#The second idea could alternatively be Ao killing the others

[lunastarnight]

2 Recreyo SCP AU ideas:

(The whole Crew) Idiots who just can't die. They can still get hurt and (kinda) feel pain, they just don't care. Any injury heals quickly, and, as frustrating it was in some Crosstests (like for SCP-682), perma-death just doesn't happen. They often attack or hurt each other for fun, but it seems to be more so a game for them, and despite everything they're still close (kinda?).

2. (Ao) (this would probably be a sort of alternate Timeline where Ao kills the Recreyo Crew in "Can You Survive The Multiverse?") A dimension hopper who, up untill this point, has been dubbed SCP-X, due to unwillingness to disclose their actual name. They seem to have some shape shifting abilities as well, having taken on the form of Curt Richy, one of five people from a Recent Missing Persons case. They can be made to cooperate, but seems to get irrationally angry at the mention of other dimension hoppers, or Artifacts and other things that'd allow people who normally couldn't to traverse other dimensions (why that is is currently unknown).

[ryttu3k]

*vague chin stroking* Drow Gale who escapes the Underdark and becomes a follower of Eilistraee.

Literally just copypasting from my thinking out loud on Discord beneath the cut! No idea how canon-compliant this is, if it makes good narrative sense, etc, but still. Thoughts.

Strictly speaking, Vhaeraun (Eilistraee's twin brother) was the god of male drow and also shadow magic, but I feel Gale would vibe more heavily with Eilistraee, who does, after all, have the portfolio of freedom. Also song, dance, and beauty, all of which I think he'd love, given how he canonically enjoys poetry, has a piano that plays music for him, etc.

For the drow, the 1370s are. Wild. In 1372, Lolth goes into hibernation for a year, and her clerics lose power. Many drow turn to alternatives, including Eilistraee and Vhaeraun. A few years later, Vhaeraun tries to assassinate Eilistraee in 1375, it backfires, he dies, and she takes over his profiles. In 1379, she dies while inhabiting the body of one of her Chosen, Qilue Veladorn (who's also one of Mystra's Chosen); Qilue's soul becomes a Weaveghost, unsure what happens to Eilistraee's. Either way, a lot of shit going down amidst the drow because that's when the Drizzt novels are set so they're the most focused-on history in Forgotten Realms.

If Gale is a drow raised in the Underdark, he is Unlikely to be 35. Still, he could be fairly young in 1372 and start sort of… poking at Eilistraee and Vhaeraun in interest, given how men are treated. When Vhaeraun dies, he escapes the Underdark and starts following the Masked Lady (the form of Eilistraee with Vhaeraun's portfolios, the two followers entering an uneasy truce). Eilistraee dies a few years later in 1379, but her followers still keep going.

The Second Sundering, when Ao restructures the entire pantheon, takes place just before BG3, 1482-1487. Bhaal returns in 1482 when Abdel and Veikung die (and, presumably, Durge is officially named Chosen then?), then there's a whole lot of natural disasters across Toril, Elminster fully restores Mystra in 1487, although she had been speaking to him before that, and saves him from being killed when he brings down a Netherese city onto Myth Drannor, and also stopping Shar from turning it into a new Shadow Weave. The rest of the deities are returned by 1489, including Eilistraee and Vhaeraun, who now have greater appreciation for each other and reach a tentative peace and friendship. Which is nice ;_;

This is only three years before BG3, so super recently. But, more interestingly, it's also not far from Gale finding the orb. So I kind of wonder if an Eilistraeean Gale gains an appreciation and admiration for Mystra, given that she and Eilistraee are pretty close, and decides that post-Second Sundering, he wants both to be powerful, wants both to admire him, tries to win the favour of both of them, stuff like that. And he finds the orb that way.

It wouldn't be quite the same magnitude of betrayal as in canon, since Mystra wouldn't be his goddess, but it still inflicts him with the orb. Eilistraee was seen in Waterdeep in 1491. If he had settled there after leaving the Underdark (hell, he still could have even studied at Blackstaff, even if he wasn't a child prodigy who literally steals the dang thing), he could have decided to restore Mystra's lost Weave to please both his goddesses, only to find that after being inflicted by the most painful and terrifying thing in his century plus of existing, neither came to his aid at all. So it'd be more… what he sees as quietly ignoring his pleas instead of active betrayal from someone who had groomed him for most of his life.

I can see him relating a lot more to Astarion, honestly.

[missroonilwazlib]

So I was just randomly thinking about cool ways they could reintroduce AoS characters into the new Marvel tv show lineup, and here’s a few I thought about. (Only going to focus on the original first season cast for now, although I might share my thoughts on where I think characters like Mack and Yo-Yo could go later.)

-Coulson, well this one I could see them doing very easily. In fact, there are technically two ways I could think of that they’d bring him in. Obviously, there’s his Chronicom/LMD version as it stands in the sort of current timeline (obviously not sure how they would explain some of the timeline discrepencies, although that could easily be explained by the quantum realm, as depicted in the show) either way, they could just bring that version of him in to one of the shows (like the Hawkeye show for instance.) in that scenario, they wouldn’t even have to explain to the wider non-AoS audience, how he’s alive, because of the whole “it’s actually a robot version of him” but it would also be rewarding to AoS fans to do it that way.

The other way they could bring him in is through the multiverse, which we already know it’s going to be a thing. While bringing an alternate universe version of him would be the nicest because he would actually be brought back from the dead rather than just brought back as a robot, it wouldn’t be as rewarding to the AoS fans, since he probably wouldn’t have all the AoS history intact. Of course, we could always get the best of both worlds and have both versions of Coulson show up at one point or another in a future Marvel show. I do think that if it’s the second version, the best place for him to show up would be in the Loki show, since that seems to focus on alternate timelines. (Would also be interesting to see Coulson coming face to face with the guy who killed him the first time.) Alternatively could imagine him in a future season of WandaVision, assuming the Multiverse is something it’s heading towards. If it’s just the LMD version, then I could definitely see Coulson showing up in Hawkeye probably.

-Melinda May, another easy one, being that she teaches at Coulson Academy, which probably means she still works for SHIELD. Could see her showing up pretty much anywhere, except for maybe the Loki show. Best place would probably be Hawkeye, or if a tv show spin-off of Sword happens (hopefully starring Monica Rambeau, Darcy Lewis, and Jimmy Woo,) then I could definitely see her as something of a recurring character. (Especially since it was implied in the show that Melinda May knew Woo personally.)

-Daisy Johnson, definitely could see her joining one of the shows with the new superheroes or any shows involving Sword, assuming that’s where she’s working now. Ms. Marvel in particular would be a good place for her to have a recurring role. Could also see her being the character who branches off to the movies, too, along with Coulson.

- Fitz and Simmons, now this one’s a little more tricky because they’re basically semi-retired and have a child. Also, don’t think any of us want to see them put through the ringer after everything they went through in the show. That’s why I’m thinking the best place to have them show up would be to make them recurring or guest star characters in a more comedic show. Which means definitely not Falcon and the Winter Soldier or Hawkeye, which I assume both would be on the more serious side than some of their other lineups. Now, if there’s ever a spin-off series featuring Monica Rambeau, Jimmy Woo, and Darcy Lewis solving crimes, like I mentioned earlier, then this would be by far the best place to reintroduce FitzSimmons to the wider audience. Not only would that keep them out of harm, but it would also allow the actors to return to the old school humor of the first season, which is something I’m sure us AoS fans would like to see. In fact, I feel like that would be a good show to have any AoS character show up in, like May, but I feel as far as which AoS characters would be the most ideally suited to showing up in that kind of spin-off, it would have to be FitzSimmons.

Also, random aside, but another interesting thing I wouldn’t mind seeing, at least with Fitz, is have that evil Doctor version of Fitz show up in something like Loki. De Caestecker did a great job in that role (as much as I hated seeing Fitz be evil in any way.)

-Grant Ward; yeah, sort of a forgotten character in comparison to the others, but he was part of the main cast for the first three seasons, and I almost feel like, if they bring back AoS for another season, he should be integral to it, and it was kind of a missed opportunity not to have him show up anywhere in the last season during all of that time traveling. Now, unlike Coulson, or really any character I mentioned so far, there’s really only one way you COULD bring this character back, and that’s through the multiverse. However, don’t think they could reintroduce him anywhere but in a season 8 reboot of AoS. In fact, if AoS is rebooted, I feel like the focus this time around would have to be on the Multiverse, because while they certainly toyed with the idea a lot in AoS, they were never able to truly explore it, most likely because of what they were and weren’t allowed to do because of the MCU. But since they would be working more closely with Feige and company, then there’s no reason for them not to, and that’s where I think Ward would fit best.

Anyway, those are my thoughts for now. As I said, I’ll probably do another separate post about where I think Mack or Yo-Yo would make the most sense to show up. Hope you all enjoyed reading my musings, though.

[twinklysmiles]

Emotional Release

A Star Trek Tickle Fic

Fandom: Star Trek TOS / AOS Characters: Spock / Leonard Bones McCoy  Warnings: Tickling, implied smut Word Count: 2,444

Summary: The one where Spock’s hormonal balance is off, and McCoy has just the cure. (This might well be how ‘Spones’ first began.)

Dr. McCoy ran his scanner all over Spock’s body, humming and grunting cryptically at the readings, his face creased in a worried frown that got even deeper when he noticed the Vulcan, who was currently lying on the biobed in his underwear, shifting around uncomfortably.

He’d summoned Spock for an unscheduled physical, after the first officer had practically bitten his head off during one of their friendly arguments, his temper uncharacteristically getting the better of him.

“Stop fidgeting, Spock!” the doctor sighed, “I’m nearly done. Your hormones are all over the place, we’ll have to find a way of emotional release for you, and soon. Like it or not, you are half human, and constantly suppressing your emotions just isn’t healthy.”

“I thought that was what your little jibes and provocations were about, Doctor,” Spock replied, “to give me the opportunity for emotional release in a dignified and subtle way through our frequent arguments.”

“I know, Spock,” McCoy smiled kindly at his patient, “that was the plan, and it’s worked so far. But it doesn’t seem to be enough, anymore. We’ll have to find something else, something more intense.”

Sitting up, Spock looked at the doctor almost anxiously, and McCoy felt his heart going out to his friend.

“Don’t worry, Spock, I’ll think of something,” he said reassuringly, reaching out to gently squeeze the Vulcan’s knee.

Spock inhaled sharply and jerked his leg out of McCoy’s grasp as if he’d been scorched by the touch, his face flushing a deep green.

The doctor looked at him, baffled, a slow smile spreading across his face as he reached his hand out again to squeeze Spock’s other knee.

This time, the Vulcan let out a snort that sounded more like a hiccup, and desperately batted the doctor’s hand away.

“Please refrain from doing that, Doctor,” Spock said, his voice unusually high.

“Why, Spock? Are you ticklish?” McCoy grinned, unable to hide his glee at the unexpected discovery.

“I’m … “ Spock swallowed hard, “I don’t know. But it is annoying.”

“Annoying?” McCoy guffawed. “This is adorable!”

Spock’s face turned an even darker shade of green, terribly embarrassed to display such a childish human weakness.

“Are you ticklish anywhere else?” the doctor asked, starting a surprise-attack on Spock’s midsection, lightly scrabbling his fingers all over his belly, making the Vulcan let out an actual squeal and nearly fall off the biobed, as he jumped and twisted this way and that to avoid McCoy’s devious fingers.

“Please desist, Doctor,” Spock growled through gritted teeth, puffing out short gusts of breath as McCoy’s nimble fingers kept tormenting his ticklish stomach, belly and sides, “this is most humiliAHAHAHAting.”

The Vulcan couldn’t hold back any longer, when the doctor added his second hand into the assault, the wicked two-pronged attack on Spock’s ribs making him burst into bright, helpless laughter, as the unbearably ticklish sensations flashing through his body made him want to jump out of his skin.

Bahahahahahahaha! Woohoohoohoohoohoohoo! Nohohohohohoho! Plehehehehease DESIIIIIIHIHIHIHIHIST!

“Humiliating?” McCoy repeated, once he’d taken his hands away and the Vulcan’s adorable laughter had died down. “Spock! This is human. Everyone’s ticklish somewhere. You don’t know how many tickle spots I’ve discovered on our crew members over the years. Being ticklish is nothing to be ashamed of, in fact, this might just be what we need!”

“I’m sorry, Doctor?” Spock, still panting hard and giggling occasionally, looked as perplexed as a Vulcan could.

“You see, being tickled and laughing freely is a great stress relief, which also makes it a perfect means of emotional release.”

“Are you suggesting to tickle me in order to get my hormonal balance back?” Spock asked, and the doctor could have sworn he saw fear in his eyes.

“Actually, I am,” McCoy grinned, doing his trademark little bounce at the idea. “We really need to do something about those hormones, and we might just as well have some fun!”

Seeing Spock shrink back, clearly convinced that the fun would only be on the doctor’s side, McCoy asked, “Has your mother never tickled you when you were a kid? Joanna loved to be tickled, couldn’t get enough, laughing her adorable little head off.”

Spock looked at the doctor aghast.

“I remember my mother doing it to me once or twice, but ‘laughing one’s head off’ is not very dignified, and my father specifically prohibited it after seeing my reaction. Apparently, I seem to have been rather … er … sensitive.”

A little shiver visibly ran down Spock’s spine at the memory.

“Tell you what, Spock,” McCoy suggested, trying to sound all business, when he really couldn’t wait to get his hands on the Vulcan again. “Since this could be the perfect therapy for you, let’s test out your tickle spots a little more, and see if we can work with that.”

Spock swallowed, nervously licking his lips.

“What if I cannot endure it?” he asked almost timidly, and McCoy suspected that the Vulcan was way more than just a little ticklish and knew it, too.

“We won’t know unless we try, will we?” the doctor smirked, already imagining Spock cackling, squirming and writhing under his vicious fingers. “And a little struggle and belly-laugh is exactly what we’re aiming for, if we want this to work.”

“Doctor,” Spock gulped, jumping off the bed to get farther away from McCoy’s fingers, which the doctor was wiggling teasingly in the air, “I don’t think I can do this. I’m really too ticklish.”

“Oh, come on Spock, a little tickle won’t kill you,” McCoy laughed, although Spock’s face seemed to contradict.

“I am not sure that I can control myself when tickled,” the Vulcan tried.

“You’re not supposed to control yourself, Spock,” McCoy countered exasperatedly. “The whole point is to let go and get some emotional relief!”

“But I might accidentally hurt you, Doctor,” Spock pointed out.

“Well, if you’re getting too wild, we’ll have to restrain you, of course.”

Never before had McCoy seen Spock’s eyes grow so wide.

“As a last resort, I mean,” he chuckled, then added mischievously, “but I think I could always tell Jim and the others about what I’ve found out today. Maybe you’d rather be tickled publicly by them on the bridge instead of here, by me, in this soundproof room?”

Now Spock looked actually shocked.

“I promise I’ll be gentle, and who knows? You might actually enjoy it!” the doctor tried to cajole him into complying.

As much as he was looking forward to tickling the hell out of the stoic Vulcan, he really wanted to help him, and truly believed that a ticklish workout – physically as well as emotionally – would actually help restore Spock’s hormonal balance.

“Come on, Spock, let’s get started,” McCoy patted the biobed. “Be a good boy, lie down, and raise your arms above your head for me.”

And, seeming to briefly consider his options one more time, Spock complied.

********************

McCoy had the time of his life. He could hardly believe how ticklish Spock really was.

The Vulcan wasn’t able to keep his arms above his head for even a second, when the doctor just lightly touched his armpits, and instantly fell into silent laughter when McCoy’s fingers, trapped in his underarms, continued wiggling viciously. Nor was he able to keep from squirming and desperately trying to bat McCoy’s hands away when touched anywhere on his belly, sides or ribs.

Spock’s laughter was deep and throaty when tickled anywhere on his belly, and high-pitched, intermingled with squeals when the doctor clawed his ribs. Armpits, whenever the doctor got a chance to get his hands in, usually while Spock was flailing his arms trying to keep McCoy’s hands off his ribs, always rendered him completely hysterical, throwing him into immediate silent laughter mode. Quite obviously a really diabolical spot.

After a few minutes of struggling to get a good tickle in at all, McCoy switched on the biobed sensors and monitor, promising to keep a close eye on the vitals that would tell him exactly how much Spock could take and when he’d reached his limits, then asked the Vulcan to let himself be restrained, which the first officer grudgingly agreed to, the alternative being to inform the captain of this new, highly promising therapy.

“Isn’t it strange how much pain the human body can endure, and yet is so unbearably vulnerable to tickling?” McCoy couldn’t help teasing, watching Spock’s pulse readings rise immediately.

Over the next 30 minutes, the doctor had Spock practically continuously laughing. Since McCoy wanted to avoid direct skin contact with the Vulcan, not least to keep the pleasure he got out of this “treatment” from Spock, neck, ears, knees and thighs were off limits. But when he saw the poorly concealed relief in the Vulcan’s face, especially at the mention of his ears and thighs, the doctor made a mental note to have some silk gloves ready for the next session.

Spock’s whole abdomen was basically one huge tickle spot. The sides of his belly were unbearably sensitive to light, feathering touches, eliciting hysterical cackling from the Vulcan. Staccato tapping anywhere on his stomach resulted in a rich belly-laugh, probably McCoy’s favourite sound. And counting his ribs, gentle fingers drilling in the spaces in between, made the Vulcan howl with laughter.

Apart from his armpits, which really seemed to be Spock’s worst spot, and on which the doctor had to go easy, his sides just above the hipbone proved to be another excruciatingly ticklish spot, when receiving a skilful thumb treatment. Unlike his underarms, the hips at least allowed the Vulcan a few moments of cackling and shrieking before being reduced to silent laughter.

For the last five minutes, McCoy went to the foot of the bed, grinning when Spock’s face clearly showed regret for not having taken his socks off before his exam, nervously curling his toes in ticklish anticipation. When the doctor reached out to touch the twitching feet before him, the Vulcan took a deep breath and clamped his mouth shut, as if he was about to jump into deep water.

McCoy let his two index fingers slowly trail up Spock’s soles, from the heels to the base of his toes, watching the first officer desperately shake his head from side to side while puffing out short breaths through his nose. The doctor went on to play little piggy with all of the Vulcan’s toes, noticing with interest that squeezing and twiddling his middle toes made Spock jerk violently, eliciting the highest-pitched squeaks yet.

And when McCoy finally used one hand to hold back the toes and keep Spock from scrunching them up, while scratching all the fingers of his other hand rapidly from side to side underneath them, along the stems, Spock burst into uncontrollable laughter, escalating into shrieks and screams, his whole body thrashing and spasming, yanking so hard at the restraints, he was almost tearing them off. The doctor quickly let go of the first officer’s feet again.

“Sorry, Spock,” McCoy apologised to the panting Vulcan, unfastening the restraints and handing him a tissue to wipe the tears and sweat from his face. “Are you all right? I had no idea having your feet tickled would be so harrowing for you, I think we’d better skip them next time.”

“Next time?” Spock croaked unable to hide his shock, his voice hoarse from all the laughing and shrieking.

“Well, take a look at the readings yourself!” the doctor grinned smugly, pointing at the display of his tricorder and handing the Vulcan a large glass of water, which Spock gulped down greedily. “I’d say, if we do this twice a month, your anger and other emotional issues will be a thing of the past.”

When Spock had caught his breath again, and had shaken himself several times to get rid of all residual tickles and giggles, he got up, stretched, raised an intrigued eyebrow at the doctor, and admitted that he felt much better indeed.

“Thank you, Doctor. Unusual as this method may be, you seem to have, in fact, found an effective therapy for my hormonal imbalance,” Spock observed, glancing not very subtly from his own standard issue briefs to McCoy’s pants. “I can count on your confidentiality?”

The doctor cleared his throat, feeling the heat rising to his cheeks, certain that his face displayed a shade of pink easily matching the Vulcan’s green hue, when he looked at the enormous tent in Spock’s briefs, only to discover the impressive proof of the therapy’s effectiveness in his own bulging pants, too.

“Uh, of course, Spock. And please, call me Leonard,” he grinned wryly, watching the Vulcan invade his personal space with what could only be described as a slow smile.

“So, tell me, Leonard,” Spock actually purred, “did you enjoy my emotional release?”

********************

So, whoever happens to be in a quiet sickbay every other late Sunday evening, pressing an ear against the door of the otherwise soundproof examination room, might hear something like this.

“Hahahahaha! Hehehehe! Nononono! Nohohot thehehehehre! Plehehehehase not thehehehere! AAAAAHAHAHAH! Nohohot my behehehelly! Ahahahah! Plehehehease Leonahahahahard!”

“NOOOOO! AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA! NOHOHOHOT THE RIHIHIHIHIBS!”

“EEEEEK!”

Long silence

“Please, leave my armpits alone, Leonard! You know I can’t take it there.”

Panting

“BAWAHAHAHAHAH! Stohohohohp! My stohohohomach is muhuhuhuch too TIHIHIHIHCKLISH! DEHEHEHEHESIIIIIIIIIST! I cahahahan’t! It tihihihickles so bahahahad! AHAHAHAHA! AAAAAAAAHAHAH!”

More panting

“No! No! No! Nononono! NOOOOO! NOHOHOHOHO! DEATH SPOT! DEATH SPOHOHOHOHOT! Desiiiist! DESIIIIIIIHIHIHIHIST!”

Hiccupping

“You are one evil doctor, Leonard.” Gasp. “How can you always hit those spots at the sides of my belly so accurately?”

Kissing sounds?

“AAAAAH! Don’t! NOOOOOOHOHO! Not thehehehre! NOT THEHEHEHEHERE! AAAAAAH! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Not AHAHAHAHAHA the AHAHAHAHAHAH hi-hi-hi-hi-HI-HI-HIIIIPS!”

Long silence

“Enough, enouhugh! ENOUGH!” Gasp, gasp. “I’ve had enough, Leonard, I can’t take anymore. And neither can you, it seems.”

More kissing sounds?

“Spock, I need…”

“Yes, Leonard?”

“Mmmmmh! Ooooooh! Yes, yes, yes, yessssss!”

“Not so fast, Leonard! Light touches, just as you like to administer to my belly.”

“Please, Spock, don’t be cruel!”

“I’m Vulcan, we’re not cruel.”

“Oh, Spock, please!”

“This better, Leonard?”

“Oooooh, yes! Mmmmmmmh, aaaaaaah, oooooooh, mmmmmmh. SPOCK!”

“Is there a problem, Leonard?”

“You son of a mmmmmmh, yeeeeeees, mmmmmmh, yes, yes, yes!”

“Like this?”

“Oh, yes! Oooooh, more, mooooore, yeeeees, neeeed moooore! Just like that! Yes, yes, more! Mmmmmmmmh! Right there, oh yes, mmmmmh, yes!”

Long silence

“Spock!”

“Leonard!”

“SPOCK!”

“LEONARD!”

“Oh God, oh fuck!”

Vulcan cursing

Heavy breathing

“FUCK! SPOCK! FUCK!”

“YESSSSSS!”

More heavy breathing

“Fucking hell, that was the fucking best!”

“Fucking agreed.”

Once a month would probably be enough, but McCoy certainly won’t tell Spock that, because he’s having far too much fun tickling the Vulcan silly and, well, dealing with the side effects.

Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing of Star Trek 

[kinetic-elaboration]

February 10: 2x06 The Doomsday Machine

Took a nap after work and really discombobulated myself. Then got a bit of a second wind watching Star Trek.

I believe I have seen this episode before but I had no memory of it going in and no memory of seeing it before even now that I’ve finished, so, who knows?

Where’s Uhura? Hopefully on shore leave somewhere having fun!

I feel like this other Communications officer walked over to the Captain’s chair hoping Kirk would acknowledge her lol. Then when he doesn’t, she doesn’t really know what to do with herself.

Some of the shots in this opening are really weird: the angle of Kirk and Spock at Spock’s station; the camera suddenly randomly dropping right before Kirk starts walking down the step.

DECKER?? Rev. Spice Boy’s father perhaps?

Hmm so the Constellation is another Constitution class like the Enterprise and the Intrepid. I always get a kick out of seeing other space ships of that same shape for some reason.

Mr. Spock in command.

Poor ship! In an aesthetically pleasing disarray, completely abandoned.

Kirk is a very good detective. “They didn’t leave any random mess, so they must have left on purpose.”

Spock in the chair!

Found Decker!

I know he has to be a Commodore to outrank Kirk later but... why is a Commodore in space? Or in other words, why isn’t the Constellation captained by a Captain?

Does Jim know everyone in Starfleet? He’s just that guy, isn’t he? He has a lot of acquaintances and he’s very friendly and easily charming so he just kind of collects people (especially Starfleet people since it is his WHOLE adult life) but he doesn’t have that many close friends or lasting romantic relationships; he’s hard to get really, properly close to.

Well that’s the mystery of the crew solved :( That’s like tragically sad.

I like when Kirk is smart and understands star ships.

Decker is not being very helpful here in actually explaining what the Threat is! Still, that’s a very classic horror trope: an evil so terrible that it is beyond description. (Alternately, he could have just said “giant windsock dipped in cement,” which is what it was.)

Robot weapon!! Giant ancient alien robot weapon just floating around space, following its orders mindlessly because it is just a machine, a tool set loose by people no longer around to control or restrain it... I love that. That’s so cool and scary and weird all at once.

A space legend!! The Doomsday machine... The most terrible of all weapons, never meant to be used... it destroyed its makers and continues to destroy still...

Really into the visual of towing a ship through space.

We must deactivate the robot!

Now Kirk will repair the ship.

The Commodore is recovering, I see... at least nominally.

“Logically our primary duty is to save Captain Kirk.”

Spock is getting outranked!! Awkward lol. Not a good idea to try to outmaneuver Spock in any way, rank or no. He is Savage and he WILL bring up your dead crew. He is Pissed. The subtlety.

McCoy is soo the audience in this scene. “So are you.. Sir.” That patented rocking motion. Trying to get over, under, around, or through the regulations to do what’s right.

Is the Commodore chewing on one of the floppy disks? That seems pretty weird to me. You can’t EAT them.

Mmm, Kirk working on the ship; sexy. Yet again he must fly the whole constitution class ship BY HIMSELF.

The thing is that Spice Boy Sr. IS unfit for command; anyone who saw him 10 minutes earlier on the Constellation would know that.

I love that not!Uhura doesn’t even try to tell the Commodore the status report; she talks to Spock because she knows who the real boss is here.

Spock, always on the lookout for how to use regulations to get himself back in the chair. Also foreshadowing the suicide.

Now Kirk will distract the evil robot to save Spock!!

Got that ship doing with only Scotty’s help, working all the controls, flying the whole damn thing himself like the bamf he is. Gotta zig zag around to tempt and confuse the robot.

“Scotty you’ve earned your pay for the week.” They get paid lol? In what?

Now the robot machine is eating.

Love Spock’s little, subtle eyebrow raise when he hears Kirk’s name.

This scene is gold lol. Kirk’s not going to let Decker speak for Spock. “Where’s Spock? Give me Mr. Spock. What happened to Spock?” Like good news is that it wasn’t Spock being reckless with the ship but bad news is where is he??

Another regulations show down. “You can file a formal complaint but for now.. out of the chair. Or I shall snap my fingers and have security escort you out.”

Vulcans bluff all the time lmao.

Ah ha, now to get him officially declared unfit.

And now for the required hand to hand combat scene. This ep really does have everything.

The shuttlecraft is escaping!

I love that when Sulu announces that the shuttlecraft doors are opening, Spock’s just like “Well...close them. Duh.”

RIP Decker... The inevitable end of that character.

Spock wants Kirk back on the Enterprise immediately.

I know Kirk is slightly annoyed when Spock corrects his math but like...you know he also finds it sexy.

“Jim, you’ll be killed.” / “Don’t worry bb I don’t intend to die.” Is that not the dialogue?

Now Scotty has to solve literally everything himself.

The tension!!

“Gentlemen, beam me aboard.” That tone, though. That’s such a Kirk tone, like he’s got to be the Cool Boss even and especially in moments of high stakes. That subtle humor Shatner brought to him.

I knew they’re going to save him and I also knew they’d do it at the laaaast possible moment but I was still really scared.

Spock is so in love. The way he looks at Kirk at his return and welcomes him aboard...  Such relief.

And then some classic end of episode dialogue: Spock thoughtfully points out the larger implications of their adventure--that they might have only destroyed one of many planet killers still out there--while Kirk, all relaxed and happy now that the current problem has been solved, and still riding the high of his recent adventure, just makes a funny, minimizing remark. “I found one quite sufficient.” Little flirty smile for no reason.

And so the space legend lives on...

I loved this episode. It really had everything: great sci fi concept; K/S content; Starfleet regulations; a fist fight; aliens; a connection to the current events of its time (with the comparison to the H bomb, asking people to think about the long range/unintended consequences of our extreme weaponry); Kirk being heroic and good at his job; a tense finale.

I feel like this episode seems on its face to show the Kirk and Spock dichotomy that STID and the other AOS movies were trying to depict but like... AOS didn't get it. Like yes Spock quotes all the regulations and ultimately listens to Decker's regulation citing, and Kirk's like "yeah whatever screw those regulations,” but Spock is obviously making strategic decisions and he's always on the lookout for how to use the regs to his advantage--it's not just obeying for the sake of obeying. And Kirk isn't just cavalierly not caring about the rules--he's in an emergency situation and he reads it for what it is, a test of will, where regulations are being weaponized. And he weaponizes them, too: he knows Spock is his direct subordinate and not only will obey him but NEEDS to, per those same regulations.

All 3 of them, including McCoy, know both the regulations and their own morality; they're not that different, but they have different levels of power and different abilities with regard to how they use regulations and how they can interact with other people of other ranks. They ALL want to do what’s right and they will ALL either use or discard regulations as they see fit, to the best of their ability.

AOS just flattened it, in STID in particular: Spock likes rules and doesn't care about anything else and Kirk hates rules and never listens to them.

Of course Kirk in TOS is a decade older and has a lot more experience. Episodes like this make me think about how that experience is one of the huge differences between TOS and AOS Kirk (STXI and STID in particular). You can't fake 15 years of Starfleet experience. you just can't. Could AOS Kirk get down on the ground and fix the Constellation himself and fly it by himself? Probably not.

I get why the AOS verse ran itself into that corner, and in fact it doesn’t matter in STXI, where the narrative is a contained, emergency situation, and Kirk’s command is a field promotion for a discrete and limited purpose, but I do think the movies struggled with that conundrum later. No one has the time to grow and mature in a normal way. How do you build them up over time when you skipped over that development period they logically should have had, both as professionals and as people?

I appreciate STID in theory for trying to address that issue, I just think it did it badly. Like its Kirk narrative was supposed to be about "earning the chair" but it didn't keep Kirk IC while doing that, nor did it address the real problem: he's not just A Rebel, but he is verrrry inexperienced. (I know you could make arguments about his AOS background changing his personality blah blah blah I’ve seen STID recently and in my opinion it just doesn’t feel right.)

Then STB tried to skip over the issue by just pushing the narrative forward to mid-5YM. Well they’re magically experienced now! And that was even worse. So, what can you do?

Anyway that was a big AOS tangent lol.

Next ep is Catspaw. A little late for Halloween but always great nonetheless!

[the-nerdy-stjarna]

AOS Rewatch: S1E6 “FZZT”

aka the episode in which Lil and Iain gave us their first real taste of “We will kill you with feels and you won’t be able to escape us and you’ll be in a lot of pain but you will also love every second of it because we’re so fucking brilliant.”

That campfire scene is like my worst nightmare.

“I glisten” That’s what I say at the gym, too.

“That’s what you say to an old person.” That’s something I’ll very soon say at the gym.

"Lose the ounce.”

Fitz making Skye laugh and he being all flabbergasted and then trying to flirt.

“It’s like you’re psychically linked.” **ugly crying**

Jemma tricking Ward into believing the ounce is gone. MY QUEEN!

“Any idea what could cause an effect like that?” — **flabbergasted attempts at an explanation — “Time. Let’s try this again. Any idea what could cause an effect like that?” — “No idea.”

I don’t know who to credit for this gif but it’s the greatest thing ever.

“Not that stupid cat again.” One of my favorite Fitzsimmons arguments.

I love May. Kicking the door in like only Mama May can.

“A scented candle” Squeamish!Fitz is just so precious.

That moment when Diaz realizes he’s about to die like his friends. **ugly crying**

Coulson taking time to talk to Diaz. **more ugly crying**

Sidenote: Jemma saying “Sir, I’ve discovered something...”, my DVD subtitles said “Fitz:” The subtitles can’t keep them apart either

Coulson noticing the tool behind Jemma floating and she is oblivious and he leaves and... **so much ugly crying**

That scene with Fitz and Simmons back to back. SO SO SO MUCH UGLY CRYING. THIS ENTIRE EPISODE IS JUST SO PAINFUL. WHYYYYYYYY????

Fitz trying to remain cheerful when really he’s so scared for her **ugly crying** “That wasn’t very cooperative of him now, was it?”

The fight. The fight that ended in “You’ve been beside me the whole damn time.” **so much ugly crying I can’t even.**

The “you have to fix this” that turned into a “we fix this together”

The whole vaccine vs. anti-serum thing.

“Just try and do you best to keep your hands off me.” That worked for a few seasons but not for that long really.

The montage of them working together with that music and just everything. GOD THIS EPISODE IS KILLING ME!

“Would you mind if I had a brief moment alone with Fitz?” **ugly crying round 25,000**

As much as the knocking out scene hurts, I read in the declassified book that Lil was so nervous about that scene and that she would hurt Iain and then the little shite afterwards had the make-up crew create a bruise and pretended she had really hurt him.

“JEMMMAAAAAAAA” **how many times can I write ugly crying before it gets redundant**

Fitz was willing to jump out of that flying plane. Just like. That’s who he is and how much he cares for her. Thinking about his safety last.

Coulson yelling when really he is so relieved “We’d hate to lose you, Jemma.” **heart eyes**

Sweet honest Jemma coming clean about the night night gun.

“But I don’t feel fine. I feel different.” I love that scene between Coulson and May.

That Fitzsimmons scene. “You’re the hero.” The sweet kiss. That look on Fitz’s face. Just. Like. How. DARE. THEY??

Bonus: Here’s an alternate universe fic I wrote in which Jemma jumping out of the plane makes them realize they have feelings for each other: Forbidden Fruit

[illustrious-rocket]

Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution 2: Anemone (review)

Score: * (out of 4)

Summary: A creatively bankrupt film that represents a new low for a beloved yet beleaguered franchise, Anemone is an epic misfire that begs comparisons to, of all things, The Room.

Long review (spoilers):

The story of the Eureka Seven franchise has been a long, and unfortunately, often troubled one. I have a separate post in development documenting its history through my eyes as someone who got into the series long after its original airing, so many of the matters relating to that subject will not be in this post. What this post is, however, is a breakdown of what makes this one film a failure.

Strap in, this is going to be a ride.

After several years in dormancy following the ill-received Eureka Seven AO, a new film trilogy titled Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution was announced. Immediately, this news begged comparisons to other cinematic reboots to well known franchises, two examples being the recent Code Geass reboot series and, more notably, Rebuild of Evangelion. I know when Hi-Evolution was announced, I was apprehensive. I dropped AO halfway through, and the installment of the franchise prior to it (Pocketful of Rainbows/Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers) was an average at best alternate universe. I was curious to see what the Hi-Evolution trilogy would do, but I had little faith that Tomoki Kyoda and Bones would produce something to redeem the series after AO.

The first film would later be promoted as finally telling an untold part of the story: the First Summer of Love, an incident in which main protagonist Renton’s father Adrock gained hero status for saving the world during an incident involving the alien Scub Coral. Unfortunately, this proved to be a bait and switch. The new animation depicting the First Summer of Love - which came about as the result of the military’s Operation Necrosis, a mission to use a weapon called Silver Box to destroy the Scub Coral and liberate Earth - comprises only a fraction of the film. The rest is made up, somehow, of footage recycled from the 2005 series with new audio dubbed over it to tell an altered story. As a result, the first film was mostly a failure.

Then the second film was announced to focus on Anemone, an immensely popular supporting character from the original series. Not only that, it would portray an angle of the Eureka Seven universe never seen before: for the first time, the story would take place in the ‘real’ world, being set in Tokyo. This represented a greater ambition on the part of the production, but also was a concept that could easily go wrong. Prior to the release of the film, I was expecting it to be another sort-of-retelling, this time focusing on the psychadelic nightmare depicted in the infamous original series episode “Acperience 1.”

If only that was what this film actually was.

I admit, when I saw this film, I had already been spoiled on its plot. I am glad I was, because had I not been, I would have found the movie incomprehensible. Tomoki Kyoda’s attitudes going into producing it have also been troubling, particularly remarks about “auteurism” in one interview. When the words “A Tomoki Kyoda Film” appeared on the screen at the beginning of this film, I gulped. I knew I was in for something.

The film opens with a flashback sequence introducing Anemone as a character and explaining some of the context of the movie’s story. Two problems immediately become apparent. One, this sequence - and all flashbacks to similar moments throughout the film - is rendered in full 3D CGI that looks extremely cheap. The colors and shading create the image of dull, flat figures created by a 3D printer moving around on CGI backgrounds. Worse, the mouth movements in these 3D CGI scenes do not match the dialogue. Viewing this movie, you will see mouth flaps regularly desync from the audio.

Worse yet, this movie is titled “Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution: Anemone” and was promoted as being an Anemone film, but Anemone is not in it. The “Anemone” in this film is, in fact, a new character named Fuuka who looks like her and has the nickname Anemone. She isn’t Anemone, though, because her character is completely different. It couldn’t be any more unlike the original Anemone’s. She’s an exact polar opposite of who Anemone actually was. The fact that this film is an even bigger bait and switch than the first one was is bad enough. But even if you roll with the idea of Anemone being a totally different character, it introduces problems that undermine the film internally. Let’s put a pin in that for now.

Anyway, the movie establishes Fuuka/Anemone’s backstory as a military brat whose father, Ken, was killed during an operation to fight an “Eureka,” one of several phenomena that destroyed the planet over time, eventually annihilating many nations and killing nearly three billion people. She is an inoffensive character, but does not have much at all of the spark the original Anemone had, instead sacrificing it for more typical tropes. Once the flashback concludes, the film jumps forward to the present day. Here, the first thing we see is a long battle sequence in which military forces battle “Eureka Seven” (the seventh Eureka), which attacks with a manifestation of the Nirvash. This sequence is drawn out and poorly plotted, making the action difficult to follow. That’s a problem throughout the film, in fact - we see cuts to similar battle scenes many times, and they always feel like incoherent sequences where things just explode to fill space.

Once this incoherent battle sequence ends, the true plot begins to kick in. Anemone consults “Dominic,” an app installed on her phone by Ken during the earlier flashback, for advice during the battle, and Dominic’s advice leads the military to decide to send Anemone “diving” into Eureka Seven using a special device. This device greatly resembles a virtual reality setup, but when activated, it sends Anemone into flashbacks to the original series. Here is where the recycled 2005 footage comes back in, but this time, it is executed better thanks to the context of it being in an “alternate world.” Anemone is sent to a moment where Nirvash and theEND battled in the original series and manages to destroy Nirvash, catching a glimpse of Eureka holding Renton’s clothing before being ejected from the dive. This causes a portion of Eureka Seven to be destroyed in the real world, which is humanity’s first victory against the phenomena.

There are several things we need to unpack here. First, the Dominic app. This is a bizarre reinvention of the character Dominic Sorel from the original series, who was a military officer that usually served as Anemone’s handler, often found himself on the receiving end of her abuse, and ultimately became her love interest. He had a story arc alongside Anemone where he came to doubt his role in the military and had his views evolve over time until he changed sides to join the heroes. Here, he is nothing but an annoying app with no real characterization. Worse, the avatar of his face rendered on the phone is depicted with CGI even worse than the flashbacks. Many of his sentences will begin with Dominic’s mouth moving, only for him to stop moving his mouth halfway through and yet continue to talk. It is a jarring sight to see every time it happens.

While the use of 2005 footage is better contextualized this time, and there is even some new footage animated in original 4:3 style, other things happen that bring down anything good that could come of this. Because all the leaps take Anemone to various battles between Nirvash and theEND, a plot hole is created: if Fuuka is the real Anemone, how was theEND there battling Nirvash before she leaped into it using the dive device? Worse, still, because of how different Fuuka and original Anemone’s personalities are, there is abrupt shifting back and forth in her character within the same scenes. Fuuka is, to put it mildly, an average anime girl who hits the usually expected tropes. Original Anemone was an ill-tempered, mentally damaged person with a violent streak and an addiction to drugs given to her by series antagonist Dewey Novak, who abused her and took advantage of her depression and need for validation to benefit himself. The problem comes in the fact that some of the recycled footage from 2005 includes showing Anemone piloting theEND in battle. Because Fuuka and original Anemone are so different, she suddenly becomes much more bloodthirsty and violent and then reverts back depending on when the individual moment was animated. It’s not consistent and takes the viewer out of the film. Another inconsistency in this same place comes with Dominic, who manifests as Dominic Sorel while inside Eureka Seven. He is present inside theEND’s cockpit while Anemone pilots, but even while new footage is animated for these sequences, Dominic is not present for the Anemone combat shots. He appears and disappears between individual shots.

Moving on. This basic setup drives much of the film. Anemone makes more dives into the world within the Eureka Seven, each time returning back to a battle between Nirvash and theEND that ends with a portion of Eureka Seven in the real world being destroyed. Because she is responsible for humanity turning the tide in the battle against the Eurekas, Anemone is turned into an idol by the military for propaganda purposes. This element is severely underplayed and has little real signficance in the plot. Her primary motivation is to come to terms with Ken’s fate battling the Eurekas, and thanks to this and intelligence gathered during the missions, the military decides to bring Anemone to meet a familiar face: Dewey Novak. Unlike the rest of the characters in the film sans Eureka herself, Dewey is the real one, having been ejected from another world heavily implied to be the world depicted in the first Hi-Evolution film. He was captured by the military outside Eureka Seven and placed in restraints that cover his eyes, while his legs are trapped in the other world and fade away to nothing.

Dewey’s presence in this film accomplishes little other than give tastes of what it could have been and provide sequel bait for a future installment. Many of his scenes are merely him saying mysterious and vaguely threatening things, none of which really make sense in the context of this movie alone. Further, because he is the Hi-Evolution 1 Dewey and Anemone is Fuuka, the reunion of the two ends up having no emotional resonance at all. In the original series, Anemone suffered terrible physical and mental abuse at Dewey’s hands, through his administering drugs to enhance her performance in battle and dispensing praise and attention in measured amounts to ensure her compliance. The idea that Anemone would be reunited with Dewey, who is now (apparently) a ragged, powerless old man at the mercy of his captors, could have been an opportunity for great mental catharsis as Anemone finally obtains closure for what Dewey did to her. But because neither one of them knows the other, this ends up being a false start. They merely speak about the mission against the Eurekas and therefore the dialogue could be between any two people. It is not something only Anemone and Dewey together could do, and feels wasted.

As her mission continues on, Anemone eventually destroys enough of Eureka Seven to expose its core. The core has a design that was clearly intended to be frightening, but instead is laughable; it is covered with small eyes and has one big one whose expression makes it look tired and unhappy about having to show up. Suddenly, Anemone gets trapped in “PLAY BACK” during her dive, a phenomenon that rewinds time back through the events in the earlier dives. She ends up being brought to a time just prior to Ken’s death, where she is confronted by Eureka.

The film was not good until this point. At this exact moment, it completely falls apart.

Eureka is no longer the naive but well-meaning girl from the original series, or even the mother who would go to any lengths for her children from AO. In fact, those Eurekas never existed at all. The “true” Eureka is a psychopath who became this way after accidentally killing Renton when her powers were awakened by her exposure to Silver Box (thus implying the event took place in the Hi-Evolution 1 world.) Since then, she has been using Silver Box’s power to rewind time and try to create new worlds where she can have her happy ending with Renton, but they all go wrong, forcing her to “PLAY BACK” and start over again. These actions were responsible for creating every other part of the franchise - the original series, manga, light novels, Pocketful of Rainbows, AO, all of them were nothing but dreams made real through Eureka’s use of Silver Box’s power, in the process releasing the Eurekas in the real world and killing billions of people.

Needless to say, this twist is appalling and fails in more ways than one. First of all, it renders the entire plot of this movie and the trilogy dependant upon knowing the events from the previous installments. If you don’t know anything about what took place in the previous installments, this twist is meaningless to you. It only lands if you have an attachment to the events now revealed to be false worlds. But if you have this attachment, the movie then steps squarely into the same mistake AO made by revealing that what you liked in the past didn’t end up the way you thought it did and wasn’t real. Worse, though, it makes it hard to care about any form of the franchise anymore, because at this point, it becomes apparent that every character can be whatever the demands of the plot dictate. When no character has an actual consistent personality that won’t change on a dime depending on the whims of the plot, there is no reason to get invested in them. Eureka is now essentially Monika from Doki Doki Literature Club, killing innocents and erasing entire worlds out of an overwhelming selfishness to get her own happy ending. It’s a complete betrayal of the central character. This twist also disrupts the logic of the timeline even further - because Anemone was leaping into battles between Nirvash and theEND, theEND already had to be there, but since Anemone didn’t meet Eureka until this point, how could she have created a world where Anemone was her enemy prior to meeting her?

Eureka offers to create a world in which Ken survived, but Anemone refuses, and after Anemone leaves, this happens.

There is little to say about this image, as it is the downfall of this franchise encapsulated in a single picture. The scene itself is even worse, rendered in the CGI and as awful to look at in action as it is in a still image. Worse still, Eureka’s dialogue in this scene has her saying that she is willing to become “the devil itself” to get her happy ending, which just butchers her character even further.

When Eureka Seven is destroyed and Eureka falls into despair over being unable to reach Renton, a new monster appears and goes on a rampage. At this point, Dewey suddenly reveals he has superpowers by breaking out of his restraints, manifesting his legs and showing that his eyes at least temporarily turn black. He telekinetically escapes from the prison, displaying powers similar to those of Truth, the main antagonist of AO. I strongly suspect he will be treated as a Dewey/Truth amalgamation in the final film of this trilogy.

With nothing left she can do, Anemone calls out an unheard phrase Ken once told her to call when she needs him. This causes Dominic to reappear, and he summons a new form of theEND that resembles Gulliver, her pet badger, into the real world. Together, they resolve to enter the monster so Anemone can try to save Eureka, and engage it in battle. This sequence is the only truly good portion of the film, offering a stunning example of what an Eureka Seven movie could have been and finally truly recapturing its magic. Contrary to the previous battle sequences, this one is well choreographed, exciting, and is enhanced by the presence of Ballet Mechanique during it. Unfortunately, this dizzying high is fleeting. When she reaches the inside of the monster and dives into its world, Anemone finds Eureka at the apartment complex from Fuuka’s childhood. This means we’re back into the awful CGI again. Eureka confesses her actions and motivations to Anemone, but Anemone refuses to give up on her and honor her request to kill her now that she no longer can use Silver Box’s power to make more worlds. This being Fuuka instead of original Anemone, and the alterations to the timeline, end up leaving no relationship between Eureka and Anemone in the “real” timeline. Like the interactions between Dewey and Anemone, there is little emotional resonance. Anemone manages to convince Eureka to leave, but before they can escape, the most stupefying event yet begins.

Millions of giant Gullivers begin pouring out of the apartment building and eating the entire world, forcing Eureka and Anemone to escape from them. If this sounds like a dumb visual, it is. The Gullivers also have the voice of Larva Nirvash from Pocketful of Rainbows for some reason. Yet this scene is treated completely seriously, with heroic music and everything, creating an embarrassing sequence that is impossible not to cringe during.

Eureka and Anemone escape, destroying the monster and causing it to drop a giant egg. Everything that happens after this point feels like a post credits scene placed in the wrong point of the film. Somehow, the Gekkostate members, Dominic Sorel, a giant Gulliver, and Charles and Ray Beams all appear in the real world despite their worlds being false. Dewey, having gotten to the surface, says more mysterious comments to set up the sequel. Anemone and Eureka talk, and Anemone says she thinks Renton may still be alive after all. Suddenly, the egg cracks open to reveal a new Nirvash model, whose drive displays Eureka’s name inside of it. Eureka realizes someone is searching for her, and the final shot of the film reveals Renton on another planet, using his Compac Drive to call out to Eureka.

Now that the plot is fully picked apart, I feel like I have to finally sit and really address one of the major elephants in the room when it comes to this film. In both broad strokes and smaller, more specific instances that would not be notable if the context of the more blatant examples didn’t exist, this film heavily copies things from the various installations of the Evangelion franchise. I don’t mean this as a reference to mere inspiration from Evangelion, which is widespread. This film is blatant, Darling in the FRANXX Episode 19-levels of copying things from it.

One doesn’t even need to actually view a single second of the film to see this, either. The teaser poster sets a trend the rest of the movie follows by brazenly copying the imagery of the Evangelion 2.22 poster.

Needless to say, this image sets the stage for what you see within the film itself. Within just the first 10 minutes, it becomes immediately apparent that Anemone lifts stylistic choices and imagery wholesale from Evangelion. Throughout the film, but most plainly in the early scenes, the scenery and composition of camera shots are directly lifted; when I first watched it, it was mere minutes into the film that I stopped and said “oh my God, this is ripping off Eva.” Smash cuts into title cards and scene transitions abound at the beginning (the first thing that made me notice the copying) and the first battle sequence is not just ‘inspired’ but flat out stolen from the well known battle sequence featured at the beginning of Evangelion. It steals the imagery of tanks and battleships engaging the enemy wholesale, and the story’s lead character (Anemone/Shinji) is being driven through the battle to an important location by a female character in a position of authority (Mischa and her crew/Misato), where the main character is coerced into piloting a weapon (the dive system/Eva Unit-01) against the enemy (Nirvash & Eureka Seven/the Angel) that nobody else can defeat.

Things don’t really improve for this topic after getting through the first battle. The unit “ASSID” that Anemone enlists and serves in is more or less a copy of NERV, both being paramilitary units ostensibly under affiliation with the United Nations to battle the enemy creatures. This might not be a big deal on its own, but in the context of the more obvious copying elsewhere in the movie, it is an example of something that is made worse by the rest of the film. We reach another shamelessly stolen point a little while later, when Anemone goes to visit Dewey. First of all, Dewey is held in a complex whose design - from the vast open spaces to the elevator to Dewey’s cell deep underground - is blatantly ‘inspired’ by Terminal Dogma, a chamber of similar design concept deep underneath the NERV base where the Angel Lilith is restrained on a cross. Accordingly, Dewey’s personal state is seemingly copied from Lilith’s. For no reason, Dewey has his arms pulled back onto a cross-like structure on the back of his wheelchair, giving him the appearance of being crucified sitting down; meanwhile, his eyes are covered with a blindfold, in context seemingly mirroring Lilith’s mask. Most notably, however, is one of the oddest things about Dewey’s appearance in this film: his legs fading away into another world. Lilith’s legs are also significantly malformed, barely forming stumps before splitting into dozens of tiny human-like legs. Both having such a specific, unusual similarity is hard not to notice. He even regains his legs after an important event related to him - the defeat of Eureka Seven and emergence of the Eureka monster - takes place, much like how Lilith regrows her legs in the original Evangelion series after the Spear of Longinus is removed from her body.

Also notably, the way Nirvash is suspended in the real world as it fights the military forces clearly mirrors the way Evangelion units are transported by air, save for the blatant crucifixion imagery being removed. This is depicted on the poster for Anemone I posted above. There are other smaller, more nitpicky examples of the specific cribbing from Evangelion I am excluding from this review to more highlight the significant ones.

Next let’s move on to something you’ve likely been waiting to see if you’re reading this review: the comparison to The Room. I’m sure that will likely cause some controversy, but I feel it’s on solid footing. As I mentioned, Kyoda remarked about having reached a point of “auteurism” with this film. That comment implies a certain mentality on his part that he absolutely failed to live up to, and it is hard to not see shades of Tommy Wiseau and his fanatical belief in The Room in Kyoda’s belief in his film’s quality. There is one point where they diverge that is troubling, though - Tommy Wiseau, after releasing The Room and seeing its reception, realized how people saw it and decided to roll with the reputation The Room acquired even though it wasn’t what he intended. Kyoda, on the other hand, seems to believe that his movie is the masterpiece he thought it to be and everyone else is wrong about it. To me, this represents a self-fulfilling prophecy in which Kyoda doubles down on previous mistakes in each new installment because they were poorly received the first time, as if he believes doing so will eventually force people to “get” what he’s doing. You can see in Anemone a doubling down on three of the worst aspects of AO: time travel/dimension hopping, butchering Eureka/past characters, and the inclusion of boring and irrelevant “real world” politics. It is like if Tommy Wiseau, instead of becoming self-aware after The Room was treated as a joke, decided to teach the public why his filmmaking style was right by getting the rights to make an adaptation of War and Peace with his style in it.

The continual doubling down on mistakes is something that can be traced through the franchise all the way back to the very first followup, the 2009 film Pocketful of Rainbows. As someone who only got into the Eureka Seven franchise many years later, my relationship to that film is different from that of people who were fans during that era, so I sought out opinions from a friend who was an original-era Eureka Seven fan. As it turned out, topics I was already honing in one turned out to have been controversial or poorly received back then, too. While Pocketful of Rainbows was ostensibly set on real-world Earth, it continued to feature the fantasy political structure from the original series, so that problem was at least partially dodged. One big flaw of Pocketful of Rainbows we did agree upon was its extensive use of recycled footage, with my friend pointing out that it also had an ugly gray filter applied to it, giving the film a “darker” look. Comparisons to what was released in 2018 are almost painfully obvious, and arguably even uglier than the filtered footage in 2009 was because of the fact the recycled footage is now 4:3 in a 16:9 film. Pocketful of Rainbows also drastically changes its characters, turning Gekkostate into the villains, Anemone into an elderly priestess/prophet of the Scubs, Dominic into a bit character who appears briefly as Renton and Eureka’s mentor before dying ten minutes into the film and popping up again later very briefly, the Scubs themselves becoming the “robotic” “EIZO,” and most notoriously, derailing Eureka in a fashion to which I will simply quote my friend:

For example, Eureka was made into this tsundere childhood friend of Renton, which felt cliche and unnatural. Not only that, but Eureka was completely helpless for much of the film. She didn't do any fighting and was just a broken bird for Renton to save. Some people took it as an insult to her character, a huge step down from the capable girl she was in the original.It's a common theme in these other entries, really. Eureka is consistently disrespected and derailed as a character to just fit the narrative. 

Another point about Pocketful of Rainbows that comes back in AO and Hi-Evolution is its use of alternate realities. While the original did establish such a concept existed, the followups have increasingly abused the idea of alternate universes to retcon previous installments, retcon themselves, and ultimately in Hi-Evolution 2, completely delete the entire franchise from existence.

As someone who came into the series late, I have always felt that Pocketful of Rainbows is an average, watchable film that fails to live up to its excellent predecessor, but I can easily understand why fans in the original era would not have liked it. It is not a good Eureka Seven film, but unlike AO and Hi-Evolution, it still feels like Eureka Seven. In my opinion, it includes enough of the spirit of the original in its fairytale-esque story (including the use of one, singular parallel universe) to still capture the whimsical tone that distinguishes the original series. That is where Tomoki Kyoda’s constant insistence on doubling down on the same mistakes over and over and over has destroyed the franchise since then, and the Hi-Evolution Anemone film is the pinnacle of that collapse. It tops all its predecessors in terms of alternate universe abuse, character derailment, and boring and irrelevant politics, choking out the soul of the franchise. As I said earlier, the Ballet Mechanique sequence is the only moment in this film that truly feels like Eureka Seven. That may be because at the core of Kyoda’s discernable vision, it would appear he wants Eureka Seven to be a darker story with a much more bittersweet ending. The problem comes with the fact that even if it was childishly naive, the unambiguously happy ending of the original series was a big part of its unique identity landing so effectively. I have mused before that what made Eureka Seven stand out was the fact that it combined a mecha anime with themes from 1960s counterculture, which effectively worked hand-in-hand with the fairytale tone of the story to create something unique. Even as childishly naive as it may have been, it was always at its heart about fighting for the right thing and for love, no matter what the odds or the forces opposing you. This wasn’t what Kyoda planned for it to be, it is what the series evolved into once other minds placed input into it. Now don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of respect to be had for a creator who sticks to their vision, but Kyoda has doubled down on the same ideas so many times now while remaining stubbornly closed-minded to the merits of the original’s evolution that any goodwill has burned away. Pocketful of Rainbows still felt like Eureka Seven because it still captured that idea of fighting for the right thing no matter what, but it did have a bittersweet ending. People criticized that movie, and Kyoda followed up by creating the grim, depressing Eureka Seven AO that retroactively inflicted damage on the original, as if it wanted to retcon what he was unhappy with. AO was rejected by fans, so he takes the same ideas and makes them even worse, flat out retconning the entire franchise out of existence with a film that barely has any identity of its own beyond undoing Kyoda’s dissatisfaction with his past work.

In the end, all these problems, in my opinion, come back to Tomoki Kyoda and his stubborn, singleminded obsession with executing a vision and forcing it to be liked. The first screening of this film in the United States, at the recent Anime Expo, was a very telling moment for it. As per my friend (original post at this link https://historyman101.tumblr.com/post/186188741243/so-i-was-talking-with-my-friend-pantsunugerumon), the Anemone screening was attended by only enough people to 1/3 fill the hall, and the film was met with silence for almost its entire runtime, the only moment eliciting cheers being the appearance of Gekkostate, Renton and Charles and Ray at the end. When the credits rolled, there was more silence followed by polite applause when the audience realized it was over. Kaori Nazuka, Eureka’s seiyuu, was in attendance and made a comment during the Q&A section of the presentation that also did an excellent job encapsulating the reason Kyoda’s approach brought the film and the franchise down. Accoring to Nazuka (voice clip provided by my friend via his friend who attended AX https://historyman101.tumblr.com/post/186190292840/kaori-nazuka-strikes-me-as-someone-who-is-just), Kyoda told her not to worry about Eureka being so different in this film because as long as she provides Eureka’s voice, it will always be Eureka. While it is true that a voice is an important part of an iconic character, it demonstrates a mentality that characterization, development and logical progression doesn’t matter. Those are key factors for any work, but especially for a character-centric story like Eureka Seven that lives and dies on getting you to care about the characters and what they experience. If characters become completely fluid and change on a dime to suit the director’s whims, the entire backbone of the story collapses.

I could go on for ages about this film, but I’ll finally wrap this review up. Since I reviewed a film that was ruined by its director’s obsession with executing a specific vision, next time, I will review a movie whose director was able to carry out their vision with exactly the creative control Tomoki Kyoda wanted himself.

[sadbi-hours]

Made for @aosrecweek​ for Throwback Thursday

Oh, wow! Guys…it was like y’all read my mind! I’ve been wanting to make an AoS rec list for a bit now, but I just never had the self-motivation to put myself into gear and do it!

Well, I have now…and I really enjoyed putting this list together! I actually hunted across the internet for some of these fanfic recs, because while my tastes were different back in the day, I still love a good fanfic…and I think that still counts for something. 

Plus, I wasn’t really into saving stories that I really liked back in the day. So fair warning, I haven’t read some of these stories in a really long time and my mini reviews might be a bit off, but I still believe that a good fanfic will stick with ya through the ages. 

I hope you found these fanfics to be just as good as I do and I hope you’ll enjoy reading them too:)

P.S. I still plan to make a whole rec list of other stories I like too…with Ot3+, brotps, and all the het and slash fics that your heart desires! 

i had a secret meeting in the basement of my brain by owlvsdove

It takes Skye two seconds to realize they are seducing her, and another second to realize it is seriously working.

(In which Skye, to her absolute horror, falls in love with the science babies.)

Pairing: FSK/ Fitzskimmons

Why you should read it?: 

This story is very personal to me! Because, not only was it the first fanfic for the AoS fandom that I’d ever read..but it also introduced me to the world of ot3′s and the possibility that a poly relationship could actually work not only in fiction but in the real world too. That’s how real this relationship was for me…that’s how beautifully written it was… how completely true to how I’d believe that Fitz, Daisy (or Skye at the time of the story), and Jemma might have started their relationship back in the day, if you know, mainstream network had had the balls to explore that route.

I adore this fic! It still holds a special place for me. I do wish that the author had kept the FF.net version of the story up. There were a few things I loved that had existed in that version that are deleted out in the only existing  one…but that’s just a minor pet peeve of mine. I would still recommend this story if you love fluffy and sexy ot3 action with some minor angst, because Daisy always has to make things complicated for herself!   

Like A Stain Series by AgentSkyeMorse

Skye’s words appeared when she was 17. Trip’s words appeared when he decided to join S.H.I.E.L.D. Hunters heart is broken when finds his Soulmate. Bobbi doesn’t believe in Soulmates… That’s what she tells herself.

Pairing: Bobbi Morse/ Daisy Johnson/ Lance Hunter (aka I don’t know their ship name), and some past Daisy/Triplet 

Why you should read?:.

I don’t really remember much about this series, other than it’s a Canon-divergent post-2 and Soulmate AU. 

I do however remember it being really freaking good! I loved how the characters were not completely OCC like some AU ‘verse’s can make their main characters be. I believed that all these could have really happened if some of Canon’s events had happened differently…and there was such a things as Soulmate universes. 

There are some minor changes made to AoS’s canon, but that’s to be expected. However, I really liked how the writer still made me believe in Bobbi, Lance, and Daisy’s chemistry really well. And it had some really freaking hot sex scenes too, if I remember correctly. 

Mascot by Philote 

In which Skye adopts an orphaned dog, much to the varying delight and chagrin of her teammates.

Pairing: Gen/ No expressed Ships I believe

Why you should read?: 

It’s just a really cute story about the team’s varying reactions to Skye sneaking a little puppy on board the bus. It’s just pure s1 team fluff, and it actually has weary but protective Ward that I think is adorable…before you know, Ward became the evil asshole that he is. 

If you just want team fluff with very little angst, than this is the story for you! 

the heart is hard to translate (all my stumbling phrases never amounted to anything worth this feeling) by awkwardspiritanimals

Leopold Fitz is going to do whatever it takes to keep them safe. Even if it means turning their household items into deadly weapons.

The other three just want him to get some sleep.

(tripfitzskimmons polyamory)

Pairing: Tripfitzskimmons 

Why you should read?:

A post season 1 Ot4, where Fitz feels helpless because of his brain injury and tries to help in the only way he knows how and still can…by making everyday objects into deadly weapons…

Trip, Jemma, and Daisy try to be understanding, but would like it very much if Fitz would stopped turning their possessions into weapons. 

It’s very sweet little ficlet, but does have some Fitz angst. So beware of that.  

love letters to a ghost by arsonistlullabye 

Skye is haunted the ghost of a boy who wasn’t strong enough. Fitz is haunted by a girl who makes him want to be stronger.

Pairing: Fitzdaisy/ Fitzskye

Why you should read?: 

This story is set in an alternate AoS ‘verse, where Fitz couldn’t handle the pressure and loneliness of being one of the youngest to attend S.H.I.E.L.D. academy…and trigger warning, kills himself and begins to haunt the Academy as a ghost.  

Years later, Skye attends and seeing her go down the same path as him, does everything he can to help her become her best self..while also slowly falling in love with her. I don’t want to spoiler anymore, but it’s a really good…but i’ll be honest and say that depending on how you view it, it might not have the happiest ending, but I believe it fit perfectly with the story.   

Take me away to some place real by Florchis 

After the Framework, Fitz decides to go see his mother for a few days and takes Jemma and a reluctant Daisy with him. Things are not easy, but helped by three late-night conversations, Daisy learns that they can choose to not make them hard.

Pairing: FSK/ Fitzskimmons

Why you should read?:

I feel like I’m cheating a bit by rec-ing this fic, since it’s a prompt of mine gifted to me through a @aosficnet2 exchange a few years back, but where Florchis decided to take the idea far exceeded my expectations. This story…left me speechless.It made me cry. It was…just so beautiful and hopeful… yet bittersweet. 

Nothing’s sugar coated…or wrapped up neatly in a little box in this story. They’re all broken by what they experienced in the Framework. Daisy’s left with old and new insecurities to wade through, Fitz can’t always tell the difference between Reality and the Framework, and Jemma’s just trying to hold everybody and herself together…and a trip to see Fitz’s amazing Mom doesn’t automatically fix everything.

But it makes their traumas more manageable…It makes them want to try to be better, not only in their relationship but as people as well. Oh, man! You have to read this story…especially if you were left broken yourself by season 4. Seriously, go read this! 

I couldn’t in good conscious rec one of Florchis’s post-framework stories without rec-ing one of @theclaravoyant. You can go read it here if you like!  

six birthdays skye had by zauberer_sirin

Birthdays are the worst. And hers are not even real.

Pairing:  Skoulson

Why you should read?:

Alright! Hear me out! I, myself , as in me now, in no way ships Coulson and Daisy in a romantic relationship, but when I first started out reading AoS fanfics, I was experimenting…trying to figure out my tastes and what I shipped and liked romantically. 

And I can admit that I’ve read other Skoulson fics in my time, but this fanfic is the only one that I’ll willing recommended…because the romantic aspect of Skoulson’s relationship was left ambiguous, at least to me. It was more of a character study of how Skye has always views and copes with her birthdays through the years and the one time, she actually liked being born…and even though, I hate it, her relationship with Coulson has a lot to do with her acceptance of it. 

But I wouldn’t blame anybody for skipping over this one, I haven’t read it since I read it the first time just because I would have to stomach the romantic Skoulson in it…but I feel like it’s still worth recommending. It’s a pretty good Skye/Daisy character piece.   

Along the Way by theclaravoyant

When Shield’s two youngest prodigies shake hands for the very first time, their expressions are exactly as you might expect for two people who know they’ve just met their soul mates. But for this particular pair there’s something else as well.

Confusion.

-

Sometimes finding your soulmate(s) is not as simple as it seems. Then again, sometimes what we spend most of our time looking for, has been right under our noses all along.

Pairing: FSK/ Fitzskimmons

Why you should read?:

A FSK Soulmate AU that went a long way to redefining my outlook on the trope. Fitz and Simmons’ quest to discover who their other soulmate is and what the weird soul mark they have means is really well done and completely in character with how Fitzsimmons are as individuals and as a unit… 

It’s just a very well written AU that’s I’d recommended anytime of the day. You should read it.   

and when we burst, begin again by  owlvsdove

May gets hurt in the line of duty. Jemma tries to fill her shoes.

Pairing: FSK/ Fitzskimmons

Why you should read?:

If you haven’t noticed by now, there is a pretty consistent theme to my fanfic recs…and that’s the hurt/comfort or heavy angst trope and this one fits that bill to a tee.

Set in a post season 1 Canon-Divergence world I believe, where I think Ward really injures May and Jemma take it upon herself to become the team’s glue…and how it slowly chips away at her emotional sanity. It’s really well written and I think you guys will like it…if you don’t mind the heavy angst too. 

break my heart into pieces on the floor by hpfreakster

Months earlier she had stood there ready to give her life for them, now she stands there pointing a gun at Skye and Fitz.

Pairing:  BioSpecialist with a side order of Fitzskye

Why you should read?: 

An alternate end to season 1, a role reversal with Jemma being the Hydra agent who betrayed the team, A flawed but ultimately goodhearted Ward, and a possibly triple agent Simmons…? What more could you ask for in a fascinating, alternate plot twist and development? 

I know some can’t even read about Ward as a main character in any fashion, but I really loved this fic…how it was done…how Ward was portrayed. He wasn’t perfect…or really even likable…but he loved his team and would do anything for them, even haunting down the woman he loves to avenge Fitz and Skye. 

I think that’s a really cool story;)  

He’s Not A Monkey by  AgentMaryMargaretSkitz

“He’s Leo. Fitz. The dog is Fitz.”

When an 084 explodes, Skye sees that Fitz has turned into a puppy. Some Biospecialist and pre-Skitz.

Pairing:  Another Biospecialist with some minor Fitzskye

Why you should read?:

Wow! Another fluffy dog story rec! I really need to find my AoS fluff in other tropes! LOL! 

But who can resist Fitz being turned into a adorable freaking puppy…who adores Skye and Jemma…and keeps biting Ward in various places I think! I couldn’t! Haha! 

stretch your arms around me by  Conifer

With them, Skye learned to love.

She learned how to give it just as much as she learned to feel it. It was abstract and solid and all-consuming, a mess that left her feeling dizzy and weightless. It was impossible to put a finger on but easy enough to place; she knew the heart-pounding feeling when she had it.

Pairing: FSK/ Fitzskimmons

Why you should read?: 

A kind of a sad Fitzskimmon fic, where Skye knows that her relationship with Fitzsimmons will come to an end someday…because well, according to Skye, it has to. In her life, happiness never lasts for long…but she’s going learn from and enjoy her time together with them for as long as it lasts. 

It’s a bittersweet, but heartwarming fic that fits right in my alley. Go ahead and read it…but be prepared to have your heart broken.  

The zeroh law of thermodynamics by  Florchis

Fitz and Simmons are each other’s soulmates. Daisy isn’t. Fitz and Simmons don’t care. Daisy does. Sort of. Or: Jemma wants them to tell her their fantasies, Daisy wants a tattoo and Fitz wants to be a gentleman. (They all succeed.)

Pairing: FSK/ Fitzskimmons

Why you should read?: 

I couldn’t rec @theclaravoyant‘s Soulmate AU without recommending @florchis!

This story showed me that love comes in many forms and variations…and just because Daisy isn’t Fitzsimmons’ soulmate doesn’t stop them from pursuing a meaningful romantic triad with her. Of course, like any real relationship, there are trail and errors…misunderstanding and miscommunications…but they never let that keep them down because they love each other and will do anything to make their unconventional (in every sense of the word) relationship work. 

It’s a really good Soulmate AU story. You should read it…along with @florchis‘s FSK stories here and here. I just love the different and interesting ways she makes the FSK ship play out and begin. 

Apples and Dandelions by  theclaravoyant

After Fitz’ father sends a number of threatening messages and an ultimatum to Shield, Fitz decides it’s time to confront his father. As it turns out, the apple can fall as far from the tree as it likes, especially when there’s someone there to catch it.

Pairing: Fitzsimmons with Fitz & Daisy brotp 

Why you should read?: 

I know that I didn’t really rec manyGen or brotp stories on this list…and I’ll be fair with y’all, but I really do view the majority of my bromance’s in Television and Films as romantic relationships too..and most of the time, I’d rather read shipper fics than purely brotp ones. 

But this fic was so good that I could not share it on my list…but I won’t bore you with the details. It’s a theclaravoyant fic and I think that they’re all amazing.  

[kylosrehn]

oh. oh. so that's how we're doing this? fine then. (I kid I love the excuse to send you LOTS) favorite character to write about this year? any new fics to start next year? events you participated in this year? fics you wanted to write but didn’t? a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read?

spamming me is actually the way to my heart, this is facts

•  favorite character to write about this year: 

honestly i’m torn between ophelia and leopold (as in, framework fitz.) i loved exploring ophelia, giving her a backstory and developing her character (because ahem, canon failed to do so), putting her in different scenario/aus and just having fun with her in general. i tried to stick to the (brief) canonic characterisation of her in like, the first half of 4x21, before everything went to shit, and obviously the madame hydra characterisation as much as i could, but admittedly a lot of it was my own personal input/shared headcanons and i guess that’s what made it so fun. that’s not to say she’s a blank canvas, but because canon didn’t really expand on her character (she was human for like, what, less than a day?) a lot of it was down to personal interpretation to fill in the blanks. !always human ophelia, for example, would obviously be totally different to the canon enhanced/inhuman/freshly 3d printed version of her and so on. basically it was really fun to try and figure out what she’d be like had canon not done her so dirty.

and, of course, leopold. it’s true that watching/writing/reading about villains is often more fascinating than focusing on the protagonist. i stand by what i’ve said before - he is my favourite aos character. yeah, he was in four episodes, and yeah he’s technically not a separate character at all - but it feels like he is and that’s basically the interpretation i ran with most of the time, treating the framework as an alternate, separate universe as opposed to a virtual reality. hell, even within that virtual reality, he’s just so vastly different, so deliciously depraved that it makes it super fun to explore his character further. there’s just so much more to him than meets the eye and i fondly remember all the days i spent over the summer just coming up with and discussing headcanons about his upbringing, his father and mother, his academy years and rise to power at hydra. that’s the great thing about the framework - the parts it gives you are fantastic, but the parts it doesn’t give you are even better. so a lot of it was exploring his past and his future (babiesssss. !dad leopold might just be my favourite thing, like, ever. the mad, scary doctor caring for a baby. it kills me. him worrying that he’s going to let his child down and become just like his father. the angsssst). he’s so complex and so evidently deeply troubled and absolutely tragic and i love it. he’s not a black and white, “he’s evil and that’s it” kind of character. he’s passionate and determined; he wants to love and be loved, but because of the constant pressure via his father and the absence of his mother, he’s not quite sure how to go about showing it. it’s so fun to explore his voice because he’s canonically savage and just so… like, there’s something so chilling about his stoic demeanor (notice how he only has angry outbursts in private.) i can’t begin to explain how fun it is to poke around his head and explore why he does what he does - he’s convinced he’s saving people, okay, he literally believes that - and how he deals with the complications that arise (inhuman baby, that will be all.) 

tl;dr: leopold “the doctor” fitz is fucked up and i absolutely love it.

any new fics to start next year? 

not entirely sure if this is a fic rec or a wip question tbh, so i’m basically gonna give a brief run-down of my fic to-do-list: okay, so i have like three fitz/skye fics i still need to write (as in, plot bunnies that will literally keep driving me insane until i finally get my shit together and get them down on virtual paper). the first one is a (late) christmas-based fic where they’re both working at hydra and he’s her scrouge-like boss who, outwardly, hates joy and love and christmas. one day, after a phone call from his mother, he tells skye he’s got a proposal for her (literally and figuratively speaking). cue a fake-dating trope fic with christmas fluff and a scottish backdrop. basically “the proposal” but with less deportation and more christmas. 

the second one is the framework fitz/skye post-revolution prison au (totally inspired by your three sentence prompt fill, which i love.) listen, i love torturing him and the entire prison sequence from 5x05 stole my heart, depression prison beard and all. so, it’s more of that, plus a lot of healing in a motel room. 

and the third one, which is less of a solid idea and more of a vague outline in my head: a lowkey star wars au. well. a part of it. soulbond i guess? whatever you want to call it. basically i can’t stop thinking about the two of them being psychically linked and appearing to each other at the most inconvenient of times and falling in love like idiots despite the fact that he’s the literal actual head of hydra and she’s a newly-turned-inhuman and, you know, a devoted resistance member. basically, she’s his redemption arc.

also i’m gonna try and finally fill the prompts in my inbox, because i’m always yelling for more and then they just sit there and i end up hoarding. 

events you participated in this year?

i really started writing proper aos fic in the second half of the year, so i didn’t get a chance to join all that many, but hopefully i’ll join more of these in 2018.

• fitzsimmonsnetwork secret santa 2017• aospositivitynet secret santa 2017• skyeward big bang(because i like to mix it up a little. also because like no aos fic writing event accounts for my fav aos ship, rip)

fics you wanted to write but didn’t?

SO. MANY. too many arguably. like, i’m so bad. i’ll probably update this post if/when i upload an actual unfinished fic dump 2017 part II, because tbh i’ve been toying with the idea for a while. 

okay, so there’s: 

1. the literal very first aos fic i started writing, a direct result of all my pent-up anger and frustration at that lame-ass finale. i decided a fix-it fic was in order, where it basically diverges from canon around halfway through 4x21 (before that scene) and ophelia’s pardoned and allowed to stay, albeit under close surveillance and basically locked up in the containment module and the team has to learn to deal with it and accept her while fitz helps her come to terms with what it really means to be human. also, feelings don’t just get thrown away instead of being properly addressed because that’s lazy writing and you can love more than one person at a time, god fucking damn it). while this is still unfinished, it admittedly later evolved into a broader collab verse known as “team au.”

2. fitz/ophelia ‘we kind of broke up because you chose jemma and now we’re meeting again years later in new york and i never realised how much i missed you until you started chasing me down the street’ au.

3. this one canon-divergence (though canon can’t prove me wrong, so technically…) au where the framework is still the framework and everything is pretty much the same except ophelia’s pregnant (look, in 4x16 when he’s getting all worked up about “i have to protect you, i have to…” and she grabs his hand i literally thought for a moment that she was going to place it against her stomach and they’d do an oh-my-god-baby reveal, but they’re not ballsy enough to go there, so it’s mostly just wishful thinking BUT STILL) so when daisy quakes her out the window, well. in other words: ANGST. 

4. this one fic where fitz and ophelia went to high school together but never really interacted until one party during the summer of their freshman year of college, realise they have feelings for each other and sleep together literally under the stars before he moves across the country because of college and a prestigious internship. shortly after term starts, ophelia realises she’s pregnant. cue long-distance internet pining, several failed attempts to confess/meet up in person, and and lots of hurt/comfort as ophelia slowly learns to accept her situation and make the best of it. plus some father-daughter bonding. it sounds really lame now i guess, but it’s really an idea that’s been with me for a long time and i’ve plotted and planned it and thought about it a lot so i would really love to push myself to just sit down and word vomit it out at some point. i promised myself i’d do in december/over christmas, but of course that didn’t happen, so hopefully sometime in january. it’s kind of a pet project of mine so i’ll be really disappointed in myself if i just let it go, even though the fitz/ophelia ship is as good as dead by now and i’d probably just be writing it for myself more so than for any real kind of audience. (yeah, i still have a soft spot for this ship, mostly because of the chest-tightening nostalgia i get whenever i think about it and the literal hours i’d spent being so completely invested in it over the summer. will i ever get over it? probably not.)

there’s a bunch of other stuff i always wanted to explore (leopold backstory, framework-canon hydra uprising, framework post-canon revolution, etc.) but never really got far enough in any other stuff to go into detail about them here (i really have to properly sift through my docs at some point, it’s literally a fic dump of headcanons/ideas from like, three months of hardcore obsessing all summer) but i guess one simple conclusion can be drawn from all this: i have a thing for angst, redemption arcs and pregnancy/baby fic, not necessarily in that order. 

a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read?

this is such a hard question because 1. i’ve read a lot of stuff from like, a weird mix of different fandoms, 2. with my ‘unfortunate/problematic’ choice of ships/favourite characters it’s hard to pick something everyone would enjoy. however:

for this empire, after night  - i know the kylo ren/rey pairing isn’t for everyone (see above), but in my defense this isn’t really a shippy fic at all. it may, however, be one of the damn most beautiful things i’ve read in a long, long time. the descriptions, the imagery. it’s breathtaking (and really puts my own miserable scribbling into perspective)