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ziracona · 3 years ago

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T2 was okay and it could have been really good—had some real moments. But it needed more script iterations, and it was too goofy. Goofy is fine in general, but Terminator works best as a sci-fi action-drama-horror mesh. That’s the peak atmosphere. Also just, they gave their new Terminator scary powers to keep him relevant, but there’s just...no way to really make anyone on screen look like a threat to Arnold Schwarzenegger you know? And they never overcame that and it throws off the whole underdog atmosphere. He just. Wasn’t scary. Not when he was trying to kill heckin Arnold the brick house.

I’m not gonna talk about T3 bc I feel like I don’t need to and I think I have a lot of support for that in the fandom, and I’m not gonna talk any Genysis bc no one ever should, and I know I have support there.

Dark Fate was fine, but I felt like they really didn’t have to kill off their Kyle expy like at this point the surprising thing and interesting one would be /not/ to kill him. That role has died in /every/ other film. Like we get it. But plot rehashes are only good if you have some kind of spin. Mostly though I just...would have liked T800 man’s personality in another context but you couldn’t ever sell me on him after watching him gun down a 10 year old in the open. Like what, he found a soul by being...bored? If you want to convince me of fundamental change in a person, you /gotta/ motivate it better. Show me. Don’t tell me and expect me to take your word. And there just wasn’t enough meet in some spots. I wanted more firm lore and a little less action. Like I’m not even a science-heavy leaning sci-fi fan but it still wasn’t enough. I liked it more than most of the others but it just wasn’t quite...meaty enough. Sarah still a queen. But T800 man didn’t sell and that was a real weak spot, and so was expecting us and Sarah to just...like and forgive him bc he had accrued a family. But also like. I enjoyed having a new protag, but feeling like so much, no, /all/ of the work and suffering of everyone in other Terminator films was for nothing bc it’s not even Skynet anymore it’s some other robots?? It kind just...didn’t really work. It makes everything more hollow like it’s not even Terminator anymore there’s no more Terminators. They should have just had it be Skynet but a different rebel leader, or more. Sarah goes on to mentor Dani instead since John is dead, /something/ to make it more the same franchise and not so hollow. Or if it’s gonna be gutted, go all the way and let us feel that, don’t blip it as a plot point once and keep rolling. There’s decades of character attachment for fans; either make that matter, or make it mourned because it’s dead. Don’t skim it and make it cheap. Also on a meta level it was kind of weird how they handled time travel compared to the norm for the franchise but I’m not going into that.

BUT. The Terminator? A cinematic classic. It’s just...such a good film. The characters work is solid the whole movie, and Reese and Sarah are both truly excellent protagonists also given ample time to explore and exhibit that. There’s so much you get in moments that show tiny things about them. The way Sarah handles getting canceled on and goofing with Ginger, her having a pet iguana she loves to cuddle, talking to the statue at work? And she’s smart and normal (I mean normal in a very complimentary way). Kyle is introduced almost immediately running from the cops, but even in the middle of a chase scene, he’s stealing clothes in a mall while evading flashlights, and little things like hopping while he runs to check shoe sizes give you so much right away. He’s clearly out of his depth but he’s smart and methodical and he holes up in a car he hotwires and has a ptsd moment waking up from a dream because of some heavy construction machinery. You don’t have him say much about himself at all but you get him taking a second to be nice to the kids and guard dog on his way back before a T800 attacks. Even though if you’re watching it classic, you have no spoken goal for Reese and all you know is he’s armed and /also/ looking for Sarah, like the man who has killed three people already is, you kind of aren’t very scared of him by the time he’s creepily following her into a night club. That scene is iconic too damn. Anyway. Her reactions to everything are so great. Only film I ever saw where I 100% felt the person on screen was reacting like anyone would to almost being killed and then getting kidnap-saved by some other guy claiming to be from the future like I’d bite him too, but you know, I’d also be pretty happy he saved me and also decide he was crazy and not like, dangerous, and try to keep the cops from killing him. It’s so cute he thinks anyone is going to believe him like hang in there Kyle baby, king. Love as soon as the Terminator hits the police station, he breaks out and goes to find Sarah, and she’s immediately like ‘so fuck this actually’ and looking for him too. The deleted scene in the motel woods. The slow character build. Him falling in love with her because of the picture where she always looked a little sad and he wondered what she was thinking about and you don’t find out till the last scene it’s him she was thinking about in that picture. A family can be two complete trauma disasters making pipe bombs in a motel. The top 5 cinema shots moment where you think they won and they think they won and they’re both injured and stagger to each other and collapse laughing and crying and hugging and it holds for like ten seconds before that fucking thing gets up and you see the rubble in the fire shift and Kyle sees it first. And the hopelessness and despair. Sarah just screaming no in rage because it’s so unfair. The little scaffolding fight?? Kyle doing what he does? Sarah winning with a broken leg? The picture? The heartbreak? A work of art.

Also just. They’re both attractive but like, they are not remotely airbrushed Hollywood pretty. Kyle’s got that big scar on his lip and they’re both sweaty and bloody and dirty and gross the whole film??? God yeah.

Terminator Salvation? Also a classic. You have a film not about the core cast exactly, but it’s very ensemble. You get early days war. And it’s from the very open a solid narrative about second chances and what it means to be human and they really do explore that the whole runtime. Markus dies and comes back more confused than you are in the apocalypse. Baby Reese is absolutely perfect. You get formerly executed for murder Markus somehow adopting like 20 year old Reese and 13 year old kid Star and they’re amazing. Rebellion drama, lore reveals. Reese’s devout faith in the cause and how fast he looks up to Markus and starts learning and Markus is like :[ but then he’s like ... :] because he god assigned two family members now. The tag team fights—how incredibly talented Star is. Guilt trip on a look to dropping cars, she’s super effective. Tbh Markus is just O_O to >:-[ the whole movie as soon as Reese and Star are taken and I feel it. You’ve got a guy who was killed for straying too far from human, come back as a machine, but he doesn’t know it, wondering if he deserves another chance and if he can change, and it’s really neat the way it unfolds. Even after losing so many friends to Terminators that look human, Blair refuses to believe he isn’t a human even if he’s also a machine and risks her life to save him, when they barely know each other. Markus getting like, tortured by the rebels, and still choosing to help them and be who he has decided he wants to be this time, even towards John. Even with better alternatives. And you have Star never having a moment of doubt, or Reese, and him getting to save them both, and them trying to help the other humans in line for extermination before he arrives. The hand hold with Star when his hands just metal. And he decides to die for someone he doesn’t even /like/ and who has personally hurt him a lot of times, because he knows the rebels need him to win. Anyway death row to death row but completely different people in the same body facing that same death differently are amazing if done well (see TWDG I mean ow) and it was a very simple core theme to latch to and very enjoyable executed and it got snubbed by fans when it’s the best sequel Terminator ever had.

#thus concludes my spoiler heavy rant for why Terminator Salvation and The Terminator are the best two Terminator films #the terminator #terminator salvation #ramblings #spoilers #twdg spoilers #long post #sorry I had no idea how long this was

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starryknight09 · 4 years ago

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That’s not how Ironman goes out

Febuwhump Day 7: poisoning

Read on AO3.

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Peter pulled his grey hoodie on, practically bouncing on his feet as he finished dressing. Today was going to be the best day. He was headed over to Ned’s this morning to work on the new Star Wars Lego set his friend had gotten for his birthday last week, and then he had plans to take MJ out to a new Mexican-Korean fusion restaurant she’d been talking about ever since it opened last month. They’d been together for almost three months now and he still loved seeing the look on her face whenever he surprised her.

“Peter can you come here for a minute?” Aunt May called from the living room.

“Yeah!” He answered, not thinking anything of it. He shoved his wallet in his back pocket and toed on his shoes, checking his phone for any messages before pocketing it as well.

He made a detour to the kitchen to grab an apple out of the bowl on the counter, enjoying the crunch of it as he took a huge bite before turning to find May sitting on the couch across the room.

“What’s up?” He asked, barely understandable, around a mouthful of apple.

“Come here.” May patted the couch cushion next to her. The oddness of the invitation made him stop and focus. He noticed a characteristic crinkling in the corner of May’s eyes, something she only did when she was worried and trying to hide it. It was an expression he’d seen more than a few times ever since she’d discovered his vigilante identity.

“What’s wrong?” He moved to stand in front of her.

“Sit down honey.”

“No, I’m good. I have to get going to Ned’s soon or I’m going to be late. I promised I’d be there by noon.” He said, checking his watch for show. The way May was acting made him want to escape. Made him afraid.

“I need you to sit down.” May patted the space next to her again.

He had the irrational urge to whine, ‘I don’t want to.’ To stamp his feet and refuse. Because no good news ever came from scenarios like this. But instead of refusing, he forced his knees to bend and hesitantly sat down next to his aunt.

May reached out to hold his hands. “Honey, I have to tell you something.”

His heart started racing. “May, you’re scaring me.”

“You know how Tony had that fundraiser last night?”

He nodded. Tony had invited him, but it was a stuffy black-tie event, which wasn’t really his thing, and Peter had already had a readymade excuse not to go. He’d made plans with MJ and hadn’t wanted to disappoint her by cancelling. Tony hadn’t minded because Peter was heading up to the cabin tomorrow to spend the weekend with him where there wouldn’t be a bunch of uptight old people milling around.

“Well,” May continued, “we’re not sure how it happened yet, but somehow someone managed to slip something into Tony’s drink.”

His stomach dropped out of his body. No.

“Is he dead?” His voice trembled, afraid to hear the answer. Afraid that the reason May had positioned him here was to deliver the news that his last remaining father figure was gone.

“No honey.” May reassured him and his eyes closed as he let out a sharp breath of relief. She squeezed his hands. “But he’s very sick, and they’re doing everything they can, but we just don’t know yet what’s going to happen.”

He bit his lower lip to keep it from quivering as tears welled up in his eyes. This couldn’t be happening.

“Why would someone do this?” He managed to choke out the question.

“Oh honey.” May tugged him forward into a hug. “I know. It doesn’t make any sense. They think it was someone from that ridiculous group.”

Peter clenched his jaw. He knew exactly what group she was talking about. After Tony had saved everyone, and almost died in the process, a group of zealots had become vocal about how reversing the snap had set back all the environmental progress Earth had made after losing half its population. They hated Tony for what he’d done. They believed life had been better before the reversal because the human race was no longer multiplying at a rate that the Earth couldn’t sustain. Apparently, there’d been less hunger. Less pollution. Less war. But infinitely more heart ache. Peter didn’t think any of the other stuff even came close to canceling that out.

“I think we should go see him.” May suggested, rubbing his back as she held him and the tears slid down his cheeks. “Just in case.”

In case he died. The words went unvoiced. The very thought that it was even a possibility made him want to scream. Because of some hate group. He should’ve gone to that party. Maybe he would’ve sensed something. Maybe his ‘Peter tingle’ would’ve caught on. But no, he’d chosen to hang out with MJ instead.

“Yeah.” He said, trying to get a handle on his emotions. “Let’s go.”

“Ok.” May gave him another tight squeeze before releasing him. “He’s at the compound. I’ll drive.”

It’d taken months, but they’d rebuilt the compound, like some sort of symbol, bigger and better, in the same place where it’d been desecrated. Peter usually felt some amount of awe whenever he drove up to it, but not today. A numbness had descended upon him ever since he’d gotten in the car. It was as if he couldn’t process any more emotion, good or bad, until he knew if Tony would be ok. Like a kind of limbo.

The clop of his sneakers on the immaculately polished floors echoed ominously throughout the silent halls. May had tried to throw her arm over his shoulders in support on the walk in but he’d shrugged it off. Even though he desired the comfort, he hadn’t wanted to be seen as weak by any other Avengers they might encounter. They already looked at him like a child.

He and May rounded the corner and Peter stopped up short. Tony’s door was at the end of the hall, and he was almost afraid to cross the remaining distance. He didn’t want to see him hooked up to machines with wires attached and tubes coming out of him. Seeing him like that was always hard. The man was supposed to be larger than life, so anytime something happened where he actually appeared mortal, it was like the cosmic forces were out of sync.

“Come on baby.” May nudged him forward with a hand against his back.

Peter took a deep breath and managed to put one foot in front of the other again. He could do this. He had to. He’d never forgive himself if he didn’t see Tony and something happened. When they got to his door, Peter paused again, but he forced his hand to grip the door handle and twist it open.

“Hey kid!” Tony greeted him cheerily, sitting up in bed and not looking at all close to death.

Peter froze, not quite believing his eyes. His gaze shot over to May, wondering if this had all been some sort of cruel trick, but she looked equally shocked. His eyes darted back to Tony, afraid to believe it. But the man seemed fine. Maybe a little drawn and tired but not on death’s door like he’d been led to believe.

He took a halting step forward, not quite ready to trust it, and worried that too much hope might shatter the mirage in front of him.

“What’s wrong Pete?” Tony frowned.

“You…you’re ok?” He asked, taking another step forward.

“Yeah I’m fine.” Tony held an arm out towards him, encouraging him to come closer.

Peter hurried over to him, grabbing Tony’s arm once he got close enough. He was real, solid and warm

“You’re ok.” He repeated as if in affirmation.

“That’s what I said. Try to keep up kid.” Tony smirked at him, and Peter felt his resolve crumble. Relieved sobs bubbled up and out of him, shaking his frame.

“Shit. Come here.” Tony pulled him into a comforting hug. “I’m fine. I promise I’m fine.”

A minute later Peter heard the familiar click of heels enter the room behind him, but he didn’t lift his head, still working on regaining his composure.

“Oh.” He heard Pepper say in surprise. “Oh May. I’m sorry. I forgot to call you back. As soon as I got off the phone with you Bruce figured out the antidote and an hour later Tony was fine. I can’t believe I forgot to let you know. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s ok. I’m sure you had a lot on your mind.” May reassured her.

“Still, that’s no excuse. Oh sweetie I’m sorry I scared you. It was touch and go there for awhile but Tony’s going to be fine.” Pepper placed her hand on his back. He really didn’t want her to feel bad. He tried to pull himself together. Tony was perfectly fine. He wasn’t going to die.

Peter took a deep breath and pulled away, wiping his eyes as he sniffled.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to fall apart.” He gave them a tight smile. “I just— Well, we thought you were dying.”

“Dying? You told them I was dying?” Tony threw an accusatory look at Pepper.

She crossed her arms and raised her voice, “We thought you were dying.”

“Pfft. It’d take more than some crazy zealot to take me out. Don’t you know me at all honey?”

Pepper rolled her eyes.

“I mean seriously, poison? That’s not how Ironman goes out.” Tony shook his head and then looked at him with a smirk. “Right?”

“Right.” He agreed with a nod.

“If anything, it’ll be in a blaze of glory.”

It took every ounce of Peter’s being to not think about Thanos and Tony snapping the gauntlet, coming as close as anyone could to death.

“Yes, at the rate you’re going, you will probably blow yourself up someday.” Pepper deadpanned.

“Hey!” Tony said indignantly. Peter couldn’t help it. He snorted out a small laugh, the numbness and fear inside him finally melting away.

“No,” May smiled, joining in the fun, “it’s going to be—”

“Old age.” Peter interrupted, not wanting to think of any other possibility at the moment, not even in jest.

They all quieted down, and Tony looked at him, a soft smile on his face and eyes alive and twinkling. “Yeah. Old age. That could work.”

#febuwhump2021 #febuwhump #irondad

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meandmyechoes · 4 years ago

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Something I wrote May 8th, 2020 02:44 about Rebels that I forgot to publish. But actually contain a lot of context for how I feel about reusing Ahsoka in general. I formally apologize for every ill will I had for Rebels Ahsoka’s design.

hot take: I don’t like Rebelsoka. Yeah, as if you can sum up my opinion like that.

Why I don’t like her is a really petty and subjective bias, so I am not being fair. The real problem I have with Rebelsoka was mostly my personal lack of enthusiasm in her art style and early on her role was... replaceable. Her unique place is as an ex-Jedi, which is why I’m glad and more accepting when they turn her story away from the Rebellion to focus on Jedi Business. Her early lines in Rebels was... delivering information that could easily been given to another rebellion officer. And it felt off to switch from that unsure teenager to this full-blown wise mentor.

With everything, the final verdict is of course, Rebelsoka is amazing. In the end the potential outweighs my complaints. Yeah, information feeder, cryptic vocabularies or poor cosmetic choices can be forgive in exchange for awesome duels, delightful mentoring and GOSH THAT ANGSTY “ANAKIN”. not that i hope we see more ahsoka stories but i hope we see more ahsoka stories you know. more than that 45 minutes of it ◔̯◔

As a TCW traditionalist, of course that was my definition of Star Wars. Bitter of replacement was a common feeling in the year 2015, but I’m also reasonable enough to expect a major stylistic change with Disney’s acquisition. So all in all, I am glad we at least have another show instead of none at all.

Even though I dropped out, I was there for Rebels in the beginning. If nothing, I learnt from Clone Wars not to underestimate a Season 1. Yes, no one from the Ghost crew captivated me the way Ahsoka did, but I liked them all equally. It was an enjoyable show when I judged it as an exposition and sanely do not compare it to the finale that Clone Wars was building. So Ahsoka coming back at the end of Season 1 really put me in a difficult place, when I thought I could move on to this new family, having accepted her departure.There were rumours, but I kinda expected her to set off the S2 premiere instead. I was also spoiled of that very last minute of revelation. Anyway, when she came back, and I heard Ashley’s voice, I just broke into tears. It’s literally a resurrection. I also couldn’t believe, that I actually get to see Ahsoka again in my life, and that she is suddenly so mature and wise.

It was difficult for me to adjust for two reasons: the art style and her maturity. I guess now I could put myself next to Anakin in 709 describing how I felt meeting Ahsoka again. I also really hated her art style in Rebels initially. She was... streamlined? had slick skin, but her lekku stripes are jagged, and i never get to see how her lekku grew into the shape they are now. and her whole facial patterns are different too?? and she actually doesn’t have clear sky blue eyes anymore? but somehow has deep purple eyes? and just all around no-no with the art style when it first came out. The style wasn’t an issue when you don’t have the my favourite as a veteran character for comparison. (say you don’t see me complaining about Hondo that much but didn’t they do him dirty) Even though I had no problem with her outfit or headdress, it’s just not my favourite of hers. and the fact that they’re forcing me to watch a cartoon character lined with age! and how tired she looks, with wrinkles! and pouches under her eyes! don’t do this to my poor daughter! let her stay happy and carefree as a 14-year-old 5ever! (18-year-old me holding an angry PTA sign)

It also closed a book on however I want her to be. stupid war in the stars making me accept canon. I would’ve been content with her just leaving and staying alive, when every fan set out on her dying before RotS. Yeah maybe she threw her entire ‘life’ away but at least, she’s not, dead you know. And seeing her thrown into another war, threw herself into another war, I wan’t sure I could handle that. The grief, the guilt, the regret, the sight of not seeing her standing by her family again. (good lord Filoni gave us the Rex and Ahsoka hug ;_;) I just want her to stay happy and carefree in my head okay?

and that constant battle of wanting to see more of your favourite character but also level enough to not want her to steal the spotlight form a promising new cast? and the lowkey distrust towards Disney that they brought in Ahsoka to trick more audience into a less-popular show? as a fake-ass apology? Are you suppose I’m ever gonna forgive you for cancelling Clone Wars even though you brought back its characters and basically made a TCW sequel? Are you asking me to overlook the damage, done to both TCW veteran characters AND Rebel’s originality if you don’t do it right? And when they really don’t give us much Ahsoka mid-season it was kind of.... *deflating high-to-low 7-note crescendo* If Disney is actually giving us “what the fans want”, it’s because we damn well deserve that apology without ever needing to forgive, less alone thank.

So anyway, I did dropped out of Rebels after the Season 2 finale. A bit of real world reasons too because I was getting busy in college and I have Rider, an all-year-round show to fall back on. So i just totally turned away from Star Wars in general after March 2016 where it was dead dead for Clone Wars. I caught up a bit of S3 but never finished it, and I’ve been on and off trying to do it to recover from TLJ but it didn’t feel enough (+ plus real busy irl)

I only even found out Ahsoka the White on social media and was utterly confused. Not sure if it was the best decision creative-wise then, and frankly hand’t given much thought since. But I definitely don’t mind Ahsoka Not Dying. I think I have more questions directed to this girl in person on her life and fashion and spaceship choices more than anything. You just sort of reached a point where like god let them rest.

I only wrapped up the series before I saw Walkabout. And there was like a 3-month gap since I started rewtaching late January after ep9. But I ran through the last season in 2, 3 days? It was really good. I didn’t expect it focus on just one planet, but the plot was good, even though the primary enforcer villain monkey just looks meh. Somehow strangely, the character I grew attached to is Kallus. You know, he is not in the main cast whatsoever so he really may not die? And the whole time as the finale draws closer I just was on the edge of my seat hoping none of my faves die. (Yeah the only mistake that finale made was sacrificing Gregor. not nice Dave.)

And the epilogue was amazing. The resolution again subverts expectation in a good way and gave us what’s plausible but not expected. And I love how the show actually balanced warfare and lore. The mythological episodes border on fantasy fairy tales but it still suits my taste. The balance is actually better done here than on Clone Wars. In a show titled Clone Wars, you kind of expect it to be about Clones and Wars. But Rebels connected the spiritual journey of the characters to the wider warfare. They needed the Force to train and guide them to their victory. And this prominence of the Force as a plot element and narrative influence is something I found missing in the later seasons of the Clone Wars (6 not withstanding).

The show made me genuinely escalates in loving these characters and gave us a well-rounded, complete Star Wars experience. It’s not my favourite, but it’s definitely a good show.

#tcw reviews #myechoes #why am i defending myself over nothing #this is a bit long and could be counted as meta but is actually devoid of reading of the text lol #ahsoka tano #star wars

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mysteryartisticwriter · 5 years ago

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Time To Change // Benny Weir X Reader

A/N: Hey loves. Please forgive my sorry ass for not uploading anything since the summer, I am very tired and things are not going as well as I wish it was right now. I would post a rant post or anything but I know you guys wouldn’t wanna read that and that’s why I try to keep my blog only as a writer one instead of making random posts that no one wants to read.

I just wanna say that the old show “My Babysitter’s A Vampire” was one of the greates shows out there on Disney, probably one of the last. I loved it a lot growing up and the cancelation of the show still pisses me off. I always loved Benny, he was my favorite character and to practice my writing since I dont even post anymore lol, I decided to go along with this. You’ll get something better one day but I will probably keep writing for MBAV (even tho the fandom is probably dead sdkjfnskjd)

SOMETIME DURING SEASON ONE

REQUESTS ARE CLOSED BTW (FOR NOW)

Requested: nope

Warnings: angst and a bunch of tears bro

You and Benny were a known dynamic duo. The two of you were often never seen apart. Being best friends, along with Ethan, since grade school and becoming a couple only a few months ago, life seemed great! You and Benny had never been closer and even with all the supernatural afflictions in Whitechapel, your relationship with him was almost perfect.

Until you started to notice Benny’s wandering eyes.

Even before you two dated, you loved each other. You loved and cared about Benny more than you ever though you could about someone. He was your best friend, how could you not care about him? But you always noticed you weren’t the only girl who caught his eye.

Sure you weren’t the most beautiful, gorgeous girl in the town. You considered yourself average and you were one smart cookie, clever and geeky. But just not like the other girls that Benny seemed to glance at.

It started out with the girl from the movie theater he kissed out of nowhere, the girl with the undead dog, then the cheer squad, and hell, even Erica got longing looks from him!

Benny wasn’t even the one to make the first move, you were the one who asked him out after hanging out at his house. You confessed to him, he told you he thought the same of you and later on, you two started to date. Ethan and Sarah were more than happy to support your relationship, it was bound to happen someday, they said. Your worries and insecurities slowly crept away and you were happy for a while.

A little more than three months into the relationship, you noticed out of the corner of your eye Benny’s looks and smirks towards other girls. He didn’t think you would notice, but of course you did. A lot of times while on a mission to stop a supernatural creature, if there was a hot girl involved, Benny would be flirting and staring.

Now, Benny wasn’t the worst boyfriend. If anything, he was great! You knew he loved you and he treated you like a queen. He wasn’t exactly...distant but as time went by, he stopped giving you the morning kisses and hugs you loved so dearly much and eventually stuck with a forehead kiss or a cheek kiss. And even those would be pretty rare during the day, not just the morning.

He would give you attention, but his focus would usually move right away to something else. You first just brushed it off as casual Benny, but not it was getting annoying.

You never stopped loving Benny, your love for him never lowered but didn’t exactly grow either. Sure, couples grow out of the ‘honeymoon phase’ and can grow apart but you didn’t want to believe you and him were growing apart, you wanted to grow with him in the relationship.

“But if he loved you as much as you loved him, he wouldn’t be flirting with so many girls while in a relationship.” Erica and Sarah had told you many times.

But you always brushed them off.

Benny wouldn’t hurt you, right?

Today was the last straw, for the past week, even when you were around, your so called boyfriend had made comments about other ‘hot babes’ in the school and you were not having it this time. Ethan, Sarah and Erica noticed your off mood today, but didn’t question it. They all knew what it was about, you told them about this weeks ago.

Everyday after school was over, Benny would walk with you on both of your ways home. You would walk back to your house and cuddle with him until he was forced to go home. Now, he barely stays for 15 minutes before going home. You really wished he stayed longer.

After school today was the same, you and the group would talk and discuss somethings for a while and then leave, Benny usually following behind you.

You waited in front of the school with everyone (including Rory) except for Benny. He mentioned something about needing to find a ripped page from his spell book. While you all waited for him, Sarah finally spoke up.

“So (Y/n), are you finally going to talk to him today about...you know?” She questioned. Everyone’s eyes turned to you as you nodded your head.

“Yeah...when he walks me home, I’m planning on just talking things out with him. It’s not what I had in plan before but maybe it’ll work!” You lightly smiled at you friends.

“I’m really sorry he’s been treating you like this. Of course it’s Benny and all but this is low even for him.” Ethan butted in.

You gave him a thankful smile and couldn’t help but silently agree. Erica gave you a comforting pat on the back and smiled at you. You weren’t the best of friends, but you still cared for one another.

“I’ll bite his head off if he continues to do it.” Erica ‘joked’ as she showed her fangs while winking at you. Sarah smacked her other hand and yelled in protest, causing Erica to whine.

“Oh please, as if you wouldn’t do it either-“

“Do what either?” Erica was interruped by a familiar voice, causing all of you to turn your bodies toward the man himself, Benny.

“Erica was just saying that she’ll bite your head off if you-mph!” Rory’s words were cut off but Sarah and Ethan covering his mouth.

The lot of you smiled awkwardly as a silence brushed you over you all. You just looked down at the ground, pretending as if you just saw something interesting.

“Right...well guys and gals! Guess who has two thumbs, a spell book and a soon to be newly mastered spell by yours truely?” Said Benny, carrying the first letter of the first word while pointing his thumbs toward himself.

“...who?” Ethan asked, although he already knew the answer. He and Sarah already uncovered Rory’s blabbering mouth by now.

“Your favorite spell master, me! Remember that I mentioned that ripped page from the book,” everyone nodded. “Well I just found a new spell that could be the best thing since Star Wars. A changing appearance spell! Think about it! I could change into any hot guy I want and all the hot babes would be after me!” Your head snapped up at the words coming out of his mouth.

Is he freaking serious? Right in front of his OWN GIRLFRIEND RIGHT NOW?

Everyone else, besides Benny, in the group stayed quiet for a moment, looking away awkwardly as they noticed your face change from a sad expression to an angry one.

“What? Look, I won’t actually do the spell but c’mon, you get to be whatever you want-“

“BENNY!”

Benny turned his finally turned his attention towards you, you hadn’t realized that he wasn’t even paying attention to you this whole time.

“Can I speak to you, alone. Right now.” You asked him, gesturing for him to go to the other side of the courtyard.

He nodded and headed over there with you. Benny glanced back towards his friends, but they all seemed to be slightly glaring at him or shaking their heads.

Finally, when you both were alone with no one around you two, you turned to him and spoke up.

“Are you kidding me, Benny?” The brunette looked at you with a confused face.

“Am I kidding about what?” He answered. You couldn’t help but roll you eyes at him, was he really this clueless or did he just not care at all?

“You! You, Benny and the spell! Actually, not just the spell! Are you even still aware that you are in a relationship?!” You spat at him.

Benny just scoffed.

“Babe, of course I do! That whole spell thing was just something I found and was trying to tell you guys about. It’s not a big deal!” The boy defended.

“Not a big deal? Well maybe not you to, but to your girlfriend it does! Your girlfriend of three months and yet here you are, talking about these hot babes and spells you could use to get them! I am your girlfriend, Benny! You seem to be forgetting that.” Benny started to grow annoyed with you and waved you off.

“If you wanna fight about your stupid jealousy, then I don’t wanna hear about it. I still care about you but there’s nothing wrong with-“

“EVERYTHING IS WRONG WITH THAT BENNY!”

Benny flinched in shock after you screamed out your words. You were always the quiet and shy person of the group, a badass but yet still quiet. You honestly couldn’t care less at this point if someone heard you guys, you needed to get your boyfriend’s head straight.

You didn’t even realize the growing tears in your eyes until one fell from them. Benny’s face formed into a guilty and sad expression.

“Benny...as your girlfriend and best friend, I have my own things and you have yours. We both have our own lives and I’m not going to control yours. But when you talk about other girls like that, like they’re a piece of meat and I’m just off to the sidelines like nothing then you can’t expect me to not be upset about it. I love you, Benny Weir. But clearly, you don’t love me enough to focus your attention on the one you’re supposed to love.” You finished, tears rolling down your face.

“Okay, okay, I get it. I’ll stop with the comments, I’ll stop looking at girls and I’ll show you that I do love you! I love you so much, (Y/n)! I-I can’t lose you!” Benny practically begged, holding your cheeks as the waterfall of tears continued.

“Please don’t cry...please don’t cry.” He said, trying to wipe your tears away, not even noticing the tears running down his face either. You pushed his hands off of you and backed away from him.

“P-people need time to change, Bens. You can’t change in just a few minutes. I-I...” You contemplated your next words until they finally came out. “I think we should break up. Or just...t-take a little break.”

Those words nearly tore Benny Weir’s heart in half. He loved you, he had loved you so much but didn’t show it. Benny had made the worst mistake in this life and he felt so guilty, more worse than when he messed up on his spells. And now he was paying the price for it.

“No...n-no no, please no. Anything but that, please, (Y/n)! J-just one last chance!” Benny begged.

He didn’t want to lose the best thing in his life, he wanted to stay with you. He wanted to love and cherish you for the rest of his life.

But he ruined that.

“I’m sorry, Benny...but both of us clearly need more time to change.” And with that, you left him behind, tears still falling buy slowing stopping while Benny’s only grew.

He had lost the love of his life. His best friend his childhood. His partner in crime.

Benny sulkily walked back to his friends, seeing that Erica and Rory had left, leaving only Ethan and Sarah behind.

He wiped his tears and tried to smile but his bloodshot eyes gave him away. Ethan and Sarah knew right away what had happened. Ethan walked up to him and rested a hand on his shoulder.

“Benny...I’m sorry.”

Benny didn’t say anything though, he was still trying to process what had just happened completely. Finally, he fell to his knees and sobbed while Sarah and Ethan watched pitifully.

She was right...he needed the time to change.

Let me know if you wanna be tagged in any of my stories!

#my babysitters a vampire #mbav #mbav benny #benny #benny weir #benny weir x reader #benny x reader #my babysitters a vampire x reader #mbav x reader #mbav erica #mbav rory #mbav ethan #mbav sarah #imagine #mbav imagine #my babysitters a vampire imagine #angst #x reader #reader

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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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Animation Reviews: OK KO: Red Action to the Future

On to part 3 of Red Action 2 days because my schedule got nuts, and this one.. I was dragging my feet on beause I didn’t remember liking it nearly as much as the rest of the red action trilogy. Now while the same held for “Your Everyone’s Sidekick” I ended up liking that one.. this one... not so much. This one is however earlier in the season than it’s sisters in red action spotlighting: “Back in Red Action” was towards the end of season 1, while “Red Action 3: Grudgement Day” is literally the last episode before the finale arc, something i’d forgotten till today. This one is pretty early into season 2 and the why.. is really easy to figure out. For Season 2 Enid actually got a pretty intensive and long spotlight arc about her time at point prep, with rad and ko only showing up in a portion of it, so late in the season wouldn’t be fair as enid not only had the halloween episode then, but also just had a 7 episode arc basically to herself with Elodie as her co-star and rad and KO out of focus or even absent at times, so they likely did it early to prevent overloading the season with her. Granted they could’ve just had Red show up at school and done one episode there that wasn’t part of it’s overarching story, and still HINTED at the glorb doping arc while she was there, but they may also have not decided which one of the two they wanted Enid to end up with, and thus didn’t want to put her and elodie in the same space. I dunno. We’ll also be covering the POINT arc here eventually, but obviously there’s a lot of episodes to get to first, including the whole gar and carol backstory arc, before we get to that one. And with that out of the way, let’s take a look at Red Action to the Future, under the cut.

We open with Red playfully helping KO stock the shelves with new Double Dipped Lazer chips since, as Enid points out, it’s rad’s day off. She can also fire things in her canons , which is neat. It’s also highly noticable that she and KO are now on good terms and the two seem to be friends. Which despite their last interaction really isn’t THAT weird surprisingly: K.O.’s a forgiving kid as long as your not an out and out supervillian, and even earlier this season he was worried about Lord Boxman disappearing despite hating the guy most of the time for good reason. And with her past behind her in the future, Red is likely inclined to be more the fun kind of cool instead of an edgelord asshole, and likely apologized off screen and as we’ll see next time, she genuinely regrets her actions. That being said I do feel we could’ve had an episode with red trying to be better, but I do get the show has a lot of ground to cover, so this was an easier thing to have happen off screen. Anyways the three are palling around, with red and enid being couply while KO panics when ENid points out his newly beloved double dip lazer chips are probably a limited time thing... ko’s wimpering “no I love them” is so relatable it hurts. But before Red can figure out KO’s snack dillema Yellow Technique yells at red to come home and help, Enid is too worried abotu pressuring her to ask her to stay, and Yellow refuses to let KO and Enid come along for reasons.. and frankly I don’t get that even with possible damage to the timeline. Besides you know, the end of this episode, we also have the fact that you guys HAVE TIME TRAVEL. If they gain a year or two, they’ll still come back and fufill their places in the timeline and you can CONTROL THAT, so if they had to stay longer than a year or needed to be back for something specific, you could bring them back and have two incredibly powerful allies for your war. The x-men have had a good handful of members from the future and look how well that turned out. Some of the time I mean Bishop did turn evil for a while and the younger cable whose around stabbed the older one and rachel went into a coma and then the future but she’s back now.... okay maybe she has a point.

Anyways Enid regrets her decision, Red comes back for a quick break, with years having now passed, Blue shows up to yell at her to come back which seems.. harsh. Like I know she’s like Killowog, a good person whose probably murder on recurits but seems nice off duty from waht we’ve seen and her happily saying hello to enid, which makes me want an episode where they actuallyv isted the hue troop instead of this SIGH. Anyways, Enid finds a stray time capsule and goes to be honest with red

So now in the post apocalypse, Enid finds Yellow, who got seperated from red as they fight a giant version of the robots they’ve been fighting, with Red showing up just in time. But as with all giant killer robot based future’s they’ve evolved so these things have shields and Enid suggests laaunching her. So red shoots her girlfriend out of her.

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And they win.. but Red refuses to let enid stay and gets huffy with her before Enid can tell her the truth and Enid leaves in a huff. Now this scene.. I really liked, from the action sequences to the fact that we see how their similarities, what attracts them to each other, is also a roadblock to them having a proper relationship. Both are stubborn, put walls up , and are reluctant to be honest with their feelings, we’ve seen that with red in the last episode and Enid in the episodes mentioned last time. They both prefer to run from their feelings and while their both growing, as you’ll see when I cover more tom lucitor stuff, it’s not that easy to just “become” a better person and sometimes old habits flair up.

Enid regrets how things went, KO regrets not learning about chips, and we get one final red visit.. from a much older Red. i’m Dubbing her Cable!Red because A) her timeline probably still exists, it’s just not the one our red is linked to anymore nor the one the plaza future we see would create. She and enid hug and Red explains that it turns out the robots were weak to organic maatter and given they were only shooting at them, they didn’t realize it and it STILL , as shown by the fact Red is grandma age now, took years to fix and she has things to get back to with space congress, war hero stuff and all that. Also just a small note but something I only noticed this time that the episode DOES deserve credit for in my book is Kali Hawk’s voice acting as Red. Noticably with each time we see her red’s voice gets deeper and by future red she sounds entirely grown up. It’s a subtle change most probably wouldn’t of cared about aside from on old red, but it’s a nice touch that really does help theemotional part of the episode. Enid is finally honest about how she felt, and sad about it but understands.. but is also understandably still broken up when Old Woman Red Action leaves.. only for present-day.. ish time travel tenses are weird to pop up behind them has a hug with enid and flirtly says “I never left. “ Turns out Future Red decided to say Screw Destiny and told her past self to stay, what enid felt likely, or got enid to admit it or whatever, and told her to stay and enjoy her youth. She can go back and be a war hero later if she wants. And my honest guest given the Hue Troop turn up fine later is rather than callously abandon her teammates, Red’s future self simply went there for them and , to prevent a decades long war from ravaging her future, pulled a Cable and told them how to defeat the robots YEARS before they got so powerful it’d take years to beat them, as well as probably having knowledge of where they came from, how to kill them all or make peace with them or whatever, and future weapons to help even things. IT’s not an unfair assumption given that besides missing out on a future with Enid, Future Red would also not want her friends to go through untold decades of pain and death and since she changed the timeline already, there was no sense in not going all in. Also the chip thing is resolved with KO finding out they WILL be discontinued.. but replaced with triple dip instead. KO”s delighted and enid and red happily share a moment, the future is now what htey make of it. THE END. Final Thoughts: As I made plain i’m not a fan of this one.. but in re-watch I did find things to like about it. The time travel story device was used really well,though I would’ve liked them to have old red say she was going to back instead of me having to infer it and feel, given theyd on’t show up at all next time and only show up for a cameo in the finale that the Hue Troop was vastly underulitized and coudl’ve used their own ep, and for once the cancelation dosen’t excuse this as they had the second half of season 2 to do this AND never dealt with Red, who gave up a future war for her, dealing with enid going way for what’s clearly months and was expected to be years. It’s also not very funny , which is fine if the episodes more dramatic like TKO, but for a standard ep it really didn’t quite work. It was just more dull than it should’ve been: it had an intresting hook: red slowly loosing her youth due to a future war, and Enid loosing her because of it, and Red’s cable self deciding to fix that, but it was instead a standard poor commuincation kills plot but with future robot wars. IT’s the first OK KO episode here i’ve reviewed that’s not good and honestly one of the few they had that genuinely wasn’t, and even then it had some good ideas just a flawed execution. Thankfully next time, there’sd none of that as we instead look at one of teh series very BEST episodes. IT’s grudgment day, and until then later.. today hopefully. If not tommorow.

#ok ko let's be heroes #red action #enid #rednid #red action to the future #yellow technique #blue power #time travel #reviews #ok ko #ko #lbgtq+#pride month

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dhawerd · 5 years ago

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The Clone Wars

So I’m gonna start by saying I effed up. I saw that the finale was live hours early and dove right in even though emotionally, I was preparing to have until 3 am to compose myself.

Now that that’s over, I’m gonna go back a bit. I didn’t watch all of the Clone Wars as it was live, the first couple seasons were rough and I found it hard to connect to it. After season 5 ended and the show was cancelled, I went back and watched it all and that was my first mistake. My heart will never forgive me for giving this show a second chance because now my heart is shattered (get it... like 7x11.) I grew to love the characters and the show redeemed the prequels for me. We got to learn that what Obi-Wan told Luke in ANH was absolutely true. Anakin was a cunning warrior, the best star pilot in the galaxy, and a true friend. Besides that we got so many characters to love who have so far all broken my heart. Between Echo, Fives, Rex, and Jesse I just can’t put this love into words. Season 7 has solidified that when I start working on a clone cosplay, it will be a phase 2 Rex. This show had no right to build such attachments in a world about space wizards who forbid it!

Ok so enough rambling about the past. I already said I effed up and watched the finale before I was emotionally prepared. Thanks to Rebels existing, we know that Ahsoka and Rex live to then and after so I figured knowing that would lessen the blow at the end of this. Then Dave Filoni decided to say “We know you know that these two live so we’re gonna rip your fucking heart out by pitting them against a legion of clones, including Jesse who you all were so proud of becoming an ARC trooper at the beginning of this season.” And to that I say... Dave... you are a monster. You knew that Rex and Ahsoka wasn’t enough to make us feel but pitting Rex against his brothers, having Ahsoka refuse to kill them, showing them fight to kill Rex and Ahsoka even while they plunged to their death in a fucking Venator, and then the helmet memorial at the end was not fair. You piled on the feels and didn’t let up. I cried so fucking much while watching this episode that my girlfriend got worried about me.

TL;DR This show ended perfectly and I’m just unable to process the emotions because I screwed myself over by skipping 2 hours of my prep time.

P.S. HOW DARE YOU SHOW VADER PICKING UP AHSOKAS SABER AT THE END AND MAKE US THINK THAT ANAKIN THINKS SHE IS DEAD!!! I KNOW HE HAD TO GO COMPLETELY UNDER BUT I THINK IF HE KNEW SHE WAS ALIVE AND THEY’D RUN IN TO EACH OTHER EARLY ENOUGH SHE COULD’VE SAVED HIM!!!

#Clone Wars #spoilers

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redpoet2 · 6 years ago

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Steven Universe’s Change Your Mind: A Review

I had planned and wrote out a 12 page reaction paper on the episode, like shot for shot my thoughts, and planned to copy/paste it here and add reaction gifs... For some reason Tumblr won’t let me. I have tried twice in the past 2 days, wasting the better part of 2 whole days (I started the minute I finished watching the episode for the first time and have only taken periodic breaks for my sanity).

I don’t want to want to waste my time again by spending all day on it again, only for it to not work and I loose the last strain of sanity i have left. So instead I am just going to give my overall review in parts, in the hopes that this things actually posts, and my more detailed version (minus the gifs) will be lost to time and space.

First things first! The new outfits/forms: - Peridot's form I instantly loved. Her visor and hair are on point! Literally! I love her new outfit, she finally got her stars! I also love that she is basically Static Shock with her levitating trash can lid!

- Lapis’s new form will take some getting use to. I love the look, with the crop top and the baggy pants/sandals. She looks like Aladdin and I’m okay with that. I just have a problem with the gold strings/shoes. I understand why she has the gold and what it is suppose to mean/symbolize. I just have OCD and have a hard time when I see clashing color pallets. This is just an issue I have in general, so I will just have to get use to it.

- Amethyst’s new form is probably my favorite. Her star shorts, her tank with her visible gem window, its so her! The color palate is also the best she has had, I hope she keeps this form for awhile but knowing Amethyst she probably won’t have this for long.

- Pearl’s new form is very cute and very simple. I like her new shoulder pad like jacket, it’s even got a star on the back! Those skinny jeans are also very cool!!!

- Okay confession time. I am fine with Garnet’s new form except for the visor/shades. Don’t get me wrong I love the shape, it’s just that color clashes with the rest of her. I know its similar to her gauntlets, but to be honest that part has always bugged me as well. I will get use to them eventually, it just might take time, just like with Lapis.

Next let’s cover the new fusions: - Rainbow Quartz 2.0: This is so important, this was the only fusion we know of that took place between Rose and another single Gem! (Again that we know of) So seeing this new form with Steven is so big!!!! And it didn’t disappoint! I love everything about them. They are basically a queer Mary Poppins and I love everything about them! I love their rainbow powered umbrella. I love their puns. I even love that they are voiced by a boy!

- Sun Stone: Holy crap. They are a Flaming Cheeto with sunglasses… and a walking embodiment of every 90’s “Cool Kid’s Cartoon” cliché, right down to the fourth wall breaking…. I love them!

But suction cups as a weapon? Really?

- Obsidian:

Where do I even begin? This is the first on screen appearance of the Temple Fusion in real life! Like this is a big deal! Okay, first off let’s talk about the 4-way fusion dance! Garnet with her hand movements and hips. Steven just mash potato-ing is adorable. Pearl is elegant as ever with those ballet moves. Amethyst fist bumping and rocking her hips as well. All forming a pyramid! Awesome!

Then when they all fused and started to form Obsidian, and all those arms started forming I was getting super excited! And then we got to see her (or Them since Steven is a part of the fusion) and she does not disappoint. She is basically a gem version of Ta Ka from Moana and I love everything about her! Also THAT SWORD!

The Diamond Reformations:

- Blue’s reformation was the first and easiest. She was closest with Pink, and after Steven showed her how miserable she and the other Diamonds made Pink, how much Blue made Pink cry, I knew she was going to reform. I also love that Blue stood up to Yellow and even called Steven by his real name, not joking like before. But maybe I am bias, she is MY diamond after all.... #MyDiamond

- Yellow’s was next and I knew she’d be a tough one but once Steven and Blue got through to her she crumbled easier than Blue.

I will however say that when she called Steven by his real name, the moment didn’t feel as earned as Blue’s. It should have been given a bit more time, or at least shown Steven’s reaction like when Blue did it.

- I knew White would take the longest, she is a toxic abusive parent and its very hard to get them to stop being abusive, let alone admit that they are abusive. Her taking control of the diamonds and the crystal gems was bad enough, but when she PULLED OUT Steven’s gem, I was about ready to never forgive her.

I was dead set on her needing to be poofed or something, but no. Steven did the unthinkable, he got through to her. How? By throwing shade at her! That come back was straight out of the pilot, like DAMN!

Also can we just take the time to reflect on how utterly creepy a lot of this episode was.... like nightmare fuel creepy...

The Ending:

- When this special started I honestly didn’t think we’d make it back to Earth in one piece, let alone redeem all the diamonds and cure corruption. Like yeah the ending felt more like a series finale and if they canceled Season 6 and we just had the movie left I would be okay.

We have a few unanswered things, but the big important stuff got resolved so I am not exactly sure where to go from here....

What’s Next:

- We Still don’t know what is in the chest in Lion’s mane! - All the corrupted gems are healed so now we can do stories around them! - The original Pink Pearl is no longer being controlled by White. She is free, and we still don’t know how her eye was damaged. - Speaking of we still don’t know much of Pearl’s backstory before she was given to Pink Diamond/Rose. - Jasper is uncorrupted but that doesn’t mean her redemption arc is over, it hasn’t even started. - Lars is back on earth with the Off Colors so we can do some stories around that, like more on their backstories, interactions with the crystal gems, exploring earth, etc. - How are the Diamonds made? Who made them? Was Pink an off-color or intended to be that color. - We don’t know what happened to Russia in this world - More lore on the Gem constructions on earth, like especially that Geode Storm thing from season 1. - Since Lapis is back and now a crystal gem, she and peridot need to fuse. - In fact all the remaining gems need to fuse with Steven at least once and with each other! We need more fusions okay?! - Speaking of fusions Greg needs to fuse with Steven at some point as well. - Era 3 has began. Is Homeworld going to stop their evil ways? Will gems get treated better? Will there be a civil war on Homeworld? Was Escapism foreshadowing for season 6 and beyond? - The rose quartz’s in the bubbles at the zoo need to be freed. The Humans too. - We need to learn Lion’s backstory. How did he “Die” and did Rose know she could bring him back? Also is Lars now going to get powers like Lion? Is Lars immortal now? - Mystery Girl needs to come back. - We need to see Sapphire and Ruby’s new forms, so we need an episode where they come out again, hopefully just to be cute and show off, not because they’re mad at something/someone. - We need to rebuild the barn or Uncle Andy is going to be pissed. - We have Lars’s ship AND Pink Diamond’s legs. We can travel to other colonies and parts of space unknown. I could go on and on but I think I’ve made my point.

This finale was cosmic. Beyond anything the show has done before. Now begins the long wait for the movie! I hope we get an actual trailer soon. Or just some more information on it, like the villain, or if this takes place before or after season 5. Things like that.

#steven universe #change your mind #spoilers #review #gif

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syldana · 6 years ago

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Wizard World 2018

When the London Comic announced David, I confess to have had the crazy hope that, as far as it was at home, that Gill would poise his Glen Close cup at this event, but no ...

Still missed. Frankly, I had lost all hope, was starting to think about possibly going to Orlando, but October would have been a risky time for me. Autumn (season that I adore yet) is a complicated season, I do not usually take leave because I have just returned from those of the summer, which also means that the money has already seriously spent. Not the right moment, in short ... And now, thanks to my guardian angels, and to a miraculous medal church to whom I owe 10 candles of thanks now, Chicago announces the mythical Duet. In 2016, they had already participated in Wizard World with Mitch and William, and I missed the opportunity because they were announced late and I had already invested in something else.

This year, the same, definitely, except that there too bad, I sell a kidney if necessary but it was the occasion or never because Gillian threat to no longer do salon after this year. So I had to organize everything at the last minute, extend my scheduled dates of holidays, calculate all the budget to plan and start a good time, I will discover Chicago.

In the end, I regret nothing. I have serious anxiety for weeks that either cancels a week or the day before the event, I must admit, but they respected this time the planned commitment and it allowed me to forgive Gillian for the previous blunder.

This show is really nice, big in size, two rooms for derivatives, although the one in Toronto is really the largest show I've done so far, the sites are perfectly divided and reflect a good organization: the autograph stands are near the place of the photoshoot, the conference rooms are on the first floor, adding a concert stage in the large lobby with the presence in a corner of a Starbuck ...

This Stephen Convention Center is truly beautiful local and the conference floor really makes luxury hotel lobby with ceiling chandeliers. The highlight was of course the Photoshoot. For obvious reasons, I only invested for this show for the photo that was already expensive and the Silver VIP Pass which also allowed me access to the Panel that started in the late afternoon at 17:15.

So I start the day at 9:30, overview products, not much around X-Files like had, really cool cosplay, presentation booths or exhibition around Dr Who, Star Wars .. ., cars made famous by fictions: Jurassic Park, Ghostbuster, Supernatural ... Basics in short. I found my T-shirt booth that I meet at every trade fair, they definitely travel guys, and that offers the most truly varied choice since they sell virtually all series or films printed on fabric. The photoshoot started at 11:30 and I'm anxious of course, because this damn picture, I'm waiting to do it since I was like ... 13 years old and the teenager I was would never but never imagined that at the 25th anniversary this moment would come true. During the queue, I meet a bunch of girls registered like me on Tumblr, she asks me my nickname, we talk about Justholdinghands, she is a truly reference on this network in terms of informations... in a word, the better it occupies the mind, it prevents me from falling into tears. My Silver Pass makes me go before everyone else, so much the better, because I was having a heart attack. Behind the curtain ... I guess ... Gillian had already arrived at 10am to start his program of the day which began with a first autograph session. I took the opportunity to take a picture, but David him, the sleep in the morning like in Montreal, Sir starts his day at 11:30 with the photo ^^^^^ (the guys I swear) In short, they are both there, Gill and his lounge uniform, holding everything in black, he who displays his biceps T-Shirt and my turn comes. Well it's time not to miss, I reported it to you 1000 times. We have 1 min to talk to them, watch them, take the picture, thank them and be kindly thrown out by the staff (the session lasts like every hour and everyone has to go). So, not the moment to be nervous. I put myself behind the line, my mind is empty, I display my best smile and go: Hi, how are you ?? Gillian and David, a-do-ra-ble, welcome me with their most beautiful expressions, David recognized me (it was like the 3rd time in two months that he supported me), and there I stick between the 2 quickly done.

Yesssssss it's done bordellllllllllllllllllllll, Finallyyyyyy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I pray that the photo is not missed, I thank them 10 times for this moment and I get my shot which is superb I think. Thank you photographer, even if my adorable mother finds that the blue background behind is too aggressive (do not care!). The day is going on and ... Comes the moment of the Panel. The moment that the Gillovnies wait because it's the moment when Gill and David, when nobody is between them of course, let go. Well it was not bad in the end, honestly they were relatively themselves. Gill has responded well, David showed his usual disillusioned look, fixing a point on the horizon ... but when these two look at each other, the complicity is there, it smiles, it laughs, it is valve, Gill who still finds an excuse to touch him and whisper in his ear. Of the two, it is Gill who plays the most questions game, she shows more memory when the episodes passed for once, not of Bad Blood, and which answered the best, taking advantage of the opportunity for reiterate his contempt for the end. Good on the other hand that it is fixed in the idea that one constantly puts forward the qualities of reproducer of Scully swells me, this woman has during 11 seasons posted qualities nevertheless other by its strength, its intelligence, its courage , her determination (even if Mulder beats her at this level with her obsession), so it would be cool for her to stop raising the fact that she and Carter are divided as to Scully's fate, thanks!

And everything was going on normally until a fan found a way to ask: when Scully and Mulder practice sex, who is the master, who is above?

Honestly, had to see their head, I thought David was going to get angry, it was a cold on stage, the speaker was very embarrassed, recalled that these are still fictional characters, Gill responded rather adroitly that we move on and David remained frozen in a look of implacable coldness. Honestly, the question you want a season 12 ?? Would have been better there for once …

I enjoyed the moment when David recovered from a fan's hands a portrait showing all Scully's hairstyles throughout the ages he teased Gill on the subject as what she was often styled the same, Gill who displays a falsely shocked expression In short, it's okay they get along as well, no worries on that side, that's fine. I enjoyed David qualifying the season of The Fall hobby, because 6 episodes (parallel with the new season format for X-Files in season 11) is very short, Gill laughed, they were relaxed ... From memory that's what comes to me for now, but there would be more to say ... In conclusion, knowing that Gillian was born in this city, it's a good goodbye I think, we closed the loop, my dream long frustrated to have this shot in Duo is realized there and it makes this perfect moment. Now it is time to have other projects and other dreams.

2019, will be theatrical !!

#chicago wizard world #gillian anderson #david duchovny #gillovny #review

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ellanainthetardis · 7 years ago

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Sorry for the delay, ff wasn’t working yesterday so I had to wait until they fixed it to post. I hope you enjoy this chapter! We have a guest star today! Let me know!

[ff] or [ao3]

52. 5 Months & 11 Weeks

“Haymitch!” Effie snapped as she crammed April’s rag doll in the diaper bag. She looked around the living-room to spot anything useful she might have forgotten. There was no answer from upstairs and her irritation increased. “Haymitch, we are going to be late!”

She rubbed her now slightly round stomach over her loose woolen sweatshirt. She always wore loose clothes nowadays because she was starting to show. The children were puzzled by that because she had always favored curve-hugging outfits but she had passed it off by claiming it was fashionable. Eileen was less fooled by her excuses and deflections, she believed, but her friend was good enough not to bring up the obvious symptoms.

She grabbed a plastic toy as an afterthought and tossed it in the bag, running a hand in her disheveled hair. The living-room was a mess and she felt the urge to give it a good scrubbing but she pushed it down. There was no time for this. They were in a hurry.

Snowball must have sensed her temper wasn’t at its best because he was hiding behind the armchair, almost out of sight, and was munching on his purple monkey while tracking her every move.

“Haymitch!” she shouted, not bothering to keep the irritation out of her voice.

“Yeah, I’m here. Hold your horses.” he grumbled, finally coming back downstairs with April bundled in a weather-appropriate outfit and her darling red coat. He was also waving a few diapers in his free hand. “Here.”

She snatched them from him and forced them into the diaper bag, so annoyed tears were burning her eyes. She blamed the hormones and the last few nights of not enough sleep.

“We already had to push it back once.” she muttered under her breath. “And now we will be late.”

“We’re still in time.” he sighed in a pacifying tone that did nothing for her ill mood. She didn’t like being patronized. “And it ain’t my fault, sweetheart, don’t go blaming it on me.”

She pursed her lips. He was right, of course. It wasn’t his fault. They had been forced to reschedule the ultrasound appointment because April’s teeth were starting to come out and the girl was in so much pain it had given her a light fever. Their attention had been on the baby and there had been no time to go trudging around the District – barely enough to catch a blink of sleep here and there. April had cried all night for four days straight, leaving them ragged and herself exhausted. It had been hell.

And now, when she was supposed to babysit for them so they could go to the clinic – not that she knew that, to be fair – Katniss had just cancelled on them because there had been sighting of a wild boar coming a little too close to the habitation area and the mayor needed her help to track it before it hurt someone or, more likely, because she was still somehow at odds with Haymitch. Peeta was swamped at the bakery and Eileen had her arms full with the coffee shop and her own daughters.

“I wanted this to be just us.” she sulked. She wasn’t thrilled about going to the clinic to begin with. She didn’t like bringing April there if she didn’t have to. And she had really wanted the first ultrasound to be something between Haymitch and her, without the baby to distract them.

“I know.” he offered, rubbing her shoulder. “Come on. Open the door, I’m gonna get the pram.”

The pram her mother had bought was difficult to get out of the house and for good reasons: it was the size of a small yacht. She relieved him from their daughter so he could have free hands to get the pram out and went to open the door…

… only to find her father on the other side of it, hand raised as if about to knock and luggage at his feet.

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Is this inconvenient?”

“Father!” she exclaimed in astonishment. “What are you doing here?”

Haymitch quitted trying to maneuver the pram to join her, automatically placing a hand on her hip before utering a greeting. “Tadius.”

“I hope you will forgive me for not calling first.” her father winced. “I was in Ten and I thought I would come and see how things are progressing here. It was all last minute. I was hoping you would not mind hosting me for a night. The study will do just fine.”

Effie was torn between pleasure at the unexpected visit and annoyance at not having been warned. Her house so wasn’t in any state to receive anyone – never mind someone from her family. It would go back to her mother who would insist on sending her a housekeeper…

“Come in.” Haymitch said when she remained mute. “It’s cold outside.” It wasn’t that cold, she wanted to protest. It was only October and it would get colder before long. “You can stay, of course, but we’ve got to go right now.”

“Oh.” Tadius frowned, a bit uncertain. “I would not want to impose. I could stay at the inn and…”

“Do not be ridiculous, Father, you are welcomed.” she cut in.

He searched her eyes for a moment before giving her a tentative smile and finally reaching for the baby in her arms. He stroke April’s cheek, his face softening. “She is so big now. She grew up a lot since the last time I saw her.”

“How about you two get some catch up time?” Haymitch suddenly suggested. “We could use a babysitter.” He plucked April from her arms before she could protest. “How about that, sweetheart? You want some grandpa time? Yeah? Awesome.”

Before either Effie or Tadius could protest, April was in her grandfather’s arms and Haymitch was giving him a short but to the point summary of what to do, not to do and how to calm her down if she started crying.

“I am not sure…” Effie panicked, right at the same time as her father protested with a “I cannot be left alone with a baby.”

Haymitch wrinkled his nose. “Look. She’s been fed, she shouldn’t need changing for a while yet and the house’s been baby-proofed. Just put her on the playing mat and make sure she doesn’t swallow anything she’s not supposed to. And she crawls away faster than you think if you don’t pay attention so keep your eyes on her all the time. We’ll be back in an hour or so.”

“Haymitch.” Effie insisted, not at all reassured by the terror on Tadius’ face. Clearly it hadn’t been the welcome the man had hoped for.

“It’s gonna be fine.” Haymitch promised, dropping a kiss on April’s head before snatching the pink coat from the rack and wrapping it around Effie’s shoulders. “Come on, Princess. Now we’re gonna be late.”

She wanted to protest some more, to grab her daughter and hold her close, but before she could tell what had happened, she was out the door and Haymitch was steering her down the street to the Village’s gates. She put her coat on properly, stealing glances behind her every two seconds.

“My father has never taken care of a baby, you realize.” she hissed. “It is one thing to leave her with one of the children where she will be safe but my father…”

“I trust him.” Haymitch shrugged. “April will be fine. And it’s like fate anyway. We needed a babysitter and there he was.”

“Which, of course, brings up the question: what is he doing here?” she sighed, looping her arm around his. She wasn’t quite reassured to know her father was alone with her daughter but she supposed an hour wasn’t enough time for disaster to occur. With any luck, April would fall asleep.

“He said he was checking on the building progress, yeah?” he frowned. “You think there’s more than that?”

He had people for that and Effie was well aware of it. Certainly, Tadius had seemed very keen on traveling since the end of the war. The company was expanding to the Districts and she supposed, for someone who had never left the Capitol before, seeing Panem was an opportunity that was hard to resist. However, she highly doubted he would check on construction sites himself. He never had in the past.

Although to be fair, she had stopped helping him out with contracts deliveries and in person negotiation. She hadn’t been out of the house much since the incident with the Peacekeeper and she had stayed well away from the work crew and its foreman. The man seemed to judge her for what had happened, as if it was somehow her fault that he had lost an employee, as if she had made a fuss over nothing.

The story had gone all the way up to the hierarchical top, naturally. And her father had been incensed when he had learned what had happened. But… Effie wasn’t sure how she felt about the whole thing. She didn’t blame him naturally but she had been a bit reluctant to call home ever since.

The fact that she was hiding something and that her mother had a gift to smell secrets wasn’t exactly helping.

“With my parents, there is always more than that.” she countered grimly.

Now Haymitch didn’t look that happy with his quick decision making. By the time they reached the Village’s gates, they had looked back so many times Effie was sure one of them would suggest going back to fetch their daughter.

“We’re being stupid.” Haymitch mumbled. “She’s fine.”

She wasn’t that confident. In her opinion, her daughter would only be fine with either of them there.

Still, she let him convince her to move along. She spent the whole trip to the clinic thinking up scenarios of what could go awry and then convincing herself she was being ridiculous. They were late in the end and, even though she apologized profusely, the nurse didn’t look entirely happy.

Effie felt mortified. She had always been a punctual person but having a baby had taught her that it was difficult to be on time with an almost six months old child.

They were ushered into the examination room and she was asked to lie down. Haymitch had barely helped her on the table when Larcher showed up, waving away all her apologies. The doctor asked about April and her teeth and he looked so genuinely interested that Effie gradually relaxed. She would never be comfortable in the clinic but Larcher was making it easier to be there.

“Any problems?” the doctor asked as he got everything ready.

Effie shook her head. “I am still a bit dizzy and nauseous at odd times of days. And I am still starving the rest of the time. It wasn’t like this with April.”

“Every pregnancy is different.” Larcher explained, smearing gel all over her stomach.

Haymitch grabbed her hand, perching himself on a nearby stool with obvious excitement. She grinned at him and he smirked right back, eyes sparkling in pure happiness. It wasn’t something she had ever thought she would see and she felt a pang for a second, because this, right then, was perfect.

Sometimes, she wished she could talk to the woman who had been cowering in a corner of a cell for months. She wished she could tell her to hold on because this was coming, because she would be happy, so happy she would think it would make her burst.

They exchanged a long stare and she knew he felt the exact same way. They didn’t need words to understand each other. She didn’t need to tell him she loved him and he didn’t need to hear it. Just like she didn’t need him to tell her. She knew.

“Here we go.” Larcher murmured for himself, placing the probe on her stomach and moving it around.

She listened to the familiar whooshing sounds with some anxiety, desperate to hear that the baby was right as rain but dreading a little that he wouldn’t be. She wanted to hope. She hoped. She didn’t let herself think about possible miscarriages or how difficult it would be to jungle two babies. She had carried April, her daughter had survived, and so would this one. She couldn’t let herself think differently.

“Sweetheart.” Haymitch breathed in just as the sound of small hooves started echoing in the room. The heartbeat was strong and steady and she laughed in relief, wiping the tears that ran down her cheeks. Haymitch’s jaw was clenched, he looked so emotional she squeezed his hand but he didn’t seem to be able to glance away from the screen. “Look.” he chided her a little.

So, she did.

Ten weeks ultrasounds were always difficult to make out but once Larcher helpfully pointed the baby out, she couldn’t tear her gaze away either.

“Hello, jellyfish.” she whispered.

“You have very aquatic nicknames.” the doctor teased, tapping on a few keys. To print pictures, probably. “Everything looks perfectly normal, Effie.”

“You’re sure?” Haymitch worried. “They’re both alright?”

“Perfectly so.” Larcher smiled, placing the probe back on its cradle and handing her some paper towel to clean the gel out. “We will have to run some tests, the same as last time. It is just routine so there is no need to be alarmed.”

“I remember.” she nodded, still smiling. As soon as she had gotten as much of the gel off as she could, she placed her hands on her stomach, simply feeling it. It wasn’t long before Haymitch’s hand joined her there. She looked up at him, beaming. “We are having a baby.”

The first ultrasound was always magical in her opinion. That was when it became… real.

“I noticed.” he smirked, his thumb rubbing soothing circle on her skin. “We’re starting to have quite the collection of them, you know.”

She laughed again, feeling a little high on happiness.

“I will print you a picture.” Larcher offered, tactfully retreating to the other room to give them some privacy.

Haymitch helped her straighten her clothes and stole a kiss once it was done. He rested his forehead against hers as he brushed his hand over her stomach again. “We’re having a baby.”

“I noticed.” she echoed, still grinning so hard it was starting to hurt.

The doctor made enough noise coming back that they moved apart but not quite enough that they weren’t still touching. Larcher gave them the picture that Haymitch immediately stashed in the inside pocket of his coat where hopefully nobody would come snooping.

“As far as term goes, I think we are looking at another April baby.” the doctor told them.

They were redefining the concept of April showers, Effie decided.

She was walking on a cloud by the time they were on their way back to the house. She almost forgot to worry about April. At least, until she spotted the Village’s gates. At that point she stopped prattling about how they should sort out April’s old clothes to see what they could reuse and what they should box to put in the attic to start asking Haymitch without pause if he thought their daughter was alright. Haymitch, who had humored her all the way back by nodding and humming at appropriate points without listening to a single word, seemed torn between prompting her to quicken the pace and making sure she didn’t overtax herself.

They had been wrong to worry.

While Tadius looked in over his head, obviously terrified of doing the wrong thing, April seemed just as happy as she had been lately – which was not a lot because her gums hurt. The first thing Effie did was scoop her daughter up from the playing mat to cuddle her close to her chest. She wanted to tell her about her little sibling but with her father there, she kept silent.

Haymitch outright laughed at Tadius’ exhausted face. “Need some coffee?”

“Coffee would not be amiss.” her father answered, a little stiff. “Thank you.”

Effie hid her smile in her daughter’s hair and took a seat on the couch, covering April’s face with kisses to make up for her short absence. Haymitch’s fingers combed her own hair, ending on her nape. The possessive but gentle squeeze made her look up in question.

“Tea for you?” he asked. “And something to eat, yeah? You’re a bit pale.”

She checked the clock on the wall and made a small face. If habits were to be trusted, morning sickness – that weren’t just in the morning – would hit in a half hour or so and she really didn’t want to throw up. “Crackers perhaps. And lemon in the tea, please.”

“Sure.” he smiled and dropped a kiss on her forehead, stroking April’s hand once before disappearing in the kitchen, followed by Snowball. The dog would want to be let out, she supposed.

She blushed when she realized her father was staring.

“Thank you for watching April.” she offered after clearing her throat. “And, please, accept my apologies for the hectic welcome. If I had known you were coming…”

She let her voice trail off. If she had known he was coming she would have made sure the house was spotless and she would have cleared her schedule.

“No apologies needed. It was rude of me to come unannounced.” Tadius dismissed, studying her. “Is everything alright with you, Euphemia? You have not been… Well, you have not called as often. Your mother is worried you are somehow crossed with her.”

“Not at all.” she denied, fishing the stuffed elephant abandoned further down the couch to hold it in front of April to keep her occupied. Of course, as soon as her daughter spotted it, she tried to put it in her mouth. “I have been busy lately. April hasn’t been well and I had some work with… I told Mother about my professional projects.”

“Yes, she mentioned them.” her father hummed, not sounding very impressed. Elindra hadn’t been either. “I could help you with that if you so wished.”

“Thank you, no.” she replied quickly. “I do not need your money.” She would never accept money from her parents. Never. It always came with strings attached and more complications than she cared to deal with. Tadius looked hurt though so she hurried in clarifying. “It is something I want to do by myself. You do understand, don’t you?”

Her father was proud of the family company so he could certainly understand wanting to make one’s own way. At least, she hoped so.

“I wish you the best.” Tadius smiled and even though it was tense it also seemed genuine. “Effie…”

Haymitch came back with a tray and her father fell silent which he couldn’t help but notice. There was some awkwardness for a few seconds. Haymitch studied Tadius, Tadius avoided his eyes, then he looked at Effie who shrugged her ignorance… In the end, he shrugged back and lifted April up.

“Guess someone needs to be changed.” he mumbled, giving Effie a long stare. “You shout if you need anything, yeah?”

She rolled her eyes at his overprotective act. “I am not an invalid, you know.”

“You had a big day, you need to take it easy.” he countered firmly.

She pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes at him. “You are walking a very thin line telling me what I should or should not do.”

“Doctor’s orders.” he reminded her with an innocent shrug that made her roll her eyes again. He grabbed the mug he had obviously prepared for himself and disappeared upstairs. She could hear him talking to April all the way up and she smiled despite her annoyance.

“Is everything alright with you?” Tadius asked as soon as he was out of earshot. “You do seem a little pale, Effie. And what is this about a doctor? Have you been ill?”

That was a lot of questions and she made a small face, grabbing her mug and a couple of crackers, hoping that it would be enough to quell her sure to come nausea. “Not at all, do not concern yourself. Haymitch is simply… overprotective. I am fine. More than fine, really.”

She toyed with the idea of telling her father. After all… She was in the middle of the third month and everything was fine. They should start telling people…

“Are you quite certain?” Tadius frowned, taking a sip of his cup of coffee. “I doubt the medical technology is up to par in this part of the country. Perhaps you should go somewhere else to get checked if you are feeling out of sort. Perhaps not to the Capitol if you are still avert to the thought but I heard Four has excellent hospitals.”

She forced a smile. “I am fine. Truly.”

Her father studied her for a moment and then looked down at the cup of coffee in his hands. “Does it have to do with… the incident? I read a lot about your condition, Effie. All experts agree that such an event could trigger a setback and…”

“What condition is this exactly?” she cut him off, a little cold.

She knew what he was talking about naturally – or avoided talking about rather. The Peacekeeper he had unknowingly sent to Twelve to build himself another portion to his empire.

It was unfair to think like that, she knew, but…

“Post traumatic stress disorder.” Tadius said plainly. “It is completely natural for you to experience…”

“I know what it is natural for me to experience.” she interrupted again before he could launch himself into a recitation of various symptoms. Her father had always been a researcher. He could spend hours reading about something. She took a deep calming breath because Tadius looked uneasy and she didn’t think his aim was to cause her pain. He was just worried. “Father, I am… touched you are taking such an interest in me and what happened to me but…”

“Of course I take an interest.” he scoffed. “You are my daughter, Effie. And what was done to you was wrong. The fact that the Districts are refusing to acknowledge that Capitols were tortured too is…”

“But.” she insisted, clenching her teeth at the torture word. “I do not like being forced to talk about it or think about it just to satisfy your curiosity. You took it upon yourself to ask Haymitch about it… Unless I directly address the subject, I would thank you not to mention it. I would rather you didn’t but ask Haymitch if you must.”

She gulped down a few mouthfuls of tea, placing her free hand over her stomach as if to better protect her jellyfish from such conversations. She was glad April wasn’t in the room anymore. She didn’t want that sort of things discussed in front of her babies.

She felt a bit light-headed but that could have been the topic just as much as her pregnancy and she allowed herself to be proud that she had managed to talk about it without working herself into a panic.

“My apologies.” Tadius sighed sadly. “It is just… I do not want you to think for one second I knowingly sent that man here. The Peacekeepers were pardoned, as you know, and it is within their rights not to mention their past job on their resume. We have put more screening processes in place now.” He shook his head. “I like to believe we… mended our relationship. Your recent distance… Your Mother and I are concerned you are angry with us because…”

“I am not.” she denied. “Honestly, Father, I am not. There simply has been a lot going on and…” She rubbed small circles on her stomach, coming to a decision. Perhaps it was the wrong one but… She was so happy about it anyway. When she thought back to earlier, to the strong sound of the baby’s heartbeat… She could have burst with joy. “I will tell you what is going on but you have to swear to me you won’t tell Mother yet. Or anyone. I would like to wait a couple of weeks more before it becomes public knowledge.”

Tadius frowned in concern, clutching his cup of coffee hard between his fingers. “You are not ill, are you? You just said…”

“I am expecting.” she smiled.

She watched as a myriad of emotions washed over her father’s face and she was glad she had chosen to tell him right there and then just for this. Telling her parents on the phone wouldn’t have been the same at all. Perhaps she needed to invest in one of those phones with a screen that Elindra assured her were the latest rage and that would allow them to see April more often. Haymitch was reluctant but he might be convinced. And it would be worth it just to see that sort of things.

“Congratulations.” he offered at last, soberly but with enough suppressed emotions in his voice that she decided he was genuine. “That is marvelous news.” His face softened. “I am glad it is not something direr, we have been so worried, Euphemia… Your mother…”

“You cannot tell her yet.” she insisted. “We haven’t told anyone and I want to do it myself this time. Properly.”

Not because the newspapers had gotten a hint of the gossip but on her terms. With the drama between the children occupying the press, they had that luxury.

“My lips are sealed.” he promised, placing his cup of coffee back on the table to stand up. She stood up too, not quite knowing why or what was going on, and remained frozen in surprise for a moment when she was treated to a rare hug. The war had brought its lot of surprises but the deep changes in her parents’ behavior were the more astonishing to her. “I am happy for you, my dear. I am happy to see you so happy and I am happy you found a good man.” It was more than she had ever expected and she was grinning hard when he drew back from the hug. “Of course, now we can pretend what I brought you is a congratulation gift rather than a forgive me for my company’s shortcomings present.”

Her face lit up. “You brought me a present?”

She felt like a little girl suddenly. Her father had always bowed to Elindra’s wishes and had often granted his daughters’ requests but it had been rare for him to go and buy them something they hadn’t asked for first. Spontaneous gifts were special and they were the best.

“Of sort.” he smiled smugly with the apparent certainty that she would be delighted. “Actually, it is what decided me to visit you. I went to an auction while I was in Ten and… Well, it is easier to show you.”

She sat back down while he went to the hallway to rummage in his luggage. She nibbled on a few crackers, wondering how long Haymitch would hide upstairs and if he would be mad that she had told her father without him there.

Any thought of that flew out of her head when her father came back in the living-room with a violin case.

“You bought me a violin?” she asked, her mouth suddenly parched.

She finished her tea in a long mouthful, pretending she didn’t notice how shaky the mug was in her hand. She didn’t know how she felt about that. It was a thoughtful gift certainly but violins weren’t something she had contemplated in a long time. Her grandfather had taught her when she was still a little girl and she had kept up the practice after his death up to the Quell. After that… Well, her apartment had been ransacked so many times… She hadn’t been surprised to be unable to find her grandfather’s violin in the mess. It was expensive, probably the most expensive thing he had owned. A luxury for a man of his means. A precious one to be treasured and taken care of. Thinking about it was enough to make a lump appear in her throat. There were very few things she had truly been attached to: the violin, a music box full of mementos, some pieces of jewelries… The loss of them… She had always regretted having lost them to the war.

“Not just a violin, dear.” he protested, lying it out on the couch next to her. “The case is new but the instrument… I recognized it as soon as I saw it.”

She gasped when she saw it. So familiar… “Impossible.”

“And yet…” Tadius chuckled gently. “It had been sold quite a few times since the war, not always to its true value. Why, I had it for half its price. It hasn’t always been well cared for but I had it tuned. Cords are new and it has been polished… The bow is new too. I am afraid the original was lost.”

She laid a tentative hand on the gleaming wood, feeling her eyes well up with tears she didn’t try to blink away. There were so many memories attached to that violin… So many hours spent with her grandfather… So many carefree afternoons… So many lonely nights after she had become an escort and the music had seemed like a worthy escape for a while…

The violin hadn’t indeed been well-cared for. She cradled it on her lap, ran her fingers along the deep scratches…

“They could not erase them.” her father winced. “I am sorry. I would buy you another but I know how much this one means to you. When I saw it… Well, truth be told, I am not one to believe in such nonsense but it felt like destiny.”

“No.” she whispered, her sight getting blurry. A few tears fell on the wood and she hastily wiped her cheek. “It is perfect. So perfect… Thank you.”

And then she was sobbing. Openly grossly sobbing. She clutched the violin to her chest and gasped for air, not even looking up when she heard Haymitch’s hurrying down the stairs or her father’s panicked clumsy attempts at comforting her. She was vaguely aware Tadius was explaining the situation to a bemused Haymitch and ended up with his arms full of his granddaughter for his trouble. April was wailing too, that much she knew, but she still couldn’t stop crying.

“You need to calm down, sweetheart.” Haymitch chided her firmly, wrapping his arms around her until she relaxed against him. He pressed a kiss against her temple and another against her forehead. “It’s no good for the baby to get that upset.” He looked up hastily at her father, clearly realizing his blunder. “I mean… The shrimp.”

“I told him.” she stuttered between two sobs.

“Oh.” he frowned. “Good then. Alright. Still need to calm down, Princess.”

“I can’t help it.” she gasped. “Hormones.”

She distinctly heard him roll his eyes.

It took a few minutes before she finally managed to stop crying. Time enough for her father to offer congratulations and for Haymitch to accept them. Time enough also for April to calm down and start munching on her cat rag doll.

She laid her violin back on her lap when Haymitch let her go to fetch her a glass of water. She stroke the wood lovingly under her father’s watchful eyes. She took a few sips of water and muttered an apology, a bit embarrassed by her behavior. Being so emotional wasn’t something about being pregnant she had missed.

Haymitch shrugged it off and handed the cold plastic ring he had fetched from the freezer to April. The baby was much happier with that in her mouth. It soothed the pain in her gums. It was left to Tadius to pick it up every time she tossed it on the couch. One of her favorite games. She liked to do that with all her toys, Effie suspected that had a lot to do with Snowball always carrying them back to her.

“Well, let’s hear it then.” Haymitch demanded, dropping in the corner of the L shaped couch, between her and her father – close enough that he could reach April if need be. “Never knew you played.”

“Oh, no!” she protested, shaking her head. “I haven’t practiced in years and…” She looked at her hands and winced. “I broke a few fingers since then. I wouldn’t remember.”

They had broken a few fingers, she meant. Perhaps they had known her hobbies included music, perhaps it had been another form of torture. Or perhaps they hadn’t known and it had just been a lucky guess for them.

“Muscle memories, sweetheart.” Haymitch insisted. “Try it out. Nobody said you have to play like Mozart.”

She placed the violin under her chin all the same, the position so familiar it hurt. The pain wasn’t all emotional though. The shoulder that had been so badly injured it had needed surgery ached and she wasn’t sure she would be able to keep playing long. The angle was too awkward for it.

The moment the bow hit the cords, she closed her eyes and let her memories guide her.

It was odd at first. Clumsy. Out of practice. It took almost two whole minutes before she managed to get something smoother out of the instrument, before she managed to make it sing like she wanted it to.

It left her exhausted and she gently placed it back in its new case, rolling her shoulder a few times, blushing under the praises she didn’t deserve. Still, watching her father make April clap was a cute sight – not one she would ever have thought she would see – and it made up for her lack of skills.

She let herself be persuaded to play again after dinner that night, because the children could be convincing – and because she was desperate to put an end to the bickering between Katniss and Haymitch.

She played something light and quick that didn’t sound as good as it was supposed to. Yet everyone was laughing and clapping and she let herself forget about imperfections.

The violin was scratched beyond repairs.

So was she.

But they could still produce music all the same.

#hayffie #effie trinket #haymitch abernathy #april showers

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tigerlover16-uk · 7 years ago

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As someone who likes hearing your thoughts on DBSuper and anything DB related in general, how do you think Toyotaro's influence in the DB world will be remembered? Honestly the man has done nothing but disappoint by writing poor plot points while dissing many characters and putting Vegeta up on a pedestal. Granted, he's not the first writer to commit these mistakes, but if he keeps this up he'll never make it big in the manga world. Think he can make a comeback with the DBSuper manga?

It’s still strange to hear people actually have interest in what I have to say, but gratifying nonetheless. Thanks for that.

And honestly, God only knows on both accounts. Public opinion on things can radically alter within weeks, and greater time and reflection can give fans a lot of time to look deeper and re-evaluate their opinions on certain works, for better or worse.

Ken Penders was once a beloved writer for the Archie Sonic comics, with many of his stories being longstanding classics. Then his stupid lawsuit happened that resulted in all the characters he created being ripped out of the comic haphazardly, forced a reboot that nobody wanted, and was probably a factor in the recent unceremonious cancellation of the comic right before a 3-part story could be concluded and any kind of closure could be had on anything. So as soon as all that nonsense turned him into the anti-Christ for the Sonic fandom, people began re-reading his work now as more critical adults compared to as impressionable children and realizing that a lot of what he wrote, while there were definitely some merits (There’s a reason people were angry so many of his characters and ideas weren’t allowed to be used anymore), his writing actually had a ton of problems and some of his stories were outright stupid. Endgame gets the worst of it, going from a well regarded would-have-been ending for the comic that changed the series forever, to a subject of mockery for it’s numerous plot holes, weird character decisions and just overall messy story.

On the other hand, we have the Star Wars Prequels. People HATED those movies with a burning passion for years since The Phantom Menace proved a let down for many, and I mean they violently HATED everything about the movies and insisted they killed Star Wars as a whole.

Yet nowadays with the Force Awakens re-invigorating the franchise as a pop cultural juggernaut and yet splintering fan opinions further, many now admit that the outcry to the prequels was WAY overblown. While a lot of old school fans still hate them, many are now willing to admit they did have good ideas and moments and were more mediocre than bad, and there’s a generation of people who grew up on and love the movies more than the original trilogy (Myself included) that can more comfortably admit to liking them and discuss why out in the open without being attacked and ridiculed (Mostly).

The movies are still huge base breakers and will always have the reputation of being disappointing follow ups to the legendary original trilogy, but after Clone Wars proved to everyone that great things did and still are coming out of that era in the timeline, most are willing to admit that the movies weren’t as damaging as they once thought.

Both examples go to show that anything can happen with time. We can make predictions, but we don’t know for sure how something is going to be regarded five or ten or twenty years from now. Doctor Who was a complete joke after it’s initial cancellation and before the revival came around, now it’s a beloved mainstay of pop culture in and outside of my home country again. Even Dragon Ball GT, while not well regarded, is generally seen in a more forgiving light by more people now than it was for years after it’s initial airing here in the west.

Truth is for most of the time he’s been writing the manga, Toyotaro has actually been popular and liked by the fandom. Right up through the end of the Future Trunks saga portion of the manga, the man has had a swarm of Dragon Ball fans passionately insisting that his is the “True” canon of Super and superior to the anime in every way. There are still people that think that way.

It was only about the time he got to Goku Black’s first confrontation with Vegeta that a lot of people really started doubting him, thanks to how ill regarded manga Black is by most in the fandom, especially compared to how beloved he was in the anime even by people who don’t like the saga. And then came the revelation that Toyotaro re-used panels from his Dragon Ball AF fan manga for the series, and apparently incorporated some ideas from it, basically literally trying to canonize his fanfictions and apparently basing Goku Black’s personality on his OC Xicor (And as we’ve established, that worked out SO WELL for him), and suddenly a lot of people realized something was up.

Which paved the way for a lot of people that had been critical of the manga up to that point, such as @dragon-ball-meta here on tumblr, to shed some light on a lot of his questionable writing practises. His treatment of Goku in several instances that made him out to be more dismissive and in several cases annoyed with his children in particular starting to gain notoriety, which hit a breaking point when chapter 27 came out last month and caused an uproar over the “Goku didn’t know when Gohan was born and Vegeta called him a terrible father” nonsense that basically looked like it was canonizing the “lol, Goku’s a bad father” meme (The most disturbing part… Toyotaro has apparently said that Goku is his FAVOURITE character… yeah… let that sink in).

I think that was the final straw for many that basically turned the man into a joke for a huge portion of the fandom. It was one of the worst controversies I’ve seen in this fandom for quite some time, so naturally just about everyone was talking about it. The Japanese fandom I’ve heard was really ticked off about it especially, given Goku is still the most beloved character in the franchise over there, even being recently voted the most beloved anime hero by most age demographics in the country.

So, his reputation has already undergone a major shift since he started writing the manga. He still has his fans who will stick by him through thick and thin, but many people meet him and his work with a lot more scrutiny than they did before, and many people consider him a joke (Gochi fans especially).

If things continue the way they have been, I feel he’s likely to be regarded as “That fan artist that draws good stuff, but shouldn’t have been hired to write an official manga because while he had a few good ideas, he REALLY wasn’t up to the job” that’s what it’s looking like anyway.

Could he make a comeback? Who knows, despite my own outrage with the Goku moment last chapter and my issues with how the Zen Exhibition match is apparently being handled so far in the current chapter, the guy did have a good idea in giving us a more fleshed out introduction to the Gods of Destruction at the start of the Universe Survival saga. For all we know despite these issues, his handling of the rest of the story could actually turn out to be really great and people might prefer it over the anime. Anything’s possible, really. How many people thought My Little Pony’s latest iteration would become one of the most popular and talked about cartoons of the decade?

I kind of doubt that will happen. My problems I’ve already brought up aside, the manga cut out Krillin’s character arc, all of Gohan’s scenes, didn’t adapt the Resurrection F arc (Meaning it didn’t properly build up Frieza for his comeback here, so the manga can’t function as a self contained story with only the original Dragon Ball manga being necessary to understand things that happen in it), cut out the Hit two parter further building on his character and abilities, and further ironing out his rivalry and odd friendship with Goku, completely botched Frost’s character compared to the anime, while also screwing Piccolo over badly in their fight, as well as removing most moments featuring the supporting cast and even reducing Future Trunks to a foot note in a saga that was literally designed as an excuse to bring him back, and is known for rushing through the story compared to the anime in a bid to catch up considering how ridiculously behind Toyotaro has gotten thanks to the monthly schedule.

Which is an especially bad thing if he does that here, considering this saga has to accommodate the majority of the Z fighters getting character moments and good fights, including re-introducing Android 17 after a long absence, as well as introducing and fleshing out slews of new characters. And given his alterations to the Zen Exhibition match which really look like they’ll hamper Gohan’s role and screw Buu over completely, and his poor handling of the Super original characters that aren’t Beerus, Whis, Gowasu and Botamo in the last two sagas, I find it likely he’s not going to do a great job with most of them. Heck, I fully expect Krillin to get knocked out instantly as a joke rather than helping to knock out two opponents with Roshi and 18 and holding his own against Majora.

Again, I could be completely wrong and he could do a good job, and I’m just being judgemental and jumping to conclusions. But I’m finding it hard to be confident that he can make up for his set backs, even if he does end up doing some things better. Which isn’t saying much, his last two sagas he wrote did a few things better than the anime, and they were still worse stories overall.

If he does turn things around and actually writes a really good or even great saga and generally cleans up his act going forward, I could see Toyotaro making a comeback in the eyes of the fandom and being remembered in at least a more fond light than he is now. But if he screws up as badly as I fear he might and like he’s been doing lately, I can only imagine his standing in the fandom getting worse, and at best he’ll largely just be forgotten and ignored by most fans when Super finally concludes, or he’ll be a laughing stock. How that’ll effect his career in professional manga writing, I don’t know, but it likely won’t do him much good.

I guess this whole thing is a learning experience for fans wanting to start working on the actual properties they follow. Even if they’re extremely talented in one aspect (Toyotaro with his drawings) and have passion for what they’re doing, that doesn’t mean they’re guaranteed to do a good job if they’re on writing duties, and they better put their absolute best efforts into things and think things through clearly, because their contributions WILL be scrutinized and they will have a significant impact on the franchise in general.

A lot of fan artists and fanfiction writers do great stuff and deserve to be respected, I know people who have written stuff that’s better than professionally published stories and in some cases are better than parts of the series the fans were adapting from. But there’s a REASON why fanfiction writers aren’t usually hired to write for the works they follow, and why it’s often considered a bad idea. And Toyotaro in many cases has done a good job of proving that point.

I really don’t hate the guy, whatever you may get from how I talk about him. I just want to make that clear for everyone, especially anyone who likes his work reading this. I kind of envy him as a fellow fan for getting to work on writing an official Dragon Ball story, I’d die for that opportunity, and I will still give him credit wherever it’s rightfully due, especially with his art. I just wish he thought things through better and didn’t make as many questionable choices despite having so much more time and being in a better position to plan things out than the anime writers had.

Will Toyotaro make a comeback? Good question, probably not, but we’ll see. I’ll say this though, for all his problems his adaption and the things going on in and around it is at least interesting to talk about, and at least we’ll have some nice artwork and drawings of all our favourite characters to look at however things turn out.

#dragon ball super #dbs #dragon ball #dragon ball z #toyotaro #dragon ball gt #goku #dragon ball super manga #dbs manga

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piermanwalter · 7 years ago

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What if The Clone Wars had an eighth season?

In an alternate reality, George Lucas showed up to a meeting with Disney executives two hours late while drunk, pantsless, brandishing two stolen live pet chickens like Uzis, and covered with mysterious geometric bruises, forever ruining the rapport between the two companies, preventing Disney from purchasing Star Wars.

As a result, the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV show is not cancelled and I think these are some of the episodes that will be created.

THE FILLER EPISODES

“I don’t care that you fools see me as weak if it means that I will see you drowning in your own arrogance.” The show sort of raises the stakes by having General Grievous be brutally competent in an early episode, but he gets beat as easily as usual in later episodes, so there isn’t much point.

“HOOOOO YEAAAAAAH!” *sound of four Z-6 rotary blasters being fired at once by one man* There’s an episode with absolutely no story or coherence solely focussed on Plo Koon and the 104th and it’s rad as hell.

“I think I’m a bad person if this is what I want.” Katooni and friends try to show off in front of Jedi so that they might be chosen as Padawans, but when they are thrown into a real combat situation, they realize how terrible the war is and give up.

“Relax, friends! Judging by how well things are going, I think that only two of us will die! Pretty good, no?” Obi-Wan returns to his Rako Hardeen persona in order to team up with Hondo and Boba Fett to scam a fortune out of a Hutt crimelord, Grabo the Prosperous, freeing his slaves in the process.

“BUT DESPITE ALL SETBACKS, THE REPUBLIC CONTINUES TO BRAVELY DEFEND- argh! Stop! HELP ME!” The opening bombastic narration of this episode is cut off when the Separatists KIDNAP THE NARRATOR HIMSELF, a Republic newscaster/propagandist and the police of Coruscant have to rescue him. Tan Divo is there, no matter how hard everyone tries to get him to go away.

“Excuse me, sir! I can tell these are not truly Sluissi emeralds from their lack of diffracting lustre! Give me back my credits!” C-3PO and R2-D2 do some mind-numbingly boring errands for Padmé because there has to be at least one per season for some reason.

THE MERCHANDISE-DRIVEN EPISODES

“Oh no. That’s too many wheels.” “WAY too many wheels.” A show producer accidentally puts in an order for many incredibly bizarre clone vehicle toys, and as a last ditch marketing attempt, a funny, heartwarming episode is made starring a new clone, Rotor, who is not a soldier, but he works in weapons and vehicles R&D.

“That’s right, boys. I’m dressed to kill.” Aayla Secura, Adi Gallia, and Shaak Ti infiltrate an elite fashion show disguised as models in order to protect Senator Orn Free Taa, while Aurra Sing, Latts Razzi, and Asaji Ventress, also disguised as models, try to assassinate him.

The cruddy, mediocre Republic Heroes game gets rebooted using the Battlefront engine. Because executives are imbeciles and believe that no human being in existence wants to buy a story-based FPS, an entire 3-parter, starring Cad Bane, is made to promote the game. It’s basically Casablanca with explosions.

“Ha. Ha. Ha. What do you mean by ‘How’re yer shtil alive?’ You imbecile. ‘Hurr how im gonna kill dat shkakoan? Oh im genius put the high presser lovin’ critter in a high presser.’ The best bounty hunter in the galaxy. Incredible.” Cad Bane is doing great, until he finds one of his many enemies, Kul Teska, in his favorite bar, despite having personally killed him years ago. Most of this episode is flashbacks composed of in-engine cutscenes lifted directly from the new game, but the animation is good enough that it’s almost impossible to tell.

“Get out of my way. I can’t shoot through you, nice as that’d be. Why you gotta be so damn huge?” “I was a preposterously fat youngling.” Cad Bane gets a job assassinating Black Sun Vigos for Grabo the Prosperous, the same hutt that got scammed eight episodes ago. Unfortunately, Kul Teska had the same idea and the two of them are forced to work together. Cad Bane hates his life and Kul Teska is mildly amused. This episode is full of crazy action, colorful characters that die after ten seconds of screentime, and petty bantering. Bane finds himself not hating his nemesis as much.

“With luck, I will never see you again.” Grabo doesn’t uphold his end of the deal, so Bane and Teska put their rivalry on hold to scam him a second time before barely escaping with their lives. Cad Bane decides being a misanthrope loner is a waste of time and asks Teska if he wants to continue being a team. Kul Teska reveals that the only reason he agreed to the gig was to make enough money to get a ship to go back to his home planet. And then he leaves forever. Cad Bane spends the last minute of the episode drinking himself into oblivion.

THE PLOT EPISODES: TOO SERIOUS FOR DIALOGUE QUOTES (Come up with your own. I’m out of ideas because the opening paragraph is the most amazing thing I’ll ever write and this post is too long already.)

There’s an episode about Ahsoka dealing with an existential crisis after being abandoned by the Jedi Order. After struggling with her beliefs that only Republic soldiers are allowed to be heroes, her desire to help others is too strong and for the first time on this show, she kills a tyrannical Republic general and allows the droid army to move in because innocent people would be legitimately better off this way.

Narrated from the perspective of Darth Sidious, this episode shows his daily life, switching from persona to persona, thinking about the best way to exterminate an entire race while smiling and shaking their representative’s hand and consoling depressed politicians so they become so overconfident that they get themselves killed. It’s a parody of the Robot chicken parodies, but manages to be utterly terrifying.

It’s Life Day. This episode is a bunch of vignettes about how different people celebrate. The clones scrape together some cash in order to buy a feast at their favorite cantina. Padmé is at a fancy gala but wishes Anakin was there. Cad Bane gets an unmarked crate filled with terrifying custom weapons thrown through his window. There is an underlying plot about the clone troopers investigating the spooky rumors of Order 66.

The first of a 3-parter, Anakin and Obi-Wan are fighting to escape worker drones on Cato Neimoidia and have a disagreement over whether to kill everyone because they are mindless insects, or to spare them. Obi-Wan never allows Anakin’s plans to be put into effect, leading to Anakin becoming more and more frustrated until he deliberately allows Obi-Wan to get shot. Now in charge, he puts his murderous plans in action, which worked extremely well and they escape. Obi-Wan is extremely grateful that Anakin rescued him, completely unaware that he wanted him injured.

Without Obi-Wan to veto his ideas and keep him in check, and Ahsoka to go with his plans so hard that he gets concerned and gives up for her sake, Anakin’s tactics grow more and more brutal, and he gains more and more public adoration for how effective he is. He tries to keep this hidden from Padmé, but she finds out anyway and they have a huge argument ending with Padmé realizing he was like this from the very beginning, from when he first slaughtered the Sand People, and she was too lovestruck to notice.

The first half of this episode is Padmé getting involved in banking intrigues with Rush Clovis yet again to avoid Anakin. The second half is Anakin trying to reconcile with her. The episode ends with them forgiving each other and getting back together, but Anakin is already being torn apart by his feelings of guilt, jealousy, and rage, foreshadowing his complete mistrust of everyone and his fall to the Dark Side in Episode III.

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sleepdragon · 7 years ago

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Burn it ALL Down: The Story of a Super, a Sidekick and Fans at a Comic Con...

Comic Con is a magical time of year where we get to see the actors out and about promoting their show to dozens of places, chatting about themselves, each other, fans and their characters. It’s a time where we get to experience behind the scenes of those shows we love, and as fans do we ever look forward to it.

This comic con ran sour for many people, and people feel what they feel and I’ll never invalidate the if’s but’s or why’s. But I am going to take a moment to discuss some unsettling things I’ve been seeing in the Supergirl orbit, then I’ll address the giant elephant that has been shitting on the carpet.

1. Representation Matters: Alex came out in the most amazing way; it was positive, uplifting, embracing and beautiful really – she got to be all of Alex. Fan-fucking-tastic and about bloody time.

a. She got the girl. Yay? Except I feel that Alex lost herself in the girl. She forgot that she had a sister. She marginalised Kara in every possible way. She didn’t plan to spend Earth Birthday with her sister, her sister who is celebrating the day that she lost everything. The day that represents her being on Earth longer than Krypton – but hey, she got the girl.

b. The girl is played by someone who, from all accounts is a lovely woman. She’s dating Casey Affleck; oh noes fire her, we don’t like him. Wait, the girl isn’t a POC because she is part Italian and Irish. People, Italy has black people. They do. They can quite marginalised there too. But she wasn’t good enough to play a POC on TV (which BTW she has never been referenced on the show has Latina)… wow, are you fucking kidding me?

2. Diversity Matters: James has nothing to do, let’s make him the most useless vigilante since that relationship with Kara didn’t work out (thank god, it was so shoe horned and not sustainable).

a. Diversity Matters but just throwing a POC on screen isn’t enough. Give us something more. James was not my favourite character, still isn’t. He still deserves better.

b. Diversity doesn’t mean that the character has to be likeable, but they have to get the same amount of thought as every other one. But even much of the fandom didn’t care about his side lining, that was disappointing.

3. Relationships are invaluable but the romance, and the ‘shipper wars have not been.

a. Sanvers I want to love, but I don’t really think I like Maggie, and I don’t like who Alex has become with her.

b. Karamel Not the best, but I can understand why Kara would latch onto someone when she was literally abandoned by everyone in season 2. No, I don’t think it’s okay he lied to Kara about who he was, but it was unsurprising Kara forgave him. Probably the most believable thing in the relationship.

c. J’onn and M’gann if people want to talk about toxic relationships – she saved his life and he repays her by imprisoning her for no good reason, and during that time M’gann developed Stockholm Syndrome and fell in love with her capture. Yay! Positive.

d. Danvers Sisters who now? Were they a band or something, because damn if they didn’t break up in season 2. They were once the heart of the show, and when that was lost the show was lost.

e. ‘ships are important and there is plenty of ocean out there for them ALL to sail. Problem is that the infighting started and it became every ship for themselves, because obviously the individuals chosen ship was the least toxic of them all. IMO, all the canon romantic relationships this season were shit, they devalued every one of the characters. Speaking only for myself, I still struggle with what J’onn did to M’gann…

i. Some fandom ‘ships were toxic and when a guest star comments on that, at a convention, and the threats and vitriol he received there is a systemic problem. Thankfully not all SuperCorp fans are like that, but the problem is for the actors and creatives they may not see the flip side.

ii. All fandom ‘ships had toxic members who screamed loudly and sounded like spokespeople for the ship. It’s unfortunate, but it happens.

f. Friendships are important if anyone can remind Kara’s friends of that, I’d be forever grateful. Remind her Foster Mother and Space Dad for extra points.

4. KARA MATTERS: The show is called Supergirl, so obviously the most important character should be her. Although Supergirl did get more time than Kara, but I feel as we moved away from Kara we lost the humanity too. It’s why I did adore the addition of Lena to the show (if they make her evil…) I feel that when we lost Cat, we lost Kara. I’m hoping we get more Cat this season to make up for that.

And yeah, Melissa said that Kara’s world ended when she lost Mon-El but she expanded on it in the ET interview – the woman has lost next to everything and the hits keep on coming. All she is seeing is loss – and that, that is the product of someone who has terrible abandonment issues. Now, if they could actually explore this throughout the season…

Now, much of the online fandom has been shitting on each other (I will reiterate not all), the actors and creatives and then Comic Con happened. One of their first interviews of the day Jeremy was asked to reprise a little skit he did last year and sing the events of last season, so he hit on the main storyline affecting those in attendance (which is why Sanvers was overlooked) – unfortunately he made a tone-deaf joke that hurt people, Melissa kinda joined in and everyone laughed.

I do believe he hit on it because of the SuperCorp fandoms notoriety, but I don’t think it was designed to invalidate the LBGT community. I don’t believe it was a homophobic remark, I just think it was a stupid moment that any human has had. Not even a saint could claim they haven’t accidently hurt someone by not understanding something, or joking about it. It happens, but to assume that the intent was malicious goes against everything else they have both done in the past, and Melissa said later the same day (before all this blew up). It even goes against what Melissa said later in the same interview.

Yes, I am aware that she called Jeremy “brave” for what he said, but no I don’t think that means that she wanted to invalidate the ship. I think it means that she thinks he is brave to want to take on the fans, and that he was fucking stupid to do it. Melissa may not really do cons, may not do many signings on set – but she does stop for fans on the street and she has been an ally for years. I do not believe a single moment erases everything they have done in the past, nor do I think it makes them a bad person now.

What I do believe is that it makes them human. The problem is in many cases that’s the last thing we want (or need) celebrities to be, we hold them up as the perfect representation of whatever we need them to represent. We falsely idolise them, so when they fall it hurts, it hurts a lot. But that hurt, the hurt from our idolisation, isn’t their fault. That’s like when we discover that our older siblings, or parents or grandparents are just human. They didn’t hang to moon and the stars, even though we thought they did.

Now, these humans did something well, human. As a member of the LBGT community I will only speak for myself (and I do ask can everyone do that, no one voted for official spokespeople so lets not pretend to have them), they didn’t upset me. I don’t feel devalued by them. They owe me no apology.

Jeremy has issued a 2 part apology, and no it’s not perfect but he isn’t perfect. None of us are, I’m not going to tell anyone to give him a chance or forgive him. I am going to say that you should forget but c’mon – people are telling him and Melissa to choke. They are wishing a show that hires hundreds of people to be cancelled. They are calling out and attacking their personal lives, how it any of that okay? So much of fandom is NOT okay with the way it’s responding. Being hurt I get, threats of any kind is just ridiculous and intentionally malicious.

Maybe this can be a learning curve for everyone, starting with realising we are all but human. And we will all make mistakes.

(I also decided not to tag sanvers because I will not go into a tag when I don’t like the ship)

And for the love of god, don’t ask an actor to validate your ship. They see what they see, you see what you see. That’s okay, that will forever be okay, they never have to meet.

#supergirl #sdcc #supercorp #melissa benoist #jermey jordan #tone deaf jokes #representation matters #threatening people when you dont get what you want shouldnt be accepted #celebrities are people #stop celebrity idealisation #this is why so many avoid fandom #does fandom have to be so toxic to everyone #lucky to know awesome fans #lets all be awesome

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ebonyeagle · 7 years ago

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Of Salt and Forgiveness

Not really a fan of writing reviews because I'm shit but here I go anyways since this is a special case. What is the topic?

The most anticipated game of this decade, Final Fantasy XV!

Why is this important for me to write about? Because I got a complicated relationship with this game. On one hand, I really fucking hate this stupid thing, on the other hand I can’t stop loving it. Now that I’ve had time to think, it’s time to write down my final thoughts!

Before I go further into it, it’s worth to mention that I’m one of those people who were hyped for Final Fantasy XIII Versus. I have been waiting for this game since 2008 and been looking very much forward to a dark and gritty story. I was intrigued when I watched the cinematic trailer. What would this game be about? Will this be a Final Fantasy game where you play as the villain? What is the significance of the Shakespeare quote? At the time, I had just finished Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core ( what a fantastic game <3 ) and was craving my next Final Fantasy fix! As interesting as XIII looked, I was more into Versus as the darker approach was much more alluring. And as we all know, we waited and waited and waited. I was excited for every E3 and TGS; ready for more news about it, but a real release date never came.

Then came the rumours of it being cancelled only to have the hype return tenfold at the announcement at E3 2013 where it was revealed to be the next main instalment in the franchise! And what an amazing trailer we got; the destruction of a an entire city by the fins of a Leviathan, more personality to Noctis and some new neat characters! I was so damn excited! However, as time went on it became evident that the roadtrip part would be the core mechanic. Unexpected but alright, it’s a whole new Final Fantasy for a new console for a new generation, let’s see where this is going

Then the demo “Episode: Duscae” happened and let’s just say I was very surprised. And not in a good way. Fucking boyband goes camping… Not what I expected and to be honest it didn’t help revive the hype I once felt (Feeling bad for Type-0 since it will forever be remembered as “the game that came with the demo”). Anyways the game got released and it was time to experience the full thing.

Game boots up and we are presented with the beautiful title theme + logo of the game as well as a glittering night sky in the background. Then we are immediately thrown into a fight with, what we suppose is, Ifrit and a grown up Noctis and squad. First of all, that was the most pointless teaser/medias res start whatever to start a story with. All it serves is to spoil the fact that there is a timeskip. You have no idea what and why you should care. Then we are back to young Noctis and Co. that are sent off by Papa Regis on a roadtrip. Their car AKA fifth party member then breaks down and the Crown prince of a powerful kingdom is sent out as an errand boy in order to pay for car repairs…

What? This is the way you decide to start your grand new main title? Hour long road trip where you know jackshit about anything!? A little more exposition maybe? You do pride yourself with this game being for “fans and first timers” maybe tell us something about the importance of crystals and what exactly magitechs are? I know they expect you to see that god-awful movie (which I btw really like) beforehand but I expect my full price game to come complete! At least have the decency to include the movie in the game and not only in the collectors edition, jeez… Oh yes, there is an anime too and the Platinum demo. There was actually a surprisingly amount of story and hints in that demo, didn’t expect much from it, only played it because of the cute carbuncle on the thumbnail. ________ Here is how I would have liked this game to start: Instead of the Ifrit flash forward, let us have a flash forward of the world after the star scourge. Let us see a world without light and terrors in the form of demons. As cliché as it is, let this flash forward be a nightmare Noctis has. Instead of the Kingsglaive movie, let the movie be the first 1/3 arc of the game. Noctis will wake up after the star scourge nightmare only to find himself in his bedroom in Insomnia. Maybe a week before the signing of the Treaty with Niflheim. Here Noctis will be able to explore the Citadel, talk with daddy and learn about the world. Let Ignis do some exposition as well as introduce you to the use of magic. Sparring with Gladio will learn you about the combat mechanics and you’ll be able to hang out with Prompto. Explore the streets of Insomnia and derp around with your friends at your favourite Arcade. In this way you will feel at home in Insomnia and the events of the game will be more impactful later.

Then all the Niflheim crap happens, Insomnia falls, Regis is killed, Noctis and Luna are separated and he flees the city. This will really show how evil the Empire is for tbh, without Kingsglaive we don’t really know that much about Niflheim. We are told they are evil but never really see it except for the roaming magitech troopers and some blockades. Then the second arc of the game will start which will be the road trip part. Noctis’ friends helps him deal with the loss and they try to get by as refugees by camping in the wild and such. That’s another thing I don’t get in the game, how can the dead-very-important-crownprince of Lucis run around and no one bats an eye? Have the people never actually seen the prince?? Anyways this is my idea of a start. Cliché but a friendlier way to start in my opinion. ______

Then all the Blessing of the Astrals is going to happen which is awesome! The Leviathan part in Altissia is epic. Could have been cool though if it was a bit more like the announcement trailer... Not interesting from a gameplay perspective but very impressive and Final Fantasy-like. We really get to see how majestic summons can be! The story then slows down and we are presented to story-telling on rails (literally) Noctis and Co. deals with their losses, it looks bleak for them and Gladio is being a macho ass and we go into the final part of the game. I really like this part as the storytelling is FINALLY going somewhere! Okay the part in the Empire is a little too long and I feel confused about the characters like Ravus and the Emperor-what’s-his-name. I know they patched cutscenes in but looking at the game at release, a little too much happened off screen and you are more confused than shocked.

We are then at the stolen crystal and where the timeskip happens. What comes after is honestly the best part of the game! Especially because of the sleep-theme the game got going/hints at. Anything from here on is absolutely bloody brilliant! I love the payoff with the photographies and Armiger weapons! The story telling and music, everything! But again, the return to where it all began would have been more impactful if I actually knew Insomnia. The city you enter aren’t any different from any other town you’ve passed. This isn’t my home so why should I feel anything? Anyways, the ending(s) blew me away and I may or may not have shed tears of happiness.

That was some story talk now to the more general part.

I wrote in my intro that I hate the game. Why is that? I expected something and got something else. My own fault, next reason. I think the way they presented the game was messy and the first half had a horrible pacing. It’s hard to care about the war and Empire when you don’t know the stakes and what the fuck’s going on. The camping mechanic is awesome and I love how you can get different boosts by preparing different foods! I hated the whole boyband goes camping but this honestly turned out to be one of the best parts of the game. No, what I REALLY hate is the way they decided to tell a what-would-be interesting story. There are way too many moments where you don’t know what the fuck is going on and why you should care and some characters wasn’t fleshed out enough; would have loved to know more about Ardyn because of his significance in the game and true identity. A little more about the Astrals too please? What about the Oracles? I know this is stuff you surely can find in books and stuff laying around; bread crumbs are nice but not when you forget the entire fucking bread. This is a solid game with a huge potential, but somehow that’s totally hidden away. I feel like the Final Fantasy part has been lost along the way. Side quest and open world exploration are a huge part of the universe, but so is a grand story and rich lore. Could we please have more of the latter? The more realistic setting this instalment is going for isn’t my cup of tea. I love the bleary steampunk world of VII and the colourful tropical world of Spira, setting a fantasy game in a close-to-real-life setting is taking a lot of its charm. But again, this is a new and different fantasy so that’s nice in its own way. When that is said, too bad we didn’t get to explore Tenebrae, that place looks beautiful!

I don’t hate this instalment because it’s different compared to the older titles, I hate it because of the way it’s executed. I cry when I think about what this game could have been and then I cry again when I think about its beautiful moments and bromance. For most of the first half of the game I hated its fucking guts and I couldn’t see any reason to care about anything the game had to offer, but as time went on it slowly grew on me and at the end where this beautiful mess turned Final Fantasy, I realized it was finally time to lay behind my salt and forgive it.

#ff #ffxv #Ishouldstopmyselfbutwhatever #I haven't read this through #I #thisisimportanttome

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