#I wish they had more of those episodes

[sadiecoocoo]

The way that the man-wolf episode of usm is such a spideynovafist episode while also adding another character that was definitely pining over spidey makes me giggle

[ptieuca]

buffy & angel + season one

[shikai-the-storyteller]

I've been thinking a lot about Leonarda's not-death ever since it happened back in April.

("What death?" you might ask, to which I say: "EXACTLY!")

Back in mid-April, Vegetta and Leonarda were mining together in a one-block wide tunnel. A mob (a Petriman) got between the two of them, and Vegetta told Leonarda to step back while he took care of it. At this point, they'd spent enough time together that he trusted Leo to listen to him.

Instead, she was killed by the same sweeping edge bug that killed her siblings.

-

Vegetta's reaction here is what's really interesting to me. Unlike most other parents on the Island, there are no shouts or tears – only a very brief "Hmm" and then silence. He very quietly takes stock of the situation, saying "Vegetta, no" and wondering aloud why Leo didn't defend herself. In chat, Foolish says "It was a bug, right? LAG" to which Vegetta slowly responds "Yes, lag. Bug." (Despite this, Foolish still asks "WHAT HAPPENED" in chat, though Vegetta doesn't reply).

Instead, he creates a slightly wider space in the tunnel where Leo's body is. He continues quietly taking stock of the situation, wondering why Leo didn't defend herself (which is what necessitated his intervention). She'd been lagging a lot that day, and he figures that must be the cause, and eventually when Leo re-appears out of thin air in the middle of the cave and collects her stuff, she confirms that the lag got to her and that's why she didn't fight the mob.

Now here's where things get interesting:

Vegetta checks the tab list. Online, it's just him, Leonarda, Roier, and Foolish. He quietly tells Leonarda "The body has already disappeared, and without a body, there is no crime. Nothing is happening. Did you die?" Leo shakes her head, and Vegetta shakes his head too, and in the kind voice he uses sometimes with Leo, he says: "I believe you have not died. Where is the body? It isn't anywhere, no mija. If it was a mistake, it was a mistake."

Leo says: "I saw Diosito (God) pa, and I was scared. God, what am I doing here?" and Vegetta laughs, telling her it's alright. Leo says "No pasa nada (don't worry / nothing happened)" and Vegetta says: "And the people who are watching us have not seen it either." To Foolish and Roier, he messages: "Secreto."

And the funniest thing about this is it worked.

Not a single person spoke about it. I saw this entire event go down live and I didn't see a WHISPER of what transpired among fans. I can't even remember if the QSMP official accounts talked about it (they sure didn't mention it in Vegetta's recap of the day). We could discuss this in meta terms of course– Leo was having known lag issues that day, Vegetta's beloved by the admins so of course they're willing to turn a blind eye rather than slap a "?" over Leonarda's life on the Eggstatistics, but meta talk isn't what I'm interested in here.

I'm interested in q!Vegetta, the weird "god-adjacent" aura he's got, and the way the universe bends to his will.

Before he took a break from the server, Rubius seemed to be a caretaker for the Eggs who died (for example, he was present when Maxo, Quackity, and Mariana & Slime said their final goodbyes to Trumpet, Tilin, and JuanaFlippa). Because of his role as an "angel" and some of his dialogue during the early days of the server, it's not a stretch to say he probably came to collect any Egg who lost a life. I can imagine he did the same when he saw Leonarda die – that is, until Vegetta said "And the people who are watching us have not seen it either." Realistically, we know Vegetta was saying this to Chat (and possibly the admins as well), but again, we're looking at this from an "in-universe" perspective.

I wonder if Vegetta was aware of Rubius' role, and this was his way of telling Rubius "No. I won't allow that to happen." We know Rubius has a soft-spot for Vegetta (and we also know that Rubius was cast out of heaven several months later) so it makes me wonder if these two instances are connected.

Either way, this isn't the first time the laws of the QSMP universe have bent for Vegetta, and I certainly don't think it'll be the last.

Rubius or no, Leo didn't die that day.

Vegetta made sure of it.

[andromedaa-starss]

just saw a clip from strange new worlds season three and it bothered me so much.

disclaimer this is just my opinion, if y'all like it more power to you.

here's the clip so y'all can see it for yourselves: https://youtu.be/QYLXhIb506w?si=s2WHqKzNYZMtjhWV

but basically, pike, uhura, la'an, and christine chapel all get turned into vulcans genetically (which bothers me already bc shouldn't they just be putting on prosthetics? but w/e that's a bit nitpicky don't mind me). however here's where it gets real bad for me. they start acting like vulcans right out the gate.

huh??? why would they do that? this implies two things, either being logical and doing all that is genetic (which. wrong, incorrect, a total misunderstanding of how vulcans work) or the crew are all trying to mimick spock to get into the Vulcan Spirit™️ (which feels real fucking weird. like. vulcans are not all spock imitations).

and like either way it feels like a fuckup of vulcans. for the first scenario, VULCANS AREN'T BORN LOGICAL. it was born from years of practice. this is why michael burnham was acting like one--she learned the same control a vulcan child raised on vulcan would. if i took a vulcan child and raised them away from vulcan influence they would probably be more emotional. it's even stated that before surak came along, the vulcans were very emotional and highly volatile. and that's how the crew should be acting shortly after they turned into vulcans. they don't have the control that spock or any other vulcan has, so they should be hyper emotional and volatile. implying that vulcans are genetically logical and Like That disregards everything we have been told abt vulcans.

and then for the second scenario, i don't have as much to say bc i don't have a concrete reason as to why it's fucking up vulcans, it just gives me the ick. like idk i think the crew, if they're trying to act vulcan, are basing their interpretations soley on spock. which is bad bc spock is one vulcan. he doesn't represent the entire race. every vulcan acts differently. like idk if that's what was going on it's just ugh. i don't like that. can't put my finger on specifically why but i just don't.

anyways i wish they went abt this differently but hopefully the rest of the episode is better.

[multifandombullshitbabes]

It makes me so mad seeing people genuinely believe that Alicent is just sacrificing Aegon just because. Like no!!! Fuck, did y'all watch that scene with your eyes closed??

Leading up to that scene, we have Alicent that knows there's abt to be a war, she started it (it was gonna happen anyway but whatever), but she tried to stave off the guilt of it by believing that she was doing her dying husband's a favor. She thought she was doing good even if i caused so much pain.

Then, she learns it was a complete misunderstanding already too late: the first big event of the war has happened, and it was only a taste of what's to come. Even then, it already brought so much grief, not even talking abt the grief from the first episode. And before that convo with Rhaenyra, Alicent could lie to herself and think that it was all for something, it was all meant to be just like Viserys said (even though she had her doubts, but who was she to refuse his dying wish?). Now? She doesn't have that anymore, and she is now scrambling and improvising, just keeping it going cuz wtf else is she supposed to do.

But her tipping point? When she realized that the one true innocent in all of this, Halaena, would not be spared in this war, no matter how much she tried to not think about it. That scene where they both run away from their hungry and angry subjects, that's when Alicent realizes, in a kind of foolish way, that she as well was going to suffer, not just Aegon or Aemond, but Halaena and herself as well: that even though they wouldn't go into battle themselves, they wouldn't be spared.

Honestly, she already knew this of course, she just didn't want to think about it too much: that in a war its not only those who battle who die, but also everyone else. It is here that Alicent realizes the true point of war: nothing. It is only death and casualties, no winners.

This is WHY she has that scene of running away and swimming into the lake. She cannot bear to think that she's doomed so many innocents to die, something she was aware of before but now has lived the reality of it firsthand with her own sweet daughter. She understands the futility in her actions, in her petty schemes, in following her fathers footsteps, in trying to be a good Christian girl in a society that hates women, etc. She understands that nothing fucking matters. So, she might as well save her daughter and granddaughter this fate of death if she can; especially because she KNOWS she cannot save either of her sons.

And that's the thing: Aegon is at the center of this conflict, he is likely to die; Aemond is their biggest weapon in this war, he is very likely to die. Alicent, in a very dark way, has already resigned herself to losing both of her sons, Aegon since he was born and Aemond since the war happened. Aegon is that one death that she is constantly reminded of, every time she looks at Rhaenyra she sees the one that has the power and right to forfeit his life, as they literally say in the show multiple times. Is it logical? Not really, considering we don't have evidence of Rhaenyra herself thinking like this. But since the men think it that way, it must be the only truth ever, and so the story goes.

Could Alicent have denied Viserys wish and let things be? Sure, but then she wouldn't be Alicent, the one desperate to be seen as a dutiful wife that gave birth to the rightful heir to the throne and who should feel very bitter about and so she does (and she does, but she also admits that Rhaenyra would've made a fine queen, she knows that the world wouldn't have ended if she let things be). It is that heavy subject of her being the only witness to his last moments and so she feels naturally duty bound as his wife to carry his last message. I cannot fault her for this, no matter the consequences of it.

And when we get to that last scene, we see all of this, just as Rhaenyra says: that, per her father's wish, she should be the heir and therefore Aegon NEEDS to die. And Alicent doesn't want to accept this truth, because that is her child, but she knows it to be true. Neither woman likes this, Rhaenyra is literally shaking and crying, Alicent looks like she can barely breathe in that entire scene. They are both mothers, and one knows exactly how bad it is to lose a child and the other knows she is about to find out how it feels.

However, they both believe this is the best that they can do in this shit situation, to avoid more innocent deaths, to stop this war from moving forward, to let each other lead their own lives as they wish. Aegon has to be sacrificed in name of the Targaryen line, and it is fucked up and Alicent does not choose this willingly but only because she knows it will happen either way, since Aegon quite literally cannot defend himself right now. She knows he is going to die, so she might as well do it in a way that ensures peace to the realm if she can.

Im sorry, bit that last scene was amazingly written and so well acted and performed and it is so disappointing seeing people being fucking foolish about it. So so sick of it. Alicent loves her children despite all of them being a product os statutory rape, the reason why she lost her vest friend, the reason why she had to resort to her cruel and petty ways, just like her father. She still loves them all and it is heartbreaking to watch.

[hotdogmchiggin]

King and Eda are fucking pissed.

Both of their reactions throughout this whole scene in Watching and Dreaming fucking destroyed me man. Their complete, wordless shock followed by unbridled grief-stricken rage just…. hit hard. Havent really seen art for this moment so wanted to take a crack at it.

Also since I’ve been experimenting more with procreate, I learned that it automatically saves a TIMELAPSE. So now YOU TOO! Can see my abysmal drawing process. I’ll either add that in a reblog or in a new post, so just keep an eye out if you’re interested in seeing that I guess.

Anyway tumblr’s gonna fuck up the quality so I’m putting CLOSEUPS under the cut.

[puppyeared]

Atla live action 😐

[metabolizemotions]

Maybe Station 19 was like an experimental cubist painting.

There were too many stories to be told and too many people trying to tell them, from too many perspectives, with too many styles…

Each viewer saw a different picture.

It was the show that tried to capture the zeitgeist and represent the under-represented. Also the show that often struggled. With the tones and textures. With representing w/o tokenizing. B/w laughing with and laughing at. B/w realism and romanticizing. B/w deliberate and arbitrary. B/w educating and entertaining. B/w what they consider profane and sacrosanct.

At times, it touched our hearts deeply. At times, it frustrated us to no end.

Not every story was given the respect, sensitivity and intricacy it was due.

One moment could lead to a profound understanding of an aspect of a lived life some of us had never known; while the next could be a moment that was beyond confounding - about an aspect of ourselves that made us feel slighted, diminished and even erased.

It had often been an exercise in empathy to find our common humanity at the intersectionality of stories. Yet, the scale of empathy often skewed too far in favor of some characters with the differing standards, narrative frames and plot armors. Ironically yet reasonably turning people off these very characters they wanted people to root for. A persistent dissonance and disconnect.

But it was also the show that didn’t shy away from the ugly, the raw, the uncomfortable and messy parts of our shared human experience. The tribulations of oppression. The perils of ambition. The tests of morality. The trials of friendship and love. That we would make mistakes, but we could also make amends. That we're not defined by our worst. That our best lives could still be in front of us despite the current struggles. That sometimes life sucks but having your people with you makes it more bearable.

I would think it an interesting journey for the diversity of people behind, on, and in front of the screen. The evolving stories, evolving characters, evolving storytellers, an evolving fandom - all amidst an evolving media landscape.

It was probably not an easy show to make. The show had a bewilderingly lack of support from abc or shondaland. Diversity seemed to be both good for promotion (when there was any) and the reason for the prejudice against it.

Just as it had not been an easy show to watch - so biased, inconsistent and self-contradictory. Like when they kept telling us about the family spirit and deep friendships yet somehow spent more time showing otherwise. Or when the writing of systemic sexism was somehow inherently sexist.

Personally, I don’t think characters belong to the writers alone. Besides the usual constraints, the characters were often adjusted back and forth to fit the plots. We’ve also learnt how network execs' dislikes, writers’ personal experiences were factored into the stories. I fully respect the writers’ artistic rights. But actors who embodied the characters for years have a unique understanding too. Viewers also have their personal takes about what were true to characters. It's ok to agree to disagree.

There had been sparks of brilliance, but often extinguished too soon. It has been confounding how the greys-verse did not capitalise on its vast potential, esp. S19. Even while both shows share a show-runner. Grey's anatomy could have lent its scale while Station 19 could have injected renewed energy back into its mothership. Both shows could have been better for it.

Although the characters have the foundation of distinct and interesting backstories, their development often did not fully utilise the narrative potential and the talents of the cast. I’m sure the crew was also competent and hardworking. But somehow some elements b/w n within the shows seemed to just cancel each other out instead of amplifying their impact. IMO 704 and 709 were a few exceptions.

But I'll always be glad S19 existed and we got a S7. I believe they had tried their best to wrap up and give closure to everyone invested in the show. I truly appreciated the hard work given the circumstances even when I personally didn't agree with some takes.

In the end, I really do want to remember it as the show with heart, the show that made us laugh and cry and the show that tried. The show that's unique - in both its merits and flaws. I’ll definitely miss the characters. One last time - 19!

[pimento-playing-hopscotch]

🤐🫣🫣

[fluffypotatey]

Skill issue maybe. But kindness certainly didn't help the prosecuted for the rest of the show.

Maybe a balance is needed between me being proactive and merlin being kind, bc merlin sure needed a bit of the former (this is really more of a complaint for the showrunners rather than merlin. I read so many fics of merlin being proactive and helping magic that canon is slap in the face with his passivity and class traitorness)

yeah Merlin’s approach to certain issues definitely show the writers’/showrunners’ hands than his actual character (where he is pretty outspoken in these topics) but there’s also the nuance of keeping his magic secret and yada yada

but also, one of the reasons we like Merlin is because of his goodness and open-mind. there is a reason he is a foil to Morgana, who was proactive in magic users rights, had an identity crisis of her own, and descended into villain-hood. there is a reason why his struggle between his duty as Emrys and Destiny is so compelling and how it slowly become his struggle between Destiny and Arthur

are there moments where i wish Merlin did certain actions differently? 100% yes i do (2x08 for example and his relationship with Morgana) and i know a lot of the time these narrative choices were made in order to keep Merlin in his 5 season struggle of ideologies by the showrunners themselves which just hurt his character in the long run (similar to how they revert Arthur’s character back to his s1 caricature sometimes 🙄) bc if he progressed too “quickly” then it could lead to a different outcome than they wanted at the end of the show

but i digress

[xviruserrorx]

The 3x04 episode is Arthur just being down bad for every man he encounters in that episode actually

I mean he just:

And then he:

[which-qsmp-egg-would]

FYI, Poll's favorite Sonic characters are Sonic and Tails, hands down. It thinks Sonic is very cool and that Tails' inventions are awesome.

[haaam-guuuurl]

BABE WAKE UP THEY'RE FINALLY LETTING RHAENYRA TARGARYEN KISS WOMEN ON TV

[cmentary-drive]

Okay so about the lore drop 😇😇😇

[sonknuxadow]

they werent lying that knuckles series barely has knuckles in it

[syncrovoid-presents]

Hazbin Hotel thoughts (with a splash of vague theories) (Alastor edition)

Something that is super fascinating about how Alastor's character has been left highly up to interpretation is that, before these next episodes at least, it's not entirely clear what his motives are.

We know he is a skilled manipulator, a master of wording things in his favour to get the deals he wants. We know he's a serial killer that puts the laughter in slaughter, yet still has a variation of a moral code. We know he has ties, likely to lilith (though personally I really hope it ends up that he made a deal before he died for power, which now haunts him in hell).

We know that he partly protects the hotel because it's where he has a new radio broadcaster, but his protection of it could be protection for him, for what demon would mess with a friend (father figure?) of the princess of hell? Even Lucifer can't actually hurt him without hurting Charlie, regardless of how authentic Alastor is towards her.

Is his song purely to manipulate Charlie into feeling safer around him? Is he slowly wearing down her defenses so she may accidentally (or even purposefully) make a deal with him? It's clear from the dialogue and interactions that he's not incorporating himself much into the group, and we still don't know what's up with his radio broadcasting system being up once more.

There's so many ways it can be interpreted, but it's fun to have a character that is both mysterious but also bound to a set of morals he doesn't care to explain. He is the master of his own life, and (likely) sees others as lesser because they're weaker/manipulatable/"stupid". Yet his morals are just present enough that he could find it dishonorable to destroy demons that have, perhaps in his eyes, given up power for a chance at redemption.

There's also other questions around his character too, my biggest one being whether he has 1 power source or two? Many times we see his power/magic manifest as red hues (symbols specifically), similar to how he wears all red. Other times it is green, which may or may not be tied to his "neon" colours. Is it because red and green are complimentary but conflicting? Is it to show that one power is fully his and the other is not? Does the neon represent a lack of truthfulness or him acting outside of his true wishes? Because the only time we've really seen it is when he is saying (somewhat) nice things in very specific situations.

Does Alastor know Vaggie is/was an angel? He didn't like her in the pilot, and its unclear whether their strained dynamic is because Vaggie wants to protect Charlie and it is one sided, or if Alastor knows and is waiting for the perfect moment to use that against her, perhaps for a deal?

Also his only songs so far have been him just taking over someone else's song. How petty and silly of him. Can't wait to see what he has planned next!

Who knows! Either way Hazbin Hotel is a very fun show and I'm so excited for the next episodes!!