#I AM ACTUALLY WATCHING THE LAST EP OF S1

[crunchycrystals]

shadow and bone really had chekhov's goat

[septembermonologues]

pausing my one dnd show (critical role) that's my daytime programming to watch my other dnd show (dimension 20) while i eat dinner get ready for bed

[girlbossblackbeard]

ahhhh new teaser new thoughts!!

^in this photo we can see both Zheng Yi Sao and Spanish Jackie which means, despite Jackie's reaction to Stede and Co. trying to steal her indigo powder and despite Zheng Yi Sao's reaction to Stede and co. mutinying, somehow they're all gonna put their differences aside and wind up working together, most likely to defeat the English/Privateers/whomever tf Ricky winds up working with. This is actually a little surprising to me because it seemed like Zheng Yi Sao's fleet were getting set up to be a bigger villain by the end of ep 3, so I'm excited to see how her relationship with Stede (and Olu!) is resolved.

^in this shot we see Ed and Zheng Yi Sao, further proving that she becomes an ally to them rather than an adversary. I am soooooooo excited to see those two interact with each other, one bad bitch to another 🥺 I'm also wondering if this is around the same time that we get Stede (WITH HIS EARRING HEWWO!!!) talking to SOMEONE about how it's not so bad being a failure from the trailer since he's also wearing the slutty little top with strings. part of me thinks he's talking to Zheng Yi Sao, potentially after having lost a battle? idk man we'll see!

^this last one had my heart stopping for a moment thinking I was watching my beloved Revenge get blown to all hell but upon closer inspection this looks like one of Zheng Yi Sao's ships. The flags are very rectangular and I think they're legitimately red in this shot, not just because of the fire. The other ship looks a lot like the British navy ships we saw in s1 based off the 3 yellow stripes along the top of the hull

anyway that's all I've got for now, can't wait to go even more insane in just 2 days :))))

[eerna]

would want to see singed’s daughter in the future but that probably won’t be the case 😭 people’s sentiments of season 2 being rushed (like caitlyn being commander and vi being a pit fighter for such a short amount of time) is probably due to the show’s platform being netflix that they can’t maximize the storytelling.. props to the team though for still keeping it the same in season 1 with the multiple release dates for each act to keep up anticipation.. more shows should do that rather than relying on binge-watch culture

Yeah, I am curious what happens to her, but I know it eother won't happen or it will be super rushed. And YESSSS the multiple air dates are so good! Leaving people to think between arcs is wonderful... I kind of disagree on the time constraints tho, I feel like this time Netflix isn't the one to blame... The show is very expensive and takes a long time to make, so making it shorter and more focused is the smart way to produce it. Episodes last 40-60 mins, which is like 2-3 regular eps per season of animation, so each season is actually 18ish regular eps long. The writing of s1 kept this in mind, and made sure the main storyline was a family drama with a bg of civil war brewing. Each plotline took place in the same area and surrounded the same set of events, but it was different characters reacting to them, leaving space for lots of character work. S2 wasn't as smart, and instead of continuing the narrow focus, it made EVERYONE a main character and separated them into entirely different storylines and worldbuilding. This means they no longer have enough time to explore why characters would act a certain way, or contrast them to the same situations. And the retcons and the writing room turnover in s2 show that it wasn't planned as one whole with s1, so I wouldn't discount the possibility that they took a different direction than originally thought of based on the audiences reacting to s1.

Sure, this is all speculation and it could be totally wrong. But a show like this doesn't NEED to be long to say what it wants to say. S1 is the perfect example. Its ending isn't even a proper cliffhanger imo, it could totally be read as "everyone died and Jinx became the most wanted criminal and the civil war began", so it is a whole story set in 9 eps. S2 should have kept it in mind, and organized itself according to time too.

[butterflydm]

Rings of Power - s1 eps 5-6

This is not exactly a liveblog, but I am going to write down my thoughts about each episode before I move on to the next one.

(spoilers for the whole rings of power show and for LotR)

Episode 5 continues the trend of strong episodes. Very good episode. The Harfoot song in the beginning was pretty touching and a nice way of showing that time was passing in that storyline.

This was a great episode for Elrond, who really goes through a lot of stress. He learns that his king was hiding information from him because he wants mithril from the dwarves; he learns that his people are dying/fading. Gil-Galad says here that he was hoping that sending away Galadriel and her soldiers -- the last remnants of the war -- would make the blight stop spreading on the tree. And I continue to love Elrond and Durin's relationship - <3 <3 <3 <3.

We saw some significant cross-cutting between Gil-Galad and Halbrand (our High King and our "Lost King") as well as between Halbrand and the Southlanders who went to pledge themselves to Adar.

"Only blood can bind" -- Adar says that here and it feels pretty significant. I have seen some s2 gifsets that use that quote in a pretty clear and significant way. It was also implied that the Sauron-sympathizer killed the teenager to earn his place to Adar (though we only saw orcs marching later on, so we don't know if any of those who surrendered survived). The sword was revealed as a key in this episode and it uses blood to work whatever it does. Only blood can bind. From what Adar says, he plans to do something to blot out the sun in the lands -- I have my suspicions about that, based on what I think the Southlands end up being in LotR. We also had Miriel's father warn her of darkness if she goes to Middle-Earth.

Actually oaths in general seemed like a strong theme in this episode. We have Elrond's oath to Durin being a strong source of conflict for him, and Arondir warning Bronwyn that pledging themselves to the orcs will drag the Southlanders back down into the darkness.

We also get our big moment when Halbrand decides to be Galadriel's lost king. I do see a lot of conflict in him in this episode, especially in the scene in the forge where he talks to Galadriel. She convinced him that his fate belonged in Middle-Earth (which was "the one place I swore to never return" per Halbrand). This is when everyone's fate was sealed, because as soon as Halbrand goes back to Middle-Earth... that's a bell that can't be unrung. But I do feel like I watched him actively making his choice, and he made it because of Galadriel's passionate and vulnerable words to him. He wasn't at all involved in the fire on the boat that made the queen doubt herself and push harder on Galadriel to make sure the "King of the Southlands" was with them -- that was entirely due to the actions of Elendil's and the chancellor's kids. If the fire doesn't happen, then Galadriel doesn't go back and tempt Halbrand one last time.

btw, SUCH a great scene between Galadriel and Halbrand in the forge! He is trying so hard not to be tempted by what she's offering him but she's right that he yearns to be more than "common" (see: him feeling the need to show off that he can handle a sword after her training exercise with the soldiers). The real power that Halbrand fell from was even greater than being a mortal king.

Very strong episode.

Mom update: she's still inclined to believe that Adar is Sauron, though she has some doubts; and the Gandalf storyline is her least favorite because she feels like he's not learning the ropes of living in the world quickly enough. She did like the Harfoot song at the start of the episode. She's really into our other three storylines (Galadriel & Halbrand; Elrond, Durin, & Gil-Galad; and the Southlands).

Episode six was really powerful. Very much focused on the Southlands people and then the arrival of the Numenor back-up, and super-intense.

The big kaboom at the ending was... when I saw that water going through the channels and realized that Adar wasn't just creating a way for the orcs to move in daylight, but that this was part of his larger plan... I was aware that the Southlands didn't actually exist in LotR, at least not to my knowledge, but I wasn't certain that they would be Mordor until we saw that mountain blow.

Theo had a heartbreaking episode -- and we got a reminder/foreshadowing of the One Ring at the end, when he was talking about feeling a loss over the key/sword and how holding it made him feel powerful. That's Sauron's main temptation -- the allure of power, and the various things that can be done with it. (and that's also what Galadriel has been tempting him with)

Arondir and Bronwyn were both very brave and heroic, and got to finally openly acknowledge their attraction to each other and kiss, plus Arondir doing so much to try to look out for and support Theo. They are such a good little family unit. I'm gonna miss Bronwyn in s2! (I am aware that she doesn't come back)

Isildur also had a good episode, plus there were some visual reminders of what I vaguely remember from the LotR prologue about what he's going to do in the future. I actually also felt like we got a visual reminder of Sauron's tower in TRotK going down in this episode, when Arondir collapsed the watchtower. The Return of the King... and we did have a "king" return in this episode.

Galadriel and Halbrand were both heroic in saving the Southlanders... and both had intense moments of deeply desiring revenge that the other one pulls them back from. Halbrand is definitely not working with Adar at this point, since Adar is under the impression that he killed Sauron (and I've seen the gifsets of how!), so this plan is all about Adar using the bones of what was once Sauron's plan to instead conquer and create a homeland for orcs (killing and enslaving the current occupants).

If I had been watching this live and unspoiled, that scene in the woods would have made me ship Galadriel and Halbrand for sure... I mean, it still did, but you know. I know it's a lot more complicated than it looks, lol. I feel like I can safely say that I am ~into~ Galadriel/Halbrand (Sauron) at this point. Everything with them pulling each other back from the brink of revenge and then bonding over it... delicious. Honestly, even more delicious knowing the truth about him.

Adar using himself as the bait so that the human worshipper of Sauron could actually go and use the key to make the mountain go boom... that was very clever of him. (also, we see that the humans who surrendered to Adar were thrown out to be on the front lines of the assault against their own people; that's what surrendering gets you. it doesn't save anything)

Halbrand/Sauron assumed that Adar would recognize him, even in a different form. But he didn't (though Adar was clearly feeling some twinges of something by the end of their scenes together).

This is the second episode in a row where we've had Galadriel and Halbrand deeply bonding over something they have in common, so that is definitely a thing.

Adar telling Galadriel that maybe she should have looked for Morgoth's successor in her own mirror? Ooof.

But now that the mountain has blown up... Halbrand is very very good at noticing and taking opportunities when they arise. And I'm aware that he's not still being "the King of the Southlands" in s2. I'm aware of the actual reveal scene but not what exact events lead up to it, so I am interested to see how that goes.

Adar said that after Morgoth died, Sauron dedicated himself to healing Middle-Earth, but at the expense of the Orcs? I think I understood that correctly.

Sauron's intentions might be genuinely good but if he uses manipulation and violence to achieve them, then he poisons his own goals. We've already seen that Halbrand is just... effortlessly manipulative. During the scene where Galadriel escapes from the cell in Numenor, Halbrand wastes no time to find a way to get something out of the situation that benefits himself (the guild crest).

And that is maybe the key thing that Sauron never figured out after Morgoth died. That Morgoth's endgoal wasn't the only problem -- Sauron's methods are also a problem, also create and court evil results. He always looking for an angle that benefits himself and though violence isn't his first resort (manipulation would appear to be), once he does choose violence, he's brutal about it. He didn't just need to fix the endgoal of idk destroying the world (or whatever it was that Morgoth wanted, I'm not a Tolkien scholar). He also needed to fix the methods that he uses to interact with the world. It's not just the 'what' that matters but the 'how'.

So... if Halbrand had stayed in Numenor, what would have changed? The mountain would still blow, because that was Adar's plan, and he put it into motion before he was captured by Galadriel & Halbrand - he made himself into the bait to distract anyone from the real danger. The only thing that would have changed (so far) is that Galadriel might have actually killed Adar in the barn -- it was Halbrand who pulled her back from the edge, just like she was the one who pulled him back earlier. Everything else that happened in the battle and afterwards didn't need his involvement, not as long as Galadriel still brought the Numenor host. I suspect the answer to the question of "what would have changed" will rapidly change in the upcoming episodes, though.

It is also easy to picture a scenario where finding out about the mountain going boom leads to Halbrand going to the chancellor of Numenor and selling himself as the solution to this new problem of all his hopes and dreams of trade with the newly-rebuilt Southlands going up in flames. A road that would carry less guilt and turmoil for Galadriel specifically, since she would not be the reason that Sauron returned to Middle-Earth.

Mom update: she was feeling pretty stressed out about the mountain blowing up, so we will continue next week! She isn't sure what to think about Sauron at the moment, after Adar saying that he killed him. She knows that Sauron isn't dead, because of LotR, but she doesn't have any guesses as to what's going on with him. She is considering the idea that he's already basically disembodied, the way that he is in LotR. She DID have a critique about how quickly Bronwyn was on her feet after that terrible injury (my mom had a real bad shoulder injury when she was a kid, so she's experienced that kind of pain. Not an arrow, but there were broken bones and such).

So far, I feel like the episodes have been building on each other and getting better and this episode in particular was... so so intense.

[thrandilf]

okay. for the first time in my life I'm using the #tdp critical tag because I have some things to get off my chest about s6 and I desperately need to focus on an exam for tomorrow and can't and idk I feel slightly out of my mind/wondering if this really is just a me problem but like

this season felt kind of sparse to me regarding character interactions outside of duos they wanted to focus on/letting characters present react to situations. stuff like Amaya not having a comment about Callum not being at her wedding or the Celestial Elves really not having much to say about Aaravos himself despite the Elder theoretically having been around in the days pre imprisonment like

I don't mind that Viren died but I do feel out of my MIND that he and Ezran didn't actually get a conversation, and beyond that that Viren didn't try to pass along any Aaravos information to anyone, and that even if Soren and Viren's relationship was just Maxed Out that we didn't get Opeli and Ezran talking about what to do with him (could've even had Soren walk in and do a Callum S4 moment of 'you ever walk into a room and everyone goes quiet and you know they were talking about you' moment), Opeli reacting/checking on Soren while Viren was imprisoned even if he didn't want to talk to her, there being any verdict about Viren at all and we're never getting anything else out of him again which is why no Ezran and by extension Callum/Rayla/ect feels sort of disappointing to me, as he hasn't interacted with Callum since S1

It's a really good moment, don't get me wrong, but we traded the suspense of thinking Viren had perhaps killed Soren for us getting any last words or gesture from him to Soren face to face

the Celestial Elves gave us info on Startouch Elves in general but not on Aaravos specifically even though the Elder I thought would know more? They aren't surprised at the idea of trying to kill a Great One/Aaravos but there wasn't even a word of warning about if he does get loose or anything Specific about the last time it happened or, if they didn't know anything, confusion about why a Great One is imprisoned like idk

no one had any concern either when getting access to the stars which again, idk, I thought Callum might've been more worried about Aaravos being at the Starscraper and the prison (when he thought he had it) being surrounded by Aaravos's main connection but idk, it didn't matter but I thought it could have

ALSO THE STAVES. HELLO. AT THE STARSCRAPER I JUST

No Aaravos and Callum interaction is also smth I've made my peace about but after the trailer, especially the choice to use that thumbnail for it/as a promo image, idk, I am kind of sad I have to wait until S7 for any of that and now I wonder how significant it can really be/why hes gonna need callum as a puppet now if he's Out and as powerful as he seems to be. we just raised the stakes but had three entire seasons of building towards it, so how can s7 handle getting callum to do dark magic again, theoretical possession/aaravos use, coming back from that, ect, all within 9 eps?

tbh no one really had grief about sir sparklepuff being gone which I guess he wasn't a full Person in anyone's eyes and the focus was all on Claudia/her state which was fine, like we did get some of that nonverbally with Terry at least but we kinda moved right past it. like even one line in ep 9 from terry like "look what he had you do to his most recent child" would have made me go yeah exactly that Mattered but it wasn't there

in addition to no Callum at the wedding Ezran also just sat on Viren being back like idk I guess I wish he'd talked to Amaya more. like I loved him and Aanya I just feel there was room for Both

Listen I'm not one of the people only watching the show for Aaravos and I am delighted with the two episodes we got of him but that he was in more episodes in S3 than in S6 does have me like. cries. really. s4 and s5 i didn't mind in part because I figured stars would be big and it Was but im like oh my god. i got to ep 7 and was like is he REALLY not gonna get out which thankfully he did but only at the end

and the end was like. the biggest cliffhanger we've ever had and i get going for the suspense but it's KILLING ME MAN

I know Aaravos's motivation/goal but not exactly how his actions are leading to that whatsoever as he seems to play every side and doesn't even favor humans if he's willing to torch katolis. unbridled chaos i guess? is that it? I don't even know what to be afraid of next season with him except I'd presume he's going to Xadia next and will Somehow be getting back at the Cosmic Order but idk what the past thousand years have truly been for unless it's waiting around for the stars to align and throwing a fit while doing so

Runaan is out and he and Callum didn't get so much as a sentence between them and that and the Aaravos out but also no conversation double whammy just has me like

PLEASE

at the end of this all this was a more dramatic/cinematic season but it didn't have a lot of the smaller character reaction moments/balance the prior seasons all seemed to give me tbh and it took all season to lead up to highly anticipated events aka letting Runaan and Aaravos out but I didn't get any of the Payoff of that characterwise except for Runaan and Rayla and idk I do feel both like S6 had some of the best moments of the show and also really disappointed in places where it feels like it could have been so easy to have had just a Bit more cohesion and characters plugged into their overarching circumstances/dynamics more

like I think we had the time for it

and going into this expecting a penultimate season and then learning theres a third arc planned, it makes the pacing and lack of aaravos sort of make sense but also has me like, we may not even get that and now I feel like s7 will make or break the Entire show for me which is terrifying

like we got a lot of new info but it was largely not what I was expecting without touching on a lot of stuff I was hoping for and I AGH. i didnt expect this season to continue the build up train and I'm having a hard time accepting that it's the first time tdp has ever like. idk. thrown me such a curveball that it's gotten me honest to god upset which is on me and not the show, and i keep hoping i feel better but so much rides on s7 now

[markantonys]

i'd watched the first 2 episodes of ROP s1 when they first came out, but i found them boring and so didn't continue. however, i've been hearing that charlie vickers is eating and leaving no crumbs in the new season, and that is my sweet boy guglielmo pazzi from i medici (2019) and i've Got to see him killing it in a huge role, i'm so proud of him!!! always a delight when a previously-unknown actor from an obscure show you love ends up making it big

so i decided to give it another shot and dove straight into 1x03 after reading a summary of the first 2 eps to refresh my memory, and idk if 1x03 really is that much more interesting than 1&2 or if it's just that i happen to be in a different frame of mind now that's more predisposed to getting interested in this show, but WOW i am loving it!! i'm an extremely casual LOTR fan (in fact i wouldn't even rightfully call myself a fan, more just "i've watched the movies a few times and like them" haha) and so whatever complaints the fans have about ROP obviously are not things that bother me. i'm just here for a good time, and i'm having one!

the galadriel & halbrand plotline is definitely my favorite (heck, if the numenor stuff had arrived in ep2 instead of 3 i might've been on board with the show the first time around). i already know he's sauron, of course, so i was like "i won't get attached to halbrand since he's not a real person, just sauron's disguise" but fuck, i'm attached, and it hurts!!!!! loving a character who starts out good and turns to the dark is one type of pain, but loving a character who was never real at all because they were evil the whole time and this "character" was never anything more than a facade - it's an entirely different and perhaps even worse type of pain! i can't even soothe myself imagining an AU where halbrand never turned evil, because halbrand was never real! genuinely in immense anguish over this. but once i reach s2 and get to the Unabashedly Evil Sauron Era, it'll be so sexy that i might immediately go "oh no! anyway" and forget all about my anguish jdkjfg

............wait a moment. do i now know how show!rand must be feeling post-s2? attached to someone who was never real because they were always just an evil person's fake persona? oh rand honey i'm even sorrier for you now!

speaking of WOT, it really has broken my brain because i try to polyship everything all the time nowadays. why did i go "wake up babe new polycule just dropped" during that scene when galadriel, halbrand, and miriel had a meeting lmao girl you KNOW this bitch is sauron! but i already knew people were shipping him and galadriel, so i went in to my new watch expecting to see the vibes, and indeed seeing them, and i ALSO unexpectedly saw vibes for galadriel and miriel (two leaders overburdened by duty, oh it's my kryptonite), so how can i help creating a polycule? oh well, i'll enjoy it while it lasts and then once galadriel finds out he's sauron i will instead get some angst to enjoy! and she will still have her girlfriend to comfort her (as long as nothing happens to miriel.........i haven't heard any spoilers about her, so we shall see!)

back to halbrand, the "he's the lost king of the southlands" idea is such a clever misdirect because it allows halbrand to demonstrate unusual skills in combat/diplomacy/manipulation that we wouldn't expect a seeming peasant to have, but provides a cover for it and so we think this one "identity reveal" is all there is to it, and aren't suspecting a second, bigger identity reveal! and actually, as far as i can remember, he never actually confirms that he's the lost king, he just plants a clue to lead galadriel to believe it and then responds to her assumptions in ways that seem to confirm them but don't actually. very aes sedai of him! and hey, if the southlands used to serve sauron, wouldn't it technically be accurate for him to be considered their lost king? very aes sedai of him x2. liars who lie without technically lying are the best kind (gen from the queen's thief also). anyway, because of this misdirect, i don't think i'd be suspecting him of being sauron at all at this point if i didn't already know. on the other hand, there aren't really any other sauron candidates except adar who clearly isn't him. but back to the first hand, the show never set up a "one of our major characters is sauron, who is it?" mystery so i might just be assuming he was hanging out offscreen yet to show up, if i didn't already know.

i'm enjoying the other plotlines too! i remember feeling that the hobbits & the stranger plotline was the weakest link in the first 2 eps, but totally changed my tune now, nori and the stranger (who i'm guessing is gandalf, but i'm not sure, so don't tell me if you know) have the most wholesome friendship, i could die!!

or rather, the second most wholesome friendship after elrond and durin, which i remember was my favorite storyline the first time around. they are so pure!! and disa is a delight! she and elrond have impeccable sibling-spouse energy (yes we've got another polyship in the house, of course we do)

i'm trying not to get too attached to bronwyn because i know they kill her off between seasons due to the actress leaving the show, but i really like her :(( her son's kinda annoying, but he's an angsty teen, so i can't hold it against him. and arondir!! what a man, i'm swooning constantly over everything he says and does. i really like how in the most recent episode i watched they had a Good Guy (bronwyn) genuinely consider giving up her principles of honor and going to swear fealty to the bad guys in order to survive, it feels more realistic and it really sells us on just how desperate and hopeless the situation is (and on how sauron is able to get supporters by creating such situations).

it's also a visually gorgeous show, very decadent (i was practically drooling the first time they showed numenor haha i love white stone seaside cities, and the ancient greek aesthetic vibes are the cherry on top!), and the MUSIC!!!!! you guys know i'm a tv soundtrack fanatic, and my god, this is the best tv soundtrack i've heard in a LONG time. i'd put it as second to WOT because it's traditional fantasy orchestra whereas WOT's soundscape is so different and unique. but "traditional fantasy orchestra" isn't a knock here, because it's done INCREDIBLY well, so it does feel unique instead of generic like other, lesser Traditional Fantasy Orchestra soundtracks do. it's sumptuous, it's lush, it's rich, it's got very distinctive Themes for each character/location that always play in the appropriate contexts (which is one of my favorite aspects of WOT's soundtrack too). i'd been listening to the s1 soundtrack for quite a while before now, so i'm well-primed to recognize all the different themes!

my favorite has gotta be the halbrand theme, i have a character in my WIP who's a sad mountain prince (and a gawyn knockoff <3) and this theme just reminds me sooooo much of him, i cry. but if we dispense with the halbrand pretense after s1, we might not get to hear this theme anymore!!!! it's also the southlands theme, though, so hopefully we'll keep it, and i did hear it crop up briefly in a track from the s2 album. also, shoutout to the fact that the halbrand melody is an inverse of the sauron melody, bear mccreary you son of a gun (the sauron theme is another one of my favorites, the first time i heard it i assumed it was his theme from the original movies because it just had the feel of an Iconic Villain Theme, but no, it's new to ROP!)

anyway! i've watched up through 1x05 now. pacing's definitely still a bit slow, but i'm enjoying it nonetheless, and it's picking up now that galadriel & co are headed for the southlands. and i've heard that s2 is a big step up in many respects (a la WOT s2), so i'm excited to get there!

[ageless-aislynn]

Aislynn's Absolute Screaming, Crying, Flailing Thinky Thoughts About Halo s2ep8

Under the cut since its the finale and I don't want to be That Person who spoils a finale for anybody if I can help it 💖

First thing: KAI, my baby, noooooooooo

Okay, do I love the Halo games? So much. So, so much. Did I know what actually adapting them would mean would happen in the live action show, especially since s2 clearly wanted to pull closer to the games? Yep.

Did I want to see characters I've come to love, appreciate or love to hate get infected by the Flood? HECK NO.

However, the fact that the Flood spores were much smaller than their game counterparts (Evil Cabbages with feet were my initial thought of them when I met them in Combat Evolved the first time 😂🤷‍♀️😉) was a definite win, IMO. Obviously they couldn't be germ-sized in game and you be able to shoot them. But just the visual of them being smaller and much more virus/germ-sized made them a bazillion times scarier because they felt more real in that way to me.

Why do I watch so many zombie things? Zombies FREAK ME OUT SO BAAAAAD, MAN. And the body horror, dude. Ohhhhh, I can't with the body horror and people getting mutated and... UGH. Yet I've made, like, half a dozen Alien/Prometheus vids. I AM A CONUNDRUM, what can I say? 🤷‍♀️😂

Now, ever since Vannak died, I've been trying to figure out how we can, you know, bring him back to the show. I still don't know how it could actually be done but one thing I do know is that KAI COULD TOTALLY BE FOUND INJURED BUT ALIVE. Her Mjolnir can protect her from deep space, so it could have totally protected her against a big KABOOM, too. Her body is intact, she wasn't vaporized or whatever, so that's my story and I'm sticking to it. *nodnods very seriously*

I think I'm going to have to either invent time travel or cloning to save Vannak, though. Give me a minute. 🤔😉

If we do get another season (or 2 or 5 😉), I'm wondering if they're really serious about Silver Team being gone, if we're going to get Blue Team, then? Mannnnn, I don't want Silver to be gone, though. I've fallen so in love with Kai, Riz and Vannak now, too!

I'm kinda glad that not-Thel!Arbiter wasn't Thel because that was a good ending to his storyline, with Chief's "I know what he said" and finishing him off. Obs, though, I don't want Thel to have met the same fate.

Makee's line about being a demon, too? That was a good one, yep. Still annoyed that John's first question to her last ep wasn't "Um, hi, nice to see you and how is it that you're alive?" That being unanswered was just one of those clearly "because we changed showrunners," things.

John and Cortana (now in his suit), together again, YESSSSS!!!

Hello, Guilty Spark! If this is Gravemind they're talking about, they NEED Dee Bradley Baker for the voice. Just, no question, don't even think of casting anybody else.

John doing that badass "fight through the smoke and haze to save the day" made my fangirl heart go pitter-pat, what can I say? I'm easy to please, lol!

In summary, I did love s2 in a different way than I loved s1 and I hope we'll get news of a renewal ASAP!

Also, Kai's fine, she's just having a little nap, no worries!

[scalproie]

Literally watched all of S2 last night and I dont feel like doing individual reactions sooo

All of S1:E26 was me pointing at gay people on my screen and going "hey thats from the little dark age amv"

The orion pax arc is still literally so funny. Later episodes show that there was NO REASON to keep optimus/orion alive bc soundwave and THE FUCKING SHIP can also decode the locations of the mcguffins, megatron literally couldve won the war here and there what the hell. it took meg all of 0.5 seconds after he heard his former boytoy utter his name to try and find excuses to keep him around. Also making him call you "my lord"? I Know What You Are.

And apparently optimus/orion stayed on the nemesis for two months which is crazy to me bc megatron cannot improvise to save his fucking life what do you MEAN warlord ratchet??? YOU HAVE ULTRA MAGNUS IN YOUR FILES

It was funny tho bc meg heard ratchet say "I am your doctor of doom" and thought Hey thats pretty good and then make a callback to that when telling optimus/orion ratchet is evil incarnate

Extra hilarious to me that it partially ended bc starscream went to the nemesis to raid the fridge. [Megatron voice] this plane does nothing but ruin my life

The episodes where they send arcee and jin kazama to cybertron was pretty cool i did like the vibe it really felt alien ruins-like

You can tell the experience fucked optimus a little bc first episode after the season opening and peepaw is ready to consider warcrimes

Next was the "bumblebee gets his kidney stolen" arc and I have nothing to say other than it was funny when of course it ends in starscream getting his kidney stolen

Ok I do have some stuff to say actually, we trash on the cons a lot bc theyre disloyal assholes, but when a bot is told to stay at the base for valid reasons, they bitch and moan and end up disobeying anyway and never get punished severely by peepaw optimus bc them not following orders ALWAYS works in their favor

Megatron goes "Nu-uh-uh!" in S2:E5

Im always just so happy when meg is on screen ngl he is such a massive asshole bastard🩶

Dreadwing's cool I like how he just has a fucking flip phone to dramatically blow shit up

Everytime I see wheeljack im like oh god if the show has been made just a few years later he wouldve been drift

I FORGOT HOW QUICKLY BREAKDOWN DIED fanon will really build a castle out of 4 twigs huh. and the castle sucks ass anyway

Airachnid slayed and she was gone too soon

They lowballed megatron so hard in the episode where he was struggling against one (1) insecticon BUT. he was sexy in this ep. To me. Not to optimus anymore😔

Nemesis prime was well-introduced in the show but this is hysterical to me that THIS is the show that has the "evil double of optimus" concept

Every episode with starscream after he loses his cog is excellent and you have no idea how much it pains me to admit that

S2:E10-E11 is just megatron and the gang having the weirdest fucking day and it might be my fav eps. I think I just love watching the cons do shit. Megatron killed starscream four times, fought an army of bugs and then gave drugs to his ship

Knockout and megatron's banter is surprisingly always very entertaining. I think meg just like bouncing off of a little jester

The four relics episode are kinda whatever BUT they did gave us the one (1) soundwave focused episode and whaddayaknow he was extremely sexy and competent and it was funny to see him being treated like megatron's special boy&bird

Also bulkhead continue to have plot armor thicker than the apex armor like come on in every single one of his episodes he comes just this close to death

SHOOOOOOOOOCKWAAAAAAAAAVE

I was waiting to see smokescreen's episodes before judging but now that I did I can safely say *drops to my knees sobbing* IT SHOULD BEEN HOT RODDDDDDDDD

At least his friendship with jin kazama was cute, like that "green for go" was cute

Silas ditching his highly competent human crew to sucker up to megatron really felt like they had no idea what to do with his character anymore bc what??? Like okay you remove a third faction to focus more on the main ones but still

I fucking love S2:E20 bc 1) just throw some more mystical stuff at optimus like go full arthurian stories now, 2) lots of megatron action and 3) "drop the mountain on him"

I know its likely an animation lighting thing and optimus simply could not be based like that in the first place but conceptually it is absolutely hysterical to me that after slicing effortlessly a mountain in half, making megatron look like THIS

Optimus then look straight up at the camera and fucking winks at him

And then immediately after that, megatron going "decepticons, we are so fucked."

And THEN next episode is literally "MEGATRON YOU CRAZY BITCH" like come dreadwing lets desecrate a demigod's tomb

He fucking sucks at naming stuff tho bc dark star saber??? Come on man

The rest of the omega keys episodes are also whatever but fucking hell if the whole Peter Cullen speaking in slow motion and Steve Blum mimicking that didnt get to me hard

The last starscream episode tho? Screamer cringe compilation while hes having the worst job interview of his life, of course i loved it

MEGATRON NOOO YOU KILLED THE WRONG PLANE

But again, hilarious that for the season finale megatron went "alright guys no more fucking around" and they basically won. That one moment where meg, screamer, KO all laughing maniacally together with soundwave just shaking in silent laughter with them was really funny. Only shocky is missing for the decepticon high command reunion

I really liked the moment where raf, miko and jin kazama were like "the autobots are ready to sacrifice their life for our planet, im ready to do the same for theirs" idk thats really brave and it struck me

Optimus chopping megatron's arm was really fucking cold

SILVER ERADICONSSSSSS

They blew up the autobot base like the white house in shadow the hedgehog

Overall, a lot of my favorite episodes are in this season so👍 #megatronsweep

[goldenharmony]

tumblr user goldenharmony im. head in hands. i am losing it over click link or whatever that show was called surely i dont remember. im fine (hello) please tell me you experienec with this show i neend to talk owiwiuwewiwijedhwejd.

LOL OK 😭

Idk how you discovered Link Click (or mentioned it in your reblogs), but I use MAL a lot and noticed that s1 was pretty high on the rankings during its airing.

Then later that year, I watched Gigguk's vid on Link Click since he's an anituber I like. I do laugh at the fact that I read the title and was like "Nah, it's not better than Steins;Gate :) " since that's MY favourite anime (and a time-travel one), and he basically implied that it wasn't as great as Steins;Gate when handling certain aspects LOL (although still is praising the series throughout this review). Fun Fact - his vid on Oshi no Ko is the whole reason I checked out the OnK manga eventually since I read Aka Akasaka's Kaguya-sama and wanted more but the premise of "simp doctor reincarnated as his idol's child" sounded rlly sus LOL.

It's why I was also kinda confused when later on MAL, I saw that Link Click had a s2 but didn't hear any hype for it despite hearing a bit for s1. I guess that was cause of Gigguk's influence on the anime community since I don't think he watched s2 so there was no big anime influencer hyping it up sadly.

Eventually late last November, someone in the AquaKana server was being very vocal on wanting to push the Link Click agenda soo I decided why not - its been a long time since I watched a time-loop series. She was also a huge fan of Steins;Gate so I trusted her judgement.

Watched ep 1 in original before having to switch to Eng Dub after cause I was not clicking with the show due to being distracted by a new language that I wasn't used to hearing yet 😭But after that, I watched a few eps per day, binged s1 ep 7-11 in one sitting, and then binged s2 in one sitting as well LOL. I was also was waiting for CFE results to see if I passed - my major career-defining exam and watching Link Click actively helped me not stress on the days leading up to it because my thoughts were preoccupied by it.

S1 gave me a Vivy/Violet Evergarden feel with its short stories, and S2 reminded me more of Death Note with it being a suspenseful murder mystery involving supernatural powers. One thing I loved is finding some stuff that Link Click does unique compared to other time-loop series. For example - actively trying to NOT change the past, and instead using the looping to understand how to resolve issues in the present. I also like it leaning into the thriller aspect more compared to other time-loop series I've seen.

CXS and LG also fall into the 2 looper categories that most loopers do. CXS being the impulsive and emotional type and LG being the stoic and serious type who has gotten jaded from all their looping.

Also I am pretty fine with how QL has been handled so far, since its not a "female character" thing to me in how she isn't as prominent as CXS and LG but more of a "character who isn't CXS and LG" thing considering the series has a lot of characters but we don't dive too deeply in most of them. Plus she's been handled much better compared to other anime series that have the set-up of "2 male leads in a suspenseful thriller show, with a girl as an almost secondary character". Thinking of Misa from Death Note and Lisa from Terror in Resonance, who are disappointing in their roles.

I also like how the fight scenes are actually well-animated since most non-action anime included fight scenes are....not great LOL.

[sunmontuewrites]

I just finished watching S1 of Young Royals. People who know me know that I consume media at a glacial pace. However I watched an episode a day for the last 4 days, which for me is binge watching.

Yesterday Hubs watched Ep5 and I had to give him the back story and history of Eps 1-4.

Tonight my 13 year old twins watched Ep6 and have stated they want to watch Eps 1-5 now. (I wasn't planning on them watching it but actually am fine with them watching it).

I think me sitting there swearing at the TV in Swedish was definitely part of their entertainment.

[twig-tea]

2023 BL/GL/QL Round-Up Post

I thought for posterity I'd post a reflection on everything I watched that completed in 2023. For me, that means anything that started in 2022 but the last episode was in 2023 is on this list, but anything that will still be airing after 31 December 2023 11:59 my time (EST) is not on this list, even if the bulk of the show did air in 2023.

A few stats:

110 discrete pieces of content (series/films)

clocking in at est. 600 hours of NEW BL/GL content only

from 9 different countries (Cambodia [1], Philippines [3], Hong Kong [1], Japan [18], Korea [19], Myanmar [1], Taiwan [6], Thailand [56], Vietnam [7])

~50% of the content I watched on this list is from Thailand

~85% of my content was on YouTube [40%], GaGaOoLaLa [23%] and iQIYI [21%].

[Note that this year a lot of older GMMTV shows moved off of YouTube and onto Viki so if you're looking at these stats to decide what to pay for, this won't account for that.]

This doesn't include re-watches or catching up on old shows [e.g. I re-watched Love Sick, My Ride the Series, Semantic Error, ITSAY/IPYTM, Our Dating Sim at least 3 times lol, and anything with a s2 I re-watched s1 to prep, among others, watched Fujoshi Ukkari Gei no Kokuru (2019) for the first time] or non-QL [e.g. Heartstopper s2, Our Flag Means Death s2, Taskmaster s. 15 & 16, Uncanny Counter s2, One Piece s1, etc.] but does include films as well as shows, though I don't count special episodes separately (so Wedding Plan counts once, though I watched both the show and the special).

I hope you all appreciate that with this much content, and with my general brand of being unable to make decisions, I really struggled to narrow down a top 10 list. What follows is the best I could do lol

Top 20 Shows I'd Recommend From This Year:

Moonlight Chicken

Our Dating Sim

Bed Friend

The Eighth Sense

La Pluie

Sing My Crush

Tokyo in April Is...

Wedding Plan

Laws of Attraction

I Cannot Reach You

I Feel You Linger in the Air

What Did You Eat Yesterday S2

I Became the Lead in a BL Drama

If It's With You

Love in Translation

Our Dining Table

My Personal Weatherman

My Beautiful Man: Eternal

My School President

Be My Favorite

+10 I liked but I would only recommend with caveats:

Love Class 2

The New Employee [for the Rainbow Rice Cakes]

Let's Eat Together Aki and Haru

Never Let Me Go

Kiseki: Dear to Me

Unintentional Love Story

The Day I Loved You

End of the World with You

A Breeze of Love

Jack O'Frost

Bonus: Not a BL but worth calling out:

One Room Angel

Midnight Museum

Grand Guignol

The Warp Effect

Sadly, of the GLs that aired this year, I wouldn't recommend any of them. The best one was Show Me Love, which was not actually good but had very gorgeous women and a LOT of flirting.

The other huge thing that happened this year was that I stopped lurking! Thanks specifically to @lurkingshan and @bengiyo demanding everyone start talking about La Pluie, because they got me to post my first meta post. And because I started actually talking to people, I started making actual friends, and participated in organizing things like the Be My Favorite clown checkpoint for ep 11. I also disappeared a month because of life, and am still catching up on everything I intended to write this year. But it's been really rewarding finding this corner of tumblr with likeminded people who like good shows, like to think about these shows, and who are interested in talking about them in a way that's insightful and respectful.

It's been a long time since I felt comfortable enough participating actively in a fandom, and I just want to say to everyone I've interacted with this year: Thank you!

Full list under the cut for anyone curious! [Mostly in order it aired but may be slightly off].

Love Bill

Director Who Buys Me Dinner, The

Star Always Follow You, The

Cutie Pie 2 You

Between Us the Series (Hemp Rope)

Reason Why He Fell in Love with Me Special & S2 [international release]

New Employee, The

I Will Hit You/I Will Knock You

Individual Circumstances

609 Bedtime Story

GAPYuri / GAP the series

My School President

HitBiteLove the Series

Never Let Me Go

Moonlight Chicken

History 5: Love in the Future

Oh My God (ToDo) the Series

Warp Effect, The

End of the World, With You

My Blessing the Series

Our Winter (miniseries)

All the Liquors

Once in Memory: Let Me Be Yours

Shoulder to Cry On, A

Jack O'Frost

Our Dating Sim

Midnight Museum

Me, My Husband, and My Husband's Boyfriend

My Colleague at BL Shop might be My Meant-to-Be

Unintentional Love Story

Chains of Heart

Bed Friend the series

Bad Brother the Series

Stormy Honeymoon

Eighth Sense, the

Bad Brother the Series

Future Series

Tin Tam Jai the series

Crush on You

House of Stars the Series

Happy Merry Ending

Boss and a Babe, A

Pastsenger the Series

Love Mate

Love Syndrome the Series

Promise the Series, The

Day I Loved You, The

Our Dining Table (Bokura no Shokutaku)

Our Skyy 2

My Story the Series

Starstruck

Love Tractor

Naked Dining

Luminous Solution, The

Omai Series / Is My Roommate A Foreigner

Stupid Genius

Step By Step

La Pluie the series

Tie the Not

Sing My Crush / Follow the Wind

Tokyo in April Is .../ Shigatsu no Tokyo wa

Senior Love Me?

Be My Favorite

Show Me Love

Dinosaur Love

Low Frequency

Stay Still

Stay By My Side

Jun & Jun

Wedding Plan the Series

Laws of Attraction, the

Love Class s2

Minato's Laundromat S2

Hidden Agenda

Bon Appetit

Why RU the Series [Korean adaptation]

Be Mine Superstar

Star, The Season 2

Love In Translation

My Beautiful Man: Eternal

My Personal Weatherman

Bump Up Business

Naughty Babe Series

Only Friends

Grand Guignol

Dangerous Romance

If It's With You / Kimi to Nara Koi wo Shite Mite Mo

Y Journey: Stay Like a Local

I Feel You Linger in the Air

Venus in the Sky

Kiseki: Dear to Me

I Cannot Reach You

You Are Mine

Breeze of Love / Weather Forecast of Love

Mr. Cinderella 2

Let's Eat Together Aki and Haru

One Room Angel

Marry My Dead Body

Lucky My Love the Series

Pure Vanilla: Recipe for Romance

Absolute Zero

Memories, The

My Dear Gangster Oppa

Shadow

What Did You Eat Yesterday? S2

Middleman Love

Beyond the Star

Bake Me Please

You and My Stars

I Became the Lead in a BL Drama

[zaiban2989]

BNHA S3 EP1 or the Pool Ep

Honestly, I've watched that ep at least 6 times in the last two weeks, just didn't have a chance to pause and talk about it until now lol That post gonna be long again 😭🤣

It's not "that much" of an important episode when you think of it, but it's still one of my favourites. Our cinnamon roll Izuku is just the cutest in this one, being manipulated by Denki & Mineta to use the pool so those pervs can spy on the girls lmao the whole thing is hilarious and cute af - I mean look at this cute baby being all fired up for training! 👇

Our little green bean is so cute and friendly and nice he even texted everyone to come and join them lmao Which is raising so many questions: did everyone in class 1-A share their numbers with each other? Does that mean that Kacchan actually gave it to everyone else, even Deku? Or is Kacchan the only one Izuku didn't text because, you know, fucked up relationship and all that, and it's only because Kirishima got the message that Kacchan came (like his bro definitely has his number and told him about the training)? Or do they all just have a group chat with the whole class so Izuku texted there so everyone, including Kacchan, saw it? I WANT ANSWERS!!!!

But considering the timing of how late Kirishima and Katsuki came to meet with them, I feel like the closest answer is that Kiri got Izuku's text and then texted Katsuki or even went to his house to drag him out or something... Kiri did say that it took him a while to get Katsuki to come, so that's probably it. The thought that Izuku can't even text Kacchan, or didn't even think he could, makes me so sad honestly 😭 (like imagine class A really does have a group chat and those two idiots are in there but never interact with each other's texts and secretly did save each other's numbers but yeah there's no way in hell they'd go and text the other because "Kacchan probably doesn't wanna talk to me", "why the heck should I text the nerd, I'm better than him!" *siiiiiiigh* I want a fic about this now lol)

Anyway, back to the episode... Iida, class rep, always at the ready to order people around lol It's so funny how everyone just listens to him though, I love it 💙

AND THEN THE BEST PART OF IT ALL HARKLZERLKRZEKDE - What happened? Iida and Izuku are having a little moment together (reminiscing what happened in s1 & s2) and Izuku says that he got here with the help of many others and that he needs to work that much harder and WHO yells a loud "OF COURSE!" to that?! Fucking Kacchan! 🧡💚seriously I can't, man! I have so many fucking thoughts on that scene alone, it's ridiculous lol

And I mean, what he says is so freaking weiiiiiiiiiird! (proof in pic👇)

Iida and Izuku were not even speaking that loudly, so how the fuck did Katsuki even hear all of that shit from where he was?! (he just arrived there with Ei, you see him walking up to them with his usual gremlin face, Kiri blocking him lmao)

So now I am HC-ing the fact that Katsuki actually do not have any fucking hearing impairments because of his Explosion quirk - on the contrary, he probably trained himself so fucking much so that shit would never be a problem and so that he could eavesdrop on any conversation his nerd would be having with other people (see Sport Festival and his stalking of Izu/Todo secret meeting lol)

I mean seriously, Kiri and him JUST arrived there and what's his first move? To fucking head to where Deku is hdezdezmde and you wanna tell me that guy ain't obsessed with his broccoli head? PLEASE!

"Otherwise there's no way I'd lose to a damn nerd like you!" - or literally, Katsuki openly admitting that he has been losing to the nerd (in the first DvKpt1 of course, but also when they teamed up against AM for the exam because he had been reckless and had to rely on the damn nerd for help - hell, he even lost consciousness and the guy dragged him to the exit (HC-ing again, but pretty sure Kats asked for the recording of that fight cuz he didn't remember and wanted to know what the fuck happened - he'll never tell Izuku though))

So our blonde baby IS already growing up, it's subtle but for someone like Katsuki to say that he's lost to Deku, I mean that is fucking big, man. I'm certain Izuku didn't even pick up what that meant here, but progress baby, you've been acknowledged by your person! 🧡💚

As soon as he's there, he's already picking a fight with his baby nerd lmao at this stage, it's established he sees both Deku & Todo as his rivals - Hori is even already setting the tone for the next gen' of UA Big Three since the 3 of them end up being the ones winning each racing rounds and are now facing each other in the final

(Just some appreciation of how fucking hot Katsuki is when he doesn't make his bitch face lmao 🔥🧡 also the fucking V-shape he has, god dammit man!)

Of course, the final round doesn't happen - I wonder who Hori would have turned into the winner on that one lol Guess it was too hard to decide huh flekdmzemdez Look at those dum-dums' faces as their quirks got erased 🤣

That episode is so gold, I swear! Even the ending with Katsuki's frustration of not having raced against Deku & Todo when he's on his way back with Kiri and the fact that we see once again that his goal hasn't changed (yet?), honestly, it's endearing 🧡

"No matter who it is, I won't let them catch up to me, let alone get ahead of me!" - oh baby boy, talking about your insecurities like that *sobs* it makes it even more amazing that he changed so freaking much by s5-s6 because he's no longer with that mindset 😭 "The nerd's ahead of me now but I can still catch up!" fuck me man, that 180 is just... *cries*

You see his All Might fanboying seeping through what he says and how he's determined to prove himself, someone please give that baby a hug😭 (he fucking gets kidnapped in this season, I can't man)

ANYWAYS, I LOVE THIS EPISODE SO MUCH OKAY?! lmao Ending this review with the official season ending, firework moment and Kacchan next to his Deku (come on, Hori could have placed him anywhere else there but nope)

That's it, folks! Cheers for coming to my ted talk lol Till next time!🧡💚

[agirlandherquill]

Written In Smoke - The Inceptive Letter

Now, for the first post of this series I thought I’d begin with something simple, explaining the name - Written, because of course I’m a writer and I adore the clickety-clack of keys (and writing with a fountain pen in a notebook when I’m outlining plot, which is a new little venture I’ve begun doing) and Smoke, because it’s a weekly account of events, nothing is going to be completely solid, and my memory will have gaps even if I attempt to note things down, and also because much like the flow of ink upon paper, life is similarly fluid too, in my mind at least, it’s very much like smoke - full of substance, beautiful, chaotic, and full of little moments (which I completely adore) and thus the use of smoke, because little moments disappear so quickly but the remnants remain with you forevermore, and that’s as much of an explanation as my mind can conjure, which for me at the very least, composes the introduction to this series!

And now to move on to the main substance of this post - much like the ingredients of a perfect dish, the parts are still a work in progress, so bear with me whilst I work out which to include and how to structure it

 (And come up with working titles for each section, which is part of the fun!)

A Glimpse Through Time - little bits about me and what I’ve been up to this week

This week marked the end of a chapter, a very important one, because I completed (some may say survived, barely) my final three papers and today was my final day of academic normalcy - everything from here-on-out is completely and utterly unknown - no more Lit, Bio, and Chem to worry about for the summer at least, which is very, very daunting but I did it, I made it through and hopefully my work paid off - we shall see in a few months time, but i’m not ready to think about that yet - Having to say goodbye to the people who have taught me for the past few years was difficult but I made it through with no tears, a few hugs and cards written, which was lovely, truly, and I’m grateful for every minute of it.

Other than completing the final obstacle toward the free-fall that Is adulthood (I say that as though the feat isn’t impressive, because it sure would be to me two years ago), only a few things have happened this week:

(I’m making this a list because who doesn’t adore lists? Perhaps only me, but that’s more than okay)

Stuff Your Kindle Day was yesterday, and my poor, poor kindle has to suffer with the acquisition of 50-odd books (I haven’t dared to count past that, and it was my first actual SYK day despite owning a kindle for 9 years), and I have no idea if it has the storage for it, so that’ll be fun to work through

I made a bet to watch star-wars, now of course i’ve seen most of it (movie-wise, definitely, and 3/4 of mandalorian minus s3 because let’s face it, I’m as behind on that as I am with Witcher, which is soon to be rectified but anyway redirecting back to Star Wars) but very little of the shows and it’s been so long I hardly remember the plots and such, which I’m very much looking forward to re-experiencing for the first “proper-ish” time - so I’m starting with Solo, then steadily working my way through ANH, ESB, ROTJ, Mando S1, Mando S2, Boba Fett, Mando S3, TFA, TLJ, TROS, TPM, AOTC, Clone wars (movie and plot-vital eps, I was given a list), ROTS, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka - all of this in exchange for my friend to watch The Boys (I’m going to rewatch it all, then finally see Gen V, hopefully in time before S4 ends and I can watch the last few eps as they come out, like I did with S3)

I decided I want to go on a trip over summer, just me, which is frankly terrifying but I’m really excited - I’m thinking of Bath, possibly, because the Jane Austen Museum is there (Persuasion is the love of my life and i’ve only read it twice, I also need to read more than simply that and Pride and Prejudice) and a few doors down is Mary Shelley’s Museum too! It’s a trip that’s doable in a day, by train, which is pretty perfect for my first solo excursion - so bear with me since that’s in the works

To end this list I’m slipping in a note about a brief-exchange that my delusional mind brands rom-com noteworthy (only it’s not, unless it maybe is? i’ll leave that to the reader to decide), I gifted my chemistry lab-partner a chocolate bar and a note of gratitude because it’s down to him that I survived the practicals (only kidding, I’m not THAT dangerous, but we were the most successful pair in the class which was pretty awesome), and enjoyed the chem course even more than I thought I would - and on the final day (today, insert anxious and clueless screaming because it feels far, far too soon for everything to be over) on the way out, he gifted me something in return - I never thought a chocolate bar would make me want to cry and giggle at the same time, but there you go (part of me prays he will not notice the existence of my Tumblr, but it’s possible, and if he ever reads this - I am so, so, sorry, but either way my appreciation is known, and that’s good enough for me, and he’s very, very sweet)

Now, what else is there to include in this section? Oh, I know! The nightmare that is the vast variety of things that entertain me - cough, slightly melodramatic of me, but you’ll see what I mean momentarily,

Books - I’m roughly 120 pages into the Wheel of Time, which I already know will become my LOTR (assuming that is an actual phrase and not something my brain has made up, which is highly likely regardless - it’s also a slight reference to Ready Player One, since Kira reread LOTR every single year), because who doesn’t love danger, fantasy, and a delicious almost undecipherable prophecy? If I don’t re-read this book every year I will be incredibly, incredibly surprised. Fighting sleep one night this week I sought out my kindle, which had been sorely unused these last couple years, and I started to read Interview With The Vampire, and I’ve spent a couple hours reading it today, I’m about 25% in according to Kindle stats, so I’ll see how it goes. Surprisingly though, I stumbled across Perks of Being A Wallflower on Kindle Unlimited today - and 5 hours later, with a couple of breaks scattered between, I finished it, about twenty minutes before writing this section - and let me tell you, that book was a LOT, but a good lot? i suppose? And I’m glad I finally got around to reading it - It’s also given me the urge to reread All The Bright Places which I read for the first time last summer, and it’s beautiful, and so, so good,

Shows - Seeing as it’s the weekend I’m making my way through Dexter, I’m currently 3/4 through S4 and loving it, it’s INSANE, I’m also watching Shameless US, I’m on S6 and it’s actually baffling me how much I’m enjoying it (Lip is my favourite character, and this season HURTS me with how much it hurts him, mild spoiler possibly? apologies if so), I’m also going to start rewatching the Boys as aforementioned, seeing the dark side of superheroes is so incredibly genius, if not disturbing, and there’s plenty of that in the show to look forward to experiencing again, so wish me luck dear reader,

Music - I listen to a LOT. That’s the honest truth. Lots of genres, lots of people, but I’ll try and pick out some of the things I’ve been listening to this week: Outlander S1&2 Soundtrack (I’ve only seen up to s2, and after reading the first book last month it was perfect timing for exam season), Like That by Bea Miller (I rediscovered this recently and it fits so well with the characters in my head, and even though I haven’t been writing lately, believe me, I’ve been plotting), Trouble by Camylio (it reminds me of the main characters in my currently not fully-written book, as in the work I need to complete/redraft after I finish Ruin’s Reprisal), Ludens by Bring Me The Horizon (does this song really need an explanation? It’s just that good) and finally, to finish off this little list of things that I’ve hearing a lot this week, The Other Side by Stephen Sanchez, which is so so good

Spills From The Ink-Pot - writing, writing, and more writing

Seeing as it’s Friday, and today is the start of my lengthy, well-needed summer, there’s not an awful lot I can tell you all for writing progress, but so far this weekend I did manage to re-read the chapter I’m editing and the progress I’ve made in it so far, which was super helpful, and by the end of this weekend hopefully I’ll have that chapter all finished, and then afterwards have a lot more to share with you all next week!

But to make up for my absence from writeblr and being unable to post anything these last few weeks, I’ll add this in:

Just a little glimpse into my workspace/theme/whatever you wish to call it on Scrivener - that's right, I'm a Scrivener girlie, and I'm so glad I invested in it last May (take part in NaNoWriMo camps folks, you get 50% off, which is what I did, aka £25 for permanent use as opposed to £50, which is still really good compared to Word etc, in my opinion) - and a sneak peek at some of my Chapter Titles, which I really do love coming up with,

(if it's blurry I do apologise, but you get the gist, hopefully)

Incase it’s not obvious, this account was written in parts, over the course of Friday and Saturday (11pm today, roughly), since I lost the battle against exhaustion and fell asleep before I could finish compiling this lengthy post (that’s not a complaint, i’m really enjoying writing this) so I’m finishing this very first post a tad later than initially planned, but these things happen, and that’s all right - you’ll also notice my battle with autocorrect and its capitalisation, sometimes I win, sometimes I lose, but I’d rather not go back and correct things this late at night, so apologies for that slight blunder but I promise the next post will be all properly formatted with headers and capitals (as soon as I figure out how to include headers, and make them, hopefully trusty procreate comes in handy, but we shall see)

So that’s it! The very first Written In Smoke is completed, compiled and heading your way - I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it, this is unknown territory for me and it feels as though I’m baring another piece of myself to the world, but it’s worth it, I knew it when this began, and I know it now as I write these last few lines, so if you’ve read this far - thank you, and I’ll see you all next week for the next entry in this series!

~ A Girl and Her Quill

p.s. if there’s anything else you’d like to know about, let me know! suggestions are greatly appreciated (cough, somewhat desperately needed because I have no idea what I’m doing)

p. p. s. being the utter genius I am, I pressed save as draft rather than post, so this is coming out even later than originally planned - whoops!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tag List! (if you want to be notified when a WIS post comes out, interact with this post :) )

@lead-to-code @catwingsathena @nothoughtsjustmhaandotherthings @thestorywitch @lunaeuphternal

@theaistired @frostedlemonwriter

[doyouevenshipbr0]

i just finished live action avatar the last airbender. buckle up. obv spoilers incoming.

~

honestly just gonna list the good and the bad and give a number rating at the end. this will be long. also THIS IS JUST MY OPINION!!!! nothing i say is right or wrong. dont hurt me.

the good

sokka (ik this is controversial bc of his actor okokokok im js purely from a performance standpoint he ate)

zuko (absolutely devoured)

fight scenes!!!! obv not as good as the animated (we knew this) but i still enjoyed

zhao!!!!!! do not sleep on him he killed this!!

KIYOSHI!!! ARE U KIDDINGGG

overall loved the focus on avatars other than roku

suki/suki and sokka

attack on the air nomads… ik it was unnecessary and a little hard to watch but still was v interesting

azulaaaaa and the fact that we see her this season. LOVE this addition. also the way they added her was veryyyyy well done. didnt feel forced.

bumi/how they handled the bumi arc in general. some parts i actually like better than the og. like how aang knew he was bumi right away. makes way more sense to me.

sokka and katara has some very sweet and genuine moments

aang and gyatso reunion awwww

omg. the “twist” with the 41st division that zuko accidentally saved becoming his crew. the bestttttt change that they made. i loved this. something so small but felt SO impactful.

yue/sokka and yue. this is a BIG one bc i think the original show really lacks with how they wrote yue and especially her relationship with sokka. i think it was a lot better here.

when zhao admits at the end he was working w azula and that ozai was just using zuko to motivate azula. omg. that was such a cool thing they added

and now. the bad.

aang. JDHSKSJDJ SORRYYYY dont care! he got better as the show went on. overall acting wasnt great and the writing for him definitely did not help

katara OOPSIES HEHEHE sorry but again same thing. kind of a dull performance. where is her PASSION?!?! wanted to like her so bad bc katara is my girl and this girl was giving katara on paper but the performance was just kinda bleh. didnt hate but DEFINITELY did not love.

costumes. dying on this hill i do not care. it was giving spirit of halloween. and some of these wigs…. yue’s wig? azula’s fuck ass pieces hanging out? HOW MAI AND TY LEE LOOKED IN GENERAL?! ouch

^in general mai and ty lee did not need to be here at ALLLLL. def shouldve waited till s2 for their appearances.

where is the silliness? where is the humor? hardly tried to embody the fun spirit of the original and when it did it failed miserably.

gran gran saying the thing. that’s katara’s thing.

too much exposition dumping.

first ep was by far the worst imo. how sokka and katara came across/met aang? WOW what a let down holy shit.

they should’ve kept it as aang running away from the southern air temple. not that he went for a late night drive with appa. dont care that this is a small thing. it is a HUGE part of aang’s character.

idk how to word this one and i think ppl would disagree anyways. but they are making iroh too obviously “good”. ykw i mean? when we first meet him, we know he’s not like the rest of the fire nation but we still don’t truly know where his morals lie. this show made it too obvious too soon.

why did katara never train w pakku?? that makes 0 sense. i understand she was mostly self taught throughout s1. but the whole thing was that: yes, katara was good before pakku, but when she finally did get a master, she became EXPONENTIALLY better and really came into her own. i am not buying that she becomes the master katara we know and love without learning from pakku. so unrealistic. when zuko says “u found a master” and she said “yes ur looking at her”. oh girlboss feminism u are going to HELL!

would like to take a moment to say^^^ i am a feminist ok. do nottttt get it twisted. but girlboss feminism is brainrot.

aang. did not bend. a single drop of water. are u fucking KIDDING ME? that was nuts.

really felt like if u did not watch the original series, this show would feel SO all over the place and u would have so many “wtf is happening” moments. the whole omashu shit was kind offfffff a mess. i see where they were going and why they were doing that but in hindsight after the fact i was like… if i knew nothing ab this show that would have been the most confusing clusterfuck.

and i think my biggest/most general complaint that i already talked about that i will briefly touch on: trying to do too much. why are we putting in characters and plot points that do not come till seasons 2-3 and are completely unnecessary now (secret tunnel, wan shi tong, swamp-kinda episode, etc.)

final thoughts?

it was enjoyable. i cannot deny that. landscapes were gorgeous. fights were well choreographed and looked GOOD. some changes were genuinely made for the better, and even changes that i do not necessarily think were better, i could respect the creativity of some changes and understood why they were there. but overall, as most live action remakes go, this was a flat portrayal of one of the greatest pieces of fiction of all time that suffered from some overly ambitious ideas and dull writing with little to no sense of whimsy. while some performances exceeded expectations, others that were crucial to the integrity of this show really disappointed me.

overall: 6.6/10. this number is completely subject to change.

[orionsangel86]

Welp. Okay I watched the last episode of ofmd.

To sum up my thoughts on this season I will say that whilst I enjoyed it and felt the love and passion and respect for its queer fanbase throughout, it didnt hit me the same way the first season did. It felt like maybe a little bit of that season 1 magic was missing and for that I very much blame Max's cutting off 2 episodes and slashing the budget. They had a lot of story they wanted to tell that would have worked so much better in 10 episodes.

I consider the last 3 episodes of season 1 some of the best TV I have seen in my life. From the use of The Chain in ep 8, through the dramatic highs and lows of eps 9 and 10 it was edge-of-your-seat drama and I was in awe at the creators that put it together. But one of the reasons why those 3 eps were so good is because the drama and the pivotal moments were given time to breath.

If those 3 eps were given the same lack of time and budget as season 2, no doubt they all would have been crammed into 1 episode and it would not have had the same impact.

If anything that last episode should have played out across two, with Izzy's death being the half way point and cliffhanger ending leading to a final battle and somewhat happy resolution.

I'm not mad at Izzy's death. If anyone was gonna die, it was gonna be him. His status as Blackbeards enabler and sometimes mentor is over. For Ed to truly be free, I think Izzy always had to go. From a storytelling perspective it makes perfect sense, even though I am sure a lot of fans are absolutely heartbroken about it.

Another casualty of the reduced screentime meant certain original cast members weren't given anywhere near the amount of screentime they should have had. I was expecting a lot more focus on Jim as they were basically the third lead of s1 due to them getting the same backstory as Ed and Stede. All of the crew appear to have had drastically reduced parts which does feel like a big loss to me.

Its funny actually, OFMD S2 suffered from the opposite problem to GOS2. OFMD had too much story to tell in a limited timeframe, GOS2 had very little story to tell outside of the flashbacks and probably too much time given to it. Both shows season 2s suffered from tremendously bad pacing issues.

Also, the one thing the final episode made so obvious to me, is the uncertainty of getting a s3 renewal. It is so clear in the way they tried to wrap things up in a happy bow as best they could, so that if they do get cancelled it leaves fans at least somewhat satisfied. I hate this though. I hate that studios are so fickle and ruthless that creators have to gamble with good quality writing and avoid cliffhangers because of asshole executives who dont actually care about the stories.

Because of the fast pacing, and the fear of cancellation, it felt more like a rush happy ending instead of a part way point in a bigger story, with important character development still to come. Perhaps I need more time to absorb the story in a full rewatch, but im not exactly itching for more at this point, whilst also not really being satisfied with what I got either. I wish we had left Ed and Stede in at least some minor peril, like have them captured and threatened with hanging but at least in a good place romantically, so that we can start speculating about what kind of escape plan they will come up with in season 3. Leaving them in a dilapidated old inn somewhere just felt wrong to me. Instead of ending the season with the stakes sky high (like season 1) it feels like they left season 2 with zero stakes at all, instead of at least a happy medium. At this point we should be turning to fanfiction and wondering what happens next, but instead I'm left thinking "okay then. That was good. What can I watch next?" I don't need to bury myself in fanfic and fanart to feed the hyperfixation this time around, and that is where I feel the most loss.

I'm sure others will have hugely different reactions to me though. Perhaps my expectations were too high? Perhaps my GO obsession just isn't leaving room for OFMD this time? But then again, I think if GOS2 hadn't ended the way it did, I wouldn't still be so obsessed with that either.

Sigh. I dunno. It was a good fun show and will no doubt still be hugely popular with devoted fans, but for me I just can't say it cast the same spell over me as it did last year.