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quasi-normalcy · 11 months ago

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Every "Nu Trek" (2017- ) Series Ranked from Worst to Best:

Very Short Treks (2023): There's really no words for just how terrible this series is. I mean, I know that it only barely counts because it's explicitly not canon and has a total combined run time of about 15 minutes, but *my god* is it bad! Only one of its episodes is remotely funny, and even that manages to feel like it's driven its main joke into the ground by the end of its 2-minute runtime. The only thing that I can say for it is that is that it gives me an easy, uncontroversial choice for worst Star Trek series, not only of the last 7 years, but of all time.

Picard (2020-2023): Listen; I know that this series is unpopular with the Tumblr Trek fandom, but it actually breaks my heart to have to put it so low on the list. It has, in my own opinion, the best dramatic acting of any Trek series and among the best directing, and almost every individual scene, in isolation, is compellingly watchable. More than that, it has fascinating worldbuilding choices, you can really *see* the passion of the writers for what they're creating (at least in the first and third seasons), and Agnes in particular is among my favourite characters in anything ever. It's got a lot of great moments, too! Picard and Seven bonding over shared Borg trauma; Soji uncovering the truth of her identity; Jurati hacking the Borg Queen's brain; Picard's final farewell to Q; Shaw's Wolf 359 monologue; Geordi's reunion with Data...I could go on. And yet, it just feels like so much *less* than the sum of its parts! Incredible ideas are introduced and then just shrugged off to pursue much more boring ones. Story arcs feel pointless if not actively offensive. Absolutely baffling writing choices are made throughout, with no indication as to why. And the nostalgia baiting , particularly in the final season, becomes so intense that it just chokes the plot to death. One comes away haunted by the feeling that this series should be so much better than it is.

Discovery (2017-2024): Really, this is two separate series: a twisty, grimdark, sci-fi war drama and a gentle queer coffeeshop AU about scientists who talk about their feelings. Both of them have their moments, but they each fall down in the same way: a focus on epic, high-stakes mystery box storytelling that undermines one's ability to really get invested in the characters, or even know who they are when they aren't off saving the universe. Without that, while I liked many of the characters and loved seeing them science the shit out of things using teamwork and the power of math, it's kind of difficult to get invested in this series one way or another. In spite of its absolutely gorgeous visuals, it comes off feeling weirdly...flat.

Short Treks (2018-2020): Not a lot to talk about here; just kind of an anthology series of short films adjacent to Discovery, Picard, and Strange New Worlds. Mostly they're varying shades of mediocre, but a few of them are as brilliant as any episode of Star Trek ever made, so the series gets to be relatively high on the list.

Strange New Worlds (2022- ): This is the first entry on this list that, in my opinion, belongs on the top shelf with some of the best of the older series. And it achieves it basically by adopting the same formula as the original series or the next generation--socially conscious planet-of-the-week adventures with enough wit, cleverness and joie-de-vivre to keep it interesting. I remember in 2017, there was plenty of discussion of how it's possible to update Star Trek's formula for prestige television; how funny that the solution turned out to be "don't change it at all, just give it modern special effects and actual character arcs." That said, the series is a bit *too* beholden to the original, with focus primarily on a bunch of characters who aren't allowed to grow or change too much because we already know how they'll turn out. It would be even better if it were about a new ship and a new crew full of nobodies who we can come to love. Which brings us to...

Lower Decks (2020-2024): Above, I said that Picard felt like it should have been so much better than it was. Lower Decks, frankly, should have been so much worse. How is an adult animated sitcom with Rick and Morty style animation and constant memberberries this freaking good!?! Every episode is a master class in efficient storytelling, with 22 minute runtimes often feeling like they contain as much story and character work as episodes twice as long. And the characters are incredible--like TOS and TNG, they feel almost archetypal, and even though you've never seen them before, they slide so seamlessly into the Star Trek universe that it's hard to believe that they weren't just *always* there; that there was ever a time when you could imagine the Star Trek universe without just intrinsically knowing that Tendi and Shaxs and Mariner were off somewhere in the background. It's greatest success though, the reason why it's comedy works when it really shouldn't, is that it's only *slightly* sillier than the serious series. What we end up with a fantastic series with an ethos that is pure Star Trek, and in fact, if I had written this list a month ago, it would certainly be in the #1 spot. However...

Prodigy (2021-2024?): The first season of Prodigy is...charming. It's got some fun characters, some spectacular visuals, some interesting premises. And if the plots tend to be a little too simplistic to be engaging to an adult, hey, it's a kids' show. It's good. Solid. Above average. And if I had only the first season to go on, it would probably be in third position on this list. But then, a few weeks ago, it went ahead and dropped the best season of Star Trek in a quarter-century, and I really...I just cannot recommend this series highly enough. The sheer, ambitious scope of the narrative; the arcs it puts its character through; the cleverness of the writing; the fricking GORGEOUSNESS of it! And it does all this while redeeming deeply unpopular characters and plot points from other series, in a way that never feels forced or pandering. Not only is it the best Star Trek series of the 21st century, it's one of the best children's animated series since AtLA. Go. Go! Watch it! Watch it now!

#long post #star trek discovery #star trek picard #star trek lower decks #star trek prodigy #star trek strange new worlds #short treks #very short treks

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warblogs17282 · 5 months ago

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The Helluva Boss view count table, post Season 2 finale!

It's been quite the ride keeping this updated for you all, although you all probably aren't going to see it again until season 3 starts, as I'm not sure if I want to post this table for every upcoming short. However, I will still be counting the view counts for each short in this table, even if I don't post about it.

Statistics and stuff:

IMDb Ratings overall: 8.1/10 with 13000+ people giving a rating on the site. All of these ratings are out of 10.

Pilot: 7.4

S1 E1: 7.7

S1 E2: 8.6

S1 E3: 7.5

S1 E4: 7.2

S1 E5: 8.2

S1 E6: 9.1

S1 E7: 8.8

S1 E8: 7.3

S2 E1: 8.5

S2 E2: 7.7

S2 E3: 7.8

S2 E4: 7.3

S2 E5: 6

S2 E6: 8.7

S2 E7: 8.7

S2 E8: 8.2

S2 E9: 8.7

S2 E10: 8.2

S2 E11: 9.1

S2 E12: 9

The day of the week each episode released and the time between each episode:

Just gonna link to this post by sadhornydemons, it shows both of these.

The average view count of Helluva Boss:

Season 1 only + pilot:

The average view count for season 1 + the pilot was 9,086,823 views.

Season 2 only (Shorts not included.):

The average view count for season 2 was 9,690,163 views.

Both seasons together + pilot (Shorts not included.):

The average view count for helluva boss combining both seasons and the pilot together into one calculation is 9,431,588 based on the data I have obtained.

(Quickly threw together an excel spreadsheet for this matter, if I've missed anything or fucked up a piece of data somewhere, please let me know. Also the =average function was used in the process of making this post, the shorts were not a part of the just season 2 average function.)

Rankings:

Top and bottom 3 episodes on IMDb as of 28/12/2024:

Top 3:

Truth Seekers - 9.1/10

Mastermind - 9.1/10 (Recent episode so subject to change.)

Sinsmas - 9/10 (Very recent episode so subject to change.)

Bottom 3:

Unhappy Campers 6/10

C.H.E.R.U.B - 7.2/10

Western Energy - 7.4/10

Episode view counts (Both seasons + pilot), highest to lowest:

1: S2 E1 - 13,126,955 views.

2: S1 E5 - 11,658,760 views.

3: S2 E7 - 10,855,337 views.

4: S2 E3 - 10,630,600 views.

5: S1 E3 - 10,450,616 views.

6: S1 E6 - 10,441,255 views.

7: S2 E12 - 10,380,617 views.

8: S2 E11 - 10,275,899 views.

9: S2 E9 - 9,772,762 views.

10: S2 E2 - 9,753,386 views.

11: S2 E6 - 9,429,540 views.

12: S2 E8 - 9,308,493 views.

13: S1 E2 - 9,230,983 views.

14: S1 E8 - 8,765,836 views.

15: S1 E7 - 8,684,320 views.

16: S2 E4 - 7,877,622 views.

17: Pilot - 7,845,385 views.

18: S2 E5 - 7,814,061 views.

19: S1 E4 - 7,455,897 views.

20: S1 E1 - 7,248,356 views.

21: S2 E10 - 7,056,678 views.

The top three performing episodes in season 1:

The Harvest Moon Festival with 11,658,760 views.

Spring Broken with 10,450,616 views.

Truth Seekers with 10,441,255 views.

The top three performing episodes in season 2:

The Circus with 13,126,955 views.

2. MAMMON’S MAGNIFICENT MUSICAL MID-SEASON SPECIAL (ft Fizzarolli) with 10,855,337 views.

3. Exes and Oohs with 10,630,600 views.

The top three performing episodes in both seasons:

In first place we have THE CIRCUS WITH 13,126,955 VIEWS! With the episode continuing to hold an iron grip on that top spot, will the first episode of season 3 be able to rival it? Place your bets now!

In second place, we have The Harvest Moon Festival featuring the debut of Striker! With it also holding a solid grip onto second place in the rankings.

In third place, we have MAMMON’S MAGNIFICENT MUSICAL MID-SEASON SPECIAL (ft Fizzarolli) coming in at 10,855,337 views! Featuring the debut of our idiot of a sin and a villain, Mammon! Also featuring bangers like Two Minutes Notice and more!

The bottom three performing episodes in both seasons:

Ghostfuckers with 7,056,678 views. Even this one caught me off guard, was expecting it to be a bit on the lower side due to the absence of other major fan-favorite characters like Stolas and Fizzarolli, but it being the worst performing episode still caught me by surprise tbh.

2. Murder Family with 7,248,356 views. Where everything started, the beginning of the show we know and love to this day.

3. C.H.E.R.U.B with 7,455,897 views. Yea I'm not really surprised that this one is here, most people think it's a rather weak episode or one of the worst of the show, so I can understand why it's the third worst performing in around it's first week.

Finally, the shorts:

MISSION: WEEABOO-BOO with 5,975,830 views.

Hell's Belles with 4,721,921 views.

MISSION: ANTARCTICA with 4,265,974 views.

4. MISSION: CHUPACABRAS with 4,038,466 views.

No average for the four shorts at the moment as I feel like there isn't enough of the shorts yet to make a fair average view count of them.

But hey, if you're reading this part, you're cool as fuck, and I hope you have a great day!

#helluva boss #blitzø #blitzo #stolas #helluva boss stolas #moxxie helluva boss #helluva boss millie #helluva boss mammon #fizzarolli

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elvendoodles · 3 months ago

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LEGO Elves Watch Guide

Are you looking to get into LEGO Elves, but don't know where to start? Here is your guide through the LEGO Elves webisodes, specials, and episodes!

Story 1: Unite The Magic

Our introduction to the world of Elvendale. The primary story is told through the mini-movie, while side-stories are told in the follow-up webisodes. This season has a novelization, activity book, and two foilpack magazines.

Unite The Magic (mini-movie)

Crushing It

Crib Notes

Elves Got Talent

Never Cave

Another Kind Of Magic

Story 2: Dragons To Save, Time To Be Brave

Season 2 follows the same format as the previous, with the main story now split into two parts, plus an epilogue. This season has a novelization, two activity books [x][x] and two foilpack magazines.

Dragons To Save, Time To Be Brave - Part 1 (mini-movie)

Dragons To Save, Time To Be Brave - Part 2 (mini-movie)

Down A Dark Path (was officially available on the LEGO website before remodel)

Safety First

The Dragon Whisperer

Drag Race

Rumor Has It

Born To Do It

The Struggle Is Real

No Pain, Just Gain

One Is More Fun

Hairy Styles (while uploaded in season 2, this episode likely takes place before Dragons To Save, given the cast wears their old outfits for the majority of the webisode.)

Point Of View (music video)

Crystal Clear

Change From Within

Story 3: The Capture of Sophie Jones / Secrets of Elvendale

The webisode art style drastically changes to closer resemble the mini-doll style. While the previous seasons had the main story as a mini-movie and the fun misadventures as webisodes, the third season blends the misadventures in with the story. For this reason the webisodes have questionable continuity, often backtracking to earlier points in the story or contradicting other webisodes.

This season has an activity book and two foilpack magazines.

Sophie's Capture

Welcome To Elvendale

Evil Apprentice

How I Lost My Mother

Goblin Talent Show

How To Build A Sweet Ride

Dragon Tale

Teamwork

Sophie's Point Of View

Queen Of The Forest

Potions In Motion

Sizeable Refreshment

Bring The Heat

Goblin Intern

The Confrontation

The Final Battle

Secrets of Elvendale, animated by Studio MIR, tells the same story as the webisodes but better in a more detailed and linear fashion over eight 22-minute episodes. It is currently available on Netflix.

Story 4: Into The Shadows

This season is the sparsest, running 46 minutes across 15 webisodes. No companion media was produced for this season aside from the LEGO sets.

The Enemy

Toys In The Attic

Relight My Fire

The Light

Focus

In The Shadows

Chill

Making Waves

Worthy

The Magic Within

Lights Out

Edge Of Darkness

The Shadow World: Part 1

The Shadow World: Part 2

The Shadow World: Part 3

#lego elves #secrets of elvendale

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crowleysgirl56 · 8 months ago

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Ok, so here are some of my rather long rambling thoughts. I’ll start off with some pros and cons and then provide some speculation:

My initial negative reaction:

- Compressing 5 hours worth of content into 90 minutes feels like things will be rushed and we won’t get a good story.

- HOW do you take a month to rewrite six 45 minute long scripts into a movie length feature and have it still be good?!

- the compression of the story means we will likely not get any more flashback sequences. Admittedly I actually thought we probably wouldn’t get more flashback scenes in season 3 anyway, but this definitely proves the case that we won’t. There won’t be time for it.

- who has re-written the script? Because here’s the thing about Pratchett adaptations. They’re fucking shit. No one (in my opinion) has been able to successfully transfer that man’s unique sense of humour and writing style onto screen. Every single Discworld adaptation has been on a scale of awful to kind of meh. EXCEPT for season 1 of Good Omens. As much as we hate him now. As vile as he has become in our hearts, the thing about NG is that he understood Terry’s unique style. He understood what worked and how to transfer that to the screen. And that breaks my heart on so many levels. Because he was all we had. And we certainly didn’t want him any more. But still, who THE FUCK has written the finale script now?

Now here are my positive thoughts on the situation:

- NEIL GAIMAN GOT HIS SORRY ASS FIRED! GOOD!

- Consequences. The industry has signalled consequences. Finally!

- We are getting a conclusion! It could very well have been cancelled and we would have been left with the final 15 forever. We get to see them again. That deserves a Wahoo!

- thinking back over season 2, which I enjoyed, I actually do have to say a lot of it was kind of unnecessary filler. The flashback sequences were great. But the actual core of the season’s arc involving Gabriel was just a bit boring. I’m forever grateful for it because we got to spend almost 6 hours watching Aziraphale give Crowley heart eyes and Crowley do beautiful acts of service proving his love back. But the meandering stuff with Nina and Maggie and trying to work out why Gabriel lost his memory wasn’t all that interesting. I was here for A&C.

- so I think MAYBE that means the compression of what had already been written for season 3 means it’ll cut out the plot bits that drag. Hopefully this means it’s faster paced and tighter and more focused on A&C.

Speculations:

Thinking back to the last time NG interacted with the fandom, he had confirmed the first three episodes were written and were with Amazon for approval, episode 4 was almost done, the last part of episode 6 had been written, and he had started plotting episode 5. We never got a confirmation if he ever finished them. So this maybe indicates that the finale is lifted exactly out of these scripts. My assumption is they’ve brought in a script doctor to edit what they’ve already got and wrap up plot points. In which case, on the one hand it gives us close to the story and idea of what Terry imagined. On the other, the far more negative connotation, it’s still NG’s work. The articles that have all come out so far merely states “Gaiman is not involved with the production and the finale is based on his work”. This could be Prime distancing themselves without actually confirming how he’s contributed. Which is still largely disappointing.

So, once again I feel very conflicted. A lot of the fandom have been very adamant about not wanting to support the show if Gaiman was involved, and in the end he wrote the show. Even if he had been removed as producer and showrunner and wasn’t allowed on set (thankfully it seems all three of things have happened), I know that wouldn’t have been enough for some fans because he would still have ultimately been responsible for the product that we eventually see. And I don’t know how to feel about that.

I’m happy he’s gone, I’m disappointed the show has been gutted, I’m glad we get a conclusion, I’m sad it won’t be exactly what we wanted.

I’m SO THANKFUL that the women get some semblance of justice, that there is a consequence for a perpetrator, that a big ass company is finally listening to fans and moving with the times and signally this kind of behaviour isn’t appropriate and that repercussions can and will be felt.

Finally, I’ll remind everyone that there are going to be a lot of different and conflicting feelings from the fandom. I would ask that everyone try to be nice to one another. If you have a differing opinion, maybe rather than debating it you just allow that person their feelings and move on. Do not go after someone if you feel like they’re not reacting the “right way” to the situation. Just be kind please. It’s what Terry would have wanted.

#good omens #good omens rambling thoughts #good omens finale #cw: Neil Gaiman #fuck you gaiman #Terry Pratchett #gnu terry pratchett #good omens fandom #good omens season 3 #crowley #aziraphale #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #crowley x arizaphale #David Tennant #Michael Sheen

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gay-wrongs-activist · 1 month ago

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Okay, so here is my current watch progress with shows I am watching and my thoughts about them. No specific order.

Currently watching (ignoring the literally 35 other shows I need to finish):

Monster Next Door (4/12) - so far this show has been dangerously adorable. Oh my god (lol) it's so cute. Honestly my only point of criticism is - please someone free Khun Shy. I hope he suceeds fleeing from that terrible glass cube. Watch if you want adorableness and a himbo extrovert and a nerdy introvert falling in love (saying this as a nerdy introvert myself - I love Diew's characterization).

My Stubborn (3/12) - I have literally gone from dropping this show two thirds into episode one to giddily watching each new episode. If I would drink alcohol I would definitely get a glass of wine for this show. The key really was to not take a single thing serious that goes on in this show, and just enjoy the ride (also, partly, literally). There are tiny ideas in there that could have gone places in other shows but honestly - this a 12 episode pwp with HR violations and I am here for it. Watch if you want (mostly) nicely done NC scenes, HR violations and/or like CEO/assistant couples as a side. Also I am holding my hopes up that the hot lesbians are gonna get featured soon. This show is an a plus guilty pleasure (for me anyway).

Pit Babe S2 (1/13) - ooooooh my god this season is delivering so far! I love season 1 so very much and am so happy that we get a second one. Episode 1 has been what was to be expected in the very best of ways. I can't wait to tune in again on Friday. Watch if you want the wild ride of a life time. Seriously. Pit Babe is what you usually can only find in brilliantly written 300k+ word fanfics.

Nirvana in Fire (25/54) - a 10 year old CDrama where did that come from? I am actually watching this together with a friend and holy fuck, is it good. It's court intrigue and 20D chess and it keeps you in incredible suspense in a show that consist mainly of talking. Watch if you like historical fantasy and want to see the most married men in fictional Chinese history. If your dead husband is actually not dead and instead your personal advisor but you don't know that. Watch if you want to see regal men cry over missing their dead(?) friend beloved. Depending on your preferences this whole thing can also be a polycule in which one person is not aware that they are currently part of a ploycule. (Also just for clarity's sake, this is not a bl show or based on a danmei book. But honestly if it would have been it wouldn't have surprised me one bit.)

The Next Prince (1/14) - we all know about this show as a thing of the far future, but now it finally started! And it is absolutely living up to the hype! NuNew especially stands out brilliantly in the first episode, and I freaking love Khanin being a competitive asshole (affectionate) and done with everything (very relatable). And man, everything about it is pretty. I am absolutely hyped for episode 2! Watch if - well actually if you have any affinity for BL whatsoever. This show might be an instant classic. Otherwise - watch if you want amazing chemistry, royal au aesthetics, horses (presumably) and court intrigue the cutesy edition (honestly, I have included NiF in this very same post, I must make that distinction).

Perfect 10 Liners (15/24) - disclaimer in advance: I am a terrible little uwma hater. But. With P10L I feel like I have finally found my own appreciation for New Siwaj. It has a lot of elements found in other of his shows, but it does them so so so well. The funny thing is - hardly any of the tropes that P10L has are things that appeal particularily to me. I don't care about uni BLs, I don't care for slice of life and I actively dislike coming of age (which is sorta part of it but really only on the fringes). It comes to noone's surprise that my absolute favorites are Klao and Warich, but - to the show's credit - I actually do like all the couples so far and their stories as well. Watch if - listen I am not the best person to recommend this show, as I like it less for what it is but more in spite of it? I suppose watch if you generally like New Siwaj's shows and want to watch his (in my opinion) best work to this date.

Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist (4/12) - definitely need to catch up on this one. It's sweet, and I enjoy Mark and Ohm together. I have heard a lot of complaining about the show, especially the episodes that I haven't watched yet. I intend to keep watching though. I like the cast and it's a comfortable little show so far. It's exactly what I need for watching when I have a meal. It's cute. Yeah, the premise could have been better but the actors do a good job and I love the colors of this show. It's so colorful ❤ Watch if you need some light entertainment and love snacks. Also definitely if you like the cast.

Boys in Love (1/12) - Am I watching this show 100% for PoddPapang? Yes. Absolutely yes. I actively despise high school settings, so I need a good fucking reason to watch a show set there. So, first impression of Boys in Love? Actually, surprisingly good? The high schoolers are for once actually very close to high school age and not grown adults, and the one episode I have seen so far is very sweet and colorful and avoids things I especially do not like about hs stories. So, I am enjoying myself. Even if i am mostly there for the PP crumbs, I do not mind at all to watch the rest of it, and might catch up with the show this evening. Watch if you really badly wanna see some (also quite adorable) PoddPapang and if you like sweet, innocent highschool sweethearts.

#monster next door the series #my stubborn the series #pit babe the series #nirvana in fire #the next prince the series #perfect 10 liners #sweet tooth good dentist #boys in love the series #thank you to all the wonderful gif makers #multi bl #currently watching #ql watching

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lol-jackles · 4 months ago

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So anyways, Misha’s fans knew he was never the mythical third lead but was hoping to gaslight everybody (fandon and non fandoms alike) into thinking Misha was. - It's ridiculous to think people will fall for this. It's like when Misha fans claim that he saved the show from being canceled and brought the ratings. First, Nielsen ratings say otherwise. Second, if he really brought the ratings, why didn't his episode count go up? Surely, the ratings getter would have his episode count increase.

Destiel shippers have to self-sooth themselves with lies and if more people believe their lies, then they think it will become a dominant narrative and they won’t look like Losers.

Then there are some people who fall for it because they believe anything on the internet.

The Netflix deal introduced SPN to new audience right after the season 7 finale (article). Then a Variety article confirmed that Netflix was why SPN’s ratings increased in season 8, not because Misha was hired back as a recurring guest.

And if Misha was really that important to ratings as shippers claim, then why was his credit status yanked around so much? From regular in season 5&6 and then demoted to guest in season 7 & 8 and then back to regular for season 9 thru 11, and then demoted to recurring for season 12 until 15.

Supernatural typically only have a maximum of 4 regulars, including the 2 leads. Contracts for regulars are typically 3 years so Misha’s contract expired by end of season 11. In season 12, Mark Pelligino joined the cast as regular and Misha was booted down to #5 in the credit order. In season 13, Alexander Calvert joined the cast as the 4th regular. Mark Sheppard opt not to return after his regular contract expired by end of season 12. At conventions Misha admitted he didn’t know if he still has a job waiting for him in season 13. That’s not a talk of someone who "saved" SPN, ya know?

#misha collins

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neo-zone · 11 months ago

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Sweet Home 3 Official Trailer Personal Breakdown

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Some little narration from monster Hyun-su with flashbacks of the last two seasons moment of them. Neat, I like it

Yi-kyung's daughter seems surprised (and kinda scared). Maybe when she realizes who her father is or she's realizing how bad the situation is in the stadium once it's already too late to go back to her peaceful garden? But who knows

Alright, how we go from monster Hyun-su having no sense of privacy at the last episode of season 2 to a scene of him and Eun-yu laying down separately like a divorced couple sleeping on different beds in season 3?

I guess the scene where Hyun-su parted with Eun-yu is after the night attack or well whatever, the main point is it's before the time skip. Also this is most likely the last time we see him with his best hairstyle before he went back to his older one and wearing some fancy clothes because why not. As for Eun-yu and Chan-young, maybe they went back to the stadium? But I don't know

What's this last step of monsterization Eun-hyeok mentioned? I thought it's just stop at the infected regaining full control over themselves after 15 days and got a cool superpower (although most are just variations of fleshy kinda icky stretched limbs, no not you Hyun-su your wing is cool) 🤔 Second power-up stuff, maybe?

So monster Hyun-su attacking Chan-young might have just been a red herring (gladly because whatever the reason they fight it does not make sense for both characters). There's another nasty murderous monster near the hospital at night and Chan-young probably planned a suicide attack with the explosion because duh what else a feeble human like me gonna do against a monster immune to firearms. Monster Hyun-su ofc got his shared abandonment issue with Hyun-su triggered and his immediate response is unconventionally grabbing Chan-young away before he could do something reckless. Hopefully that's what actually happened

On the other hand, THIS (Hyun-su vs Eun-hyeok) is the actual fight (more like little brawl you saw on school tho before Hyun-su uses his wing). Does remind me that the first thing Hyun-su did after waking up in S2E1 is beating up Sang-won (though unsuccessful in the end because he's skewered like a kebab on the vehicle ceiling shortly after). I could see it as both reference and parallel with the scene I just mentioned: Hyun-su saw what he thought is a Green Home survivor he knew who "died" in season 1 and then got into fight with them inside a large vehicle. He probably thought Eun-hyeok went through a similar unfortunate fate like Sang-wook, so he fought him out of anger. Except Eun-hyeok is Eun-hyeok and his corpse is not possessed by someone else with a penchant of pushing Hyun-su's buttons *side eye to Sang-won*. Also he's very much alive and in control of himself. Notice that the outcome is also both of them talking in peace and some bromance bromance vibe

I just noticed that Hyun-su's wing is covered in fire! He's very much ok, so this is an improvement and could be vital in a fight against the monsters

I'm not sure how it really went when the Neohumans going to the stadium? Is it peaceful until the soldiers start attacking? Or is it attacking first before they comply? Or they start attacking after the time skip? Once again, Sergeant Tak, I know you 100% don't trust that motherfucker, so it's not too late to burn Sang-won with your gasoline stock. And make sure not even his ashes remain this time. He's kinda slippery so make sure he does not slip away and find another corpse to possess for the third time

You could see how obvious the "I don't wanna be here" look on the facility girl's face when the Neohumans gang are on the stadium. Poor girl

"Oraenmanieyo" (⁠◔⁠‿⁠◔⁠) ah, Hyun-su finally met with Sang-won again after ages. Can't wait for the unlimited stabbing and flirting 👀 Their long overdue meeting probably happened during the epic showdown at night between Hyun-su & Eun-hyeok (& others if there's any who's willing to die) vs evil Neohumans for the final battle, because it's on night as well and there's fire

Um so what's going on between Yi-kyung and Hyun-su? Whatever it is, I have a bad feeling about it, just like their fight last season

Please do tell me or correct me in the reply if I still missed something (ofc outside the repated scenes from first teaser or ones I had discussed in the previous breakdown) or wrong at something. Thank you

#sweet home #sweet home netflix #sweet home 3 #sweet home season 3

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fandom-susceptible · 4 months ago

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TDP Rewatch S1E4: Bloodthirsty

I like the way the intro voice changes, I wanna keep track of that now. Pilot was Aaravos, Callum was the second or third? I don't remember the other one though. Viren is the fourth.

Editing in: listen if you like Viren, you may not like my commentary on this episode. I have absolutely no judgment if you do, have fun, go wild, but I personally love to hate him. He is a fictional character. My opinions on him do not reflect my opinions of anyone in the fandom or even the writers. Actually, I think the writers who created him are brilliant - they've successfully created villains that some people will like, who are complex and make sense, but who you can also just absolutely despise! And that's well-done! Anyways yeah I'm coming for Viren this episode, embody the old fanfic rules, don't like don't read.

Rayla is so goddamn cute. I love her so much. Also, feral Moonshadow headcanons are being fed by her first solution being to chew on the binding, not USE A SPELL. Since it's a MAGICAL RIBBON. Darling, dear, sweetheart, baby, Rayla, moonberry I'm wheezing. BOTH OF YOUR DADS ARE MAGES. Why was magic not your first solution darling?

They're also just . . . such teenagers in season 1? Idk, I'm nostalgic now, she really feels like a 15 year old watching this. When I first watched it when I was barely older than she is I was wrapped up in the story, but watching it as an adult, I want to wrap her up in a blanket and tell her she did a good job.

Oh Rayla really does curl her lip like she's showing teeth at Bait when they have a little stare-off, my feral Moonshadow headcanons are LIVING for this.

I love how her clothing design at this point has that little like. Heart shape at her throat, too.

At some point maybe I'll stop gushing over Rayla and watch the rest of the episode.

I think it's neat that her eyes match the shade of her tattoos in nighttime scenes.

Can we talk about Harrow managing to set up a funeral procession for Harrow THE NIGHT AFTER HE WAS KILLED? Less than a day? Poor Soren too, he just says "long night", but this has got to be hell on the guy.

"in his final hours, Harrow called me . . . his brother." YOU FUCKING BITCH. Shut the fuck up Lord Viagra. Lord VILLAIN. HE'S NOT EVEN DEAD AND YOU KNOW IT.

Also holy shit oooh yeah "the princes are dead" yes okay lord villain is a bitch in this moment but I also think he said that in a panic because he somehow thought his Nat20 on the Deception check was gonna propel him through the entire funeral, unfortunately Opeli's player finally rolled a perception check above a 3 and realized that the princes weren't there and he had to cover his ass. This is why he sends Soren to kill them later. He done fucked up and then had to commit to the bit.

I also think that Viren refused to allow Harrow to have a proper funeral out of sheer guilt. He's still him at this point, he hasn't even discovered Aaravos yet. Like he's really just this much of an evil bastard to begin with, but he's a self-centered coward. He can't allow a proper funeral to be had for a BIRD. He knows it would all be fake. He has to minimize this and bluff past it before anyone realizes what he's done, because he's still on edge and nervous because his original plan has gone so far off the rails. Harrow didn't listen to him like he thought, now the princes have absconded with what Viren thinks is one of his most powerful weapons, he's told the country that they're dead, and now he's just improvising and he's super not great at that.

Very teenager moment with the kids, Rayla not even waiting 2 seconds before calling Callum's name again. I also think it's cute that she checked to make sure she got his name right.

I love the fact that they're both fucking nerds. Like Callum's obvious but Rayla couldn't remember the word for whetstone despite also using swords, but she's out here giving a full on info dump about Primal Sources and magic and how it works at the slightest provocation from Callum. She is aLSO a nerd. (I like to think she gets this from Runaan. We see him giving lectures in Bloodmoon Huntress, and he references obscure history facts that Ethari thinks are just stories too, so I imagine he's that one guy who can and will give a complete history of the Moonshadow Elves if given a single chance.)

Rayla claims sky magic requires at least a strong breeze to cast a spell, but we never see other sky mages requiring that. Could be a retcon, but I'm gonna mentally patch it as her just misunderstanding how sky magic works because that's not her arcanum/instinct set.

I love how Rayla gets hit in her own insecurities by Callum's speech, like the shared parallel.

Rayla's clenched fist and recoil when Callum assumes they're drinking blood. "Is that what humans think we are? Bloodthirsty monsters?" Rayla, you say that like that isn't also what Skywing elves think of you, per the ones you met when you were 8. Like it's not a common story in Xadia, to the point that YOUR PEOPLE TELL IT ABOUT THEMSELVES. Granted there's actual history behind it from your POV, but yk.

Man . . . when I first watched this Amaya just was my sexuality for like a week, and honestly, the introduction holds up. (also, all my affection for strawberry boy Gren, the Army Commander who does not carry a weapon)

Actually side note about Gren, lmao, he really just caught Amaya's helmet like tossing it over her shoulder is a thing she does all the time, and I want to imagine honestly that it is. That's why he just catches Callum's staff when the boy throws it after finding out Amaya's engaged. He's just used to this family throwing things around him.

I have complicated feelings about the portrayal of Amaya's disability in the show. I've seen a lot of people analyze it, and the general consensus appears to be that it's mostly really good, but there's a handful of things that don't. . . quite make sense, especially her early interactions with Janai with no interpreter present. I will say for me, I could not figure out if she was meant to be deaf or mute until I read an outside source. The more nuanced take deserves its own post, it just occurred to me again with how she reacts to the boys without them signing or her bothering to look at Gren.

Moment of appreciation for Gren's admirable relaying of Amaya's intended tone and inflection, which you can also see reflected in her face. Also her soft smile at Callum when she reminds him it doesn't help to yell is so cute.

I just needed to appreciate the mimicry down to her expression here, complete with putting his hands on his hips to portray the bit she can't because she's using her hands to talk

Amaya really didn't notice the sheer weight in Ezran's backpack huh?

"I skipped breakfast?" THESE BOYS KNOW HOW TO PLAY THEIR AUNT SO WELL I love them so much, it's adorable. Weapons-grade fucking baguette, lmao. Amaya, did you expect the children to be able to yank your whole sword out of the table?

Amaya having the opinion of Moonshadow elves being the worst kind is interesting, given most of her interactions have been with Sunfire elves, based on what we see later. Makes me wonder what exactly happened to shape that opinion. Many little things, specific events, just information? It'd be interesting to find out, especially in the context of Runaan also having Personal Opinions about humans (that they're all liars/can't be trusted). What if their opinions were based off a conflict with each other years before this? It's not canon and I don't think it ever will be, but it'd be a neat idea to play with in a fanfic.

The kids' sheer exasperation at the suggestion they build a dirt man was hilarious, especially when we follow it up by Amaya's soldiers just casually becoming a construction crew to fix the doors she levelled earlier. Does she do this often? Is working for her just an endless string of "she just kicked down a door again. Fuck, now she's put a hole in the table. DID SHE JUST LEVEL A PILLAR?" (all things she did in fact do in this episode, all in like a day)

Callum warning Ezran not to tell Amaya was something I didn't get as a kid, because I saw how Amaya was later and thought maybe if Ezran got to her first, told the whole story before she ever saw Rayla, maybe she would go for it. Watching it now, no, he's . . . unfortunately probably right.

Amaya looming behind Rayla in that scene was absolutely terrifying I love it. Also, seriously Rayla, did you think leaping up to come down like that on a SHIELD was a good idea? That didn't work for you on Runaan, why would it work on Amaya?

I love Rayla sassing the guards with her four fingers joke, but also holy shit the one guard got blinded and just immediately came at her swinging with the sword. This could have gotten so bloody if it wasn't a kids' show.

Yeah no, telling her AFTER she's fought with Rayla wouldn't work.

I would have paid to see a conversation between Amaya and Rayla after this moment, where they talk about what happened here and what Callum told them.

"Puttin' everyone's lives in danger" is such a loaded line after what happened with the other assassins.

I love what a little shit Soren is with his father. "Crown hour. Crown o' clock?"

Harrow being in the damn bird makes so much sense. I fucking knew it. He's caged and refusing to make noise now, and looks away when Viren taunts him, the same way Harrow did when Viren was annoying him before.

I love the one old lady in the crowd who just looks Mad after she hears about the princes' "death", where everyone else is looking sad.

Notice how Viren isn't claiming the title of king? Just Lord Protector? Bitch knows the truth and it's under his skin.

Opeli sometimes hits me in the religious trauma a bit but her grin when Amaya announces the princes are alive gives me life.

#the dragon prince #tdp rewatch #season 1 episode 4 Bloodthirsty #tdp callum #tdp rayla #tdp ezran #tdp amaya #tdp gren #tdp viren #tdp claudia #tdp soren #tdp season 7 #tagging 7 because I do reference it #so spoilers #this is a bit of a long one I think

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soupdrinkinglincoln · 3 hours ago

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Alright. It’s been one week since the finale. Time for my final retrospective on Ncuti’s time as the Doctor. First of all, writing my thoughts as soon as the episodes dropped means that I had to give my initial thoughts, original and my own and without the time for rethinking and changing with the opinions of others. I stick by many of them. Robot Revolution was a pretty decent episode with some really strong characterisation for Belinda. Lux was great. The Well is still weak to me, despite me feeling less awful about it after reading others takes, I do still believe Midnight is just that slightly weaker for it’s existence. Lucky Day was again fine, but I still think it should have been part of a UNIT side series. And if it setting up Conrad makes that any less true then, hey, I guess Conrad should have been the villain of a UNIT side series. The Story and the Engine, even as somebody who is white as they come, is a wonderful black storyline, in major thanks I’m sure to the writing of Inua Ellams and the directing of Makalla McPherson. The Interstellar Song Contest was super fun, if a little underbaked. Wish World was a good enough buildup to the finale. And the beginning of The Reality War was great. The. Beginning. Of The Reality War.

As a small aside before I begin anything in proper, who’s fucking idea was it to make Ncuti’s stories “Season 1” and “Season 2”? This is still NuWho; it’s not even a particularly long break between Flux and this. We’ve had some specials; that’s never messed with the seasons before. But god did it make trying to find these episodes as a reminder much harder! Doctor Who Season 15 brings up classic who; Doctor Who Season 2 brings up Army of Ghosts. What do you want from me, ‘Doctor Who Season 2 The Third’? Anyway, mini rant over, let’s begun the retrospective.

I think that a lot of people’s big issue, at least that I’ve seen, is that Ncuti’s seasons overrely on nostalgia and calling back to old villains like The Rani, Sutekh and Omega. Initially, I thought that was my issue too. And the rebuttal is obvious. “Oh, you think the show relies too much on nostalgia these seasons, and that’s the problem? What about the constant nostalgia usage from other seasons? Jodie wearing the fez; old companions always coming back, the Daleks and Cybermen and Zygons returning in NuWho from the classic season!” All of that is incredibly valid, and correct, and it’s those points that made me realise what my actual issue was. It was that there wasn’t anything from the classic episodes in this series. Think about it. Everyone’s shared their grievances about Ncuti not being allowed a single Dalek episode, or a Cyberman episode, or a Master episode. But we’ve had nothing back. No Weeping Angels, no Zygons, no Ice Warriors, no Judoon. I mean, for crying out loud, the Rani had a cheap method of time travel she wore around her wrist in lieu of a TARDIS, and the show refused to allow it to be a vortex manipulator. The closest that we’ve gotten to that I think is a single Silurian in ‘Joy To The World’. The refutal to that is also obvious, though, isn’t it. “What about those you’ve just listed? The Toymaker, the Rani, Sutekh, Omega. We got them back!” To which I say- did we? Past name alone these characters are not returning ones. We didn’t get the Celestial Toymaker back, we got the New Toymaker. We didn’t get the Osirans back, we got New Sutekh. We got the New Ranis instead of the classic version of her, and god fucking knows that I’d have given anything to have gotten the old Omega back instead of the CGI plot skeleton New Omega. I love the Pantheon, believe me I do. But they shouldn’t be there in place of the rest of the show’s classic cast.

Now, as for the companions- actually, wait. No. I’d like to talk about the formula before I get to that because comparing both seasons for this, side by side, it’s actually genuinely a little eldritch just noticing what sort of a formula they had to have been working off. Ruby gets The Church on Ruby Road, which is counted as a holiday special before the series, and then following that, just go with me here. Two seasons, eight episodes. The first one is for characterising the new companion and who they are. Then there’s an episode where they deal with a Pantheon member related to the arts. Then there’s an episode where the companion is shown how dangerous travelling with the Doctor is, by way of them being shot. Then there’s a Doctolite story where Ruby is a public enemy. Then the series has a single episode that’s allowed to touch on and discuss the Doctor’s race in more detail than the others. Rogue and The Interstellar Song Contest feel like they have their own identity- and I enjoyed both. Then there’s a two part finale, built around an old lady who has been appearing everywhere across time and space wherever the Doctor goes. In the second part of that finale, the Doctor deals with a CGI creature of death. All the while, Susan is teased but never appears in person. It feels like they built both seasons from the same notecards, or the same structure booklet. I don’t feel like I could line things up like this for any other season of the show; or of any of the sideshows for that matter.

Okay, now onto the companions. Both had interesting mysteries attached to them when they were introduced. Ruby had her enigmatic mother, and Belinda had her connection to ambulance lady. Ruby’s mystery got an ending that was less grand, less insane and enigmatic than anyone expected, but nonetheless, it was human. Belinda’s was completely dropped so they could do a 180 on her character in the finale. Yeah, so let’s talk about Belinda. In Matt Smith’s series, James Corden came into the show in an episode where The Doctor was stuck on Earth. He came back with a child in a later episode with the Cybermen. Belinda, a major companion, had five more episodes than he did. In one of those, she was under the effects of the Wish, so let’s say four. Belinda, again, a major companion, had three times as many episodes as James Corden did. She was given such a strong and defining personality; the thing that made me so pumped for her to begin with, and then they slowly stripped it away. Her being a mother to Poppy was fine, worked well because she was under the effects of the Wish and all, and her being so different highlighted things just as much as The Doctor being John Smith did. But then she was just like that after the Wish ended. And the series ended on Belinda acting so uncharacteristic to how she was, to the degree where she just allowed the Doctor to scan her daughter without a care. In seven episodes. I don’t feel like this happened with Ruby. She began strong, resilient and defiant, and she ended off the same. Though I haven’t missed that she got ten episodes where she could fully be and explore herself, in comparison.

Now, I know fully well that I am far from the person most qualified to talk about race, but it would be impertinent for me not to. I, like most others, do not think that RTD was the person to handle running the show for the first black Doctor to have a main series run. The issues of race were touched on only when it was decided it should be; which was in a total of three episodes from what I remember. Belinda’s character is massacred, Belinda’s family appear randomly and get almost nothing, Carla Sunday gets more characterisation in alternate scenarios where she’s being miserable and horrible to Ruby than she does in the actual canon, Cherry is delightful but used as a gag, the Rani is shafted in her own arc as an antagonist. Everything is very telling but I’d rather leave the actual telling of that to the people who can do a far better job than I.

To conclude this overly long post that I’ve drafted over hours, Ncuti himself played an excellent Doctor in some episodes that I really enjoyed. But a lot of other things let him down. Maybe the showrunner is to blame, maybe Disney had a hand in things. But nonetheless, I think there’s one thing that, irregardless, is killing Doctor Who. And that thing is not Billie Piper. Rumours were that this would be the last series of Doctor Who before it ended. It didn’t. And I think that’s a damn shame. Doctor Who needs to end because the modern, bingeable, eight episodes a season, throw filler to the wolves style of television is not one where the show can thrive. It, to Doctor Who, is akin to a tight steel cage in which a tiger can do nothing but pace on end. I do believe that ‘bingeable limited run series’ style television will end, and that the twenty two episode monster-of-the-weeks and case-by-case detective slash doctor type shows will return. But until they do, I think Doctor Who should wait. Wait to be revived again, with fresh blooded showrunners who watched Jodie and Ncuti as children and who want to tell their own stories. I want more great Doctor Who some day, not more okay Doctor Who now.

Anyway this is genuinely the last time I bring this show up in a lengthy review until the next episodes come out or that sea show does so bye

#doctor who #the doctor #doctorwho #doctor who spoilers #dw spoilers #15th doctor #fifteenth doctor

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pochqmqri · 5 months ago

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With Magilumiere S1 finished, here's how individual episodes ranked in Japan's Top 10 TV Animation ranking over the past few months (scores in "average household ranking"):

Week of October 7: Episode 1 — 2.7%, 7th place

Week of October 14: Episode 2 — 2.3%, 10th place

Week of November 4: Episode 6 — 2.4%, 9th place

Week of November 18: Episode 8 — 2.6%, 6th place (tie)

Week of November 25: Episode 9 — 3.0%, 5th place (tie)

Week of December 2: Episode 10 — 2.8%, 7th place

Week of December 9: Episode 11 — 2.5%, 9th place

Week of December 16: Episode 12 — 2.7%, 7th place

Usually every week, the top ranking animation programs tend to be classic long-running children's shows like Sazae-san, Chibi Maruko-chan, Doraemon, Crayon Shin-chan, and Detective Conan. Below those, One Piece, the yearly PreCure, and Dragon Ball (Kai, Super, and now Daima), tend to rank most weeks.

The leftover spots on the ranking tend to be split over seasonal anime. For example, this Fall 2024 anime season, Blue Miburo has been ranking abnormally high, even as high as third place for the week of December 15. In the Winter 2024 season earlier this year, Frieren and Apothocary Diaries ranked high for a few weeks.

Going back to this Fall season, Magilumiere has had two-thirds of its episodes rank within the Top 10 Weekly Animation rankings. And of the last two episodes, it has even ranked above Wonderful PreCure (Episodes 10 and 12 outranked One Piece as well). That's incredibly insane, and if a Season 2 annoucement hadn't already been made prior to the finalized rankings, I would have said this boded really well for a second season. This is truly the best original Magical Girl anime of the year.

#kabushiki gaisha magilumiere #magilumiere co. ltd.#magilumiere magical girls inc.#magical girl #anime #magilumiere

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genericpuff · 2 years ago

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The Mishandling of LO’s S3 Mi(n)season Hiatus - Part 3 2/2

ALRIGHT. THIS IS THE LAST PART. I MEAN IT THIS TIME.

I had completely forgotten how long the mi(n)season finale for S3 was, but I suppose it makes sense considering it was operating as the true cliffhanger before the 4 month break.

If you haven't read the first 3 parts of this episodic breakdown, please go check these ones out first:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3 1/2

Alright, let's get this show on the road!

CAUTION: THIS IS PART 2 OF THE THIRD PART OF A 3 + 1 PART SERIES IN WHICH I WILL BE SPOILING MUCH OF EPISODES 251-253. THIS EPISODE CONTAINS TOPICS SURROUNDING SEXUAL ASSAULT. THIS WILL BE A LONG POST. BRACE YOURSELF.

We've gotten delusional Leuce. We've gotten erasure of the SA. We've gotten a complete bastardization of the original myths that this story got its claim to fame on. The dread has set in, and all I want to do is get off Mr Bones' Wild Ride. But we have one more stretch of mind-numbing track to go, because the reveal of Persephone starting winter was not the end, oh no. The true cliffhanger of this episode - upon which the fans and critics alike have sat on for 4 months - proves that when we think Rachel has gotten crazy enough in this circus she calls a "retelling", she manages to prove that yes, she can make things even crazier, and no, you will not have a good time.

Ironically, despite that opening, I actually have a lot less to say about this last part of Episode 253 than I did about the first part. Obviously there's no feasible way to top "Persephone causes winter", but this episode does come rather close in its absurdity. Ultimately, if these essays have proven anything, it's just how much Rachel retcons things, to such an extent now that she seems to be retconning or outright forgetting information that she established just a handful of episodes prior. You'll see what I mean here as we go along in this.

As soon as it's hinted at that Persephone has started winter, we cut away to Apollo. Because, as per LO tradition, we can't spend longer than 10-15 panels on a single scene.

Already this seems like... really odd framing.

This is Apollo. A character who has been a villain since basically the beginning of the comic, when he sexually assaulted Persephone. This is not something that's up for debate. This is not something that can be refuted, as much as the comic may try to erase it or twist it into something else.

And yet, the vibe I get from this is, "Misled but good-deep-down character being taken advantage of by a sinister being." This isn't the type of framing we should be seeing around a character like Apollo.

I mentioned it ages ago in my post about the SA erasure that it really feels like Rachel is slyly trying to make Apollo empathetic, from giving us an entire episode in his perspective to adding extra panels into the books to making Persephone weirdly reminiscent of feelings for Apollo that she never had.

One thing I also touch on in that post is how Apollo is framed against Zeus. Zeus is also a villain character for much of the series, and even after he's "redeemed", the fanbase still considers him largely to be an antagonistic force. So to have Apollo be trying to take down Zeus comes across as very "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" and I really don't like seeing that framing when it's regarding a rapist.

And this scene largely feels the same. It feels like Rachel's trying to sway the audience into believing Apollo is like Draco Malfoy - a misled boy who "didn't know any better" and was being manipulated by a greater evil. If you haven't guessed by now, that "greater evil" is Ouranos.

Why is it Ouranos? In my opinion (so take this with grains of salt) this is because they need to somehow "one up" Kronos and give Persephone and Hades a tangible force to fight against, to draw a clean line in the sand between "good" and "evil" so that we, the audience, will be forced to categorize Persephone and Hades as "good" and someone else as "evil".

But really, why Ouranos? We're told that he manipulated Gaia to use her powers in an attempt to create "hierarchy" (whatever the FUCK that means, I don't think Rachel really understands how societal hierarchies are created) but there's NOTHING to imply that he was tyrannical or "evil" in the same way that Kronos has been depicted. Rachel's basically submitting this whole plotline to "well it's in the prophecy" but there was NOTHING dictating that she had to try and write a "prophecy" storyline to begin with. So as a result, it feels very tacked on and it's hard to tell what the point is, it really just seems like Rachel watched too much Marvel one week and decided that Lore Olympus - a fantasy romance - needed a big bad.

And by extension it feels like Apollo is being used as a pawn in this dynamic. By making him subservient to an "evil" force, it means he can labelled as definitively "evil", and thus it gives Rachel a vehicle to have Apollo taken down - or even perhaps empathized with much like in the Draco Malfoy sense - without having to touch the SA plot that she set up and never resolved.

He was evil before, but he wasn't the kind of evil that Rachel could write around. Because she doesn't know how to write SA or give her female characters any sense of retribution or agency. We've seen that already with her robbing Demeter of winter and Persephone of her feelings regarding the SA. There was never going to be a chance in hell she was going to be able to write herself out of a plotline she's been procrastinating for 4+ years.

That said, this is just a vibe I get, so I'm not gonna speak on it much more. This is one of those "we're really not gonna know until the comic returns" situations.

Once again, Rachel's trying to make Apollo seem like a "master manipulator", but she's also trying to make him seem like he's the one being manipulated, but she's ALSO trying to write him as a big dumb idiot who literally can't grasp consent. Apollo has to be one of the most inconsistently written characters in the entire comic, and yes, that includes Persephone. Again, it just goes to show she hasn't been able to fully commit to the SA plotline because Apollo's motivations and intelligence levels change with each passing episode. Sometimes he's being nefarious and plotting to overthrow the King, other times he's literally asking a nymph if she'd be willing to cut her hair to look like Persephone. The comic can't choose and so we, the audience, can't tell why Apollo is even still here.

Again, this is SUCH bizarre framing. If we're to believe that Persephone has been "cursed" by no longer being able to create Spring, only Winter, then does that make Ouranos and Apollo the heroes here? Because Ouranos is right, if Persephone is causing winter, that's going to kill the mortals, which is the complete OPPOSITE of what she's trying to do. So what are we left with? A plotline where Apollo and Ouranos might actually have a point about how she rushed into a marriage with the King of the Underworld and sacrificed everything that gave her agency and power - both metaphorically and literally - in the process?

Again, this is why Rachel fundamentally misunderstands the original purpose of The Hymn to Demeter and how she's, by and large, made her retelling worse in an attempt to be "subversive". It puts the plot and character motivations in a place where it's hard to tell what the story is trying to say, I can understand if maybe Rachel's trying to write a conflict where Apollo uses this information to manipulate her, but it doesn't help that knowing EVERYTHING we know about the H x P relationship within the context of this comic, Ouranos has a point that Persephone's union with the King of the Dead is problematic. It might not be the same "problematic" that we're all thinking of, but it really just reinforces the criticisms of this relationship. Is the comic really asking us to say "fuck the human race, they're in love" ??? Because that's NOT what the point of the original myth was in the slightest and it's just a really weird place to put your audience in.

It's 4:45 AM right now as I'm typing this so my thoughts are a little scattered, but all this really feels like is an attempt on Rachel's part to create a new "big bad" for her to use as a distraction from the SA plot and to give Persephone a "flaw", but that "flaw" really only takes away the strength of another character.

Oh, and by the way? This whole "you need the fertility goddess" thing? THE COMIC HAS ALREADY TOLD US THIS WON'T WORK BECAUSE SHE HAS TO BE IN LOVE WITH APOLLO FOR HIM TO BE ABLE TO USE HER POWERS. SO RACHEL'S ALREADY WRITTEN HERSELF INTO A CORNER THAT SHE'LL EITHER HAVE TO SOLVE OR RETCON ENTIRELY. DO YOU SEE WHY THIS IS SO ABSURD???

This line is kind of jarring because we had the Kassandra prophecy at the beginning that talked about the herb, but the prophecy Ouranos is talking about is the one about the sons of kings overthrowing their fathers. I definitely forgot about that one for a hot second reading this, I didn't get how this sequence related to the poisonous plant thing because they're framed as completely separate prophecies. It's not like Kassandra said in her initial prophecy that this plant would be used to overthrow a King again, she just said that the plant still existed and Psyche figured it out on her own that Apollo was gonna use it on Zeus. IDK that's just something that bugged me (also again, why are they believing her prophecies when we literally just had it established an episode ago that no one believes her prophecies LMAO)

Because if it wasn't enough for LO to have one Evil Robot Jeff Bridges villain, it had to throw in another one for good measure. It's just a line of dads and grandpas going back centuries waiting for their turn in the ring with Persephone.

lmao I love this 'hint' at Apollo being the one to write the note from Hebe and leave the cupcake for Zeus. Like... duh? We already put that together as SOON as Psyche said gasp "Zeus!" and then it showed Zeus eating the cupcake while Psyche called him on the phone telling him Apollo was gonna try and harm him. This sequence of 'revealing what really happened' doesn't work here because we've already been told what happened.

Except we know he won't. There's no tension to this whatsoever.

That's Hebe by the way.

It's odd that Apollo is embracing this prophecy when he has a kid himself. He literally has a fully grown son in this comic. I guess Apollo forgot about that, just like Rachel.

And that's it. That's the midseason finale. Ouranos is the new twist villain and Apollo is... whatever the fuck Rachel plans on doing with him.

Now, this leads me to my original motivation to create this series of reviews. It spawned from a conversation we were having in the Discord, discussing what it must be like to be a free reader who hasn't paid for the FP episodes that are still behind a paywall. This is not standard for LO, it hasn't kept FP episodes behind paywalls in the past during long hiatuses like this. I can even prove this with screenshots from the Wayback Machine, during the last midseason hiatus:

(whoof, that rating has dropped. I know it doesn't seem like much but for a series with millions of readers, by law of averages it takes a LOT of poor ratings to pull that number down compared to a series that only has a few readers)

Point is, this is the first time Rachel/WT have done this. Now, I will make this perfectly clear, I don't think this was a decision that was purely on Rachel. WT controls much of the backend like paywall costs, release dates, etc. so I'm not gonna go pinning this on her.

However, I do think this is a completely bungled attempt at trying to get people to pay up. LO has been dropping in views steadily but surely since the midseason break for S2. It's not pulling in the peak numbers that it used to, while it does still pull in a lot more views and money than other series on the platform, it's nowhere near the juggernaut that it once was in terms of record-breaking numbers, and I think WT knows that. So this really comes across as a stunt to get readers to FP, assuming that people will HAVE to pay if they're left waiting for 4 months.

But here's the flaw in that logic - people are still going to have to wait 4 months anyways. Reading those 3 locked episodes, especially all at once, will still leave you in the same place as you were beforehand.

And it shows in the numbers that people aren't falling for the bait.

Again, 17k likes still isn't anything to sneeze at for a FP episode, but it's still just barely above the new average that LO has gained over the past two years. I remember a time when those like counts would be 30k+. And now, despite being on break 4 months with these episodes still locked behind a wall, it's barely able to scrap by its new average of roughly 14-15k, and that average is when episodes are actually updating.

Obviously like counts = / = viewcounts but when they fluctuate, we know that the views have to be as well by extension, at least to some extent, and that's still engagement that's dropped of in and of itself. And we can also see a rough look at how the views have dropped off through the comic's landing page. Now, it's hard to compare data because there was a time when WT actually didn't give follower/view counts on the landing page (this was also when the like count capped at 99k) but we can still see a downslide in growth very visibly in the view count, sub count, and most of all, the rating, which has been steadily dropping for years now.

August 2020:

May 2021:

November 2021:

March 2022 (don't get confused by the 995 million, this is where view count comes in):

September 2022:

March 2023:

Today (October 24th, 2023):

Again, there's no way to get a true clear picture of LO's stats beyond this surface level data, but it does show that LO is just not getting the rapid growth it used to. People are moving on from it. And while its view and sub count are steadily increasing (albeit slowly for a webtoon that gets as much marketing as it does) the average rating is going down. It's clear that the majority of LO's growth happened between 2018 and 2020, which would make sense as the series was still relatively new compared to how it's become old news today, and Webtoons experienced a boom in 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdowns - a boom that they think still applies in the year 2023, judging by their attempts to import as many series onto the platform as possible and capitalize on an audience that just isn't there anymore.

All of this leads me to wonder - what's in it for free readers after all this? Because if you recall from where we started, the cliffhanger they started on was Hades - possessed by Kronos - attempting to strangle Persephone, a cliffhanger that was resolved within seconds for FastPass readers. If they don't FastPass after that, they'll be met with numerous reveals that don't even make sense for the plot as a whole (such as Leuce making up the text messages).

Again, I don't want to claim that this was a decision on Rachel's part, but it really seems like either she didn't plan this hiatus, or her inability to write naturally without the need for addictive-style formatting as a crutch made it so that the free readers would be given the worst midseason premiere ever.

And what are we, the FastPass readers, going to return to? There are still so many plot threads that have been left unresolved, multiple villains being setup, and as far as Webtoons and Rachel have revealed during NYCC, LO is supposed to end by the spring. That's 20-30 weeks TOPS, which isn't exactly a whole lot of wiggle room for a writer like Rachel who's chronically bad at pacing and getting to the point of the plots she's established.

I know there are so many readers right now anticipating the return of this comic, some of whom genuinely believe this comic is "better than ever" and others who are critical of it but hope that the comic will come back in a better state after the hiatus. But right now there's so much evidence to support the contrary - that LO is about to come back in as bad, if not worse, condition than it was in when it left.

And through all this, for a comic that's finally ending after 5 years, I have to ask - where is the hype? Why are Webtoons and Rachel keeping the finale of this comic behind closed doors? Where's the promotional art, the hinting at what's to come, the attempts to generate any semblance of excitement for the readers who are still left after clinging onto this ride for 5 years? Why were the fans themselves barred out of their own communities during the majority of the hiatus?

And that just leads me to an even more discouraging thought. This is not meant to accuse Rachel or make assumptions. It's simply a thought that I had while thinking about what the series could possibly pull upon its return, so please, take this with MOUNTAINS of salt. It's one thing I hadn't considered with the knowledge that LO will be returning with 3 episodes still behind a paywall, a 'buffer' in and of itself for Rachel to work off of.

Rachel only technically needs one episode ready for the release. Not three as she normally would if the episodes had been unlocked like in previous hiatuses. That's not including whatever buffer episodes she would need beyond the upload schedule, but she's proven to be chronically bad at maintaining a buffer as well since day one.

We haven't seen any promotional art. No hinting. No hyping beyond what's been seen for her "Rachel Smythe Presents" series.

With all that in mind, I have one question to leave this on:

Has Rachel even started working on Episode 254 yet?

#thank you for reading this very long essay series #it's 530 AM and i have to work at 2 PM #i've been listening to drakengard music on loop for 2 hours #these are troubling times #deadass i think the comic is gonna come back even worse than before #and i WILL be here to talk about it if and when it does #lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lore olympus

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new-employeeamillion · 2 months ago

Text

April has already had a ton of animation/pop culture news that some of you might want to know my thoughts on. So here’s my 2 cents on all the announcements that matter to me.

-New Warner Bros. movies

I still don’t know if this is an April Fools joke. Announcing 3 new animated movies, each based on a classic IP (Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry and The Flintstones) seems too good to be true. But after selling 2 Looney Tunes movies to a tiny distributor (Ketchup), I can see what they’e trying to do. They know animated movies drum up a lot of attention online these days, even the ones that can’t make much money. It’s sad that it’s reached a point where making movies and releasing them is the bare minimum for good publicity, but I’m going to support the hell out of these movies as they approach their release dates.

All these franchises have had fully animated theatrical movies now, but I can only wonder what the next step will be. I do hope The Day the Earth Blew Up gets a follow-up, because that’s the most fun I’ve had with a movie in a theatre in a long time. With the Flintstones movie, all I can imagine is the tape message scene from The Simpsons Movie but with Fred and Wilma. I don’t know why, but that’s where my imagination goes. Perhaps it won’t be that deep though. Speaking of which…

-The Simpsons is renewed through to Season 40

It’s a year with a number in it and The Simpsons is still on TV. I don’t think FOX has ever renewed 4 new seasons at once, they usually just give it an extra 2 every 2 years. I can’t say I’m the most excited guy in the room, because I don’t want to predict what the next cast/crew loss will be and how that’ll leave the show getting even more distant from its roots. Like I know they’re keeping it on as long as possible for the meme, and I am morbidly curious to see how long, but the future has never looked less assured. I have been catching up on the Matt Selman seasons, and they can be enjoyable, but it’ll take a miracle to keep that level of quality up for the rest of the decade.

I guess the miracle comes from the shorter seasons they’ve got now. They’ve been airing 18 annually on FOX recently, with 4 being turned into specials on Disney+. Now the FOX episode count has been cut down to 15 annually. Maybe they’re finally learning to strike a quality over quantity balance, maybe the budget is getting lower, or maybe the show has so many episodes now that an 850th won’t spark much anticipation. Either way, I’ve got mixed hopes.

-South Park’s 27th season

They’ve apparently fully planned it out ahead of time this year, taking influence from news stories that you can bet your bottom dollar will be irrelevant when it drops on July 9th. I’m still interested to see what South Park does next as well, but it hardly feels like it’s still running anymore. I know Trey and Matt have been embroiled in legal battles, and they’ve been busy on other projects (again again). But the fact they’re breaking code and planning stories months in advance will definitely lead to interesting results. Maybe not great, certainly not Season 5-8 great, but who knows?

-Doctor Who’s doing an episode about cartoons

We’re going back to the Land of Fiction with this one. This rubberhose guy might make the rounds on animation social media for a week, but the more I see of his episode, the more it looks like an experiment first and a story second, like the Beatles episode last season. I mean this is the third year in a row they’re doing “What if [20th century media] got corrupted and destroys the present?” I can count on the rubberhose guy to leave an impact, and on the leads to be entertaining, but this is already looking like the season’s highlight to me. I can only hope they’ll spend part or the rest of it fixing last year’s finale. Fingers crossed. Brave heart, fandom.

-Nintendo Switch 2

Looks expensive. Not PS3 expensive, but inflation is a cruel force of nature. I won’t get it at launch based on that, and the fact I usually wait for the big 3D Super Mario game before getting a new Nintendo console. I got 3D World with my Wii U, Odyssey with my Switch, and whatever they’ve got next is going with my Switch 2. The games and features they have announced look exciting, but again, I’ll wait for more games and a price drop, and get as much out of my Switch as I can.

That’s all, folks!

#looney tunes #tom and jerry #the flintstones #the simpsons #south park #doctor who #nintendo switch 2 #mario

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merlinfromberlin · 8 months ago

Text

A Little Left of Right

"Apparently our cross-dimensional counterparts belong to the more faint of heart," said Optimus. His words sent a cold shiver down Bumblebee's backstrut. "Weren't they keeping pets, too?" asked Arcee, the cold sneer that accompanied those words basically audible. "Pathetic. I don't know what anyone could ever find in these squishies. It's a shame we're stuck here with them." ::What?:: bleeped Bee.

Or: When Bumblebee wakes up after a crash in the desert, something is not quite right with Team Prime.

Warnings: Canon Typical Violence, experimental style, Shattered Glass, Ableist Comments, implied cross-dimensional stalking, attempted botnapping Chronology: Somewhere smack dab in the middle of TFP Season 2 - after Operation: Bumblebee but before Smokescreen shows up. Chapter: 1/? Wordcount: 1823 words

Apparently merely the first chapter of a longer story (against my consent).

Written for @angstober - Day 15: False Hope. Prompt list can be found here: X

I'm aware that this does not exactly fit the 'false hope' mold. It's more a 'false sense of security'. But well. This idea stole my brain and by the time I got it back I didn't want to go back and change it anymore.

Story below the cut or on AO3 (I would recommend the AO3 version because of the formatting - looks better over there).

[Initiating system reboot.]

[...]

[Rebooting sequence successful.]

[Running automated system diagnosis.]

[...]

[Energy level: 53%.]

[Fuellevel: 49%. ]

[Malevolent foreign coding (Aut#Rt-4c7.SG) detected.]

[Isolating code.]

[…]

[Malevolent foreign coding (Aut#Rt-4c7.SG) isolated.]

[Starting analysis.]

[…]

[Analysis complete.]

[Malevolent foreign coding (Aut#Rt-4c7.SG) identified as Forced Shutdown Protocol (Aut#Rt-4c7.SG).]

[Complete system scan recommended.]

[Scan now?]

[Yes (X) No ( )]

[Initiating scan.]

The first thing Bumblebee became aware of as he woke was coarse grainy desert sand grinding into his joints and burrowing itself below his plating. The second thing was a processor ache almost as bad as that one time he had fallen from Optimus’ shoulders as a sparkling. The third thing was his HUD as well as several other core processes rebooting.

His internal navigation system positioned him somewhere between Jasper and Autobot Outpost Omega One which was good because it was where he remembered being before… before he had been knocked out by whatever. At least Bee had not been botnapped. That would have been inconvenient. Being botnapped sucked. And he really did not want to miss this week’s episode of Avatar.

Bee’s comm link pinged four Autobot signals around him. As he could detect no other lifeforms—apart from an armadillo—nearby, Bumblebee decided to take that as a good sign. He was probably relatively safe right now. Still, he was cautious as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. Safety was never permanent. It was one of the first lessons growing up in a Civil War older than yourself taught you.

When he finally onlined his optics, a new surge of pain shredded his processor. His whole visual feed was grainy and drained of colour except for a violently pink tinge in the upper right corner that would have fried his optical sensory circuits if they had not already been glitching. Shaking his helm did not help with the problem in the slightest. Instead, the movement just aggravated the pain and made him nauseous. With a small groan, he pressed his thumbs just below his optical ridges. The sensation of cool digits against heated metal helped momentarily, allowing him to tear his focus back to the present.

Through the static Bumblebee could, albeit barely, make out the shapes of Optimus Prime and Ratchet standing in front of him. The medic was kneeling in front of Bee, already scanning his charge for damages. To his sides he could make out two more vague frames—one slithe, the other bulky. That had to be Arcee and Bulkhead.

::What happened?:: Bee beeped after a moment of tense silence while he slowly, so as not to aggravate his processor further, turned his helm up towards Optimus for answers.

“Our… scanners detected your distress signal,” replied the Prime after a short pause. His tone of voice sent a chill down Bumblebee’s backplating and caused his doorwings to shoot upwards in rigid tension. Optimus sounded uncharacteristically angry and... almost arrogant. His cool intonation and aggressive glyphs grated on Bee's processor. Maybe there was something wrong with his audials, too? Because that was just not what the Autobot leader was supposed to sound like. “So we came to investigate.”

::I don’t…:: Bee started slowly, cycling his optics sluggishly as he scoured his memory files for hints as to what had happened. ::I was driving back to base… I had just brought Raf home. Then… there was this… I don’t know… light, I guess… a flash of blue light. And…. Then I don’t know. I woke up here.::

[Error in Optical Sensory Relay Network (Bas#B-127) detected.]

Who woulda thunk.

[Restart of Optical Sensory Relay Network (Bas#B-127) necessary.]

[Restart now?]

[Yes (X) No ( )]

[Initiating restart of Optical Sensory Relay Network (Bas#B-127).]

“Mh… There is some minor damages to his sensory network,” reported Ratchet just as Bumblebee’s visual feed offlined itself. He heard someone heavy, probably Bulkhead, shift their weight from one pede to the other on his left side.

::Yeah:: Bee piped up. ::My self-repair is already-::

“Du-uh-uh. Let the grown-ups talk. It's impolite to invade conversations you know nothing about.” He was cut off almost immediately by the medic which… ouch. His carer tended to be grouchy but that… that had just been mean. Unnecessarily so in Bee’s opinion. Ratchet had never before spoken to him like that. Tentatively, he attempted to reach out with his EM field but was met with nothing but distant static. Dejected, he pulled it back to his frame, curling its tendrils tightly around his protoform for comfort. “Otherwise, there seems to be nothing amiss with him. Well, except for the obvious.” Which… again. Ouch. What had gotten into Ratchet?

::Maybe it was M.E.C.H.? I mean… it would fit their method is all:: offered Bee after a moment of terse silence.

A silent hum from Optimus was the only answer he received. Until an impossibly familiar voice spoke up.

“I thought we had squashed those pests decicycles ago,” said Cliffjumper of all mech which… apparently Bee’s audials really were glitching because there was no way that Cliffjumper could be here. Cliffjumper had died months ago in a Decepticon energon mine. And Bee was absolutely certain of that because he kept reliving that dreadful cycle in all its gory details in his dreams. He could not be hearing Cliffjumper because Cliffjumper was dead. Offline. One with the Allspark. Gone.

"Apparently our cross-dimensional counterparts belong to the more faint of heart," answered Optimus. Again, his words sent a cold shiver down Bumblebee's backstrut.

"Weren't they keeping pets, too?" asked Arcee, the cold sneer that accompanied those words basically audible. "Pathetic. I don't know what anyone could ever find in these squishies. It's a shame we're stuck here with them."

::What?:: bleeped Bee. His servos were shaking slightly. His vents came in too fast. Something was wrong. Something was seriously wrong here. None of this made any sense. Please, Primus, let it be a glitch with his audials or something like that. At least he would know how to fix that—or Ratchet would.

[Query: Initiating scan of Auditory Sensory Relay Network (Bas#B-127).]

[Scan of Auditory Sensory Relay Network (Bas#B-127) has not detected any malfunction.]

[Query: Initiating scan of Auditory Sensory Relay Network (Bas#B-127).]

[Scan of Auditory Sensory Relay Network (Bas#B-127) has not detected any malfunction.]

[Query: Initiating scan of Auditory Sensory Relay Network (Bas#B-127).]

[Scan of Auditory Sensory Relay Network (Bas#B-127) has not detected any malfunction.]

[Restart of Optical Sensory Relay Network (Bas#B-127) successful.]

[Rebooting now.]

As his visual feed came back online, Bumblebee flinched heavily. The jerking motion send a shard of hot pain through his processor that buried itself deep behind his right optic. He did not care as he shuffled backwards in a panic. After only a few metres his doorwings collided with a rock behind him, stopping him in his tracks and trapping him in place.

[Initiating Energy Preservation Protocols (SpOp_Sc#B-127).]

[Initiating Energon Preservation Protocols (SpOp_Sc#B-127).]

[Initiating Emergency Pain Suppressant Protocols (SpOp_Sc#B-127).]

[Initiating Stealth Protocols (SpOp_Sc#B-127).]

[Initiating Scouting Protocols (SpOp_Sc#B-127).]

[Initiating Infiltration Protocols (SpOp_Sc#B-127).]

[Initiating Combat Protocols (SpOp_Sc#B-127).]

As his processor ache slowly faded to the background, the scout's gaze kept shifting wildly from one bot to the next, skipping from white plating accented with teal on Ratchet's frame to an Arcee whose dark blue main colour had been exchanged for pitch black. For a moment, Bee's focus lingered on the dark blue Cliffjumper to his left. This mech had a lot more horns and studs than his own Cliff had ever possessed. All of their optics glowed red. Then his attention narrowed down on the tallest bot of the group surrounding him. The one who shared Optimus’ frame but neither his colour scheme nor his gentle warmth. Instead, the semitruck was mostly violet, his optics glowing in a sickening purple the scout had come to associate with Megatron.

::You’re not Optimus:: Bumblebee finally said, his vocalisation trembling slightly. The fake Optimus just laughed. The sound of it was grating to the youngling's audials and he pulled his pedes even closer to himself. His doorwings flared up wide behind him. They were flapping furiosuly, lower halfs scraping against the rock behind him with every stroke.

The fake Ratchet scoffed: "He is a truer Prime than your pathetic pacifist archivist ever could be, little sparkbyte."

Bee shivered at the term of endearment. It sounded wrong when it came from this mech—cold, dangerous and mocking when it should have been one of the, if not the safest word in the entire universe. How did this sorry excuse for Ratchet even know it? Ratchet—his Ratchet, his medic and his carer and the bot who had raised him with Optimus and Ironhide and Elita-1 ever since the destruction of Bumblebee's hometown—made sure never to use it publicly. He was not even sure if their human allies, if Raf, knew the term.

::What did you do to Ratchet?:: Bee warbled quietly, cycling his optics to focus on the medic's faceplates now. He was shaking silently, although he was not sure if from fear or fury.

"Wouldn't you like to know, little one?" The grin on the mean doctor's faceplate split even wider. That was Optimus' nickname for him. It took Bee way too much effort not to cower.

"Ratchet," interrupted the fake Prime suddenly, his voice cold and coloured heavily with disgust. "As amusing as this conversation may be to you, you can continue it back at headquarters. There, you will have our little guest all to yourself without having to worry about Decepticons interrupting you."

::I'm not going anywhere with you!:: protested Bumblebee vehemently, his cables tensing underneath his armour as he made himself even smaller, preparing to strike in surprise. He was sure as the pit not going to go with these creeps. He would rather face Megatron.

"That's not for you to decide, bug." It was the fake Cliffjumper that reacted first to Bee's challenge.

[Initiating transformation sequence (COM-SpOp#B-127;α).]

[Rerouting energon to Combat Line (COM-SpOp#B-127;α;1).]

[Rerouting energon to Combat Line (COM-SpOp#B-127;α;2).]

The blue mech stepped forward to try and pull the smaller bot to his pedes. He stumbled backwards as Bee leapt up from his curled up position on the ground, blasters drawn. The scout used the older mech's surprise to slip past besides him, gaining some space while using the fake Cliff as a shield from the rest of his perpretators. He stayed there for barely a nanocycle before aiming a few weak shots at the older mech's chassis and diving over the top of the rock he had just been leaning against. Midair, he fired a few more shots in the general direction of these weird, dark Autobot mimicries before folding down into his alt mode to speed away as fast as his wheels could carry him.

#angstober 2024 #day 15 #transformers #transformers prime #tfp #transformers shattered glass #bumblebee #optimus prime #ratchet #tfp bumblebee #tfp optimus prime #tfp ratchet #tf bumblebee #Shattered Glass ratchet #shattered glass optimus #shattered glass arcee #shattered glass cliffjumper

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