, it’s a great inspiration device. And last but not least, of course the new Beastar OP by YOASOBI “Kaibutsu”. She never disappoints. (Also fun fact, I actually started to listen her songs when she was still doing Vocaloid things, it was impressive seeing her suddenly get this boost in popuplarity, I am proud of her she deserves it).
Last Movie : I wanted to get used to listening to Chinese lately (I already listened to Chinese songs occasionally before, but it was more about the tone of the voice this time, to properly recognize feelings and emotions if it makes sense), so I watched this animation movie called “Nezha” ! It’s based on some actual chinese folklore (and given that I got the servant in FGO three times) it really got me curious, especially since the animation looked so good, and it didn’t disappoint ! A great movie, for both the visuals and the story ! For once, when they say that the protagonist is supposed to be evil, you can actually believe it, while still rooting for him and hope he finds happiness. Nezha’s parents are a bless (THE MOM IS BADASS) Each character has its own motivation and is engaging... Overall I would really recommend it ! (And even if it was to get me used to Chinese, I can tell that the dub was very good).
Currently watching : Or more exactly : currently on hiatus from watching. “Great Pretender” ! A story about “professional” scammers, trying to scam bigger shots each new arc, and in the process learning more about them as people and why they ended up doing what they do. I really like it, but sadly I can’t find the motivation to keep watching lately. ^^’ I would recommend it, I just take my time let’s say ! I also started “Avatar The Last Airbender” because my best friends is a big fan of the show, but since I changed of Netflix account I need to find where I had last stop to keep up. I like it for now ! And well, not exactly “currently” watching again, but I will get to watch it soon enough, I intend to watch the first season of “Horimiya” ! (People who follow me on twitter be like “Huh, didn’t you say you wer annoyed by how lovey-dovey the main couple was-?” Shhhhh... Let’s keep this a secret between us, shall we?)
Currently Reading : *Looking sadly at my pile of “to read” books and sigh* I really should finish them as well... There’s the first novel for “The Ancient Magus��� Bride”, which is a collection of short stories. Lots of manga (too many to tell what exactly... There must be at least 30 different series that I read simultaneously.) Well, recently I finished reading “The Epic of Gilgamesh” ! One of the oldest written text in the entire world, a story about becoming human. Very beautiful... except that Enkidu eats grass at the beginning, no I won’t stop thinking about it.
Tagging : Well, some were already tagged, so I hope you don’t mind the bother ? ^^’ I hope you are all doing well !
@mari-lair , @amaikana , @vobomon , @spaceoceania , @shot-tothestars , @emmasantenna , @solitaire-dreams , @bluelric , @vidaflxwer .
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The Brak Show #1: “Leave It To Brak” (AKA “Mr. Bawk Ba Gawk”) December 21, 2000 - 5:15AM | S01E01 regular series version aired October 7, 2001 @ 11:00PM
I’m trying to break the habit of assuming only my friends are reading my various blogs, but I failed in one fundamental way: I didn’t really describe the premise of Sealab 2021, like, at all. Despite digging into it’s roots somewhat by watching it’s various pilots, I failed to include even a paragraph with the basic premise of the show. I’ll try not to make the same mistake with Brak. Instead I'll make a DIFFERENT mistake by writing way too long of a blog entry.
On December 21, 2000, after Sealab 2021, The Brak Show, then titled “Leave It To Brak” debuted. Who the fuck is Brak? Brak began life as a villain on the 1960s iteration of Space Ghost, a fairly garden-variety Saturday morning action kid’s show. He appeared in, I wanna say, a very small handful of episodes. I’ve seen the whole series, and I don’t think he was like, a regular or anything. Without looking it up I'll say he was on it twice. In the show he was a space pirate and had whiskers. He has a very memorable design. I’ve never been sure if we’re actually looking at Brak’s face or if he’s wearing a helmet. His fangs imply that we’re looking at his actual face (or at least his actual jaw), but that little curtain thing that hangs down from his, uh, ears? Is that a naturally occurring part of his head? It suggests that his wardrobe is actually his body, and vice-versa. He just looks absurd, making him perfect fodder for an absurdist revision.
Brak as we know him today was first used (barring some kind of Cartoon Network commercial that I’m unaware of) in Space Ghost Coast to Coast, appearing with Sisto. Sisto is his twin brother who appeared in the 60s show. Why Brak was targeted for comedic revision and not Sisto eludes me. I’m guessing “HI MY NAME IS BRAK” just sounds funnier than “HI MY NAME IS SISTO”. Anyway, in the first Coast to Coast episode they are voiced by C. Martin Croker (RIP) doing a Beavis and Butt-head parody. Eventually Andy Merrill took over the role, basically turning Brak into a, uh, childish adult. Okay, he’s basically doing a retarded guy voice. Sorry, but it’s time to grow up.
Space Ghost Coast to Coast debuted in 1994 and remained a cult hit on the network until it was moved to Adult Swim and eventually canceled in 2004. The concept of Space Ghost Coast to Coast was Space Ghost, a super hero from the 60s, now hosts a modern 90s late night talk show, interviewing live-action celebrities on a monitor that hangs over the set. Random obscure Space Ghost villains would show up with skewed personalities from their original 60s counterpart. Brak was easily the runaway star of the touted rogues gallery. He would come in and cheerfully sing a song about beans or something else equally wacky. He rarely had a definable role on the show, he was just a figure that was around and would wander into the set.
A second 90s Space Ghost spin-off was commissioned called Cartoon Planet. This was an actual kiddy show that aired during the day as opposed to Space Ghost Coast to Coast which was kid-friendly but meant for adults. This time Space Ghost, Zorak (Space Ghost’s bandleader on Coast to Coast), and Brak would host an hour of classic cartoons, with little absurd skits between segments set in a studio SORTA like the Space Ghost Coast to Coast set but different. LOTS of Brak’s fandom is based on these skits, which were a little more silly and lighthearted than the material on Space Ghost Coast to Coast. The skits were popular enough that they repackaged them into their own half-hour show, sans classic cartoons. This was an early point of confusion for me. Beloved Brak songs turned out to be from Cartoon Planet and NOT Space Ghost Coast to Coast, so I'd tune into Space Ghost wondering if they cut out all the Brak segments or what?
Cartoon Planet would answer viewer letters (conceivably real ones; they DID include various ways to contact “Ghost Planet” at the end of both Space Ghost Coast to Coast and, I’m guessing, Cartoon Planet, which I never did see in it’s original form). They actually answered the reason for Brak’s lack of intelligence (brain-damage caused by Space Ghost, using an actual clip from the 60s show). I bring this up not out of genuine concern for continuity or canon; these aren’t huge concerns for the writers of these shows. The real reason Brak is dumb is because Andy Merrill thought the voice was funny, probably. I bring it up because generally the premise of Space Ghost in the 90s is that even though he IS a super hero with super hero abilities, he’s also an actor who makes cartoons about being a super hero. So, it can be concluded Brak’s brain damage is from a stunt gone wrong and not carried over from the fiction of the show.
The premise of Space Ghost Coast to Coast is that Space Ghost has captured evil villains Zorak and Moltar and is forcing them to work on the show. But they also freely reference their personal lives outside of the show, breaking character. They are actors who are sticking to a premise only when it’s convenient. Yes, it’s fun for the kids to pretend that Space Ghost has enslaved his enemies to work on his talk show, but the reality is that when the camera turns off they all go home to their apartments or wives or whatever. This concept feeds directly into The Brak Show: we aren’t watching Brak’s real home life; Brak, cartoon character and actor, is playing himself in a sitcom. His mom isn’t his real mom. His Dad isn’t his real dad. Zorak isn’t his real best-friend. They are all actors. This isn’t played up in any significant way on the show itself except for a few moments and certain episodes, but THAT IS WHAT’S HAPPENING and you wouldn’t really understand that just by watching this episode and nothing else. You would have to have been paying attention all this time to Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Cartoon Planet, and also, yes, Brak Presents the Brak Show Starring Brak.
Okay, Brak Presents the Brak Show Starring Brak isn't REALLY required viewing for this series. But guess what? I watched it for the first time ever in preparation for this and now we all have to deal with Brak Presents the Brak Show Starring Brak. Brak Presents the Brak Show Starring Brak (sorry I keep repeating the full title which is Brak Presents the Brak Show Starring Brak) was a two-episode special presentation that aired on Cartoon Network while Space Ghost was on hiatus and before The Brak Show's stealth premiere. It (Brak Presents The Brak Show Starring Brak, that is) was a Sonny and Cher style variety show, featuring Brak and Zorak on stage together performing songs, intentionally corny sketches, and a LITTLE BIT, but NOT A LOT of backstage drama; which could be argued to have been part of the show itself. Variety shows doing sketches fictionalizing the backstage antics of the production is nothing new. There are also live-action integrated celebrities, and the show comes to a screeching halt whenever they show up. Maybe their performances are hampered by having to perform on a green screen, but these segments come off lame and pandering. Space Ghost Coast to Coast would make it's name featuring washed-up, kitschy, or counter-culture celebrities. Here we are treated to Monica, Freddie Prinze Jr. (whose segment in particular really drives me up a wall), some wrestler guy, and a lady who's name I don't remember. Okay, I admit I fast forwarded through the second of the two episodes a LOT. Sitting through one episode in real time was just too much to bear.
Brak Presents the Brak Show Starring Brak is written off by a lot of Brak fans as a substandard product, and they're not wrong. I myself never sought out the whole special until I started writing this blog. But there's one thing I'll give it, the visuals (minus the live-action celebrity parts) are actually pretty fun. There's a lot of weird character designs, and the same playful use of stock footage and kinetic editing from Cartoon Planet carries over into this. Skipping past the celebrity guests and watching the special on mute would be the preferred viewing method here. Honestly, I've never been that charmed by Brak's songs. I never cared much for Cartoon Planet.
Brak Presents the Brak Show Staring Brak eventually became The Brak Show, but with one more step: a scrapped audio-only pilot. This pilot appears as an audio commentary track on The Brak Show Volume 1 DVD set. I discovered it by accident. In preparation for this blog I popped the DVD in, saw there was commentary for Mr. Bawk Ba Gawk, and pressed play. Instead of Andy Merrill and Pete Smith dryly talking about their creative process, I was treated to what would have been the audio for a Brak Show pilot (there are stage directions being read in lieu of visuals), roughly the length of an 11 minute episode. This version plays up the backstage antics of Brak's variety show much more, kinda like Larry Sanders meets Brak Presents the Brak Show Starring Brak. Returning from the show is Brak and Zorak, along with Allen Wrench, a talking Allen wrench that appeared in Brak Presents the Brak Show Starring Brak. On Brak Presents the Brak Show Starring Brak, Allen had a crazy high-pitched voice. In this audio pilot he sounds closer to Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Also present in the audio pilot is Thundercleese, who curiously sounds like the regular series version of Thundercleese. In “Leave it to Brak”, Thundercleese sounds slightly different. Maybe they went back and rerecorded Thundercleese for the DVD?
That FINALY brings us to the actual episode. “Leave it to Brak” was the first episode of “The Brak Show” proper to air (though if I remember correctly from what was reported way back when, they wanted to call the actual show “Leave It To Brak” but couldn't for legal reasons). It feels more like a first episode than Goldfish does, which was the first episode I saw when Adult Swim officially began in 2001. “Leave it to Brak” introduces each character with fake studio audience applause. They even introduce Sisto, who simply walks in front of the camera, farts, and is not seen again. The premise of the show is this: Brak stars in a family sitcom. His mom belongs to the same species as Brak, but his dad is a tiny human voiced by George Lowe doing a Ricky Ricardo voice. According to this episode; Brak is roughly high-school aged, but it's all a pretense to get this cast of weirdos together under one roof. Again, Brak is a cartoon character playing himself here, so we're not meant to actually think these are his real parents; Brak is not half-human, necessarily. It's all just for the sake of this dumb show.
The plot of the episode is this: Zorak, Brak's best friend and worst influence, convinces Brak to help him kidnap the mascot of their rival high school, a chicken named Mr. Bawk Ba Gawk. Having done this, Brak grapples with the morality of his actions, tries to deceive his parents by dressing the chicken up like a little man, is caught, and is taught a lesson. There's a comedic final scene that reverses the lesson Brak supposedly learned, and then it ends. Somewhere in there we are introduced to Brak's giant robot neighbor who blows up Zorak for ripping up his lawn.
The Brak Show was possibly the most anticipated show when Adult Swim was announced. We all quietly ignored how much Brak Presents The Brak Show Starring Brak sucked; mostly because this was touted to be a show for adults. Afterall, Brak Presents the Brak Show Starring Brak's biggest shortcoming was the fact that it was the first Brak-centric product to pander directly to children. Brak was always seen as a uniquely weird creation that just so happened to appeal to kids, kinda like Pee Wee Herman or Joe Camel. Also the idea of parodying the sitcom genre seemed novel, despite the fact that it wasn't really a new idea. Now it just comes off like a shallow observation: boy, old sitcoms sure were corny, right?
I don't know exactly how to pinpoint what was so disappointing about this show. I can see there was a genuine effort to make it funny. Dad was a decently funny character. They weren't just trying to mock sitcoms, they were trying to build a genuinely strange world that resembled our own. Brak lived in the suburbs but there were aliens and robots everywhere. Sci-fi situations casually reared their ugly heads into the lives of these characters. I mean, look at the plot description of Brak stealing a high school mascot; it's an ACTUAL SITCOM PLOT. There's no real subversion to it other than the fact that Brak and Zorak from Space Ghost Coast to Coast are doing it. This could have been decent as a one-off special like Tim & Eric's Bag Boy staring Steve Brule. But they made more.
Oh wait, I figured out why The Brak Show sorta sucked. It's the fact that the show was a musical. Fuck, I hated that so much that I blocked it out of my head until this moment. Every episode had musical numbers in it sung by Brak and the family. Ugh. They were supposed to be funny nonsense but I never liked it. In fact if there were ever an edit of the show without the songs I would probably remember it much more fondly.
This version of the pilot had very simplistically drawn backgrounds. When the show went to series they redid the backgrounds with photo-realistic settings and props. It's a much more appealing look. This version of the pilot was briefly featured in an episode of Sealab, where Murphy was flipping through the channels on his monitor. He flips past this and Aqua Teen Hunger Force and maybe Space Ghost? This was back in the early days when every show seemed like it was connected to each other. I miss that. The “regular series” of The Brak Show used to give the show a different parodic on-screen title; “Mr. Bawk Ba Gawk”, which aired fifth on Adult Swim, had the opening title “B.J. And the Brak”. “Goldfish” used “Leave It To Brak”, which causes some episode guides to get confused over which episode is which. In fact, Adult Swim's website features the pilot version of this show and incorrectly uses the plot summary for “Goldfish”. I'm not linking to it because the listing says it expires today. But go look for it if you want.
The other big difference between this version and the “regular series” version is there are a few missing bits here and there. For example, the pilot version starts with Dad asking Mom for another biscuit. She sighs and says “maybe later”, to which dad just shrugs off. There's also a cut song I call “Kiss you hot” that dad sings to mom. There's probably other differences here and there. Oh, Brak's clock is the beeflog illustration from Brak Presents the Brak Show Starring Brak. Isn't my life fuller for being able to make that connection? God, I'm so glad I watched Brak Presents the Brak Show Staring Brak last night instead of getting an extra hour of sleep.
So what's good in this? I REALLY like the scene where Bawk Ba Gawk is at the dinner table and everyone keeps stealing his little hat to wear. Mom scolds Dad for wearing the hat, to which he mutters “I'll do what I damn well please”. Mom then plucks the hat from his head. When we cut to the wide shot, she's wearing it. Funny! SOLIDLY VERY FUNNY. But the series generally suffers from them trying to cram in weird pointless bits of absurd comedy. Only sometimes does it work. Not sure why. But that's how it goes, I guess.
#the brak show#brak#space ghost coast to coast#space ghost#brak presents the brak show starring brak#adult swim#adultswim2021
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(Note: I’m not repeating stories he’s told before and just putting them in parenthesis. I have a lot more videos to go until I’m caught up so that would save me a lot of time. If he gives details I never heard from him before, I will type those.)
“I Figured Something Out” Sept 24, 2020 Speaks
- Says he likes to make videos pointing out his flaws because when he realizes he was doing something wrong, he likes to point it out and move on. You shouldn’t bottle things up. - Says when he started making these video he was angry and over time he winded down. - Begs his follower to look into the Regina / Adam thing. Says Regina pretended to be a transgender person named Adam. He says he was told this by a friend of someone he loves, by someone he loves, by a Hansen insider, and two other people who looked into it. They fabricated a person and a story. He says it’s gross. He says he doesn’t know exactly what was said because he doesn’t watch those videos. - Says he recently watched a beautiful, capable, smart women talk about cancel culture and drama. She’s a republican who doesn’t believe in the far right or left. Says most people go with the flow, but she’s an individual. He says he didn’t care there were things she said that he disagreed with because of the way she spoke. He says when he talks to people online, he has to remember you’re not that different. We all have feelings and people are less reasonable in your opinion if you don’t approach them reasonably. He says he is too harsh and mean in his videos, unlike the women. He understands you’re not supposed to sugarcoat the truth, but other people have feelings. - (People are after him because he hurt their feelings.) - Brings up Regina again. He says he doesn’t know what their problem is because he never talked to them. Says there’s sincere mental illness sprinkled around the internet and it’s proven if you put Regina and Adam side by side. He says he hasn’t watch the videos side by side, but he’s seen photos. He says he doesn’t know how this got past the filters and how people can be so negligent to the truth. He says that’s what happens when you let anyone on a show. People come on to troll or to project their issues. - He says people who watched him may have felt talked down to. He says he spoke like that because he felt like his audience turned on him before he had a chance to explain why it was all ridiculous. He felt it was unintelligent for people to assume it was the truth, but he was in a situation where he was threatened with divorce if he talked. He was stuck between being the bigger person and staying silent while he was building up frustration seeing what people were saying about him. - Says if the Regina and Adam thing is true, it’s the funniest disaster that ever occurred on social media. People were saying there’s all these victims and one of them turns out to be someone dressing up as a new person. It’s bad enough people can fake texts, but when you fake a whole person that’s another level of crazy. He says he almost feels blessed to be subjected to that level of comedy. He says it’s clinically insane for someone to do that with a straight face. He says he never even heard of Adam. - When his marriage was on the rocks because of cuddlegate, he told Billie he wanted to be alone. Billie tried to work it out with him. Says that’s evil step-mom, homewrecker stuff. [I’m pretty sure he’s talking about when he made the fake divorce video and she contacted him.] Says he had the opportunity to run away and abandon his family. He chose to stay because he doesn’t want to be that dad that choses his lustful side over his heart. He broke down crying at one point because he almost let down his family and he almost lost them. He didn’t talk to Billie for a few months after cuddlegate until Kai was like “uwu”. He says he told Kai it was a bad idea and it ended horribly. Says he’s done better than his dad and numerous other dads. - Says he doesn’t speak to people in his life as respectfully as he should. - Anyone in his shoes would be just as bitter and angry as he was. Some people wouldn’t even be alive. He lashed out because he didn’t get a fair chance. People won’t do a charity stream with him. - Once he told his full side in videos, people didn’t want to interview him anymore because he didn’t seem crazy anymore. - Says he was part of the mob against Chris Brown. He said he’s had people scream in his face and he didn’t do anything illegal to them. He called the cops on them. - (Patreon ban, he didn’t dox on purpose) - He says he wants to get rid of boob squeeze because it’s cringey to him. [thank god!]
“My Social Life- Before And After COVID” Sept 25, 2020, Speaks
- (Chris Hansen covid cure) - Says before COVID he stopped going out in public because people were taking picture of his children and posting them to the internet. An employee at Lowes and at Dairy Queen took photos of his children. He’s protective of them. A man [Hansen] showed up to his house when his kids were home. - He was thankful when COVID hit because people would stay away from him. He’s happy he has to wear a mask. He was wearing a different disguise in public before the masks. - (Kai threatened divorce if he spoke) - Says people’s emotions and mental illness cloud their memories. He conquered that when he was 17. A girl dumped him and he told her she was a monster. This was before people would seek clout so it was just between them. He says he supports her breaking up with him because they weren’t meant to be. - Seeing how crazy Seattle and society has gotten, he doesn’t want to be apart of it. - He was socially lynched without going to court. (Mike went to court) - COVID gave him on excuse to avoid everyone and family members. He says COVID is horrible and people have died, but for him it came at an interesting time. He compares it to when a kid bullied him really hard in elementary school and died in a sledding accident. Says some dude or chick in a truck hit the kid. He says another time a guy was bullying him hard and that guy died in a motorcycle accident. He gave his helmet to his girlfriend. He died a hero. He gave up his life for someone. He was handsome and had his life ahead of him. - Says according to his mother, his father got a women killed by not giving her a helmet. He kept it for himself. His father also allegedly slept with his cousin. His dad tried to sue him and failed. Three of his family member accused his father of being a predator. - A reporter interviewed his father and his father acted like a hero. - His mom is the one who left his dad. He says she didn’t have to fight for custody so there’s no motivation for her to lie. - (beat up his dad story) - Criminal experts will agree with him to follow the money in cases because money is the root of all evil. Like a news station that will make more money by making a monster instead of telling a true story. It is not profitable to tell both sides. - People like black and white stores, not stories where both people make mistakes. - He love isolation. He was covered in his father’s blood when he went to juvie. His white shirt was brown with dry blood. He was happy to be there because he was away from people and life was simpler. Everybody in there was flawed, which is better than being with his hypocrite god-loving father. Typical Seventh Day Adventist garbage. Greg says he was one as well. When he was 13 he prayed and told god he wanted nothing to do with him. Many amazing things happened to him after that. - Says you have a lot of drifters who came and destroyed someone consistent in you life, then they left. He was that consistent person. He was making hundreds of videos and entertaining thousands of people per video. Now he’s down to 900 to 3,000 views per video. They came, they destroyed, they left. They destroyed someone you connected with, had a real bond with. A lot of you cheered them on as they did this and then they left. Now you’re left with the same person, but he’s more broken. He believed in good people before, but now that he was dragged down into dirt, he has dirt in his eyes. He can’t see the sun or trees. He can just see dark and sadness. He still feels your spit on his face from when you millions of people beat him senseless socially. - He says he saw a legitimate news source says there was an FBI investigation about him. Says the FBI never contacted him. - Leafy recently suggested he should become an actor. He compares it to Kevin Spacey. Says it would be sad to lose a netflix show or a movie deal because of people saying things about you. He says imagine people who were going to be on that show with you stop talking to you because they don’t want to be dragged down with you. He’s glad he wasn’t that big when he fell because it would have hurt more. Now he gets to be a no one who knows who he really is when most people live in an alternate reality. - When he lost BillyTheFridge as a friend, he didn’t lose anything because Billy was a fake friend. Billy wanted to be a white knight. Joe and Anastasia were great friends and wanted to still talk to him. Billy later on realized James wasn’t as evil as he thought and invited him to lunch with them. Says he (James) backed out and decided to stop talking to all of them. He says it’s sad he lost Joe and Anastasia as friends, but he didn’t want to drag them into the drama and make their lives more miserable. Having friends was a burden and he didn’t want them to hurt. - (Regina / Adam) Dobs is barking. - He feels like this whole thing is a grand opportunity to look at things the way they are. He doesn’t trust anyone anymore and he doesn’t believe in friendships anymore. - He swears on his life he’s more honest than Sarah, Billie, and Shiloh.
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Hi! What are your thoughts about OUAT.
That’s a complex, layered answer because my feelings for OUaT are very complex. The short of it is that, obsession and love level wise, this was my Shadowhunters before Shadowhunters existed as a show. I completely loved and adored this show, I watched every episode as soon as it came out, with a single-minded focus (as in: normally, when watching TV, I use the show as a background noise to my writing. There is only a select handful of TV shows that ever managed to get my full, undivided attention of me turning all else off to only focus on the show).
I love OUaT to bits and pieces. However, much like Shadowhunters, it was far from a flawless show. Very, very, very far. Seriously, it’s an absolute mess in many aspects but damn do I love it.
It appeals to many of the things I love. For one, classic Disney movies. For another, fairy tales - but the very specific niche genre of fairy tale crossovers, which is just... my biggest weakness, possibly. Thirdly, characters you can get invested in and love to bits and pieces.And fourth, shipping.
This is one of the incredibly small, tiny pool of shows where I absolutely adore the canon ships, not just in a “daw it’s cute enough” way that makes me accept that it is The Canon Ship That’s Happening, but in a way that has me actively invested in and rooting for those absolute dumbasses. And. Not just one ship, usually it’s like “huh I am surprisingly invested in this one ship”, but - Rumpel/Belle, Hook/Emma, David/Snow?? Yes, please, inject it into my veins.
Though also just as attached to my non-canon ships - REGINA/EMMA FOR LIFE, Ruby/Snow, Hook/David. And that duality of being really invested in the non-canon ships but still absolutely loving the canon ships? That is... completely and entirely unique to OUaT for me. Never happened outside this show.
I adore that this show did one of the things that I complained Descendants didn’t - it respects Snow White, the very first Disney princess, and puts her front and center. Never-ever made sense to me that Descendants just went “uuuh we at random picked Belle to rule all the kingdoms because I dunno the head writer loves Beauty and the Beast the most”... Snow White was Disney’s very first and I do think she deserves more respect.
The things they did with her! They made her an actual active heroine. Not a little girl hiding out in the woods. They explored possibilities and turned her into a total badass, who never lost the main qualities of Disney’s Snow White though. Her nurturing, loving, gentle soul. That is what I adore about her, because very often when trying to portray strong female characters, media removes their softness, makes them hardened to make them a badass.
Regina and Emma have such a brilliant canon dynamic - even beyond the fanon ship. The way they mended and grew together and became friends. The growth, the softness, the shared custody. I love them.
And with both Regina and Rumpel, I love the day they gradually progressed from “main antagonist from season 1″ to “part of the family”. This show is a found family feast.
It wasn’t flawless. It had some pacing issues, in my opinion. Like the Peter Pan arc was too long. They went hiking for like 12 episodes. That one still sticks with me as having bored me. And I also do think it was a huge mistake to make Peter Pan, one of Disney’s heroes a villain. He was a great villain and his actor absolutely killed it, don’t get me wrong, but in the context of Disney canon, it was a bit jarring.
The same is to be said about Arthur. Don’t take King Arthur, of all people, and turn him into a jackass. That didn’t sit right with me and I think that could, and should, have been handled differently.
As a huge fan of Wizard of Oz canon, I have mixed feelings about Zelina. She was kind of a joke most of the time, her raping Robin was not good at all (beeecause that’s what it is when you shapeshift into the person the other one loves and then have sex with them under pretense to get yourself pregnant), but in the end it - and her - fit relatively well into all of this.
Was completely wasted for the entire Frozen arc, but even I, someone who loathes that movie with a burning passion, genuinely enjoyed the way the show was trying to fix it? Answer all the unanswered question the movie left and actually tie it into the Snow Queen fairy tale? Like, that was a feast and I love that they did that. Also Ingrid was hot and checked all my boxes so there’s that.
In the same way, I adore what they did with Ursula. That they took the scraped canon of Ursula being Triton’s sister and worked with that and that they in the end decided to redeem her too - though I am still very disappointed that we never got to see Ursula actually interact with Ariel at all. That’d have been so interesting. (Also, I admit, they went really overkill with having three Ursulas. Regina pretending to be Ursula, Ursula the ancient golden statue goddess and the actual Ursula, daughter of Poseidon).
I love Hades. I love Greg Germann’s take on Hades. He absolutely killed it. The whole underworld story was incredibly awesome to me personally - though I know others didn’t like that half-season as much. But I really dug that.
I think that it started to fizz out after that though and that after the underworld storyline, they probably should have drawn it to a close, because... after everything, after five whole seasons of watching redemption and working hard to make up for the things you did in the past, they really just decided “and now Regina is gonna physically split off her Evil Queen”... and made that Evil Queen the villain. That felt insanely repetitive of season 1 and like a set-back for Regina.
(The second half of that season didn’t go better because honestly that whole nonsense with “not only is Rumpel the son of Peter Pan, nope, now we bring in his mom the Evil Fairy”, featuring the very overused trope of “baby is magically aged up to be a character who can contribute to the plot”... Not the best.)
Also I refuse to acknowledge the existence of that reboot season. It’s bullshit is what it is. The show had the perfect ending. And then they immediately slapped a reboot onto it... why? If they had taken their time, wait ten years until nostalgia for the show kicks in and the actors all need work again, and do a proper “now Henry goes through shit”, that’d have actually been interesting, but... the moment I saw “so... we keep half the main cast, break up some OTPs, don’t age the adults up but age Henry up and also there is now a second Cinderella”, I knew that’s not gonna be good.
Seriously, the second Cinderella is what really fucked it over for me. What I loved about OUaT was that it gave very specific rules to its universe.
The Author documents the tales. The Author gives them their spin. But they are still the same tale. Be that the Brothers Grimm, who documented Cinderella, or then Walt Disney, it was still Cinderella, from the Enchanted Forest. Their stories were simply written down.
That they then, in the reboot season, went “well, actually There Are Many Cinderellas!!” completely contradicts the previously established rules of this world? Because yes, the concept very similar to Cinderella actually exists in many cultures - and that was the cool thing of OUaT’s take, because pressumably that is because the Author was in said culture at said time and documented the tale, as is the Author’s job.
Especially since it was so... unnecessary? I mean, they gave Rapunzel one half-assed episode in the past, they never tackled Gold Mary, they could have shown what became of Hänsel and Gretel now also grown up, etc. There were other unused characters that could have been brought in instead of throwing the rules out of the window.
But moving on from that; I love that they didn’t limit themselves to Disney movies - that they did prominently put Red Riding Hood (my favorite fairy tale character) in there, that they worked with mythology as well as books.
One thing they absolutely fucked up was their spin-off though. Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. They made that. They decided that, out of everything touched upon in the series, Alice’s tale should get a spin-off... and then they didn’t use any of the actual characters?
Alice herself never got an appearance in OUaT, not prior or after the spin-off (only very much later in the reboot season, with a different Alice)
They had the Queen of Hearts on OUaT, but they didn’t use her as the main antagonist, or at least a huge deal, on Wonderland
They had the freaking Mad Hatter on OUaT, but he doesn’t even have a single cameo on Wonderland
And don’t give me “Seb Stan was too busy!”, because... even then, they could have recast. The Mad Hatter is kind of a big part of Alice in Wonderland, but... they ignored the majority of what is important in AiW in general, so there is that
They named the Red Queen Anastasia and very heavily implied that yes, the Anastasia who was the stepsister of Cinderella - but when OUaT’s original Cinderella got her stepsisters introduced, they suddenly had entirely different names than the Disney stepsisters and of course it wasn’t the same actress either
They introduced Jafar (for some reason) in Wonderland. And then recast him when Aladdin was tackled on OUaT and never addressed any of the things that happened on Wonderland, especially not how Jafar was the son of the sultan which would technically make him Jasmine’s brother
It was nearly dumb to move Will Scarlet to OUaT after the spin-off was axed, because at that point they legit just ignored Wonderland as a whole so this acknowledgment felt very off. But then it’s Michael Socha and I love him so I ain’t gonna complain about that.
So yes, I have mild issues with how they made a spin-off that had basically no inpact on the show, despite many elements that should have crossed over and carried significance in both shows.
Lastly, because we’re on the topic of spin-offs, I still would absolutely kill for a spin-off about Mulan, Merida and Ruby. Those three, exploring the Enchanting Forest together, training together, being gay together, it was the best thing. Which does force me to mention the gay. Because... Mulan was canonically in love with Aurora and when they set her up to find Ruby and journey with her, it came really off as them trying to make Mulan/Ruby happen. Then they introduce Merida, a very famously single princess, and you start to wonder. But in the end, it’s Ruby who ends up with Dorothy, aka two characters not associated with Disney. And it makes you wonder. (It doesn’t. We all know Disney is hugely homophobic. We all know OUaT most likely had some Disney executive yelling at them for even implying one of their characters may be gay. So they backtracked to give the wlw storyline to two characters that weren’t Disney property.)
Ah, I don’t like ending things on a negative note so one last positive - as weirdly as the Dark Swan arc was handled at parts, I absolutely love that Emma’s name being Swan really did pay off in making her the Swan Princess in the end and giving a nudge to Swan Lake with the Dark Swan. That was such a cool pay-off of something as small as a last name.
So, to sum it up, there’s some flaws in the writing, some things I wish would have been explored more, but overall good gods do I love and adore this TV show.
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✮ ∷ ╰ 𝖚𝖕𝖉𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖎𝖓𝖙𝖗𝖔𝖉𝖚𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 .
I FEEL LIKE i just ran away from home and then realized i’m five and, unfortunately, cannot survive without my parents. LMDFLKDFGM i missed u all and had to return… we hate to see it. anyway! whew. i figured i’d post a refreshed lil intro for cohen to make sure i hit on some key changes before i hop back into the game! the most important / group-related part is right at the top, so if u read nothing else, read that! ily all and i’m excited to jump back in like i never left. i’ll be sliding in dms and makin’ starters asap, so if u wanna make some connection changes my door’s always open! x
✮ ∷ ╰ 𝖈𝖔𝖍𝖊𝖓 𝖘𝖊𝖌𝖚𝖗𝖆 : 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 .
cohen currently lives in a glorified, raggedy frat-esque house ( he is NOT a fratboy but he might as well be huh ) of his own right off campus, about a five minute drive / ten minute walk from the stadium ( it’s about four bedrooms large with three bathrooms, all on one floor. think david dobrik’s house–click here to see–except much uglier and CHEAP MVDFLG ).
he’s fiscally very protective of his savings. he’s been working since he was 12 with his dad, and never ever spent his money, despite some repetitive near-misses where his parents tried ( and failed, bc cohen’s slick ) to steal money from him. basically he now pays for his share of the house using the money he saves/has always saved working for factories, farms, & fixing people’s junk cars.
his only current roommate is foster, meaning he has two spare rooms he’s not really doing anything with. beer pong table’s outside, the kitchen is the alcohol hot spot, there’s a pool table instead of a dining room table, u know how it goes.
regardless, he throws open invite house parties literally every weekend. they take place every friday night up until the sun rises on sunday morning–whether he’s around the house for all of five seconds or all night doesn’t matter, because they’re always a-go.
you’re all 100% free to use his house entirely at your leisure for character fun / development / a place for ur thread to take place / etc! you don’t even need to get my okay beforehand! just do it! think of it as a known dillon fact that cohen’s having a house party every weekend NFKDFNDFKJG.
no matter who you are, whether cohen likes you or not, he will not care if you show up with some randos or familiar faces and party it out. he’s socially bored 24/7 and full of apathy and alcohol at all times so mans probably will be plastered drunk out doing donuts in the parking lot and fighting someone he doesn’t have beef with anyway. ur muse probably won’t even see him there. LMKGDFLG if you’ve ever seen burlesque? literally him showing up to his OWN house for a visit / to get plastered and then wander off during the weekend party is…. real. so yeah! use his house like it’s ur own. just be out by sunday afternoon bc he likes to pretend none of it ever happened as soon as he wakes up and has to be sober for school. x KMVFBLFG love u all.
✮ ∷ ╰ 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 & 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 .
tw: eating disorder mentions ( food & lifestyle ), drug addiction / recovery, alcoholism, & mentions of past steroid use.
full name. cohen anthony segura.
aka. co, jet.
character inspiration. adam parrish ( the raven cycle ), vince howard & tim riggins lovechild ( if y’all watched fnl…. let’s cry together ), a much more problematic & asshole-ish david dobrik ( the vlog squad ), nathan scott ( oth ), steven hyde ( that ‘70s show ), emily prentiss & aaron hotchner lovechild ( criminal minds ), & noel miller ( tmg ).
age & d.o.b. twenty-two. birthdate tbd.
zodiac. virgo sun, aries moon, & aquarius rising.
pronouns. he / him.
orientation. openly bisexual.
this has never presented as too large of an issue for cohen, despite living in dillon. he isn’t afraid of being talked about, and has a history of making sure people know he can hold his own if anyone has anything to say about his personal life.
university major. architecture & architectural technology.
after living in a trailer for the duration of his life, the idea that he would be invested in architecture is astounding. however, here he is. his passion for home creation stemmed from growing up and envisioning a real home to live in. his parents are both into self-taught carpentry, and his dad was shoving tools and measuring tape into his hands from the time he was young in an effort to instill in him a firm “get it done yourself” mindset. he spends his time studying structure & building planning, and secretly has a journal full of dream house mark-ups.
occupation. wide receiver for the dillon panthers, full time student, & prospective architect / carpenter post-college.
tattoos. many riddled throughout his body. brandon arreaga’s tattoos are cohen’s.
face claim. brandon arreaga.
alignment. neutral evil.
hogwarts. slytherin.
positive & negative traits. ( if u’ve already read this do not read it again i promise u nothing here changed LSMFLD )
hardworking–he works himself to the bone and is entirely unapologetic about it. you’ll rarely catch him slipping, but if he does, he’s the first to get ear-splittingly angry with himself over it. he’s way too hard on himself & he knows it, but he’ll never admit it.
he nitpicks at the flaws of others in an effort to feel superior, and always acts unaffected when he’s called out for bringing the team down when he’s not taking care of himself ( cue vince howard from fnl or nathan scott from oth scenes where they’re bragging about how good they are on the field even though he’s apt to get himself hurt because of how desperate he is for some kind of validation–cohen had a huge issue with restricting and abusing stimulants / testing steroids throughout high school and college in an attempt to boost his football persona. he was always incredibly fast and beat literal ODDS to maintain his wide receiver position, but especially thanks to his small build he’s used to being underestimated / downplayed, which puts a really heavy weight on his shoulders. today, he’s eating healthily, he’s off drugs, and he’s taking care of himself better than he ever has before, but it’s still incredibly hard and he still reaches out for ways to overcompensate, which is where alcohol usually comes into play ).
transparent–sure, he can turn into a stressed out & irritable jerk within a fraction of a second, but at least he’s upfront about when he switches lanes. LDFGLMKFG
he’s incredibly focused, which means he’s never going to linger in uncertainty for too long before he admits that he’s just not down to be around you / to be there / to talk / etc. he’s no bullshitter by any means. he’d rather hurt your feelings and keep his environment stable and tactile than stick around and put his easily shaken emotions at risk just to make you comfy.
he’s also accountable. he knows when he’s causing shit to fuck up & hit the fan, and he’s always quick to right wrongs when things are on him. ofc he’s bred from a family full of blame-givers, so he unhealthily picked up a bad habit of being really good at sounding like he’s apologizing sincerely when he’s really just trying to end a fight because he’s annoyed. LDCLDKMFDFG.
he’s blunt, temperamental, & incredibly selfish when it comes to his own lifelines / vices, but wholeheartedly selfless when it comes to doing anything to protect or lift up the people he loves.
mental diagnoses. anorexia nervosa ( in recovery ), alcoholism ( ongoing ), an addiction to various stimulants ( in recovery ), & frequent past attempts at steroid use.
physical diagnoses. n / a.
phobias. has an irrational fear of accidentally burning down his house. will get immensely stressed–to the point where he’s absolutely annoying and intolerable to put up with / be around–if someone’s cooking or baking “irresponsibly.” will probably yell at you and hover-cook until you let him take over so he can make sure nothing goes wrong. LMSDFKLFG
scars. an appendix scar on his lower left side.
drug use. frequently.
alcohol use. frequently.
diet. very decently rounded. he loves to cook, despite being self-taught. growing up the way he did, he settles for making simple dishes very well. he’s not the type to go all out for dinner. he meal preps like it’s his job. he usually just settles with some kind of pan-friend chicken and pasta dish at home.
birth place. dillon, texas.
parents. "jude" judith & anthony segura.
two lower class parents with deep-rooted anger issues. they currently live in the same trailer park together, in separate trailers, and fight with each other constantly. they claim they’re divorced, and are seeing other people, but they’ve never actually filed for anything, since anthony segura thinks it’s just a ploy for judith to take “half [his] shit.” cohen visits them often, and acts as a middle ground child who hates but loves both of them equally. his dad enjoys / tolerates his son’s presence more than his mother does, but only marginally. his mother’s much less concerned with the fact that she has children, since, in her mind, her relationship issues are the most important things in her life. cohen spent many nights as a kid with his drugged up mom in his lap while she cried about not being loved by anyone. his dad, even though he’s rough with cohen, at least spends time with him every now and again. as a kid, his dad was handing him beers to drink and tools to learn to use to prove he was a man ( despite being a ten y/o child bfkjgk oh well! ). regardless, today cohen lives on his own but is still the financial backbone for his parents–since his mom is unemployed and his dad is a seasonal construction worker–and has been since he was fifteen. they ask him for money every chance they get, and cohen never says no.
siblings. a younger sister ( by two years ). loves her to death. would protect her with his life.
pets. he’s notorious for letting a certain set of strays run amuck in his house. he feeds the neighborhood cat, is a-okay with people bringing their animals to his parties, etc. but he’s too scared of permanence and obsessed with independence to ever follow through with getting his own animal.
education. current senior at dillon university.
he has always been a decent student. he got into architectural honors college his sophomore year of college. however, he’s still not by any means incredibly intelligent. he’s decent grade-wise, but only because he tries really hard and puts in the effort it takes to keep up in a field like architecture. he’s also a chronic cheater, but c’est la vie! lmfgdflkg he spends the vast majority of his time either studying or practicing, and gets very irritable very quick doing either activity because he doesn’t know how to manage stress, so he drinks in the evenings in an attempt to make up for his tense demeanor, but he’s an angry drunk so… whomst are we really kidding here. LMDFKLG
languages. english & american sign language.
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SPN 14.20 HOLY F*CKING I AM BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS HERE THAT WAS A GOOD. And a great set-up for S15.
*SNAPS FINGERS*
Let me try for some coherency. I scribbled watching notes.
Cas. :( Well I am not a bit surprise he’s not own with this. I don’t see how else he’s supposed to feel. Or how else Dean would feel. Or how Sam would feel. Sorry if TFW is so inexplicable to some people but they’re all making perfect sense to me. It’s sad but they make sense.
That Dean and Cas argument with Sam in the middle like :0 :| poor Sam, poor poor Sam, imagine having to watch all this intense Dean and Cas, he hates it when they bicker, and this is a real argument.
“I know how much he meant to you. He meant a lot to me. But that isn’t Jack any more.” So there it is, the truth beneath Dean’s walls he put up. None of this is because Dean is cold or uncaring. He is, however, still very angry and still (thinks) that he has to kill Jack. The place Dean lands with Jack in this ep also doesn’t surprise me because I been knew and that makes sense too but it also makes sense that right up the line, he’d think he has to kill Jack and follow that anger. This is an extraordinary situation in fact. Even though TFW have been faced with not-versions of themselves before, they’ve never killed another family member while in that state. And I think Jack’s escalating danger levels in this ep pretty much vindicates why someone might think he has to be killed...even though Jack isn’t evil or malicious still (more on that in a moment).
“Nerds.” “Takes one to know one.”
I was just talking about this about Dean. About his facades and how he used to mock nerds and geeks--still does even now--but is actually the biggest geek and I love that Sam calls him on his nerd qualities. His nerd traits. WHAT HAVE I BEEN SAYING.
So nobody at all can lie any more and the world, as a result, starts tearing apart at the seams. Look SPN, when I said I wanted more emotional honesty...lololol that’s not what I meant. Some lies are necessary.
Oh my god it’s God. Hi, Chuck. (I was spoiled for this, it was still really fun when Chuck just popped up in the alley).
“Jack. He’s a problem.” NO REALLY I HADN’T NOTICED YOU DON’T SAY
Cas was going to see about the cage in Hell. Was he thinking he could put Jack in it?? Was that his alternative to just killing him?
Jack visiting his grandmother and she calling Jack out on the fact that he lied to them. Oh snap, Jack. You’re sick of all the lies but you told one (for a kindness). Some lies are necessary. You lied to people too.
This episode has some realness here about what holds society together and different types of honesty. Lying is wrong...except 100% blunt honestly all the time would be a complete disaster and there are some lies we need to tell for the sake of kindness, for community, for forgiveness, or it all will fall apart. Which lies are too far and which are necessary. Can a lie hurt but also be for a kindness and be necessary? SPN has had its main characters lie for years. They lie with credit card scams so they can pay for gas and food and lodging. They lie about who they’re secretly working with behind each other’s backs. All of Team Free Will has lied to each other. Kept things from each other. It doesn’t go well for them. Yet here’s an ep showing that some types of lies are necessary as part of the fabric of society.
Dean is sooooo done with God’s bullshit I am laughing. This is also really subversive because yes we love Chuck and his guitar. Chuck singing Fare-thee-Well. Chuck as a likeable (if irresponsible deadbeat dad) figure on SPN. But how benevolent is he actually? And they don’t have time for a song right now, they just don’t.
Team Free Will are still speaking to each other after Cas stormed out. That’s a good sign!
“I built the sandbox. You play in it...but when things get really bad that’s when I step in.”
Uh...kinda. Sometimes, Chuck. Yes he’s intervened a few times. He put Sam and Dean on the airplane. He put Cas back together more than once. He stepped up when he needed do about Amara at the end of S11. So maybe a C+ on actually being there in a pinch.
“Jack is apocalyptic.” Which--self-evident right there in the ep, thanks, Chuck. Oh and can we stop pretending Jack isn’t incredibly dangerous at least? Oh he’s not just dangerous he is world-endingly dangerous. Note I rooted for Jack to be okay, and want him to be saved, but the situation is what it is right now.
It made a lot of sense to spec based on the ep title Chuck was going to show up to intervene and stop TFW from having to kill Jack, and I’m sure with a reference that blatant in that title, Dabb knew that would be the assumption. It made sense. The overturning of that is interesting here. Chuck didn’t show up and didn’t show up and when he finally does it’s to hand them the weapon to destroy Jack. Which at this point in the ep I’m still wondering--but it could be a test. Let’s see what happens.
Oh. Whoever shoots the gun, what happens to the target, happens to them. Aaaand we’re back to Dean with a self-sacrificing plan.
Damn Cas is so damn salty still about the Dean-in-the-box plan I love it. He hates that plan. Now he’s extra special plus cranky because he’s looking now at losing Jack and losing Dean simultaneously. I’ve talked a lot in my posts about Cas’s big love for both Jack and Dean. This is diabolical. Cas could lose them both with one gunshot. Of course he doesn’t want his son to die...but he doesn’t want Dean to die. Save Jack...means saving Dean too.
I really loved this Sam and Dean scene and while Cas doesn’t get to verbalize what’s going on in his head, Sam certainly gets to vocalize what Sam’s thinking. “I’m the one who brought him back. He burned his soul off to save you and me. You want me to say I’m okay with losing you and losing him all at once. I can’t do that. I’ve already lost too much.” MIC DROP SAM WINCHESTER.
“I don’t feel anything.” There’s the crux of the Jack Problem. He intellectually understands what’s “good” and what’s “bad” but he doesn’t, in his own words, feel it. He’s the most powerful being on the planet and he’s completely hollow inside, lacking true empathy, lacking instincts, strong attachments, an innate sense of right and wrong. That’s...really terrifying. It’s really not at all hateful to Jack to comprehend how scary that combination is. “I want to love you back, it’s just I can’t.”
This is. Damn. We saw AU Cas in ep 300, what happens when Cas never learned to access his emotions. As an angel, our Cas was taught that emotions were bad, they were a weakness. He was taught not to heed them. To control them. To never be led by his heart or his feelings. But instead of heeding that, Cas led with his whole heart, he often drowned in his own emotions, overwhelmed by them. He has intense attachments and pain and loneliness and fear and even moments of peace and joy. He feels it all. He’s the most feeling angel to ever feel, and how painfully on point is it that his son is now...emotionless.
“You’re my favorite show.” Wow it got super meta in here, Chuck.
“Why does it always have to be on us,” wonders the tormented characters. “Because you’re my guys!” gushes the enthusiastic Winchester fan, God.
I feel so called out right now. I do. While I am certainly in the camp that feels that too much torture porn angst without hope is a weaker story, like many fans, there is a certain catharsis and satisfaction in watching our favorite characters suffer and triumph and keep on going and not let the suffering defeat them.
In this ep Dabb is taking that idea and expanding it out to a walking talking metaphor, embodied in Chuck, who turns out to be a toxic wielder of suffering for his own amusement. Tying to Jack’s lack of emotions, Chuck seems okay with others suffering. It’s not that he lacks feelings, because he gets something from watching these “characters” suffer, but he’s lacking in empathy because he doesn’t seem to care that they’re suffering and in the world of SPN these are not characters, these are real people he’s jerking around making them dance to his angst-buttons for his own enjoyment.
Cas still is clinging on to hope that Jack can be fixed and my heart hurts for him. At this point, I’m still hoping Jack can be...but it’s not looking good.
Jack kneeling in front of Dean to be killed. Because while he’s dangerous, no he’s not evil or malicious. “I understand. You were right all along. I am a monster.” This is just...really sad. I’m sad.
Oh, SPN, you tried so hard, but I never thought Dean would be able to pull that trigger. Also the tragedy of Dean--he didn’t hesitate because Dean had a sudden revelation he wants to live so he’s not going to seppuku the problem after all. No, it’s because he just couldn’t do it to Jack in the end, to his son, who had earned his love and his trust after a rough start. Dean understands that this Jack isn’t the Jack he recently knew and Dean also understands how far gone Jack is and how dangerous. Yet he still can’t do it. This makes perfect sense to me. I could also see how he might have pulled that trigger (and that would have been horrible and it would have hurt Dean so much...and I don’t just mean because of the magic ricochet of that gun...it would be too much. And...it looks like this ep agrees with me on a textual and meta-textual level. Uh-huh.)
"This isn’t how this story is supposed to end.” Chuck, our author, isn’t enjoying the fact that his characters are doing things he didn’t plan on and didn’t intend (which happens during the creative process).
“Pull the trigger and I’ll bring her back,” Chuck offers. “No.” says Dean. “My mom is my hero and I will miss her every day of my life but she wouldn’t want this.”
And then Sam goes OFF. “over and over and over again...losing people we love.”
“This isn’t just a story. This is our lives.”
I am LOVING THIS. I actually clapped my hands with meta-ish glee.
THE CHARACTERS ARE REBELLING AGAINST SPN’S OWN RELIANCE ON MISERY PORN AND I AM LIVING.
This is so self-critical. On a story/character level, this is amazing for Sam and Dean, who are defying fate, refusing yet again to be jerked around by a cosmic puppetmaster. Sam goes as far as defying the idea that they don’t deserve to be happy. Not in so many words. But he is flipping off the concept that all they are good for is suffering AND I AM SO PROUD and I think Dean gets it too but oh my poor Dean was just willing to commit seppuku and while Dean is rejecting being puppetted around, not for anyone, not even to save Mary, I don’t know if he’s at the place where he sees it how Sam does--that screw you, I don’t deserve to suffer like this open defiance.
So Sam shoots God. lololol for a hot second there I thought Sam was going to kill God and welp that would have been a plot twist but no, just a flesh wound so Sam is wounded too.
Chuck’s not thrilled his favorite human pets aren’t playing along for his amusement.
“Story’s over. Welcome to the end.”
LIGHTS OUT.
Well. God was the big bad all along. GOD WAS THE BIGGEST BAD OF SPN ALL ALONG.
I was hoping Jack wouldn’t have to die. At least none of his dads had to kill him and the set-up with Jack landing in The Empty seems like he’s not gone forever. WHAT DID BILLIE MEAN “WE HAVE TO TALK.” About what. What is going on.
WHAT IS HAPPENING
IS THAT LA LLARONA
THAT’S BLOODY FREAKIN’ MARY
HOLY CRAP THE SOULS OF THEIR EARLIEST CASES ARE RISING FROM HELL
ALL THE SOULS ARE RISING FROM HELL
WE ALL SPECCED HEAVEN WOULD BREAK AND THE SOULS IN HEAVEN WOULD GET LOSE AND INSTEAD IT WAS ALL THE SOULS FROM HELL THIS IS AWESOME
SAM AND DEAN AND CAS!! TEAM FREE WILL ARE BACK TO BACK TOGETHER IN THE DARKNESS SURROUNDED BY ZOMBIES I WISHED FOR A MOMENT LIKE THIS FOR YEARS. TEAM FREE F*CKING WILL. ALSO A FINALE THAT HAD ALL THREE OF THEM UNITED. THANK DABB.
#Sam Winchester#Dean Winchester#Castiel#Jack Kline#Chuck Shurley#spn#supernatural#spoilers#meta#Team Free Will
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Letter to my Parents - Saturday 23 November 1991 - by Alinda
Saturday 23 November 1991
Dear mom and dad,
I’ve been thinking a lot about the package that Hagrid and headmaster Dumbledore are hiding in the castle. I’m sure by now that Snape is after it. When I was dragging myself back towards the dungeon one evening after dinner I passed Snape his office. The door was ajar and I could hear him talking to someone. I decided to listen in and to take a peek through the open door. Filch was with him and Snape was holding his robes above his knees, making it possible to see the bloody and mangled wound on one of his legs. And then he wondered out loud how he was supposed to keep his eyes on all three heads at once. So he had tried to get past the dog again. I told Hermione, Ron and Neville the next day. Hermione is convinced I’m wrong. In her eyes, teachers can do no wrong, but Ron thinks I have a point and Neville agrees too. He’s afraid of Snape, ever since his potions incident during the first week at Hogwarts.
I’ve also been to my first Quidditch match ever. It was Gryffindor against Slytherin and I wasn’t sure who I was supposed to be supporting. I’m a Slytherin, but all my friends are in Gryffindor. And these days I take all my meals at their table. But I decided to wear my green jumper because I do want my house to win. Hermione said that was a good thing, but Ron disagreed. They always seem to disagree about everything, but that doesn’t seem to stop all the sweet smiles they give each other. It’s a bit weird that they are dating now, I’m just glad Hermione still has time to spend with me and that she doesn’t feel like she needs to spend all her free time with Ron.
We took a place in the stands and Ron and Neville brought binoculars so we could see even better. Lee Jordan, a friend of Ron’s brothers was giving commentary for the match and it was clear that he wanted Gryffindor to win. It was a very exciting game and my friends around me cheered when Gryffindor score the first goal. I pretended to be outraged about this and we had a good laugh. Hagrid came to join us and he asked me how I was doing. I told him I was good. I didn’t mention that the bullying is still going on and all the others were too involved in the game to tell Hagrid otherwise. Gryffindor got a penalty and scored again. Dean started shouting that they should hand out a red card, making me and Hermione laugh. Ron, Neville and Seamus didn’t understand which made it even more amusing. And when Slytherin scored I cheered for my team. Ron tried to muffle my screams by placing his hand over my mouth, but I just batted it away. It was good fun. Slytherin scored five more times after that and Ron and Seamus were getting upset that I was still cheering them on. But in the end, the Gryffindor Seeker caught the Snitch and Gryffindor won by one hundred and seventy to sixty.
After the game, I went to have some tea with Hagrid. Hermione, Ron and Neville joined me. Somehow we came on the topic of professor Snape and Ron, Neville and I all agreed that he was evil. Hagrid said that was rubbish. And then I told him that we knew that Snape had tried to get past the three-headed dog and that he was trying to steal whatever it’s guarding. Hagrid defended the dog right away, it’s his and its name is Fluffy. Really, it’s Fluffy. I don’t know what’s cute or fluffy about that dog, but Hagrid seems to think it’s a lovely animal. I tried to find out what the dog is guarding, but Hagrid wouldn’t say. It was top secret, we should forget about it, about the dog and what it’s guarding, because that’s between Professor Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel. Hagrid was a bit upset that he let that slip, but it gives us something to look into.
I ate dinner that night again with the Gryffindor’s and Hermione stayed in the great hall with me until curfew. She’s been doing that a lot, knowing I don’t really want to go down to the dungeons. And with Gryffindor beating Slytherin in the Quidditch game I was sure I was going to get a beating that night. So I dragged myself to the Slytherin common room as slowly as possible. Nott, Goyle and Crabbe were already waiting for me in our dormitory. Zabini was nowhere to be seen and Malfoy left the room as soon as I came in. He looked worried, or scared, I don’t know really. It’s just, even though he still makes fun of me when everyone is around and everything, he seems to be less willing to be part of the beatings I’m getting.
It was bad that night, my abdomen is still purple and my body hurts everywhere. I think I even might have bruised some ribs. It hurts to breathe. But it will be okay. I’m just glad they hit me where no one else can see. I don’t want to think about what would happen if word got out that I’m weak.
And I don’t want you to worry, mom, I’m really okay. It’s only at night that I have to be careful. During the day I now have my friends around me. I sit with the Gryffindor’s during meals and classes. Hermione, Ron and Neville always save a seat for me now, so Malfoy is unable to mess up my notes. And when they try to make fun of me the Gryffindor’s stand up for me, what makes it easier to talk back to them. I feel a lot braver with my friends around. I’m really starting to enjoy my time here at Hogwarts.
It’s really cool to learn about magic, even though I’m not always that good at everything. Flying is the only thing that comes naturally and I really enjoy it. It’s a shame the lessons will end when Christmas break starts. I will miss sweeping through the air.
Transfiguration is a really difficult subject. I find it hard to remember all the rules of the transformation formula. It has to do with bodyweight, wand power and other things. The wand power is one I most struggle with. I’m still a little afraid of my wand, since its Voldemort's brother wand. But I’m learning how to control the thing and maybe in some time, it won’t scare me as much anymore. We’ve been working on trying to turn a match into a needle and we have started on the theory about switching spells.
History of Magic is all about the Gargoyle Strike and the Soap Blizzard, which are both very boring, so I won’t say too much about that. Hermione loves it and is reading all these extra books about the events. Sometimes she goes a little bit overboard with her studying, but that’s fine, because she does help a lot when it comes to my homework and essays, so I’m not complaining.
In Astronomy, we are learning the different names of the stars and the movements of planets. I like looking at the stars at night, they are fascinating. Ron thinks it’s boring and always says he much rather stay in bed and sleep.
Neville is a big fan of Herbology. He loves plants and I like partnering with him for this class. He knows a lot about the subject. We’ve been working with Wormwood, Mandrake Root and Dittany. We’ve also had theory lessons about the severing charm. I’m not sure what I think of it, I don’t think I have the green fingers necessary for this subject.
And in Defence against the Dark Arts, we are supposed to be learning about Doxies, Gnomes, Snails and Imps at the moments according to our book, but professor Quirrell only talks about vampires and how to fight them off. We are also supposed to learn spells, like shooting green and red sparks and a wand-lighting charm. Ron has shown me how to make the sparks come from my wand when we were reading through our DADA book. It was very easy and I feel like I could be good at DADA if the professor would just stop obsessing about vampires. I’m glad some of the charms are also part of the charms curriculum, like the wand-lighting charm.
I’m not really good at charms. I did manage to finally make my feather fly with the levitation charm. I got it before Malfoy and that was a fun victory. We’ve also been working on the wand-lighting charm and the Lumos Solem. I haven’t managed to make them work, but Hermione promised me she would help me practice them one of these days.
And then there is Potions, where I’m still forced to work with Malfoy. We’ve studied the different types of Cauldrons and Vials that we are supposed to use, but I don’t really get it. Malfoy always makes sure we have the right ones because he loves Potions. He’s really good at it, which makes it hard to keep up with what he’s doing during class. We’ve been making some potions like the cure for boils and the herbicide potion, but like I said Malfoy makes them and I just watch.
So I need to study a lot to get my head around all the theory of magic and the wand movements and everything. And Ron said I should stop being afraid of my wand. He thinks that’s the main reason I’m struggling with it all. Hermione agrees with him on that one (it’s a miracle!) but also thinks I just need to study harder. Studying harder is her answer to all our problems. I wish life was that simple, but I know studying won’t solve everything.
I’m going to sleep now,
Love you both,
Harry James Potter.
#fanfic#Harry Potter#Draco Malfoy#drarry#letters#bullied harry#hermione granger#ron weasley#neville longbottom#AlindasStories#harry in slytherin
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https://rwdestuffs.tumblr.com/post/185845690162/taiyang-is-not-the-best-dad
Dudeblade, stop pretending you’re being critical.
I’m not here to say that Taiyang is abusive. Far from it.
I’m here to say that he’s neglectful.
Issue is that you’re gonna treat ‘neglectful’ as ‘abusive’ so this is just technicalities you’re hiding behind.
Because of things that are tangentially related to Taiyang but are actually more indicative of yourself.
“He was depressed.”
Yang and Ruby just lost their mother. What about them?- They need as much emotional support as possible, and if what Yang says is accurate, then Tai put his own trauma and issues ahead of his kids.
You know Dudeblade, you bitch about Taiyang talking about how PTSD despite not knowing it-
And yet here you are, talking about depression despite not knowing a thing, seeing as depressed people breakdown UNWILLINGLY due to stress.
And yet you think it’s okay for you to do it.
There’s very little indication that Tai got a sitter, especially with what Yang says later in Volume 5.
So we’re also suppose to think Summer willingly died to get away from Yang, considering that her phrasing Summer’s death portrays it as such?
Better start bitching at Yang then.
The fact of the matter is that Taiyang isn’t a great dad. He’s not the worst (That (dis)honor goes to jacques), but the way people think that he can do no wrong.
Numerous people have pointed out how flawed his advice to Yang was. How he projected Raven onto Yang, how he called the manifestation of Yang’s soul a temper tantrum, and how he used the “What if you miss” argument as to why Yang shouldn’t use her semblance.
On top of all of that, Yang clearly doesn’t feel comfortable in confiding him with her nightmares at all. If Taiyang had actually reestablished himself as someone Yang could trust and depend on, then she would have talked to him about her nightmares.
Taiyang still laughs about how he tricked an immigrant into cross-dressing with the Beacon professors as if he were still a frat boy. The Braincells joke was something that Yang should have countered with an equally scathing joke if that was really “how they functioned” as so many taiyang stans keep screetching out.
A. And yet, if we look BEFORE Volume 3, we see people PARROTING WHAT TAIYANG SAID. And considering these people all also happen to portray Yang as her worst flaw being ‘she’s too nice’ (AKA see her as a Mary Sue): it’s more indicative of your confirmation bias.
B. Again, from people who took Taiyang criticizing Yang personally and idolize her.
C. Yeah and yet you call me a whiny fanboy despite me and Yang having similar personalities. Bet you wouldn’t hesitate to call my Semblance a temper tantrum.
D. ‘Taiyang: Because not everyone else's is basically a temper tantrum. (laughing and crouching by her side) I'm serious! Once you take damage, you can dish it back twice as hard, but that doesn't make you invincible! It's great when you're in a bind, but what happens if you miss? What happens if they're stronger? What then? Now you're just weak and tired! You've always been one to burn brighter than everyone else, whether it was with your smile, or, well, I remember your first haircut.’
We call that cherry picking.
E. She directly went to where she heard her father was after having her only on screen nightmare. That makes no sense.
F. ‘Port: And, and, and then, in comes Qrow, wearing a skirt! I was just a TA, I-I didn't know what to do, so I just... I just left the room to laugh! Yang comes to the kitchen door while the three laugh. Taiyang: We told him it was a kilt! He'd never worn a uniform before, so he didn't know! Oobleck: That is terrible! What is wrong with you!? Taiyang: Hey! The girls all said he had nice legs! I did that jerk a favor! Besides, that's not even the best part! See, then we- ‘
Not only was it NOT just Taiyang but the laughter comes from how he BACKFIRED.
G. ‘Yang: You... jerk!
Yang playfully punches Taiyang, and the father and daughter laugh together. ‘
And in the same scene:
‘Yang: What is that supposed to mean? Do you want me to just pretend like nothing happened? I lost a part of me. A piece of me is gone. And it's never coming back. Taiyang: You're right. It's not coming back. But that doesn't have to stop you from becoming who you wanna be. You're Yang Xiao Long, my sunny little dragon. Taiyang puts his hand on his daughter's shoulder. Taiyang: You can do whatever you put your mind to. So whenever you're ready to stop moping, and get back out there, I'll be there for you. ‘
Mind you, she acted like her twice widowed, four time abandoned father who, if we’re just gonna take abstances as proof, has never shown to have his own parents around. And his response was ‘you’re so great.’
Your arguments fail when you actually KNOW what happened.
‘Ghira is a better dad.
“OH! BuT gHiRa LeT bLaKe JoIn ThE wHiTe FaNg!” I hear taiyang stans screaming and typing.
And Tai let his five-year old daughter go out and nearly get herself and Ruby killed by grimm.
If you’re going to use that “Blake joined the WF” argument as to why Ghira isn’t a good dad, then tai stans are banned from trying to refute the “Tai let Yang go out with Ruby to look for Raven” argument forever.
Hmm...
‘ Yang: (off-screen) I waited for Dad to leave the house, put Ruby in a wagon, and headed out. I must've walked for hours. I had cuts and bruises, I was totally exhausted, but I wasn't gonna let anything stop me. When we finally got there, I could barely stand, but I didn't care; I had made it. And then I saw them. Those burning red eyes... ‘
Nope, by your own standards Ghira still sucks. In fact, considering Ghira had ONE kid, had his WIFE around and yet he, by your standards, let Blake into rallies that could have gotten her killed, let her be near a psycho like Adam and manipulated by Sienna.
I mean, we could use context to logically justify that-
But you don’t do that for Taiyang so I have no obligation.
Again: This isn’t to say that Tai is a bad dad. But if we’re supposed to say that “He’s trying, and that’s what makes him a good dad” then that’s a pretty low bar for fictional dads everywhere.
More like “Yang and Ruby are the most well adjusted members of Team RWBY even though both Blake and Weiss had both their parents. And speaking of said parents: All Jacques has done on screen is control Weiss and Ghira had every advantage that Taiyang did and yet Blake was worse off while the twice widowed, single father who had to raise two kids while providing for them have come out with the least amount of issues.”
That’s actually a pretty fucking high bar, especially since the usual bar for fictional dads is ‘joke of a parent, abusive, dead, deadbeat or evil’.
Next thing you know, they’ll be using the “Jacques was at least there for his kids, which makes him better than Raven.” argument.
Speaking of the Bird Bitch-
How come you don’t shit on her? She did everything Taiyang did but worse while also taking a leaf of Jacques’ ‘Parental and Emotional abuse’ to the SAME KID and is even the root of the issues Taiyang did.
‘But people don’t treat her as a good mom!’ Says the guy with the ‘Savivor Mom Raven’ series.
Issue is Dudeblade-
Look, I still stand by my standing that if Tai really cared, he wouldn’t call Yang a “Thing he has to take care of.”
My mother calls me “a Thing” and I don’t like it. I can’t say that everyone is resentful when their own parents call them “a thing” but mine does it in a way that basically says, “Hey you! Yeah, you! You’re being a burden on my life.”
This is what you said the second time addressing this topic.
You are directly biased here Dudeblade.
Meanwhile, numerous OTHER people in the same situation as Yang proclaim Taiyang as a good father. People who should have a WORSE bias than you.
Combine this with your misandric tendencies and it’s clear why you spout this shit. And it has NOTHING to actually do with Taiyang.
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Riverdale 3.18 Thoughts *Spoilers*
First of all, I have not seen Riverdale in like a million years because it has just gotten so crazy and stupid and I’m sick of Bughead and Hiram for some reason going after his daughter for one stupid thing and it’s just repetitive and boring. Like, I have watched SO many greater shows since I just stopped caring to watch, but I heard that Bughead will break up and Jeronica might become actual friends, and that Hiram is arrested, and shit like that, plus the first episode of the fourth season is a tribute to Luke so I feel obligated to catch up before then to watch it. Either way I hate not finishing a season, especially after watching it for two whole seasons now, so… enjoy my technically not-spoilers since it’s been out for awhile thoughts on this episode of Riverdale! P.S. Bare with me if I have forgotten anything since it’s been awhile.
- AWW NO I REMEMBER THIS THOUGH, POOR BABY TEETH :( He was such an adorable little shit he didn’t deserve this.
- Oh yeah FP is the Sheriff… and Jughead is at a crime scene even though he should not be allowed there (Even if the gang is like… sheriff’s in training or whatever the fuck) Still not sure how I feel about FP, and I can’t wait for my rightful queen Toni to rip the serpents from Jughead’s cold dead hands (even though he’s obviously not dead)
- God damn Betty and Edgar again… she still bothers me. Does she realize that looking up his name might not get her anywhere because he’s not famous and therefore won’t have anything on him? I mean yeah maybe small town shit but like she’s acting like twenty million pages of him and his cult should be on the web.
- He walked in the desert to die? Psh alright… sounds stupid as fuck. He acts like farming opened his eyes to how beautiful life is like… chill bruh it’s not that amazing. I mean, it is, but he’s making it out to be like this BIG BIG thing when it’s not… burying and watering seeds doesn’t make you feel reborn.
- Betty had a point about it not telling her about how her mom can see Charles (even though I know he’s alive lolol we all knew)
- Oh yeah Archie got that one place from Hiram… but that dumb bitch asking how they can honor Baby Teeth as if he doesn’t know that you could simply just… stay silent for a few minutes to mourn, or shit like that. But my boy Mad Dog can also dedicate his next match to him too lol
- Fucking Elio NOBODY LIKES HIM OR THE STORYLINES HE BRINGS. LIKE HIRAM.
- My baby Veronica!!! Love my queen. CHERYL!!!!!!!!!!!! MY OTHER QUEEN. FANGS MY WHITE COVERED BABY!!!! Poor Toni watching her gf be hypnotized by a fucking cult
- Oh good a horrible plan from Jughead that will probably induce Betty to do something stupid and awful and then pretend like she can do it because she’s Betty Cooper… can’t wait…
- Like, they could have tried it out with Fangs/Kevin because they KNOW that Midge is dead.
- YES TONI GO AFTER BETTY FOR USING HER COUSIN. YOU FUCKING GO BABY
- Betty still has that video lol wow what a conniving bitch of a cousin she is. She said she deleted it, and they’re trying to make it out to be a good thing that she lied about a video…
- Veronica my queen,,, I hate that they tie her to Elio’s annoying bitch ass.
- That body does not fucking look like Baby Teeth,,, anyways
- I mean a human could do that lol you just mean that they don’t have a care for anyone. If this weren’t human, they would be like burned from the inside or some insane shit like that… stop being dramatic doc
- What kind of crack… HE TAKES TWO SWINGS AT FP AND THEN STOPS SO FP CAN FUCKING HIT HIM LOLOLOL WOW
- Alice! I miss the old her, before the writers decided to try and destroy her. But lmao this news broadcast tho
- Still can’t believe that they made out Betty and her father’s budding relationship a good thing. The fucking… WHAT? Why? How? Literally stop. Thank GOD Hiram or Penelope ends up murdering his ass…
- FP, THE SHERIFF, SHOULD NOT BE TALKING ABOUT THIS CRAZY SHIT TO HIS FIFTEEN YEAR OLD SON
- GOD I mean I get it, Cheryl needs to be brought back but that would be too convenient wouldn’t it… I’m sorry it’s fabricated??? Omfg “have you ever hugged Jason?” CHERYL’S PAUSE. SHE GOT TO HER FOR A SECOND GUHFADSBFKSFHAKSJ
- If this didn’t work with Cheryl, this won’t work with Alice. But Betty doesn’t communicate with people so she wouldn’t know. Also, there’s no date on it so like… she’s bad at making Charles’ gravestone look real. Like, I already know that she’s undercover with the FBI with Charles bc yeah but like… why wouldn’t they just loop Betty in? She could finally back off and stop getting into people’s business.
- AH THERE’S THE STUPID BETTY COOPER ACTION THAT IS NEVER NECESSARY TO ANYTHING!!! Fucking Betty, you chloroform your fucking mom???
- Archie basically calling himself Jughead… ew… Jughead could never
- I know it’s going to happen but I don’t want Varchie to get back together.
- SHE EVEN FUCKING CUFFED HER TO THE BED OH MY FUCKING GOD send Betty to an actual psychiatric hospital far away, not only because then she won’t be in the fucked up town of Riverdale and actually get help, but because then the show could actually give other actors more screen time
- This literally seems like an evil villain showing the hero their backstory… also Alice gotta point she got the news job because of the farm. Betty we know you never think things through, just stop you’re soo fucking bad. Why does her crying for Betty’s 8th grade graduation mean that she’s not who she is now? That has NOTHING to do with her at the farm??????????? Why does she say “that was the past” like it changes nothing why you acting like it does?
- Betty all of your points really are so traumatic for Alice. Like, yeah I get it you and Polly were raised there but she married a fucking murderer and yet this is all about you. I mean, it makes sense but they make Betty push it so hard that I root against her.
- If I were Alice, I’d be so fucking horrified of my daughter. Like, she has done so much shit to her, and yeah Alice has done bad things too but at least she’s being brainwashed (? bc she’s undercover and not able to get out of her cover?) Betty should not be so okay with fucking chloroforming her own mother.
- Betty really acting like this is all on her huh…. I mean literally bring other people into the plot it’s not that hard to actually make it interesting and share the screen time
- Ummmm alright. Also why would you let her take “G” or whatever the fuck??? ALSO JUGHEAD WHY THE FLYING FUCK DON’T YOU TELL YOUR DAD THAT IT’S YOUR FUCKING MOM???
- Evelyn get the FUCK away from Toni. THE ICONIC LINE “Bitch, I love her.” fsjdkhfhaskjfdhsf
- MAD DOG!!! Of course Randy is taking drugs. I mean, that’s cheating so just tell the news and get him disqualified and you win… easy. My boy is NOT taking drugs.
- JELLYBEAN!!!! AND RICKY!!!! I mean yeah they’re both little shits but uhhh that’s kinda sweet
- Lmao how did she start burning those pictures tho… I mean good for her but like… how?
- Betty… threatening to kill someone is NOT a good thing. Get some fucking help. Like, she’s not even scary. Does no one remember how sweet she used to be? I’d be so fucking concerned for her.
- Ew, kombucha? Cheryl, the farm doesn’t need you for brewing kombucha lolol
- FANGS!!!!!!!!!!! But isn’t he a part of the farm when did he get messed up into this boxing shit tho? DID HE EVEN KNOW BABY TEETH? I mean, yes baby get screen time, but???
- Edgar saying that Betty is a good person… sksksksks since when? And of course she’s afraid of her daughter, she literally doesn’t care about anyone but herself or Jughead and that is not good. I mean poor Betty for having to hear that but Alice isn’t wrong.
- Did… Did Betty not listen to those tapes at all? I know Edgar is a cult leader and therefore he tricks people into doing and saying what he wants but he never said SHIT to turn Alice against Betty. Betty’s doing that all by herself. He literally said that Betty loved her… he’s right you have given her so many reasons to fear you.
- Betty knows that a therapist is to help people? Then why the FUCK doesn’t she get an actual therapist? She desperately needs it.
- Edgar is actually pretty good with words tbh… but then again he kinda has to in order to be a cult leader
- So no one at the Farm is going to get her arrested for kidnapping? FP would have to arrest her lol but alright
- Varchie FRIENDSHIP is cute but I don’t want them to get back together ugh I know it happens but NOOOOOOOO why does the CW always ruin everything good?
- LUKE!!! 😭😭😭😭😭
- Evelyn really trying to make herself the most hated character by breaking up the best couple lol but I’m so disgusted bc I know that Toni ends up actually wanting to be in the farm… if I remember correctly…
- I mean you’re not a MONSTER, Betty, but you’re an awful person.
- I don’t like Kurtz but I really like the actor for him.
- PLEASE TELL ME MY BOY DIDN’T TAKE DRUGS. AWWW JOSIEEEEEEEE I miss her so much she and Archie deserved better.
- When Betty actually does the right thing (having a change of heart for the good) ssksks I’m not used to Betty actually using her brain. It makes it worse that it’s only because of a cult leader but uhhhh
- THE REF SHOULD BE ABLE TO CALL THE DISQUALIFICATION??? That’s so cheating and that is so fucked…
- Also I love that Archie still has the fake serpent tattoo.
- LMAO FUCK YOU ELIO, EVEN DRUGS CAN’T GET YOUR PEOPLE TO WIN. oh… of course he’s gonna fucking die.
- Ugh I forgot that The Gargoyle King was a thing. It’s just so fucking stupid…
- Poor JB,,, anyways go to your dad to help
#Riverdale#Riverdale 3.18 Thoughts#Veronica Lodge#Jughead Jones#Archie Andrews#Betty Cooper#anti-betty cooper#Falice#FP Jones#Alice Cooper#Jellybean Jones#Varchie
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