#So I've been pushing it to be the literal last thing I do before endgame.

[ruby-static]

Dude caught me taking a screenshot, I'm cooked-

[bcbdrums]

I’ve actually seen many people talk about this even before i joined the fandom and recently the creators have confirmed that Shego age was between late twenties to early thirties. Even the show points out to this being the case.

And we have the live action movie which casted an age appropriate Kim and Shego and without the stylistic animation, the age difference becomes very jarring to see.

Is just that if there’s such a big age gap between Kim and Shego and has always been, then why would the writers deliberately hype the ship and play up aspects of it? I don’t know about you, but that sounds super weird.

I remember there was someone who had worked in the show (they had a sample of the last episode graduation) an d they had went on record to say that as far as they were concerned there was no delivered intent to make Kigo a thing and that the writes were seemingly against it.

But again it kinda contradicts what we saw in episode like “stop team go”.

I’m not sure, but all of this is weird.

And yeah I don’t like using words as pedo, but it’s been confirmed that Shego is at least 10 years older than Kim, which makes everything about this and the ship itself super uncomfortable to me

I should redo this and make it more organized, but here's my analysis of a canon-realistic age for Shego. This is the logic my headcanon is based on: Essay: how old is Shego? And yes, I think she starts the series in her late twenties.

I LOVE that the live-action showed a realistic age difference! I think they nailed it, and your description of "jarring" is pretty accurate when one starts to think in shipping terms. But for those of us who have always seen them as the adult and child they are, it's not really any surprise. I wish the live-action had more traction JUST for that reason. (Not to mention...Drakgo were awesome in it!)

@a113cowgirl I'm fairly certain has scans of the original script to Graduation which includes unused material, which definitely pushed Drakgo more as a couple. Now what I've heard unfortunately is that the Drakgo ending was just fanservice and not the writers' intent. What we DO know about the writers' intent, is that Kim/Ron was always endgame. It's been documented many times, and it's extremely clearly built up to in season 3, with So the Drama the always planned ending. It's season 4 that was the weird wild card.

I'll be more clear... During season 4, I don't think the writers were attempting to push the Kigo ship. I think that it was probably just recognized that hot girl on hot girl stuff...sells. The fight at the spa in Mad Dogs and Aliens... Literal mud wrestling with Shego in a bathing suit... That was wholly unnecessary. It's not trying to push the ship, it's trying to use sexuality to sell. To attract viewers. I don't care for that course of action with these characters because it encourages a child/adult ship and that is Wrong.

I feel like Stop Team Go showed a highly exaggerated version of Shego... One that ultimately probably wouldn't last in terms of friendship with Kim, because it wasn't really her and it just...wasn't real. That episode was another...pandering to fandom. A "what if they were friends" thing, clearly. Almost like fanfic onscreen.

In the end, Kim and Ron were always endgame, season four never departed from that, but the writers/animators were happy to pander to fandom a bit since they'd had quite some time to see what was popular. And in the end it's all about drawing in viewers, and thus, money.

So no, still, there was no deliberate attempt by the writers during the series to push Kigo in any way. And label it or don't label it, but Kim being a minor and Shego being a much older adult makes it not okay. If it doesn't sit right with you, it's for a reason... The reason probably being, it's a minor and an adult.

Hope this answers your questions.

[agirlunderarock]

Hi, for the character opinion bingo, how about Brunnhilde?

OH HELL YEAH!!! LETS GOOOOOOOO

My dude I have not talked about this King in so long and with the release of the Thor Love and Thunder trailer I'm so excited to see her on screen again. I've missed her so much. I almost got a bingo on this card, because I really do like her in a team dynamic, but Brunnhilde is also one of the few characters that I can read for that absolutely does not need any of the other lead characters in the fic. I don't know if I've really talked about how much I love her arc here. I know I've done so in the past- but Brunnhilde and Thor's character arcs are nearly the same. We just didn't get to see her's play out on screen. I mean we sorta did. We know she was the leader of the Valkyries and helping to carry out Odin's conquest, at least thats the impressions I've always gotten from the flashback sequences. But then of course that all goes south and I can only assume she exiles herself until she stumbles into Sakaar, but it takes Thor desperately asking for her help to give her the push to start getting back to herself. She's still not the same person, she probably doesn't even give her real name to Thor, Bruce and Loki (Thats the only reason I can think of that no one adresses her by name after two movies and over 5 years passing since their first meeting), but she's making progress. She steps into this new version of herself, maybe more suspicious and jaded than before, but a leader and probably a compassionate and determined one at that. Dude I think about those five years she spent building New Asgard and watching Thor slip into that depressive state he found her in so much. Their relationship is so important to me and I know its not going to come up in the new movie, but I wish we could see some of that. How important their friendship has been for both of them recovering from their past traumas and overcoming new ones. I trust Taika to give us hints of it, but I still remember how many of the fans seemed to cut her out of the narrative completely when Thor Ragnarok came out. Brunnhilde is a character that I pay close attention to how people critique her, and write her in fanfiction. If the complaint is that she's introduced as the Strong or Angry Black woman stereotype, then absolutely go off, I feel that is a valid criticism, especially because the only way we see her addressed other than by Scrapper 142 is Angry Girl. However, I like to think that she herself has moved away from that, and Professor Hulk calling her that in Endgame speaks more to how out of touch with everyone he is (guy didn't bother to check in on Thor either so like???? but I also don't think the writers thought that through and I am absolutely giving them too much credit). This is quickly going to turn into me getting frustrated with the way friendship is shown with the Avengers so I'm going to move on to the fanfiction and how fans do her dirty. I am INCREDIBLY picky when it comes to Brunnhilde fanfic, and theres a handful that I constantly go back and read- (Go read Better Laté than Never on AO3 I promise you will not be disappointed) but a lot of the ones I find either end up making her seem preditory, or just straight up a bitch and its so exhausting and frustrating to come across. I trust very few people to write Brunnhilde with nuance and accuracy. She's such an interesting character with such an interesting story, and the parallels between her struggles and Thor after Infinity War are so nice and I can literally talk about her for ever. Theres a shot of her in the new trailer fighting the main antagonist and let me just say, I have never felt so much fear for a character than in that moment. I trust Taika, and I know I need to chill, but the last thing I want is for her to get so roughed up she's taken out of the plot and used as motivation for Thor and Jane, or worse killed for their development. I did not mean to ramble this much, I don't even know if any of this makes sense, but I feel like the MCU is just setting her to the side so often, and fans are even worse.

I'm sorry this was so long- but if anyone would like to hear me ramble and rave about other characters feel free to send me some characters for Character Bingo. MCU, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings/Hobbit and Avatar the Last Airbender and Game of Thrones is all fair game

[juniaships]

My Issues With Sam Manson

Or, please stop simplifying legitimate criticisms we have with this girl.

Lately I've also been seeing these same points talking about how the phandom dislikes Sam for the crime of being a teenage girl. There are legitimate problems with her character and the harmful message she spread. Frankly put I'm so sick & tired of seeing our complaints be reduced to "you only hate her because she's a woman!!"

We don't dislike Sam because she's a teenage girl (anyone who do has serious issues to work out) but because the narrative excuses her flaws and bad attitude.

What I mean by that is, she has flaws, which is perfectly fine, but rarely faces detriments for them and even gets rewarded. She got no chances of growing, in fact with each season she got worse. The writers wanted to put her on a pedestal at the cost of other female characters. ESPECIALLY nonwhite girls.

The writers do not develop her beyond confirming her endgame with Danny. She never learned to open her mind or being respectful of other girls' interests. Despite some episodes that COULD have had her views challenged & she grows from them. She never learned to temper her hypocrisy. Sam never made up with her parents - we don't even see their side of the story - her character remained the same. She ended up rewarded with a guy she called selfish and boring because he gave up his powers - to protect her & his own family. The overfocus of such romantic subplot came at the cost of literally every other girl in the series. They were put down to reinforce "Sam is Right." Heck Danny himself was dumbed down a bit to make Sam a well of wisdom.

In Girls Night Out she talked down to Jazz as if implying the latter didn't know how to handle ghosts. In her very first episode she changed the school lunch menu to food only SHE would eat without any consultation or mindfulness of allergies for that matter. In Phantom Planet she barely contributed beyond screeching at Danny for being just another boring human which only gives weight to the sentiment that she only loved him for his powers (ergo uniqueness). She was never made to held the same level as the male characters. In Fact half the time she had to get involved is a problem she started first. Sam fell in love with a guy because he looked similar to Danny's Ghost Form (again only adding more weight to the "she only loved him for his powers" argument).

Especially at the cost of characters like Valerie and Paulina. Valerie's arc never got completed because at that point the writers wanted to get the cogs going for Amethyst Ocean as quickly as possible. The last we see of her is standing in the background clapping and cheering. No resolution for her and Danny. She didn't even contribute in her Huntress Form. Valerie was a crucial part in the first two season of the show. She was relatable and sympathetic, she had challenges to overcome. Her flaws weren't excused and she had to LEARN and grow from a stuck up brat to a vengeful hunter to an understanding anti heroine. We were so close to seeing her arc get closure. Heck Valerie even gave up Danny because she wanted to protect him for her own secret life as a ghost hunter. Her chemistry with Danielle was also would've done wonders with her arc. But in S3 it was forgotten, she was forgotten, all to push the Sam as endgame. Weird considering she spied on Danny & Valerie out of envy when they went on their date. Then she had the nerve to call out Danny for spying on her & Gregor when the only reason did so to protect her form being targeted by an evil ghost or the Guys in White. Sam didn't even feel compassion for Val when her dad lost his job and she ended uo living in horrible conditions abandoned by fake friends. And Sam's supposed to be the nice one??

Paulina at least got comeuppance for her crappy behavior but again she was demonized as worse than Sam because of her femininity. You could say she and Sam were foils (which they are) but Paulina was written to be worse than she actually was while Sam did truly selfish things and never truly addressed.

The Beauty Pageant episode....boy that was a DOOZY of a plot. She willingly joined a pageant to complain about high beauty standards and shallow girls, when literally NONE of the other models pressured her into joining or bullied her. She even WON yet had the audacity to throw the trophy on the ground in an extremely unsportsmanlike act. The narrative supports her action despite her clearly being in the wrong.

Her having flaws in of itself is not the problem but, the way the show HANDLES her flaws as if they're strengths to be emulated. Yes you could say that Sam herself was wasted potential. Then again she was Butch's intended pet character and the main love interest so of course she had to be Perfect! She should've had a meaningful arc but no. She's still that same obnoxious excuse for a Strong Female Character that the show forces us to sympathise with.

This isn't me saying you should start hating Sam. This is me saying please take the time to read our legitimate complaints before strawmanning us. Sam reinforces the tired Not Like Other Girls Trope, the two biggest victims being WOC, and the show treats this as a good thing. It is not a good thing, seeing interesting female characters esp. Woc be put down to put a very poorly written character on a pedestal.

[lightrises]

"Only in allowing her to pass..." — Hornet, The Radiance, and the means by which Hallownest turned its victims against each other

A quick note: I read Hollow Knight as an anti-colonialist text. As such I'll be touching on topics related to colonialism as it's depicted in the world of the game, and said analysis will reflect both a sympathetic take on The Radiance and a critique of The Pale King that won't pull its punches. If this sounds up your alley, hello and thank you for the read! Let us be sad about these bugs together.

———

So!! A while back I realized something about pre-canon that felt rather... "curious" is one way to put it, I think. To wit: for all the effort and scheming and determination The Pale King poured into trying to get rid of The Radiance, neither of his plans involved directly killing her.

Was that his long game? Well, sure, that seems clear enough. His tack changed from luring the moths away from their god and creator to a more literal form of incarceration once the infection became a factor, but at its core the end goal never really changed—The Pale King very sincerely wished to destroy Radiance via obsolescence. The Seer lends us foreshadowing to confirm as much:

[Image descriptions: Two screenshots from Hollow Knight, showing the Seer and Ghost in the Seer's alcove at the Resting Grounds. Across both screenshots, the Seer tells Ghost the following: "None of us can live forever, and so we ask those who survive to remember us. Hold something in your mind and it lives on with you, but forget it and you seal it away forever. That is the only death that matters." End description.]

(Which, by the way and given the context, talk about an extremely unsubtle allusion to cultural genocide huh!!! Whew.)

In any case, we're left with a whole bunch of machinations which build up to... well, two very roundabout attempts at committing deicide. That's kind of weird, all things considered! Why not just do the deed in one fell swoop and get it over with?

This could be for any number of reasons. Maybe the king was devoid of the means to instantly kill another higher being. Maybe his personal sense of scruples stopped him short of signing off on MURDER murder (although, y'know, the aforementioned genocide + eternal imprisonment = still cool and copasectic apparently!). Maybe the long drawn-out cruelty was the point. Maybe the idea of playing fuckign 4D chess with the circumstances was too delicious for him to pass up—that man did love to tinker and stick his claws where they sure as hell didn't belong—or maybe it was a little bit of All The Things. Who knows!!

But interrogating The Pale King's methodology on this count isn't what I'm here for, at least not really. The main reason I raise this question at all is that in her own way, Hornet did too.

"I'd urge you to take that harder path... "

See, going by The Pale King's actions and what The White Lady explicitly says, they both foresaw two outcomes wrt the infection: it can be allowed to spread, or it can be contained. At Teacher's Archives, Quirrel acknowledges the fact that Ghost is expected to do... something about this, but he doesn't elaborate on what HE thinks that's supposed to be apart from the obvious "Gotta bust into Black Egg Temple first". Hornet is the one person who presents to us—to Ghost—what's framed as a third option: confront and destroy the infection at its source.

And she doesn't bring it up like it's just another tactic for Ghost to consider, prim and indifferent to what they would do. She nudges them towards it, actively, up to the point where she throws herself into the fray against Hollow at a juncture that's uniquely dangerous to her and her alone just to make that option feasible.

Even when she's couching it in disclaimers that this is still Ghost's decision to make (and let's be fair, she's extremely not wrong about that lol), no one can pretend Hornet is unbiased. It's obvious in that buttoned-down Hornet kind of way that she is way the hell done with the increasingly tenuous stalemate that's kept Hallownest's desiccated corpse from collapsing in on itself. Personally it's hard for me not to read some Toriel Undertale-esque "My father was too entrenched in his own foolishness to pursue any course of action that would have DEFINITIVELY ended this" shade into her stance here, regardless of whether that's strictly true in canon.

And that bit—Hornet's hopes for an end to Hallownest's stasis, moreover her grim calculation of what needs to be done to get there—that's the bit I find super interesting but likewise tragic and depressing as shit, on multiple levels. In no small part because a) canon itself gestures towards Hornet feeling conflicted about the very plan she's pushing, and moreover b) she has at least two (2) damn good reasons to feel that way.

So, what do I mean by that? Let's look here first:

[Image description: A screenshot from Hollow Knight, of Hornet and Ghost inside the Temple of the Black Egg, standing in front of the unsealed egg itself. Hornet has been struck by the Dream Nail and her dialogue is displayed as follows: "... Could it achieve that impossible thing? Should it?" End description.]

As the curtain is about to drop on things one way or another, Hornet thinks,

... Could it achieve that impossible thing? Should it?

Now, looking at that last bit it's easy to go "Oh no, Hornet's worried that Ghost won't survive killing The Radiance!" And I do think that's part of it: Hornet is, categorically, not her father. By endgame it's clear she's not content to view her Void-borne siblings as tools to be used then disposed of. She's also well aware that as a healthy autonomous Vessel amongst the countless dead, Ghost is the only person left alive who has a fighting chance against The Radiance. Knowing someone is the only qualified candidate for the job doesn't make encouraging them to embrace a probable death sentence any less of a bitter pill to swallow, though. And odds are on that this sentiment extends to Hollow too, who IS going to die no matter what happens here. To put it bluntly, it's more than reasonable to conclude that Hornet hates the absolute fuck out of this.

But I don't think that's all there is to it either. Remember what I said earlier about The Pale King's bids for genocide? Well, it's not like the man deigned to limit his efforts to just the moth tribe.

"We do not choose our mothers... "

On top of everything else—an infected Hallownest being all she's ever known, the fact that she only exists because of the infection, the list goes on—Hornet has spent her life wedged into a position that's been uncomfortable and terminally unglamorous at best: she is both a daughter of her father's kingdom and of Deepnest.

Deepnest, which like the moths and many others was here long before the wyrm and his lady wife swanned onto the scene and the God Become Bug laid claim to everything the Light touched plus a considerable amount of change. THAT Deepnest, which has fought claw and thread to retain its sovereignty against same-said settler king, and for which Herrah not only surrendered her life but also agreed to bed her worst enemy, all in hopes of securing a viable future for her people (put a pin in that last part by the way, I'll come back to it soon).

Two Worlds, One Family (Ft. An Indigenous Woman Trying Her Damndest To Work With What She's Got Versus An Imperialist Who Only Signed Up For This Because He Needed The Political Favor THAT Badly, So It's The Height Of Dysfunctional Actually). Fun times!!!!

The baggage this entails for Hornet is gnarly enough without implications made by The White Lady and the pre-canon timeline of events and even Team Cherry's dev notes that the king may well have looked at baby Hornet, gone "YOINK", then ensured she spent the lion's share of her childhood reared within the pearly auspices of his Pale Court*. That would be rather advantageous for Him Specifically after all, the potential to mold a born foe into a future ally and even have her trained in combat under the same tutelage as her doomed sibling. And far be it from him to stop a grown Hornet—his own flesh and blood too!—from making Deepnest her forever home if she so pleased. He totally wouldn't be reneging on his "fair bargain made" by doing this one simple thing until Hornet came of age, not t e c h nic c a l l y.

If that is indeed the case, there's a non-zero chance Hornet's formative years were a hot mess of cultural alienation and being a good deal more privy than most to just how much of a bastard her father could be. There's an equally non-zero chance that at some point she stood or sat within earshot as The Pale King finally, finally dropped all pretense and euphemism to name the Light for precisely what (for who) it was.

See, in conjunction with the question that started this whole dang train of thought I've been asking this one too: Does Hornet know? When she speaks of confronting "the heart of [the] infection" does she know she's talking about not just a literal person but someone very specific? The Radiance, who god though she may be shares skin in the game alongside Hornet as a native woman screwed over by the same settler king, likewise deprived of her kin and saddled with a life gone horrendously pear-shaped?

I'll assume for the sake of exploring the possibility and because I think it's a likely one anyway that yes, Hornet does know. She knows, and despite everything can't help empathizing. She might even look at Radiance and see bits and pieces both reflected and slightly inversed in her own mother: Radiance was forced to the sidelines while her people—her children, the brood she was meant to lead and care for—died out under The Pale King's rule, and it's no stretch to assume she's at least as upset about that as she has been about everything else; Herrah too took drastic measures for her people's sake, trying to head off annihilation by relegating herself to the sidelines in an act that was as much calculated risk as an attempt to find wiggle room and leverage in the face of a nasty proposition.

A calculated risk that, if things continue as they are, might well amount to nothing as the rest of Deepnest gets eaten alive by the infection. It survived The Pale King's advances for so so long, only to fall here. Herrah's sacrifice would be for naught; the other tribes—themselves the king's victims—would keep succumbing to the infection too.

And this is where things fall apart.

"... or the circumstance into which we are born."

Let's be clear: I think Hornet is wise enough to know what's what here, that all the carnage and suffering falls on her father's head for starting this slow-motion trainwreck in the first place. Hallownest wasn't always Hallownest. This domain was Radiance's home first, along with many others. It was the worm-turned-king who rolled up on the scene unsolicited and decided this was a ""'problem""" that had to be """solved""".

But the fact of the matter is that he's gone and The Radiance is here, raging, seemingly inconsolable. Above and beyond being Deepnest's rightful heir, Hornet isn't in a position to countenance more splash damage even if the grief and fury fueling it makes perfect sense. She can understand without ever bringing herself to love Radiance, and she can bend her knee to practicality even if she hates the everloving shit out of it because the fact that it "has" to end this way isn't fair.

This lends itself to one last awful conclusion: that Hornet has probably considered and (rightly or wrongly) discarded the possibility that Radiance can be saved, at least not without dragging more collateral along for the ride. If even her mother and every other enemy to the king seemed to dismiss talking Radiance down as an option way back when... well. Why should Hornet hope for any better after things have escalated so far?

Again, it's practical. A practical net good is what Hornet strives for. And again, it fucking sucks.

For extra tragedy points, this makes Hornet's extended crypticness around Ghost followed by her last minute casting about for a reason to tell them "Wait, don't; not just yet" that she never voices even more of a gut punch. She can't bring herself to burden Ghost with the context that haunts her so, least of all when it might weaken their resolve to go through with what (she thinks) needs doing.

It's the "same song, different verse" which led to the mantis tribe and Deepnest being pitted against each other: Hallownest rigged the game so that two women who could have been powerful allies—who have a mutual vested interest in driving out settler rule—wound up poised as enemies instead. And how awful is that? The king for all his being extremely fucking dead still gets the last laugh, because outside of a miracle the game never manifests Hornet can salvage what her mother started and look forward to a future where Deepnest pulls itself back from the brink if and only if The Radiance dies.

Resolution comes at the price of a completed genocide. Add two more dead siblings to the unconscionable pile thereof, while we're at it. That's what it boils down to whether or not Hornet can bear to articulate it as such, and there's no grace or even a properly bittersweet ending to wring from this clusterfuck. And that is rough.

———

* This has been better explained elsewhere, but a quick rundown: The White Lady tells Ghost that Hornet and Herrah "were permitted little time together." On its surface this can be taken to mean that Hornet was still very young when Herrah was shipped off to Eternal Dreamland—except this doesn't jive with the fact that we meet Hornet as an adult. If the stasis kicked in once the Dreamers went to their rest, which in turn halted the aging process for every living bug in Hallownest, AND before all this Hornet experienced little by the way of quality time with her birth mother... I think you can see where I'm going with this.

To top it off we've got Team Cherry weighing in ominously from their dev notes on Herrah: "As part of the agreement for her alliance and her role as a dreamer, King gave her a child (Hornet). Was she allowed to keep this child or was she taken away?" This isn't confirmation by itself of course, but given additional canon details (see above): Can I get a "yikes" in the chat fellas.

[handonhaven]

So I've seen both TVD and TO. But I'm pretty new to the legacies fandom, and I finally caught up on everythin. And let me tell you I've been on some the social medias and I can't go back on them because if I do I feel like I might not like the show anymore. Especially when it comes to the Hosie part of them fandom(but I'm not gonna go there). It's just wow. But I instantly fell in love with Handon and their whole star cross lovers thing. And them always fighting for each other in one way. And doing whatever they can to keep the other safe, stop fate and be together. Oh that last episode and the break up scene it nearly killed me, I don't think I'll ever recover for that. If I'm being honest I watch that scene too many times than I care to admit. But every time I watch it I notice something else I didn't before. To name a few. The moment Landon realized what he had to do to keep Hope safe. When Hope grabbed Landon arm and he looked generally surprised that she would try to stop him(Idk if it was because he know has PTSD or because some part very very very deep down still believe he doesn't desvere her). And the look on Hopes face when Landon says they're doomed. Even though what he's saying hurts, some part of knows that he doesn't believe that and that he's just saying that to push her away. And lastly the part when Landon is leaving we can see him wipe his face. Like maybe he's wiping away a tear because he could've start it to cry as soon as he walked away.

I'm really hoping that when this is all over that they end up together because they've earned it. And if they don't then I hope it ends on a good note and not with one of them dying for good. Because either of them desveres that. Not after the lives they had, they both desvere to have a good and happy life. Especially Landon one way or another his whole has been hell and he had to do all of that alone. I mean he had Raph but he's now gone. And now he's probably scare he won't have Hope anymore. Also Hopes life has been hell too but at least up until she was 15 she had her mom and aunt Freya to lean on if she need it. Even now she still has her aunts and uncle to lean on if she want it. But I'm just really hoping that they end up together and happy with each other(I feel like they will, there's so many signs pointing to that. Them always being drawn to each other. Landon somehow remembering Hope even when he didn't remember her and so many others idk if I'm the only one who's seen them) and to have a good life.

P.S please writers don't do them wrong.

Oh awesome! Yeah, you’ve gotta be careful with social media when it comes to this fandom. It can get really bad and definitely affect your experience with the show, especially with the way so many Hosie fans are.

And I’ve loved Handon since the beginning as well! Yess, their relationship is so beautiful. And same, that breakup was so painful! Haha, I’ve watched the scene multiple times too! And yeah, that’s literally been the case for me as well, I’ve noticed new things the more I’ve watched it. Yes, you can see Landon react when Hope tells him about her having to become a tribrid, his eyes say it all! And I noticed his reaction when Hope grabbed his arm too. It could’ve been from his PTSD, or maybe part of him does feel like he’s not good enough for her so he was surprised she did that. I actually posted some other thoughts I had about that here x. And yeah, when it comes to Landon saying they’re doomed, I’m very curious to know whether he believes it or not. Part of me thinks that he does mean it, but not entirely. I think maybe he does believe that they’re doomed for now, if they don’t do anything to change it. They’re doomed, so he’s going to undoom things. Maybe he believes it and is acknowledging it so that he can fix it, if that makes sense? He didn’t tell Hope that that’s what he’s gonna do, of course. And I noticed his hand on his face too, I can’t really tell exactly what he was doing, but I suppose it’s possible that he was wiping a tear!

I’m hoping they’ll end up together as well, they definitely deserve it!! But yeah, if not, I wouldn’t want it to be from one of them dying either! That would be terrible, I went through too much pain from that happening on TVD and TO, so it better not happen to Handon! Absolutely, they both deserve to live long and happy lives.

And I completely agree about Landon. His entire life has been hell, it’s honestly so heartbreaking. And I wish they would address all that he’s been through more. It’s true, he never had anyone until Raf, but he didn’t even meet him till he was 15, and of course the writers had to take his brother away from him. And yeah, now he’s probably scared to lose Hope too. And I could go on a whole rant about Landon and his trauma, but I won’t haha, they just better let him be happy. And not just at the very end, I want him to at least have a break next season and be happy without going through more pain. And yes Hope’s life has also been hell, but true, she still grew up being loved with a whole family who did everything to protect her. And she does still have her family in New Orleans, if the writers ever choose to acknowledge their existence again.

Those are my hopes for Handon as well! I think there’s a very good possibility of them being together and happy in the end, that’s what I believe and hope will happen. It’s true, there are seriously tons of signs that point to them being endgame, so yes, let’s hope that it happens and that the writers will let them be happy together and not screw anything up!

[lousimusician]

Sex Pollen Part 1

Pairing: Peter Parker x Stark!Reader

Summary: You and Peter decide to break into your dad's lab when Peter comes across an interesting plant.

A/N: This is me aggressively ignoring the events of endgame by writing something with Peter. Also I think that movie fixed my writers block because I've been writing nonstop this whole week.

Warning: Language, smuttyish(kinda)

[Peter and the Reader are both 18]

------------------------------------

Peter quietly observed you while you were hunched over your desk in the corner of your room, playing around with a piece of technology you stole from your dad.

Peter was currently on the ceiling, looking down at you. He was incredibly bored and as much as he loved to just admire you while you concentrated, he couldn't stand the silence that came with it.

He watched as you quietly got frustrated and leaned back in your chair, head back and eyes closed. Peter took this as his que and slowly lowered himself, upside down from the ceiling by a web. He stopped once his face was leveled to yours. He watched as you took in calming breaths, and the little furrow in your eyebrows form, telling him that you were thinking.

To say he was completely and utterly crazy for you was an understatement. Peter was head over heels for you and was pretty sure he'd die for you if it came down to it.

He felt his cheeks redden as he realized he may have been gazing for a little too long and realizing how creepy that was, decided to break the silence by saying, "I'm bored."

Your eyes shot open as you sat up quickly, banging your head against Peter's. "Oww." You whined. You pushed your chair back, putting some distance between the two of you so you could see him better. "Peter! Don't scare me like that."

Peter smiled sheepishly, rubbing the spot on his forehead that you bumped. "Sorry but, I'm bored." He said again.

You shook your head, fighting the smile that tugged on your lips. "Then go do something."

"Like what?"

"I dunno, be Spider-Man. I'm sure there's someone that needs to be saved." You said, maneuvering around him, to pick up the tech you were playing with. "How do you do that?" You said, referencing his position, "Doesn't all the blood rush to your head?"

"No." He said simply. "I don't wanna go out. I want to hang out with you."

"Aren't you literally doing that right now though." You smirked. As you admired the wiring you were staring at. 

"Ha ha ha." He said sarcastically. "I mean, I want to do something fun."

You looked into his puppy dog eyes and immediately found yourself giving in. "Fine," you sighed. "How 'bout a movie?"

"I dunno, we always watch movies."

"Okay then do you wanna go out or something?"

"No." He said shaking his head. "Whenever we go out together you get too much attention."

You paused. "...Well, my dad has been working on a new suit for you, if you wanna check it out."

"Wait really!?" Peter suddenly exclaimed, jumping up, which caused him to fall down on the ground, making you laugh loudly. "Shut up." He grumbled.

"Anyway, how does sneaking into Tony Stark's lab sound?"

"It sounds great, let's go!" He said, excitedly jumping up and grabbing your wrist, pulling you with him.

~~~~~~

While the two of you were scheming on how to break in. Bruce Banner had currently been the only occupant of the lab.

He stood with a gas mask on his face as he studied a plant in front of him.

A week ago, the Avengers had gone on a mission after a few aliens landed on earth and claimed they wanted to "Take over the planet". It had been pathetic really, the aliens were wiped out in half an hour.

But while on this mission, after Hulk had finished "smashing" the last of the aliens, he had reverted back to himself. Finding that Hulk had taken him onto one of the alien ships.

Bruce looked around at the strange tech, while he stood up, already heading for the exit. That was until something had caught his eye and started to draw him in like a moth to a flame. 

It had been a plant.

It stood tall, about seven feet in height. It was absolutley beautiful. It had pink flowers that mimicked the shape of a heart and it was quite literally glowing.

Bruce touched the plant, his fingers coming back covered in a pink dust, which he naturally assumed was the flowers pollen. He leaned in, realizing it smelled familiar.

But the strangest thing happened after.

His heart started to practically beat out of his chest and before he knew it Hulk had come back.

Once he had calmed down and turned back into himself an idea struck him. He quickly plucked a flower off the plant and stuck it in a box that he found in the corner of the ship.

Not a single Avenger questioned why he now carried a box with him on the ride home.

And now a week later, Bruce stood in front of the plant which had grown two feet after it had been replanted, running tests on what exactly it could be.

"Ah Banner." Thor's booming voice sounded, as he stepped into the lab. "I was wondering if you would like to accompany me to-" Thor stopped, eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he looked at the plant that sat in front of Bruce. "Why do you have that plant?" He asked genuinely curious.

Bruce looked up at Thor, surprise written all over his face. "Wait, you know what this is?" He said, voice muffled by the mask. He stepped around the table to approach Thor.

"Of course." Thor said, mildly offended. "Where did you get this?"

"Found it after the mission last Friday. It made me turn into Hulk, so I figured it could be useful if Hulk ever chickens out on me again." Bruce quickly explained. "What kind of plant is it?"

"It's called a Sex Pollen Plant." Thor said, stepping around Bruce to approach the plant. "It belongs to that specific race of aliens we fought. The plant helps the aliens to breed since they find it very difficult on their own."

Bruce scrunched his face in shock. "What does it do?"

"The pollen arouses the alien that breathes in the pollen- that may be why you turned into the Hulk, it raised your heart rate. I'm immune to it of course."

"Wait- I brought a sex plant into the compound." Bruce asked in shock, utterly horrified of his own judgement on the situation.

"Yes and I suggest you get rid of it. I have heard the affects of the pollen on a human could be very severe."

"H-how do I get rid of it?"

"Hm, I suppose I'll do it then. How have you been able to contain it?"

"I had this box I took from the alien ship, but it's too big now, so I've been putting it in one of the quarantine rooms just in case."

"Alright, come with me. I may have something that can help dispose of it safely." 

"Okay, let me just lock up the lab." Bruce said.

The two of them stepped out of the room and Bruce pulled off his gas mask once the lab was locked.

Thor and Bruce headed towards the elevator, walking through the living room where the two spotted you and Peter sprawled out on the couches. They shot you two a greeting before leaving.

Peter's head snapped towards you. "I can't believe sending in Thor actually worked. Do you think either of them know what we're planning?"

You smiled, shaking your head. "No, I was too vague when I told Thor to get him out of the lab, and I love the guy but he isn't exactly the smartest person I've met. Now let's go, I don't know how long we've got." You said, trailing ahead of him.

You easily unlocked the lab, Peter following behind you.

As usual the lab was filled with tables with piles upon piles of weird tech, ranging from projects your dad or Bruce had been working on to discarded scraps that should've been tossed or moved out.

You immediately got distracted from the task at hand when you spotted one of your father's latest projects, "Alright, go find your suit." You muttered, walking towards the table.

Peter looked around the lab, trying to find some sign of the new suit he'd hopefully be getting soon. But to be honest, it was a bit of a wreck. With two scientsist's working there, the lab got a bit messy. So instead of Peter being able to locate the suit, which actually was placed nicely in the back of the room, his eye was drawn towards something else.

And it was beautiful, and definitely something he's never seen before.

Off to the side was a plant that had stood at two feet. Pink and glowing. And it was as if he couldn't control his movements while he walked towards the plant.

Now standing in front of it, his finger traced the petals of the glowing flowers, making his index finger come back with a pink dust on it, which he could only assume was its pollen.

He leaned in, breathing in it's scent.

He expected a normal flowery smell but, instead it smelled like you.

He pulled away for a second, and narrowed his eyes at the plant in confusion. But only for a few seconds, before being compelled to smell it once again.

Peter's eyes fell closed as he let the scent dance around him. There was no other way to describe it other than it being completely you.

Sweet and calming. It smelled like lavender and jasmine, with a hint of peaches, your perfume, your body wash, your shampoo, and that very specific scent that belonged to you and only you.

Peter was completely lost in it, breathing in deeply, treating it as if it was a drug he could never get enough of. The different layers of your scent completely engulfing him, making him feel warm and content.

His chest blossomed with warmth that spread down all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes and to the very crown of his head, that made his whole body feel like it was buzzing.

But he snapped out of the trance he was in when he felt a rush of blood travelling south. He tensed up, quickly turning around to see if you were still distracted.

He turned back around and backed away from the plant. And that was when he had noticed his spider senses had been going haywire. The hair on his arms standing up straight as goose bumps rose.

And whatever the plant had did to him was getting worse.

He felt warm, too warm. Like he'd start to melt soon.  

He leaned on the table behind him, panting. A flood of arousal coursing through him. 

From the end of the lab you heard Peter's panting breaths, causing you to look up and see his hunched over form leaning on the table behind him, sliding onto the ground.

"Peter?" You asked in concern. "You okay?"

He groaned at the sound of your voice, his eyes shut tight, trying to gain control of himself. But it wasn't working, inappropriate thoughts flooded his mind immediately wandering to what you would sound like letting out high pitched whines and moans of his name with that same voice, while he bent you over one of the tables and pounded into you hard.

He moaned at the thought, your eyes widening in shock at the sound not quite sure if he was in pain.... or if it was something else.

You stared at what was in front of him on the table, and knew whatever it was was the cause of Peter's state right now.

You quickly ran over, crouching down next to him.

You gasped, "Oh my God." His face was bright red as a thin layer of sweat collected on his skin. He was out of breath, eyes screwed tightly shut. But what caused your own face to turn red was the very prominent buldge in his pants. You cleared your throat. "Peter can you hear me?"

He slowly opened his eyes but immediately wished he hadn't, his pupils blown wide at the sight of you. Eyes trailing over every bit of exposed skin on your body, just picturing what it would feel like pressed against his own.

"(Y-Y/N)." He stuttered out a whine. "I-I-...S-something's...happening."

"Oh, shit." You cursed.

Peter wanted nothing more in that moment to pull you down into a kiss and pin you to the floor, grinding his hips into yours, but he still had enough mind to know how wrong that would be.

"Okay, alright, okay. This is what I'm gonna do." You said frantically. "I need to find Bruce-"

"No... d-don't go.." He didn't know why but he knew that if you left, it would only get worse. That even just your presence made him feel a little better and that he might just go insane if you left him. "Please... s-stay.."

It was too overwhelming, instead of his senses being dialled to 11 it felt like they were at a fucking 20 now. Hyperaware of you and only you, every movement, every breath, the beating of your heart, everything.

"What? B-but Pete-"

A gasp cut you off. Your head snapped towards the doorway, where Thor and Bruce stood.

"Thor, the kids got in." Bruce said in terror.

"B-Bruce!" You yelled in relief. "I- I don't know what's wrong with him- he just sorta collapsed, and he's acting really strange."

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, this isn't good." Bruce said rushing over to Peter. "Thor how do we fix this."

Thor looked down at him in pity, standing next to Bruce who was crouching on the opposite side of where you were. "The only known cure for someone who has been contaminated by a sex pollen plant is, well..sex."

Your head snapped towards Thor. "W-What?" You shrieked. "Is that what that thing is?" You started yelling angrily.

"Yes, and it must be with whoever's scent he smelled on the plant."

"Oh for fuck's sake, who brought a sex plant into the tower!"

"F-fuck, (Y/N)." Peter moaned loudly, eyes training on your figure. Getting more aroused at just how fucking hot you looked when you were mad. 

"Ah," Thor said, coming to a conclusion. "And it would seem that it would be you Lady (Y/N)."

You cleared your throat, opting to ignore Thor's last comment. "Okay what are we gonna do?" 

Thor looked at you in surprise, "Lady (Y/N) do you not know what sex entail-"

"Shut up Thor. I know how it works- but there's gotta be another way to help him." You gulped, looking down at him.

Bruce sighed, "I think- I think I'm gonna have to tell your dad. I'm pretty sure this isn't something I can fix in an hour by myself."

You huffed. "Fine, but we can't leave him here. Let's take him to his room."

You reached out and grabbed his arm, but at the loud moan he made due to the skin to skin contact you let go.

"I probably should have mentioned." Thor started. "That you shouldn't touch him."

"W-what? Why?"

"(Y/N) Please." Peter whined, trying to grab your wrist but you quickly pulled it out of reach.

You looked up at Thor. "It'll make him," Thor paused searching for the right word. "Eager? And you don't want that if you plan on looking for another cure- see he's trying to touch you now." 

Thor was right, just that small bit of skin to skin contact seemed to have sent Peter into a frenzy. Your head snapped down at him, as you realized he was just about to put his hand up your skirt. You quickly grabbed his hand, holding it in a tight grip so he'd stop getting handsy. Your other hand quickly grabbing his free one too as it came nearer.

"Fine, then Thor take him to his room."

"N-no." Peter stuttered. "Please, I-I need you." He said as Thor picked him up, making you let go of the hold on his hands. "No! Let go!" He yelled at Thor. "(Y/N)!"

Thor headed for the door while Peter began struggling violently in his hold.

Bruce shook his head. "Tony is not gonna like this."

You scoffed. "Y' think?"

------------------------------------

Permanent Taglist:

@Spiderdudeparker @peterparkers-waffles @smexylemony @Ultimategalaxyprogram @xxxxdelenaxxxx @chonisberonica @meaningoflifeisfandoms @aegis-s-s @Just-random-stuff-18 @etherealhollandd @yourwonderbelle @roi-yang @ironspiderstark @runningoutofwordstosay @retroparkers @marvelismylifffe @marvelhoeingismyhobby @thebadtruth @loud-binch @cosmicparkerr @thechickvic @magiclolipopqueen @httpmcrvel

P.P. Taglist:

@cosmicparkerr

[galvanizedfriend]

This may be a very biased question, however, who did Klaus truly love- Caroline or Cami? I absolutely adore Klaroline, but would they even had anything more if it wasn't for when Caroline visited NOLA in S5? I seems like Caroline was only brought to TO for fan service. Did Klaus love Cami more? I've been trying to understand, and the more I think about it, the more I get sad because #klaroline4ever. I need someone elses' thoughts!

Well, this may be a very biased answer (lol), but I never bought Klamille as a thing, so, obviously...

This isn't going to be very nice on Cami, in case anyone out there might find it offensive or whatever. I don't necessarily blame the character, though, I blame the writing. Klaus having a new romantic interest was never a bad thing in itself, it was the way they did it that never sailed.

To be fair, I think it's perfectly acceptable to believe that Klaus loved Cami. But that relationship was so wrong, for so many reasons, that I could never get past the awkwardness. Cami was a prop for male tears and exposition from almost the moment she came onto the show until her literal last breath (and the few times she made an appearance after that). She was the result of a very wrong attempt to try to reproduce the KC chemistry in TO to maybe get the fans to embrace this new ship, but it was so, so, so wrong... Joseph Morgan went from having chemistry with the walls and trees in TVD to not having a slight spark with the person who was supposed to be his romantic interest (whom he was pushing towards another guy all through season 1, awww... so romantic). Klaus would've been better off with Stefan.

Cami's supposed to be this moral compass on the show, the ~~kind-hearted, good, full of light~~ person (remind you of anyone? lol) who'll drag Klaus back into the path of redemption, but all she does is literally excuse him for his terrible behavior, starting with how he treats her. Klaus is awful to her, terribly abusive. He compelled her to go out with someone against her will, even after she saw Marcel being aggressive to Thierry and was like 'nope, not for me, I'm outta here', to <i>spy</i> for him. And this gets shoved under the rug in a second. Klaus kills Elijah's girlfriend right before his eyes, then he curses Hayley into her wolf form, and Cami is literally there telling people that they have to understand that he did all that because he had a plan and he had to make it look convincing. She attempts to be mad at him because he bit her (not because he killed Gia, or cursed Hayley; because he bit her) and when he says he was just pretending, she smiles and that's it. Let it go. And then I'm supposed to believe that this is the person who's going to bring the best out of Klaus? Klaus goes on being the same unapologetic jackass he always was.

And then season 3 happens and it's just... It's painful. I abandoned TO on S3 for many reasons, I couldn't watch it anymore, but what they do to Klamille there is like... Is this seriously supposed to be the climax of this pairing? When she turns into a vampire and becomes this total crazy bitch (WHY? isn't vampirism supposed to enhance what you are? WHY oh WHY would good pure cinnamon roll Cami become 500 years old Katherine?), Klaus is having doubts over her. Hayley has to tell him that he's gonna have to accept that the person he knew is gone and she's someone else now. I think it was supposed to make us realize that Cami had ~~darkness~~ in her, but... Honestly, if that was the case, there are some fic writers in the fandom who could've done a better job than the people getting paid to write those scripts.

Camille was a character that was treated so, so badly by the writers it's hard to even defend her. She had inconsistent writing, no agency within the plot whatsoever, never got her own story lines, never developed into something more substantial, and all she was there for was to explain to us, viewers, how terribly misunderstood Klaus was (and also to babysit, which is what she does all through season 2). She spends three seasons chasing after him when he repeatedly shoves her away, so when she was finally killed off, I felt genuinely sad for her. Not even her death was about her. She was meant to be a strong female character, instead she got absolutely nothing, died as a minor sidekick who got no reward out of her involvement with Klaus, and was using her last breaths to tell him "he's good". Honey, were you not watching your own show?

Caroline, on the other hand, never lets Klaus get away with being awful. She holds him accountable for the crap he does, she points fingers, she doesn't just take his bullshit excuses and 'oh, I'm so damaged' crap. At the same time she's obviously attracted to him, tempted by these little snippets of hidden depths she gets to see, she doesn't just excuse his wrongdoings. She pushes Klaus out of his comfort zone, forces him to reassess his behavior, to consider right vs convenient, and even if it's just for her sake, he actually does change. He lets Tyler off the hook (more than once), he risks getting caught to save her from those vampire hunters, he drops everything to help Stefan with Rayna Cruz, he forsakes his revenge party against Katherine. He's killing his way through France, being a crappy father to his 15yo, then Caroline shows up, stuns him with some truths, and he instantly reconsiders. It's things that meant something to Klaus, people who had personally wronged him, situation that might put him and his family in danger, not like that extra whoever cop he "helps" in S3 who made absolutely no difference in his life whether he lived or died. He even showed a degree of regret over killing Carol when he asked Damon how he got away being forgiven for the crap he did.

In turn, Klaus was always the one person who saw the best of Caroline and completely acknowledged it. She wasn't ashamed of her vampirism, she enjoyed all the perks, and while everyone else was being broody over it, sorry for themselves, she was out there kicking ass. Klaus knew her better than her best friends, understood how she longed for more, how curious she was, how restless she would grow by being stuck forever as a sidekick in Mystic Falls. Everything he said to her was like a revelation. He was the only romantic interest in Caroline's life to truly put her first. And I want to say that they never got together in TVD because she wasn't ready to leave her mortal life behind and fully embrace immortality but the truth is they never got together because some idiot decided to make The Originals happen. lol We all know that 'I should've turned my back on you ages ago' thing would've ended up in hot hybrid-vampire sex if TO hadn't been picked up by the network.

This is not to say that there weren't problems there, of course there were, but the two of them genuinely did get the best out of each other. Klaus allowed Caroline to be accepted and appreciated for who she truly was, while she got Klaus to show true selflessness.

So I personally never bought Klamille. It fell completely flat for me. But I don't think believing Klaus loved Cami diminishes how he felt for Caroline. The guy is immortal. To think he would never have feelings for anyone other than Caroline is naive. The brief little moments Caroline gets mentioned in TO are very telling of how Klaus still felt about her even years and years later. That phone call. How he never denies loving her to Stefan, how he tells Stefan they'll be seeing each other again if he doesn't do right by her. On the letter he sent her when she opens the school, he repeats the 'however long it takes', which is a reaffirmation of the promise he made her. How he says he didn't want to know if she would let him die or not. That look he gives her when she says she'd been to New Orleans after him and he wasn't there.

Caroline was his endgame, and he was hers. The two of them could've had different loves, met different people over the course of their lives, but they were always, always meant to find each other again in the end. So, to answer your question (lol), no I don't think Klaus' endgame would've ever been Camille, and yes, I do think Caroline would've ended up in New Orleans at some point, or he would've ended up with her, wherever she was. If there had been even an inch of consistency in TO S5 and if JP hadn't been on a crusade to punish the actors who were apparently unhappy with her and unwilling to ever come back for Legacies, that's how the story would've ended. It's hard to make any real interpretation of the show when we know how those scripts got written, how little thought went into staying true to characters and their journeys, but that's what I believe.

THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK, ANON! lol

[captainevans]

Could you go into more detail re: your last post? I've been seeing so many reactions to what Steve did at the end of the movie and would love to hear your take on it because I'm desperate to hear from someone more level headed (and it seems like you definitely are). I've just seen a lot of people upset with/at Steve/Chris and need some reassurance lol. You can keep this private if you want or just make a separate post. Also hi, nice to meet you :)

I have been thinking about this all day, so I would be more than happy to elaborate for you! It’ll be under the cut.

It appears that the general arguments regarding Steve being out of character and not liking his ending is that he struggled for so long to put his past behind him, to find a place in the future with the family and friends he made, and by sending him back it compromised their future as well as Peggy’s and reduced her to simply a woman who stole Cap’s heart as opposed to this formidable force to be reckoned with and one of the founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I don’t see it that way though. If anything, this is a Steve who failed and saw half of the universe snapped due to circumstances beyond his control and more importantly this is the first time we truly see Steve for the human he is, and not just the soldier out of time.

Two constant threads in Steve’s individual arc has been dealing with one never-ending battle after another and his struggle to acclimate to the times he’s in. I don’t mean in an ‘old man deals with newfangled technology’ sense, but Steve’s few years out of the ice pales in comparison to the seventy plus years it’s been for everyone else. Also keep in mind the era in which Steve comes from, because he deals with things internally or not at all (mostly not at all) and a therapy goer the man is not.

In TFA, pre-serum Steve has a myriad of health problems and is known to get into fights frequently. He’s tried several times to get enlisted; longing for that one chance to do something right, to do something good because he doesn’t like bullies and he doesn’t care where they come from. He meets Peggy and she sees the man he is way before he became Captain America. Keep in mind though that between post Project Rebirth and the crash, more time has passed than people tend to think about. Their feelings for one another have deepened, even if they’re not acted upon, which is why their final conversation over the comms is even more heartbreaking. They had something, they knew they had something, and now it was lost seemingly forever. Who could come back from that? Who honestly would want to?

The Avengers finds him a mere two weeks after the man was defrosted, in which he was learning that almost everyone he knew and loved was dead and that the Tesseract he crashed a plane to try and destroy was found and used by SHIELD to create weapons and had to push that into the back of his mind so he could fight aliens in the Battle of New York.

In TWS, he’s still struggling to find his footing between his past and and present. He visits Peggy and is happy that at least she was able to move on and have a life for herself, but every visit is melancholy and ends the same way - she slips out because of her dementia and he has to relive her finding out that he’s real and in front of her every time. I wouldn’t want to wish that experience on anyone, but do you know what that’s like to deal with a person who has that? To think you’re finally getting somewhere with someone for a moment and then the lucidness wears off and suddenly your heart is ripped out of your chest because you’re back at square one? To do that every single time you see them? Sam asking him what makes him happy breaks my heart every single time because he’s never been given the opportunity to figure that out, and once he learns that Hydra, again going with the whole “I crashed my fucking plane into the ocean and this shit is STILL happening” arc, has been entangled with SHIELD from its infancy, he knows the mission to take it down takes precedence over trying to take the time and figure that out for himself. Now, this movie is the Winter Soldier, and there’s Bucky to cover. At this point, Steve knows he doesn’t have much time with Peggy left when he uncovers the identity of The Winter Soldier. These two pillars are the last remaining ties to his past, which is why he tries so hard to try to joggle Bucky’s programming with not fighting back and the “I’m with you til the end of the line”. Steve knows he’s in there, he just had to get him out. He’s successful, and then that jump-starts the search post TWS leading into Age of Ultron and ending in Civil War.

Age of Ultron..is…well, okay it has more problems than anything else however, at this point it’s been three years since he’s been living in the future, and it would make sense that Peggy is still on his mind in Wanda’s dream sequence for him. He confirms it in Endgame for the first time by saying it aloud, but Peggy was the love of his life. It’s normal to dream about lost loves. He’s a man from that older era though, which is why we only have a stolen moment of him trying to remain stoic because he has to be a leader and appear unaffected for the sake of his team and the mission. I really wish the deleted scene where he comes out of the quintet with his coal to see the image of Captain America with the words “Fascist” above spray-painted on a building wall before he throws the helmet back inside was kept in because it shows SO MUCH without saying anything at all. This is where we see that break between who is he and what his superhero persona is supposed to represent. It’s not Captain America who makes Steve Rogers Steve Rogers, it is Steve Rogers who makes Captain America Captain America. And once again, we find him trying to make the sacrifice play if they aren’t successful and can’t get all Sokovian citizens as well as themselves out in time. Now all while this is happening, Sam is still trying to look for Bucky for Steve.

Which brings us to Civil War. Never has that line between his past and present been more apparent because it’s literally the plot to this movie. That’s it. That’s the whole thing. Bucky is deprogrammed but broken and more importantly to Steve - alive- and he knows that Bucky has that blood on his hands that Hydra used and abused him into spilling and that’s why if he could just get Tony to see that with these accords the powers at be, along with every country who signs, can dangle their help for political gain like they’re puppets on strings just like he was. Do they need to be put in check? Perhaps, but not by people with an agenda. It’s a dangerous game they’d be playing with no winners which is why Steve doesn’t sign them. And during that meeting with all of them discussing this, Steve learns that Peggy dies so his stake in this fight to preserve the last tether to his past increases tenfold. He’s not just fighting for Bucky, Steve is fighting for himself. By the time he’s dropped that shield, we’re shown that Steve has lost faith in his government, he’s lost faith in his friends, and he’s lost faith in himself.

He’s in Infinity War for six minutes and forty five seconds is screen time so there’s not much content wise to go on, but when we see Steve he is clearly not the man he was and you can tell something is broken inside him, but it’s not explored until Endgame.

I’m just going to focus on Steve’s arc in Endgame because while I really liked most of it, Thor and Natasha deserved better than that so here we go. If you have not watched Endgame, don’t go any further.

Between waking up and immediately having to fight post defrosting and uncovering the truth about SHIELD using the Tesseract to make weapons, Hydra being an entangled part of shield, the events of Civil War, and by the time we see him in Infinity War he’s a shell of whatever former self he was trying to grasp at straws with, and it wasn’t until we had this film that we actually see to what extent that was.

Endgame opens three weeks after the snap, in a time where they’re still desperately clinging to hope with trying to find a way to reverse things. Carol saves Tony and Nebula while he’s on the very brink of death in the Benatar, and tensions between the Steve and Tony are at an all time high. They lost. Everyone. They’re the Avengers, how could they lose?

Time jumps five years. Tony is living on a lake and has a young daughter with Pepper, and Steve has now taken over for Sam in leading group therapy meetings. Joe Russo’s character says he went on a date the night before and that his date cried before the salad and he cried after the dessert and there was nothing they could truly talk about because what could you talk about if half of the universe, including people you knew and loved, vanished in an instant and where you’re borderline living in some version of Lord of the Flies? He offers words of comfort, but he and half the people in that session don’t fully believe them. He lost the love of his life in ‘45 and woke up seventy years later and he hasn’t had a single moment of rest to do so. It weighs on him, on all of them. Natasha is at Avengers HQ still trying to find ways to help, and because of the nature of their work and who they are as individuals they can’t truly move on, him especially. But seeing Tony with his daughter I think was a catalyst of sorts for Steve, even if it didn’t fully register for him at first. One of the themes through Age of Ultron was this notion of “home”, and being an Avenger was something they all pretty much had to put first. Tony got his family, he got his home, and for someone who thought that the man who went into the ice seventy years couldn’t have that himself, there came a small burst of a what if. What if he could have that as well? If it happened for Tony…

Seeing Peggy in 1970, seeing his photo on her desk…that did something to him as well. After all those years, he’s still on her mind just seemingly as much as she’s on his. He gets that moment of seeing her again, and that longing was heartbreaking. Just one more look before he had to go back - something just for him because the mission came first, it always comes first, and he didn’t want to screw anything up so he buries it like he does everything else. Steve’s an intelligent little shit though and we’ll come back to that later.

Now here’s where I also need for you to keep in mind the conversation Banner had with the Ancient One in 2012. The Ancient One is hesitant on giving him the Infinity Stone because it will disrupt the pre-determined timeline, but Banner explains that the past is cemented in time and forever exists to allow for a subject to jump through time. Reality is experiential for individuals, meaning a person’s perception of time is linear, regardless of how they jump around the timeline. In layman’s terms, you travel to the past, that past becomes your future and your former present becomes the past which then cant be changed by the new future.

We’ve always known Steve is worthy of wielding Mjolnir so let’s just skip to the ending now shall we?

At the end, Steve goes alone to return the stones to their proper place in time, but also has become well versed in time travel for someone who’s not Banner or Tony. He sees this as a chance to have something that’s been unattainable to him for so long - to live the life Tony wanted for him. To be happy. To not have to fight for once in his life. So he goes to the right place in while in the quantum realm as to not disrupt the main timeline, and that’s when he doesn’t return we see that he’s become an old man finally at peace, handing Captain America’s shield over to Sam, who more than deserves the mantle, not exactly telling him that he got his happy ending with Peggy, choosing to keep it to himself and yet smiling wistfully all the same.

He never changed anything about Peggy’s future either. SHIELD clearly still exists, and do some people honestly think he wouldn’t give her the choice? If he didn’t think there was a strong enough of a chance or had she turned him down someway he would have respected her and returned to the main present timeline. Nothing changed about that, it was just an alternative path. By going back, Peggy’s life without Steve still exists and that Peggy who gets her reunion with Steve now represents a branch timeline.

I get not everyone liked the ending, I do, but to be fair, just because they didn’t like Steve’s ending because it doesn’t fit what they wanted doesn’t mean it wasn’t a fitting end for Steve. He can rest now. Finally.

[kari-izumi]

Hey, I gotta question: what's the difference between Klantis and the Evangelical Right?

Answer: one group are more than willing to sell out their so called values if they have a chance at pushing their values on people who disagree with them because they never gave a shit about those morality to begin with...and the other is the Evangelical Right!

But seriously? This has been without a doubt the weirdest season for ship discourse. And to say Voltron literally invented antis and made age discourse a thing, that's a hell of a feat to accomplish. It's adorable that Klantis now want to pitch in and be kind to "literal pedophiles" "abuse apologists" and "nasty ass adults" in a last ditch effort to prop their failed headcanon.

To make a short summary of the other shit I've seen over the last week, in case anyone else is lost:

Klantis and some Sheithers tying themselves in knots over Axca's apperance

Some Kallura fans shitting over Sheith fans for the sin of wanting their ship to be endgame

Since no one gives a rat's ass about any age discourse involving Shaladin ships anymore, a few have taken to having a go at Plance which is hilarious when theirs is the smallest age age of any Piladin ship

Far too many asinine comments about Allurance coming out of nowhere because Lance and Allura weren't joined at the fucking season this season

Those assuming the Zezor thing is another example of "lol gay villians" with zero understanding of the history that this is a far cry from the Disney Model (it, Le Fou, Ursela, Scar to name a few) rather than two women villians who happen to be gay for each other

Every Sub-Zero cold as fuck take on Shiro being bad rep because he's not paired off, as though this badass motherfucker hasn't survived death, didn't have Black save his soul because she wanted no other Paladin and he isn't thriving now that he's back at the Garrison doing what he been wanting to do since literally the first second of this show and his only value is being with literally anyone to open the path to a ship that already got sank by Allurance or maybe even Plance, who the fuck knows....a girl can dream

Everyone talking over Asian fans who have explained why they still see this as a win and are thrilled with Shiro existing

The dismissal of Allurance as good rep on the fact that it's het and ignoring that it's two characters of color who both defy stereotypes, and yes I see you non-Klantis doing this too and I'mma 'bout to start snatching weaves

This shit right here, proving any one is capable of taking stupid pills

And the funny thing is? I've had that whole list above sitting in drafts for the last two days before:

this new shit with the racist reboot

Leakira

the Kible being canceled

the author behind Dirty Laundry deleting the story off AO3 for her own sanity

Oh, and I guess Pidge bashing on Twitter is a thing now too, I mean the staff never said boo about Plance having a chance but go off I guess

Some people being salty over Jeith being a thing because James is an "abuser" or whatever

And yet I'm sure when I wake up tomorrow, there's gonna be something else new that we're hating. What'll it be? Will I hear about beef between Team Punk and Heith fans? Will a fanfic about Sam Holt's illicit affair with Veronica take off on AO3?* Will Hachiko become the furry rep no one asked for in the reboot?

Tune in tomorrow for another installment of As the Fandom Turns!

*cue corny organ theme*

*I'm so sorry for making anyone imagine this because Sam Holt is The Best and not only would he never do this, Colleen would cut a bitch for stepping to her man

Funny how Klant/s are saying "They queerbaited us with K/ance and Sh@dam and now they are trying to queerbait those disgusting sheith shippers!" Lol, sorry but unlike you guys who queerbaited yourselves, we Sheithers tend to have our hopes and expectations very low

LMAO, like they could actually literally queerbait Sheith,and shippers would be like “nah, i’ts not queerbaiting, we’re just getting our hopes up and have our shipper goggles on too tight.”

Idk why but I feel almost flattered that antis think the staff is trying to queerbait us Sheith shippers, awww their fake concern is so cute lol