#I still think season 3 misused him

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

Oh yeah Rev was in the episodes I showed to my friend today too and he was decently well behaved. Calling Ai a he for once:

And I know what the dub did with his response to Akira saying he's going to die if they don't stop Ai was funny and all but... I like this better:

Is it just the Rev simp in me thinking this part is cute? He's basically saying he'll protect him and says it so softly and... well, it's just cute. Code me to safety, you lil softie.

Oh yeah I also don't hate the Pandor thing anymore. AIs have gotten so much scarier/worse irl lately that Rev programming Pandor to not have thoughts against humanity just doesn't bother me whatsoever anymore. I 100% get it. I think it was more so the phrasing of that scene that bothered me when I first saw it.

[physalian]

7 Misused Tropes (And How to Improve Them)

Tropes in isolation aren’t inherently bad, but a lot of them are prone to poor execution. Each one of these probably could have a whole post by themselves. A few of these used to be good but have since fallen by the wayside as their original meaning has been lost.

7. Dramatic Miscommunication

You know the ones. I think it’s worse when the story is otherwise good, the writers just could not come up with a better way to get X alone or send Y off on the necessary side quest than the lowest of low hanging fruit.

Two essential ingredients for fixing this trope: Precedent and consequences

Precedent–have the character doing the missassuming already be prone to jumping to conclusions, already suspicious or insecure, or misled by a third party so this looks inevitable, instead of pulled out of your ass.

Consequences–usually these are big blow up fights that fizzle out without any impact on the plot once they fulfill their purpose, but if it’s a nasty enough fight, characters shouldn’t just forgive and forget. While they might not completely ruin relationships, it should have characters taking a step back and either second guessing where they stand, or using this blowup to fix an underlying issue in said relationship.

6. Love Triangles

Good Love Triangle for the first 3 seasons: Elena/Stefan/Damon (TVD).

Bad Love Triangle for the entire series: Bella/Edward/Jacob (Twilight).

The difference between them (besides time to flesh out both candidates) is that both brothers brought valid pros and cons to Elena’s life, both got the chance to be with her, and Elena’s whole arc wasn’t solely focused on the agonizing choice of which brother she should pick. Regardless of which camp you’re in, Stefan brought stability, that classic cliché high school romance, mostly all good vibes. He never challenged her or talked down to her or got aggressive with her. Damon did the opposite, for better or for worse, and we know which direction the show went.

On the other hand, Jacob never for one second stood a chance with Bella and the narrative wasn’t kidding anyone. They never so much as went on one date (unless you count the motorcycle ride) and it seemed like Bella was only letting him hang on for pity’s sake. Theoretically he brought pros to the table that Edward couldn’t (like, idk, being alive), but the narrative never explored what could be done with him. He just ended up being the Nice Guy friend who then decided it’d be hot to lust after an infant.

5. Agency-less Chosen Ones

These tend to be wish fulfillment characters that bring nothing to the story and have no discernible skills, yet are constantly in the middle of the action, have all the love interests fawning over them, and are Important and Critical to saving the world… because the narrative said so. They don’t make a single choice the entire plot except to move forward or stagnate, chosen by the gods or a prophecy or fate and destiny.

The problem: These characters walk with the crutch of “I’m the chosen one thus I don’t need a reason to exist in the story” and that’s just not a satisfying narrative shortcut. So? Give them agency. Even if they’re chosen by some ancient prophecy, you still have to convince the reader why the Universe wasn’t just talking out of its ass.

Good example: Emmet from Lego Movie literally says he’s useless and has no skills and cannot think outside the Lego box. He’s supposed to be as generic as painfully possible and when he does have creative ideas, they’re supposed to be asinine and stupid. And yet. He might be physically dragged around by the other characters, but he has plenty of choices, plenty of opposition to what’s happening, plenty to say about the state of his world, and his ideas do matter and his intimate knowledge of the instructions and playing by the rules is how they win.

4. Bad Boy Love Interests

These guys were supposed to be counter-culture icons, standing up to The Man for the little guy because he knows the system is broken and rigged. He’s an affront to the stereotypical nuclear lifestyle, he resents a robotic and soulless office job and wants to create art or music or in some way benefit his world and isn’t going to play nice just to get his way. He exists in contrast to the nuclear female protagonist: Conservative, demure, rule-following caged bird who falls in love with him because he shows her that life isn’t meant to be lived in The Man’s cage. He respects the authority that deserves respect, the teachers who actually give a shit, the janitors, the librarians, but probably not the principal or the police or the local politicians, because he knows they don’t respect him and respect is a two-way street. He’s probably a mama’s boy or at the very least loves his parents (if they’re alive) and while he might engage in a little property damage like graffiti, it’s for a good cause.

This dude is NOT SUPPOSED TO BE: Abusive, controlling, aggressive, or condescending to his love interest. He’s not supposed to be an overprotective stalker or plagued by insecure jealousy over any other man in his love interest’s life. He’s not rude to his friends or arrogant about his own smarts and doesn’t think he knows best about every little thing in the world. He’s not sexist or racist just to make himself feel better and he doesn’t pressure his love interest into sex because she owes him or whatever.

Ahem.

Please bring back classic bad boys. That is all.

3. Major Character Death (for shock value)

I remember the implosion of the Walking Dead fandom after they killed Carl, one of the very few characters who was supposed to make it to the end, for… various sketchy reasons and I could never figure out what was true. Some theorized that his actor was aging out of the ‘child actor’ payscale and they didn’t want to pay him as an adult and while I have no proof, it wouldn’t surprise me at all.

Carl died after getting bit in just one of those hectic moments where he got unlucky, while doing something noble and stupid. In isolation, it fits the nature of the “anyone can die” show but man did it just come across in poor taste.

Obviously “for shock value” shouldn’t be the reason you do anything in your story but there is still a way to pull it off without it causing a riot: Make sure they get killed in a non-contrived way. If you plan on killing off one of your heroes suddenly, either make it bitterly ironic, or make it a situation that this character would absolutely get themselves into. The more it “fits” the less likely audiences will see the hand of the author coming in just to break the character’s fictional contract.

2. The Power Inside You All Along

This trope is usually disappointing because it tends to melt a character’s whole arc down into something pointless—this whole adventure was apparently useless if they didn’t actually need to grow or change or challenge their conceptions of the world. They could have got up off the couch as joe shmoe and beat the villain day one.

While that’s probably not what their creator intends, ‘it was inside you all along *wink*’ tends to feel that way, as it discourages internal conflict. Usually, their creator is likely trying to convey the message that one need not change, that it’s what’s inside them already that makes them special.

I present to you once again Kung Fu Panda’s “there is no secret ingredient” i.e. “the power inside you”. The difference is. Po still has plenty of internal conflict: his own self-confidence. He begins the movie eager but inexperienced and a bit oblivious, fanboying it up around his heroes. He and Shifu both insult his weight and his lacking kung fu skills, and his arc is learning self-confidence, learning how to use his weight and the body he has to fight in a way that the villain isn’t prepared for, to where Po can shit-talk him to his face during the final fight.

Most failures of this trope don’t bother exercising their protagonist. They’re pissy and resistant for the entire story and only win when the narrative agrees they were right all along. Therefore, no change, no conflict, no resolution.

1. Strong Female Characters

So many of these read like "slapped boops on a male character". They don’t work for many reasons (usually being very preachy with their agendas), but they especially don’t work when by trying to be pro-feminist, they’re still reinforcing masculine standards. A lot of people, when Captain Marvel came out, said “you didn’t have any issues with Tony Stark being an asshole but now you do when he’s a woman” which. No.

Tony was an asshole, but being an asshole was the whole point of his character, and he got humbled right quick by getting blown up and held hostage. “Proof that Tony Stark Has a Heart” and all that.

Carol was an asshole with nothing to substantiate it, and never got a reality check. She had amnesia so we didn’t get insight into who she was before to understand this transition into dickishness and was so OP, she wasn’t ever physically or emotionally challenged like Tony was.

But the other thing is this: Slapping boobs on a male character with a slew of toxic masculine traits also says that to be a successful woman, you must behave like a man. It swings so far from the femme fatale sexy leg lamp that it comes around and eats its own tail. These characters are just mean and insecure and build themselves up by tearing down the men around them.

So. Calhoun from Wreck it Ralph is this exact trope done extremely well. She’s aggressive, arrogant, loud, rude, and cynical. For about 10% of her arc. The movie immediately throws her into a situation where her strengths are basically useless—she’s stuck in Candy Land and has to rely on someone who is the antithesis of her game and character to make it out. The movie also shows you why she’s cynical via her tragic backstory.

Not only that, she’s more than just a heap of toxic masculinity in a pixie cut. She laughs, she cries, she admits when she’s wrong, she has a soft side, a gentle side, a caring side, and remains a badass through and through.

Or, once again rolling out Tigress from Kung Fu Panda: Proud, aggressive, the snubbed chosen one, cynical, mean, and overconfident in her abilities. Tigress nearly gets her entire team killed in her arrogance. She’s allowed to be wrong, very wrong. She also has her soft moments and, like Calhoun, has a very valid reason for being jaded, and is still shown to be capable of softness and nurturing during the evacuation.

Third example to hammer home that I don’t hate badass women: Andromache. Jaded, overconfident, short-tempered, aggressive, and a little mean-spirited. Tragic explanatory backstory? Check. She is also caring and loyal to her team, allowed to get emotional, allowed to be wrong and fail and lose, and kind of the surrogate mom of the team, who can also laugh and joke around and have light-hearted moments.

Whether the character is a man or a woman, being an arrogant asshole who takes zero accountability and refuses to admit when they’re wrong and never loses, audiences aren’t going to like them.

[lol-jackles]

Do you have a favorite Sam Winchester storyline?

Which season do you like the least?

Sam dealing with the fallout of Dean's demon deal in season 3. We saw various state of Sam’s psyche and his slow burn spiraling sadness and desperation over Dean’s impending afterlife that is worse than death, and it showcased some of Jared’s best acting as just Sam and his raw emotions. It helps that season 3 has the most memorable episodes, from Sam’s misuse of an axe on “Mystery Spot” to learning the backstory of Dean’s amulet on “Very Supernatural Christmas” to Sam being forced to attend a ghost's birthday party to parade of memorable side characters. I think season 3 was the first time Sam was indelibly stamped into my memories: Sam’s struggles with Dean’s deal, Sam looking for ways and options to save Dean, his emotional turmoil and all the in-betweens.  Sure there was Dean’s dire hell-bound fate but because he blindly accepted his fate, the story line fell onto Sam, as it usually does. 

Season I liked the least was season 10 because they switched the protagonist role from Sam to Dean, but Supernatural wasn't designed for that and it confused the general audience with Dean as a demon and then a guy who is supposed to be influenced by a bad tattoo but he was just asshole Dean. I kept comparing season 10 with season 4&5 when the writers put Sam through the wringer. Sam hit rock bottom, crawled through glass to made amends while still having a spine and strong sense of self, and emerged a more interesting character born of fire and pain.  Season 4&5 makes sense because Supernatural is about Sam’s fight against his destiny as everybody fails around him.  SPN is built around Sam, so when they switch focus to Dean in season 10, the formula wasn't there to support his story and then Dean was the same person after season 10 so what was even the point?  Even though the season was a misfire, I still liked some standalone episodes like the 200th musical episode and "Jeeves"; my favorite scene was the brothers immediately pawning their inheritance because it's completely in line with their lifestyle.

[thewatercolours]

PART ONE - Replaying King's Quest, Chapter Three (2016)

And now for the girls in the tower! This one is such a romp.

I am not immune to the combination of this nostalgic piano tune at the very beginning of the "running through time" puzzle, and the seasons/weather we associate with each chapter, and seeing Graham in three different phases of life. It's a clever puzzle, and considering that Graham undergoes a more noticeable shift in appearance this chapter, it's also a good way to cement "It's still the king you know and love" in the player's mind.

It does not seem like a great idea to run under that huge, overhanging boulder.

Owls - you are predators! Fight for your son!! (Wait - the owls have another child. Please, don't let this be foreshadowing!)

Graham's huge eyes of concern when he witnesses Cedric get taken! I have to admit, I put my hand up to the screen to cover the lower half of his face, and sure enough, from the nose up he looks exactly the same as he ever did. It's a very good thing that Graham was allowed to grow up and change over the source of the chapters, and I think it adds so much to the story that we trace him through his whole life and ALL of it is an adventure. But I admit I have a soft spot for his younger self, with all the first times and fresh choices.

(*whispers* and if I'm honest, I'll admit that when my sister played through and saw the Chapter 3 character model for the first time, she said disappointedly, "Aw! I liked him how he was before!" And I said, "Right?" or something to that effect. I do like Chapter 3 Graham! I do! I just like him how I met him best.)

Graham's sarcastic story about eating Cedric himself is still amazing.

Graham, are you still wearing the same trousers ten years later? Truly a thrifty king who does not misuse his people's taxes.

I love Grandpa revising the start of his story for inventory updates.

I don't quite want to finish this puzzle it's a good bye to the past. But - new joys and new adventures are on their way, and it's good to live in the present. Onward!

[dateamonster]

longass monster high liveblog: season 2 edition lets gooooooo

rule school

very first thought of the new season: i want a doll of clawdeens wereruler armor so bad. also im excited for more worldbuilding lore stuff, and more varied werecreature designs! part of me gets a little irked sometimes that there seems to be disproportionate attention payed to werecreatures and the inner workings of their society over other monster species, but i cannot deny, i love a funny lil furry.

especially this side character bear dude who keeps showing up

rly feels like there should be a clause in were-society for what to do if ur wereruler is a fuckin kid. she should not have to be doing all this.

when she finally gets that armor off its gonna be like rock lee with the weights

i love these cunty old werewolf ladies ngl

damn speedreader clawdeen

that painting of foxford is soo cute clawdeen i loove u

toralei!! toralei HUG!!!!!!!! hug AND a pun!!! shes sososososo cute

oh and shes maaaad that she showed affection where other people can see lol the Dynamic.. it is unfolding before my very eyes..

oh damn the fox guy is a sneaky motherfucker? who could have foreseen this....... granted the whale plushie is unexpected

new witch in town

draculauras gay lil witch friend <333

lol is humans using monster slang a microaggression? much to think about.

im really interested in this developing plotline about draculaura being pressured to be like the model of Good Witchcraft. it works well with her established character and arc of like trying to live up to her fathers reputation and status in the monster world. poor girl never seems to be able to just fucking relax.

skelita! i love that shes trying out witchcraft, and the art-based magic is a fun angle too! i can totally see where this is going tho. drac is super serious about magic because theres all this pressure on her while skelita is just trying it out in a casual way so theyre at odds. its an interesting dilemma because i can def see both sides.

im really happy the writing seems like empathetic to both positions here. skelita deserves to try magic her way on her own terms, but its also totally understandable draculaura would feel protective over witchcraft when any misuse of it is ultimately going to reflect on her since she was the one working to legitimize it. respectability is a double edged sword fr!

play it again clawd

aw clawd is such a sweetiepie mamas boy. i def feel a little bad for him. imagine if ur little sister became the queen of ur entire society and ur just like. hangin out there.

oh were doing a groundhog day? im not a big timeloop plot person but ill try not to be too biased

this is also how me and my roommate act when theres a fly in the house

aw im rly glad they acknowledge that selena had like a whole life in beheme that she had to leave behind when she came home.. idk if theyre planning to actually do anything more substantial with that but yea when you think about its kinda fucked up! they probably had friends and stuff! clawd was *born* there! i get why theyd choose to stay here with their family and all even if they could easily go back, but like, its gotta be sad at times!

ok not bad as a timeloop ep goes. still not my fav but like clawds so cute and its so nice seeing him do stuff with his family <3

thats all for tonight i think! see u next time!!

[transmutationisms]

i agree that a lot of the critiques of s4 are baseless, but i haven't seen a lot of people acting like stuff is coming out of nowhere. like the consistency of themes doesn't seem to be the issue. i guess it's that the dialogue feels a lot less nuanced and you can make arguments either way for that. the thing for me is it doesn't feel like we're covering new ground. everything they're telling us we already knew. i am biased bc s2 was my favorite (which seems to be a common sentiment) but it feels like s3 onwards has just been reiterating points we already knew without building upon them that meaningfully. the decline of empire stuff has come into play a bit more in s3 and s4 which i like and they built towards it really well, but character wise i don't feel like we've learned anything that valuable in the past 1.5 seasons?

i disagree with that. kendall spends season 3 trying to play knights on horseback, leading to him finally offloading his guilt about the waiter to his siblings, leading to season 4 where he seems to have lost that shred of humanity that made him feel guilty over it; i think that's pretty important information to learn about him. roman went from proposing business-marriage to his father (season 2) to deluding himself into thinking he could just playact as the chosen son (season 3) to actually gaining the corporate position he wanted and going insane over it. shiv is working out an actual viable way for her to survive in this world beyond "go through dad," and everything between her and tom this season is new ground. even connor has had some critical beats in very little screentime (the wedding convo with willa, buying logan's apartment, etc). i acknowledge greg has been foundering for a while and im sorry to greggirls for your loss but frankly i personally never really cared about him the way i do the siblings.

also, i can't really read the political storylines and the psychological explorations as being separate from one another. like, roman and mencken is political commentary, but also a really important psychological beat for roman. same with shiv and matsson; same with kendall and his new tech infatuation; same with connor and the developments in his presidential run. if the political commentary is accomplishing something, it's because the character writing is accomplishing something, and vice versa. to me this sort of political-psychological monism has always been what makes succession tick, both in these storylines and in the broader way the show situates familial abuse as a function of the larger capitalist social matrix.

in general i guess i would question what type of character development we expect from a show whose psychological premise is that people don't fundamentally change. to me this was what made an episode like 'honeymoon states' so brutally effective: it's a reset in many ways, only with the centre of the universe gone forever, and the remaining characters finding new ways to make many of the same old mistakes. i think this does convey new information about the characters, and i think that sense of cyclical psychological claustrophobia is very much on purpose. you might still think it's executed poorly, or you might just dislike it as a narrative engine for a tv show—fair, i'm not going to try to talk you out of that. but i disagree that this season hasn't told us anything important, either about the characters or the political realm they operate in.

like i said, i do have more sympathy for dialogue critiques and i won't pretend none of the convos in season 4 have been clunky. i also do have some issues with season 3 (misuse or underuse of guest stars and secondary characters, a few episodes i don't think go anywhere, etc). personally though, i think season 4 has been stronger and tighter overall so far.

[imthepunchlord]

Whenever I see someone mentioning "rewrite" for ml, my brain simply turns off for a few minutes because I quite frankly can't see why it would last many episodes. In a rewrite you can change some aspects, but not their personalities, so I would still view Gabriel as an idiot and think that this is would be stupid. Nothing's wrong with a series that mostly focus on your characters, but... you need to get the sense that SOMETHING is happening, rather than keep it vague.

Yeah... honestly, for an ML rewrite, what would’ve been better is just a massive overhaul of everything. Like, its on my future WIP list to do an ML rewrite and writing down details and ideas here and there, but it’s not matching up with the show all that much. 

Either way, story wise, you can’t drag Hawk Moth out for, what, 7 or 8 seasons like they want to? Or at least, the misused Butterfly. And presumably Peafowl too cause status quo-yo. At most, Hawk Moth should’ve been 2 seasons, though depending on Mayura and possibly her being a more dangerous threat and his boss, could’ve dragged things out to 3 seasons with him. 

But afterwards, they should bring in something else to focus on. 

Like, if you cut sentimonsters as a power, you can make use of some of those beings as a non miraculous related villain to face. Like, Feast and that Butterfly being demons to combat. Could also make use of that dragon form from the Shanghai Special and have an actual Chinese dragon appear as an antagonistic force. 

And if you want more miraculous antagonists and reveal that there are more miraculous out there, there’s @nobodyfamousposts solid idea that multiple miraculous were lost and many are popping up in Paris and part of Marinette’s new role with Fu is gathering them up, and it’s a race against HM (and maybe Mayura) to get them. Play off Jackie Chan or Xiaolin Showdown. 

And you can get some antagonists out of them, like XY using the Rabbit to steal ideas (if time travel, peeking into the future, also his name could be Hip Hop). Uh, Jalil usind Dog to “sniff out” answers (could be Pharaoh Hound). Chloe and Lila could wind up with Bee and Fox respectively and misuse them to make themselves heroes. Could also apply to Adrien having the Cat and being more of a wildcard helping LB when it suits him but he’s not here to be a hero. 

And as Nobody’s mentioned, could also get some complex situations out of it, like Ali using the Snake (King Cobra) for as a prince, he’s under a lot of risk of assassinations. Does she really want to take that away? 

Now this can be done with Myura but could also be done with Su-Han, but having someone who opposes how Fu goes about things as a Guardian, and challenge him as a mentor to Marinette. Be that set up of which path does she walk? Make things complex and challenging for her and her stance. 

Miraculous is a show with a lot of possibilities and potential and a lot of ways you could have things go. That’s what makes an ML rewrite so interesting, though with how canon has gone about it, I’d say just overhaul the whole thing. 

Of course, my take is more kwami swap galore. Have Alya get the earrings and Marinette something else. But yeah, you can’t drag out HM for long. He should’ve been about 2 seasons, they could’ve stretched him out to 3 with Mayura. 

[sepublic]

SEASON 2 OF THE OWL HOUSE!!!

          RUHGISN/LIFNALARNGLIENARE

           Onto business first and foremost! We get twenty-one episodes, an extra one to make up for the rather odd, nineteen-count from the first season! That’s forty episodes in total! Then Season 3…

           OH, Season 3… I love it but it hurts! The Lord giveth and taketh away, it’s confirmed, but it’s only THREE 44-minute specials! By my calculations, that’s about the length of SIX normal episodes… THE OWL HOUSE IS SO DANG POPULAR AND THIS IS WHAT YOU DO DISNEY?!?!! First Amphibia’s finale gets screwed over, THEN this?! But at least Amphibia gets its full third season… At least I assumeit does, oh for the love of Titan if it doesn’t…

           It is extremely imperative that we petition Disney to let TOH’s third season be full-length! Because Dana herself admitted that the main reason she left Twitter was to cope with THAT news, and… OH MY GOD POOR DANA you fought SO hard against all odds to give us this show, this previous love-child of your mind and heart and spite, for this!? But it might not be too late- If we assault Disney with our demand, they MIGHT just change their mind! SO GET ON WITH IT! Let the cartoon community rally AGAIN!

           But, right-

           The first half of episodes for Season 2 is going to be TEN episodes, the second half will be eleven! Already better than the first season, but as a reminder, that’s what we’re getting so far before our mid-season hiatus! And on THAT note…

           We have confirmation for the first FIVE episodes, which will begin airing just a mere FOUR WEEKS from now! We have Separate Tides, Escaping Expulsion, Echoes of the Past, Keeping Up A-fear-ances, and Through the Looking Glass Ruins!

           These episode titles spell out “SEEK T”, presumably “Seek t(he)”, so we can already guess the next two episodes after TtLGR! That leaves fourteen more letters for the Season 2 message; The last one was “A witch loses a true way,” so perhaps this season is advising Luz to seek something that will help her get back home? Something that will help her confront and defeat Belos? A little bit of both?

           Separate Tides is the season premiere! Luz is feeling guilty about the loss of Eda’s powers, poor girl, so she’s going to set sail for a lucrative bounty? Interesting… Perhaps a real Bloom of Eternal Youth? Something magical and bile-related? More lore on the nature of magic and its origins???

           Escaping Expulsion… hoo boy, THAT’s what we’ve all been looking forward to! Odalia and Alador get Luz, Willow, and Gus expelled?! No rights for them, even if that was already obvious but WOW. But more importantly, Luz strikes a deal with the two?!? What do Odalia and Alador want from Luz, to get her back into Hexside?!?!

           Dana mentioned how Season 1 had more focus on Hexside at Disney’s request. Given how Season 2 is more her style and freedom, we might see Luz and the others remain expelled from Hexside, if only to detach them from the coven system for the time being as their rebellion grows… And give focus to OTHER things as well! Which is going to suck a LOT and I’m going to hate Odie and Al even more for this, taking away not just Luz’s opportunity but also Willow and Gus’… Especially Willow since they DID follow through on that threat, holy shit, Amity and Willow must be hurt and traumatized from this!

           But what do Odalia and Alador want from Luz? Do they want to use her as leverage against Belos? To use her FOR Belos? I’m suddenly reminded of that idea I had about Odalia and Alador being interested in Luz as like, an actual suitor for Amity… GOD my Lumity heart would actually love it if that were the case! Obviously in the long run it’s bad and for THEIR purposes, but the idea of Luz learning to be more proper for them, for AMITY really… Oh man, this is reminding me of my speculation of Luz and Alador parallels! We might just see what makes Alador so interesting to Dana in this episode, and just the SECOND one of Season 2, no less- Right into the story meat!

           ECHOES OF THE PAST! King lore! KING LORE!!! Even better Luz, Lilith, and… HOOTY… go to a new island?! An island related to King’s past? Is Eda sticking with King to make sure he doesn’t do anything, or god, did King’s antics get her into trouble again? And Hooty… HOOTY is coming with Luz and Lilith???! I’m grateful for Luz and Lilith interaction, we might get to see them talk things over, but how is Hooty…? Is the house coming along?

           Dana mentioned two spoilers and a lie, one of them was Hooty leaving the house! I guess this is one of them… The others were Camila beating someone up and Gus getting a growth spurt, which we’ll get onto later; So I think Camila beating someone up is the lie! Dang it… But a dangerous new island, could this be related to the various pieces of Titan bones mentioned in The Unauthorized History of the Boiling Isles, scattered throughout the boiling seas, all alluding to another incomplete Titan?!

           Are they KING’S REMAINS??! And his bones are incomplete because he still has his SKULL!!!!

           Keeping Up A-fear-ances is pretty obviously Gwendolyn. Screw you, Gwen, and the confirmation that her presence is causing strain for everyone… YIKES. Hopefully we’ll get Young Eda and Lilith backstory, and see how they transitioned from the YBOS flashback to present-day! Perhaps Gwendolyn DID help Eda when she first transformed… Either way, I do not like her. But she’ll be fascinating to see!

           Through the Looking Glass Ruins! As I said before, Gus gets a growth spurt, and he’s trying to impress kids from Glandus… Which YES GLANDUS, more schools lore! But uhh… If they’re at Glandus, is it because they didn’t get back into Hexside after all, and they’re moving to a different school? Luz and Amity are exploring a dangerous library there, which, Lost in Language flashbacks! But why is AMITY there… Oh Titan, does SHE choose to leave Hexside at the end of Escaping Expulsion, as a means of defying her parents’ will, to go with the friends she loves! If so… YEAH AMITY! That, or she’s out on a visit. Will Amity run from home and live with the others, or maybe Willow and her dads? Gus and Perry? Or will she still be at the Blight Manor… Dana wasn’t kidding about Emira and Edric being distracted from Grom!

           Maybe Amity works something out that gets her expelled from Hexside, and Glandus is the new school for her, who knows? Perhaps it’s because of Belos, and so Odalia and Alador are furious, but they want their kid at a school regardless, so Glandus it is! The Hexside Banshees lost their best captain… Not that she was even playing so it doesn’t matter, but still! THIS would be quite a shock and change for Amity! And Luz, Willow, and Gus… Dang, they’re just losing a lot huh?

           If they ARE going to Glandus and enrolling there, then maybe the episode will end in a failure, or maybe they’re pretending to in order to access the library, maybe a library incident will get their enrollment cancelled! I’m interested in seeing Glandus’ location, we know it’s on an island elsewhere… I kind of want to see the principal of Glandus, will they be cool like Bump? Have a rivalry with him??? Hexside lore??? FORBIDDEN SHIP BETWEEN BUMP AND GLANDUS PRINCIPAL??!?!

           But yeah, those are the episode synopses, and they promise a LOT! It seems each episode so far is just pure character or plot stuff… Not to dunk on ‘filler’, which I think is misused for a lot of episodes honestly, but I like it! I guess Dana and crew have to make the most of their time thanks to Disney’s weird thing with Season 3, screw you Mickey… But yeah! I’m definitely gonna say more stuff and talk about the intro, but for now, I AM HYPED!!!

[ilikekidsshows]

how would you feel if, regardless of whether the theory's good or well supported by the rest of the series, etc., they DID make senti-adrien a thing? I'm struggling at the moment because I genuinely hate the idea (for all the reasons you've listed before), but reading Astruc's tweets and how he's bending over backwards to justify it or contradict the counter-arguments to it (which honestly just feel like he's making up stuff on the fly because present canon really does contradict a lot of the senti-adrien stuff), it all makes me feel like it really is going to happen. So I'd rather be resigned to it happening and prepared than deal with the gut-punch disappointment, if you know what I mean. Or Astruc is just the world's biggest troll and is deliberately answering these questions to make people THINK the theory is valid but it's actually not going to be the answer. Either way, I'm just... tired. I just want it over. Either reveal adrien as a sentimonster and let me live in my disappointment, or disprove it and move with the show, you know?

As soon as I saw that people were screenshotting Astruc talking about Sentimonster lore, I knew I would get an ask referring to his tweets eventually. But, here's the thing: nothing I have seen Astruc say has contradicted anything I have said against the Sentimonster Adrien Theory. It doesn't matter if the Peacock holder couldn't sense or control Adrien because I have never used that as a counterargument. I have only ever discussed the Amok, never the Miraculous.

If Adrien was a Sentimonster, there is no reason Gabriel wouldn't have his Amok on his person at all times with how obsessed he is with controlling and keeping tabs on Adrien. And if Gabriel had the Amok Object, he would use it. Gabriel is an abusive control freak; why on earth wouldn’t he use that kind of an advantage? What possible justification is there for him to go against his character that much for over 3 seasons?

Gabriel has not used an Amok object against Adrien. This means there isn't one. Adrien can't have an Amok object because Gabriel doesn't have it or use it against him. That means that we have proof there is no Amok, so Adrien can't be a Sentimonster.

It also doesn't matter what the lore is when the characterization and story themes are against it. Adrien is a victim of domestic abuse, not an artificial being being misused by their creator. The framing of this story arc has been explicit; Adrien has been emotionally manipulated, gaslighted and isolated on-screen. You don’t turn something literal into a metaphor after nearly a hundred episodes of being explicit. It defeats the purpose of a metaphor to backtrack from something that’s been explicitly literal in the show. We have literally seen Adrien be abused on-screen repeatedly, explicitly so. Adrien's abuse is not a metaphor for anything: it's abuse.

Also, the show has killed every single Sentimonster we have seen and hasn't brought a single one of them back. Sentimonsters aren't people, they aren't worth the same as real people. If an existing character ended up being a Sentimonster, that character's humanity value would decrease. They just wouldn't be as important anymore. The writers have told us this with every single Sentimonster they’ve killed off. Miraculous is not real life: it’s a show. Everything included in the show is someone’s choice and someone’s bias. This is not about how the fandom views Sentimonsters. It's literally in the show. If the writers kill Sentimonsters with no reset button, they aren’t worth living in the writers’ eyes. They wouldn’t make their secondary lead not worthy of life.

So yeah, talking about how Mayura or Shadow Moth couldn’t recognize Cat Noir was a Sentimonster even if he was one and how Adrien could totally still have those three kids with Marinette if he was a Sentimonster sure does address all of these concerns (sarcasm).

Also, since we’re taking all of Astruc's tweets as clues to the show's future plotlines, he has said that Lukadrien is better than Luchloé, so I guess Lovesquare isn't endgame after all and we're ending up with the Lukadrien/Marigami double dates setup I always dreamed of instead. Because Astruc, the guy who notoriously hates spoilers, sure would not just say whatever on his unofficial personal twitter and would instead be leading people to a canon plotline on purpose, right?

However, if the writers ignored all of this or if they missed this much about their own show, and Adrien turned out to be a Sentimonster, I would most likely never write another piece of Miraculous meta or fanfiction again. The reason I put effort into this show is because I like it and care about it. And I would not care about SentiAdrien.

I have previously discussed how 'A Single Pale Rose' made me stop caring about what happened in Steven Universe, and you'll notice I don't really write about that show. Similarly, I dropped Young Justice as a show the instant I found out they killed off Wally West, my favorite character, in the series finale. I was only three episodes into said season, but I stopped caring about anything else that might happen because my favorite character would still end up dead. I have a well-received fanfic 'Conner Has Two Daddies (And a Robot Nanny)' that hasn't been updated in years because I have a hard time caring about the universe anymore.

Adrien being a Sentimonster would make me stop caring about what happens in Miraculous or what could happen in Miraculous, because no amount of canon divergence could undo the fact that my favorite character wasn't a real person, could never be a real person and would instead have a "fragile" existence. I would most likely never find the motivation to write about the show again.

So, for the question of how I would feel: most likely I would feel nothing. My investment in this show would drop so low I couldn't even be disappointed anymore.

*insert all the She-Ra fans following my blog hoping Adrien will end up being a Sentimonster so that I will focus all of my attention on writing SPoP meta*

[artofapeach]

My Helluva Boss Episode Tier List

Most fave to least fave (though I love all the episodes).

Small note, I’m going to avoid saying “well written” and “poorly written”, ‘cause those are misused so often ww Instead, I’ll say whether I like the writing or not!

1. Spring Broken

Absolute favorite! I’ve watched this episode so many times; at LEAST 50, probably more. First of all, it’s when my queen Verosika gets introduced! But I also love the way it’s written?? Like genuinely it could be an episode from a Cartoon Network show! They balanced Loona and Blitzø’s issues, Verosika’s issues, what was going on with Moxxie and Millie, the fish fight, it just flowed well for me!! And no matter how many times I watch it, I always laugh at the jokes (Moxxie high-fiving Millie, my beloved).

2. The Circus

I tried to wait. I did. But I watched the episode 5 times already and I truly think it belongs here. I just, I love Blitzø and Fizz so much in this episode. I know it’s Stolas’ episode and I am proud of him and love him too! But I mainly watch it for Blitzø and Fizz. I love seeing them as kids and seeing their initial personalities before Hell society ruined them. I loved seeing Blitzø just being a pro of making shit up from the spot.

3. Ozzie’s

Is this really a shock? The animation here is STELLAR. And I’m obsessed with Fizz and Ozzie’s relationship. I can’t wait for their episode to come out in season 2. Honestly, I probably watch this mostly to marvel at the animation because it’s THAT good. And I’m in love with Asmodeus’ design! He actually looks like a terrifying but lustful demon! The whole “mark me down as scared and horny!” shebang!

4. C.H.E.R.U.B.

I feel like this episode is kinda underrated; it’s so much fun!! A lot of people complain about the pacing being too fast, but if you ask me, that’s exactly what made it fun! Just quick ridiculous shenanigans. It’s a good episode to chill with after watching the more heavier episodes w I’m not the BIGGEST fan of the writing (some of the convos are a little awkward to me), but you know what? That actually improves it! It makes it seem even sillier and zanier! Kill the idea that writing and animation has to be good all the time to be enjoyed!!

(Side note, I thought the pacing for the show as a whole was fine, but I typically enjoy faster paced stories)

5. Loo Loo Land

Ah yes. My intro to Fizz and my second intro to Alex Brightman. I remember when the episode first came out and so many people were concerned with how much they wanted to fuck the robot clown sjskajak I loved Octavia here as well and I can’t wait to see more of her! Genuinely don’t know why people say the female characters aren’t fleshed out when Octavia’s RIGHT THERE with the whole second episode dedicated to her!

6. The Harvest Moon Festival

I’ll be honest, I expected this to be higher up. I LOVED this episode when it first came out. Striker is SUCH a badass. I loved Millie’s family! The animation is so good! Blitzø looks so fine! I love the writing! I had to pause so often for all the stupid shit Blitzø said www But nowadays I don’t find myself watching it as often as I used to.

7. Truth Bombers

Listen, the animation is absolutely STELLAR. The fight scene and the horror scene was the fuh-reaking best!! I just…wasn’t much of a fan of how it was written? I felt like there was too much focus on Blitzø and Moxxie when it would have been a good chance to let Millie shine. But I get why they did it! Especially with their whole “gotta have at least one song in each episode” rule. Now that their allowing more emotion out of story songs (I forget what they call it; my mind keeps going to diabetic and undiabetic, but I KNOW that’s not it), we’ll get to see Millie’s inner feelings a bit more often. I would LOVE to hear her sing!

8. Murder Family

Not a shock. It was the first episode, they were still getting the hang of things. It’s still good! The jokes hit well, I loved the Zim reference, Blitzø says any old thing. I think the best thing about watching this episode though is seeing how much they improved in the future episodes. They’re doing so well!

9. Pilot

I watch this the least for one reason. The ending where they brutally murder the kid in detail makes me super uncomfortable. I often have to stop the episode before it gets to that point. I remember when it first came out and I wondered if I was going to be able to watch the show or if it would be a bit too much for me (I tend to not enjoy brutal murder and mutilation as a comedy; it’s what immediately turned me off from Rick and Morty). But I decided to give it a fair shot and I’m so glad I did! Genuinely, sincerely, this show is my ABSOLUTE favorite cartoon of all time. And the first part of the pilot is still really good! I think I loved Moxxie the best here; he was such a dork (still is). I remember wondering if Millie didn’t like Loona; she only gave negative looks to Loona at the time. I remember wondering where the FUCK there was an o in Blitzø’s name when he went “the o is silent”. I just, I had a lot of feelings when the pilot came out. I had no idea what I was getting into. I thought I would be like “yeah, that was cool” like with Hazbin, but nope! It’s my entire personality now!

[heliads]

lisa, honey, is the end of an era I FINISHED TEEN WOLF

honestly i can't believe it, it's been quite the journey and i wasn't ready for the end, i miss my characters what am i gonna do help

i was waiting for taylor's announcement and decided "ok, this is it, i'm gonna finish it" AND I DID AND I'M DEVASTATED

first of all, the very ending, when scott says "they're my friends... my pack" and they all walked together i was bawling my eyes out, i got so attached to all of them, i couldn't help it. i also cried SO MUCH when theo took that boy's pain because now he cares 😭😭😭😭 it was so emotional i was silently screaming on the couch

malia and scott trying to learn how to fight without seeing was incredible and i was shocked when deucalion died. peter and derek came wich was great because i missed them! OH, CHRIS ARGENT AND DEREK HALE IN BRAZIL, I SCREAMED SO LOUD, I CAN'T EVEN EXPLAIN.

the plot for 6b was really interesting btw, how fear can turn people into killers, there's a similar plot in supergirl and it's one of my favorite seasons. also, monroe was disgusting, everytime she showed up i was like "oh god, here we go again", the way she's a guidance counselor and talks about killing kids like it's killing a mosquito, she was terrible. and gerard... that man is the devil, that's all i'm gonna say

lydia and malia in the morgue was one of the best scenes of these last episodes for me, when lydia is like "pfff there's no way i'm gonna touch-" and malia just grabs her hand and place it on the corpse, i laughed so hard. i love their friendship.

now can we talk about the way that scott literally clawed his own eyes out to stop the anuk-ite from turning him into stone, i almost died. he's such an angel, he's just genuinely such a good boy i love him so much, i wanted to hug him so badly. the way malia had to kiss him later to trigger the healing process, it was really cute too.

i just think that they did my girl dirty in the last episode, lydia didn't do anything, i was sad. they spend all this time saying how her scream is extremely powerfull and everytime we get to the big fights, she never uses it. i mean, she saw malia turned to stone and literally disappeared until it was time to help scott with the eye thing, i was really upset about it

and of course, stydia. i think they forgot they made it canon, there's no other answer. i don't think they even interacted in the last episode, we were robbed. but at least stiles came back, i literally screamed when he showed up in his jeep, my dad was laughing at my excitement

chris and melissa are a great couple, i loved it for them. but i'm also curious about the movie because with allison coming back, this is going to be a gossip girl situation, but i'm here for it.

the nogitsune saying scott failed allison also broke my heart, i think i cried more than anything while watching the finale lol

well, i guess that's it, at least that's what i could remember. please tell me your thoughts, now that i'm done i'm dying to know! and about jane eyre, i'm reaching the end, she's in the moor house. she just got better and is bonding with the two other girls!

thanks for listening to me, you're really lovely <3

you finished teen wolf!! dear lord it hurts. from the season 6a ending alone i was absolutely devastated, i remember i literally had to go walk around outside for like half an hour because i couldn't take it. read into that as you will.

also, let's talk about theo's character development!! that's how you do it. he could take the boy's pain bc he had grown so much!! still makes me lose it.

no actually scott mccall deserves the world and i will never shut up about that. he is one of the honest to god best tv protagonists i've seen because he's so unselfish and kind it's insane. the clawing the eyes out thing was absolutely brutal and it killed me when i saw it.

yes, lydia was totally misused! it still bothers me that they waited so long to develop her banshee abilities and then she only used them once and twice. she could have been so powerful if she was allowed to be, which is so annoying. and yess the stydia agenda was kind of sidetracked throughout the entirety of that show. they loved teasing it but didn't actually want to show it lol.

i am fascinated to see how the teen wolf movie deals with allison. i loved that the show kept referencing her- i feel like it's super common to have a show that kills off a beloved character and then just never brings them up again? glad that wasn't the case here, but yeah allison somehow coming back from the dead is going to be bizarre.

i love your takes!! i'm so glad you liked the show, and would love to keep talking about teen wolf + future shows if given the chance. teen wolf is honestly one of my favorite shows because i felt such a strong wave of emotions throughout the entirety of it. love it and love you!!

[gaybarbiegirl]

Your top 5 least favourite shops from violetta and Soy Luna (preferably 5 from each) and why

Uuuu okay!

Violetta:

5 - Violetta/Clemont and Leon/Gery

I'm grouping these two together because I dislike them for the same reason, and that is that these ships were totally based on lies and spite. Clemont and Gery just wanted to separate León and Violetta for their own benefit, without really caring about how this would affect them, and that's something I can't get behind.

4 - Broduey/Cami

I just hate relationships that are pretty much defined by jealousy and fighting. Like, it's not that a relationship can't have its issues, but when it has nothing but issues, it gets tiring. It's not cute, it's not funny, you guys should just break up.

3 - Felipe/Naty or Ludmila

Felipe was a slimeball, and the way he treated Ludmila (and also Naty to a lesser extent) was gross. And the fact that he got away with it all is really frustrating. Like, he'd go around purposefully putting Ludmila and Naty in very unconfortable situations that they didn't wanna be in, but then afterwards he'd act all nice, so everyone (except for Ludmila) assumed that he either wasn't doing anything wrong, or, if he was, it wasn't on purpose. Disgusting, stay away from both of them, they deserve better.

2 - Tomás/Anyone

Tomás/Violetta? Terrible, he was whiny, pushy, insensitive, and treated her very badly. Tomás/Ludmila? Awful, he was clearly just using her to get back at Violetta for not dating him. Tomás/Fran? Trash, he spent the whole season treating her weirdly because of her crush on him, only to turn to her once he ran out of options and had no one else he could use to spite Violetta. I honestly think Tomás needs to step away from the dating world for a good couple of years until he learns how to handle it maturely.

1 - German/Angie

There's so much wrong with this relationship I don't even know where to begin. The two of them are in laws, they have a huge age gap (I think, time is very flimsy on this show), and German was Angie's boss for a good chunk of the series. Also, German took Violetta away from Angie right after her sister died, giving her even more grief to deal with. He lied to her multiple times and hurt her so badly she moved to a different country just to stay away from him. And he strung her along for three whole seasons even though he was always in a relationship, essentially toying with her feelings. The fact that they ended up together after all of this still baffles me. Terrible, worst ship in this show by far.

Soy Luna:

5 - Ana/Gary

This is one of these ships that are as bad in concept as they are in execution. Like, I don't know who thought that getting Nina's mom and Gary Lopez together was an idea that made sense, but I wonder to this day how comes nobody shut them down. And the relationship itself was trash, which is unsurprising given the type of person Gary is. But hey, at least they didn't end up together, and now Ana is free to go back to her wife, Mora, and live with her in Paris.

4 - Sharon/Rey

No ❤

3 - Nina/Eric

I honestly think creating this ship (and Eric's whole character) was one of the worst writing decisions in the show. Gastina was a really good ship, and they had a very sweet and healthy relationship, really one of the best relationship examples in the show. Also, this was a ship with two whole seasons of history and emotional investment from the audience. Throwing this all away for pretty much nothing was such a bad decision, especially when it would have been so easy to make the long distance thing work out, even with limited appearances from Gastón.

And as for Nina and Eric, their relationship itself isn't the worst I've ever seen, but it's nothing compared to what Nina and Gastón had. No wonder there's pretty much a consensus in the fandom that Nina and Gastón get back together after the end of the show.

2 - Simón/Daniela

I don't think I have to explain too much when it comes to this one. Daniela was a horribly manipulative person, who tried to sabotage Simón's career and separate him from the people who made him happy so he'd only have her to rely on. It was awful. I feel like the words emotional abuse, manipulation, and gaslighting are often misused on the internet, especially when talking about shipping, but that's honestly what this relationship comes down to. Just terrible, I'm so glad this only lasted a few episodes.

1 - Benicio/Ámbar

Surprising no one, Benicio/Ámbar gets the first place. This ship is so awful it's even a bit hard to talk about. First of all, we have the constant harassment that took place before they were dating, with unwanted advances/physical contact, plus Benicio purposefully putting Ámbar in very unconfortable situations. Then we have the issue of Benicio essentially forcing Ámbar into a relationship by wearing her down with said constant harassment, and also ignoring her when she said she didn't wanna be his girlfriend and deciding they were dating regardless. And that's not even mentioning the array of issues that happened before and during their relationship, like the extreme possessiveness, Benicio treating Ámbar like property, Benicio's total disregard for boundaries, etc. Oh, and there's also the grossly manipulative stuff that Benicio said to Ámbar while they were dating to prevent her from breaking up with him (one example that comes to mind is him telling her that no matter how much she tries to change, she'll always be a bad person inside, so she should just stay with him instead of going after Simón), and the fact that he put her through even more harassment after she broke up with him, including threats and actual assault. It was all terrible and honestly difficult to watch at points, and all I can say is I'm so glad this whole ordeal is over.

Aaaand I'm done. This got a little heavy towards the end, but still, thank you so much for the ask! It was a lot of fun (if a bit infuriating) to think about all of these. Thanks again!

[shieldofrohan]

I agree with your opinions on pov struggles. Bran and Sansa had least chapters considering the starks are heart to asioaf. Heck Jaime had more chapters than bran. I think Sansa really had to have much more to do in last two books if we think about last 3 seasons so maybe she will got more povs. I don't know how she will deal with her trauma but one thing is certain that she will not end up with her abusers. I'm more curious about how will grrm handle bran arc.

[for previous ask about this: PoV struggle ]

Hello Anon,

Sometimes Martin's "claims" and his writing don't match.

For example; he insists that he tried to create a historically accurate world but fans who know what they are talking about can easily find the historical errors in his world. Sometimes a simple Google search can prove him wrong. His world is ironically filled with historical cliche myths. Or him saying that Arya was the odd bird in the family but the writing tells that Sansa is the different one with no family support. His whole Jaehaerys the Ideal King with Tax Policy failure and etc.

Long story short: He might say that Starks are the heart and centre of the story, and don't get me wrong he totally loves them and sees them as his centre characters, but without his "Starks are the heart" statement or "Bran is the protagonist" explanation these two aspects of the series could have been easily missed.

Some "simple" (!!!) reader would see Tyrion (he is everywhere), Arya (because of her high number of chapters), Dany (has her own arc and story) and Jon (for his parentage secret and Others drama) as THE protagonists. And Arya and Jon alone are not enough to support his "Starks are the heart" claim. Yes we had Ned and Cat too but they died and they were never the protagonist characters in the first place. Starks are definitely in the middle of major plots but tbh Tyrion IS THE ASOIAF. Not Bran. Not the Starks.

Btw when he says Starks are the heroes/centre he only means the "current" Starks. Not House Stark. I would say House Targaryen is his main (?) house. He builds his entire world around them and their history. At this point we should stop kidding ourselves. Martin adores his problematic weirdos. All of his side books are still about Targaryens (TWOAIF -the lack of House Stark content in this book was really insulting... they were kings for 8000 years ffs-, DUNK & EGG, FIRE AND BLOOD).

Well it's his choice ofc, if he wants to build everything around the villain house then he should do it. But a bad choice... Imagine Tolkien focusing on Melkor and his minions instead of the Children of Iluvatar. He could at least give us their Valyrian era but nah... we had to learn about Westeros through them.

You might say: "But he ended that house and look at House Stark ruling the whole Westeros in the end". And I would say: "So what?". We will never learn more about House Stark's history or FUTURE. We don't even know why "exactly" they became legendary kings in the first place. We don't know how their history shaped the current Starks... Cat and Ned (and other influencer characters they meet during their journeys) shaped our current Starklings... NOT House Stark Legacy.

Ned was raised by Jon Arryn and you see Lord Arryn in his honor and everything (Martin literally refused to give info about Ned's mother because she was irrelevant) and Cat is a Tully lady. We see "so little" House Stark influence in our Starklings. Like "our way is the old way" kind of stuff.

And please compare this how Targaryen ideals had a part in Dany's characterization/story and how we can draw parallels between her and her ancestors (thanks to side books). When I say current Starks are the centre characters but House Targaryen is the centre House, I mean this exactly.

I said that we'll probably never know about House Stark's future and I want to explain in further and it will also give my answer about how lack of Bran and Sansa chapters are going to be a problem in the end.

OK. So we don't know much about House Stark but they (some Stark characters) will end up victorious. "END UP" is the key phrase. There is no way that we'll see a lot about Bran and Sansa's reigns. After 300 years Starks are monarchs again but we still won't know more about their ruling. WHY? Because the lack of Bran and Sansa chapters in the books. With Sansa we can at least imagine her queenship thanks to her KL and Vale education. But Bran was a boy lord of WF for like... "one book" (??) and his story became very mystical and paranormal later thanks to Bloodraven (HEY! Another Targaryen... can you believe?)

And we have (?) to assume that they will become King/Queen in the "end" (I have my own theories about this but right now show is my only canon material). I doubt that Martin will give us an "after 50-100 years epilogue" for us to see Bran/Sansa's influence in the Westeros/North.

If Sansa and Bran are his final monarchs they should have been at their last corner of their journeys by now (again compare it with Dany's bad but still narrated queenship). Sansa should have been in the North long ago and Bran's mystical arc should have ended in the beginning of ADWD. Because Martin can't suddenly start focusing on them in the last TWO books without cutting his other 50+ POVs entirely.

People were SHOCKED when Bran became king because right now his story has nothing to do with being a Westeros King. Will only two books be enough to redirect his story? Sounds unlikely. Martin needs at least 3 books to put everything in order to create a well developed story but we'll only have two.

OR he should have focused on them LONG AGO to remedy this. More Sansa and Bran chapters in the previous books would had been helpful but a little too late.

And especially when I look back at Sansa's chapters I see so many unnecessary drama. Like all of her interactions with Sandor. What did they add to Sansa's story? Sandor couldn't break Sansa's spirit but in the end Sansa shamed him so all of their interactions were about Sandor... not Sansa. They shaped Sandor.. not Sansa.

Martin giving too much attention to Sandor in Arya and Sansa chapters is so annoying. I would rather read Sansa being sad and bitter about her father and Robb abandoning her tbh. It would be a better subject for a young lonely little girl instead of her being molested by some old pervert(s). Like I said... even in her limited number chapters she was misused by the author.

And Bran simply doesn't exist when you compare it with other characters. Everything starts with him but Twincest drama handled without him. He has no part in that or anything that is happening in Westeros right now. And this is our future King of Westeros.

Back to your ask... Sansa will deal with her trauma in subtext like she did(n't) with whole Unkiss thing. And hooooop she will go back to North, deal with LF, rebuild WF and her legacy---- BOOOM!!! War and Others etc. Homegirl has a lot to do. And her healing will have a very little part in her future chapters because author didn't deal with them when he should have in previous books. Instead he threw one trauma after another to crash her more. I guess she'll magically be OK and ready to become a Queen. And yes... she won't end up with any of her abusers. Does anyone still believe that sh*t?!!??!

Like I said, lack of Bran and Sansa chapters will be another part of missing House Stark history. If Starks were truly the heart then Bran STARK and Sansa STARK would had more chapters (between 30-50: Dany has 31 and Tyrion has 49).

Just saying they are the heart/centre doesn't do the job alone. If characters who are not the heart have more chapters than them, this will tell me that focus of story is on them and not on so called heart characters. And this brings me back to my first sentence: Sometimes Martin's "claims" and his writing don't match.

I repeat: Starks might be the heart and in the centre BUT the amount of focus that Martin shows for some Stark characters (Bran and Sansa) is not enough to make them surpass the characters who are not the heart.

So we are talking about an imbalance here. And this is creating a problem. Two main characters aren't getting the attention they need and therefore fandom ignores them... and these two are THE characters that will shape future of the Westeros. They are actually the most important characters but author treats them like they don't matter as much as other main characters (And I know that this was not his intention.. just a mistake in his writing plan). Sad.

Anyway, we'll see how he will deal with Sansa and Bran problem in next books. I hope he'll manage it well.

Thanks for the ask.

[handlewithkara]

Redoing my titles + writers spec

So, with the new information, I’m trying to update my spoiler speculations accordingly. 

13 - The Gauntlet: Dana Horgan (story) & Jay Faerber & Brooke Pohl I had this down as a Lena/Andrea and maybe the point where Lex re-enters the picture. Lena/Andrea is still a possibility but so far it doesn’t look like Lex is back yet unless they are hiding him really well. 

This is also contains the test of course. If it really totem = a person, and courage = Alex that could fit with my take that Faerber was involved in writing Welcome Back Kara. 

14 - Magical Thinking: Derek Simon & Karen Maser Well, it at least confirms a very small thing about my theory that writers like to bring back stuff they introduced, with Karen Maser being the one who introduced Esme and who now brings her back for this episode. 

Derek Simon has written a bunch of strong Lena action girl episodes ( most notably Trinity ) or strong Lena contributes episodes (like Man of Steel) so I kind of assumed that his influence would be dominant. (note that both Derek Simon and Karen Maser are co-executive producers though I think Maser has been one for longer). 

I guess there is a chance that this is another Kelly centric episode where Kelly = humanity? Or it is more Lena centric with Lena = destiny? Or it’s destiny, but destiny is one of the few totems Nyxly manages to get? 

15 - Hope for Tomorrow: ��Robert L. Rovner (story) &  Emilio Ortega Aldrich & Nicki Holcomb Now that we know about the totems we know that this is likely about the totem of Hope and naturally Hope = Kara. I guess it makes sense that this warrants attention from the big guy Rovner.  Other than that I had this tentatively scribbled down for maybe Brainy or Nia stuff based on the writers, but we really know very little about the episode. 

16 - Nightmares In National City: Rob Wright & Jess Kardos

Based on the title I would assume that this is about the Dream totem and hence would expect this to be Nia focused. Which would fit with the writers, they also wrote the prom episodes which were rather Nia heavy in addition to Kara and Alex heavy. 

Okay, originally there was a rumor that 17 would be called Truth and Consequences and 18 would be Believe In A Thing Called Love. 

Later the writers guild of america site was updated to have 17 as I Believe In A Thing Called Love with Dana Horgan &  Nicki Holcomb as writers. It should be noted that the WGA has wrong information on it, it has two episodes called Lost Souls rather than having the correct info on Prom Again. 

Personally, I still think that: 

Truth and Consequences is a perfect Lena/Andrea/William title. And either of them would be a really interesting choice for the truth totem. Also Dana Horgan to me strikes me as a though not exclusively so but still fairly Lena centric writer. So to me the perfect combination would be 17 + Truth and Consequences + Dana Horgan and Nicki Holcomb as writers + it’s about the truth totem. 

With 18 being about the totem of love, maybe containing a Dansen engagement, which means that Kelly or Dansen (or even little Esme!) would be love and somebody else could be/would be humanity (maybe Lena as humanity in 14? though that seems a bit weird to me if they just made her a witch, wouldn’t declared normal person Kelly be a better representative for humanity?). Though I guess it’s possible that it could be Brainy’s love for Nia? Or J’onn’s love for Kara and Alex? Or if you are true Karamel believer you could hope that that’s where Mon-El returns. 

But I have to at least entertain that my “OMG, Truth and Consequences is a perfect title for a potential Lena or Lena&Andrea episode” issues are not indulged. and really 17 is Love and 18 is Truth. One thing that could come of it would be what if they shot stuff heavily out of order near the end and the “love” is a Dansen wedding or engagement and the “consequences” is the death and funeral of William, explaining why Alex is wearing a ring at the funeral? (I still think that episode 20 is way too stuffed to contain a big battle AND a funeral AND a wedding AND various wrap up scenes AND a big speech AND potentially the reintroduction of guest characters, so shooting stuff out of order with the special guest stars like James makes a ton of sense to me, like have a wedding or engagement party in 18 and James is present for it) 

But yes, I can also entertain that 17 = Love = Lena centric beacuse of Dana Horgan. 

That would leave William or Andrea as the most likely candidates for truth in episode 18. (I still really like the concept of William passes the test of Truth, dies a hero’s death and passes the totem on to Andrea who feels so humbled by his sacrifice that she becomes a better person) But with us not knowing who wrote it there isn’t really much to go on except a potential title and the concept that there has to be a truth token and me thinking that truth fits those characters the best (Wlilam tries to find the truth, Lena of course was very hurt by truth being kept from her, Andrea is William’s boss and just recently had some lines about truths and secrets) 

There are also rumors that episode 19 is called Last Gauntlet. So this would presumably be where they retrieve the last totem. Based on the episode title game, it would have to be either destiny and humanity. My main instinct was that humanity would be considered most important and would be last. But I guess it could also be destiny if Kelly = humanity = episdode 14. 

What this leaves out is the return of Lex. We know he is back in 19. 

I originally had him penned down for him showing his presence again in episode 13 because of 

1.) the writers involved  2.) It would make a lot of sense to bring Lena and Wiliam in contact for 14 3.) Melissa mentioned that the return of Lex would play a role in Kara and Lena letting bygones be bygones and we know they work together in 14. 

But unless they are hiding him intentionally from the spoilers for surprise reasons, it doesn’t seem likely to me anymore. Since we now know that Lena’s ritual in 2 has something to do with Nyxly not Lex. I guess it’s possible that Lena and Kara have a different disagreement later in the season that then is put aside due to the return of Lex? Death of William? Misuse of power? Lena withholding information on Acrata? 

Anyway, if it is not 13 where Lex start working from the shadows, my second guess would be 17 because of Horgan. Or 15 because of Rovner (since his presence implies important episode). Which would make some sense if like teaming up with Lex causes Nyxly to become more powerful, allowing her to unleash a NIghtmare On National City.  I don’t really buy that they can add him back that late into the plot as just 19. I feel like at the very least you would have to feel his presence whether Lex himself is present (like in the garbage island episode) for it to feel satisfying that he is the one in the big last battle. But with how they gave Nyxly a different sidekick I guess there is less need for him, since she already has a sidekick who acts as her guide to this world and who she can explain her plans to. 

@peggystormborn there is a rumor that the title of the last episode could be “Kara”, made me think of you and your neither Kara Danvers nor Kara Zor-El nor Supergirl, just Kara theories. 

[juleswritesthis]

Roswell NM 3x11 Thoughts (I have a lot of thoughts!!!)

Contrary to popular opinion I really liked this episode. Yes, the science was so made up it was funny, yes certain character choices are hilariously silly, yes there was a lot of scenes filled with exposition dump, yes characters disappearing for episodes not to be mentioned as if they don’t exist is jarring & annoying, and omg yes, the Wyatt arc (if you can call it that) fell flat and was a complete waste of valuable screen time. So yes, I agree with most everyone’s assessment. That said still a very enjoyable and entertaining episode setting up the final concluding 2 hours of the season. Let’s get into it.

Jones is highly entertaining, overly good looking, and sometimes hilarious villain. Nathan shines bringing charm and depth to the role. Its important to note that Jones hasn’t caused any lasting damage to the group. Sure, he has tried to kill various members, he’s responsible for putting Maria in a coma & has kidnapped half the cast basically, kept our heroes busy all season. But when it comes to killing or destruction it’s really been focused on the dregs or racist folks of the town, the poor scientist in Santa Fe (I think it was Santa Fe) & the lady at the university last week. No one of any real consequence to our heroes. Now I have no idea if Maria’s vision arc has concluded because it hasn’t been mentioned in forever, but I’m assuming that there will be a major death by season end. Noah killed Rosa and the 2 other girls, abused Isobel for 10 years and destroyed the lives of all the mains. For Jones to be a real big bad there’s got to be some long-lasting consequences to one or more of our mains. Though I’m going into the final 2 episodes with excitement there is some concern. I don’t think any of the mains will perish but I do worry about Sanders and even Heath. (I’m really worried about Sanders y’all especially after that promo!!!)

Jones negotiation with Liz was bizarre. Why negotiate at all? Wouldn’t he just threaten to kill or maim people…what the heck is Liz’s bargaining chip against an all-powerful, evil dictator? If she doesn’t do what he wants he can just start killing folks she loves. It really is that easy. I get the whole creativity inspiration thing but fear for those you love is a great motivator. I was so amused that after hours of discussion Liz pulls out the big guns… free the sheriff. Was that her wild card? Really Liz? She may be a kick-ass scientist with a boatload of courage and sass, but I wouldn’t have her negotiating any of my needs anytime soon.

Isobel and Rosa scenes continue to delight. I think it’s clear Rosa won’t be in Season 4 much. As much as I will miss her, I’m glad that she will find some peace and joy at art school, she deserves it. Unlike Wyatt who does not deserve any tranquility because his redemption (if you can call it that) was not earned. Instead, his memories were wiped along with it any true feelings of guilt and remorse. How can we believe he has truly changed? What happens if his memories return? So silly and completely wasteful screen time (no offense to the actor who is quite good and likable).

The Dallas and Max scenes were wonderful. Don’t get me wrong I prefer the show not tell method. And Dallas conveniently having the entire Oasis history in a memory from his father then regurgitating those memories to Max (and the audience) was not the best way to convey the story. However, the actor who plays Dallas is ridiculously charismatic and I could listen to him recite the phone book (do those still exist?) and be entertained. Plus, for one moment I truly believe that Dallas had gotten through to the constantly self-sacrificing, martyr that is Max Evans. But as the promo for finale proves with Max asking Michael (why Michael?) to kill him, the words didn’t stick. Oh Max…

Speaking of, I truly feel so bad for Max. He’s had it rough. In a span of couple weeks, he’s been told he is a clone of an evil dictator, he isn’t the Savior but in fact a weapon to bring down the real Savior who also isn’t really a savior but a genocidal maniac (Michael’s words not mine) who slaughtered half his planet. Not to mention the “there has to be 3” doesn’t include him, as he isn’t part of the triad. And that because he is a clone, he doesn’t actually have biological parents or siblings or anything, well Michael, by DNA sort of, maybe? Oh, and he is the only thing tethering the evil, psycho dictator to life. I mean…

My hope for Season 4 is that Max gets to process everything he has learned about his existence. He hasn’t expressed how he feels the entire season and he deserves to. I hope the writers don’t have him get over it by season’s end with one scene or worse just sweep it under the rug. Like being a clone of an evil psycho, to be used as a weapon, without any real connection to Isobel and Michael? That’s got to have some lasting effects…please writers let me see it on my screen.

Speaking of show not telling, Michael’s new powers. I not a fan of Michael telling us a story of how he used his mind control powers accidently when he was 18. Can we please see these scenes so we can feel the true emotional impact?

As for these powers, strap in, this is a doozy (and might be controversial). I, like Michael, feel that taking someone’s free will, no matter who they are is not a good power to have; it’s not fun, it’s not cool. Michael is right that’s some dark shit and a power that needs to be used very sparingly and with a ton of responsibility.

I loved the scene between Sanders and Michael, but I have a couple issues with some of the dialogue. Sanders is the only living person (other than Jones) that knew and loved Nora. Thus, he can speak about her with authority. He is also the only person who is any kind of real parent figure in Michael’s. Thus, him saying Michael has no darkness can be believed. He knows Michael and he knows Nora. However, Sanders doesn’t know what its like to have powers, especially an immense power such as mind control. Though I appreciate Sanders’ perspective (and agree with him about the purity of Michael’s soul) I wasn’t a big fan of him brushing away Michael’s fears about having mind control powers and not wanting to use them. Yes, it’s important for Michael to recognize just because he has Jones’ power doesn’t mean he is or will ever become Jones. It’s not the powers that make a person. But the line about Nora not fearing her powers was not helpful. Nora’s powers were telekinesis, engineering (if genius is a power) and possibly miraculous crop growth. None of these powers take away a person’s ability to control their actions (well telekinesis to a certain point but in nowhere near actual mind control). So of course, Nora didn’t fear her powers.

I wish someone had validated Michael’s fears instead of brushing them away with a few words of you have no darkness or in Isobel’s case you aren’t like Jones/Noah. A person does not have to be evil or bad to misuse a power like mind control & for that misuse to have dire consequences. Can you imagine being able to make people do what you want them to do at any time? Even if your intent is to do good, it doesn’t mean it’s something that should be done or won’t have major consequences. Sort of like the ends justify means conversation between Jones and Liz. What is the line, do you recognize it and what’s to stop a person from inches towards the line and what happens if you cross it?

So, my wish for next season is for Michael like Max is given time to process what he has learned about himself and his powers. My wish is for Michael is to continue to struggle with when, how and if he should use the mind control power. That way even when faced with a racist sheriff that is holding a gun to his friends, he is careful, asks for consent and never takes advantage of this tremendous power. In addition, I do think it would be very interesting to continue to explore these powers and how they maybe could change a person? Take Max’s power to give and take away life force. He killed Noah and used that life force (and his own) to bring Rosa to back to life. Seems like a good exchange but ethically and morally having a person decide who lives or dies? And how would this all fit into religion with Dallas being a priest? These could make for some great conversations and strong character development. Fingers crossed we see some of it and not just get told in passing.

The music in the episode was amazing. The beginning with Nothing Else Matters and Jones is a tux… I mean… Also, the ending with the fight sequence, building the suspense, only for the reveal to be that Jones had wanted them all to come so he could trap Liz, Dallas, and Max along with Isobel and Michael (for extra leverage) in his mind. I’m confused about why everyone was sitting but Michael was standing? Is he able to move or is he able to resist his father’s mind control? I’m really looking forward to next week and for Team Human to come to the rescue (maybe).

Favorite lines of the episode:

Sanders to Michael: “You are just a pair of sad puppy dog eyes and a cowboy hat”

Jones to Team Alien & Liz: “Well, everyone seems a little tense” (LOL I love Jones!)

Dallas (or Isobel) writing on the wall to Jones: “KNOCK, KNOCK”

[bananonbinary]

i wonder what happened with tim’s life outside the institute. in season 1, he had all sorts of “contacts” and was misusing institute funds to get to know people. by season 3, he’s apparently completely alone. what happened to those people? do you think they worried about him? did he ask one of them to go with him on his ill-advised trip to Malaysia? did he try to reach out to them as he was falling apart, only to be rejected again; or did he push them away himself after jon betrayed his trust? do you think there were still people to cry for him when he died, even if he wasn’t really close to them anymore?