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ivys-garden · 1 month ago

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Wild Life Spoilers: Session 2 Alliance Report:

Teams:

The Spanners - (Mumbo, Grian, Skizz) - formerly the Sub One Club, immediately forget their idea of using crawl mode and lament that they can't be sub one anymore. Mumbo then decides they are “The Floaters” due to them becoming obsessed with the levitation ability. Luckily this doesn't stick because I could not handle an alliance that changes name every session. Mumbo and Skizz built their “base” as a series of bridges, leading to Mumbo calling them “The Spanners” since “they span things”.

Speaking of levitation, they died from that. And starvation. This was not Mumbo or Skizzes session, with Mumbo losing two life's and Skizz losing 3, halfing his amount of lives in one session. If Skizz loses one next week he will be yellow. Seems Grian's curse of outlining his alliance has started early.

The Bam-Boozelers - (Scar, Lizzie, Jimmy)

I normally have a lot of faith in all life series teams. I think anyone can make it to the end. I think this so long as it is not abundantly clear that they're doomed. I never say someone is Doomed from the star-

This team is doomed from the start. Immediately they decide that the Wild Card is that he can't heal from hunger, now this is a good first thought and is shared by other teams, though those other teams immediately realised that if that were the Wild Card everyone would die of hunger and started looking for other options.

These 3? They stuck with that idea and started making boats to travel. When they realised that their hunger reduced passively, they panicked until Grian saved them by telling everyone in chat that they could eat anything. Now, armed with this knowledge they just have to find a good and easy to use food source.

They chose stone shovels. An item that cannot be stacked and required way more effort and resources to make than was worth it. And they stuck by this even as others told them about better foods. They only stopped using shovels because of the randomisation.

How is Jimmy the most confident member on his team?

In other news, they're theme park is going well and Lizzie's Parrot is cute. Jimmy also apparently has “Big Mascot Energy”.

Renwood - (Martyn, Ren)

These dogs are just vibing. They each lose a life each, no big deal. A far cry from previous seasons, Ren is just chilling, Not going after anyone unless they go after them first and trying to get Martyn to do the same. And he actually does, not attacking anyone this session at all. He even gives up going after Jimmy for stealing their cows (an action which was by every account deserved.)

The Tuff Guys (Tango, Etho, Bdubs) (not technically together (?))

Ah yes, Team B.E.S.T without Skizz …. Considering Skizz was the only person keeping Team B.E.S.T from imploding, this can only go well!

Yeah this team is not staying together. Technically they're already breaking up, with Bdubs saying they should only look out for themselves and insisting they live in different houses. Bdubs even cements this mentality by fully encouraging Scar to help kill Tango for no reason.

As for the “Tuff” part, Etho has decided that they need to be tougher and take what they want from people. You know, not to be nice or polite.

Luckily we can see how this works in practice, as Gem encourages him to go be tough to the Final Girls, let's see how Etho is an not being nice:

● he greets Scott and Cleo

● makes small talk

● politely asks for copper

● tries to stop Pearl stealing from them since he doesn't know she's on they're team

● takes more of the stuff he was told he could have

● gives them obsidian in return anyway

● and still feels bad about it.

Yeah not only was this the least tough Etho had ever been, the Girls almost certainly didn't notice and probably won't even care when they do. Great job Etho.

The Fast And The Furious (Gem, Joel)

This session, Gem announced her plan to make friends so people don't judge them based on 5 seasons worth of going insane every time they go red. This lasts for 3 minutes before other people arrive, Scar misunderstands instructions, Etho lets the cops out and the Final Girls partake in their favourite pastime of miscommunication and insisting their own teammates are doing something they aren't.

Other attempts to make friends do go better, with Gem arguably being on good terms with everyone except two people. So that's good.

Gem also builds a cute little Bard that I give a session before it's burnt down or has a Creeper hole in it. Joel spends all session building a car. Everyone on the server thinks it's hideous, mainly because it is hideous.

The Final Girls - (Scott, Pearl, Cleo, Impulse, Bigb)

Somehow the most stable team here, even if it is mostly out of spite. Yeah this team will stay together, the core four have never betrayed anyone unless an outside faction is involved. They're safe. Even if they continue the tradition of forgetting all the bad stuff they did and only reimbursing bad stuff their teammates did (what do you mean Pearl doesn't trust people based on what happened in previous seasons? That was you, Cleo!)

Oh Bigb also joined this session. Though I imagine this will be a Heart Foundation situation where he bases alone despite being on the team.

Scott and Cleo spend a lot of time this session fixing the mistakes Pearl and Impulse make by acting how they always do. A house and wall are built and Pearl and Impulse prepare revenge plans on Grian and Martyn. Pearl encourages Impulse not to tell the others, seemingly forgetting that Cleo and Bigb are addicted to revenge and would have no problem with this.

Alliances and Friendships:

Lizzie and Gem

these two agree to team up if their teammates die. Since their teammates are idiots.

Remember, Lizzie is the one who made the stone shovel plan.

Spanners Vs Bammers

The Bam-Boozelers still hate the Spanners, dropping their reputation all the way to zero. Mumbo and Skizz either don't realise this or don't care. Grian was gone almost all session mining so can't really say what his thoughts on the situation are.

The Family - (Joel, Etho, Gem)

Etho is indoctrinated into yet another family, though he seems more willing to be present for this one. When Tuff Guys breaks up like 5 minutes into session 3, we all know where he's going.

Also Scar might also be part of the family though every else seems to just ignore this.

Spanners Vs Tango

The Spanners are really angry at Tango for accidentally killing Skizz. They seem satisfied with manifesting his death through belief, but it seems they haven't let him off the hook yet. We all know Bdubs won't help him

Joel might also be mad at Tango since he ate the wheels of his ugly car.

Mumbo & Jimmy still hate Renwood

Mumbo still doesn't trust Martyn after the enchanter fiasco and Jimmy attempts to get revenge for the cow theft. Ren and Martyn have chosen to ignore this, Mumbo seems to have forgotten he was angry, and Jimmy is satisfied that he got revenge.

Ren buys his friends

Ren bought Gem and Tangos friendship through iron. Will this hold up? No.

Gem has beef with team oblivious

Gem hates Pearl and Impulse this season. They are at the top of her inevitable murder list.

● The Final Girls came round for a visit

● Impulse was accused of stealing

● He said he wouldt stela since he knows what it's like to be stolen from

● Gem took this as him amusing her of stealing

● Scott cut him off before he could explain himself by saying he was purposely antagonising them

● Gem cut both of them off by ranting about how much she doesn't trust them

Stellar miscommunication guys, great job as always. Please never change, the series would be way less funny if you did.

Pearl also made it worse by trying to Poison Gem 30 minutes later. Woopsie.

Neither Pearl nor Impulse notice that Gem hates them and the others refuse to tell them.

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that-ari-blogger · 5 months ago

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That's My Boy (Eclipse Lake)

Eclipse Lake is one of those episodes that anyone who’s aware of The Owl House knows by name. This is one of the episodes that is used to recommend the series, and it earns that reputation pretty much through one scene.

I mentioned last time that Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door carries the series by taking most of the pacing issues from a shortened season into itself, and this is what I mean. Eclipse Lake is a slow burn that focuses in on one theme and explores it in detail, that being relationships.

Essentially, this episode characterises by implication. It positions Hunter and Amity as mirrors in order to shed light on Belos as a father figure and boss, as well as Luz as a girlfriend. It even throws in Eda as a spanner out of left field to orbit around this thematic as well.

This metaphor has gotten away from me.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (The Owl House; Jurassic Park; Critical Role Campaigns 1, 2, and 3)

This is a Hunter episode, and I want to clarify my reading of this character and his story before I begin anything specific. I don’t see this character as a villain, or in need of a redemption arc. When he switches sides later on in the series, it’s because he learns about what is happening behind his back. His moral code doesn’t change, he doesn’t get redeemed. He gets a support group.

Which brings me to his connection to Amity. Hunter and Amity are remarkably similar characters. They both have an abusive parental figure, whether through physical violence or emotional manipulation or both, and that has informed their personalities. The specifics are different, yes, they are different characters and that needs to be understood. But their similarities are also important.

In that vein, the biggest difference between Amity and Hunter is that Amity has people outside of her family who will look after her and back her up. The opening crawl of the episode sets this out really well, with the Owl House crew dealing with a problem without a hitch. These people trust each other, and their biggest difference of opinion is about music.

Meanwhile, I believe this is the episode in which Belos’ face is revealed, and I mean that in a literal sense and a metaphorical one. We see the most about his parenting tactics from Hunter’s behaviours, at the same time as learning what his villainy actually looks like. I will talk about all of Belos’ character designs in a later blog, for reasons that will become obvious. Instead, I want to talk about his relationship with Hunter.

“Would you like to see how it works, Hunter?”

So, this exchange, on paper, isn’t that bad. Belos is telling his nephew about the world he will give him. He is reassuring him and telling him to stay safe. There are only two things that make it unnerving. Well, two obvious things, and both of them are Hunter.

“I didn’t mean to hide, Emperor Belos.”

Thing One, is Hunter himself, or more specifically, the fact that this relationship is so one sided it almost hurts to watch. Belos speaks of grandeur, and yet his nephew is palpably uncomfortable in his presence, and eternally seeking to prove himself. The affection feels hollow because Hunter doesn’t understand it as affection, he understands it as a test. Hunter will only be happy when he is useful to his uncle, and he treats any acceptance he receives as transactional, as if he has to earn it. I wonder where he learned that.

Thing Two, is “Hunter,” the word, and how Matthew Rhys delivers it. Because it isn’t treated as a name. The tone of everything Belos says in this scene is informal, except for that one word. It reads to me like an insult, or a title. Belos addresses Hunter by his job title and has given the child no name beyond it. He sees his nephew only as a tool, and so all of the affection reads as hollow.

Notice how, as Belos speaks, he guides Hunter to the doorway, into darkness. He leads Hunter away from the light, away from knowledge, into ignorance. Almost as if willful ignorance is something Belos thrives in.

Which has a weird affect on the audience perception. The thing about humans is that when we perceive something as normal, we tend to not examine it further. So, the unsettling nature of the conversation provokes us to look deeper at what Belos is actually saying, and we see… not much.

By which, I mean that Belos never actually says anything in this conversation, nothing of meaning. He just agrees with Hunter and lets him drive his own conclusions.

“The Titan has big plans for you.”

That sounds great, but it isn’t anything. It's like a book report given by a year seven. It’s an awful lot of nothing to try and convince you there is more behind it. It’s a nebulous saying that translates to “watch this space.”

Now, people say things like this in real life, and they work because the saying means something. For an example that won’t ruffle too many feathers, Jurassic Park has the iconic “life finds away” line. Which, in isolation, doesn’t really mean much.

You could say this to make yourself feel better if you wanted, perhaps as a form of optimism. But the line doesn’t carry that meaning in the story. It’s about nature and evolution and what that means for the humans. It means that in order to survive and thrive, you need to change. Sometimes physically, sometimes intellectually. It’s also a line about freedom, and that life cannot truly be contained.

Saying “life finds a way” to reassure someone is all well and good, but it's an empty saying without its context.

For another example, this time with absolutely zero subtext, Taliesin Jaffe. To avoid gushing too much, the man is one of the few D&D players who can accurately roleplay a high wisdom score, and has displayed this many a time during the, as of current writing, three campaigns of Critical Role.

During the first campaign, Mr Jaffe’s character, said, off handedly, “life needs things to live” in regard to a specific tree requiring sustenance. An orchard can’t grow in a desert, there are certain criteria that need to be met. However, the context amplified the meaning. The first campaign was centred around the idea of community, and the idiom “no man is an island”. Companions will hold you up, keep you alive, and make your life worth living.

This gets taken out of context twice in later campaigns, and it gets poked fun at both times.

In campaign three, in a moment of exploration and new self-understanding, the line is said again, and the cast points out how little it makes sense here. The phrase is here meant to encourage a character to fill time and do something interesting because life needs things to live. On a surface level, it's kind of appropriate, but not really. It's about life worth living, not time worth spending.

Campaign two is interesting, because the saying applies 100% to what is being said, but because of the characters, it gets joked at anyway. Taliesin has just given a monologue (because of course he has) about how you only get one life, and you need to use it well and fill it with things that make it worthwhile, and so “life needs things to live” is said in response.

But the Mighty Nein were a more plain-spoken troop than the previous adventure. This speech happens less than two percent into the story, and the characters at this point don’t really care for the philosophy and poetry of the idea. Instead, they point out how easily it could have been said any other way without seeming pretentious. In this case, the line was less meaningful than explaining the character’s mindset in simple terms.

Hey look at that, Grimwalkers have a thing about eyes. Artificial humans with a thing about eyes. That's very Bladerunner. A possible Grimwalker character might have a theme of agency and justifying existence beyond their assumed use. I am going to use this in my analysis of Hollow Mind, so hold onto it for now.

Linking this back to Belos, the line about the Titan would be really poetic if it was said in earnest and in context. Because yes, a line about how fate can make martyrs or monsters of anyone would be really powerful. It could talk about being born with talents or discovering you have a gift and putting that to use, seeing your destiny laid out because of skills only you possess. But here, it just means “pipe down and follow me blindly.”

Which is either emotional abuse or spiritual abuse, depending on how you square it. I read it as both.

Keep that in mind for the rest of my series on The Owl House, because it will colour how I read Belos. Everything this man does is a façade of critical thinking, cut down by his own lack of commitment. Essentially, the man is a hypocrite pretending to be deep, and I think that was an intentional decision on behalf of the writers.

“Seem’s clear to me. Come back with results or else, you can figure out the rest.” “Luz wouldn’t make that kind of a threat. I’m an awesome girlfriend.” “Has she told you that?”

I genuinely went into this episode planning to write a whole spiel about Odalia, but it took this exchange to for me to realise that Odalia is kind of irrelevant at this point in the series. Amity doesn’t need her affection anymore and has moved past her. This episode is about the difference between Luz and Belos.

Because, just from this exchange, we can see that Hunter assumes the worst from everything. He assumes affection is transactional, as has been stated above, but he has a scuffed idea of what affection looks like. Because if someone loves you, truly, they don’t have to say it. Affection and a healthy relationship is shown not told.

The best way I can explain this is through the song Nobody, by the Crane Wives. The band has a reputation for dealing with complex emotions through their songs and have a choke hold on the AMV side of the internet only rivalled by the songs from Epic The Musical.

“She woke me up at dawn, soft spoken as a spider Spinning webs of holy words while she was still asleep Kill the moon beneath my window, pull the covers tighter And hear her voice go swinging like a hatchet through the trees”

The opening verse sets up the story. The lover is represented as a predator, the spider who has caught the perspective character in a web made of compliments. A voice that can be both divine, and violent like a hatchet. This builds, adding addiction imagery through the invocation of cigarettes, as well as contrasting the lover with what is ostensibly a beast outside. Then the chorus:

“Nobody ever loved me, ever loved me. Nobody ever loved me Like she tells me, she does.”

Show don’t tell isn’t a rule for how to write, it’s a tool for how to make a story feel real. If you want your audience to trust you, show it to them. If you don’t, highlight that they are being told it.

Here, the affection between the singer and her lover is entirely conveyed by the idea that the lover tells the protagonist that she is affectionate. She tells her that she cares about her more than anybody else. But this is being told to the protagonist, which makes the audience doubtful, and more inclined to trust what we are being shown, which isn’t a healthy relationship at all.

Then there is the fact that the repetition implies this is a mantra, something the protagonist tells herself to make her feel better.

“I’m trembling in the eye of the only storm I’ve ever known.”

The song also implies that this is the protagonist’s first relationship, and she doesn’t know better. She thinks this is what true love actually is, which leads me back to Hunter.

Hunter thinks this is normal, and so assumes that it is normal for everyone else.

“We have a lot in common, Blight. We’re both trying to show what we can bring to the table. And we can’t fail, because there’s nothing worse than disappointing someone who thinks you’re special.”

Something Hunter doesn’t get enough credit for is how he is almost perfect at reading people. In a previous episode, he psychoanalysed Luz, and here is calling Amity’s bluff with uncomfortable accuracy. Amity has been raised by Odalia fear failure just like him. But there was an almost there, and it is a pretty glaring flaw, Hunter doesn’t understand relationships.

In the previous episode, Hunter was blindsided by Luz’s ability to befriend him and give him kindness despite their opposing allegiance, and here he doesn’t understand that an affectionate relationship doesn’t include ultimatums. Luz has chosen emojis that could be misconstrued because it doesn’t occur to her that you could read the messages like that. The ultimatum doesn’t cross her mind, so she doesn’t go out of her way to clarify. Why would she? What option is there other than kindness?

And that is Luz in a nutshell, isn’t it? A character who is fundamentally kind and uses that to change people and inspire them to be better.

This isn’t the only time Belos and Luz are shown as parallels, and it is telling that, on a surface level they are similar in just about every aspect. The difference is in the nuance. Luz is genuine, for one, but there are a ton of other little differences that completely alter the meaning.

For example, both are trickster characters who don’t rely on physical prowess to defeat opponents. But where Luz is a tactician by necessity, Belos pretends to be the underdog. Also, Luz choses to subdue her opponents instead of killing them because she’s kind. Belos does it because they will be useful to him later, and he can hold the mercy over their head like a bargaining chip.

Also, Luz and Belos both rely on other people to help them achieve their goals. They are leaders and organisers. However, Luz leads from the front and inspires people to achieve great things, while Belos scares people forwards and pushes them to their extremes against their better judgement.

The two are superficially similar, but their differences are significant. Belos pretends to be the person that Luz is naturally. Although not specifically Luz. Belos creates an ideal and claims it to be himself, which is why he is so infuriated when Luz achieves it effortlessly. Belos' name means beauty, but light is what truly shines.

“Fool’s blood bad. U okay? Come home? Of course, this is Luz we are talking about.”

I mentioned at the start of this post that this episode only works because of its predecessor, and here’s why: This episode is filler.

If you think about this, the episode doesn’t push the plot forward in any meaningful way. The Harpy Eda storyline is artificial and added in this episode, so you could theoretically skip the episode and not miss anything.

So why am I wrong here?

Well, the episode not pushing the plot forward plays into its actual purpose, psychological storytelling. The fact that this episode is a dead end is the point, it’s a dead end that could have been avoided if Amity had understood the relationship she was in, and over the course of the episode, she does realise, and the futility sinks in.

This episode pushes the emotional story forward, rather than the overarching plot.

Fool’s blood is a play on fool’s gold, a substance that looks shiny but is in actuality useless. Amity can accept the failed job because she learned something about herself, and the fact that nothing will change if things go wrong is reassuring to her.

Take a guess at for whom this isn’t true.

“Since I failed my last mission, I thought: Hey, a chance to make up for it! But I can’t go back empty handed. [Laughs] Not again. Long story short, this is my grave. Want me to make you one?” “This is really bumming me out.” “That’s just life, rat. Everyone has a use, and if you don’t, bye bye. Your friend gets it.”

Please, don’t let Zeno Robinson’s phenomenal acting skill distract you from the fact that Hunter is wrong here. Like, he has reason to believe what he says, but that’s just not how life works. People don’t have uses; you don’t have to justify your existence or value. Your innate value is the benchmark for everything.

In other words:

“You know, you were right. We do have a lot in common. I grew up thinking everything was an opportunity to justify existing, but there are people out where who won’t make you feel worthless. You just have to let yourself meet them.”

The fact that Flapjack is a key player in an episode about Hunter suffering in an unhealthy relationship and rejecting positive reinforcement is a neat metaphor. Specifically, because he acts as the personification of that relationship, a creature with wings that can go wherever and give its wielder the ultimate freedom. But Hunter rejects him, and the relationship.

The teleport thing is Hunter's signature spell, as it were. But we've seen this before. Eda and Lilith used this in their duel at the end of season one. I wonder what that means.

Amity’s speech doesn’t work because Hunter doesn’t have that support group, instead he has desperation bordering on madness. Not everyone will accept help, some people need to help themselves.

Eda is a weird tie into this theme, but I think its worth discussing her interaction with the Owl Beast. In this episode, it is revealed that her ideas for how to effectively communicate have not involved actually talking.

Eda’s relationship with the Owl Beast isn’t romantic or parental, it’s a relationship with herself. It hasn’t occurred to her until now that being nice to herself is an option. The Owl Beast’s side of the bargain is literally just “eat”. Basically, Eda should take care of herself, and in exchange, she will be able to do great things.

That’s a weirdly thematic backing to a comedy subplot.

Final Thoughts

I could do a shot for shot breakdown of any scene in this episode. The cinematography and direction are impeccable. From the fact that Hunter’s POV is almost always looking up, and therefore making him seem less powerful, to the little moment when Amity has been captured and the camera uses Kikimora’s robot to frame her as trapped and boxed in.

If I get enough requests for it, I might to a breakdown for the fight sequence, because that needs its own post. So, if you want that, lemme know.

Next week is Yesterday’s lie, and I get to talk about Camilla Noceda. So stick around if that interests you.

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thelaurenshippen · 1 year ago

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Hi there! I started relistening to the bright sessions (as one does) and had a random question come up. When did you know that Mark/Sam wasn't going to be endgame (romantically)? I know in s4 they both fall apart separately and together, but even in Safehouse pt 2 (my absolute beloved) they argue about their coping mechanisms. Did you know then that they weren't going to end up together? How did you come to that conclusion?

hey!! this is a great question - I definitely did start the show thinking they were endgame and that's mostly what I was thinking at the time of safehouse too, despite their issues. I think it was really in writing Season 4 actually, when I realized that I was no longer telling a story about two people in love working through their issues, but was instead telling a story about two people who were in love but realized they shouldn't be together in that way. I started to feel those tension points in Season 3 (I would say the safehouse episodes were a true attempt for them to learn to work through their issues), but it wasn't until planning S4 that I really made the decision.

there are a lot of things that led to this that I'll try to articulate, because the honest, simplest answer as to why the plans changed was "because it felt like they should". but if I were think back and pinpoint a few reasons for that...

there was never supposed to be a love triangle. Mark was always bisexual but he and Damien were never supposed to develop feelings for one another. but the first time we got Andrew and Charlie into a room and read through their first episode together it was like "oh, OH-kay" (which, sidebar: clearly I was writing something between them subtextually because it wasn't like Andrew and Charlie were strangers to each other - I'd watched them act ALL sorts of scenes together in acting class but the romantic chemistry popped OUT with Mark/Damien. pretty much from the second motel episode on, I was writing leaning into that dynamic). that threw a lot of spanners into the works because while I never had plans to put Mark and Damien together, I hadn't anticipated Mark grappling with feelings for someone else.

similarly, I'd underestimated just how flawed Sam was. Sam is not a bad person, but she sometimes doesn't really know how to be a person who cares about other people. when you add that to the dynamics of Damien and Joan kind of, like, hovering over Mark in various unproductive ways (for Damien, it's destructive and invasive; for Joan, she's just a too-involved older sister sometimes), Sam becomes another person who is kind of, like...controlling Mark, or trying to, because she loves him and doesn't know how to (I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm just regurgitating actual lines I wrote lol). this is not to say that her flaws make her unable to be in a relationship (Mark is also deeply flawed!) but just that their flaws clashed against each other in ways I hadn't planned.

finally: Joan and found family. in my mind, there was something grand and romantic about Sam meeting Dr. Bright so that she could be led to Mark - like they were somehow always fated to meet. in actuality, it's not that at all - instead, the bond that Sam and Joan have is just as important as the one she has with Mark, albeit different. I don't believe in soulmates personally, but I've always liked the idea that you have people out there. soulmates in a more general sense - people you click with, have a connection with. it can be romantic, familial, friendship, work or creative partnerships, whatever. I think the Bryant siblings and Sam have that. I think Sam and Mark are meant for each other but in a non-exclusive way and in a...maybe not non-romantic way, but a way that doesn't have romance at the forefront. they love each other deeply and they fit, but a romantic partnership might not be the best way forward for them. and Joan and Sam are the whole heart of the show to me in some senses. as I was writing the finale, I very intentionally ended with the two of them - both because the final appearance of every character is in order of when they first appeared, but in reverse and also because the show starts with both of them in dark, destructive places and while there's broken trust between them throughout, they ultimately help each other get better. I thought Sam's story was about finding love and it was, but that love looked differently than I had planned.

okay, god, this has gotten waaaaaay too long and rambly. I hope this answers your question? one of my favorite things/the thing I miss most about making a show like TBS is being able to shift things based on chemistry/what the actors bring/etc. so often now, I'm writing entire seasons of things and then handing them off to production, in which anything can happen! the flexibility of recording episode by episode in TBS is something I took full advantage of.

thanks for listening and relistening!!

#the bright sessions #sam/mark #also in case anyone is curious as to why I DON'T do that anymore #don't write/record that way #the answer is money it's always money #we could do that in TBS because for the first two seasons no one was getting paid #and then from there ppl were getting paid but badly #and I was doing everything for free #so we didn't need efficiency of budget #whereas now I'm able to record a few episodes in a day #which is mUCH more budget efficient #ANYWAY #answering this question before I've finished my coffee on a monday morning was certainly a choice #I'm sorry if it is INCOHERENT #lauren answers things

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punkbxt · 1 year ago

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after seven exits her outer borg mechanisms theyre left with a body thats highly inorganic

seven keeps it relatively simple and original to how she left the borg with the exception of some android replacements and mods over time for whatever reason they may be necessary

arm details at the end of the post and a lil story below!

<<¿como se siente?>>

the question is so unexpected that it takes seven a moment to reply.

they were sitting on some stools at a side table that tuvok and chakotay had installed in the medbay. it wasnt uncommon to have a small droid maintenance station on a medbay in maquis ships so they figured it would only be a matter of time till it was needed.

b’elanna had been the one assigned to assist the emh. he had long gone back to doing his own thing and all that was left was sevens more mechanical parts which left the two alone.

“what does what feel like?”

b’elanna forgot she left half the sentence in her mind. she had been contemplating it the entire time she had been repairing sevens prosthetic arm.

“ay perdón. what does it feel like being touched on your synth skin? can you feel my touch even though your forearm isnt attached to you?”

a pause from seven.

b’elanna shifted in her seat and put the small dermal regenerator on the table. she was almost finished but suddenly felt shy at bringing up something so personal. “you dont have to answer if you dont want to of course-“

“it depends on what is being touched,” seven replied as she wiggled the fingers of her unattached arm, “and yes, i can feel your touch.”

the solitary forearm still having capacity of movement freaked b’elanna out just a bit. borg technology was a wonder and a horror to behold.

“what do you mean by depends?” b’elanna looked at her toolkit, examining the spanner she had used to losen seven’s elbow.

“the skin around my eye was grafted from a de- donor and the skin on the arm youre repairing is made up of tiny hexagonal shaped silicone cells.”

“amazing”

“indeed”

b’elanna picked up a screwdriver and proceeded put the metal panel back where it belinged “does it feel different from real skin?”

“supposedly almost imperceptibly so.”

b’elanna brought the joints back together and with sevens help latched seven’s forearm back into place. she then grabbed the spanner to tighten the safety in place and looked at it carefully and back at sevens arm.

“will this hurt?” b’elanna’s curiosity amused seven.

“only if you do it too tight.”

“really??”

seven laughed. huh. that was a first.

“no. the metal bits take a bit more than a tight screw to feel pain.”

b’elanna finished but stood in place at sevens side with no intention of uncradling sevens hand.

“how does this feel?” b’elanna said it ever so softly that seven almost didnt catch it.

the touch felt tingly in a way it never had to seven before. her breath hitched (as she frantically ran a minor nerve diagnostic which ran merely a fraction of a second) ever so briefly that b’elanna didnt notice. nothing was wrong. but it was new and just a litle but scary.

“it feels… electric…”

“is that bad?”

“for me? no.”

the medbay scanned seven and beeped with confirmation that <<the patient is ready for release>> startling the two out of the moment.

b’elanna stepped back and gathered her supplies together. “bueno um- if you encounter any more bichos let me know. ill help ya out” she said as she twirled the dermal regenerator she was about to take and tucked it into her coat pocket.

“thankyou for your assistance, doctor torres.”

b’elanna snorted, “youre funny. i like it. see u around.”

#if any of my math it wrong i dont care!#i wish i could draw more details thsn that rn 😭#seven of nine #borg #redesign #star trek #voyager #star trek voyager

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asknarashikari · 4 months ago

Note

So yes even Spanner also got complaints about why someone like him can get a heel turn. This is my grievance of the fandom (not series, I'd want to get more on this later) that I feel they just ignore character's whole characterization and lump everyone on a side the same.

In this case, on the good side (I feel this is more prevalent in lighthearted shows or something like superhero media) - Spanner being there means he can do no wrong, entirely ignoring his traits like being an asshole or anti-Chemy, and accusing as him being antagonistic as done just for artificial stakes.

And obviously there'd be those who justify his actions, using typical reasons like "many (humans) vs few (Chemies)", he has tragic backstory, he's proven right, Houtaro never provided convincing counterarguments (e.g. pausing when Spanner confronts his view).

Though, before the next ones airs, it's possible that all he did would be just smack-talk to Chemies and fighting Gotchard, losing, and later realizing how wrong his view was. Would that mean he didn't really do wrong and that nobody should hold it against him?

By that I'd think some'd just view that as normal that a protagonist and rival type (or allies with some differences) can sometimes clash, where (outcome-based) nothing really bad took place and Spanner never really meant it in his crusade.

Some people would definitely view it as merely an extension of his rivalry with Houtaro and all that talk about the Chemmies was just hot air. And some would rationalize his actions much in the same way Spanner himself is doing in canon.

Honestly, I understand the complaints because frankly it is rather tiresome when we've had a significant rider doing a heel-face turn every season for, what, half a decade now? At this point it feels more like an excuse to have the riders fight each other. And yes, a lot of the times the reasons feel more contrived that anything- they just want the riders to fight each other because reasons.

On the other hand, I also get what you feel in that Spanner having a conflict with Houtaro actually makes sense in this case. They have a fundamental difference in their view of the Chemmies' place in the world, and we've known this since Spanner was introduced. Add to this the rivalry aspect and it was bound to happen sooner or later.

It's utterly bizarre to me to that there are people who think they would never come to blows over this. And yeah, sure, it took Spanner falling off into the deep end due to recent events before it happened... but yeah, this one's a long time coming.

For what it's worth, I don't think his declaration is all "smack talk" as you put it. But I don't think he really thought it through either, which I think he's being extremely foolish.

And also... Did he just miss the part where people are the ones with bad intentions, not the Chemmies? Did he miss the bit where the Chemmies made their desire to fight against their intended purpose of causing humans misery known?

Not to mention, the practicalities of the matter: How does he think they'd defeat Geryon and co. if the Chemmies are gone? They use the Chemmies to fight as Riders.

Where the hell is this Super-A Ranked Alchemist's brain at?

#kamen rider gotchard #kurogane spanner #ask #innerpeacebarbarian

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coldflasher · 2 years ago

Note

Thallen ✨

Once again I am behind haha. This is a much more straightforward one. It's a no from me on this one! 1. Why don’t you ship it?

The main reason I don't ship this one is almost entirely because of Eddie as a person, to be honest. He's very sweet, but the man is so vanilla and I honestly don't think they really gave him much of a personality. They knew they were going to kill him off from day one, and I think because of that, they didn't really develop him much beyond "blandly nice, likeable dude." He's... saccharine, is probably the best way I can describe it. Very white picket fence. Don't get me wrong, I like him well enough, but there's a reason that I don't really include him in fics even as a love interest for Iris, and it's mostly because I don't think there's that much substance there and I have a hard time digging deeper into him because they never really gave us a lot to work with. What do we know about Eddie, other than that he's kind and a good boyfriend? Some very brief backstory about him being bullied that never gets explored and only serves to explain why and how he knows how to fight. That's kind of it. I absolutely can and will glom onto a side character with minimal backstory, but there has to be something to hook me in. We got a whole season of Eddie and I feel like he was less developed than some of the random metas of the week that we've had for a single episode.

To be fair, Barry also throws a spanner in the works of this ship for me, because Barry does NOT like Eddie at first, and not in a fun enemies to lovers way where they're sniping at each other and you get that fun banter. Eddie isn't in on it and has no idea that Barry dislikes him, so it feels like punching down. Don't get me wrong, I love all the scenes where Barry is sulking and rolling his eyes and making cheap, bitchy digs about him, because they're really funny---but because Eddie is so cheerful and nice and genuinely has no clue that Barry's being a dick about him being his back, it just ends up making Barry look petty and mean. I mean, he IS, and I love him for it (god i miss bitchy s1 barry and the giant chip on his shoulder) but I don't love that dynamic from a ship perspective.

2. What would have made you like it?

So there are two very different directions they could have taken Thallen that would have made it easier for me to get behind. One would be if they had let Eddie fight back more. Like aside from punching him that one time after he confessed his love for Iris, Eddie doesn't really react or fight or do anything but stew in silence when he realises what's going on behind his back. I think they should have let him be meaner about it, honestly. Make him more flawed and give him a darker side.

Alternatively, I liked the moments of friendship we got between him and Barry and the love triangle could have been more interesting if they'd leaned into that more, imo. Add more conflict with Barry being genuinely torn about knowing that if he does get with Iris, he will be betraying a close friend who he's actually come to care about a lot in his own right... then he starts to care about Eddie in a suspiciously homoerotic way and the audience gets confused about who those longing stares are really aimed at... who's he really pining for? Is it still Iris? Or is he now jealous of both of them 👀 ooh, the drama

3. Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

I love this scene. You all know.

HARDER!!

Also I really like the scenes we get after Eddie finds out the big secret, where they're all driving around in Joe's car while Barry catches bad guys and they're all having so much FUN with it, and Eddie is in so much awe of what Barry can do... what a sweetheart. He deserved better :(

I do think they had potential, I just wish they had developed the friendship and the dynamic and Eddie as a character because I feel like I never got a good grip on him as a character, really

Send me a ship and I’ll answer three questions based on if I ship it or not.

#answered

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geducation · 2 years ago

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Creative Thinking

It’s a bit of an odd thing, but as I’m sitting down to write about developing children’s creative thinking, I’ve got a definite sense of having to begin by justifying why this might be a good/desirable or even achievable thing to be doing in the first place. Now, this could just be my paranoia, but it feels like the perceived woolliness of creativity doesn’t sit well with the current clamour for a knowledge rich curriculum.

Before getting into this, I’d like to set my stall out in terms of the whole knowledge richness thing. First of all, I’m a big fan. I really like it. In fact, I think it’s the foundation for thinking about anything. You can’t think creatively if you’ve got nothing in your head to think about - knowledge comes first, creative thinking follows. Or at least it can do.

In terms of defining what we’re talking about here, I think it’s worth dusting off a document that is currently tucked away in the national archives. The Personal Learning and Thinking skills framework was an ultimately ill-fated attempt to outline the qualities, skills or attributes needed for success in learning and life. The framework consisted of six groups of skills, and creative thinking was defined as follows:

Young people:

· Generate ideas and explore possibilities

· Ask questions to extend their thinking

· Connect their own and others’ ideas and experiences in inventive ways

· Question their own and other’ assumptions

· Try out alternatives or new solutions and follow ideas through

· Adapt ideas as circumstances change

https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110215111658/http://curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/skills/personal-learning-and-thinking-skills/index.aspx

The main reason why this sort of stuff has become unpopular, despite it’s apparent desirability, seems to be to do with the fact that you can’t possibly predict what ‘skills’ someone might need in the future - so why bother trying? At face value, this seems a bit defeatist, but the core of the argument rests on the idea that it doesn’t make sense to waste time on teaching something that we’re not certain will be of any use anyway. After all, there are a great deal of other more pressing things to be getting on with, and we can’t do it all.

It would be hard to argue against this kind of pragmatism, except for the fact that it’s based on the assumption that there are teachers and schools out there who are happily setting aside lesson time to teach children how to think creatively. Now I can’t speak for everyone, but I have worked with a lot of schools and I’ve never met anyone who does this. It’s never the main event, and no one is planning lessons on how to ‘explore possibilities’ - mainly because we know that it doesn’t work. I’m not sure that creative thinking can be taught explicitly, but at the same time, we should be wary of dismissing an idea out of hand just because it might not be as straightforward as we’d like.

When we’re faced with a new curriculum or updated inspection framework, it’s tempting to look back on what we’ve done before as being old hat or maybe a bit naïve. Sometimes though, it’s not that the original idea or intention was bad, just that it needs a different perspective. It may well be that generic learning and thinking skills such as creative thinking were originally intended to be the focus of curriculum, but for me, they should always represent the by-product. An effective curriculum has the development of knowledge at its heart, but it also creates the conditions for creative thinking to develop too.

This can be achieved in a number of ways: firstly, we can look to create opportunity within individual subjects. Maths is a good example of just how effective this can be - if children have learnt a new concept, we’d avoid the temptation to move on to whatever might be next, and instead would throw just the right kind of spanner into the works to push them into thinking harder about the thing they can already to. We might call it mastery or ‘going deeper’, but this is essentially creative thinking in maths - exploring possibilities, making connections, adapting, overcoming barriers - it’s all there. Whether we replicate this approach across the curriculum is another matter, but if not, why not?

For me though, before we get into individual subjects, we should spend a bit of time considering the curriculum itself, or more specifically, the way that we present the curriculum to our children.

For as long as I can remember, the majority of primary schools have adopted a topic-based approach to curriculum design. An example of this from my own school would be a Y6 geography topic we called ‘The force of nature.’ After coming up with the jazzy topic name, we set about looking for cross-curricular links, and when our topic map was sufficiently joined up, we then thought about the outcomes that we’d want the children to produce.

It’s a pretty traditional way of working, but after reflecting on this process, it struck us that whilst it was undeniably a creative approach - it was all about our creativity rather than the children’s.

To get to grips with this imbalance, we developed the idea of concept-based learning - a curriculum model framed around an enquiry process. In terms of curriculum coverage, not a lot changed. In this geography example, we still covered volcanoes and earthquakes, but rather than immediately go for cross-curricular links, we instead identified philosophical concepts that we could explore through that particular bit of curriculum…

Curriculum content: Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Natural disasters

Concepts: Resilience, Adversity, Change, Equality, Strength

Following this, the concepts were then used to make connections with other curriculum areas. If we were looking at art for example, then I can leave behind the papier-mâché volcano and instead use any artworks that explore one or more of the concepts. Equally, in English, rather than scrape around for a high-quality text about natural disasters, I could go for any book that dealt with themes of adversity, change, or any one of the other concepts.

To complete the process, we then created an enquiry question that would frame the concepts and give the children a starting point for their enquiry.

Concepts: Resilience, Adversity, Change, Equality, Strength

Enquiry question: Does adversity always make us stronger?

In terms of the children’s ownership, this is not dissimilar to the process we went through before. It’s still the teacher who comes up with the concepts and enquiry question, not the children. The key difference however between this and a topic-based approach is in what happens when the enquiry begins.

Rather than being passive recipients of our creativity, the children are actively involved from the outset. The enquiry question is specifically designed to encourage more questions and thoughts - something that continues throughout the process.

As individual subject disciplines are developed and the children become more knowledgeable, they have the opportunity to explore the concepts, generate ideas, challenge assumptions and deepen their understanding, all whilst making connections between what they know and their broader understanding of the world.

Developing this model hasn’t guaranteed the development of creative thinking, but it has created the foundations, and, if nothing else, it’s repositioned the children as the ones who need to do the thinking rather than us. In the words of one of our Y6 girls: ‘We did all the work, and the teachers did nothing!’. Just the way it should be.

If you’d like to visit St Catherine’s to see the Corridor of Curiosity for yourself (along with having the chance to explore school and find out about the other interesting stuff we’re up to), please take a look at our open days on Eventbrite.

To find out more about our approach to curriculum, then look no further than my book ‘The Monkey-Proof Box: Curriculum design for building knowledge, developing creative thinking and promoting independence.’ It’s available from all good retailers and also some less good ones like Amazon.

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orphicrose · 3 years ago

Text

The Only One

Rick x Reader Fanfiction

Summary : life is strange in the rick and morty universe, as we all know. But things get just that little bit weirder when Rick meets you. Something seems oddly familiar with you, but for once In his life he has no idea why. So he searches from reality to reality to try and see if he had met another version of you, only to realise there where none. You where the only one. That’s when it finally hit him…

This is inspired by a song from Rick and morty that I think is beautiful https://youtu.be/epiOcz3HXNo

I accidentally got carried away and wrote too much, so I will probably just do a part 2 so it’s not to much to read if anyone is interested <3

_________________꧁♥︎꧂_________________

Humans are such fragile creatures, always have been and always will be. You knew that, but you refused to surrender down to it. Not wanting to be included In whatever earth had to offer, so you ran away. And not like how a silly fourteen years old runs away from home, Hah… no.

You left the fucking planet, not leaving behind a single trail or speck of dust for someone to follow you with. Your intelligence and ambition was all you needed to carry yourself through life. Travelling the infinite void of space, soon making a name for yourself. For good and for bad. An ordinary person couldnt even dream nor comprehend the things you’ve experienced or seen. And that’s just how you liked it. Being different. It was truly a gift to be intelligent.

And then there was rick, high IQ and normally not happy about it. Seeing his intelligence as a curse. Rick hadn’t seen it all, it was impossible, but he thought he had seen enough to make a valid opinion on life.

It’s pointless.

Such a bitter man with a bitter view on everything, including himself. You see, when you have an overwhelming amount of knowledge weighing down on your mind, you can go two ways. The first being ricks way, not caring about anything since he has seen how big the universe is and doesn’t see a point.

Then there’s your way, feeling blessed to be able to see things that no one else can, and finding a new reason to live every single day.

You two where polar opposites, but also the same. You where both alone in a universe you felt didn’t need you anymore.

The day both of your worlds collided should have been written down in the history books. It was the day both of your beliefs where almost questioned. Wondering whether fate really does exist.

————————————————

Out of the many things you have done, you’ve never visited the same place twice. Making everyday an adventure, as much of a cliche as that sounds it’s true. Not only that, but you seem to have people after you almost everywhere. For your intelligence, or for revenge. But there is one particular spot you cannot get enough of. Finding yourself there when you lose yourself.

It’s an isolated planet in the middle of the andromeda galaxy. It’s a newly ‘emerging moon’ as you like to call it. In fact, you pretty much founded this planet, since its a recent creation. This also means there is no intelligent life yet evolved, so it is safe for you to do what you please.

You go there often, to watch the two suns set over its small horizon and the thousands of stars come into view. Giving you time to reflect on your life. To appreciate it, but not to regret anything. The stars are far to beautiful to bring your mind to anything negative. The planet itself seems to project the meaning of peace and tranquillity even without life. Maybe that’s why it’s so comforting.

Your thoughts where leaving your mind, as you held your eyes closed. Feeling the breeze brush through your hair gently. That beautiful, genuine smile found its way to your face without you noticing. You where to lost in the feeling of relaxation.

But that soon came to an end. That euphoric state was snapped out of you when you noticed a bright light coming towards you. Getting bigger and bigger in just seconds. Until it became more clear, it was a spacecraft of some sort. A poorly built one to say the least. You sat and watched, mesmerised, as the flames from the object slowly engulfed it. Burning in the atmosphere. Finally hitting the ground, you shook your head and sighed. Being brought back into reality.

The flames took a second to fade after the ship had crashed. And it was clearer to see, it was the stereotypical UFO. The type you’d see in cheesy ski-fi films. But it had encryptions written in English. Which was very unusual, especially for it to be in this part of the galaxy.

What was even stranger was that it didn’t have even the slightest burn mark to it’s metal. Your vision of it became clearer and clearer the closer you got, slowly creeping past the incredibly green trees towards it. But just before you got too close, a figure fell out of the vehicle. Swearing like a drunken sailor.

This is what really messed with you, it was a human. You gasped quietly, not being able to remember the last time you saw one. A mix of feelings rushed over you; confusion, fear, excitement? You couldn’t help but stare, his unique blue hair bounced as he picked himself up, not even bothering to dust off the dirt on his lab coat.

“Fuck! You fucking piece of shit spacecraft. You’ve really done it this time Rick you fucking…” he didn’t finish his sentence, as he kicked the lump of metal. Screaming at the top of his voice.

“Fuck!”

You caught a small glimpse of his face, and recognised him. But you weren’t sure where from. You had met millions of people over the years so he could really be anyone. But there was something so compelling about his character. Something that felt like you where being pushed towards him. Or pulled, by a red string perhaps. Something that was just telling you to interact with him.

You stayed hidden behind a rather tall tree, still collecting your thoughts and questioning whether you should help him. Rick had slumped himself against the ship, putting his hands to his face and grunting. Pausing his breakdown for a second to take a sip from his flask, then proceeding to carry on.

He stayed like this for a good few minutes, before you had decided to approach him. Your curiosity and questions where burning at the edge of your mind. You just had to investigate. Keeping a hand on your weapon tucked neatly in a pocket behind your back. You slowly walked towards him, not even being able to speak before he noticed you.

A gun had been pulled to you, aiming directly between your eyes

“What do you want? I’m not in the mood so just tell me in advance if I should shoot you or not..” his eyebrows furrowed, looking at the hand tucked behind your back.

You rolled your eyes, putting your hands up in surrender. Just how you remembered humans to be. Aggressive and impulsive.

“Calm down, I saw your ship crash. Thought you where in need of some assistance. And put that gun down, god…” to your surprise, he did. With a loud grunt he put his gun back into his pocket and turned away. Usually, he probably would’ve shot on site. And who’s to say he still won’t, but right in this moment he is too preoccupied to care.

“God doesn’t fucking exist…” he mumbled “and I definitely don’t need any assistance!”

You raised an eyebrow at him, watching him as he attempted to fix his broken ship. Opening the lid to the engine and being greeted by a storm of smoke. Now Seconds away from another breakdown.

“Are you… okay?” You hesitantly asked, daring to inch closer to him. Probably was the stupidest thing you’ve ever done. He threw the wrench down at the engine as he exploded.

“No, I’m not fucking okay. I lost my grandson, the entire galactic government is after me, I broke my portal gun and I just crashed my ship into a planet with no helpful resources to fix it.!” His speech sped up, and he went dead silent when he stopped talking. Clearly regretting telling you anything. He is usually good at keeping his mind together and keeping his problems to himself. But he had so much adrenaline pumping through his blood, he could barely concentrate.

“I’m, i’m sorry for your loss” is all you managed to get out

“What? Oh no, my grandsons not dead. I just left him somewhere and forgot exactly where…” he spoke slightly softer, still grunting as he tried to analyse his engine.

There was a small silence while you processed everything he had just said. Moving closer to get a look at his engine, you shook your head.

“You’ve burnt it out…”

“Yeah, no shit smart ass” he bit at you

You rolled your eyes and snatched the spanner from the place he had dropped it. Not using it to fix his engine, but you pulled out a small metal box from your pocket instead. Fixing a few pieces together. Rick stood there and watched with a puzzled look on his face. Moving his eyes from the gadget, then up to get a look at you.

His eyebrows softened as he took in your features, the creases in his forehead disappeared. A rush of a strange feeling replaced the adrenaline, not being able to pinpoint what it was but he didn’t like it. He could only describe it as his heart softening, and getting lost in a place that was familiar to him. Thats what he felt when he looked at your eyes, reflecting off of his.

“Hav-have we met before?” He said in a much calmer tone

You placed the gadget on the engine and pressed a small red button on the top, looking up at him.

“I don’t think so?” The box moved around the engine, like a shield. Fixing it effortlessly, Ricks eyes darted from you, to the engine, then back to you. Now with amazement written all over his face.

Deja vu was the only state good enough to describe what he was experiencing. You broke the silence by holding a hand out to introduce yourself.

“I’m y/n”

It took a quick second for him to respond, still trying to process your face and remember how he knows you.

“I’m… Rick” he finally shook your hand.

“Rick Sanchez..”

That name was oddly familiar to you. Like you’d heard it in a dream. Or it was a loved ones name in a past life. You felt like you had heard it before, in a very distant memory. But no recollection of the connection.

“That seems…familiar” you tilted your head, squinting your eyes at the old man who gave you the same look.

“Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if you knew me. I am the smartest man In the universe”

#rick sanchez #morty smith #rick x reader #x reader #fanfiction #fantasy #fanfic #headcannons #spacecraft #rick and morty #ocs #a lot of words #a lot of work #comedy #romance

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an-optimist-prime · 4 years ago

Text

When the sun came up you were looking at me

A Sambucky/WinterFalcon ficlet

Summary: Right now it’s two in the morning, and Bucky is laying on Sam’s couch, and he’s pretty sure that he’s in love with him. - Or, Bucky realises that his one-sided feelings for Sam aren’t so one-sided. Set after TFATWS Season 1.

Word Count: 1350

Rating/Warnings: T, N/A

AO3 Link

See, the thing is, Bucky had truly believed that Steve had been it for him.

Not that Steve had ever felt that way back. It had always been one sided, and honestly, Bucky was just fine with that. Honestly. Because even if Steve didn’t love him back, he still loved him, as a friend, and really, what more could he ask for?

Who else would care for him, anyway? Bucky knows he’s not worthy of it, not after everything he’s done. But even then, he’d always thought that he and Steve were best friends. It was something he had taken for a given.

But then Steve went back to the past, and Bucky once again lost everything. Without a word of warning, Steve had left, leaving him behind in a foreign future he’s only now just beginning to understand. No help, no guidance, just a few words uttered between them as he passed the shield onto Sam and that was it.

And if Bucky’s being honest? It hurt. There’s no other word for it. Hydra’s many forms of torture had nothing on the pain Steve’s abrupt departure left him with.

But he’s fine, really. Well, certainly not at the time, or for a long time after. But Steve deserved to be happy, more than anyone else, and Bucky was never going to deny him that. It’s just that he wishes, sometimes, that he had been enough to make Steve stay. Maybe then he wouldn’t feel so lost all the time. Like he doesn’t fit.

No, that’s not correct. Not anymore. He had wished, past tense.

Because today was different. After today, he actually feels like he might be okay.

The cookout had been nothing short of fantastic. To be there, in public, surrounded by people who were neither fearful nor furious at his presence. People who weren’t trying to control or manipulate him. He’d even been comfortable enough to have his left arm on display, and received nothing but curious looks from some of the adults and adoration from all of the kids. It was all so easy, and all so good, that it makes Bucky think that there might be a home for him at the end of the road, after all.

Maybe.

The only strange thing about the whole night was the fact that Sam spent a fair amount of his time just staring at him, when he thought Bucky wasn’t looking.

And therein lies the problem. Because for so long, Bucky has been lost and alone. He’s been haunted and hunted. Never safe and never free.

And then Sam Wilson came into his life, and that really threw a spanner in the works. Because right now it’s two in the morning, and Bucky is laying on Sam’s couch, and he’s pretty sure that he’s in love with him.

And, he’ll be honest, Bucky didn’t even like him at first. Hell, the first time he met, he’d tried to kill Sam. And yes, he was brainwashed at the time, and yes, that wasn’t his fault, but still. The guilt lingers, and the point remains. They didn’t get along.

Well, until they did. At some point on their mission, something had shifted, and now, they were at the very least friends.

In hindsight though, Bucky supposed it probably shouldn’t have been a shock. There’s been something building between them for a while now. Something that had started rough and tense in the beginning, but had transformed into something far more gentle and familiar.

No, Bucky’s not pretty sure he’s in love with Sam Wilson. He’s one hundred percent goddamned certain he’s in love with him.

And really, how could he not love Sam? He’s a blessing - kind and loyal and brave and so many other things. He’s the only person worthy of holding that shield other than Steve.

And at that thought, Bucky can’t help but laugh a little under his breath. Even he can see the humour in the fact that he’s fallen for Captain America twice. Because honestly? That’s what’s happened here. There’s no point denying it. Bucky even knows the moment it happened.

He distinctly remembers looking up when Sam had just saved the armoured truck with the hostages, looking downright angelic with the wings, and just knowing, oh, this again.

He’ll keep a better lid on it this time, he swears. Sam is his friend, possibly his only true friend at the moment. It’s just that, much like Steve, Sam’s shown no inclination that he feels anything more than that. Which is fine. Truly. Bucky refuses to ruin the one good thing he has going for him at the moment.

So, he lays on Sam’s couch at two in the morning, staring at the ceiling, and wondering how long he’ll get to have this before it’s taken away from him too. He knows he shouldn’t think like that, but old habits die hard.

Bucky’s only stirred from his thoughts when the object of them speaks.

“Can’t sleep?” Sam asks quietly, catching Bucky by surprise. How long has he been there, just standing in the doorway?

Bucky immediately sits up so there’s room on the couch for Sam as well. Sam takes the spot next to him, and Bucky instinctively moves closer to him. He’s always pulled into his orbit.

In the moonlight of the room, Sam looks absolutely gorgeous, and it steals his breath a bit.

“Yeah,” Bucky eventually manages to say. “Just thinking about some stuff. You?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Sam admits. “You got something on your mind?”

It’s asked with gentle concern. Sam knows when to push and when to ease up on something, and Bucky is always grateful for it. Just another reason he loves him.

“Nothing bad,” Bucky replies, trying to distract himself from the fact that he wants to lean across and kiss him. “The opposite, actually.”

“Well, that must be a nice change. Do you want to talk about it?”

There’s something about Sam that makes Bucky want to confess everything, to tell him just how he feels. But not yet. “Maybe someday.”

Sam stares at him for a moment, as if searching for something. “I find that honesty is always a good policy.”

It takes Bucky a moment to find the words. “I wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome.”

“Bucky, you’re all always welcome here. I need you to know that,” After a moment, Sam continues. “Do you really need to go back to New York?”

“No.” Bucky replies, honestly. Because really, his only mission at the moment is to stay as close to Sam as he wants him to be.

Sam’s next words are barely more than a whisper. “Then stay.”

And that’s when it hits Bucky - that maybe, just maybe, it’s not all one-sided this time. And huh, that’s a revelation.

It all clicks into place - the not so casual touches, the intense stares, the lingering moments. It steals his breath away, because he never thought he’d have this.

“Oh.” Bucky says, completely floored.

“Yeah, oh,” Sam sasses back, but he’s smiling. “I was wondering when you’d get it.”

Everything that had been simmering under his skin suddenly surges to the surface. He’s not sure which one of them moves first, crossing the distance between them.

It’s a tender, tentative thing, their first kiss. More like a brush of lips. And yet it’s everything, like home and the promise of more, not far down the line.

After a moment they break apart, breathless. Bucky leans against Sam, their foreheads touching. It’s almost a miracle, how, after everything they’ve both been through, they’ve managed to find each other, been able to find this, here and now.

It’s so much, it might be too much. To have something like this, something perfect, after so long, it’s overwhelming. But Sam is there, gently tracing soothing patterns into the skin of his arm, grounding him. God, he really is perfect, and he’s his.

“Stay.” Sam repeats, his voice barely more than a whisper, and Bucky nods.

He’d do whatever Sam asked of him, honestly. Because finally, in this moment, with Sam Wilson, Bucky feels like he’s home.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a like/kudos or comment, either here or on the Archive (Fic Link). Positive feedback is what keeps me going! I’m always up to talk Sambucky, the MCU, and fandom in general, so please feel free to come chat with me, here on tumblr or on my twitter. Thanks again ❤️

#my fanfic #fanfic #sambucky #winterfalcon #sam wilson #bucky barnes #mcu #avengers #tfatws

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vaultureculture · 3 years ago

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Meet my Guardians :) [part 1?]

I have been playing Eldarya ever since I was 14. For the past few years, I had been reading the story religiously, mixing in headcanons to fill plot-holes, and fleshing out Erika until she became something entirely different.

Her character soon split into my three mains, all of whom I will introduce to you all in this post! In my Eldarya AU, they all exist in the same universe, and the three of them play crucial roles in the Oracle’s prophecy. I will develop them more as time goes by hmhm

1-Monnika

Name: Monnika Defreine (she/her)

Birth date: 14th November [ ♏︎ ]

Age: 22

Species: Faelienne (Aengel+Human)

MBTI: INFP

Guard: Absynthe Guard

Familiar: Lillith (Bâkhrâhell)

LI: Leiftan (both in TO and in ANE)

Occupation in the Guard of Eel: She has taken on the role of a teacher for many children inside the H.Q’s walls. She specializes in lyrical poetry and composition. Whenever she is free from her teaching job, she adventures out into the forest to collect ingredients for ointments and potion spells.

Sub-occupation: Trained alchemist, Oracle visualizer. Monnika has frequent premonitory dreams and visions featuring the Oracle, but she cannot understand them nor speak in their tongue. Her visual communication with the Oracle is important regardless, and she’s the most attached to it.

Weapon of choice: Sword

Pros: Forgiving, educated, compassionate, patient, reliable.

Cons: A push-over, easily biased, indecisive, self-victimizing, very edgy.

Monnika follows the more “canon Erika” path. She is the only one of the main three to have come from Earth through the portal we see at the beginning of the game. She is also the only one to retain an element of Aengel blood, albeit stronger than Erika’s. The option was ruled out for canon Erika, but Monnika is indeed adopted and a faelienne. She’s aware of her adoption but does not know anything else about her background, nor has she cared to know.

In her childhood, she was often reported to affect nearby light and energy sources. Her parents believed her to simply be sensitive to electromagnetic fields. This explanation is usually given to spiritual mediums: The energy they accumulate is said to be what causes paranormal phenomena around them.

Once she crossed the portal into Eldarya, she began regulating her Maana, and her powers started manifesting more. The eventual blood transfusion and ‘soul-tethering’ with Leiftan jumpstarted a physical transformation, leaving her stuck out of her human disguise. Now, do not let her edgy appearance fool you: she is an Aengel.

Monnika's form is inspired by traditional Seraphims— that is, ominous balls of eyes and feathers. Her blood is ancient, and her outside reflects it: Upon transforming, all of her grows in size monstrously. She prostrates, back heavy with wings, as blazing white light fills her sockets. Her spindly fingers dig into the soil, like the feeble limbs of a black widow spider. She is one with the earth her mother bore her from; in her presence, one feels as though judgment is neigh.

There are no reasons to fear her, though, for she is kind and reserved. Monnika finds joy in tranquility and avoids company most of the time. After her initial transformation, she grew more distant, ashamed of her new condition. Her human blood keeps her from smoothly regulating her powers, so she is stuck in her angel form from the first time it occurs to the end of the War for Eldarya, before the 7-year coma. With training, she is finally able to change back to a more human disguise.

Leiftan and Monnika are, indeed, soulmates. She always felt herself gravitate towards him and followed this attraction without remorse. Her alliance stands with Leiftan and with Leiftan only, which made her position in TO quite complicated. Her lover's crimes were heinous, but her eagerness to build bridges between them again kept her from understanding the seriousness of it all. After their coma, her spirit and trust are broken by Leiftan's distance. She's then left to pine from afar, desperately trying to comprehend how she's supposed to live with half a heart.

2-Astraea

Name: Astraea Varma (she/her)

Birth date: 5th March [ ♓︎ ]

Age: 24

Species: Euryhalin nomadic mermaid

MBTI: ISFJ

Guard: Obsidian Guard

Familiar: Thetis (Blobbiathan)

LI: Valkyon (TO) & Mathieu (ANE)

Occupation in the Guard of Eel: Unwilling to find herself (or her peers) wounded and helpless in the midst of battle, she started working as a nurse under the protection of Ewelein. Her eagerness to learn and help others soon turned her into a sponge for medical knowledge.

Sub-occupation: Obsidian infantry soldier, Crystal fragment detector. Astraea can easily sense the presence of crystal fragments, corrupted or not. She can easily follow them to where they are, as if they left a visible trail.

Weapon of choice: Hammer or enchanted fists.

Pros: law-abiding, empathetic, just, optimistic, fun to be around.

Cons: Inflexible, holds grudges, bad loser, stubborn, quick to judge.

Astraea washed up on a small stream that crosses the forest of Eel. She was found by Ykhar and Alajéa on the noon of the same day that Monnika appeared in the Crystal Room. Astraea had no recollection of her journey upon waking up beside the fact that she was looking for something significant. She made allusions to it being noted down in her journals, all of which she lost in the last half of her trip.

She comes from a clan of Euryhalin nomadic mermaids, aquatic creatures who can travel both through rivers and oceans according to migratory seasons. These migration patterns are marked by the moon and the stars, so these mermaids are essentially nocturnal. This is similar (if not the same, even) to the structure and tradition of Alajéa and her sister Colaïa’s clan. The likeness between Alajéa and Astraea’s experiences will eventually strengthen the bond between them, and make them grow closer than ever— despite the initial moments of sourness. The only thing that could throw a spanner in the works is Astraea's distaste for Karenn, Alajéa's best friend. The breach between them is no different in ANE, as Karenn's overall demeanor is quick to make Astraea's blood boil.

Despite being an Obsidian, Astraea fears conflict and very much dislikes harming others. She is not one to await battle with a smile, nor is she an outstanding warrior by herself. Nevertheless, it is her wit, perseverance, and fairness that landed her on that guard. Moments of doubt, like passing mists, may have clouded her self-perception; She may have broken down many times but always stood up again to dedicate more effort to her cause. She fights when necessary, using her knowledge in enchantments to gather up fists of rocks as her weapons.

Incredibly passionate about justice and discipline, Astraea held the Obsidian chief Valkyon in high regard. He became one of her confidants in the tortuous search for her memories; then, a partner to stand by as the world caved in. After the War and the 7-year coma, Astraea withdrew into isolation, grieving over the loss of her lover and mentor. The cherry tree that once was Valkyon’s shelter is now Astraea’s place of reflection— a deep, melancholic pondering only Mathieu, a new friend, and Sonzaishinai, an old friend, can get her out of.

3)Sonzaishinai

Name: Hélène “Sonzaishinai” Müller(she/her)

Birth date: 20th May [ ♊︎ ]

Age: 25

Species: Nocturnal fae (moth variant)

MBTI: ENTP

Guard: Shadow Guard

Familiar: Skade (Owlett)

LI: Nevra (TO) & Lance (ANE)

Occupation in the Guard of Eel: Hélène had always shown a questionable interest in the archives of the H.Q. When Ykhar offered her to work as an adjoined archive librarian, she could not pass it up. She knows the catalogue by heart and has gathered a bunch of...information that may be of use to her.

Sub-occupation: Master archer, Oracle interpreter. Sonzaishinai has auditory hallucinations featuring the Oracle. She is able to understand her tongue and speak in the Ancient tongue of Eel, thus being able to interpret many crucial pieces of information.

Weapon of choice: Bow and arrow.

Pros: Diplomatic, humorous, witty, loyal, affectionate.

Cons: Hides information, violent under stress, impulsive, patronizing.

Sonzaishinai was brought to the H.Q disheveled and delirious by a group of local Purreko merchants. They had accused her of theft (bread? a dragon tear? so they said), and she was thrown into a cell pre-emptively. Nevertheless, her worn-down state and the lack of evidence ended the trial period rather quickly. For lack of planning and information about her, she was kept in jail for an extra day. Sonzaishinai was in prison at the same time as Monnika. The 'masked man' freed both, and the girls parted ways at the Hall of Doors.

As a disoriented newcomer, Sonzaishinai was granted shelter. She was allowed three days to recover and decide on her fate. She would either hit the road and return to her homeland or commit to becoming a productive citizen of Eel— by settling and supporting local markets, or joining the staff. Her affairs were thoroughly searched, and nothing was found but a couple notebooks filled with inscriptions in an alphabet unknown. Under questioning, Sonzaishinai soon proved to be, somehow, proficient in languages galore, many of them forgotten and unused.

She soon joined the same recruit program as Monnika and Astraea...not without the Guard's persuasion, of course. There, Sonzaishinai and Astraea grew close beyond belief. They learned to lean on each other, bound by laughter and blind trust. Sonzaishinai considers Astraea a sister and does not hesitate to call her so— while Astraea always goes to Sonzaishinai for guidance. In ANE's weapon giving ceremony, Hélène chooses to call her new bow (it is Monnika who gets the sword) "Astraea", for she believes the younger mermaid to be her protection and good luck charm.

The nickname "Sonzai Shinai" was given to her by a guard colleague from the Jade Coast. It is a verbal expression of Japanese origin, meaning "there is not", "it does not exist". The culprit behind Hélène's telling nickname is no other than her silence: One can barely hear her arrive, and she always seems to appear as suddenly as she fades away. With time, she fully adopted the nickname, and nobody really calls her Hélène anymore—with rare exceptions.

Nocturnal faes are beings as mysterious and charming as they are dangerous. Most of them present themselves as delicate young women, who seem far too attractive or even stuck in time, never aging. Behind their lips, however, hide sharp teeth. They are carnivorous and oftentimes conniving, some even venomous, just like the habitats or plants they frequent. It depends on the individual, of course, but they do not have the best reputation around. Whatever they really are, it is not advisable to seal deals with them. They always have a trick up their sleeve.

Although Hélène can be 100% trusted if you are her ally, she does tend to keep many things a secret. It was her that contacted Lance in TO, never telling Miiko and even asking him to take her along. She built a sense of trust between them that allowed Lance to feel comfortable enough to kidnap her in particular, hoping she'd be the one to understand his goals the most. He'd never thought that she'd know as much as him and that she'd been using him to get new leads the entire time. Despite it all, they were always capable of dialogue, which threatens to come back in an incredibly mentally stimulating way upon their new meeting.

Regarding Nevra, Sonzaishinai had always felt a strong, nurturing love towards him. He'd proven to be an ambitious brat with too big of an ego one too many times, but his light-heartedness and genuine attachment got to her rather quickly. Upon waking up after the 7-year coma, she did not recognize the moody and regretful man before her. He'd promised to love her forever, but now she stood alone spiteful, facing empty words. Despite their falling out, she will always have a soft spot for him and won't doubt to put herself in harm's way for him.

#eldarya #eldarya a new era #gardienne #erika #beemov #eldarya oc #oc #eldarya guardian #original character #eldarya ane #eldarya to #eldarya spoilers #eldarya karenn #eldarya alajea #eldarya leiftan #eldarya nevra #eldarya valkyon #eldarya lance

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letsbeoutoftouch · 3 years ago

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Back in December 2016, during a sleepover, my friends and I decided to watch EXO's Chanyeol's most recent movie, "So I Married an Anti-Fan". It effortlessly became one of my favourite movies, so much so that I rewatch it —at least— once a year.

Therefore, when it was first announced that South Korea was going to produce a drama based on the same story, I was thrilled. The feeling only increased when I found out that the male lead was Choi Tae-Joon, whom I loved because of Suspicious Partner. Later (to be more precise, this year), I discovered that the other lead was the one and only Sooyoung from SNSD!

The drama was filmed back in 2018, and it was supposed to air a loooot sooner, but it had a few problems and it finally came out this year. Since I don't like waiting for episodes to come out each week, I waited until it finished airing to watch it... And, today, I finished it!

So, here's my review, fresh out the oven!

· · ·

So I Married an Anti-Fan is a 2021 South Korean drama, featuring Choi Tae-Joon, Choi Sooyoung, Hwang Chansung and Han Ji-Ahn. It's based on the novel "그래서 나는 안티팬과 결혼했다" (So I Married an Anti-Fan), written by Kim Eun Jun and published in 2010.

youtube

· · ·

♡ PLOT:

The story revolves around Hoo Joon (Tae-Joon), a well-known idol, and Geun Young (Sooyoung), a magazine reporter. They meet during an event, where a series of misunderstandings leads them to have a bad impression of each other.

For this reason, when Geun Young loses her job, she's under the impression that it was Hoo Joon's doing and is therefore keen on "reveal" Joon's real character. However, her retaliation backfires, and she attracts a lot of attention as his "anti-fan".

Later, a TV producer approaches them both to star in a reality show. Geun Young and Hoo Joon accept and think to give each other a hard time on set. But, as time goes by, they get to know each other better and better.

· · ·

♡ EPISODES:

It's made up of 16 episodes, running for an hour each (i.e., your typical k-drama).

· · ·

♡ CHARACTERS:

-Geun Young (FL): She's the best character, hands down (I swear I'm not being biased because I love Sooyoung).

For some reason, I've seen a lot of bad comments about this character. I don't truly understand why some people said that she didn't stand up for herself or that she was so-so, when she dealt really well with everything that had happened to her. I'd like to see all those people in her shoes—I bet they'd have cracked up quickly.

Also, she's like the least toxic character I've ever come across in a drama. She waits patiently for Joon to deal with his problems and doesn't jump to conclusions regarding his relationship with In Hyeong and Jae Joon. She lets him do his thing, is an independent woman, and tries to be as little of a burden as she can to the people she cares about. So, props to her!

▫ ▫ ▫

-Hoo Joon (ML): Although I overall liked his character, I admit that if I hadn't previously watched the movie, I'd probably be wary of him at the beginning. But, don't worry: as the story progresses, you get to know him better. He's patient and thinks of other people's feelings and well-being a lot (sometimes, a little too much for his own good, but he's a good boy).

I felt the need to include that there was this one scene where he acts... In a way that I didn't find appealing. Fortunately, he isn't like that all throughout the drama. Also, he isn't toxic like a lot of the male leads in drama-land. If you're wondering which scene I'm referring to, here's a spoiler: *SPOILER ALERT* When he and Geun Young start dating, they are requested to film an advertisement together. In the filming, he acts all "jealous" because the dress she was wearing was too short for his liking. I'm sorry, but she's the only one who has a say on how short a dress she's wearing is—not you, not even if you're her partner *END OF SPOILER ALERT*.

▫ ▫ ▫

-JJ/Jae Joon (SML): Jae Joon is the second male lead, and he was portrayed by 2PM's Chansung.

I'm sorry, but I never could come to terms with this character, not even during the last episodes. If the writers' intention was for me to hate him, they (and Chansung's acting) totally achieved that purpose.

He is incredibly selfish and keeps this attitude up to episode 13/14. Towards the ending, the story tries that the audience feels some sympathy towards him—it is shown why he acted the way he did. Nevertheless, in my opinion, while his past may explain his actions, it doesn't justify any of them. That's why I couldn't bring myself to feel sympathetic or empathetic towards him. *SPOILER ALERT* In fact, I think Hoo Joon was too nice to be there for him in the last two or three episodes. *END OF SPOILER ALERT*

He's also outright abusive. *SPOILER ALERT* I mean, he slapped In Hyeong and broke her laptop ¿?... Even though I didn't like her that much, nothing justifies that kind of violent behaviour. *END OF SPOILER ALERT*

▫ ▫ ▫

-In Hyeong (SFL): She's the second female lead, portrayed by actress Han Ji-Ahn.

Oh, man. I had a hard time trying to wrap my head around this character. I was just going to say that I couldn't stand her because she was always purposely putting a spanner in the works, making everyone's life difficult.

However, as I was drafting this review, I began reflecting on the character and felt sympathy for her. She was in a vulnerable place—leaving aside that she felt abandoned by her first love, she had trouble trying to make her career take off, and she was in a really abusive relationship. It could be argued that JJ and In Hyeon were both toxic to each other, but it was clear that he was the one with the upper hand (he was the CEO of her new agency, which brings a real disbalance of power).

Moreover, it was hinted several times that all she went through took a toll on her mental health (*SPOILER ALERT* she was always taking pills to calm down, and she freaking tried to kill herself!!!!!!! *END OF SPOILER ALERT*). I believe she needed professional help to put herself back together, so she could let go of her past and finally leave that abusive relationship.

· · ·

♡ COUPLES:

Since this drama mostly gravitates towards romantic relationships, I'm including this section.

▫ ▫ ▫

-Geun Young x Hoo Joon: They are your typical enemies to lovers.

In the beginning, their relationship was tainted by a lot of misunderstandings, which led them to hate each other's guts (but, where's the charm in a k-drama that isn't filled with misunderstandings, am I right?). Once they started to spend more time together, they began understanding each other better. In time, they were able to leave their pride aside and got rid of their prejudices (yes, the story gives Jane Austen-ish vibes, so much so that "Pride and Prejudice" is mentioned a few times).

Their chemistry was alright. I would have changed some parts of the script that made a lot of scenes to be super cringey—especially, before some of their kisses (like, what a way to ruin such an awaited moment!).

The thing I liked the most about them was that neither of them was toxic, and they knew how and when to give the other person space. They were sweet, but not unbearable sweet—just the exact amount.

▫ ▫ ▫

-In Hyeong x Jae Joon: I don't know if they can be considered a true couple, but I'm adding them here just to repeat that I HATED THEM TOGETHER.

· · ·

♡ SOME PERSONAL INTERPRETATIONS AND THOUGHTS:

For me, the story tries to show the two sides of the same coin: things that may seem completely different, but are essentially the same. You can see it with Hoo Joon/Geun Young, their friends, and even with Hoo Joon/Jae Joon. Of course, this could be argued—it is just my personal impression.

Also, while the drama condemns some of the toxic fan behaviour, it sometimes romanticises it. *SPOILER ALERT* one fan freaking kidnapped him, and everything was suddenly alright ¿¿ Nuh-uh *END OF SPOILER ALERT*

· · ·

♡ DRAMA VS. MOVIE:

As I mentioned above, there's a prior Chinese movie from 2016 that was based on this novel. It features EXO's Chanyeol, Yuan Shan Shan, SNSD's Seohyun, and Jian Chao.

For obvious reasons, the story is shrunk down in the movie. There are a lot of things that weren't included in the movie, other things were overly simplified, and some stuff was missing and/or changed.

If you want to have a good laugh, then I recommend you to watch the movie. It's filled with non-sensical comedy that, in my opinion, China excels at. However, if you are more inclined towards drama, then the South Korean version is the one for you (you'll laugh, too, don't worry).

· · ·

♡ SUMMARY:

This is, basically, a sweet enemies-to-lovers, famous-person-and-normal-person story. If you like any of those troupes, then you're in for a treat.

It's a really lighthearted story that will make you laugh. Don't expect a complicated plot because there won't be one. It's ideal to have a break from all those dramas where you can't miss a single detail because you'll get lost, or from those dramas which plots are so heavy they end up tiring your mind out.

I loved the cast, and their acting was great (especially Chansung's, because he made me hate his character with a passion, lmao).

ALSO, if you like Sung Hoon (My Secret Romance, Oh My Venus) like me, then WATCH THIS DRAMA, lol. He has a guest role in some episodes!

· · ·

So I Married an Anti-Fan is available on VIKI!

· · ·

If you read the whole review, thank you very much! I hope you liked it.

#so i married an anti fan #so i married the anti fan #kdrama #kdramas #choi sooyoung #choi tae joon #chansung #han ji ahn #review

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arthurtristankingsmen · 4 years ago

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More and longer theory chatter with @flash-the-geist with guest stars who popped in. This one is longer since it’s theorizing but turned into something Flash affectionately named the ‘Esprestissimo AU’ which I am keeping because I love it so much.

Most of this mainly features Duet thoughts and then shenanigans ! The most I did was add a missing thing in my own comments for clarification or that my brain skipped over when typing it before, or where I adjust the order of the messages for cohesiveness

please enjoy jdjd

flaaaash — Today at 4:35 AM

hmmm what if the note-taker is Duet, taking notes about "Solo"? that implies they're two different people

Arthur — Today at 4:36 AM

that's what i was thinking-- that the ‘He’ in the note is reverb, and this note is in reference to reverb, but also a comment on Solo, and the Duet 'wrote' this character profile as like-- a case file if they're in charge of the organization

so duet is like 'solo' claims she still needs to study him for research in a note on the file he's taking on reverb or something like that

flaaaash — Today at 4:37 AM

this might be my deep, unfortunate familiarity with bureaucracy talking, but- if the person in charge is also the one taking notes, it's a very small organization

Arthur — Today at 4:37 AM

oh yeah

i imagined it was tiny personally

tempo seems on the smaller side so if it's all based there, i was imagining it was relatively small

flaaaash — Today at 4:38 AM

not international then, perhaps

adkjfakjf oooh now I want to make a little card for Flash

Arthur — Today at 4:39 AM

yeah no-- at least since the name tempo of the town following the motif like seemingly implies it's based in/related to the town since if follows the reference style

or that's my thinking anyways?

flaaaash — Today at 4:39 AM

very true

imagine if Tempo is just Like That and the rest of the world is totally normal

Arthur — Today at 4:40 AM

i personally think vivi didn't grow up in tempo now more tho-- because i think if she did and there is an organization, they woulda gotten wind of her and she probably would've been recruited since she's smart and clearly into that kind of thing

and if she was in the org and knew what she was doing, i don't know if she would've gone to the cave if she was at all in the Know

flaaaash — Today at 4:40 AM

or they would have tried to study Mystery?

Arthur — Today at 4:41 AM

that too!!

even if they brought her in just because of mystery i imagine they would've brought her in

flaaaash — Today at 4:41 AM

maybe that's what the "her research into "REDACTED" is referring to. Research into mystery?

it all does seem to come back to him

Arthur — Today at 4:42 AM

or maybe she's relatively new to tempo still, and duet gave her a job because they intended to bring her in at some point but hadn't yet

like there were steps to take and like-- the cave happened before things could get fully underway

i mean at my job i applied in like-- march, and i didn't get an interview until may, and then i didn't get any training until november, and then i didn't get brought in to learn the job until december. so it'd be easy to imagine that if there was a reason, bringing her in could be a slow process

flaaaash — Today at 4:43 AM

that might also explain why there were all these "go back" signs in the cave

clearly someone with English language skills put the signage there

Arthur — Today at 4:43 AM

that too! it definitely felt like it was to warn off people and keep them from tresspassing

but the gang were kids and also ghost don't haunt the places that aren't super scary and dangerous! so of course they gotta go in!

flaaaash — Today at 4:45 AM

maybe they weren't expecting someone like Vivi at all

she was a wild card that popped up and threw a spanner in the works accidentally

Arthur — Today at 4:45 AM

yeah!

i can imagine her just coming in and completely bamboozling everyone

duet is like 'okay we'll get her in on this but we'll take some time to sort everything and judge where she's at skill wise since we have time and it's not like she can get into any danger with all our protective me--oh no'

flaaaash — Today at 4:48 AM

that calls Duet's motivation into question a lil bc - there's at least a significant amount of time between Lewis dying and them finding him again

since their search is reasonably extensive and Arthur's had time to heal up. So why didn't Duet do anything during this time?

Arthur — Today at 4:50 AM

hmmmm--- well we know it's been less than a year since the cave happened at least, and i think the way Ben talked about it sounded like it was a relatively short time table of only a few months, so maybe they wanted to give them recovery time or they weren't sure how to broach it-- i'm not sure. maybe the comic will give some kind of insight hopefully if the case is that vivi came in like that

i feel like it'd be interesting and make more sense given what she has available magic wise and mystery-wise if she wasn't in town until much later in life to explain why she wouldn’t already be working with the organization. but i'm still like hmm

because you do have a point that there would be a fair bit of inaction, unless for some reason vivi's memory issues or something was a problem or something happens in the prequel to explain or hint

tho now that brings into question if duet knows Lewis is dead, how are things not being managed better

i mean i've had arthur say in the past and i've said once or twice that like-- i think arthur was already working with prosthetics. so he could've had an arm mostly built and just had to make a more functioning one so that could've been fast. so hopefully maybe the prequel comic is set a bit before and might explain duet helping or something in a way that could make sense of it?

especially given he did make galaham's wheels already and such. he might've already built one but needed to make a new one set up for him

flaaaash — Today at 4:54 AM

I'm fairly sure people would at least know he's missing

I guess it's possible that the 'memory magic' thing that makes Vivi forget - it could affect everyone except Arthur and Mystery?

Arthur — Today at 4:56 AM

that's possible--

we have only seen mystery and arthur in the world seeming to know what's going on, so we don't know who knows what. just that vivi doesn't know lewis

but maybe nobody else does either to some degree

flaaaash — Today at 4:56 AM

Arthur being possessed at the time, and Mystery being a magical being himself. We don't have any evidence that anyone else remembers Lewis, although he seems to still be in pictures

Arthur — Today at 4:57 AM

people did seem confused arthur was freaking out in the store in the comic and like

idk. if i knew he lost his best friend i'd be more sympathetic/not look at him like he was crazy. I’d assume something set him off but probably feel bad for him if i knew what happened in the last year?

because i would imagine mental health is in the toilet after going on a trip and losing a friend even if he was only 'missing'

and the way arthur mentioned lewis and when vivi forgets he's just like 'nevermind'. if no one really remembers Lewis, then maybe giving up trying to explain is because he’s used to no one knowing who he means

flaaaash — Today at 4:58 AM

yea h

Arthur — Today at 4:58 AM

what if arthur only remembers lewis? (and mystery does)

Don't forget to take your meds ❤ — Today at 4:58 AM

In fairness most people would be confused if they saw someone having a panic attack in public, no matter how much was known about the person

flaaaash — Today at 4:58 AM

also if Lewis looked like himself for a moment just before dropping Arthur - does that mean Lance saw him?

or did he only see skele-version and thus didn't recognize him as Lewis

Arthur — Today at 4:58 AM

hmmmmm--- i lean to skele vision. he turned back pretty quick iirc

flaaaash — Today at 4:59 AM

I'm torn between analysing between a storyteller perspective and an in-world perspective

Arthur — Today at 5:01 AM

por que no los dos?

also

hmmm-- i think given people were like 'what's up with that guy', it seemed either not knowing what was going on with him or what it could stem from, but if lewis disappeared in a small town i feel like a lot of the details would've spread. so they might assume it had to do with that instead-- so it feels like maybe most people don't know

which seems strange in a smaller community because stuff gets around

flaaaash — Today at 5:01 AM

especially since the Peppers own a restaurant

Arthur — Today at 5:01 AM

yeah-- in a small town place a restuarant is usually a social hub of sorts

so if lewis disppeared i'm sure people would talk given he was a waiter and thus kind of a face for the restaurant

flaaaash — Today at 5:02 AM

also if they think he's missing and not dead, his family would be looking for him too. which means missing persons pics and all that

Arthur — Today at 5:02 AM

yeah and we didn’t see any. and some people not knowing or visitors i could get, but everyone seemed surprised by arthur freaking out, and if they knew lewis was missing and lewis and arthur were friends, it feels odd to like-- none of them to even look sympathetic

i would imagine if they knew lewis was gone they'd assume arthur would be more emotionally reactive than usual-- unless they have no idea that something is going on with arthur because you know-- lewis is erased jdjd

i mean the reason we know vivi doesn't remember is because her eyes glowed as lewis got phased out of the photo

but who knows maybe him being phased out was in general and that just meant she was affected too. everyone gets amnesia

flaaaash — Today at 5:03 AM

also slightly cracky theory but - if they ended up accidentally in the research facility during Ghost, that would explain why Vivi found a fully-stocked fridge alkja;gl

Arthur — Today at 5:04 AM

DSJDDLJSDLFJDSJL

that would be hilarious

lewis is his own scp in his tantrum mansion

they just keep an eye on the lot

flaaaash — Today at 5:05 AM

well what else are they gonna do with him??? xD

Arthur — Today at 5:05 AM

dslsdjdsfljdsfd

''welp no one knows who this guy is soooooo manor in the middle of nowhere time'

flaaaash — Today at 5:06 AM

"so the waiter turned into a vengeful spirit?" "oh uhhhh ok put him in a box i guess until we figure something out?"

ok theory- Duet knows Lewis is dead, but is trying to figure out a way to help/break the memory magic on Vivi, and that's why he's in the mansion/cave for a while before Ghost?

Arthur — Today at 5:06 AM

i like it! i think them knowing and approaching arthur in the comic and using 'rancid vibes' as an excuse would make sense

flaaaash — Today at 5:07 AM

"so that Vivi person wandered in again somehow and now the vengeful waiter ghost is loose?" "for fuck's sake you had ONE JOB-"

Arthur — Today at 5:07 AM

they know what's actually going on but they kinda act like everyone else while also getting arthur something that might help him in that book that i think will be important in the plot of the prequel

DL;G;HDGSAL;HKGSDHL;DGS

flash you have the biggest brain

flaaaash — Today at 5:08 AM

,kadjgalgkj

"also there was this killer tree-" "I do not care about the tree, one problem at a time"

Poor Duet is having A Week

but the mental image of them trying to avoid Arthur and Vivi investigating, while trying to find ??? and re-capture him while shoving Lewis in a box is hilarious, and then they run into Shiromori and just throw their hands in the air like "can u not????". And then Murder Mystery shows up and they just quit

Arthur — Today at 5:10 AM

dlaajldkljjdl;dldjlfkfd

duet is just like

on their tenth cup of coffee

Don't forget to take your meds ❤ — Today at 5:10 AM

Arthur: Those are rookie numbers

Arthur — Today at 5:11 AM

they see murder mystery and go back inside the shop like 'can you add like 5 espresso shots to this'

flaaaash — Today at 5:11 AM

explains why they're like "Arthur pls your vibes. Do you KNOW what I've been dealing with"

Arthur — Today at 5:11 AM

asdl;;dfslhsdahg;as;dghkghsdllhsgd

flaaaash — Today at 5:11 AM

"five extra shots and a red bull chaser please-"

Arthur — Today at 5:12 AM

(also just still crosses my fingers for medium/spiritually-sensitive!arthur to be canon but if not it will live on in my fannon)

dsldjllssfdf

they just start shoving coffee grounds directly into their mouth

flaaaash — Today at 5:12 AM

this series has a lot of antagonists

akjdalgj just crunching beans down whole

Arthur — Today at 5:13 AM

i need-- to draw duet

looking tired with a coffee

flaaaash — Today at 5:14 AM

Duet with a giant cup of coffee, staring at Murder Mystery with a deadpan stare and going "Absolutely not, I forbid it, there is not enough coffee in the WORLD."

Arthur — Today at 5:14 AM

flash and will if i share this chatter on tumblr would you be okay with it ? or would u rather i block out names if i do

i feel like some of this is hilarious and people need to experience it

flaaaash — Today at 5:14 AM

akdflaf no go for it

I will out myself as a sham of a storyboarder

Arthur — Today at 5:15 AM

duet is that gif of the ghost busters lady going 'mmm nope not today, room full of nightmares'

and turning and walking away

duet is doing their best and needs a nap

tired as Arthur

flaaaash — Today at 5:15 AM

Duet walking around the corner to see the gang facing down Murder Mystery: swivels on one foot and goes right back the way they came

Arthur — Today at 5:15 AM

ldjldljd EXACTLY

Don't forget to take your meds ❤ — Today at 5:16 AM

Heheheheh

Arthur — Today at 5:16 AM

like look at this person

look at their eyebags

they are Tired

they have deal with this bullshittery

they have sass to provide

but they also are Tired and done with this shit

flaaaash — Today at 5:16 AM

I want Duet and Arthur playing a game of caffeine chicken

Marshy — Today at 5:16 AM

Huge massive sigh as they see the whole bullshit situation go down and turns around to go back to the bookshop

flaaaash — Today at 5:16 AM

just lined up at the cafe bar, espresso shots in rows down the counter as they lock eyes-

who shall win- the CAFFEINE-OFF?

Arthur — Today at 5:17 AM

flash

pls if you right that i will pay you money

or maybe art

Marshy — Today at 5:17 AM

It's me I'll win

flaaaash — Today at 5:17 AM

SLFKJLKGS

Arthur — Today at 5:17 AM

dlasd;sdgkd;djslj;dags

i'm rooting for you take those nerds OUT

flaaaash — Today at 5:18 AM

"Duet gives him a look of Supreme Weariness and Nopery. Arthur counters with a double eye-roll of Resignation and Angst. In the true synchronicity of the Absolutely Done, they each take an espresso shot and slam it down."

Arthur — Today at 5:20 AM

djdasd;ds;lsda;ldj;lkdsl;jkdsj;lkasljkdjlkdg

they clink the little cups together first before taking their respective shots

flaaaash — Today at 5:21 AM

they do the thing where they turn it upside down to prove it's empty

by the fifth they're trying to outcompete each other with anecdotes

by the tenth they've moved onto toasting each other

Arthur — Today at 5:21 AM

Bonding!

Don't forget to take your meds ❤ — Today at 5:22 AM

The anecdotes get concerningly similar to each others

flaaaash — Today at 5:22 AM

by the twelfth, Arthur begins weeping. Duet pats him in solidarity and knocks the next shot clean off the counter due to caffeine-induced twitching

Arthur — Today at 5:22 AM

DSGLAHGLDGHDGHAAHDSGDG

EXCELLENT

want them to be friends now

flaaaash — Today at 5:23 AM

by the thirteenth, the barista stages an intervention and starts giving them decaf

by this point, they don't notice

Arthur — Today at 5:23 AM

asdlaadjsdsajd

thank you they owe you their life

they could taste the difference if they weren't vibrating into the 28the dimension atm

flaaaash — Today at 5:24 AM

after the fifteenth shot, the counter is clear and they're both full of sympathetic outrage for the other's plight. They sprint from the cafe, steamroll right over Shiromori, and punt the colours right out of Murder Mystery in a fit of industrial-strength caffeinated indignance.

Don't forget to take your meds ❤ — Today at 5:24 AM

Hahahaha

Arthur — Today at 5:25 AM

h;lsadlf;dsldj;fsljl;dfsajdfsa

flaaaash — Today at 5:25 AM

The newly Monochromatic Mystery has to then help Vivi contain the pair before they wipe all paranormal activity off the face of Tempo.

Arthur — Today at 5:25 AM

that's how the fifth video ends

flaaaash — Today at 5:25 AM

Lewis narrowly escapes by hiding in a box. THE END

Arthur — Today at 5:25 AM

dsal;gsdhldgsa;dgsdgs;hldgs;lhdsa

beautiful thank u flash

i owe you my life

flaaaash — Today at 5:25 AM

you're welcome it's my magnum opus

Arthur — Today at 5:26 AM

A+ story telling

i'm including it in the post

flaaaash — Today at 5:26 AM

ALKJGAGK

it's okay I don't have a reputation to ruin xD

Arthur — Today at 5:26 AM

dlasdl;dhsgldgdgs

this is a callout for flash being the funniest person alive--

or undead

flaaaash — Today at 5:27 AM

dead-

sfkjga

Arthur — Today at 5:27 AM

djdjdjdj

i thought about it and corrected myself xDD

flaaaash — Today at 5:30 AM

ok I have no idea if anyone will get this pun, but I dub this the Esprestissimo AU

Arthur — Today at 5:36 AM

djalsd;ldsjdsjldf

i LOVE THAT

music puns but espressos EXTRA ESPRESSOLY

flaaaash — Today at 5:49 AM

#headcanon #msa headcanon discussion #tristan rambles #flashthegeist #IT WAS SO MUCH FUN #duet #arthur #vivi #long post #mystery skulls animated #mystery skulls #my original stuff

23 notes · View notes

asknarashikari · 4 months ago

Note

While I disapprove of assholery, I rather struggle to explain why being an asshole (particularly about people like Spanner before his turn) is bad and shouldn't be tolerated?

Many people can seem to just view it as a trivial thing; that it's just someone being foul-mouthed, or it's just mere words, or they're 'actually' speaking their mind w/o filter, which in the long run doesn't cause any real problem other than hurt feelings, thus it's people around them that need to get thicker skin.

Outside of it not being seen as anything problematic, there'd be those who'd think being harsh should be accepted as necessary, like:

How the alchemy students aren't in a game (e.g. ep. 12 Dread debut) thus he needs to 'whip them into shape'.

Or that the 'so-called asshole' purposely puts a cold front to drive them away from a dangerous occupation to 'save their life'.

Or that displaying meanness is a defense because presenting yourself as soft will have you open to being taken advantage of or such (not applicable to Kitchen Ichinose Alliance but, yes, a common reason for people to discourage kindness).

It can also be turned around where the ones who call their behavior out can be seen as the 'real' assholes; they're control freaks who dictate how others should live or express themselves, can't handle conflict or discomfort, and force their views and standards onto others' throats.

About the Riders having heel turn being tiresome, well I know it's been recurring, but I'd try to not force my vision/ideal and deeming what doesn't fit that as bad or such. Like, there can be other tropes people feel tired like them thinking shows often deliberately make someone with valid points 'look bad'; doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong to do even though it goes against their ideal version.

In this case, I really want to have asshole traits actually being acknowledged as a problem rather than, only viewed as someone being 'funny'/'entertaining'/'quirky' where the problem is merely about subjective tastes where they can be obnoxious to some (like to you, and to me) but should be viewed as acceptable in other cases.

While I disapprove of assholery, I rather struggle to explain why being an asshole (particularly about people like Spanner before his turn) is bad and shouldn't be tolerated? Many people can seem to just view it as a trivial thing; that it's just someone being foul-mouthed, or it's just mere words, or they're 'actually' speaking their mind w/o filter, which in the long run doesn't cause any real problem other than hurt feelings, thus it's people around them that need to get thicker skin. Outside of it not being seen as anything problematic, there'd be those who'd think being harsh should be accepted as necessary...

No, I understand the struggle as well.

Tbf, "assholery" is subjective- as you mention, what one sees as unjustified vitriol could be seen as being plain and frank by another, especially because people differ in how receptive they are to such treatment.

On the other hand, imo there's simply no reason to be harsh towards others when kindness and/or civility costs no more effort and makes people more inclined to listen to your side even if it doesn't necessarily align with their views.

Also, I don't think you have to be an asshole to be forceful. You can be brutally honest while still being considerate to the others' feelings. You can curse or use foul language to get your point across while never using such language to belittle the other.

Finally: yes, words do hurt. And hurt feelings aren't "just" hurt feelings. Ironically, the people who don't understand that are the biggest assholes of all.

People's reaction to them is also used to determine how problematic they really are, if they don't hold animosity then the 'so-called assholes' are not an actual issue. I disagree with forcing characters to act a certain way against someone, but this can be used by people to overlook their behavior as just banter, taking jabs, etc. It can also be turned around where the ones who call their behavior out can be seen as the 'real' assholes; they're control freaks who dictate how others should live or express themselves, can't handle conflict or discomfort, and force their views and standards onto others' throats. ... In this case, I really want to have asshole traits actually being acknowledged as a problem rather than, only viewed as someone being 'funny'/'entertaining'/'quirky' where the problem is merely about subjective tastes where they can be obnoxious to some (like to you, and to me) but should be viewed as acceptable in other cases.

I agree.

Honestly I find it strange that there are people who have the nerve to defend assholes and their actions, fictional or no. Generally, people like to be treated well and don't like it when they see others being mistreated, especially if it's for ultimately asinine and petty reasons. And of course when they see such behaviors they would call it out because they dislike it and would like to see it end.

It's not rocket science?? But why are they acting like it's so unusual??

0 notes

eddiemunsonsmiddlefingers · 4 years ago

Text

15x19 Decoder Ring (Meta)

Aight peeps, here’s my proposition: If the boys go out in a grimdark horrible way next week, it’s not in spite of losing Castiel, it’s because they lost him...and if that’s the case, then Castiel is the single most important character on this show.

I have reasons for saying this! And my reasons start aaaall the way back in season 5, in the episode where Sam and Dean discover the Supernatural books. In plot arch, they realize they are reading about their own lives, word for word. They spend the entire episode trying to work around that writing, only to walk right back into its grip again every. single time.

Until Castiel shows up.

Two important things happen once Castiel is involved:

They immediately start taking actions that meet the plot beat of Chuck’s book, but do not actually accomplish the goals of the “prophecy” as they then believed it to be.

Chuck looks at Castiel and says “You aren’t supposed to be here” like he’s genuinely surprised.

Essentially what happened is Sam and Dean stopped playing the story in a linear A > B > C fashion, and instead shifted to more of a “okay we’re at A, but we’re going to find our own way to point C, and maybe that involves visiting K and R out of order.” I also think the entire WORLD started to shift out of Chuck’s complete control at this point, but he may not have even noticed because he was so hyper focused on them.

Since the broskis were still hitting the beats of Chuck’s writing (and Dean in particular was still hitting many of the details as well, driven by despair and love and the obedience John drilled into him), even if they weren’t doing exactly what he wanted, he let them go. He found their free will fascinating, which we know because of his monologue at the poor Radio Shed employee (more on that soon). Castiel was an intriguing side note; he was clearly developing feelings for Dean, and how could that be? Just like the Winchesters veering off the path, that was a novelty, something Chuck’s never seen before. It was interesting though, so he let it be. It gave him some good emotional plot hooks, after all, so really it was a win-win for him.

Chuck kept writing, the stakes got greater, and the boys kept kicking ass...but eventually he started to get annoyed with their refusal to do as they were told. My guess, probably around the time the Darkness occurred, since Amara’s reappearance presented a direct threat to Chuck.

So...he started pushing around the chess pieces and observing patterns. *Why* didn’t the Winchester do what he said? Why were these Winchesters being such a royal pain in his ass?

He decided to directly fuck with them for the first time, just to see what happened. Chuck used one of his more easily controlled minions (Lucifer- more on that) to kill Castiel, then sits back to watch the chaos.

In the aftermath we see Dean first grieving (powerful, uncontrollable emotion) and then transform into this very...different...version of Dean. Angry. Irrational. Doing things none of us really believed Dean would do. He became a killer, you might say, rather than the Dean we know. He’s becoming what Chuck wants him to be, but his grief is so great and his armor so tight that Chuck can’t get his fingers back into Dean’s mind...and if he can’t control Dean, then he can’t control Sam.

And then...Jack wakes Castiel up. Dean is transformed from angry killer Dean to the soft, loving Dean we know...but Chuck’s raised the stakes so much and he’s so scared for his family that he goes right along with Chuck’s plan and lets Michael jump his meatsuit.

Bedlam.

Through all this, Chuck can’t figure out WHY. Why won’t the Winchesters do what he says? So he pokes and prods and pushes, once again raising the stakes. I don’t think he figured out what was really up until Cas went into Dean’s head and broke him free of Michael’s control. There’s really only one thing that can break an angel’s dream state, after all.

Ah. Dean’s in love. Dean loves this angel and that love is fucking up literally everything Chuck is trying to do. None of his plots are going the way he wants, he himself is in physical danger, and it’s all because Dean Winchester decided to fall in love with this fucking angel who was supposed to be a half season side plot and then move right along.

So Chuck starts throwing everything he can at Dean and Castiel to separate them. You can see it in the weird arguments they had, their break up scene, Cas choosing to leave and then coming back. You can see it in Dean’s growing anger, and the glimpses of his true personality that occasionally peek through. Chuck can’t directly control either of them, but he’s the one giving the PowerPoint presentation and the slides will turn, whether Dean and Cas want them to or not.

Nothing. Works. Cas just keeps coming back to Dean’s side. They keep forgiving each other. They keep having each other’s backs. It’s nutty and Chuck is getting frustrated and bored. He’s been around the block with these assholes. He’s obsessed with them, but also hates them. He wants them dead, he wants them to suffer, he wants them to acknowledge that he’s in charge...and then he he just wants to be done with the whole thing (We know this due to Radio Shed scene as well!).

He gets so pissed off he tells them what Castiel is, right to their face. The spanner in the works with the cracked chassis, the reason he can’t actually control them. Then he arranges for Cas and Dean to be in a life or death situation. For once it’s not about the brothers and their tragedy, it’s about getting these two APART. What happens when two people profoundly in love are stuck with an impossible choice?

For the first time since Castiel met Dean, Cas does what Chuck wants him to do and sacrifices himself to save Dean, but not before delivering a parting shot...emotional armor and a guiding light that Chuck cannot control nor stop.

in 15x19 we see Dean mourning. Through the entire first half of the episode he’s mourning. So is Sam, so is Jack. Even Michael is there, angry at his father and ready to go. Remember what I said about strong feeling before? Chuck can’t break that.

He needs a distraction...a chink in the armor, an open door.

So he uses his minion again (Howdy Lucifer) to grab Dean by the heart, flood him with hope so his walls go down, then literally open the door to Chuck’s control.

Boom. Back to A > B > C. Michael does a character flipflop because Chuck’s in charge of the script again. Everyone stops mourning Castiel because Chuck couldn’t give a flying FUCK about that asshole angel. He’s tired, he wants to be done, and he wants his dramatic end.

From that point on, they’re stuck in Chuck’s pre-written script. They defeat him in this super dramatic unexpected way, accompanied by a "gotcha” flashback sequence that belongs in bad whodunnit. Then, in a final fuck you to the Winchesters, Chuck sends them off into the sunset alone-but-together, robbed of everyone they’ve ever loved, and their very memories (the montage) reduced to those moments that CHUCK wanted them to remember. The clever moments, the funny ones, the gotchas. Nothing with real emotion attached. Nothing that might break the spell before they meet their true end (in 15x20)...the grimdark sequence that Becky read and was horrified by. And they do it still believing they have free will, when every step they take is written in a book they don’t know exists. Unless, you know. Cas comes back. ;)

#spn spoilers #15x19 #spn meta #destiel

82 notes · View notes

ripjaws · 4 years ago

Text

Ben 10 Survey Results!

Huge thank you to everyone who submitted a response, it was really fun looking through them all and I was genuinely surprised by the results of some of the questions.

Hopefully this will work under a read more because it's quite long and I don't want people to have to scroll a hundred years to get past it.

If anyone has any questions or anything please feel free to ask! :)

Thanks again!

General

Q1. How would you describe your gender?

36% - Female 25.3% - Male 24% - Non-binary 8% - Prefer not to say 4% - Agender 2.7% - Genderfluid

Q2. How would you describe your sexuality?

32% - Bisexual 20% - Heterosexual 20 % - Asexual 8% - Lesbian 6.7% - Prefer not to say 5.4% - Pansexual 4% - Gay 1.3% - Demisexual 1.3% - Questioning 1.3% - Polysexual

Q3. Current age

48% - 20-24 39% - 15-19 13.3% - 25-30 1.3% - Older than 30 1.3% - Younger than 15

Q4. Age when you first became interested in Ben 10

86.7% - Younger than 15 9.3% - 15-19 2.7% - 20-24 1.3% - 25-30

Episodes and season

Q1. Which series did you watch first?

88% - Original Series 9.3% - Alien Force 1.3% - Omniverse 1.3% - Reboot

Q2. Rank the series in order of preference

[IMAGE ID: Five separate groups of five vertical bar charts. The individual columns for each group are coloured in the same order and corresponds to what ranking they recieved on that question of the survey. According to the key at the top of the image the order is; blue = 1, red = 2, orange = 3, green = 4 & purple = 5. The Y axis of the graph goes from zero to thirty in intervals of ten.

The first group is labelled ‘Original Series’ and shows that it got twenty votes in blue, seventeen votes in red, sixteen votes in orange, ten votes in green & twelve votes in purple.

The second group is labelled ‘Alien Force’ and shows that it got nine votes in blue, eighteen votes in red, twenty-one votes in orange, twenty-two votes in green & five votes in purple.

The third group is labelled ‘Ultimate Alien’ and shows that it got thirteen votes in blue, ten votes in red, fourteen votes in orange, twenty-two votes in green & sixteen votes in purple.

The fourth group is labelled ‘Omniverse’ and shows that it got eighteen votes in blue, fifteen votes in red, seventeen votes in orange, fifteen votes in green & ten votes in purple.

The fifth and final group is labelled ‘Reboot’ and shows that it got fifteen votes in blue, fifteen votes in red, seven votes in orange, six votes in green & thirty-two votes in purple. END IMAGE ID]

Q3. Favourite season (Original Series)

40% - Season 1 18.7% - Season 2 18.7% - Season 3 17.3% - Season 4 5.3% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched

Most popular episodes were Ken 10 (S4E10) & Kevin 11 (S1E7)

Q4. Favourite season (Alien Force)

52% - Season 2 28% - Season 1 16% - Season 3 4% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched

Most popular episodes were Alone Together (S2E2) & Save the Last Dance (S2E4)

Q5. Favourite Season (Ultimate Alien)

36% - Season 1 25.3% - Season 3 20% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched 18.7% - Season 2

Most popular episodes were Forge of Creation (S1E16) & Duped (S1E2)

Q6. Favourite Season (Omniverse)

18.7% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched 18.7% - Season 2 16% - Season 5 12% - Season 6 10.7% - Season 1 9.3% - Season 8 8% - Season 4 5.3% - Season 3 1.3% - Season 7

Most popular episodes were And Then There Were None (S6E1) & And Then There Was Ben (S6S2)

Q7. Favourite Season (Reboot)

60% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched 17.3% - Season 4 10.7% - Season 3 6.7% - Season 1 5.3% - Season 2

Most popular episodes were Omni-tricked (S1E37) & Innervasion (S2E36)

Q8. Which live action movie did you prefer?

40% - Alien Swarm 22.7% - Race Against time 22.7% - Didn’t like either 14.7% - Haven’t watched either

Characters and aliens

Q1. Favourite main character

45.3% - Ben Tennyson 28% - Kevin Levin 17.3% - Rook Blonko 9.3% - Gwen Tennyson

Some ‘Why’ responses:

Ben -

I know it's a really basic pick but I enjoy Ben alot as a character. Even though I feel like he took an extremely sharp turn into immaturity in the final season of Alien Force onward (from what I've heard it was due to ratings), it still fit well after a bit of time of adjustment. Him being rash and selfish at times while still having a good heart feels...very human. I'm a huge fan of flawed protagonists and Ben is a prime example of such, imo! Plus I hradcanon that he has autism and it's a big comfort for me :)

I love his potential as a character and the way he hands having such power and responsibility thrust upon him. Ben has done so much for the people in his life and the universe, and I absolutely adore him.

I think of him like a kind person who tries his best to the right thing, he's pretty chill and optimist and in my mind he's a chaotic bi and i can relate to that

Kevin -

I like that he's always been an antihero in the original series. And in the reboot I really like the direction the showrunners are taking his character. He has a different backstory, motivations and I'm really enjoying his character development. It's a fresh take on his story and they're treating it with care, which I really appreciate. His Antitrix aliens also have some really incredible designs.

Cool powers, uncommon character in children's media, especially as a primary character often cast in a good light (ex con, high school dropout, masculine, not emotionally mature). His character development is some of the best in the series.

Gods, we could be here forever... Okay, short version- 1) I can relate to him on a mental health level, especially in the OG series we seemed to have similar issues and to handle them in similar ways 2) there's a lot of depth and variance to his character, he's angry and aggressive and dangerous but also a dork, a sweetheart, and very affectionate once he lets his walls down, he loves cars and supernatural romance, violence and magical girls, he'll rescue an aggressive dog for no reason other than it needed help but also he might consider how much he could get for selling you, he's a complex character and he's allowed to be in a way the Tennysons can't because of how firmly they sit in the Hero seat 3) for all of this, we never really know all that much about him and his experiences, at least in comparison to what we know is there- we never learn about his time traveling the galaxy, we haven't heard anything about his time stuck in time, it's only in the reboot we're getting trustworthy information about his background and even then it's rare tidbits- he's ripe for exploring in fic, headcanon, and so-on 4) his powers in the OG series, his status as mutant or alien or both who knows anymore leaves a lot of doors open to play and to look at the world through different angles 5) dude has turned into six different monstrous chimera forms over the course of the franchise and honestly you have to support that sort've shit in media otherwise they might stop

Rook -

Alien catboy with a glorious voice and have you seen those arms??? And he's so polite while also being hilarious when he gets a little rude/snarky and his character development is amazing!!

While I would normally say Ben himself, Rook is his only friend that hasn't tried to kill him. Additionally, he provides Ben with guidance as well as support the Gwen and Kevin are fickle about.

Having an actual alien joining the cast and serving at Ben's foil worked well to me.

Gwen -

Smart, talented, funny, snarky, confident, and super cute. Jock-prep-nerd energy all in one. Deserves the world. Criminally ignored by the majority of the fandom. Knows karate and judo?? College at 16?? Icon.

Angel, can do no wrong, was capable of so much more than the show let her do, potential to be the most powerful member of the team if they'd just let her go a lil feral sometimes :/

She was a good voice of reason most of the time. Her powers were really interesting and overall I think she had a lot of wasted potential having to be sidelined since the series was about Ben ultimately

Q2. Favourite minor characters

40 votes - Paradox

22 votes - Max Tennyson

18 votes - Tetrax

17 votes - Argit

16 votes - Julie Yamamoto

15 votes - Azmuth

12 votes - Ester

10 votes - Looma Red Wind

9 votes - Glitch

9 votes - Kai Green

7 votes - Alan Albright

6 votes - Jimmy Jones

4 votes - Cooper Daniels

3 votes - Eunice

3 votes - Helen Wheels

2 votes - Elena Validus

2 votes - Manny Armstrong

1 vote - Cash Murray

1 vote - Driba

Other votes went to Penny Bennyson, Kenny Tennyson/Spanner, Lucy Mann, Rook Shar, Eddie Grandsmith, Myaxx and Pakmar.

Q3. Ship or Zed

64% - Ship 36% - Zed

Q4. Favourite main antagonist

20% - Albedo 13.3% - Kevin 11 12% - Vilgax 10.7% - Charmcaster 10.7% - Zs’Skayr 9.3% - Malware 5.3% - Forever Knights 5.3% - Eon 4% - Highbreed & DNAliens 4% - Aggregor 1.3% - Servantis & Rooters 1.3% - Khyber 1.3% - Dagon & the Esoterica

Some ‘Why’ responses for top 3:

Albedo -

When I first saw him during the airing of Good Copy, Bad Copy, I was scared that Albedo might be a one-and-done evil clone that doesn't get much development. These fears went away, and I was pleased to find out about his backstory and motives, just a sour soul in an unpleasant situation. Even in Ultimate Alien with his reappearance episode, he tries to work on his own to cope in a horrid human world. He isn't necessarily malicious until Ben gets in his way, he just wants to return to his own body and leave, even stating that he wasn't going to fight Ben anymore while he had temporarily returned to his Galvan form. I know DJW stated in some interview that Albedo could never be redeemed, but I believe there's some hope if he gets help. And I'm a sucker for those redemption arcs :)

Tragic frog man that could have been helped but nobody helped him and he doubled down on his hatred which led to him getting stuck in a cycle of revenge and punishment and it's the tragedy of how much better things could have been for him if someone just helped him that I love so much!!

Kevin 11 -

He’s very dangerous and has a terrifying power to absorb electricity and living DNA to have the same powers of who he absorbed it from and even turn himself into a mutant with all those powers combined leading to destructive power

Kevin was a good antagonist and a good protagonist, although i feel the transition was rushed. Anti-hero kevin in the reboot is great!

Vilgax -

He was always the endgame villian for Ben, despite how many battles they've had, despite countless losses, he always tried to stay one step ahead, and plan everything.

"Speak with care, Psyphon. Your counsel is valuable...not irreplaceable."

Q5. Favourite minor villains

38 votes - Animo 20 votes - Hex 18 votes - Michael Morningstar/Darkstar 14 votes - SixSix 13 votes - Zombozo 9 votes - Vreedle family 9 votes - Vulkanus 8 votes - Rojo 5 votes - Inspector 13 5 votes - Billy Billions 5 votes - Will Harangue 4 votes - Fistrick 4 votes - Nyancy Chan 3 votes - Lord Decibel 3 votes - Simian 3 votes - Subdora 3 votes - Viktor 2 votes - Addwaitya 2 votes - Fistina 2 votes - Kraab 2 votes - Psyphon 2 votes - Steam Smythe 2 votes - Sunder 1 vote - Liam 1 vote - Ssserpent

Other votes went to Maurice & Sydney, Bugg Brothers, Alternate evil Bens, and the Mummy.

Q6. Favourite canon relationship

66.7% - Gwen & Kevin 13.3% - Max Tennyson & Verdona 5.3% - Ben & Kai 4% - Rook & Rayona 1.3% - Julie & Herve 1.3% - Max & Xylene

Q7. Favourite non-canon ship

36% - I don’t have one 30.7% - Ben & Rook 6.7% - Ben & Kevin 4% - Ben & Julie

Other responses included Ben & Rex, Kai & Julie, Looma & Attea, Alan & Cooper, Ben & Looma, Kevin & Manny, Gwen & Cooper, Ben & Ester, Max & Phil, Azmuth & Paradox, Cooper & Elena, Kai & Ester, Ben & Zak Saturday, Ben & Eddie, Ben & Albedo, Ben & Kevin & Gwen, Kenny & Devlin, OC & canon, and Ben & a therapist.

Q8. Favourite alien introduced in the Original Series

18.7% - XLR8 17.3% - Upgrade 13.3% - Ghostfreak 10.7% - Diamondhead 9.3% - Heatblast 8% - Wildmutt 6.7% - Ditto 2.7% - Blitzwolfer 2.7% - Snare-oh 2.7% - Grey Matter 1.3% - Cannonbolt 1.3% - Four Arms

Q9. Least favourite alien introduced in the Original Series

22.7% - Eye Guy 18.7% - Spitter 8% - Articguana 8% - Frankenstrike 6.7% - Upchuck 6.7% - Stinkfly 5.3% - Buzzshock 5.3% - Snare-oh 4% - Four Arms 2.7% - Blitzwolfer 2.7% - Ditto 2.7% - Wildmutt 2.7% - Grey Matter 1.3% - Cannonbolt 1.3% - Diamondhead 1.3% - Ghostfreak

Q10. Favourite alien introduced in Alien Force

46.7% - Big Chill 17.3% - Rath 8% - Goop 6.7% - Lodestar 5.3% - Swampfire 4% - Chromastone 4% - Spidermonkey 2.7% - Alien X 2.7% - Echo Echo 1.3% - Humungousaur 1.3% - Jetray

Q11. Least favourite alien introduced in Alien Force

18.7% - Lodestar 17.3% - Brainstorm 13.3% - Alien X 10.7% - Humungousaur 10.7% - Spidermonkey 8% - Jetray 8% - Chromastone 5.3% - Goop 5.3% - Echo Echo 2.7% - Rath

Q12. Favourite alien introduced in Ultimate Alien

18.7% - Juryrigg 16% - AmpFibian 14.7% - Clockwork 12% - NRG 8% - Armodrillo 8% - Shocksquatch 8% - Terraspin 8% - Water Hazard 2.7% - Chamalien 2.7% - Fasttrack 1.3% - Eatle

Q13. Least favourite alien introduced in Ultimate Alien

30.7% - Fasttrack 18.7% - Eatle 13.3% - Juryrigg 9.3% - Chamalien 8% - Shocksquatch 6.7% - Terraspin 5.3% - Water Hazard 4% - Clockwork 1.3% - AmpFibian 1.3% - Armodrillo 1.3% - NRG

Q14. Favourite Ultimate Form

38.7% - Echo Echo 24% - Big Chill 10.7% - Swampfire 9.3% - Way Big 8% - Wildmutt 6.7% - Spidermonkey 1.3% - Cannonbolt 1.3% - Humungousaur

Q15. Favourite alien introduced in Omniverse

29.3% - Feedback 13.3% - Pesky Dust 12% - Gravattack 9.3% - Ball Weevil 8% - Bullfrag 6.7% - Whampire 5.3% - Bloxx 4% - Atomix 4% - Walkatrout 2.7% - Gutrot 1.3% - Crashhopper 1.3% - Kickin Hawk 1.3% - Toepick 1.3% - The Worst

Q16. Least favourite alien introduced in Omniverse

24% - The Worst 14.7% - Bloxx 12% - Mole-Stache 8% - Bullfrag 6.7% - Astrodactyl 6.7% - Kickin Hawk 5.3% - Atomix 5.3% - Gutrot 4% - Crashhopper 4% - Walkatrout 2.7% - Toepick 1.3% - Ball Weevil

Q17. Favourite alternate Ben timeline

29.3% - No watch Ben 24% - Gwen 10 17.3% - Ben 10,000 8% - Mad Ben 6.7% - Dimension 23 6.7% - Eon 4% - Nega Ben 2.7% - Benzarro 1.3% - Bad Ben

Misc.

Q1. Favourite watch design

37.3% - Original Series 29.3% - Omniverse 17.3% - Alien Force 9.3% - Ultimatrix 6.7% - Reboot

Q2. Favourite alternate watch design

29.3% - Biomnitrix 20% - Gwen 10 18.7% - Negatrix 17.3% - Antitrix 8% - Power Watch 6.7% - Hero Watch

Q3. Favourite planet visited

32% - Anur Transyl 20% - Revonnah 13.3% - Mykdl’dy 10.7% - Galvan Prime 9.3% - Vilgaxia 6.7% - Piscciss 5.3% - Petropia 2.7% - Khoros

Q4. Favourite locations

34 votes - Undertown 23 votes - Ledgerdomain 23 votes - Null Void 22 votes - Bellwood 19 votes - Friedkin University 18 votes - Mr. Smoothy 16 votes - Forge of Creation 15 votes - Los Soledad 7 votes - Burger Shack 7 votes - Plumber Headquarters 4 votes - Incarcecon 2 votes - Mt. Rushmore Plumber base 2 votes - The Perplexahedron 1 vote - Plumber Academy

Q5. Favourite Vehicle

33.3% - Kevin’s car (Original) 25.3% - Rustbucket 18.7% - Proto-TRUK 13.3% - DX Mark 10 5.3% - Kevin’s car (Omniverse) 4% - Glitch

Q6. Favourite Kevin mutation

40% - Original series 20% - Ken 10 future 12% - Ultimate Alien 8% - Omniverse 8% - Alien Force 6.7% - Omniverse flashback 5.3% - Reboot

Q7. Favourite Omniverse redesign

66.7% - Ben 26.6% - Kevin 6.7% - Gwen

Q8. Least favourite Omniverse redesign

76% - Gwen 18.7% - Kevin 5.3% - Ben

Thoughts

(Putting every single response here would make this insanely long so I’ve just put the most detailed/most echoed responses & include all sides of opinions when possible.)

Q1. Thoughts on the Osmosians retcon?

Okay, first up, do you know how much work I had already put into building shit surrounding those fuckers by the time of the retcons? I had been working on this crap since AF season 2! But no, they gotta go ruin that in one fell swoop, thank you, much appreciated. Second up, I wibble on it? Like, working with mutants is fun and interesting and I've done plenty of shit with them as well, but in the end I'm always going to be a pro-Ossys person. Mostly the retcons left more questions than they gave answers (how, if Osmosians never existed, did everybody and their mother know Kevin was an Osmosian? why, if Osmosians never existed, did none of the people not-involved in this whole disaster with Servantis's mindfuckery look at Aggregor being reported as an Osmosian and go 'wtf that's not a thing'? do they really mean to tell me that not only did Kevin never bother to look into his heritage, but neither did research-happy Gwen? or am I expected to believe the Rooters made enough fake information and put it out publicly that they fooled literally everyone? and if they did then why? when it would've done the same thing with less effort if they'd just, let Kevin be a mutant with a Plumber father who died) and I feel like they didn't really give enough to justify them. One of those cases of 'making your work less interesting to make it more 'accurate''. Personally, I forever keep working on Osmosians (where's the line where it just starts becoming your shit, I think I may be heading there) and I love on mutants and I flip between or combine the two as needed for whatever story I want to tell.

While the fake memories plot isn't great I think it's for the best because the original series meant for Kevin to be a mutant while UAF changed it to alien. I like him better as a mutant human. Too much alien connections in UAF.

I could scream for hours. Easily one of the worst decisions they ever made. Omniverse picks and chooses what canon to follow from AFUA + the original run and throws it in without care or concern to what it means for the timeline. Retconning something and keeping the effect it had is just bad writing. Kevin coming to terms with not being human and that’s okay was important to me when I was a kid. Knowing that he’s just been on an unending series of brainwashed nonsense all his life deprives him of his agency. I hate this decision more than several dozen essays could ever convey.

I wasn't mad about it. Mainly because I liked the idea of Kevin being a mutant than an alien. Alien Force really was pushing that aspect even with Gwen. To the point where she called her powers 'not spells' because of her heritage. Stupid that the rooters and fake memories were a thing, but necessary.

I was never a big fan of the Rooters Arc, but this doesn't bother me too much. It makes UA a little weird with Aggragor, but again, it doesn't really bother me, as most of Omniverse didn't explore Kevin (While UA Did), and was mostly about Ben.

Osmosians were such a cool idea, and it would've allowed for more exploration into what Mike Morningstar was as well, but just writing them off as mutates is so boring. As well as it makes Aggregors whole part not really make sense, like who is he then.

While well executed, it was unnecessary. You could have had the same story line where Kevin was used to mutate other kids and still had him an Alien. You could have had it where it was another alien species that used Osmosians to morph other species to theirs; a call back to the DNAliens if you want.

Q2. Thoughts on how the Ultimate Kevin situation was dealt with in UA?

Terrible. They wanted to go far. They wanted to go dark. But they didn't think their viewership could handle it so they dialed it back. I will always be curious to know what they would have written if they didn't have those constraints. Because the final product was a mess of contrasting tone and unsure footing about how far to go with questioning our hero's moral compass. They wanted to push Ben to see what he would do and apparently, we got that he would kill Kevin and maybe Gwen if she got in the way of saving the universe.... but not really because he didn't. And then the gang is happy all back together like none of it ever happened. They wanted to explore dark themes but have it leave no consequences on the characters. Also... it was so ableist and awful and Kevin deserved better than how Ben and Max (and the writers) treated him.

If they did everything the same but the argument was 'we need to capture him and lock him away' instead of 'we need to kill him'? I would be fine. It's the fact that they slipped so quickly into murder, into murder by his 16-yo bestfriend, that gets me. Like, there's apparently no space between 'recklessly risk our safety trying to talk him down' and 'Ol' Yeller his ass' and that just does not sit right with me.

Ben should have looked for alternate solutions before jumping on the "Let's kill Kevin" train. I understand why he did (this took place immediately post-Aggregor so Ben was still traumatized about having lost so many people and because he failed and "let" Kevin get turned into Ultimate Kevin, he felt as though every person Kevin hurt would be on him) but I wish he hadn't.

Pretty good actually. I like Gwen's emotions becoming a hindrance to the job, I like Ben putting on his big boy pants and I like Kevin going up to Aggregor and saying "y'know, I was a big boy villain once and I'm tried of just getting kicked around" (obviously paraphrasing)

Other than the scenario being overplayed, I think Ben was right. Kevin was eventually going to end up killing Gwen and he'd already put others in the hospital. He needed to be stopped.

Ben jumping straight to murder, yikes. Kevin dismissing Gwen to hang out with Ben almost as soon as he turned back to normal, yikes. Otherwise, it was an interesting plotline.

Really bad. Really shows how awful max and the plumbers really are. I mean , the guy saved the universe and now he clearly needs help but all they wanted to do was kill him.

it really felt like Ben just wanted to murder Kevin because he saved the universe that one time and Ben couldn't stand someone else being the hero for once

The worst, Max straight away wanting to put him down makes u wonder how long he's been waiting for that kind of opportunity.

I'm fine with it, maybe they could have spent some time dealing with the consequences of Kevin's actions, possibly even the ramifications it had on Ben and Kevin's friendship, but overall I'm ok with it.

Q3. Thoughts on the Plumbers

Plumbers ain't shit. Individuals can be acceptable or not but the organization as a whole has too much power, not enough oversight, utilizes child labor, uses a deathtrap of a hellscape dimension as a penal colony, has been shown onscreen sentencing people to imprisonment in said dimension without a trial, and I'm sorry the fact that a Plumber official could walk into a base with his team, assault several members of staff, attempt to kidnap a boy, admit to having and planning to continue to run illegal experiments on him and others, admit to having altered the memories of other Plumber officials, all in front of the entire base, and nothing was done until he tried to kill the golden child Ben 10 and failed, got his ass kicked by one of his victims, and in a place where presumably there were security cameras? And that the response was, again, to sentence him and his team without trial, take all the evidence, and peace out without so much as looking at nonetheless apologizing to his victims? Yeah, that don't fly. Doesn't sound like an organization that has it's shit together. Either the Plumbers don't have their shit together or the higher ups were in on it until it became something that could actually damage their reputation, and either way I Do Not Approve.

They're pretty cool. I know everyone's talking about how Plumbers are space cops and therefore absolutely corrupt and bad but this is a fictional universe in which corruption in organized forces isn't a necessity. Plumbers don't function the same way real cops do, they don't follow they same chain of command, they don't have the same motivations and they definitely don't have the same biases. Plumbers perform an essential function in the Ben 10 universe, which is to capture and contain aliens who aim to hurt anyone (or those who Ben defeats).

My knowledge of the Plumbers' unfortunately doesn't go beyond UA. They're not my favorite thing ever. Some of my least favorite episodes were the ones where the Plumbers or Plumbers' kids are involved, except for the episode "Everybody Talks About the Weather". The way Alan is introduced is really cool and very X Files-esque, and it ties into the DNAlien plot very well. But throughout the series I stopped caring about the Plumbers in general and I think that concept was given too much attention.

They don't do what they're meant to. They act like heros yet I don't think I've ever seen them do anything heroic. The DNAliens situation, the aggregor situation, dagon etc etc. Where were they??? Why did they leave the fate of the universe in the hands of a 16 year-old boy? Ben has the omnitrix sure , but he's still just one guy, how much can he fight? They showed up every once in a while but that's it. They were useless.

Of course the Plumbers have their problems, but looking at most characters we've met that were plumbers seem to be pretty good people. Max, Patelliday and Rook (and even Kevin, technically) are great examples of Plumbers, Servantis being a bad example of one.

Honestly liked it when it was disbanded. It’s cool they introduced Rook but like there’s so much wrong with how they run most things. My favorite version of the plumbers was tbh the first live action movie. Where it was just a bunch of old people watching out for Ben cause they actually cared about the people they protected (in this case Ben).

Q4. Thoughts on Grandpa Max

(The responses to this one were way more divided than I thought they would be omg)

He said Kevin was a mad dog that needed to put down. He's terrible. Military. Secretive. Kept his kids out of the loop and probably told the grandkids not to tell them about a huge and extremely dangerous part of their lives. Thus creating a gap between them and their parents that didn't need to be there. Child endangerment. Other than that....? He's important to Ben and Gwen so I tolerate him and he had some good life lessons to share. Also legendary adult figure in a kids cartoon who had relationships with multiple aliens.

He’s incredible, he worked in the Air Force, was going to be one of the first people on the moon (But he refused because he joined the Plumbers) had children with an Energy Being, he has a few grandchildren, and not to mention knows how to still kick butt despite him being in his 60s and was there to help Ben grow

He’s a complicated old man. Love him to bits in the original run and I love him in AF! He’s a utilitarian doing what needs to be done and suffering the consequences when need be. He does what he thinks is going to lead to the best possible outcome for the most people in any situation.

Needs to get knocked off his pedestal more often, both in and out of canon. He's got good traits, they're very nice, but there's other shit that gets glossed over, ignored, brushed aside, too easily forgiven, and just. They really needed a character who served double duty being a counterforce to him. Somebody to go 'wtf is wrong with you?' or 'yeah, no'. Ideally this would've been Patilidae, but no. We couldn't be so lucky.

Conflicted. Was he grooming Ben for plumber work, or just trying to support him in a situation he knew would be dangerous? It’s not made very clear...

I think he's got some sort of narcissistic personality disorder. I just can't forgive him for making Ben carry the burden of the Omnitrix at the age of 10 without ever explaining anything, and for not letting Ben and Gwen know he was alive after the Null Void grenade incident in AF. He clearly could have, if Helen could reach Gwen so easily. I think he views Ben more as an asset than a grandson at this point and that's really sad.

I love him! The progression from family hero to questionable old man felt kinda natural, like learning about a family member as you grow older and realizing they aren't perfect

He's awesome. He was a good role model for Ben and he was very supportive to both his grandkids. I hate that they made him mute in Omniverse and changed his design so drastically. I loved Max in every season from the original till Ultimate Alien. After that, he was pretty much just a prop.

Q5. And finally, give me your most controversial Ben 10 opinion!

It seems to be the worst thing to say that Ben isn't perfect and that Kai isn't demonic. And it's pretty standard for the women of color characters in every fandom to get the most hate so to me all the hate towards Kai when her personality is so close to Ben's AND she's also more hated than the ex-villain and the actual villains that tried to kill Ben multiple times just seems- hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. But really, and really I've needed to say this for a long time but I'm afraid of being strangled. Some fans will denounce incest/pedo shippers and people that interact with them and then reblog from a proud Bwen shipper with no self-awareness. Please I have the tags blacklisted are you safe to interact with and you just don't know? Or you're just saying you hate Bwen shippers to give yourself an out for reblogging their content????? Or are you all closeted incest shippers trying to maintain a public image???? I'm at my limit.

I do not think the reboot should have existed tbh :,D I know that it has a ton of fans and all due respect to them, but from what I've seen of it I don't think it was worth tossing away four interconnected series' worth of development and starting from scratch to end up with what we have now. I would be fine with it existing if we got an Omniverse continuation alongside it, but CN screwed OV over by the decisions they made near the end of it's run. So it's probably impossible it would return, even moreso because of the reboot already airing, and it would probably confuse younger audiences that don't know about Omniverse if two Ben 10's were running separately. I just really miss Omniverse, it had more potential and the reboot placed the final nail in for it to ever return.

The Ben 10 reboot is fun and meant more for kids rather than the ones watching for nostalgia. I didn’t like how Gwevin were sidelined and downplayed to make Ben look better. Sometimes it felt like Gwen was a bit naggy towards the two of them. I didn’t like how the fact that she was the only female lead how she had sometimes act like a parent or that they put Gwen and Kevin together just because. Their relationship felt forced and awkward a lot of the time. Omniverse’s designs while controversial were fun and unique but I didn’t like what they did with Gwevin, especially Gwen.

Kevin is totally smart enough to figure out an Omnitrix with the blueprints in front of him, we see him do amazing shit with technology- including the Omnitrix- in the OG series, people just don't notice he's as brilliant as Gwen because the show never made it as big a point that he and Ben were so very smart like it did with her before the reboot, so now they're being forced to acknowledge that Kevin might have two braincells to rub together and they're pushing against the supposed 'change'.

idk if it's controversial but there should've been way more episodes of just gwen & kevin & rook without ben or ben having a very minor role in the episode. just more time for those three to shine and show off how capable they are without ben always having to come in to save the day at the end

Gwen and Kevin aren't good friends to Ben. I mean they were initially, but once he got famous and they didn't, they stopped putting more than a half-assed effort to help him. They also don't really consider his feelings nor really care about the toll heroing takes on him.

The Reboot has the best jokes in the entire franchise and I don't why people give it so much crap.

Kai Green is an abuser and I refuse to find anything redeemable about her character. "Worthy to wield Excalibur," my entire ass. And Ben and Julie's breakup was good for them both, as people, and just as much her fault as it was his.

Ben 10 is an incredibly flawed show and people need to stop getting butt hurt when the blatant misogyny, and copoganda in the show get pointed out or when any even minority critiques Ben's character.

Ben is the worst character in Ben 10 and the whole franchise would be better off without him.

Azmuth is fine for the most part and malware was not exactly the most understanding person

I think Ben should've stayed single. Every episode where romance (or the girl Ben was dating) was the focus of the episode was pretty boring to me, personally.

Ben's parents were right to try to stop him from being a hero, so were Gwen's.

Ultimate alien force season 2 and 3 were amazing.( not comparing the OS since obviously that's the best, or omniverse since I haven't watched all the episodes of that)

Pierce deserved to die for being a boring character. I just wish his death had actual consequences.

The reboot is a genuine improvement over the original continuity in MANY ways!

Oh geez, um, Kai was a good character, just her and ben were obviously toxic. Not everyone needs to like Ben and she isn't an abuser, they just don't get along and that's fine but by God, why did the writers have to force them in a relationship? That's all I could really think of on the spot. Oh! And that the first two season of AF were a watered down version of Ben and the plot focused more on Gwen and Kevin than it did Ben. He felt like a side character and I'm not mad about that, but I don't understand why people praise that characterization of ben when I remember more about gwen and Kevin then Ben. Dude, I've been watching the show for the past week and I can name more about kevin and gwen because they're memorable.

Azmuth's hot af, but y'all aren't ready for that conversation...

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If you’ve made it this far then thank you!

Again huge thank you to everyone who submitted a response and if you have any questions/comments please feel free to leave them in the replies/send me an ask/dm/whatever ^^

#ben 10 #ben 10 alien force #ben 10 ultimate alien #ben 10 omniverse #ben tennyson #b10 #gwen tennyson #kevin levin #rook blonko #WE DID IT LADS #looking back there were SO many questions i couldve added like more directly fandom related ones but ehhhhh live and learn i guess #it was fun to do anyway :3

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