#I’m using jokes to cove the sadness of this episode

[galaxynajma]

put them grippers away!!

Maybe that’s why Toji killed you guys

[spaceradars]

i’m once again, talking about the M*A*S*H finale

im sorry in advance

The other post can be found here

I think we all know what this episode means and is about so i’m not going to talk about that. i’m not going to get into the story that absolutely broke my heart or about what happens during the first half, because i’m interested in the second one, in the fact war is finally over and everybody will go home and enjoy some peace. Anyway the thing is Hawkeye’s back from a psychiatric hospital where Sidney was treating him after a particularly traumatic experience he had, of course, repressed and that made me cry a lot and the 4077 is experiencing its last days with patients. everyone’s trying to deal with that in the best possible way, except for doctor California aka BJ Hunnicutt who has left to go home in order to be there for his baby’s second birthday (spoiler alert: he won’t make it and will have to go back to our favorite M*A*S*H unit). anyway the thing is he makes it back, the peace is announced and the last wounded are being operated. and in a particularly emotive scene, after they share their last dinner as the 4077, they start making plans on what will be of them after they go back home and this is, i believe, the most wholesome (but also somehow heartbreaking) part of it all:

Col Potter announces he’ll go back home in Missouri and spend all the time he can with his wife (which is the sweetest thing ever), Kellye asked to be assigned to a hospital in Honolulu in order to be with her family, Rizzo will go back to Louisiana, Hawkeye will go back to Crabapple Cove and go into private practice (which will allow him to get to know his patients), BJ makes a joke about running away with a woman but we all know he’s looking foward to returning to California and watch his kid grow up and make up for all that missing time with both her and Peg, Igor is going to become a pig farmer, Father Mulcahy will begin to work with the deaf (remember he nearly lost his hearing on this episode so...), Charles will work at the Boston hospital he wanted to work (thanks to Margaret) in the position he was looking foward to (although he reflects on the fact that music will forever be a reminder from now on of what he lived in Korea, i mean remember the first half of the episode in which he teaches Chinese musicians to play some Mozart and then they all get killed :(( ), Margaret decides to return to the USA and work in a hospital there (and talks so good about the nurses in the 4077 <3) and Klinger announces he’ll marry Soon-Lee but he’ll stay in Korea until she finds her family again (<3). So he marries her the next day, in a cellebration that allows our favorite MASH unit to be together for the last time or at least the last time there bc i know they all will get together again in the future I KNOW IT OKAY?

I think here comes the saddest part of it all; we spend 11 seasons wishing for the war to be over (because they make sure to SHOW us how horrible and inhumane it is and how bad it is, for both sides) and for all of them to go home. And it’s not just that; it’s the way BJ talks about Erin that made me wish for eight seasons for him to go back home safe and sound, the way Klinger talks about Toledo, the way Radar talked about Iowa, Charles about his sister, Hawkeye about his dad, Col Potter about his wife... but right now, I didn’t want them all to split up, you know? and i know it’s sort of logical after 11 seasons but I just felt so sad because i spent so many episodes/seasons like “make them go home PLEASE!!!!” and now it was like..... “sir that’s my emotional support ‘found family trope’” so i cried a lot.

So, Klinger gets married (with Col Potter as his best man) and leaves with Soon-Lee (who I hope finds her family <3). 

Father Mulcahy leaves next.

Then Margaret does, to the 8063, and says goodbye to everyone (+Charles gives her a book she had borrowed from him and loved). Also, her last moments with Col. Potter? S O F T

Then Charles leaves, to the 8063 as well but with Rizzo on the garbage truck, as the Swamp is dismantled </3

Then we have left Col Potter, who rides Sophie for one last time before leaving her at the local orphanage, and he tells our two last remaining 4077 protagonists, Hawkeye and BJ “it would be hard to call what we’ve been through ‘fun’, but I’m sure glad we went through it together” and i think that sums it all up because that’s what’s sad, of course; we’re not sad because the war is over and they’re going home, but because those making each other laugh/pulling pranks on each other moments, as well as all the tender ones and the cute ones, are over (and duh, the series is). Anyway, before Col Potter leaves, both BJ and Hawkeye salute him and <3

And we have left both BJ and Hawkeye, who have left the last five minutes of screentime and they say goodbye with the cutest of exchanges, and I don’t mean “the cutest” because it’s them but because it comes from the heart and you can tell. I mean, Hawkeye’s “I want you to know how much you’ve meant to me”? those “i’ll miss you”/”i’ll miss you... a lot”? BJ literally saying “i can’t imagine what this place would’ve been like if I hadn’t found you here”? 

and basically Hawkeye gets on the chopper and BJ leaves in his bike and tells him  “i’ll see you back in the States, I promise!” BUT adds that he left him a “note” and the note is like 

Anyway, this final episode was perfect in every single way and I found it to be great. I’ll never get over it (or this series) but that’s another thing. 

Waching M*A*S*H was an experience, as i’ve mentioned before, but it was a GREAT one and I’m so glad this series exists and I get to be a even a small part of its universe by watching it/loving it the way I do. I can’t way to rewatch it asap lol

[miraculouscontent]

Did you ever give your thoughts on Gamer 2.0? If not, would you mind sharing?

I haven’t given my thoughts, no, and I wouldn’t mind sharing!

(Firstly, just throwing this out there: I have no comment on the fact that we’re clearly missing an episode, so “sad trombone akuma” being there doesn’t strike me in any particular way. I complain about the order that episodes are released in, but I don’t feel that an episode being aired “out-of-order” should count towards what I view as its quality.)

(Also going to ignore Marinette’s much more intense love of gaming because it makes more sense than what she had in “Gamer”. I don’t mind retcons if they’re doing so to make more sense.)

(���though I do wish this had been the episode where Sabine gets into gaming rather than her already liking it)

Anyway, Gamer 2.0 is certainly… something. It asks the question of “what if each villain-of-the-day could duke it out with each other?” It also shows us how Ladybug and Chat would use them if they could take control. Seeing these guys come back in an interesting way (even though some akuma have an inherent disadvantage due to the battlefield, which is admittedly kinda dumb) is very interesting (also adore some of the references there).

I also like the ending, where Marinette brings Max to her parents and they literally drag him away to go play video games together. Her parents getting all excited and the hilarity of Max just being helplessly dragged off was funny. Max also gives up his akumatized object willingly (after Ladybug nails yet another lucky charm), which was a good moment (Chris doesn’t even remotely count for me because they were threatening to destroy his robot).

…That said, I really don’t like the rest of this episode. Now, admittedly, part of it is me judging the episode for what it isn’t rather than what it is, but I’ll get there.

[Level 1 - Max Attack]

Alright, so… Max.

Like, look, I get it. Max is hurting because he put all this work into this game and no one has time to play it for him.

But at the same time, this is one of the weakest akumatizations I’ve ever seen, at least in terms of the set-up.

For example, characters like Kim didn’t establish that they’d be gone for a long time. All Kim said that he was going to the pool. His activity would take the rest of the day at worst.

It’s the same with Kitty Section, who are only planning to try on Marinette’s T-shirts (by the way, completely unrelated, but having that happen before this scene and giving them a different excuse would’ve been way better considering that Kitty Section could’ve suggested Marinette because they know she’s been stressed, but I digress).

If Max is so invested in this game, he can just do small touches while he waits for someone to be free, whether it’s Kim or Kitty Section. It’s one thing to be really excited about it, but it’s another thing (especially for Max) to not even consider asking people when they would be free, because then he could just excitedly work on his game while he waits for that person to be available.

Now, if people had to keep bailing on Max due to obligations, continuously saying that they’d do it but having to cancel due to getting wrapped up in other things, that’d be different. It would be a frustrating (however understandable) situation for Max, where he can’t exactly be angry at his friends, but he has a right to be disappointed.

I simply just don’t buy that he spent maybe an hour asking everyone and then got sad enough to be akumatized because they had prior arrangements they’d already agreed to. If asking people to play with him was just to playtest his game, then he can simply continue working on it while he waits.

Heck, if he made this whole game himself, why not talk to people about design choices instead, which takes up a lot less time? Surely he has beta designs or things he wasn’t sure about. I can’t imagine many of his friends minding if he just showed them some concepts and asked for their opinion, which would only take a few seconds. If he’s aiming to make his game the best it can be, then–

…I’m getting too deep into this.

*ahem* Point being, his game is likely not perfect yet and it would’ve been more believable for his disappointment to be built up more. It’s great that he was a good sport when Ladybug beat him fair and square, but when the episode prioritizes his problems over Marinette’s (which I’ll get to), I want to understand the feelings he has when he gets akumatized, and I don’t.

Even if one were to say that it was Chloe’s insult who caused it…

Max, think for half a second.

Chloe is a bully who lies just to rile people up, and if Max honestly believes that his friends are lying to him (which makes zero sense, since Marinette verified what Kitty Section Minus One™ told Max without him asking), then he needs to have a little more faith in himself and his relationships, because yikes.

[Level 2 - The Pavement of Predictability]

People who have been following me for a long time know how much it irritates me when an episode lays out its plot from the word “go”. I definitely filled my sarcasm quota for the day–for the week, really–as this episode hammered how stressed Marinette was and how much she had to resist gaming, followed by someone being akumatized with a gaming theme.

Like, gee, I wonder what will happen?

I wonder if Ladybug will try to go through this as quickly as possible.

I wonder if her usual gaming skill will vanish when she does so.

I wonder if none of this will be blamed on the fact that she’s likely lacking sleep (she fell asleep during her test even though she managed to fill it out), is stressed beyond belief, and needs a freaking hug.

I wonder if that schedule Adrien mentioned will go completely disregarded as Chat is unbothered skipping out his obligations because being a hero is “fun” for him, further making this all pointless considering that Adrien doesn’t care about his schedule and Marinette does because most of the things she’s doing are things for people she cares about.

I wonder if Chat will continue goofing off as he practically ignores the fact that Ladybug told him that she had things to do, only worsening Ladybug’s mood.

I wonder if Ladybug will be mocked viciously just because she’s in a hurry.

This entire akuma fight played out exactly how I thought it would, right down to Chat purposefully throwing himself off the edge to let Ladybug deal with the final battle alone. The only thing I was happy to be right about predicting was Ladybug’s win over Gamer 2.0, which was legitimately awesome of her as usual.

The problem with this whole fight (more the conversations during the fights, really) is that it’s standard. It’s too easy to see where it’s going, and where it’s going isn’t pleasant.

Marinette wanted to play with Max. She didn’t maliciously deny him or try to lie her way out of it. She just had too many things to do.

And for that, she’s punished by being forced to play a long, drawn-out game with him.

She didn’t do anything to deserve this happening to her, but the narrative is clearly setting this up for comedy because anger is often seen as more funny than sadness and Ladybug is mostly frustrated and nothing else.

But, in this situation, I don’t think that either would be funny, and Gamer 2.0 being a smug akuma who makes fun of Ladybug when she loses just pours salt in a wound that he caused.

Even if the mocking is a punishment for how Ladybug is unable to handle the situation well, it doesn’t work because I can see how she’s not taking it well. She is fourteen years old and has the burden of a miraculous placed upon her without her asking for it. She struggles to say “no”, she still has to go to school and do well, and she has friends and celebrities who unintentionally request things for her at the same time.

And it’s not like this whole “punishment” thing hasn’t happened before. There have been episodes like “Antibug” where Marinette has to learn a “”””lesson“””” because she snapped at Chloe for interfering with her job, and now it’s just the same thing but Marinette how dare you be busy alongside everyone else and how dare you not ignore your obligations to have fun instead.

It’s cruel, plain and simple. It’s the “working-on-actually-important-things” Ladybug versus the person who got akumatized because everyone had too many obligations one day to playtest his game.

Just… whyyyyyy.

[Level 3 - Chat Cove]

We’re gonna have to have another “look, I get it” moment here because… look, I get it, Chat’s character is there to be the goofball while Ladybug is a lot more serious.

But Chat here absolutely cannot catch onto Ladybug’s mood, and the only reason he’s helpful at all is because he likes gaming.

Let’s look at the facts, scene by scene.

Firstly, the one thing I did like, which was him being concerned about Gamer 2.0 laying a trap out for them when Ladybug was clearly stressed and perhaps not thinking straight. Good moment, bravo, and all that, because Chat should be ready to have a little restraint to cover for Ladybug when she doesn’t.

…But then all of that is immediately thrown out the window by the time they step into the game itself.

Here’s what happens: Ladybug picks the Mime for one of her fights. While she’s busy, Chat makes a teasing (or perhaps semi-serious) comment to her, which Ladybug replies to and thus loses what she’d been miming.

Chat then feels the need to tell her that she loses what she mimes if she talks.

…Well then maybe you shouldn’t have said anything that warranted a reply, Chat.

Chat also is aware that Ladybug is stressed (she basically said it to his face), yet when it’s his turn to play the game, he waffles around as he tries to decide on which character to use, cracking jokes about using Copycat but it being “too easy if it’s basically himself” until Ladybug gets irritated by this. He then picks Mr. Pigeon and continues goofing off.

Am I meant to be annoyed that Ladybug snapped at him? Because I’m not. I don’t mind if he’s still his jokester self but he shouldn’t be wasting time when Ladybug stressed how many things she has to do. What he did as Mr. Pigeon was legitimately funny, but the fact that he seems to almost intentionally waste time despite what Ladybug said makes it frustrating.

Theeeen we get to Gamer 2.0’s comment on Ladybug’s rushing and Chat trying to teach Ladybug a lesson.

First, Gamer 2.0, because the problem is not that Ladybug is trying to rush. I mean, speedrunning is a thing that exists. The problem is that she’s not thinking due to intense stress and an increasing lack of interest.

(Not only that, but why is Gamer 2.0 smug and not sad/annoyed by this? That would be actually INTERESTING if he was trying to make the game as fun as possible and was disappointed that Ladybug was just irritated by it. This is supposed to be HIS game, so how can he be satisfied with someone not enjoying it(he’s even glad later that she’s enjoying herself, but he’d been enjoying her frustration, so…???)? And regardless, no self-respecting gamer would get smug at winning because their opponent wasn’t trying or wasn’t into it.)

Second, Chat, and this bizarre lesson of “it’s not about not knowing how to play, it’s because you’re not having fun!”

Like, okay, it’s great that he asked her if she was alright instead of being upset that she lost multiple times, but to then turn around and give her non-advice?

Yeah, no. Just no.

Firstly, knowing how to play IS actually important (can’t believe I have to say this) and whether someone’s having fun or not doesn’t matter.

On the contrary, some people have fun regardless of if they win or not. Some people may not even try to win and just do whatever they want. If two people have the same amount of skill but one of them has more fun, then yes, theoretically the fun person could win, but they could just as easily lose if they’re not focused enough due to having too much fun.

The advice should not be to “have fun;” it should be to remain calm and focus on a plan, because that’s what Ladybug does best at.

Chat is applying his own logic to Ladybug, which only works because plot. Chat and Ladybug have two completely different styles and Chat is only thinking of himself and what he does. It’s as if Chat doesn’t even understand Ladybug or how she works.

Heck, this episode could’ve even been a compromise! Maybe Ladybug is too stressed and Chat goofs off too much, so they’d have to find a happy middle-ground where they’re focused but still having enough fun to not be stressed.

The only reason Chat is on any sort of high-ground here is because this is a game. I mean, we all remember “Stormy Weather” where he was so nonchalant with the akuma that he got flung fifty feet in the air and slammed his face into a car, right? His tendency to have fun and goof off is just convenient here and only here.

Anyway though, back to the actual episode, Chat then feels the need to sacrifice himself so that Ladybug can fight Gamer 2.0 which, coming right after Chat’s so-called “lesson,” just makes me think that he has no communication skills whatsoever (not that it doesn’t make sense, but the show shouldn’t present him as doing the right thing).

The fact that only one of them can face Gamer 2.0 isn’t the problem, because that’s logical given that Gamer’s failure the first time around was due to him going up against two people (since Chat manned the controls while Ladybug dealt with the real Gamer inside the robot).

The problem isn’t even the fact that Chat has sacrificed himself before. I mean, yes, not all of those sacrifices were necessary, and yes, it puts undue pressure on Ladybug every single time. That’s a reasonable frustration and I will never deny that.

The problem then is that Chat failed to convey his sacrifice to Ladybug. They have all the time in the world to talk and Chat is hardly there for a few seconds before just being like “lol bye i trust you.”

This is what I mean when I talk about Chat’s communication problems. I have no issue with him throwing himself off the edge, but only if he and Ladybug had agreed on it.

Ladybug is the planner. She usually gets the akuma. It makes perfect sense why she’d be the one to face Gamer 2.0.

But why did Chat have to be so dramatic about it? Ladybug felt horrified and pressured at his sacrifice because he decided to do it without her consent. All it would’ve taken is a “let’s be real here, you’re the most qualified to do this and neither of us want to fight each other, so is it okay if I just knock myself out of the ring so you can do that, or do you have a reason why I’d be better at fighting this time?” and that would be it.

It’s just an unnecessary way to create drama/tension while needlessly making Chat look bad.

And then, as if that wasn’t enough, the narrative has Gamer 2.0 mock Ladybug over Chat’s sacrifice because she was the one who said she wanted to get the game over quickly.

Seriously? She’d been having fun for the last few rounds and the narrative still wants to get on her case for having obligations that she wanted to take care of? She gets told a phony lesson, manages to work with it, and then still has to be criticized for something that isn’t even a factor anymore.

(Also, I simply do not believe that the Gamer 2.0 who mocked Ladybug relentlessly and was unbearably smug during this whole thing would be so respectful and nice after Ladybug beat him.)

There’s also Chat’s line after Ladybug asks him how he manages to have fun between his superhero and civilian life, which he again brushes off in a very Chat-way.

It’s yet another situation where Chat doesn’t know Ladybug enough to give her advice. Chat simplifies his answer to “I have fun when I’m being a superhero” yet fails to mention that he has fun because his life is boring (due to his schedule) and he enjoys the freedom that being Chat Noir gives him.

Also, it’s a non-answer considering that Ladybug had also asked more specifically if he’s afraid that he’ll have to give everything up to be a superhero someday. Chat clearly isn’t thinking as seriously about his answer as she wanted and their situations aren’t comparable.

Adrien’s obligations are things that often annoy him since they disrupt his plans with others, so I can see why his immediate reaction would be “oh, you mean getting away from my father, never having to do photoshoots again, and being able to spend all my time with you? Heck yeah, sign me up, I’ll sacrifice all of that!” (I know that sounds bad considering he’d be giving up his friends too, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of a doubt and say that he’s only thinking about his obligations and trying to say something flirty to Ladybug at the same time).

But Marinette’s obligations are typically things that she wanted to do.

She wanted to make Kitty Section T-shirts.

She wanted to make Jagged Stone a poster.

And she also wanted to have time to play a game with her father.

Chat’s answer doesn’t apply to her, because Marinette’s happiness doesn’t come from being Ladybug. The show tries to present Chat’s line as something romantic, but ignores the fact that it doesn’t help her.

And, y’know, the fact that Chat “enjoying his time with Ladybug” often involves him throwing himself into danger and falling under an akuma’s influence, further stressing exactly why Ladybug can’t find enjoyment in fights at times.

Just… what did Ladybug do to you, show? Did she spill hot coffee on the lap of one of your writers or what?

Geez.

[Level 4 - I’m Already Sick of Making Level Names And This Episode Doesn’t Understand Focus So Why Should I Bother?]

Okay, so here’s where I talk more about what the episode isn’t, and it all comes back to how the show is portraying Marinette’s struggle and how the characters around her react.

Marinette has a “thousand” things to do. Her week is chock full of stuff and she’s miserable over it. Tikki is helping however she can (kinda), which is something, but what does Tom do?

He gives Marinette non-advice. Like, I legitimately don’t know if this man understands his daughter whatsoever.

It is far too late to talk to Marinette about having “too many cakes in the oven,” and even if it wasn’t, has Tom honestly forgotten the thing that we learned in the first episode ever?

Marinette struggles to say “no.” It’s a character flaw of hers. Whether she knew she had “too many cakes” is pointless because what likely happened is that Marinette knew that she was overloaded and could not control herself when she agreed to “more cakes.”

Tom and Sabine are utterly useless when it comes to Marinette’s conflict. Yet again, they babble about things that aren’t even remotely going to help their daughter (with Sabine focusing more on making Tom feel better than thinking how they can help Marinette). They have no idea of the struggle she’s going through, nor do they try to understand.

They just bury themselves in video games while Marinette suffers. Tom saying something to her is a step up from “Weredad,” but it’s a similar situation to that episode when Tom and Sabine talk to each other about it and then proceed to not do anything.

I’m not asking Tom and Sabine to completely solve Marinette’s problems. Obviously, that’s impossible. A lot of what Marinette needs to do can’t be done by another person.

But, they don’t know that Tikki exists. They could’ve offered to help her with her history. They could’ve offered her advice on how they remembered things when they used to be in school (which doesn’t solve everything but that’s kind of the point when they appear so early in the episode; they also could’ve been busy in the bakery at the start and then gave Marinette better advice later instead).

But they don’t, and that shows a huge problem in the episode. The moral of this episode is garbage because it’s not offering Marinette any actual solutions to her problems.

Some activities are just not fun. That’s an inevitability. “Making things fun” is a worthless, meaningless concept that waffles around the issue and ignores the fact that “having fun” could very well mean that Marinette could slip up by not focusing enough or being too relaxed in the situation of needing to get a lot of things done at once.

And, yet again, the show says that Marinette has a problem without actually giving her a solution.

Where are the people trying to give her strategies for time crunches? Where in this episode do people actually offer help concerning Marinette’s issue of being unable to say “no”? Where is the person who swoops in at the end to at least give actual advice on the issue (which I honestly thought they were going to do with Luka when I first saw that he was strangely absent from Kitty Section; it had nothing to do with me wanting Lukanette, I just thought there was a reason for him not being there)?

Heck, Max is even in the episode and is the focus in terms of getting akumatized and getting his freaking problems actually resolved in the end. With how smart he supposedly is, why not have Max care about Marinette’s problems and offer solutions based on facts and logic instead of something that Chat “feels” is correct?

Maybe he knows the exact time to take breaks and how long to take them so to both avoid burn-out and also refresh Marinette enough for her to remain at her best working speed? Maybe he could’ve even suggested a schedule that would show her how long each activity would realistically take given her usual speed, and how much she would have to work/relax based on that?

Like, just saying, I would hope that the students would want to help their “everyday Ladybug” (I know that phrase is meaningless now, but roll with me here) in any way they can.

Tom sings when he makes bread. He could suggest that Marinette sing/hum while doing her projects to help her relax.

Kitty Section (again, minus Luka for some reason) could all be productive based on music (Rose is even wearing headphones in “Reverser” while she’s in the art club), so each of them would offer Marinette the type of music they use to help them keep calm while still working hard.

Just something. Even on Marinette’s issue of saying “no,” maybe Sabine could suggest that Marinette use a handheld schedule to show all her activities and, when someone asks Marinette to do something, Marinette would check her schedule and “inadvertently” show it to them so they’d be able to see how busy she is. It won’t stop everyone from insisting that she still do it, but it would at least make some people be like “no, it’s okay, I see you’re busy” or “I can wait” while Marinette works on being able to say “no��� right to their face (so it’s at least a minor solution to her problem while she works on the major solution).

But no. Marinette helps with someone else’s problems while her issues are brushed aside.

Again.

By the end of the episode, her issue is brushed away with “Well, surely her obligations can wait a while! She can go play with Max, it’s fiiiine! It’s not as if she said that she was overloaded and that breaks were absolutely not an option or anything! Surely, this was just a scenario where Marinette overreacted and it’s all her fault for freaking out so much instead of taking a break!”

This episode isn’t about helping Marinette. It’s about watching Marinette be miserable for minutes on end with no one able to actually help her. For a show that’s supposed to teach lessons, it’s woefully pathetic about it, preferring to make up solutions that don’t actually help anyone.

Just… ugh. I’d rather watch the original “Gamer”, and that’s saying something because I don’t like that episode either. Seeing the akuma fight was cool but it’s just not worth it.

[readbythestarlight]

c2e30 (I’m very late and I know it but here it is anyway)

I’m almost a week late but hey that’s fine let’s do this!

Still miss Ashley but I’m gad Travis and Laura are back!

I also miss Keg

I’m so glad they fucked Lorenzo up. I’m sorry for Matt’s plans but fuck that guy.

“Enduring it silently” Yasha my girl

“Case closed” cool make me cry again that’s fine

Nott just has no fucks to give for Fjord xD

Oh, Yasha, my girl.

"I have healing I have healing who are you I have healing" oh sure Jester NOW you wanna heal

“Where’s Molly?” FUCK it’s fine I’m fine

“is he waiting upstairs?”

“He didn’t make it.”

“To… this dungeon? Cause he’s waiting upstairs?”

IT’S FINE IM NOT CRYING

Fjord sounds so exhausted someone hug him

Everyone’s sad I’m sad I don’t wanna live with this again

Fjord. Honey. It’s not your fault.

God Fjord and Jester and Yasha are going to have such a rough time healing and moving on…

This is really hard… like. My heart hurts.

“We learned for the future. This won’t happen again, understand me?”

“Nothing this good ever happens, this is great.” I love him. He’s sweet and he tries.

Jester and Beau back at the cute BFF banter already

B: “I would have laid down my life for you guys.”

J: “I would have tried to heal you back.”

Oh lord guys you can’t just make butt jokes in the middle of my crying.

Oh damn, I forgot Molly and Fjord shared a room the most often. Poor Fjord.

“It’s probably stolen.”

“People need killin’ if that happens.”

Them talking about Molly possibly coming back like that’s what we’re all still hoping for please don’t pull my heartstrings like this.

And the Fjord/Jester train rolls on again. They wasted no time.

“Oooooo, ooooo! That’s all I need to know.”

“INSIGHT CHECK”

oh my god Sam xD

WHISPERS

“Fuck human traffickers, ammiright?” You are so right.

“Please bring me any books” Caleb’s priorities back in place again

Cad cooking food I love him

Matt plz chill with the torture stuff

I love how they’re always finding random potions

Godddd Lorenzo’s chamber…

“Some young creature” it’s a baby Matt just say it

Bag of holding?? IT IS A BAG OF HOLDING?

YAAAS

Please no body parts please no body parts…

Fjord checking the room for books <3

I want Fjord and Caleb to get back to being bros man I miss that so hard

Fuck I forgot Caleb was still injured Jester plz heal him

I adore Cad you guys. Adore him.

“Roots.”

“Do I smell anything…? Nah it smells like breakfast fuck it I go back down” xD Travis

A long rest sounds like a good idea, but is the fortress safe?

“WHAT’S THAT NEW MAGIC YOU USED?” SAAAAM LOL

Cad is gonna be the weird uncle of the team who keeps them all fed and relatively healthy

I’m curious about the bag and what all it can do and stuff

lol Fjord just spilled everything out

“I have deep arcane abilities” lol Fjord

101 PLATINUM NICE

Ooooo a gem!

Oh daaaamn wax sealed envelope

AN ACTUAL ENVELOPE

okay what is it….

omg could they collect anyone 101 platinum?

Oooo Wayfairer’s Cove? Is it Pirates?? Please be pirates.

Also does that mean they’ll go to Nicodranus?

OH.

OH SHIT.

FJORD HAS ONE. IN HIS STOMACH.

“You have 50 rings, do you have a glass bead?”

Nott has the most amazing collection of stuff

Ouch, 5 intelligence check

Fjord my darling why are you collecting a tusk?

Also guys i’m over my annoyance with Fjord I missed him so much he’s back to being one of my faves

“HEY LOOK WHAT I MADE :D” Caleb my son he’s so proud and happy look at him

He’s been working on it so he can protect his friends I’m crying

Cad just makes me smile every time he speaks. Taliesin just knows how to cheer me up with every character he makes.

I can’t believe Caleb actually managed to make them a small “home” they can move just like he wanted I’m so proud of him

NOTT PLZ

Jester dragging Yasha in lol

Niiiice magic potion and magic red gem

bad magic manacles no

C: “This has great power.”

N: “What is it?”

C: “It’s a meat hook.”

300 bolts nice

Beau looking for something throwable

Those are creepy manacles 0/10

Caleb please stop being weird about fire YOU’RE SCARING ME

“It’s not my thing” hnnn

Beau honey please keep it for him he doesn’t need it right now

Fjord using Molly’s sword is good

DON’T EAT THE GODDAMN SWORD

PLEASE

Fjord’s actual identity is a bag of holding I’ve solved it

BEAU

BEAU NO

beau plz

Oh Jester… oh honey… I’m crying again

“Why didn’t you come?” IT’S FINE

I’m fine

it’s not fine

Bye Keg WE’LL MISS YOU

Letter for Nott I cry

“Oh, a note… It’s really badly written…” Nott plz

That letter I’M CRRRYYYYYING

“p.s. if anyone hurts you I will kill them” <3<3<3<3

Marisha’s face when she looked at the letter I’m crying

Ashley B is the best I miss her so much

Fjord keeping the glaive for Yasha. <3

Cad offering to help dye the bag pink xD

He and Jester are going to be good buddies

C: “I need to head east at some point.”

Cad: “What is east?”

C: “I don’t know. But I’d like to find out.”

—

B: “He makes dead people tea.”

F: “He makes what?!”

Hmmm okay so what’s making the illusion. the cart itself?

MAGIC ILLUSION CART that could be great

Stealth cart yessss

Happy (late) birthday, Ashley!

Cad should stay with the cart maybe?

They’re very touchy about the cart xD

Ophelia is classy as hell and I don’t trust her but I like her

Oooo smart to remember to bring the glaive Fjord good job

My boy with the Nat20 persuasion ayyyyyyy

No wait we’re keeping it for Yasha

Nice okay good she let them have it

Oh dang I forgot they were supposed to escort her back to Zadesh

“I think ‘hot fuck’ is accurate on a few levels” Beau continues to be THE disaster lesbian

Fjord is creeped out by Cad and I’m loving it

Oh no who’s coming…

Oh okay it’s just the carriages lol I was worried

Stealth check for giggles lol

Money says Beau will try to sleep with Ophelia before the trip is over

SAM NAMED THEM AFTER ABBA SONGS omg I’m crying

Oh oh oh a crick person. What were they called?

J: “Shady deals happening!”

Cad: “Oh is that what that is? I’ve never seen one before.”

Okay we’re in the slums this is where something is going to happen

Driving through slums in fancy carriages is bad

Frumpkin is gone sadly

Oooo Jester has a fancy new spell? Nice

“Next time you use it maybe it will have a purpose” xD harsh, Nott.

Oooo some Beau and Caleb talk! It’s been a few weeks. And yesss give us some Beau backstory!

“Why are you running around with criminals? And me?” Caleb you are just as much a criminal as the rest of them

Beau and Caleb’s friendship and their conversations are my fave

I SAW SPOILERS ABOUT WHAT’S ABOUT TO HAPPEN AND IM NOT OKAY

is his coat there

HIS COAT IS THERE

thank god

I’m not ready for this

Taliesin looks like he might cry, I’m gonna cry, everyone’s gonna cry

Letting Taliesin choose which card Jester pulled I’m weeping

the same card she pulled when they met I’m sobbing now

Fjord with Summer Dance I’m just. A wreck.

Yasha wakes up AT MOLLY’S GRAVE THIS ISN’T OKAY

“What’s going on” noPE MATT HOW DARE

Oh Yasha my dear oh god

“It happened again” stop please I beg you

She didn’t even get to help kill Lorenzo

Oh, oh, Yasha…

Oh fuck.

Oh. Oh, my heart.

She doesn’t even have her sword.

Caleb and Nott please don’t make me cry either

TALIESIN DONT

IM

I CANNOT

He’s gone.

He’s really, forever, never coming back, gone.

“I made the earth remember him. Something will be here.”

Like… like I had this vague hope that somehow he’d come back, ten, twenty episodes from now. Hell, maybe close to the end, he’d just come back. He’d return to life and maybe he wouldn’t remember at first, but they’d help remind him who he is. But no… he’s gone. Tal gave him the best goodbye he could.

C: “Come, everyone. Molly wanted us to keep living.”

B: “And make things better.”

I’m glad they all got to say goodbye but my god, none of them had ever die, because I can’t handle anything like this ever again.

Goodbye, Molly. For real this time.

“Those ideas I had have come to fruition” oh god what does that mean

Caleb worries me

New feat is cool but he still worries me

Ophelia and the Gentleman, huh?

PFFF SHE BIT HIM. kinky.

I like Ophelia more and more tbh

Cad just grins

also the Gentleman doesn’t have Cad’s blood that’s probably good

Hey @ the Gentleman don’t be a dick “that’s just the way of it” i’m gonna kick you

LOL Nott and the moisture thing again I’m cackling

How much money? I don’t remember

“mostly platinum��� O_O

600 platinum NICE

250 gold

6250 alksjdlaksjflkjsdhfkjasdhg

+50 platinum for the loss of Molly HE WAS WORTH SO MUCH MORE HE WAS PRICELESS

Nott explaining “money” to Cad lol

“I can’t think of four things I’d like to get, that’s nice.”

A tea set, a skillet, more cups.

Fuck okay he’s gonna get his blood sigh

WHISPERRRSSSSS

Cad and his bugs alksjdlkas

I’m actually glad that Caleb lied about Molly… I’m not sure why but I’m just glad. Molly didn’t want to be tied to Lucien, even in death.

Metagaming pigeon lol

GO SEE PUMAT SOL I just want him to meet Cad desperately

Tal rolling to determine how Cad feels about milk lol

Tal wants to strangle Sam/Nott for their tragic lack of knowledge (r their total deception) about how whiskey is made lol

Introducing Cad to alcohol lol

Fjord is so baffled whenever people flirt with him I love it

“Here is to fucking making it work” <3

Beau I don’t think he wants to talk about it, darling

Alright Fjord needs a goddamn hug. Like a big one.

They think Jester is fine but guys she’s not fine keep an eye on her. This is how she copes but she’s gonna fall apart. There are cracks.

Caleb is right about her. She’s suffering.

Cad: “I’ve had six drinks. I’m in the biggest city I’ve ever been in. Everything tastes TERRIBLE.”

—

N: “Have you not thrown up yet?”

Cad: “Is that part of the—are you supposed to?”

—

Oh boy intruding Jester to alcohol too let her be sweet and innocent and not a useless drunk like all of you smh

Jester is going to have so much fun introducing Cad to pastries

“What’s a smut shop?” Oh lord.

C: “To that purple devil. To Mollymauk Tealeaf.”

B: “And now to our new… tea leaf…”

Travis just suggested shopping the world must be ending

Matt just keeps ducking his head and giggling I love him

Nott my dear you are not subtle

I’m so glad they all back together (minus Yasha—come back soon, Ashley!!). I missed these happy nights of goofiness.

And I’ll always miss you, Mollymauk.

“FOR MOLLY!”

Goblight lol

“Caduceus Clay, we are your destiny!!” xD Caleb

Oooo some downtime episodes coming! Some time to get to know Cad, that’ll be nice.

THEY EACH HAEV OVER 1000 GOLD

amazing

“Just one 10 hour Critical Role episode, please.” Someday, Liam, someday.

Good episode. Good, good episode.

[doocentral]

SCOOBY-DOO! SHAGGY’S SHOWDOWN - ANOTHER UNREMARKABLE DIV SCOOBY-DOO FILM

Earlier this year in February, Warner Bros. released the direct-to-video movie, Scooby-Doo! Shaggy’s Showdown. It’s the first new Scooby-Doo movie of 2017 and it follows Mystery Inc. into the wild west as Shaggy aims to reconnect with long-lost relatives. They meet quite the ensemble of supporting characters and are confronted by the ghost of Shaggy’s ancestor who is terrorizing the tourist town. This is my review of the movie which will be spoiler-free so you can enjoy my insight on the movie if you have yet to see it.

I’m going to get straight to the chase here: this movie is not remarkable, groundbreaking, or unique. This movie is another one of those direct-to-video Scooby-Doo movies that don’t really add anything to the franchise. But at the same time, it doesn’t hurt it. I find it to be a bit unfocused and there are things that happen in the movie that are quite odd when comparing it to other Scooby-Doo films. 

One thing that immediately made me not have high hopes about this movie was the introduction to the supporting characters. This is a problem I’ve seen in other Scooby-Doo movies like the WWE movies. That problem is meeting the supporting characters really fast in a short span of time. It’s so forced and jam-packed that it somewhat baffles me. I really don’t believe kids watching this would’ve been able to keep track because I sure couldn’t. No joke, the gang is introduced to twelve, I count 12 characters in less than five minutes. I’m not exaggerating. 

Four of these characters is a family named the Gundersons. The more relevant of these characters is Buddy G, the son of the family who is a famous internet-sensation singer (he’s really just a cartoon hybrid rip-off of MattyB and Justin Bieber). He apparently wants to live life like a cowboy despite looking like the most generic wanna-be-famous middle-to-upper-class city boy who happens to have a fear of horses. Then there’s his sister Debbie (or as she likes to call herself Desdemona) who is the insufferable teenager who doesn’t want to be at the western-themed tourist town and exudes nothing but teen angst that will literally make you roll your eyes and gag (if you can’t interpret that from the image above). Finally there’s these kids’ parents who are simply thriving on the son’s fame but also want to have a good time on vacation.  Honestly, I hate all of them.

We meet an assortment of other characters in this 5 minutes too who I don’t care to know the names of and there’s no real point to because even the gang quickly rules them out as suspects in the mystery itself. In this group there is one character who actually is relevant and that’s Tawny Rogers, Shaggy’s relative.

Tawny is a sweet woman who owns the farm that the gang is visiting. She is Shaggy’s third cousin twice removed (you have to love those situations). In the likely case you don’t know how these two are related to each other, I will be providing a link at the end of the review that clears up how these kinds of cousins work. I did look into this and do have a personal pet-peeve about this relation because in this case, she should be much older than how she is portrayed (as a third cousin twice removed, she should be two generations older than Shaggy). I know this won’t phase most audience members but now that I know this, it will bug me. 

But anyway, she does have some charm to her with her western cowgirl accent and frequently throughout the movie expresses her personal fears and sadness towards the idea of losing the farm resort due to bad business since the ghost of Dapper Jack Rogers has appeared. 

Despite these supporting character qualms, I do enjoy other parts of the movie. This is one of the few movies that bring in the gang’s relatives (other movies include Daphne’s cousin in Scooby-Doo and the Lochness Monster, Fred’s parents in Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy, and Velma’s sister in Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra Doo). It’s about time we had some kind of mystery movie including Shaggy’s family. 

I feel like this movie was self-aware at times in regard to the Scooby-Doo franchise and its many trends. A couple good example is when Daphne exclaims that many of their mysteries involve real-estate scams. Another is when Tawny is explaining to the gang the history of Dapper Jack Rogers and how he and his dog Atlas terrorized the town in the olden days. Afterward the gang make remarks about how they envisioned Atlas resembling Scooby-Doo without any real indication the two were related or physically alike. 

Another thing I liked is how Fred referenced Camp Little Moose from the movie Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare. I like that all of these movies since Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra Doo have been canonically connected. It makes them interesting and makes me ponder their relationships to the TV series (like how the LEGO Scooby-Doo! Haunted Hollywood movie referenced Crystal Cove from Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated). 

I do have mixed feelings about Velma in this movie. I’m personally still getting used to Kate Micucci voicing Velma outside Be Cool! Scooby-Doo. Don’t get me wrong, I like it! Just different to hear. And I do like that Velma is portrayed to have bad horse allergies like she does to many other farm animals in the Be Cool! Scooby-Doo episode “Eating Crow”. But I am conflicted about her sudden new pet-peeve about fonts (she gets upset about a font choice on the website for Tawny’s ranch). 

This pet-peeve has never been characteristic of Velma in the franchise’s history. And while I personally can get uptight about font-usage since I am a passionate graphic designer, Velma has no indications of design-interests. This may just be the writers trying to expand Velma’s character considering she is really uptight and somewhat sheltered and dorky in the Be Cool, Scooby-Doo cartoon but like I said, this font thing came out of nowhere. 

The movie brings out new qualities as well as emphasizing new-ish qualities in the gang that seem to be exclusive to the direct-to-video movies. One of these things that isn’t particularly new is Fred’s desire to know more than other people in regard to literally anything. In some ways, Fred now desires to one-up people or pretends to know what he’s doing in order to be liked and/or accepted by other people. This quality, while understandable, is not something I find identifiable or entertaining. I know people like this in real life and it’s not a quality in people I like. 

Another thing that caught me off-guard (especially when re-watching this movie for this review) was Daphne and her appearance. Daphne is often characterized as the pretty member of the group who loves fashion. And I don’t find anything wrong with that. Especially since Daphne has always been a kindhearted and sweet woman who is intelligent and secure. She doesn’t brag about her appearance and that’s admirable. But there is an instance in the movie when a town employee is refusing to give Velma information about Dapper Jack Rogers. When Daphne enters the conversation, this employee suddenly changes attention and is more than willing to give her all the information she needs. 

I don’t think that Daphne was intentionally trying to manipulate this guy with her appearance to get information. I personally believe she may have been ignorant to the situation since Velma had been trying to get this information from the guy before she even entered the building. But this situation really bothered me because Daphne has never been one to use her appearance to get what she wants in any kind of Scooby-Doo episode or movie. I think this kind of writing really sends a message that pretty girls can get anything they want and that’s not something I agree with. Especially since this negatively portrays Velma when she’s been seen to be very intelligent and has had several love interests of her own. 

Moving onto the mystery itself, I will simply say that it depends on recycled mystery plots that don’t really expand past the generic ghost-is-ruining-business-and-scaring-away-tourists-and-or-customers story-line. This movie’s gimmick is a western theme that features Shaggy’s family and that’s the only thing that makes this movie even barely unique. 

NOT A SPOILER BUT THIS PARAGRAPH MAY LEAD YOU TO GUESS THE VILLAIN EARLY SO READ THIS WITH CAUTION: I won’t say who the villain is or ruin that, but when I found out who it is, I was a bit disappointed only because this is becoming a recurring theme in these newer direct-to-video movies (anything after Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra Doo). If you watch this movie and you get to the part that the villain is revealed, take a moment to reference the villains of Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare and Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur (and their relationship to the gang) and you’ll see what I mean by this. 

In the end, this movie isn’t terrible but I won’t go out of my way to watch this again. I personally don’t think it is that great of a movie but I find it so much better than the KISS, WWE, and Music of the Vampire movies. I’m glad I saw it but I don’t see myself putting it in the DVD player just for kicks one rainy day. Definitely give it a watch but don’t expect it to be on your Top 10 Scooby-Doo movie list because there are much better pieces of Scooby-Doo film out there. 

Take my review with a pinch of salt though. My opinions on these movies utilize both my tendency to critique movies and my knowledge of the Scooby-Doo franchise and together they can make me out to be a Scooby-cynic. 

What do you think of Scooby-Doo! Shaggy’s Showdown? Did you enjoy it? Did you hate it? Do you agree or disagree with any of my points in this review? Let me know by replying, reblogging, or messaging me! I’d love to hear your thoughts!

---

Also, here is that YouTube video that I mentioned earlier about how complicated your family tree can be and how it doesn’t have to be! It’s uploaded by CGP Grey who is one of my favorite YouTubers and I hope you enjoy this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM79Epw_cp8