#EPISODE 16 S3 IF ANYONE CARES

[stillbreathing-aer]

travis and katelyn in mcd make me emotional

[shanastoryteller]

Shana, your tags on this post ...I need to know more! What exactly was the plan for Supernatural season 3 if it hasn't been for the writer's strike??? And how haven't I heard about this already?? I need the deets!

i'm so glad you asked :)

the original plan for season 3 was for sam to descend into using his demon powers to get dean out of the deal, and for dean to never go to hell. then the writers strike happened, the season got cut from 22 eps to 16, with only 4 after the strike, and that wasn't enough time to establish sam's spiral and powers, so changed the ending. it's on the wiki and there are some articles around about it

this was, in my opinion, the worst fucking decision they could make

it ruined the characters in a lot of ways and really unbalanced everything in a way the show never recovered from

the thing is that this arc is so well set up!

literally at the end of season 2 we get

"You're my big brother, there's nothing I wouldn't do for you. And I don't care, I'm going to get you out of this. I'm going to save your ass for a change."

sam has evaded azazel's every attempt to corrupt him. his shitty home life, all the demons he's exposed sam to, killing jessica, taking away his father, putting him in a literal life or death hunger games scenario. each time sam refuses to play ball

(sam's incorruptibility is what makes him qualified to be king of hell, but that's a different post)

he's the moral compass between him and dean. always has been. there is nothing in sam's messed up, twisted life that has pushed him pass mercy

but dean could do it. there's nothing sam wouldn't do for his big brother

john told dean that he had to either save sam or kill him. except he's never needed to save sam, because it's literally always sam making the measured, compassionate, merciful call. he's the one holding dean back, not the other way around

and sam straining towards darkness for the first time, for dean, would kill him. we'll come back to this

mystery spot, as an episode, is actually pointless if the plan was for dean to go to hell. because sam's sneak peek into what his life is like after dean doesn't do anything. i love this ep, but it's narratively pointless now

however

with the og plan, mystery spot is the turning point. it not only tells sam how miserable he'll be after dean is gone, but it also establishes what he's willing to do to get him back - pretty much anything. it's not theoretical pain, it's not theoretical grief. mystery spot is the thing that pushes sam towards being hard, away from the moral sweetness he's embodied for the past two and half seasons.

the next ep, jus in bello, shows this. sam is considering doing the terrible thing. he's now capable of considering the terrible thing in a way he wasn't before mystery spot. this is when his descent starts, when sam decides he's willing to trade his humanity for his brother's life

and then the writer's strike happened

right when it's getting good, right when sam's arc is ramping up, we lose it. and instead of picking it back up, pushing dean's deal to next season and giving it the weight it deserves, they say fuck it, and send dean to hell

but this fucks it all up. we have sam's "descent" with ruby and demon blood. except not really because he's not even hurting anyone. and dean's back, but not because of sam. sam didn't save him

this fucks it all up

because deans anger and fear and desire to save sam should have been tempered with the knowledge that he did that to save dean's life. that once more someone dean loves has made a terrible sacrifice for him, which he can't stand, which he hates. he has the self esteem of a gnat and the best people he knows keep destroying themselves for his benefit

i think the og build up was sam strengthening his powers to kill lilith, doing it, and then releasing lucifer at the end of s3. sam unwittingly starting the apocolypse to save his brother (does he regret it, dean wonders. it would be easier if he did)

and now everything is shit and dean's drowning but here and his brother has turned himself into something that's not unlike the kid dean loves so much it almost killed him, but not exactly the same. and now he understands john, because this is the sam that dean has to either save or kill, except he could never kill him. he loves him (and how can he kill sam for doing this when it's dean's fault, when dean made the deal that doomed his brother when all he wanted was to save him)

this is the flip that the show has been building towards. dean having to be the moral center for his brother for once. dean being the one saved. dean finally having to face his father's words and deciding once and for all if he's john's son or sam's brother

but instead dean goes to hell. and he's no one moral's center. because he broke in hell, he tortured people and he enjoyed it. they ruined dean with this. because instead of fighting and growing from his violence, they push him into it, and then they call him a righteous man. dean was the one harming people, he's the one that descended into darkness, not sam. sam and his demon blood had still only been trying to good, and in the end did do good, far more than anything dean did in hell, or has done since. his moral outrage, his anger, his disgust towards sam isn't only wildly out of character, it's hypocritical as hell. sam remains the moral, compassionate one, even through this. it never slides to dean. neither of them are really forced to grow or change, only to become twisted into each other in ways that hurt them both

this should have been the story of what sam would do to save his brother (anything) and what dean would do to save his brother (anything)

they should have saved each other

[curlyhairedbooklover]

This is the second post of three collecting data about NBC Hannibal. This one details the times that Will, Hannibal, Jack, and Alana say each other’s names, the first focused on just Will and Hannibal and the third is actually about the gender split of the murders committed in the show! So check out the other two if you enjoy this one!! 

Very quickly I’ll go over the format! I was particularly interested in what form of name people used so it’s split into first name, title, and full name (slightly varying depending on the needs of each table) as well as whether the character is speaking directly to the person whose name they are saying or if it’s to anyone else!

Adding a disclaimer that I did this for fun so I haven’t double checked it meaning there may be some mistakes, but I tried my best! 😌

Starting off with Will again (he is my favourite) he says Jack’s name A Lot (ultimately less than Hannibal’s but it’s closer than you’d think…) coming to 84 times across the entire show! Astoundingly 73 of those times are his first name, which for Will is unusual!! He also says most of those while speaking to Jack himself, mostly in s1&2 at 21 times both seasons and then only 10 times in s3 when he starts to become more withdrawn from Jack…. In fact the only time he calls Jack by his full name while talking to him is in s3!

Will uses Alana’s name comparatively less (and actually I was surprised by how little the other three said her name… they did not win at feminism on this day.) He uses her name only 14 times over the entire show and doesn’t even use her first name while talking to her until 2.7, which he only does 6 times in the show. The other two times he addresses her by name are as “Dr. Bloom” during s2. When talking about her he only uses her first name once (in s1), he uses her full name three times, once by just her title, and then in the pilot he calls her simply “Bloom” (which he also does to Jack that episode so obviously the writers were figuring something out there and decided it did not work, thank fuck!) 

Hannibal on the other hand does increase those name counts though not by much!! He uses Jack’s name 90 times across the show, again mostly in s1&2 at 40 and 34 times, he also drops in s3 going down to only 16 times. He is also more likely to use Jack’s first name while talking to him staying fairly consistent across the whole show and the same can be said when he’s talking to others except in s3 where it drops down to 2 times with both occurring in the last episode! In fact the only other time he uses Jack’s name while talking about him in s3 is his full name in a letter to Will in 3.8 (the other note on the data in 3.4 also indicates a letter.) He is the only character to call him “Agent Jack Crawford” though he only does so 3 times, all in the first 3 episodes of the show. He did throw out an “Uncle Jack Crawford” in the pilot which while enough for me to give it it’s own column was then never repeated again 🤷‍♀️.

Hannibal also rarely uses Alana’s name. In fact it's only 16 times over the course of the show, though at least he always uses her first name while talking to her! However only one of  those times was while they were having sex... On that train he unsurprisingly uses Will’s name 6 times either immediately before or after kissing/having sex with Alana, and the one time he uses hers in that scenario is when he realises that she has been using a gun and no longer trusts him…. That is also the only time that Alana brings Will up first in these conversations. But back to just Alana, he mostly uses her first name when talking to her in s3, where he’s likely tying to rile her up, which happens 5 times! When talking about her across the show he’s pretty evenly split between her first name, title and full name at 3, 2 and, 2 respectively. But none of those times are in s3 and mostly occur in s1! He simply no longer cared enough to talk about her...

Jack actually follows the established pattern, using Will’s name the most, then Hannibal’s and lastly Alana’s…. He says Will’s name 143 times in the show and 98 of those times are his first name! He uses it slightly more when talking to people than while talking to Will but only by 4 times! Though they were mostly in s1, when talking to Will he used it 27 times and 21 times when talking about Will to others, with 14 of those times being in the last two episodes of the season! He also uses Will’s full name 22 times while talking about him to others that season, which drops to 11 times in s2. Notably 2 of the 4 times he uses Will’s full name in his presence are when introducing him to other characters in s2, the other two are in the first and last episode of s1 when he was unfamiliar with him and then distrustful of him. By s3 he only uses Will’s name 19 times though at least almost half of them are his first name while talking to him while he only uses his full name 3 times and all while talking to others as even here he prefers to use Will’s first name when referring to him.

In comparison Jack uses Hannibal’s first name only 23 times over the course of the show. When talking to Hannibal he uses his first name the most in s2 making up 4 of the 5 times he does that. Whereas he uses his first name 8 times in both s2&3 in conversation about him (although one of those times is “Hannibal the Cannibal” in 3.4….) He is also prone to calling him by just “Dr.” while talking to him so much so that I had to create an entire column for it though he mostly does so in s1, going from 12 times to 6 times to just 2 times over the course of the seasons. When collecting this data initially I was actually very interested in how many times Jack would call him simply “Lecter” which he only did while talking about him and only 4 times in the entire show! I’d thought it would be more but alas! Though apart from the pilot episode they are all at least after he know about the murder and cannibalism 😌. 

Unfortunately Jack also rarely said Alana’s name and in fact didn’t say it one time in s3! Outrageous!! The few times he does say it it tends to be while talking to her (11 times) and her first name (7 of times) so there is at least that! He also calls her “Dr. Bloom” 4 times and most of those in s1. But while talking about her he only ever uses her full name or title and never her first name, again all but one of these are in s1! Sadly that’s really all there is to say there! 

Now we come to Alana who has been so unfairly treated by the other characters!! Though in keeping with that she says their names the least of any character as well! She uses Will’s name 54 times over the series, only 15 of those times are while talking to him and 2 are his full name!! (Though those are during the trial in s2a.) She uses his first name the most in s2 while talking both to him and about him, coming in at 7 times and 20 times respectively. Interestingly she was using his first name while talking to him more in the first half of the season and doing it while talking about him more in the second half of the season, which is also when she starts to use his full name most. One of those times was after having sex with Hannibal, in fact she uses Will’s first name 4 times in those conversations, which really shows us that their romantic relationship was more about Will than it was about them (and also about getting an alibi on Hannibal’s end…)  

She (like Will) says Hannibal’s name the most compared to the others at 65 times! The bulk of these are in s3 at 33 times however she uses it 22 times in s2 and a measly 10 in s1. 40 of those times are his first name when talking to others which follows the same pattern while she only uses his first name while talking to him 12 times over the series….. But the only other time she addresses him by name is in 1.4 and it’s by calling him “Dr.”! She occasionally uses his full name or title when talking about him and only full names him in s2&3 but unlike Jack never calls him by just “Lecter”.

She only uses Jack’s name 36 times and they do tend to be his first name. She only uses his full name 4 times and they’re all while talking about him spread sparingly across the seasons. In s1&2 she uses his first name the same amount while talking to him and talking to others, 6 times each in s1 and 7 in s2, whereas in s3 she only uses his name while talking to him once opposed to the 5 times she does so while talking about him. 

Overall this table has taught us that the three guys are always saying each other’s names and leaving Alana out of it!!

(part 1) (part 2) (part 3)

[crusherthedoctor]

8 16 17 25

8. you hope more people will come to appreciate ___ (a ship, a trope, an episode, etc)

The Pontaff era.

No, I'm not saying these games don't have their weakpoints. To claim I ever have would be disingenuous. But really, what makes them different from every other era in Sonic's history? If the Adventure-Black Knight games are free to be vindicated by history in spite of their own non-nitpick drawbacks, including the game that came the closest to actually killing off the franchise, then I don't see what makes these games so much more inexcusable by comparison.

The sensationalist side of the fandom's Pontaff hateboner has always felt performative, as if it's an open secret that it's the cool thing to do. '06 is declared out of bounds because too much time has passed and it's played out, yet they keep harping on a game that will soon be seven years old (Forces), a game that came out over a decade ago (Lost World), and a game that came out over 13 years ago (Colours). Even with Generations, the one that has probably fared the best reception-wise out of the lot, it's not rare to see fans unironically call it a worse anniversary game than '06.

If the Pontaff era of Sonic is not your cup of tea overall, that's fine. It's no different to my lack of enthusiasm for the current Flynn era (Superstars and Dream Team notwithstanding). But no matter how many YouTubers try to convince me with their clickbait thumbnails and their tendency to complain about dragged out jokes while making their own dragged out jokes, I will never buy into this insincere narrative that everything was consistent high times until Colours singlehandedly made the franchise drop off a cliff.

16. a tiny detail in canon that you want more people to appreciate

I can't say Eggman's actual characterization because that's not exactly a tiny affair, so... Omega's portrayal when not written by Flynn/Bioware?

17. the thing in canon that everyone loves and that you also love

S3&K

The franchise's history of excellent music

The franchise's history of exploring themes that, regardless of whether the overall execution is good or bad, tend to have more nuance and thoughtfulness put into them than a lot of other, supposedly more mature IPs' interpretations of said themes

The characters we know conceptually but don't necessarily have similar viewpoints on

ShtH being filed in the comedy genre

Sonic faceplanting

25. a piece of advice for taking care of yourself in fandom spaces

Never let anyone assert control of your own experience. You should always be the one to referee your own corner of community interaction, and although polite disagreement and healthy discourse is well and expected, you shouldn't feel the need to continue diving into discourse by virtue of obligation if it makes you miserable after seeing so many terrible takes based on illegitimate reasoning. Block certain tags if you deem it necessary.

You should also not focus on popularity, and not just because it inevitably comes at the cost of being true to yourself and what makes you satisfied. If you remain honest, and respectful, you'll find your true friends in the community soon enough, which are worth far more than a million faceless acquaintances ever will.

[kurokoros]

You're a trooper for rewatching s4 I literally can't ever since vol2, it ruined the entire season for me for two reasons. One Max's outcome and two Steve regression to soley function as Nancy's boyfriend and not acting like his own character.

The Duffers need to stop treating Steve as only comedic relief and a human punching bag who pines after a girl who clearly never loved him. It would be way more interesting to see him interact with the kids. We've only been told oh Steve's our guy, our babysitter but it's never truly shown especially in s4. The way he was so annoyed with them, refusing to be with them just so he can trail behind his ex girlfriend who cheated on him in s2 was such a bad take and I'll forever be angry about it.

Steve is such a fantastic character stuck in a mediocre show who doesn't deserve complex characters. Like there were so many options for his character, explore more of Stobin, have them talk about other things than relationships. Explore what he wants to do with his future not just his love life. Explore how he feels about Dustin replacing him with Eddie, it's criminal we got a Eddie/Dustin hug before Steve and Dustin. Explore Lucas and Steve's relationship especially in terms of the concept of popularity and being passionate about basketball. Explore how he is dealing with Max, like you can't tell me he wasn't concerned about her when she isolated herself, not when he actually got a letter from her. I'm tired that we are only being told who Steve is but then it shows a Steve who is just love crazy. Steve could be so much more but nope the Duffers apparently hate him so much they have to let out their aggressions on him by brutally beating him up every season and never giving him anything to be happy about in the end of every season. Steve tries to be a better person but life always shits on him when he does, it's not fair.

Eddie was literally only there to start the plot, he was there to inform the characters what's going on in the beginning. He was just there to serve for Dustin's angst plot in s5. If he wasn't played by Joe Q. nobody would care that much, Argyle was more useful than Eddie but due to obvious reasons didn't get the same hype. I also hate how he literally overshadowed Max's "death", a character we spent years with. Like I don't get this hype, his death wasn't something worth to get out petitions to bring him back and it wasn't too bad of writing to kill him off that way. He got to be a hero, saving Dustin (maybe in another better way would have been nice) after doing nothing for the plot the entire season. That's more than what other side characters got. I do believe the Duffers always wanted him to die but didn't expect him to be this loved because of the actor.

As for Nancy I also agree she just makes me angry and one day I might make a post to explain why but I don't want to get canceled by the fandom lol.

The only reason I got through the final episodes is because I was watching with a friend and we were talking shit about the episodes the entire time. S4 is just not a good season for several reasons, but those last two episodes were pointlessly long and it genuinely felt like nothing even happened.

The stuff with Max was bad because it was forced drama done because the plot said so and not for any logical reason (why would Vecna go after Max, who knows how to escape him, when he can literally go after anyone as far as we the audience know? Why does he even need to psychologically torture them first? Drama? Who knows. Probably not the Duffers!) and they've been butchering Steve since S3, so I was disappointed but not surprised.

The Duffers treating Steve as a punching bag that constantly needs to be reminded that he was a normal level of dickish at 16-17 is just a result of them having a complex about nerds vs jocks. People who play sports = popular = bad person, even though the nerd characters are constantly condescending and also just as assholish as the non-nerd characters when it comes to people being allowed to have interests (Lucas and Steve liking/playing sports is devalued and seen as them chasing popularity, rather than a fun hobby--even though athletes are probably the most useful when going up against literal monsters, but whatever).

Honestly, I think the Duffers resent Steve for being one of the fan favorites, when he was meant to represent everything they disliked.

Regardless, yeah I don't care about Dustin and Eddie being besties in S4, I just wanted more of Steve interacting with Max and Lucas. Like, please Duffers I just want Steve and Lucas to talk and for Steve to tell Lucas it's okay to want to play sports and to not feel like he can't just because his friends are being assholes about it. Also, I need Nancy and Steve to stay six feet away from each other at all times. I do not wish to see it. If anything, I would have been okay with him wanting to go with Nancy/Robin if it had been framed as Steve needing to be on the front lines, so to speak, because he doesn't like being "on the bench." Or if he had been more torn between going with them or staying with the kids. Anything that wasn't "I'm sick of being the babysitter."

I don't think I responded to everything in this message, but I need to go to sleep and if I didn't answer this tonight, I'd forget to do so tomorrow lmao

TLDR: S4 is bad. Eddie was overhyped by the fandom. Steve deserves better.

[kiisaes]

seeing the "bakugou literally hates deku and will always hate deku, also he can never be forgiven from what he did in season 1" argument in the year 2021 and in the context of literally everything that has happened within the series is the funniest thing ever

"bakugou will always hate deku" when bakugou canonically

sees deku as a worthy rival (on the same level as/possibly higher than todoroki) and since UA, has never particularly considered deku to be weak

has been watching deku since the very beginning. he also pays very close attention to deku's moves when they fight

is the first student outside of deku to know about one for all and promised not to tell anyone about the secret, when he easily could if he really hated deku that much

actively helps deku with his training and figuring out more about the OFA holders

is capable of holding a normal conversation with deku now and is considerably more understanding, even after their awful history

has only genuinely broken down emotionally in front of deku, and has only been moderately comfortable with deku (and all might) seeing him as weak. as far as I'm aware, no other student has seen him cry before

is willing to die for deku. he is willing to lose everything - his quirk, his privileged life, his future - for deku

cares about deku and wants to keep him safe/alive because "something about him makes [bakugou] want to keep him at arm's length" (284)

doesn't seem to mind at all when deku, someone he supposedly "hates", calls him kacchan, an endearing, innocent childhood nickname even though they are both 16 and training to be mf heroes

loves deku platonically thanks to all the recent chapters, even if his own dumbass brain hasn't caught up to that yet. argue with the wall lmao

"bakugou can never be forgiven from what he did in season 1" when bakugou canonically

addressed that the shit he did to deku was terrible. he's taking full accountability for his past actions, which is something lots of kids his age IN REAL LIFE can't do yet. if you're gonna judge a fictional character by irl morals and ethics, at least be aware that plenty of bratty irl 16 year olds don't take the full blame when they fuck up because they're under the mindset that they're young and can afford to make big mistakes.

is actively trying to atone, and has probably been trying to do that since as early as deku vs kacchan part 2, which is fully animated in s3 and has been out for years now

doesn't want to take the easy way out of his wrongdoings (aka just asking for forgiveness and moving on). he told all might that he wants to atone, not deku. he wants to prove to deku that he's changing without deku automatically forgiving him

"bakugou literally told deku to k*ll himself"

yeah, when he was 14. lol. I know that doesn't excuse something as extreme as a death threat but have you MET middle schoolers? I've had my fair share of shitty bully experiences throughout my adolescence and now that I'm older, I recognize that they were young themselves and have probably been going through their own troubles. still doesn't excuse it, but just take his fucking age and his background into account. he's also trying to atone for that shit so what else do u fucking need from this 16 year old trauma magnet lmfao

in CHAPTER/EPISODE 1 OF THE WHOLE SERIES??? dawg that was YEARS ago. we are completely past that, keep up!

it's heavily implied that this comment was super out of nowhere, and nothing like what bakugou usually says to deku. his friends said that was really out of line. bakugou was probably also aware of how harsh it was. it's further shown in the small heroes rising promo manga, "deku and bakugou rising" (I think that's the name), that bakugou typically ignored deku and let him do his own thing, with only a couple mild verbal jabs here and there (the insults aren't even special to bakugou - deku was quirkless, meaning that he was getting teased by literally everyone in the messed up quirk society)

deku didn't take this comment to heart and canonically cared more about BAKUGOU'S reputation after saying something so insensitive. he never once thought about actually "taking a swan dive". he may have low self esteem but he's not THAT swayed by outside opinion. in fact, he's really fucking stubborn and nobody has phased him from his hero dream except all might, his literal childhood idol, in the second chapter/episode. and even that lasted for like 5 minutes lol

people are allowed to grow and change into better people, janica. that's called character development. it's called growth in the real world.

like shit dude you don't have to romantically ship bakudeku - hell you don't even have to like them as a duo - but at least acknowledge that horikoshi is putting bakugou through a real character arc. I promise you, the current bakugou/deku dynamic is much more appealing than your season 1 echo chamber. we've moved on from the "bakugou and deku can never be on good terms" boat. we passed that ages ago LMAO

[buildoblivionthenwewilltalk]

I've been thinking a lot about mag 81 recently. Specifically, I've been wondering how much we as the audience knowing about "a guest for mr spider" colours our perspective of Jon as a person throughout the rest of tma.

Because I have chronic "must like the protagonist" syndrome, I've always personally had a soft spot for Jon even before we see a more vulnerable side of him in s3. But I can't deny that hearing his tragic backstory was a game-changer in how much I really empathized and understood him for the rest of the show.

There's that post on here somewhere about how hearing about his childhood, finding out he was an orphan, raised by a distant but dutiful at best, neglectful and bitter at worst grandmother, and then went through truly supernatural levels of trauma and guilt on top of that doesn't necessarily excuse his more dickish tendencies in s1 and 2, but it sure does help us understand him. The number of times I relisten to that ep and go "oh that's why you are the way that you are", and then go back further to s1 and s2 with episodes like mag 4 ("Page Turner") and mag 16 ("Arachnophobia") and go like "... ooooohhhhh I am very very sad".

Like we know from s1 that Jon's scepticism is a coping mechanism. We know that he cares about his assistants and does all sorts of human things like stuttering when he's scared and forming attachments to cool goth kids who also hate Leitners. But mag 81 adds a whole new level to that. "A guest for mr spider" really does peel back the tape to see a whole person who has been very very afraid and very very alone for a long time. Add on top of that the fact we meet Georgie and get to hear what a "weird ex-boyfriend who stress cleans and loves cats" Jon sounds like, the episode is perfect.

But we're the only ones who get to hear all that. Jon never brings up "mr spider" to anyone else and the only other character who brings it up is fucking Jonah when he gloats about how the web marked Jon for him as he forces him to end the world.

No one else knows! They don't get to see like us how Jon has been tied up in this before he lost all his baby teeth. They don't get to see how he's been carrying the guilt for the death of a bully more than twice his age and has been so very scared that one day whatever got him might come back and finish the job.

And then I think about s3 and s4, where pretty much all of Jon's allies either start to or double down on hating him, blaming him for the way their lives have all gone to shit and berating him for not making the right choices. When we know that the "choice" that set Jon down this path was opening a children's picture book.

I don't know. I just wonder how different our view of Jon might be if we didn't know how far back this all went. If we'd just heard him talk with Georgie, and skipped straight on to Elias sending the statements and let the story go from there? Sure we'd see the tragic hot mess that Jon was in s3 onwards as he desperately tries to do right by everyone else, but would we really appreciate how little agency Jon really had? What if Jon's backstory hadn't been revealed till late series four, or five even when other characters get a broad sense that the web had "marked" Jon for something but little more than that?

I know half of what makes tma so great is this handling of perspective, and that long "Chekov's gun" about mr spider finally being let off in s5 is what makes the end reveal about hilltop road etc. so impactful. Would the ending be so tragic if we didn't have all this time with the knowledge that Jon's first mark was the spider? But I think about how from pretty much the whole rest of the cast's perspective that's how it goes.  They have no idea how far these webs are actually tied around Jon, let alone how much his life really was tragic even before he stepped foot in the magnus institute.

And yet I can't imagine Jon ever telling any of them (except perhaps Martin maybe? Idk I always imagined Jon told him in the safehouse but that's just me). Why would he reveal it? When?  He’s not an open, sharing person like that, and he doesn't really understand the nature of his upbringing and the true gravity of what happened to him until it's far too late.

And in a story about knowledge, the consequences of seeking it and the tragedy of withholding it, I wonder how different it might have been if perhaps that tape went astray, or maybe one night there was just a little too much wine and it all came spilling out.

I don't think it would have "fixed" anything, but maybe it might have taken longer before Jon was cursed as a "monster", maybe Jon would not be so quick to believe it? Maybe he might have had a few more allies before it all came crashing down. 

[chicoriii]

Season 4, Episode 17 - Larme Ultime (Rocketear)

So this is a DjiWifi episode from which comes a screenshot I've seen over a month ago (I think). It's good they got it, before season 4 started I really wanted it to happen and to see a kiss between Nino and Alya in it (but that didn't happen and I don't get why, only the main pairing is allowed to kiss in this show or what?), but now I could not be excited about it anymore, because I'm sick of Alya and I'm not able to hide it. Yes, I'm biased, but I'm just a normal viewer and I have right to dislike her favouritism.

My the biggest thought after watching this is that it looks like since Optigami, Alya is not only a deuteragonist, like I said in my post about Sentibubbler, she's actually more like a co-protagonist now. That was an extremely Alya-centric episode (even more than Lie was was about Adrien, as it was mostly Ladybug who saved the world like almost always, also because Chat sacrificed himself again), while in Optigami and this one she has screentime comparable to Marinette. I'm still trying to avoid spoilers (so please, don't tell what's going to happen in the next episodes, I don't want to know), but I'm sure that either 15 or 16 is also highly about her, because we've seen the new Rena's suit in this episode and it looked like it wasn't the first episode with it. But really, I won't be surprised if Alya has lots of screentime in both episodes and all others to the end of the show as well. I don't think Adrien is ever going to get as much special treatment like Alya. :/ The creators have never been as nice to him.

Didn't the writes have enough ideas for another story arcs? And thanks to it they were able to save money, because then creators could just reuse old models of villains more than before. Have anyone noticed that S4 has even fewer number of completely new characters than previous seasons? The scientist seen at the start of the episode has detailed model, so she had to be akumatised in any of the previous unreleased episodes (or one of the next ones). And why she looks a lot like Alya, is she her relative? If yes, you know what that means? Another excuse to make an episode full of the fox wielder, because, you know, it’s not like she already got enough occasions to shine in S4. 

Speaking of Rena Rouge's new suit. What a waste, it would be great for a potential chameleon Miraculous, so it seems it won't be ever created for canon. So bad, I think it's one of the coolest animal, so a Miraculous based on it would be awesome. It could one from an African Miracle Box which should appear, since they are planning making an African special. The suit is good and all, but I still feel disappointed that it's not the superpower of a chameleon Miraculous. :(

Why is Nino acting over the top out of nowhere? I like film noir atmosphere, fedoras and especially jazz music full of saxophones (my favourite music genre and instrument), but it looks totally ridiculous when he's like that. I thought it's Marinette's speciality, and he beat her in that category. I'm not trying to say it's a a bad thing, it just feels weird seeing Nino like that. And since I love jazz, I would like to listen to that film noir-esque music more once I got 5.1 audio, since it was hardly heard in the episode. It didn't sound much interesting, but it's too early to judge it seriously.

Too bad they had written the main conflict in the episode using one of the biggest romantic cliche - misunderstanding in which one character see and\or hear something, but not the whole thing, so said character interprets it wrong. Motifs like that are rather annoying, so it's good something similar haven't happened in the Love Square's arc (yet at least). Though I have a big issue with how they write it this season and I'm going to make a post about it (is anyone interested?).

The akuma is one the ugliest and has one of the most laziest power ever. Really? He shoots using tear bullets and does nothing more? I know many people hate Bubbler's design, but no matter how silly it looks, it was much more creative than this.

And of course the whole thing with Alya remembering the whole conversation with Chat Noir was extremely far-fetched. The could think about something more believable, but I'm not surprised it happened, since I think this season is generally more lazy written than previous ones.

On the other hand, I'm surprised that Marinette is actually aware that Shadow Moth should not know that Alya is still Rena Rouge. It seems that the whole episode 15 (or 16) is about they trying to figure out what to do with that problem.  I won't be surprised if Alya would do it all by herself like it happened with protecting charms in Mr Pigeon 72, because it's completely normal that a random person who has never met Fu is better at decrypting the grimoire than someone who has been trained to be a guardian to some extend :/ Still I think they should not be sure that camouflage mode would solve the problem completely. From what I understand the new suit doesn’t make her completely invisible to others. Rena could be seen by anyone who takes a photo of her and then post in on the internet (it won't be believable that she's the only one crazy about superheroes in Paris). But at least they tried to do something and Marinette sees the danger to some extend. It’s something new.

It's not like Alya is careful, she's completely reckless (and they think she's a good reporter material? Don't make me laugh) and she still thinks more about her own fun in being the superheroine than safety of herself or the world. But of course, it's not gonna happen, because plot armor is very strong in this show. I really had a feeling that she acted like a little child in the first minutes of the episode. She's unable to see that her situation is not a joke. She should be all happy that Marinette still lets her to keep the fox Miraculous. She really lacks humility and I see it clearly since Optigami at least. Besides, Marinette ignores another red flags, that Alya is taking pictures of herself in the new suit no one is supposed to see and thinking about posting them on Ladyblog (was Bunnix right that Alya is able to reveal Miraculous secrets on her blog because of her overenthusiasm and lack of ability of seeing consequences of her actions?).

By the way, now I think, if Alya can't keep in secret that she's still Rena Rouge from Nino (which happens because it's needed for the plot), so how could she be all fine with keeping in secret other facts like that Ladybug gave her the fox permanently and she knows her identity (which isn't happening because the plot doesn't require it)? She still has to lie on Nino because of these secrets.

They are making Marinette a big hypocrite this season. Since she revealed herself to Alya, it's been shown that secret identities rule was bullshit from the start, but Marinette is still saying that heroes can't reveal their identities to anyone. What? What has she done before like not revealing herself to someone, so how she dares keep saying about how crucial is keeping secrets from everyone? Sorry writers, I can't take that rule seriously anymore since Alya knows and no one should. Because Marinette told Alya, she could tell it to other persons she trust as well. What's the difference between her best friend and the rest of the people in the world? Is Alya the only person she trusts? In fact, revealing herself to Sabine, for example, would be much better choice. She's actually wise and mature unlike Alya and her secrets would be much more safe with her mother.

I've seen Chat Blanc again on TV recently and I remembered one thing Ladybug told to Bunnix there: "The best-kept secrets are the ones you never share." (Google Translate says that the line is exactly the same in the French original). Some episodes later, she isn't thinking twice if she should tell all the guardian secrets to Alya. Okay, she revealed her identity because of being too emotional in that exact moment, but then when she calmed down, she should be able to think if telling all the Miraculous secrets is a good idea. The other hypocritical thing is telling Chloé "you can't be Queen Bee anymore, because Hawk Moth knows your identity" but still calling the other heroes whose identities have been exposed.

So I can't even blame Alya for telling Nino the truth if the guardian herself is not following her own rules. Not to mention, Marinette doesn't address wrong things Alya is doing at all, so no wonder she feels she could do anything, she won't get punished, no matter what. After all, it's not the first moment in which she does something her best friend forbid her.

And we can say the show has been confirmed that Nino is even worse at keeping secrets, especially in crisis situations, so why people wanted to see Adrien revealing himself to Nino? It's obvious that he would tell Adrien's secret to Alya and maybe some other people as well.

I thought that since S3 finale Adrien is supposed to know identities of every backup hero from seasons 2 and 3 and I was ready to be salty about that as well. But yes, actually after purification of Miracle Queen's akuma, brainwashed heroes didn't detransform. They were forgotten completely and we don't even know what happened with them exactly. I suppose Ladybug took their Miraculous when Chat Noir wasn't there anymore.

Adrien has every right to be angry at Ladybug, she treats him so badly, since Alya knows her own secrets and she doesn't even have the guts to admit that. But I'm going to say about my the biggest issue in the Chat Noir and Ladybug's situation in another post, I hope I would write before the next episode airs.

[anotheruserwithnoname]

In defence of Star Trek: Lower Decks

Probably the greatest sins of Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard is that they made so many people default to hating Star Trek: Lower Decks. Which is a shame because the animated series, which just ended its second season, is arguably the best Star Trek of the last 16 years.

Yes, Lower Decks is obviously Trek’s answer to The Orville. Yes, Lower Decks’ canonicity is a matter of debate (the idea of Quark marketing a Deep Space Nine model with a choice of Jadzia or Ezri Dax action figures is cute, and I enjoyed the gag involving the villain from Skin of Evil, but still it’s hard to take that seriously). But it still feels more like Star Trek than anything seen since at least 2005. All the characters have names and personalities (and surprisingly deep back stories) - something Discovery and Picard lacks; I couldn’t name the bridge crew of Discovery beyond a couple of people to save my life. And when LD brings in legacy characters, they’re true to their original selves. The show has been called a love letter to classic Trek - and I believe it.

There was an episode a few weeks ago that moved the focus off of the USS Cerritos and focused instead on a Klingon officer and a Vulcan officer serving on other ships. In 22 minutes they did more to establish the characters, backstory and motivations of those two individuals than Discovery has managed to do with some of its characters in 3 seasons.So much so there are calls for Ma’ah and T’Lyn to have their own spin-offs (the former would actually fulfil a longstanding Trek fandom wish to have a Klingon-centric series. I’d watch it if it’s done with the same care and attention as Lower Decks). Sonya Gomez, a TNG legacy character who returns in Season 2, is also given great development in her one episode and we also meet some of her own crew - there’s a third potential spinoff right there. And I’m not even starting on Riker’s Titan getting its own show. 

But so many canon liberties have been taken with Discovery and Picard, coupled with outright poor writing (Discovery showed promise as S3 started as it dropped the shackles of being a prequel, but it fell off a cliff before the season ended; Picard I did like when it began, but it has not aged well at all, and yes I know this is subjective) that many fans dismissed Lower Decks totally out of hand. Which is a shame. The newest animated show, Prodigy, is likely to run into the same problem, though as it’s aimed at young viewers - Lower Decks “taint” anywhere near a kid’s show - there’s a pun there anyone who watched it a few weeks ago will get - it may get a bit more benefit of the doubt.

I might write up a more detailed discussion of Lower Decks Season 2 later. But for now I’ll just say if you’ve been avoiding it because a) it’s made by the same production regime making Discovery and Picard; b) it’s a cartoon; c) it’s a comedy and d) it’s got that Cal-Arts animated style that I’m not a fan of either - give it a try. Especially if you enjoy The Orville since this is actually an animated dramedy. Plus, I don’t recall there being any references to Discovery in it and while Picard gets the occasional shoutout (and Riker has appeared a few times), the show is set well before the mcguffin that triggered the events of the Picard series.

PS: Just for the record, I have no plans to watch the new seasons of Discovery and Picard and Strange New Worlds doesn’t really appeal (I liked Discovery’s sequel episode to The Cage but otherwise too many liberties with established characters and settings). If Prodigy gets a Canadian broadcast I’ll check it out.

[quinnfabraymybeloved]

even though nobody cares i am gonna rank s3 now too.

22) Mash Off

fuck finn hudson. fuck this episode. fuck whoever wrote this. worst thing ever. rumour has it/someone like you is fucking spectacular though.

21) I Kissed A Girl

see above.

20) The First Time

i hate west side story.

19) Pot o’ Gold

eh, i just didn’t really like it.

18) The Purple Piano Project

as far as season premieres go, this is their worst one. it gives us sugar motta though, so yay.

17) I Am Unicorn

sh*lby can fuck right off. no. i hate this woman.

16) Saturday Night Glee-ver

this may be controversial. this episode was just very middle of the pack to me.

15) Yes/No

finchel engagement?? disgusting. i hate it. but i quite like the performances in this episode.

14) Big Brother

i did not have a senior ditch day. i don’t know anyone that has. but goddamn i love matt bomer. somebody that i used to know? *chef’s kiss*

13) Props

miss tina cohen-chang gets an episode and THIS is what they do??? it gets points for the lil switcharoos they did, i thought they were fun.

12) Extraordinary Merry Christmas

i love christmas episodes <3 this one is really funky! the black and white!!

11) Dance With Somebody

so emotional is one of my favourite glee covers ever. i love everyone’s reactions during *that* blaine song too. but did this episode have a plot other than klaine cheating? i can’t remember.

10) Asian F

mike chang!!! an icon!! and jayma mays is just fantastic! and it has one of my favourite mercedes songs (spotlight 💞💞💞)

9) Nationals

yay!!! they did it!!! the setlist could’ve been better, but i am so proud of them that i don’t even care!

8) Graduation

aside from the quinn/puck kiss (🤮),, i love this episode!! but i do wish people had tried to help brittany graduate the way they did for puck! this episode has one of my favourite faberry scenes ever (💞the metro north pass💞)

7) Choke

pleek. the songs in this episode are fantastic. cry is one of rachel’s best songs. dot-marie jones is so very talented!!

6) Heart

aside from the god squad being dumb for the first little bit, this episode is just so cute!! sugar motta supremacy!!!

5) The Spanish Teacher

i am so glad someone finally told 👞 that he’s a bad teacher, and i am even gladder that it was santana. i also love ricky martin.

4) Prom-A-Saurus

i want to go to a dinosaur prom. this episode gives us the gayest glee duet ever (take my breath away) and i am so grateful for it.

3) Michael

gay bathroom scene. smooth criminal. never can say goodbye. slushee. thank you.

2) Hold On to Sixteen

the return of trouty mouth!! do the songs slap? yes. do i ugly cry because of mike and his dad? also yes. does this episode make me want to date tina cohen-chang? abso fucking lutely. (also,,, when quinn gets the girls back 🥺🥺🥺)

1) On My Way

even though i know it’s coming,, it always catches me off guard. this should not be one of my comfort episodes,, but it is. also,, faberry <3

[the-paris-of-people]

1-5, 7, 8, 10-14, 16-20 for the ask game? Sorry for all the questions😅 just curious!

Love the questions! Ask away :) Also feel free to drop by my inbox and vent your random thoughts/theories.

13, 16, 18-20 are here and here!

Who is your favorite female character?

Kamala or Nalini are my favorite female characters! They are such badasses and are so complex I love them both. They also are very relatable to me since I grew with up multiple strong, Indian women as role models in my household. I particularly love their focus on career and how deeply they care about their family!

2. Who is your favorite male character?

Argh!!! This is difficult because I don't like the male characters on the same level as the females. For now, I think Dr. Jackson but I also have a soft spot for Mr. Ben Gross.

3. Who is your favorite overall character? And why?

My favorite is Kamala because she's hilarious (she had one of my favorite lines: the police work with just anyone), hardworking and intelligent, a biology nerd like me, and indulges in some trash TV (I also hate and love riverdale at the same time)

4. Who is your favorite side character? And why?

My favorite side character is Nirmala! I just love the way she's written and she behaves so similarly to my grandmother. She also deserves more appreciation for being the only person to stand up and care for Nalini.

5. Who is your least favorite character? And why

My least favorite character is Malcolm because he's an emotionally abusive dick who was (implied to be) cheating on Eleanor. I'm glad that shit is over with sooner rather than later and I hope he doesn't make an appearance again. At the same time I thought the satire of a douchebag was pretty fun and the actor is very talented.

7. What’s your most unpopular opinion?

Honestly, I thought Devi two-timing Paxton and Ben was kind of hilarious and I enjoyed watching her try to have it all as a woman. Obviously it's morally wrong but it was very in character for Devi and it was super funny to me that she was like "I'll just date both of them, it requires no mature decision making or introspection." I laughed my ass off LOL

8. What’s your favorite thing about this show?

I love that they decided to take on the manifestation of teenage grief. Lang Fisher's brother also apparently experienced psychosomatic weakness after the separation of their parents (double check me on that in Mindy's Fresh Air episode) and it was a really interesting aspect of Devi's grief. I also love Devi's hotheaded personality, and how that is intensified after the death of her dad, combined with impaired decision making abilities and underdeveloped prefrontal cortex of a teenager, it makes for plenty of disasters but also plenty of hilarity and heart. Crazy Ex Girlfriend is one of my favorite shows of all time, and Never Have I Ever reminds me of it a lot.

I also love the portrayal of Indian family dynamics. I think Devi's mom is similar (but also very different) to mine, and I adore that Kamala and Nirmala also live with them too- the extended family is part of the family too!

10. What was your favorite thing about season 2?

My favorite thing about season 2 was the introduction of all the new characters! I adored them all! I also really appreciated and adored Paxton's character development and his project on his grandfather.

11. What did you hate about season 2?

I've mentioned the Aneesa/anoxeria rumor/storyline but the handling of that upset me a lot. I hope that they expand on it more in s3.

The second thing I hated (or didn't like) was that Eleanor and Fabiola were each gone for an episode so the three of them weren't together as much as they could have been. In general, I felt like a lot of characters had a lot less screen time/interactions with Devi (in particular I would've loved to see more of Fabiola, Kamala/her mom/Nirmala, Dr. Ryan, Aneesa, etc. etc.) idk if this was due to COVID-19 restrictions or what but idk it seemed like all the characters interacted a lot less than the previous season which may be in my imagination or because I am greedy

12. Who is the character you relate to the most?

Ughhhhh I do relate to Devi the most and that's why I get so frustrated when she makes poor choices!

14. What is your favorite ship, besides daxton and benvi?

Dr. Jackson and Nalini all the way!!!!!!! They are so cute together and Nalini deserves someone kind and patient to her the way Dr. Jackson is. Plus the enemies to lovers is so similar to Ben and Devi clearly Mindy loves that trope but I am not complaining at all!

17. Do you read fanfic? And if so what is your favorite fic?

I just started reading fanfic and I love this one by @parkersedith aka magnetic hearts where Ben and Devi are fake-married

[eggs-toast-and-daryl-dixon]

And I am back at it again trying to count the kills in The Walking Dead. I am slowly going insane.

That's the link to the first three seasons since I thought the post was getting a bit long :)

Season 4

Character introductions:

Patrick ? ep. 1

David ? ep. 1

Zack ? ep.1

Bob Stooky ep. 1

‘Mouldy lady’ (she doesn’t have a name I think) ep. 1

Lizzie Samuels ep.1

Mika Samuels ep. 1

Ryan Samuels ep. 2

Doctor S ep. 2

Tara Chambler ep. 6

Lily Chambler ep. 6

Meghan Chambler ep.6

Mr Chambler ep.6

Mitch Dolgen ep.7

Pete Dolgen ep.7

Alisha ? ep.7

Abraham Ford ep.10

Eugene Porter ep.10

Rosita Espinosa ep.10

Joe ? ep.11

Gareth ? ep.13

Gareth and Alex’s Mom ep.13

Alex ? ep.13

Top characters - in my opinion :)

Abraham Ford

Daryl Dixon

Beth Greene

Eugene Porter (don’t ask why, I genuinely don’t know)

Tara Chambler

On to the kills!

Karen: 5 walkers

David: 6 walkers

Glenn: 29 walkers

Daryl: 6 humans + 74 walkers (1 assumed) with a total of 80

Sasha: 22 walkers

Zack: 2 walkers

‘Mouldy lady’: 1 human (herself :( )

Carl: 28 walkers

Rick: 5 humans + 29 walkers with a total of 34

Carol: 3 humans + 10 walkers (1 assumed) with a total of 13

Maggie: 25 walkers

Tyreese: 26 walkers (1 was assumed when he put down a Mika)

Dr. S: 1 walkers

Michonne: 3 humans (1 assisted) + 32 walkers with a total of 35

Bob: 23 walkers

Herschel: 5

Martinez: 1 human (spoken of but never seen) + 1 walker with a total of 2

Governor: 2 humans + 5 walkers with a total of 7

Mitch: 1 human

Lily: 1 human (assisted) + 1 walker with a total of 2

Lizzie: 3 humans (not seen, but we can all agree she killed Mika) + 4 walkers with a total of 7

Beth: 3 walkers

Mika: 4 walkers

Tara: 10 walkers

Abraham: 14 walkers

Joe: 1 human (killed off screen and was by multiple of the claimers)

Rosita: 5 walkers

Eugene: 4 walkers

Total walker kills: 338

Total human kills: 27

Total kills overall: 448

Total walker kills over all 4 seasons: 1033

Total human kills over all 4 seasons: 121

Overall total kills in all 4 seasons: 1134

Main character deaths:

Zack: bitten on ankle and face, then crushed by a building ep.1-30 days without an accident

Mouldy Lady: stabbed self twice, left to turn ep.1-30 days without an accident

Patrick: ok I haven’t looked at this in a while and in my book it said he died of ‘extreme Covid’ so take that as you will ep.1-30 days without an accident

Ryan: Bitten and put down by carol ep.2-infected

Karen and David: Carol stabbed them in the head and then burned them 😳 ep.2-infected

Dr. S: Was sick and turned (I think Herschel put him down but I can’t remember) ep.5-interment

Mr Chambler: died from lung cancer then put down by ‘Brian’ ep.6-live bait

Shumpert: got drunk and walked into walker pits. He was killed in between seasons but is only mentioned at this point

Martinez (another fave dead): Hit by ‘Brian’ with golf club then fed to walkers ep.7-dead weight

Pete: killed by ‘Brian’ and left to turn under water ep.7-dead weight

Herschel (NOOOO): Head cut off by the governor (brutally) then put down by Michonne ep.8-too far gone

Meghan: Bitten then put down by The Governor ep.8-too far gone

The governor (thank the heavens): Shot by Rick (non-leathaly), stabbed through the chest by michonne, shot in the head by lily ep.8-too far gone

Mitch the Bitch: Shot with bolt by Daryl ep.8- too far gone (lots of people going this ep)

Lily: eaten alive, willingly. Between episodes but witnessed by Tara

Mika: Stabbed in the neck (I think) by lizzie ep.13-the grove

Lizzie: shot in the head by carol ep.13-the grove

Joe: Bitten in the neck by Rick (walker style) ep.16-A

Alex: Shot by Rick ep.16-A

Saddest death: Herschel. WHY DID HE DIE! HE NEVER HURT ANYONE! LEAVE HIM ALONE!

Happiest death: The Governor. Hmm let me see: he tortured Glenn, assaulted Maggie, tried to get Daryl and Merle to kill each other, killed axel, KILLED MERLE, killed his entire army, was the cause of Andreas death (but who really cares), killed Martinez and Pete (he just wanted to be a good person), beat the shit out of rick, tried to torture michonne, and I think I’m missing something... Oh yeah-HE KILLED HERSCHEL. That basterd deserved worse.

Best death: Lizzie. Lizzie was kind of a psycho and she deserved it a bit, but the main reason her death was the best is because it started carols whole ‘mental downfall’ thing, which is very important to the story.

Worst death: Martinez, I guess. I can’t choose Herschel since I’ve given him the saddest death so it has to be Martinez. Personally I think Daryl should have killed him because of their betting game thing in season 3

Top 15 killers:

1. Rick. 150 walkers. 10 humans. 160 total. Currently alive

2. Daryl. 140 walkers. 10 humans. 150 total. Currently alive

3. Glenn. 69 (noice) walkers. 0 humans. 69 total. Currently alive

4. Michonne. 61 walkers. 7 humans. 68 total. Currently alive

5. Governor. 27 walkers. 40 humans. 67 total. Dead S4 ep8

6. Herschel. 66 walkers. 0 humans. 66 total. Dead S4 ep8

7. Merle: 32 walkers. 24 humans. 56 total. Dead S3 ep15

7. Andrea: 54 walkers. 2 humans. 56 total. Dead S3 ep16

8. Carl. 50 walkers. 1 human. 51 total. Currently alive

9. Maggie. 39 walkers. 3 humans. 42 total. Currently alive

10. Shane (go away): 32 walkers. 4 humans. 36 total. Dead S2 ep12

11. Tyreese: 35 walkers. 0 humans. 35 total. Currently alive

12. T-dog (hang in there, man): 32 walkers. 0 humans. 32 total. Dead S3 ep4

13. Sasha: 25 walkers. 0 humans. 25 total. Currently alive

14. Shumpert: 21 walkers. 3 humans. 24 total. Dead between S3-S4

15. Bob: 23 walkers. 0 humans. 23 total. Currently alive.

First (and last) words:

Patrick: 1st (yes ma’am) last (I don’t wanna yack on someone)

David: 1st (take that) last (take that) he only has one line

Zack: 1st (I was just about to come find you) last (Don’t leave me!)

Bob: 1st (Hey!) last (?)

Mouldy lady: 1st (wait please) last (you don’t come back)

Lizzie: 1st (Nick! Look over here!) last (I’m sorry)

Mika: 1st (one of them has a name tag) last (I love them!)

Ryan: 1st (it’s happening isn’t it?) last (take care of your sister)

Dr. S: 1st (got no bites) last (you’ve gotta go)

Karen: 1st (Noah’s asthmatic) last (I’ll see you later)

Tara: 1st (you look like you barley got out alive) last (?)

Lily: 1st (Tara!) last (Meghan!)

Meghan: 1st (Mama) last (it’s ok, I can do it myself!)

Mr Chambler: 1st (have a cigarette?) last (please)

Mitch: 1st (you know this guy?) last (You, get up now!)

Pete: 1st (they’ve got a kid for Christ’s sake) last (it’s a sha-)

Alisha: 1st (just messing with my knife) last (I’ll find you)

Martinez: 1st (say the word) last (yeah and then-)

Hershel: 1st (was he bit?) last (it could work, you know it could) 🥺

The Governor: 1st (save your ammo for when you need it) last (liar)

Abraham: 1st (well look at this) last (?)

Eugene: 1st (it’s classified) last (?)

Rosita: 1st (don’t do this Abraham) last (?)

Joe: 1st (get your asses down here!) last (that’ll be fun, won’t it-)

Gareth: 1st (I’ll guess Alberts on perimeter watch) last (?)

Alex: 1st (did they deserve it?) last (Gareth?)

Finaly we’re done with season 4. Sadly a certain person *cough, cough* Shane *cough, cough* won’t leave us alone on the leader board, but I doubt he’ll be here for much longer. Until next time!

[sobriquett]

Dear Trick or Treat Author

Dear Trick or Treat Author,

[WIP: 23:50 BST 19/09/21]

What a wonderful time of year! (Or is that Yuletime? Nearly there too!)

Hello! I am very easily pleased so please take this as a starting point if you need some ideas but otherwise write what makes you happy! I know horror tropes/genre are in my dislikes but if you want to write a scary trick, you do that, yes please! Just play within the canonical world (werewolves in Milton-Northern, vampires at Thornfield, ghosts at the White House) and I'll be a happy reader (but please still stay aware from my gore-related DNWs!).

My normal ramble about what I enjoy in fic isn't really relevant to a 300+ word exchange but you can find it in past letters, click the letter tag.

That said, things missing from my main signup include these:

Loves: exploration of power imbalances Likes: epistolary

My fandoms are in alphabetical order (ish), so here we go!

1.      16th Century CE RPF

Anne Boleyn Anne of Cleves Catherine of Aragon Catherine Parr Elizabeth I of England Henry VIII of England Margaret Pole Countess of Salisbury Robert Dudley 1st Earl of Leicester Thomas Seymour (1508 – 1549)

I've been on a bit of a Philippa Gregory kick this summer reading the Cousins' War series out of order. I'd love more stories about these figures – with some of them (Henry VIII in particular!) it's pretty easy to lean into the trick side of things, but there's treat potential too. Add more characters if you want; I've been reading histories and historical novels on this period for many, many years so if you drop in Maria de Salinas or Stephen Fisher or Kat Ashley or Thomas Cromwell or anyone I'm up for that, but I am also a laidback reader and this is a low-stress exchange, don't tie yourself in knots over accuracy. (Although I would, and I'd definitely recommend Ruth Goodman's How to be a Tudor if you haven't read it, even if you're not normally a non-fiction reader.)

What if [any utterly disastrous thing] didn't happen, or perhaps was somehow worse? Did Elizabeth and Dudley actually have some happiness in a romance, however brief? How did Anne of Cleves feel to retire as the King's beloved sister? What was Margaret Pole thinking on the morning of her execution? Is Henry VIII haunted by the ghosts of some of those he killed: friends and lovers and family? Did anything actually happen between Elizabeth I and Thomas Seymour (There's historical room for a secret pregnancy in the country…)

2.      Downton Abbey

Mary Crawley Edith Crawley Sybil Crawley Matthew Crawley­ Tom Branson Robert Crawley Cora Crawley Violet Crawley Isobel Crawley Lavinia Swire Anna Bates Evelyn Napier Freda Dudley Ward Marigold Crawley George Crawley Ship: Tom Branson/Sybil Crawley

This is like my TV comfort blanket. I rewatched it this year and I am interested in just about every main character except, oddly, Thomas – who is the favourite fic character of most writers! Give me a missing moment, a look at the future, a glance at the past, a look from the outside – whatever. Any point in, before or after canon is cool with me, except I tend to skim a lot of S4 (ugh, that rape storyline, please don’t use that).

Do ghosts walk the halls of Downton Abbey? What is life like in Ireland for Tom and Sybil? Do any of the characters ever feel a moment of true despair? What if Matthew had died in the war? What does the future hold for these characters? How did Robert, Cora and Violet get on in the 1890s? What was Carson like with Mary/Edith/Sybil as children? Does it parallel his relationship with their children?

3.      The Good Place

Eleanor Shellstrop Chidi Anagonye Tahani Al-Jamil Jason Mendoza Michael Janet

This is another show I can watch over and over and over. I think Chidi's my favourite but it's hard to be sure. I can tell you I absolutely sobbed during the S3 finale and I was a wreck for the S4 finale. Tug my heartstrings, make me laugh, make me cry, I don't care! I've studied philosophy and despised it so I'll take or leave what you include on that score, I just love the characters. Please include any or all other characters you'd like, but I definitely ship Eleanor/Chidi over Chidi/Simone! Although I'll take angst in that direction too! I don't know, I feel like a kid in a candy store writing this letter: hyper and having trouble deciding between all the possible wonders!

Existential dread? Moments from their human lives? Moments from the good place? Please tell me more about the time knife. Does Michael return to the good place when he dies? Does he reunite with Janet and/or Tahani?

4.      Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre Edward Rochester Adele Varens Ship: Jane Eyre/Edward Rochester

This is my favourite classic novel, I reread it every couple of years, most recently in 2020 for Yuletide. My reading of it changes each time, and I increasingly believe that Rochester is more bad guy than good guy and that Jane Eyre lies as a narrator and is as prejudiced and superior as those she crititcises for the same qualities. But I still love her, and that she says she got a happy ending.

Is Rochester more of a villain? How? How does Adele find school, either the one Rochester sends her to, or the one Jane moves her to? Post-canon happiness? Post-canon unhappiness? A scene from the engagement? A missing moment between the non-wedding and Jane running away? What if the wedding wasn't interrupted? (Full disclosure: I'm writing this too.) Canon divergence for, well, anything? Is Adele separated from Sophie? How does that go, how does she manage?

5.      Memoirs of a Geisha

Nitta Sayuri Mameha Nobu Toshikazu Ship: Nitta Sayuri/Nobu Toshikazu Ship: Mameha/Matsunaga Tsuneyoshi | The Baron

6.      North and South

Margaret Hale John Thornton Hannah Thornton Bessy Higgins Ship: Margaret Hale/John Thornton

7.      Stardew Valley

Female Player Sebastian Shane Harvey Robin Elliott Leah Marlon Ship: Shane/Female Player Ship: Sebastian/Female Player Ship: Lewis/Marnie

Do Sebastian and the farmer go on any more bike rides? How did Lewis and Marnie’s relationship start? Are they ever found out? Why does Lewis want to keep it secret? Why is he such an arsehole to Marnie? Tales of the purple shorts. Tell me more about Harvey’s nerdy hobbies or fear of heights? What happened with Robin and Sebastian’s dad? The horrors of the mines, or the skull cavern? Is Leah frightened by the things that go bump in the night near her home? Is Elliott? Some angst or h/c around a wounded farmer, being found/nursed? Or how about some angst/horror in which... they’re not? Fics about the war with the Gotoro Empire?

8.      Star Trek: Voyager

Kathryn Janeway Chakotay Tuvok Kes Seven of Nine Naomi Wildman

I’ve been a J/C shipper since before I knew shipping was a thing (as a kid, I had all the two-parters, S5&6, and Resolutions on video. Pre-internet, how did I even know which episode Resolutions one? Shippy magic instinct, I guess?) So apart from that ship, or canonical relationships, I would prefer genfic please. I also don’t mind the other Voyager characters so they’re welcome to make an appearance, but these are the ones that interest me.

9.      The West Wing

CJ Cregg Josh Lyman Sam Seaborn Abbey Bartlet Charlie Young Donna Moss Jed Bartlet Leo McGarry Toby Ziegler Zoey Bartlet

Happy writing!

Sobriquett

[dlamp-dictator]

Allen X Rambles about Chapter 7

“I hope Episode 7 is focused on only 2 or three characters with little distraction... Amiya maybe finding out that Ch’en is slowly becoming Infected and helping her come to terms with that. Ch’en revealing her past to Amiya and the two connecting over losing so many close to them due to Oripathy. The two standing up to the political corruption of Lungmen, shoulder to shoulder, as women that refuse to see another life lost due to the indifference of a city’s politics.”

-Allen X, October 2nd, 2020, Rambling about Chapter 6

Man... I’m starting to believe it when they say Arknight’s story mode is longer than the Harry Potter series. Things are getting crazy in Chapter 7 and crazy-long to in terms of length. This chapter really had me on the edge of my seat as I read through it and as I played through because 7-16 and 7-18 were a bitch to get through that require some of the most precise timing I’ve seen in this game yet. That aside, I enjoyed a lot what I read and experienced.

And I wanted to talk about it a bit.

But first, as always, a synopsis.

Coming off the heels of Frostnova’s death and the realization of Wei Yenwu’s purging of the Lungmen slums, tensions are high and trust has been fractured between Rhodes Island and Lungmen. However, in the midst of Ch’en hot temper and Amiya’s cool head, Reunion is plans to send the Russian Ursusian   city of Chernobog on a collision course with Hong Kong Lungmen, giving Ursus a cause to make war against Lungmen and its great region of Tawain China Yen. However, through some rather amazing political maneuvering and passionate words by Wei Yenwu’s wife Fumizuki, Rhodes Island agrees to mobilize in order to save Lungmen, the Infected, and the beloved daughter of Lungmen, Ch’en. But beyond Chernobog lies Patriot, Reunions greatest commander next to Talulah herself, who’s rage toward his daughter’s death is only matched by his disciplined mind and even more disciplined soldiers. It’s a fight to the center of the Chernobog to save as many lives as possible, even at the cost of this great general’s life.

An Addendum to 7-18

So between my venting about 7-18 when I talked about some fun Arknight’s lore a handful of people wanted to give me some advice on how to conquer that stage. Admittedly that venting was said out of anger and was much more acidic in tone than my usual essays and opinion pieces. I have since beaten that stage and I can give some of my thoughts on this advice. Some of it was helpful... some of it.

“AmIyA cAn TaNk PaTrIoT’s SpEaR tOsS!”

This is technically true and I was technically wrong. When Amiya’s S3 is active she gained increased Max HP and can in fact survive with a sliver of health. However, Amiya’s S3 takes quite a long time to charge even with her talent, and unless someone is actively blocking Patriot her can honestly spam his spear through for how long it takes Amiya to get prepped for her S3. This is more of an issue of Amiya’s balancing than with the game, but I’ll talk about that later.

“jUsT sTaLl PaTrIoT tO kEeP hIm FrOm UsInG tHe SpEaR tOsS!”

This would be pretty viable advice if Patriot didn’t one-shot my units. Yes, defenders like Cuora, Nian, Hoshigumi, and even tankier vanguards like Zima and Siege can tank at least one hit from Patriot without dying, meaning a squad of healers can just focus-fire on them while they do chip damage to Patriot and stall him out. However, Patriot’s phase 2 has him do constant damage to nearby units with his aura ability, so if he can get lucky enough, he take someone down to a sliver and let his poison damage finish off your staller before they get a chance to be healed. That strategy needs luck and some damn smart unit placement. Neither of which I honestly have.

“uSe SpEcTeR aNd DeBuFfErS!”

Again, this is also a pretty good strategy. Specter’s S2 makes her immortal for a limited time and pairing that with healers like Breeze and Celycon who reduce stun damage isn’t a bad idea. Characters that ignore or lower defense like Pramanix, Shamare, and Meteor are also good. This doesn’t work for me however since I only have Pram and the other debuffers are way too underleveled and not on my priority at the moment, and E2-ing units this late in the game just to take out one boss feels like madness.

“f12 CaN dOdGe ThE sPeAr ToSs!”

F12, W, Jessica, and FEater have a dodge chance. Their dodges are not guarantees. Yes, Patriot will target the ranged operator furthest from him and there are range tiles pretty close to his spawn point for that purpose. However, some of those operators have some pretty damn expensive DP costs and waste that on a chance to survive isn’t worth.And feeding Patriot ranged units that take over 30 seconds to redeploy is a waste of DP in general. And those either dodge chances aren’t viable. Them surviving isn’t a strategy, it’s a fluke, and you can’t depend on flukes in auto-deployment.

“Allen, you’re being kind of an asshole to what’s actually sound advice.”

Yes, I am. 

I don’t care. 

7-18 does things to a person, man. That stage breaks people. I lost sanity IRL just doing that stage or 20 times with a guide... dear lord this stage.

Anyway, moving on.

Story Notes

My, this story sure was thick, wasn’t it? It’s been while since I’ve been on a ride that wild. And this time around I don’t have any small issues to bring up. All the characters felt in character without breaking my suspension of disbelief. There weren’t multiple character arcs going on at once. And I even tolerated Kal’tsit berating the Doctor for reasons beyond his understand since she wasn’t discussing too many things that were above my head as the player.

No... I only have big issues. 

But before that, I wanted to hit on some actual important notes that were very good and smartly written.

Rosmontis and Child Soldiers

This was probably the biggest takeaway for me. I know the Arknights community likes to poke a lot of fun about the child soldier thing and how Kal’tsit is harboring slave children, but... man, it makes so much since now.

These kids aren’t just kids, they’re all infected people with some rather scary abilities. Popukar has a history of mental instability coupled with monstrous strength. Ifrit has powers she can just barely keep under control and could set Rhodes Island ablaze at any point. Frostleaf and GreyThroat are deeply traumatized from their past. The Ursus Self Government are full of kids with hatred, resentment, and fear of both the world and themselves. The list goes on, but the fact is that these kids all either have abilities that would be a danger to themselves and others if they aren’t trained, or have emotional hang-ups that might very well have them lash out at innocent people if not put on a leash. Wouldn’t it be better to at least give them some training and let them hack and blast away at the actual bad guys? Wouldn’t it be better to at least make them a weapon for some kind of greater good? And would anyone else really treat these broken, powerful children as anything but weapons and warriors anyway?

I know this is about chapter 7, but I remember in Children of Ursus Rosa asked Zima why she fought, and Zima casually answered that she just liked fighting. It’d be far better to have someone with that mindset working for an organization like Rhodes Island than ending up in Ursus’s fold and blindly hacking at something she shouldn’t. 

And I think it’s important to remind everyone that Amiya is the head of Rhodes Island and not Kal’tsit. She’s a big part of the organization, but it’s the bunny in charge. And the bunny that is herself close to a living nuke and is also has empathetic superpowers understands this probably better than anyone else, which is why she okays it. 

Patriot and Reunion

As much as I despise, and I do mean despise, how cagey this series can be with it’s portrayal of Reunion’s morality I can understand why a lot of its members can see the group as being just. Patriot is a warrior of such renown and praise, and Talulah has so much charisma and power that I can see the group overlooking characters like Mephisto and W when the other two do so much for their members and general people. The Guerillas under Patriot behave like soldiers. They don’t rampage, loot, pillage, or harm everyone in sight, only those that halt, stagnant, and harm the infect. Talulah has a charisma about her and attracts people, and seems to come from some sort of royal/noble line to match. And while Faust wasn’t mentioned much in this chapter, he was a soldier that started at the bottom, worked his way to the top, and made sure to play by rules that kept his moral high ground. Mephisto seems to be the only outliner here for some baffling reason.

But... there are some major issues with this story. I hint at them every time I talk about Arknights’ story, but I’ll go into depth here. And I’ll present these two issues I have in the form of a two question:

Who is the Doctor?

I don’t mean this the sense of the story, but what is his function as a character? Is he a self-insert for the player, or his own character to be explored and examined?

And either answer, to me, is wrong. 

The Doctor Isn’t a Self-Insert

It’s straight up impossible for the Doctor to be a self-insert character. Most self-inserts are blank enough to let us place our own personality onto them and the situations their in the choices they make are meant to be more or less choices we’d make or at least a general audience could make barring some specifics. Their personalities tend to be blank or at least bland to let us, the players, live through them and project our personalities onto them.

The Doctor isn’t this. 

There are too many moment where our choices are clearly pointing to one conclusion and most choices, though varied, give a clear idea that the Doctor is someone that care about the operators’ wellbeing deeply and hates seeing them used, abused, or manipulated. They are strategist and commander, but they have enough humanity to not see people as tools. They are passionate when they see other operators and especially Amiya in harms way and tries to come up with strategies to minimize lost and causalities. Awhile we, the player, feel the same in this regard the Doctor has dialogue that feels more conversational and toward specific directions than what a player would likely want and gives us some bits and piece about what they’re actually like. 

The Doctor hates Kal’tsit and wants little to do with her, only tolerating her presence as much as she is with the Doctor. The Doctor is a bit of a bleeding heart that doesn’t fully grasp that they are constantly in a warzone despite their strategic competency. The Doctor has an extremely weird diet and eating style, devouring live animals and ingesting foods that would probably need to be probably mixed and brewed before consumption. The Doctor still sees Amiya as a child despite her mature nature. 

The list goes on, but there’s enough there for me to say the Doctor is more like Hakuno Kishinami of the Fate/Extra series, a character that seems like a self-insert but has a number of traits and character tics that keep them from fulfill that role. However Fate/Extra, for all I have against it, makes Hakuno work by giving them their own internal thoughts outside of the player’s actions that explain their dialogue choices and actions outside of the player’s control. The Doctor doesn’t, so them being a self-insert feels really weak and irritating when the dots stop connecting.

But despite this...

The Doctor Isn’t Their Own Character

Too much of what the Doctor does is passive. For a clear as their personality is, at least to me, they don’t have much agency in the plot. Not enough for me to call them their own character at least. They commander the battlefield, but they don’t have a place on it. They don’t have much reason to interact with characters like Patriot and Talulah unless its on the metaphorical and literal chessboard we’re playing on. 

Every time the Doctor says something that advances the plot in some way I feel like it could be said by another character and work better. Amiya trying talk down Patriot and explain that Frostnova fought bravely did not need the Doctor’s interjections, especially when Patriot shoots them down in the same manner. In chapter 6, being trap with Frostnova would had worked much better with Amiya since that chapter was giving them parallels anyway. The only thing that really works is the Doctor trying to call out Kal’tsit for her treatment of Rosmontis as a soldier despite her age, as that’s only something that someone who didn’t have the full context could do. 

But... Jessica, Frostleaf, Frostnova, Melantha and several other Operators are young teenagers and even children. Specter and Lappland are clearly just as mentally damaged and still going into battles. The Doctor knows the kinds of people that fight for Rhodes Island, so isn’t this just another young fighter like Popukar and Suzuran? Hell, in chapter 6 we canonically had Beagle and Fang in a stage where they had to fight and tank Faust, why is the Doctor so surprised that someone like Rosmontis exist and works for Rhodes Island?

See? 

See how trying to give this character separation from being a self-insert and actively slot them in the active story does more harm than good? 

I think games like Girls Frontline and Honkai Impact 3rd do this better, where the player character is clearly more behind the scenes and is only a passing influence, if any.

But that leads me to my next question, which is...

Who is Amiya?

Amiya falls into the trope of being a cute anime girl with a mysterious past and dangerous powers. More accurately, she has a mysterious past and powers to the player, but everyone in Amiya’s inner circle seems to have a clue about it. I don’t mind this being a mystery, but... when our main character’s plot revolves around things the player doesn’t know, it’s curious at best, and infuriating at worse. 

Folks, I’m not someone that looks to theory-crafting. I’m not someone that reads every scrap of dialogue in this game to find out more about its lore. The lore, to me, is just fun and interesting. I honestly do not have the time and energy to spend on making theories and predictions that could be wrong and a waste of mental energy. However, with all this stuff about the King of Fiends just feels like a waste of time, or at least a last minute addition to something I could had been added properly in Chapter 8.

A lot of it feels like you had to know about the Darknight Memoir side story to really get a feel for what’s going on. The Sarkaz civil war, Theresa, W’s role back when Rhodes Island was Babel, a lot of things that don’t come up in the main storyline. Especially with that bombshell about the Doctor maybe killing Theresa. 

I don’t like it when a story expects me to have read the spinoff to understand the mainline story. This is why I don’t like the Dragon Age series and I’m really getting annoyed with Arknights right now.

This bombshell of the King of Fiends also kind of sours a bit of Amiya’s character as this young child who rose through the ranks of Rhodes Island as a charismatic leader being able to steel optimism with the reality of war to forge ahead as a proper leader through her abilities as both a commander and an empath. Instead it’s beginning to come across that her skills as a leader comes from something more supernatural, or at least something more forced than "small child is a good leader and can lead an army,” which is surprisingly more believable and nuanced given how seriously the series takes Amiya’s character. 

That said, I recognize this criticism is more my wish of what was rather than an issue of what is. I completely understand that essentially wishing for my own fanfic and limited fan theories to come true isn’t a sound criticism, but it's a criticism I have regardless.

But moving on, there’s one more issue that bugs me.

W’s Importance

I’ll keep this brief since I already discussed my bigger issues of the story and this is an admittedly small portion of the story:

W wasn’t utilized much in this story despite being a main feature of it in the promotional material. She has a pretty lengthy intro, disappears from the story for most of it, then reappears at the last bits of chapter 7 to make mean looks at Kal’tsit and the Doctor before being literally shoved offscreen again. I’ve already discussed my issues with the Doctor’s agency so I won’t bother here.

W’s banner should had been during Darknight Memoir, it just makes more sense given she was the feature character of it and her high physical damage would had been a goodsend among all the arts-resistant Sarkaz units of that series of chokepoint-heavy maps, similar to Weedy’s inclusion her is helpful as a lot of these maps could use a good pusher, especially 7-16.

Speaking of, Weedy, the other operator on this limited banner, has no presence in the story at all. Need I remind you in the last limited banner Aak and Hung at least had cameo-esque appearances in the Ancient Forge event. Weedy’s inclusion feels like an afterthought because they didn’t want the limited 6-Star to have a good chance to be pulled for the whales.

Anyway, I believe those are all the big issues I had with this story, so...

In the Future

As I always tend to say, I don’t like the idea of trying to fix something that has already been made and has already passed. It’s too late to change the past, but I see nothing wrong with asking for things to happen in the future as a way of giving feedback. 

To that end, I still have hope that Chapter 8 will have a focus on Amiya and Ch’en tackling Talulah together. From my understanding of some spoilers this is more or less what is going to happen. I also hope that we’ll have a more detailed idea on this whole King of Fiends thing is about. As much as I personally don’t care for it, it’s already be discussed in the story so I at least hope we get the full idea on what’s going on with that plotline. 

I also hope the Doctor either plays less a role or becomes their own character outright away from any player influence. Us speaking through a character that already has a personality feels weird to me and I’d rather not have it at all.

Anyway, that’s it for me folks. Next time... maybe I’ll talk about anime or something, who knows.

[archtroop]

So just binged Titans (2018) on Netflix and -

I want to say stuff. Lets start with the basics. I’m not a hardcore DC comics fan. I’m your occasional TV viewer who watched Teen Titans, and loved the Batman cartoons. I’m your ordinary Joe. That would mean, for me, this show is my introduction into these characters. I’m viewing these stories as manifestations of archetypes, I am not familiar with “classic” characterizations, or “the right way of this one to talk” and so on.

I enjoyed the show a lot. Like, I literally binged the whole two seasons in the expense of some very cherished sleep time. It sucked me in.

And I became very curious about the backgrounds of the characters, and I looked some of it up (fucked up stuff! good!) and I was interested in maybe some reviews or hardcore fans sating their... say.

And. Guys. Guys.

So much negativity? Over... it being too violent?... Too dark...? Too... new?

I watched this show right now with virgin eyes. And I have to say that, 

A. Dick Grayson of this Titans is the definition of “Dick Move”, and is literally trope co founder. And I love it. GO GRAY MORALITY GO. Also his introduction was. GOOD STUFF. I am rooting for this broken brain. His choices and inner struggles were very intriguing to watch, also his choices, morals and oh overall, a beautiful rendition of an adult, a grownup person that comes to terms with some very fucked up implicaitons.

B. For all the reviewers trashing Raven, calling her OOC and HotTopicRaven, guys, F U I loved her, I loved Teen Titans Raven as a kid, and this one is 16 and goddammit she is allowed to be emo and rock her style. And that she does. The “possession” thing she has is creepy cringe AWESOME STUFF. She rocks it, The actress ROCKS IT. Her whole journey was so engaging. TEAM RAVEN!

C. I was not familiar with Hawk and Dove, but I’m here rooting for them. Like full on SHIP THAT SHIP. I want them to be together, and I don’t care they broke my heart and then patched it up and I’m here for this couple.

D. Gar. OH PRECIOUS GAR, thanQ for righting the wrongs of decades of werepeople by transforming in and out while naked. I’m just so so grateful for this, but also, SO SO likable and the amount of empathy that was dragged out of me for the poor dude, I just want more screen time of him doing whatever he wants to do. I will literally watch an episode of Gar making various veggie shakes. I would. But also I want him to have more plot. Like, yesterday.

E. Kory/Starfire. Whoever trashes her costumes, go sleep on some legos. She rocks it, the actress rocks it, SHE ROCKS THAT RING ON HER LONG BEAUTIFUL FINGERS, and if anyone even dares to oink anything about her being black as apologetic, I say F U, she literally ABSORBS SUN POWER in this version, that melanin is rightfully hers. Also if you want to call me racist have fun, but I love the idea that genetics are applied with scientific purposes rather then, just, um, representation fodder launching pad. Fuck this shit, SHE IS THE SUN, GORGEOUS SUN. I love her discovery of self, maybe a hasty one. but damn poignant. I enjoyed her way of going around not remembering who she is. I root for her and her upcoming clash with her sister.

D. Donna. I kinda felt she will be in and then out and I didn’t really get attached to her BUT she was introduced as this very independent and firmly grounded person, and I was so happy to see her keeping her ground, good for her.

E. Jason Todd. Now here is a surprise. What a bomb of character that one. Now after doing minimal research about the fucked up origins of that one, I wasn’t surprised to see how he is probably the most twist and broken mess of them all. And he is the embodiment of DC’s wrongs, so it seems. This one is the ghost that Corp couldn’t get rid of or something. This one carries so so much nuance. But what really got me is how ensemble DarkHorse this one is. The actor is amazing. It reminds me how Dylan O’Brien of Teen Wolf out-shined the ever-living crap out of his co-stars cast back in the day. This one has similar energy. I literally squeezed on my couch into a little bulb of fright and pity when he had his outburst in front of Rose. His violence is so spot on brutal - I mean, while Dick’s violence is vicious, this one is brutal and I’m here for this. Also, his very introduction? Shivers down my spine and that feeling of “shit he had it REAL BAD as a kid. THE WORST”.

E.02 I... don’t care for Rose. Right now anyway. Maybe later on with her half brother as her copilot in S3? We’ll see. For now...? meh Sorry. 

F. Conner. From the very moment the name Superman was dropped I was like, there is going to be a supersomething. Now I am not familiar with all the comics and I barely remember Teen Titans, but I am on tumblr, so. OK his origins are creepy AF, also intriguing, and Lex, you obsessed fucker. GOOD. But then Jason was falling of the building and it was literally 2+2 “oh Conner is gonna save the poor soul”, but oh no they had to go full-on “catch you as you fall Lois Lane style” but except no flying up - instead crashing on a car. This character, just broke out of a laboratory, had a random journey, and was alive for like two days in total just to be at the right time at the right place to save Jason falling from that building? ?? What am I suppose to do with this information??? I mean, Someone DID THIS.  And I mean, that is kinda spot on.  The writers should be VERY CAREFUL NOW with that, coz it can be either beautiful stuff or a very gruesome publicity fodder. 

G. THEME. This Titans is. HORRIFICALLY IN YOUR FACE OOZES DARK TRAUMA AND CHILD ABUSE. While watching it I lost count of either abused/used children and crappy fathers. Dick is introduced while investigating a child abuse case. Raven was literally conceived so her demonic father could pass through her into this world. AND SO ON. And that literally includes Bruce and Dick themselves under that category, as the bad fathers. GOOD STUFF. You should really meditate on that. The amount of usage of children under the hands of adults in all the verity of forms, from sexual assault and rape and whatever violence to selling for profit (Conner is brainwashed and has a bid put on him, as a soldier for sale. He is a few weeks old.) is shockingly overwhelming. Like, this is THE THEME. Obviously this is a Found Family Trope kind of show, but oh my GOD they all are running from is just like, I dunno a mass of horny catholic priests? 

IN CONCLUSION

Titans may have a messy output with many plots but it is not that hard to follow. It’s not just darker and edgier, it’s just NOT THAT COMIC. This seems to be a show that might tackle some of the darkest stuff media doesn’t outright... tackles. It’s more then just “oh crap daddy issues”. It has the actual feeling of  “I will not be avenged. How do I move forward. Who needs me, who do I need to heal?” If it plays it right, it can be a thing of beauty. Or, if it will hear to all those negative shallow reviews, it will go crashing down in shamble. 

Signed, a satisfied, average viewer. 

[rabbitsparklez]

Don’t mind me. I’m just rambling on about my opinions of the characters’ redemption arcs. Don’t mind me...

I’d say out of all the characters who got redemption arcs, Varian’s was the best. Before the beginning of S3, I thought I could never come to like him, because his motives were so messed up, seeing that he clearly knew that Rapunzel’s intentions were not as he portrayed them. The fangirls and the ridiculous accusations of Rapunzel made me dislike him even more. I couldn’t understand why he was doing all of those horrible things to Corona, when he himself said “You did what you had to”, when Rapunzel apologized for not coming to him. But it turns out he was continuing his path not out of wrath, but out of fear. After his dad got trapped, he just let out all of his negative emotions and swore vengeance on Corona, even though it wasn’t their fault. Eventually he came to his senses and realized that he was wrong the whole time, but he was so deep into his villain arc that he carried it on. Of course that’s not a good thing, but I was glad to know that he actually did come to his senses, and instead of doing everything out of rage. When he decided to come back to “the right side of history”, he did what a truly repentant person would do. He acknowledged the fact that the situation was his fault and was willing to give himself up to save Corona.

I don’t want to ramble about what she did, but I’ll just say that I really wish Cassandra could have been redeemed like Varian was. her actions were far more severe than Varian’s, (which were pretty severe, let’s be honest) and she had a complete understanding of her actions. She said multiple times that she was sure that she found the path she’d been looking for, and the very episode before the finale, she once again mercilessly attacked Corona without even listening to Rapunzel. In the finale, she apologized and begged Rapunzel for mercy....... minutes after trying to kill her. In the end she and Rapunzel became friends again, hugged each other, and that’s it. Cassandra didn’t make up for anything she did and just left.

A really horrible redemption in my opinion was Stalyan’s, ugh. First of all, she wasn’t actually redeemed, she just decided to stop trying to force Eugene into an abusive relationship. Second, she never apologized to Eugene or even saw him in the episode where that happened. Don’t get me started on saying “she wasn’t that bad to him she was just too heartbroken because he left her”. Absolutely not. Eugene and Stalyan were together 8 years before the start of S2, meaning he was only 16. He was a naive teenager who wanted to impress girls, but didn’t understand what love was in reality. Seeing how he holds onto Rapunzel so dearly and how he said in his solo “I thought no one could love me”, he basically confirmed that he had never been truly cared for by anyone, Stalyan included. She didn’t love him, she just used him because he could steal trinkets for her. She constantly manipulated him in BTCW alone, saying “I know what’s best for you, I always have”, etc. Who knows what she was like to him when they were together? To top this all off, 8 years later, when Eugene is already in a relationship with someone else, she persuades his dad to force him to marry him. They kidnapped him and poisoned his best friend in order to get him to marry him, forcing him to break up with Rapunzel. That’s hurting three people, physically or emotionally. But if there’s anyone she should of went to and apologized to for her actions, it would be Eugene. But she didn’t even talk to him after that incident. She just took her stolen horse to the caravan to get the gold Rapunzel bribed her into getting, and that’s it. 

I was going to add this to a reblogged post but it got really long so I made it its own post, so it’s kind of random