#WE'RE ON SEASON THREE BTW NO SPOILERS

[mintytrifecta]

Wall....

I think more people should watch things in genres they don't like actually

[shouts-into-the-void]

I think its super interesting how much complexity we're starting to see in the characters this season.

Thus far, the misfits have been the pretty uncontested "good guys" while the clusterfucks have been the clear "bad guys."

However, this season, we start to see that the division is much less black and white.

Ada tackles a super dangerous monster to save Annabel. Annabel doesn't leave her behind even though it's obviously impeding her escape and sacrifices her engagement ring to save the three of them. Prospero immediately books it for Ada as soon as he realizes she's in danger and tries to reassure her that him not being into her has nothing to do with her worth as a person. Meanwhile the misfits immediately scatter and start arguing amongst themselves.

It's highlighted extremely clearly in the confrontation between Eulalie, Pluto, Duke, Will, and Montresor. [SPOILERS for fast pass ahead btw]

While it's really easy to see the initial argument on a surface level (Goatman trying to pick a fight and using Will to do it, Eulalie coming to Will's defense because she sees him being mistreated) and while that is what happens, a closer inspection shows a lot more going on in terms of character morals.

The argument starts because Montresor, hurt, disabled, and having had his pride/ego dented, is lashing out and gets fed up with Will. (I do think its super interesting that as soon as Will flinches, he switches gears from insulting him to telling him to stop letting him walk all over him, albiet in a harsh way) Eulalie responds by asking him to stop being mean to Will, and offers to take Will into the group. Pluto and Duke reject the idea, completely ready and willing to abandon someone who for all they know and have seen, is being bullied and manipulated by someone they all know is capable of horrific violence.

And while Will ultimately chooses Montresor because he's a gay disaster the real display of just how much the characters words and alignment don't match their actual morals comes when Will gets gutted by the stag.

Hes still alive, bleeding out on the ground and begging for help. And the misfits leave him there to die. With a couple flippiant lines no less.

Meanwhile Montresor, resident scum of the Earth who's loyal to no one and delights in the suffering of others? Hesitates maybe a second before jumping into danger to save him. Not only that, he's actively comforting and reassuring Will the entire time.

And I think this is what makes me the most excited for the rest of this comic. Your fave would let a man die if that man wasn't on their side. The most monstrous character in the series couldn't abandon someone who can't defend themself.

And before you say it, yes Montresor abandoned Ada and a lot of him saving Will has to do with the fact that he actually cares for him. But I think the reasoning has more to do with the flashback we see of Monty and the dog. Disregarding that Ada is the reason he's spiraling out so bad right now and the animosity he feels due to her making him confront his religious trauma, he knows that she is perfectly capable of defending herself. Meanwhile Will has trouble defending himself in any setting, and is currently mortally wounded and being torn to shreds by a pack of dogs.

I think this season is setting up for a character arc for the clusterfucks and a reverse character arc for the misfits. I believe that Lenore is going to get closer and closer to the person Annabel remembers as her bonds with her friends weaken and her memories return, while Annabel is going to start forming the support network she desperately needs to cope with her various issues. This will leave the two of them in a role reversal, with Lenore determined to do anything and burn any bridge to save the two of them, while Annabel is desperately trying to figure out a way to save all of them. It would be most interesting to me if the season ended with Lenore going lone wolf and the rest of the cast teaming up to form an escape plan and get the old Lenore back.

[evilmaycry]

watched the first three episodes of the show (not on netflix) and here are my observations/opinions

and yes, i will be hypercritical idgaf the guy should've played all the games before writing a show

spoilers ahead, of course

episode one starts with soldiers breaking into someplace. rabbit guy steals shit... scary stuff!

he speaks with an american accent but complains about america. ok...?

the demon design in this first segment was fucking bad lol

- "Dante" is excessively Nero. JYB has been Nero for so long that actual fans will probably find it impossible to see the character as actually Dante... three episodes in and it's been quite impossible for me to get used to the voice. i kinda see Dante, but all I hear is Nero, including the little jokes.

- I think we all saw the "one liner" thing from a trailer/teaser. Still didn't land. Who would find it funny??

- There's podcasters in universe. Anti religion message? DMC was always very neutral regarding that. In my notes i wrote "current events mixed with DMC (action, fantasy) is cringe. Stop this guy from writing shows and cancel season 2"

- DEMONS ARE FROM A DIFFERENT UNIVERSE. the marvelization of current writing will be the downfall of entertainment

- "darcom"

- I suspect the rabbit is the show adaptation of Arkham in a more cringe way.

- bio-organic weapons mentioned in the show. Notes said "please don't make a RE cartoon. They're going to make Leon a right winger. In episode three, it's mentioned Enzo sent Dante to Raccoon City 🙄

- Lucia screen time with absolutely zero dialogue. Let us remember that Lucia is pretty much a match for Dante in power and she gets caught by humans a little too easy.

- I wish they didn't reveal Vergin's voice so early but whatever.

- Dante was raised by a single Eva and sparda was not around. Canon Fatherless Dante... also they never mentioned if he got killed, just that he's been gone.

- Dante doesn't have E&I

- the vice president is like albert wesker mixed with the cyborg dude from the government in invincible lol

Overall, the first episode was cringe, however the animation and performances are good. Only that

--- Lady Lieutenant Arkham is a cop and hates demons because they almost killed her mom once?! I suppose there's more backstory with that.

- Arkham wants power to protect his family. I wonder where the writer got the inspiration for that!

- WE'RE federally funded DEMON HUNTERS!!

- Lady Mary is a cop.

- Darcom the government demon hunter cops super soldiers have anti demon bullets that have special drugs encapsulated that react with "demon DNA"

- "demon" is a word for probably alien, because they're not magical beings, but entities with traceable DNA... lol

- the show insists upon itself with the music (it's not a bad selection though) and CONTROVERSIAL OPINION the evanescence version of Devils Never Cry is not good

- the action sequences are entertaining.

- Dante truly believes he's a mutant superhero

- of course the brown guy with a thick accent is the most intelligent and informed person in the room

- at this point i figured that the darcom federal demon hunters look like saiyans in the space uniform

- the legend of sparda is quite literal and the world as we know it is barely 2000 yrs old

- lady Mary is somehow able to best Dante in combat, took the "'necklace" (WHICH BTW IS REALLY UGLILY DESIGNED) and he is not fast enough to snatch it back, although he was basically teleporting on these guys a few minutes prior to the fight

- Jackpot uttered one more time. Makes it way less iconic and impactful. It'll probably mean nothing by the time we get a team up with vergil

- End notes for ep 2 are "how does the government have anti demon teams and weaponry and also drugs that harm them, if temen ni gru never happened and this would be the first big demon event the modern world will experience?

OH THERE IS A SLUR FOR HALF DEMONS AND LADY MARY USES IT CONSTANTLY ON DANTE!!!

- im not going to dignify this adaptation anymore by referring to her as "lady" - so Mary swears every line she gets. i'm fine with that

** EPISODE THREE and Mary is doing police brutality baby! She is using the same anti demon weaponry on Dante AND enzo and mentioned that the UN would understand.... lol

This is where Raccoon City gets mentioned. Keep my wife (ada and leon) out your fucking mouth. I'd rather eat dirt than seeing a RE show written by this guy

- Mary says "we all have dead families and traumatic childhoods" .... 😬

- This episode pretty much lays it that sparda was absent and Dante is fatherless lol

- Mary feels pretty racist. Idk what they were trying to accomplish making her a fully adult woman call the guy slurs and be a cop

- Vice president albert wesker is actually the one governing the country... ok?

- Mary is so deeply unlikable that feels like a true insult to the source material. Not even Dante is as bad as this

- Echidna, Agni and Rudra show up. A&R are sentient demons and not just automatons for the swords, who would actually be the sentient ones. lmao

- Mary was keeping up a fight with all of the previously mentioned, high level demons. With two handguns

- "god bless america" uttered.

- jackpot uttered for the third time. OK we get it, it's his favourite word.

- i did not like seeing Dante gored and it feels like an edgy little move to nerf him.

- At the end it's pretty much confirmed that Vergin is alive, but the ones in the know have known this whole time. Only a shocker to noobs

Still a few episodes to go. So far the show is only ok during the action sequences because they're well animated. The rest is shit from an ass

[chasingfigments]

Wheel of Time, Season 3, Episodes 1-3

Some scattered thoughts about the first three episodes of the season, including vague full book series spoilers.

(Why vague, you ask? Because I've only read the series once, and a majority of that was over twenty years ago at this point, and I am disinclined to do in-depth research for this post beyond googling spelling.)

1) I appreciate that they're having Siuan lay the groundwork for her own destruction. I'll admit, the coup caught me entirely off guard in the books, but here I can see the very careful build up:

Barring one Ajah's Sitters from the Hall.

Revealing that only 11 people (a simple majority) are needed for a vote to pass.

Siuan did not deny Liandrin's charges, and instead dodged them with the Black Ajah reveal, while still admitting that if Liandrin were telling the truth, Siuan could be deposed for what she did in Cairhien.

A number of Sitters were killed in that fight, and between that and the four that jumped to Liandrin's help, the Hall is going to have a chunk of (probably) new Sitters who may not be inclined charitably toward Siuan.

Sending Tsutama out with (presumably) seven of Tsutama's hand-picked Reds, leaves Galina and Elaida behind for power grabbing. This is extra bad for Siuan given that Tsutama seems opposed to Elaida from the start (by refusing that gift).

2) I think the show is going to keep masking/inverting weaves as a thing, primarily because Egwene did not see any of Lanfear's weaves in the "mirror" bubble of evil. We were firmly in Egwene's POV in that scene, so the audience should have seen something. Nynaeve also didn't see what was happening with the playing cards and Mat. (Then again, it's possible that the weaves were small/subtle enough Egwene/Nynaeve didn't spot them...but I'm not willing to do a frame-by-frame rewatch looking for that)

3) This is contrast to the very clever split-second pauses before Rahvin used compulsion on a BUNCH of characters in episode 2. No one in Tar Valon was capable of seeing him do that, so the audience didn't see it either. I do hope the show continues to play with POV like that now that more of the Forsaken are out.

4) LOLing over the Forsaken meetup where they point out that last time they were all fighting each other only for Rahvin to turn around and be dealing with Moghedien behind Lanfear's and Sammael's backs. And we've got confirmation that Nae'blis is still a thing.

5) Yesssssss, we're keeping Semirhage. Given the Forsaken statues we saw in season 1, sounds like we're getting Asmodean. I'm not sure if I want Semirhage fucking about with the Seanchan (we saw Ishamael doing that last season) or if I want her to take over Mesaana's plot. Maybe she can have a cold open of murdering the Empress and then jaunt over to the White Tower.

6) Mazrim name drops! Is Taimandred not happening? Or are we getting Mazrim's ascension much sooner? Either way, I hope this means Shara doesn't come out of left field in the last battle because that made no fucking sense. Taimandred did, and I'll never not be angry that it didn't happen. XD

7) Thank god they changed the Morgase + Rhavin plot, btw. I'm glad that in 2025 we're not going to have "competent queen destroys her queendom by going crazy over Some Guy" + slutshaming that happened in the books. I like that we saw Morgase murder her formal rivals to secure her power because when she starts cleaning house in Andor (we got that Bryne name drop, so there's some alienation going on already), it's not out of character for her to do this--she's purged folks before. This also makes Elayne's eventual succession crisis have even higher stakes, because like fuck is anyone going to want to fold to her once they've made their own claim because they remember what her mother did when she won.

8) It does not seem like the Choedan Kal + access keys are going to be a thing. We'll miss out on some great visuals without the giant statues, but we also won't get the Amayar's mass suicide, so that's fine with me.

9) Mat's slow build-up of annoyance with Galad and Gawyn was hilarious and made his eventual beatdown of them immensely satisfying.

10) We've already got Galad's disdain for Aes Sedai! (Though that does not stop him from fucking Novices/Accepted. XD) I wonder if we'll actually see his recruitment to the Whitecloaks in the show.

11) The Gray Men are horrifying (and also I hope we see some actual female Soulless because those were allegedly a thing we never got to see on page). Let Moghedien take a lady apart in a horrifying manner!

12) Awww, I want Mat and Min to make up eventually. Her new viewing of him was horrifying (but fun! because of course that was going to happen I do not understand why so many people thought we'd totally miss the Snakes & Foxes in the leadup to this season??? why was that even a serious worry).

13) I'm not necessarily opposed to Aiel taking in outsiders (though Tigraine was a pretty notable exception, from what I remember?), but I'm a little surprised they're repurposing Melindhra and using that as backstory for her. I doubt they'll have Lan hook up with her, but I guess this hint of a connection to Malkier could serve as a way to get her close with Lan (since Mat's off to Tanchico).

14) Very much appreciate that the show is not glossing over Egwene's PTSD or Mat's--PTSD from prior lives? (I'm not sure how to classify it, but he's also having a hard time right now.)

15) Awww, Bain and Chiad flirting with Loial was very cute. I do like that they're following Loial here, and I'm going to assume Aviendha fulfilled her toh to Perrin in the battle at Falme.

16) Ryma is free! 😭😭😭

17) ON THAT NOTE, I think we're actually going to avoid the endless the-black-Ajah-and-Seanchan-don't-exist-or-if-they-do-they-aren't-threats nonsense in the books. The White Tower was so infuriating in the books under Elaida's rule, but they've got the attack in the Hall, they have Ryma and her testimony, and the show is putting its work in to make its antagonists competent instead of caricatures, so I doubt they'll backslide and deny those things.

18) Not at all worried about not seeing Egwene and Elayne's Accepted tests--we got the "full length" version of Nynaeve's last season, and we'll certainly get flashbacks to Egwene and Elayne's as they are relevant. We had other things that had to be covered first.

19) Elayne and Aviendha hooking up is the best change they could have made to Rand's harem plotline.

20) Liandrin rescuing that child bride was both very nice and also horrifying, but hey, mind wiped and alive is probably better than dead? XD

[thinkolicity]

the night agent thoughts. sutherkin thoughts.

i've just finished properly rewatching season 2 (bc i showed it to my mother, she was finally ready to suffer) and not only that...i also read the book.

yes, after two years i caved and bought it and, girlies, i read romance & romantasy but i enjoyed this political thriller so much? so not my genre, i was shocked. i couldn't put it down. anyway.

--- SPOILERS AHEAD if u want to read the book and/or watch the series ---

so...now i'm filled with hopes & dreams.

it's gonna be a long post. and all over the place because it's 3 am.

i know other people probably already said what i'm about to say but i've been stewing on this for like three weeks. i need to vent and share.

since TNA is my current obsession, i'll live in a constant state of anxiety for sutherkin's fate in the series for the forseeable future until i distract myself with something else. every show i follow i watch for the plot, but i need my couples. "the world's gone to shit, the plot too, but my fictional couples are strong" is the mentality.

how the heck are they going to bring rose back, involve her with peter again after all we've seen in season 2? will her character have justice and will rose be represented and given the screen-time and agenda she deserves? after finishing s2 i was feeling hopeless. i was mad. dejected. i felt betrayed because the sutherkin i hoped to see wasn't delivered. then i read a very long post on here that filled me with positive thoughts. the questions remained, but i wanted more. so i bought the book and the book made me think "maybe there's light at the end of this bleak tv!sutherkin tunnel".

SPOILERS AHEAD

so i was thinking: the main political plot of TNA BOOK is basically foreign (russian ofc) interference in the USA elections (extremely actual btw), and what seemingly is a compromised president who got the presidency because the other candidate got drowned in a scandal that tanked polls and consensus…and it just so happens that s2 ends in the midst of a presidential election, where coincidentally one of the candidates drops off the race after a scandal and the remaining candidate is involved with monroe, who has "global connections", he buys and sells information to privates and politicians…

to me it sounds like we are headed back to the mothership. we started from the book, took a (fucked-up) trip into trippy outer space, and now we're circling back to the book again to use crumbs of the election plot that wasn’t used for s1. ending the series with season 3 and make season 3 end like the book would be a dream. it's perfect. full circle. obviously they're gonna have to implement their own twist to the whole thing...and i want to convince myself that sutherkin is "endgame", to use a classic shipping term, so they gotta find a way to fix that mess because the whole “you’re in danger as long as i am a night agent so forget about me” thing is bullcrap.

we actually have a perfect endgame set up - in season 1 ep 9 rose said she wanted to go back to california "new name, new start". peter wanted to "buy a cabin, disappear for a bit". rose asked him where and he told her "no idea...but i hear california's great". this is the goal.

in the book the story takes place in january and they live together in a rented cottage until april when they're done with the interviews, and testimony, and stuff.

from chapter 96

"He and Rose did a lot of cooking and listening to music, and they would go upstairs and wear each other out in that delirious way of new love, or in the living room, or on the upstairs deck if they caught a warm day, hidden from view behind a white-planked railing. It reminded Rose, she told him, of what her aunt and uncle had together, how they managed to keep it burning for decades, even on that last night. Some part of it was simply the pleasure of reveling in life, of a new chapter, after so much had been lost. It felt easy and natural, the same way each one of them could pick up when the other wanted time to be alone, to think through the gravity of what they had survived and what lay ahead".

UGH I WANT THISSSSS come onnnn. two rabid bunnies. and it would be even better on the show because they are way more deeply connected than their book counterparts. gimme.

book!peter leaves his WH job and he and rose stay together - the ending made me tear-up, actually. when they go back to rose's aunt and uncle's house to say goodbye. the last words of the novel belong to rose which i think is important in the optics of the tv series. she's important, it's unthinkable to me that they would demote her to guest role or worse. fuck that.

i really hope rose will be given a role of substance in season 3, we saw in s1 and even more so in s2 that she can kick ass and is valuable to the fbi (and life in general tbh). how she's a natural at lying. how she and peter coordinated to take down markus? *chef's kiss*. she can be trained, she's not a damsel in distress, that's why she's so loved.

there's this interesting bit in chapter 77

He watched her for a long moment, taken again by her calm through all this. Maybe that looked like suspicion. “What?” He wouldn’t lie to her. “This seems so natural to you.” “What are you saying, Peter?” “You’ve never done anything like this before?” “I’ve been through some awful shit. I learned to put my head down and get through it. You think I’m hiding something?” She shook her head and looked out the window. “Are you?” Peter asked. “What? A spy? Working with Greg somehow? You asshole.” She grimaced, as if holding back the anger. That was fine. He could take it. If they were about to go against the sitting US president with the help of a foreign agent, he wanted all the cards on the table. “No,” she said. “I’m terrified and doing my best to keep it together and find a way out. This is how I work. I get cold. I get through it".

i mean, even book!peter thought rose was some kind of agent/spy when he reached peak level of distrust in humans. he was fed-up. she’s born for this.

sigh, with all of this material they need to find a plausible way to bring her fully back into the fold, give me some sutherkin action, and then let them live together happy and in peace like they deserve.

"And now, he had done his part. He had stood his watch. He was free. He and Rose were going to get in that old Benz and get out of DC. They didn’t know what came next, but they would figure it out. They had time. They had each other".

i won't accept any other ending however they choose to get there 🙃

thank you for reading, let’s suffer together.

< ————— —————>

bonus silly little sutherkin scene i loved from the book under the cut:

chapter 94 where peter and rose are staying at blair house and

Rose muttered something. Her eyes were already closed. “What was that?” “I’m stealing that mug.” She’d brought it in and left it on the nightstand. It was a standard White House guest mug, blue with a satisfying heft and the presidential seal. “Go for it.” She didn’t respond. She was already out. Peter pulled the sheets and blankets up to her chin. He lay down, and she rolled closer and draped her arm over him. Peter closed his eyes, and sleep came in an instant.

this made me cackle, i can see the scene in my brain.

[therantsofawriterrr]

The Umbrella Academy Final Season: My Version.

Part One: We Also See Each Other At Birthday Parties

Overview: After getting back to a normal world with no powers, we see the Hargreeves trying to adjust to normal lives which somehow seems a lot harder to navigate. TW: uhh, emo discussions and stuff, mature language, sad people overall, some storyline changes because I'm writing it as the characters are playing it in my head, also long ass fic, I'm sorry. Pairings: Luther×Sloane, Diego×Lila, Allison×Raymond, Klaus×Dave, Five×OC, Ben×Jennifer A/N: Sooo, the fourth season made me want to forget it. Like I was literally thinking that I wanted Sir Reggie to use his memory-erase thing on me. This is for me and many others who wanted to see a happy ending, so uhh, here goes. I'm sorry if any of my imagination goes against fan canon, just think of them of my own hcs. also, im kind of using this to practice third person omniscient, so constructive criticism is appreciated. Btw, THIS HAS SPOILERS (potentially) because I'm also using some of the scenes from the season, stuff that I liked and all that. So, here goes ig.

Masterlist

What happens when you put seven superheroes into a normal world and strip them of their powers? It's an interesting question, a loaded question to be precise.

Well, that's what has happened now, with the Hargreeves siblings living their respective lives, trying to deal with the fact that they just had to live without their powers. They felt good about it, yes, but in some ways, it also posed a few difficulties.

Six years later, they were pretty well-adjusted. Or so it seemed.

Let's go to Number One, shall we? Luther Hargreeves, the self-proclaimed peacemaker of the family. At the moment, Luther was snoring in bed, drooling onto the sheets as he dreamed of a different life. A life with his wife, Sloane. A white picket fence, two dogs, and maybe even kids? But then, the scene changed. The kugelblitz appeared, taking his wife and world away, waking him up in a frenzy.

As soon as he did, he sat up, reaching out for her instinctively, only to find nothing but cold sheets. Tears started welling up in his eyes as a lump lodged itself in his throat, his hands going up to his face and his shoulders started shaking as he sobbed. This was pretty much like a morning routine, wake up, cry because of overwhelming grief, then get up and have some coffee.

The goofball of the family had turned into a depressed lover looking for his lost love.

As for Number Two, Diego Hargreeves and his wife, Lila Hargreeves, were quite literally living Luther's dream, with three kids and a wonderful house. But, suddenly going from crime-fighting and assassinations to dealing with kids, in-laws, a shitty boss, and the housewife life would be hard for anyone, don't you think?

Every day, Diego went out to work as a mailman, trying to get the mail to their owners with perfect precision. But, he failed, for his power was the reason for his perfect aim. And every single time, he felt insecure about himself. Now, he could get out of the truck and just deliver mail like a normal person, but then, this is Diego we're talking about.

Lila, on the other hand, has book club every other week. What the family didn't know, is that there is no book

They were a cute family, but they did need to talk to each other about some things.

Number Three, Allison Hargreeves was living with her husband and daughter, Raymond Chestnut and Claire Hargreeves Chestnut. While Raymond was happy living in a world where racism was a lot less than before and worked in a 9-5 job, Allison was struggling as an actor, trying to make time for family and land a good role. She also didn't really talk to the family except Klaus because she was afraid that they wouldn't want her, but she did regret her actions and felt lonely in that aspect of life.

Number Four was Klaus Hargreeves, the weirdest out of the group. It's those weird antics that also made him the most adorable in the group. Granted, he was a bit of a faint heart now that his immortality was gone, but the vibes were still there. But there was still the fact that he was three years sober, a fact that enabled him to wake up every morning with pride. Staying in Allison's basement, he had bubble-wrapped whatever surface he could, but being in charge of taking care of Claire finally made him feel useful in a way, so in short, he didn't really have any complaints.

And now, with his favourite brother Benerino coming out of jail, he could finally make him realise that he has a family as well!

Number Five, who was fine with being called Five, was working in the CIA, mainly investigating a cult that dealt with memories of another timeline. He used to dress up as a man named Jerome, putting on a fake mustache and a generic outfit to fit in. He clocked in early and left late, making people think that he was just another workaholic who didn't have anything to do at home.

But, there was a different reason. A reason that he wouldn't even tell his family. The PTSD of the previous many years, that he'd decided to ignore had finally started getting to him. He couldn't sleep without having nightmares of another apocalypse. The only way he could sleep without dreams was if he tired himself out to the point of passing out. Which is what he did.

Number Six, Ben Hargreeves was getting out of jail for being embroiled in a crypto scam. Granted, he had pretty much scammed too many people into losing too much money, but then why do people get involved in these markets if they don't keep in mind that it's risky? He could never understand people, really.

Now that he was out, he was free again, and he already had a plan to get away from the family once and for all. He didn't think he deserved to stay in a family full of love.

And finally there was Number Seven. Viktor Hargreeves, who was pretty much the strongest out of the group. But now, he just saw himself as an emo fuck-up who couldn't have a proper relationship, neither with his family nor with his partners. Building a life for himself in Nova Scotia had been hard, getting his bar business to take off had been harder, but what was hardest, was to actually commit to a person.

But then, could anybody blame him? He had lost too many people that he loved. There was Sissy, there was Harlan and there was the whole thing with Harold Jenkins. He was starting to think he needed to stay single for a while so that he could process his feelings and then put himself out there again.

But, even though they would do anything else, they did think that they needed to be there for Diego's first daughter, Grace's birthday party. So there they were, with smiles pasted on their faces in an arcade, where the children screamed while Diego and Lila yelled at each other.

"Diego! What are you doing?" She yelled into his ear, making him cringe.

"Getting the cake ready!" He yelled back.

"Piñata before cake! Go hang it!"

Diego went ahead and hung the fake horse with all the love he could muster and more. Though, Lila couldn't help but stare at him as he did, wondering how he knew that she had forgotten the piñata. She had called Diego up at the last moment in a panic, telling him about how she forgot to buy the West End one, and instead bought the East End one. Diego had just assured her and told her to breathe, telling her he'd handle it. He'd shown up with a vibrant horse, pretty much like the one she'd bought, but still different.

"What the hell are we going to do with two piñatas?" she'd asked, starting to panic again.

"We'll give the other one to Luther, babe. We both know he needs to get some of that anger out. Don't worry too much."

Diego stalked over to Luther carefully, handing him a bottle of beer and leaning back against the bar of some game, children shrieking with happiness.

"Hey, big guy," he said, internally wincing at Luther's answering grunt. "Where have you been these days? It's been what, a month since you'd called?"

"Just been busy," he said, taking a swig of the beer. They both knew how he'd been busy, but neither had the will nor the strength to discuss it. Diego missed him, but he sort of understood where he was coming from. He knew he'd go crazy if it had been Lila who had gotten lost after everything. He was pretty sure he would have been the reason for the world ending a fourth time.

Whereas Luther was mentally checking the wool-stringed map hanging in his house again and again in his mind, trying to figure out just where Sloane could be. He was hell-bent on finding her, to have the happy ending that they both deserved. He couldn't bear the thought of him living on while she died.

Elsewhere, Klaus had just entered the place with Claire and Raymond, with gloves on his hand and every other precaution he could think of.

"It's just a kid's party, Klaus. What's the worst that could happen here?"

"Oh, too many things. You of all people should know how dirty children can get, Raymond," he drawled in the typical Klaus fashion. Raymond only chuckled, shaking his head as Klaus cooed in excitement at the various candy stalls and selfie booths that were placed around the place. He had definitely been a weird addition to the family three years prior, but also an adorable one. His quirks made the house livelier for sure.

Allison, on the other hand, was sitting in her car, with her white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. She was trying to convince herself to start the fucking car, to get home and practice her lines, but her eyes kept flitting to the rearview mirror, where the neon sign was glowing brightly. A sudden knock made her jump in her seat, and she turned to see Viktor, who she thought would be the last person to approach her.

She rolled the tinted window down to meet Viktor's cold but warm eyes.

"You aren't coming in?" He asked, voice frosty, but with a tinge of sadness in it.

"No, not really," Allison said, guiltiness lacing her voice. "I probably shouldn't ruin the party."

"Grace is your niece, too, you know," he said, looking at her firmly. "It's her birthday, and she deserves to see her aunt. Plus, the others care about her just as much you and I do, so they won't make a fuss."

Immediately, when she entered the place, she regretted it. Because while Diego and Lila were a bit warm towards her, Luther's gaze turned stony before he turned away. She wanted to run away and hide, but Raymond's comforting hand in hers gave her a little strength.

On the other side of the room, Ben was talking to Five, the one Umbrella sibling that he could tolerate to some extent.

"What was it, again? Ponzi scheme? White-collar fraud?" Five asked him with a smirk.

"Crypto exchange. Web 3.0, baby. Feds only went after because I'm an outsider. A fucking maverick like Elon.

"Well, that and you bankrupted a 100,000 people."

"The whole thing was like a witch hunt. I think I'm just gonna stay home now that I'm out."

"Yeah, well, say what you will," Five said with a small appreciative smile. "It's still good to have you back."

Klaus seemed to spawn beside them suddenly, putting an arm around Ben's shoulders. "Hello, Benjamin."

"Get your hand off of me, I don't know where it's been," he said with irritation lacing his voice, but Klaus was unconvinced. Even if he wasn't their Ben, he was Ben, and there was no one else that knew him better.

The party went on with the same vibes; somehow, it was the only Hargreeves party that's been normal. Usually, it ended up getting very chaotic and weird.

But then, all of them knew that they actually had fun in those parties.

Another A/N: I originally planned for this to have ten chapters, but nvm every chapter will get too long, so ig we'll just see how many parts this thing will have. Likes, reblogs and feedback is highly appreciated, please tell me if the transition from one character to other was too confusing or hard to process, I do that sometimes. Also, I do have a lot of changes, according to what I've seen on the tua tag, so I'll try to make stuff up too haha. Anyway, tell me if y'all like this or not, and tysm for reading

[frogwiththephatahh]

MASSIVE spoilers for the ending of season 4

I'm still so mad about this

Five deciding that the entire family needs to die is the worst narrative decision the writers could have possibly made. Firstly, it's so unfair to all the alternate Hargreeves kids. We're informed pretty early on that there are infinite timelines. INFINITE. For every timeline where the Hargreeves are abused and mistreated and suffer, there's another where they are happy, content, and raised by a Reginald who genuinely loves them. It's never really implied (as far as I remember) that EVERY timeline involves suffering and bad things. Besides, that's just not possible. Infinite is a pretty big number, and it is so far beyond the realm of believability that every single timeline includes the Hargreeves having a bad time.

"but we have to break the cycle" of what? death and rebirth? that's literally the cycle of life. That's supposed to happen. There HAS to be a timeline where the cleanse doesn't start because Jennifer remains hidden. There HAS to be. THERE'S INFINITE TIMELINES

This is why I hate media with "infinite" timelines or time travel or whatever

or did Five mean the cycle of abuse? Because lemme tell ya, killing yourself does NOT stop the person who abused you from being a shitty person. it does NOT make you feel better.

The idea that one bad link should just die and then everyone else gets to be happy is such a bad message I have to assume everyone on staff was too scared of Steve Blackman to point out how fucking bad it is. Pain and suffering and sadness is part of life. It just happens. It's always going to happen. We could live in a Utopia and you'd still have a bad day every once in and while. I just. I can't even FATHOM how they made such a bad decision. Especially when this is a show with a fandom that is largely comprised of queer people and other societal misfits. Having the final solution be, "hey just kill yourself and everyone will be better off without you" is so incredibly irresponsible.

And it makes absolutely no sense narratively.

The reason why characters sacrificing themselves is usually so meaningful is because those are characters who are shown to be very unlikely to want to do that. My best example of media that does this BRILLIANTLY would be Rise of the tmnt The Movie with Leonardo.

Throughout the entire show and movie, Leo is shown to be egotistical, self centered, and selfish. He throws his brothers into harm's way to get things he wants. He compromises missions just to get the spot light. etc, etc. These are the reasons his choice to sacrifice his own life to save the world is so meaningful at the end. He learned to put others above himself. He learned that his family matters more to him than his own life. This is a great ending to his character arc.

It doesn't work with the Hargreeves because the Hargreeves are never shown to be egotistical or self centered or really even selfish. They were specifically raised NOT to be. These are people who have been putting others over themselves their entire lives. Showing characters, who have done nothing but suffer because of things beyond their control, KILL THEMSELVES to save the world is such a bad decision from a narrative standpoint.

But you know who's character arc would have been greatly improved by self sacrifice?

SIR REGINALD MOTHERFUCKING HARGREEVES

This man has been nothing but vile and stubborn in every single scene he has ever been in. His arc being concluded with a quick, "well, at least you hesitated three seconds before killing the man you RAISED this time so maybe you're not a bad person after all" is so fucking lazy it hurts. Reggie is not and has never been a good person and him feeling kinda bad about shooting Ben (which he later regrets btw. not killing. he regrets HESITATING) is not a satisfying end to character. If Reginald, who he know is a total asshole, decided to sacrifice himself to give the people he raised a chance at a normal, happy life, that would have been soooo good.

and there is a canon-compliant way for this to happen. We know from season 2 to Viktor has the power to move marigold around, as seen when he accidentally gives Harlan powers. And it could have been foreshadowed for like half the season! Reggie tells them about marigold and durango, Viktor realizes he can control it, they don't really know what to do with it though. Cue the rest of the season. Viktor can still have that semi-healing adventure with Reginald, who realizes now that he's actually spending time with one of his kids that he's quite fond of them

They're running out of hope. Five comes back and says all the marigold needs to be absorbed for this to stop. Sadness, arguing, whatever. Reginald tells Viktor to transfer all the marigold into his body. Everyone leaves with their families on the train. Reginald is left behind to die and his last words can be some sort of apology or wish of good fortune or whatever.

And this would work so well for Viktor, too! Him being the one to technically kill their dad, freeing them from his shadow, from his wrath and evilness, would be so good for Viktor.

But no. The writers gave up and decided instead of just picking out whatever story lines were most important, they dumped all of them on us then set it on fire so there's a very slim chance this show or concept will ever get picked up again.

Anyway I need to drink some water and get started on a fix it fic

[gengar-pixel-2]

Transformers animated Season three liveblog: Spoilers!

Onto our next episode! LET'S GO!

I was WAITING for this one! let me tell you!

A prowl and lockdown centered episode? This was worth the wait. Anyway, time for me to shit on sentinel again. (As usual, dialog is in alt text.) The gang goes on a mission to follow an energy signature, prowl does some cool ninja moves while him, jazz, optimus and sentinel look. JAZZ TIME BABYYY- I love jazz <3

until they find out they've been tricked. Aw man. :(

SENTINEL JUST. FUCKS OFF. thats not suspicious or weird AT ALL.

..Hey, wait a minute. I know that helmet!!! prime, run!

THEN SUNSTORM SHOWS UP!! TEEHEE!!! :3 THE SUNNYYY honestly his flattery would.. work on me haha- "Keep going." I say, flustered /silly

GO GET EM' BOYS! NINJAAAAA GO!

OH FUCK OFF. COME ON BRO... Way to scare them, aft-hole.. as usual, he treats this like a joke and goes "You guys should've seen the looks on your faceplates!"

anyway, so then primes like "Heyyy... how did you do that? How did you capture the starscream clone?" and even jazz is stunned.. no one believes this is possible and uh. I didn't either. Something's up. and then sunstorm goes on a little rant as usual..

sidenote btw, i love sentinels stupid eyebrow raise/annoyed expression. Like, I hate him, but it makes me giggle. like, look at him. it's so childish, really fits his personality.

"Huh, that's odd.. sentinel never cuts anyone off when he's being praised.." also made me giggle lol- I love this show

anyway, so then the crew goes to the elite guard ship and..

THE BLITZWING!! THE BITCHING!! THERE, RIGHT THERE!!! also swindle!! :3

but at this point me and my sister were like "there's no way he did this without help. it's sentinel we're talking about here." ALSO YAY!! THE JET TWINS!! i love them so much you don't understand. they're so silly.

jetstorm just wants to look cool for the ladies okay? wants to rizz them up as the kids say. /SILLY!! SILLY! I think this scene was really cute. look at his little pose.

also in my last liveblog i said that jetfire was french. He is not french. I would like to formerly apologize, as somehow my brain heard him and went "oh hes french" when they are clearly eastern European?

also "How did you capture this badness bot?" I love them i'm sorry. the accents just add to it for me I find them so charming, like blitzwings silly german one.

Anyway they start questioning sentinel and then he's like "NUH UH!! also don't tell me how to do my job!" then optimus tells prowl how he saw that.. familiar helmet. prowl gasps, and then..

PROWL LORE TIME YAYYY!!!

This fellow is introduced, and I quite like his design. Black, white, and gold are always good colors. Anyway, young prowl has been apprehended by this big scary red guy.

so prowl. did something, but this master.. *looks at my notes* yoketron, tells warpath (big red guy) to let him go. to which hes like "If you ask me, he should rust in the stockade!!" LIKE OKAY BRO. prowl.. didn't wanna fight and like, ran. big whoop. and then prowl and yoketron talk a bit more. We learn that yoketron took prowl under his wing and this is how he learned his cyber-ninja stuff. we also learn that prowl used to be quite the "delinquent" and loner because quote "Why should I risk my chassis for anyone? Nobody has ever risked their chassis for me!" his past in this episode explains his behavior in early season one, AND his behavior in season two with "a fistful of energon."

After prowl talks to jazz about their old sensei's helmet, sentinel interrupts and is like "that old guy?? pfft- hes been offline for like. ever. hes probably rusted." then fucks off for.. "patrol." prowl and jazz follow, only to see he's disappeared. HMMM... We also see some training with yoketron and prowl again.

Prowl and jazz can't find sentinel. oopsie! so they go back to the ship.

MORE TWINS YAYYY!!

their flabbers are GASTED.

HE GOT LUGNUT!!!

love this interaction, optimus's stammering is killing me.

another prowl and yoketron training montage. Yoketron is proud of prowl, and then reveals something, after giving prowl his iconic weapons. Then shows him something important.

hey? see that empty pedestal? Yeah, keep that in mind. That's important. Yoketron says that it belonged to a former student who brought shame.

He reveals that the cyber-ninja's mission is to protect these protoforms, the next generation. If project omega fails, then they will have no choice but to go to drastic, desperate measures and turn them into warriors. Yoketron worries for the survival of them, no matter the outcome. ..Horrifying. I hope nothing bad happens. (ominous foreshadowing)

After failing a task, yoketrons like "ah, dw about it." and tells him to go on a mission, and become the cyber-ninja he knows him to be. Present prowl wanders the halls, and finds sentinel there, calling someone.

He steals a thing and prowl stops using his hologram disguise when he's done and goes "hmmm!!! thats suspicious! that's weird!" and goes after him.

saw this, thought we were gonna go a vampire baseball route with this one.

THE WAY I GIGGLED AND KICKED MY FEET!! MY HORRIBLE MAN, MY SHITTY BLORBO IS BACK!!

anyway, prowl is rightfully pissed off and the goes to beat the shit out of sentinel (not really but yknow. a girl can dream.) Apparently, the asshat stole a gyro stabilizer from the ship but it was all a big diversion. A ruse. Also, the lying clone, ramjet is here! yippee! my favorite clone!

Sentinel essentially goes "Oh so you were right, BIIIG deal buddy.. You guys make so much stuff about fighting cons but i'm capturing them!" I CAN'T WITH THIS MOTHERFUCKER. ON GOD. YOU TEAMED UP WITH LOCKDOWN?? LOCKDOWN. ALL FOR A LITTLE POWERTRIP. SENTINEL? WHEN I CATCH YOU. SENTINEL-

Then ramjets like "ooo like at me, helpless and disarmed.." and prowl goes "SENTINEL EVERYTHING HE SAYS IS A LIE, YOU FOOL, THIS IS A TRAP!!!" and fighting begins! "We had a deal!!" and lockdowns like. "Skill issue dude. they offered me better stuff. more upgrades and energon. sorry i guess."

The boys (prowl and lockdown are fighting) when some interesting dialog happens. Lockdown asks what that move is supposed to be (i forget the first part of the name but it has sigma in it) and is like oh thats pathetic, and then prowl does more moves, to which lockdown responds: "Is that circuit-su? I'd laugh if it wasn't so pathetic." prowl is like HEYYY buddy how tf do you know that.. and then lockdown drops lore and goes.. "Never cared much for yoketron's spiritual crud. ..But I did like that helmet.." flashback time!

The dojo is in shambles. Indicating someone broke in. And JUST when me and my sister thought this couldn't get any worse, it did, as usual. Prowl runs, only to find..

The protoforms have been stolen. Taken by force. The implications being these were given to the decepticons to be made into other well.. decepticons. This is. awful, actually. Primus..

And to make matters worse.. Prowl finds yoketron, but..

PEEPAW DOWN!! jokes aside HES DYING. but prowl is determined and opens his sparkchamber thats actively fading. With one protoform left, prowl climbs down and grabs the body. Only for master yoketron to do this after being brought back. Giving some wise advice, and he passes away, going grey and offline.

THE LOCKDOWN LORE GOES CRAZY OH MY GOD...

Prowl is rightfully angry, they fight, and backup arrives w/the jet twins and optimus. More fighting, prowl is trapped, gets taken into lockdowns ship, he escapes, more fighting, etc etc.. they win! Also jazz's "woah bro.." is real haha.

Lockdown gets away, and then they go back to the ship, with cliffjumper telling them the news about magnus. ..I know that they're like "he's recovering" but there ain't no way peepaws living past this point.

HE LOOKS SO COOL AUUUHGHGHGH- i love his original design but god. this looks sick.

Sorry for this being like, longer. guess I had more thoughts? I don't know. Anyway, can't wait for the next one! BANGER episode!!!

[groverapologist]

STICKY FINGERS

THE DRAGON PRINCE SPOILERS

STOP THE HELLO ZUKO HERE REFERENCE

runaan clocking callums ass is so fucking funny

"we're only building such weapons so we may never have to use them" oh. ok. we're getting a cold war ig. love that ? (sarcastic btw)

not opelli telling terry to stop yapping 😭😭

baby moonshadow elves awww

NOT AMAYA TELLING HIM SHES SAVING HIS ASS BAHAHAHAHA

soren being overprotective of claudia even when they havent spoken in two years ughhhh stop this. why r none of the siblings in this show ok.

NOT TICKLE PROOF BAHAHAHAHA

bro doesnt even want to live for his future child omg.

terry collecting worms for his birdies 🥹 he really is true of heart thick of ass

terry is so. ily terry.

CALLUM AND RAYLA FUTURE BABY TALK STOP NO WAY

RAYLA CALLUM WANTS TO HAVE TEN BABIES WITH YOU D: O:

WHY IS RUNAAN SO UNIMPRESSED WITH CALLUM STOP HES SO FUNNY

what is going on with the moonberry surprise.

"i will not shed a tear at the day of your execution" OK MY WIFE AMAYA CLOCK HIS ASS

"oh i dont like my mom" *carries photo out of pocket*

sorvus please kiss already

"is that how you see our child" YOUCH

IS BRO PLANNING ON MOVING TO THE SILVER GROVE

astrid finally.

ok how r they gonna find and defeat aaravos in three episodes after spending three whole seasons trynna stop him. man

[h3llh0und64]

so the first part of the finale came out and it's... Not great.

honestly, a 5/10. The pacing was so off and rushed. All exciting interactings were quick and with no real substance. When it comes to character writing they were also off?

Here, let me go scene by scene.

HEAVY SPOILER WARNING BTW!

The beginning of the episode:

What the balls. That was pretty good and giving an explanation as to why cobs has only one egg and how the other got lost while also not showing what cobs has done with the egg he has.

The real beginning;

(Note; all scenes have the problem of not enough build up or screen time.)

1, the introduction into the party:

- This scene is pretty well done, can't see hpw it could be better

2, suitcase seeing balloon again:

n- I am happy for their return to each other, but as stated before, nickel and balloon are a

 - This scene was well done, just upset about acknowledging season three and everything that happened with nickel and balloon. Suitcase tried so hard to make them at least tolerate each other, only for them to just suddenly become besties.

3, soap and mic, then knife:

- I am INCREDIBLY happy to see them getting to talk and be friends again. 

- Knife walking by and mic calling out and giving them a high-five and friendship was utterly delightful and well done.

4, Trophy and knife:

- here's where problems arise. 

- Knife already had his arc about not being ashamed of who he is and his dora doll, so talking to trophy of all people shouldn't convince him otherwise. If anything, Knife would actively do the OPPOSITE of whatever trophy says. So to suddenly imply that trophy made knife insecure is fucking wild. Last episode he was justifying murder and cannibalism!

- Trophy saying how knife has gone softer also doesn't make sense given knife justifying murder and not having changed much throughout the show. If he has changed, it's been slow and steady and because he wants to do better.

- I do vaguely enjoy the idea of trophy accepting the idea that knife should hate him and want to harm him, knowing what he did was bad and wanting knife to be upset as he deserves.

5, suitcase and balloon again, this time with nickel and soon fan, cabby, candle and goo.

- I don't even wanna talk about it.

- Suitcase deserves to be upset and confused that season three happened. I'm also upset it happened.

- One enjoyable thing was seeing the season three guys in the season two art style.

6, mephone hiding from cobs call and encountering tissues.

- I like how tissues wasn't at the party, and the added detail and pill containers.

7, taco, meepad, and finally, pickle.

- Pickle was fantastic in this scene and this wjole scene was probably the best written.

- "Then I guess it wasn't all an act. Maybe you really are stupid." Was the best line in the entire episode.

6, again. We're back with mephone and tissues.

- kind of fun to see tissues get more character other than his sickness.

Section 2: The beginning of the end.

1, body discovery;

- error with the bowties missing. That or mepad just took theirs off.

- Taco crying over pickle was a good way to add even more to her regret and remorse, watching him die and never getting him to hear her out.

2, the couch of finalists;

- I enjoy Knife and suitcase being friends, her going to him for comfort and support, to vent about how stupid it is that nickel and balloon are friends.

The banger intro is back!

3, the plan;

- Knife was so proud of suitcase for commiting thievery.

- Of course mephone is using this as a challenge, what else did we expect?

4, the noise;

- "I... Know that sound anywhere." Was really good.

- payjay the married Couple...

- Lightbulb avoiding problems and trying to keep everyone happy despite the circumstances.

5, up up and away;

- More knife and suitcase being friends.

6, The return to meple.

- The song is honestly well done and a genuine banger.

- Knife being cornered and hesitating, only to think about pickles dead body was short and I wish more explored and expanded upon, but does also work as a quick memory of what's at stake.

- Adding the the knife thing, adding his punce to the lyrics of "I don't care" was a lovely touch.

7, back to the hotel.

- soap and muc nodding at their child cherries.

- TROPHY AND PAPPER TALKING!? I didn't notice this the first time and honestly I'm here for it. I want trophy salt and pepper to shit talk people.

8, Divorce.

- Their conversation was such a nice topic and question that would've been fantastic to explore, but instead Oj fucking dies and doesn't acknowledge it even before he died. Speaking of that, the idea of paper's last talk with his husband being an argument and then watching him fucking die? A fantastic topic that they will not explore, I garentee it. And then paper's issues will just be glossed over when Oj comes back.

9, Purgatory mansion.

- fan continues to carry the season. Funny fan man.

- why are they not freaking out about Ghost bow?

- Marshmallow! Apple has horsie

10, a memory that wasn't mine.

- 3GS, being suddenly conscious and aware as apposed to when we saw him in mephones memory. Either the memory is off or something happened in between. Why is 3GS even alive still? Shouldn't the battery be depleted after all this time? He didn't boot up like last time. 

- Suitcase comforting 3GS was nice.

- "Please... Don't." In response to coming back was so interesting.

11, a party without a host.

- Nickel is also dead in fron of baseball.

- Mic frantically looking around for soap was heart wrenching.

12, The big headed puppeteer pulling the strings. The big reveal.

-  Knife: "The big tough guy act isn't fooling anyone."

Suitcase: "And he would know!"

Knife: "Yeah I would- what?"

Good bit.

- Cobs Talking down to mephone, calling him a kid and like he's five is such a nice detail.

13, The big reveal.

- This was a fantastic scene. As you can sew from my notes slowly getting shorter, the episode slowly got better.

- I ain't saying what the reveal is.

Final thoughts!

Wow. It was paced weird and rushed heavily. So much in twentyeight minutes. Really can take away from the hard hitting scenes. Despite this, i still think the episode was well done and does deserve praise. This isn't some big studio, this is a small group working on a passion project that became bigger and more lore heavy than the possibly imagined. They didn't plan to go this long or think this far ahead. Things happen on the fly. There are errors in consistency. It's going to happen. I cannot expect perfection, but I still can expect better than what we got. When things went slower, things went better. Build up is insanely important.

Anyways, thanks for reading this bullshit.

[til-f]

EPISODE 2 WITH SPOILERS

BTW there were some cute ass shots of Walker in this one. He just exudes percy vibes and I'm loving it. I like how vengeful he is about his mother. I like that he wants to be powerful.

PROS:

-there were some parts that made me LOL. Nice. The books are so funny. I want all the funny.

-Camp is cool. The cabins are cool. The campers are cool. I like the armour and the pavilions and the fires.

-The fighting is done really well and that makes me happy

-the claiming scene was awesome. The fight with clarisse was awesome.

-Clarisse is hot

-Overall, at the end of the episode, the plot holds true.

CONS:

-The scene were Mr. D tries to convince percy that he's his dad. Funny for a second there, but then it just got weird. Like why. also dionysus is a little strange to be honest. literally in the books he doesn't give a fuck and plays pinochle all day. and now he's yelling at percy that he's gotta go on this quest to save the world. Like, Mr. D wanted to turn percy into a dolphin lol

-The bathroom scene was meh

-I was looking forward to the claim scene when the camp bowed to percy and Chiron said "hail, Perseus Jackson." So that was a tad disappointing. But as I mentioned in the pros, I still think the scene was done really well and this is a small complaint.

-another small complaint, but one that I've been peeved about since the trailers came out. WHY IS RIPTIDE LIKE, ONE FOOT LONG? It's a freaking sword, not a steak knife. God damn. Give this little boy a three foot long sword.

-I'll be honest, that yes, even though at the end of the episode, the overall plot was pretty much consistent with the books, I didn't understand why they veered from: grover meeting with the cloven elders, and they tell him that he has one last try to get his searcher's license. (WHICH ACTUALLY, IS A DECENT BIT FROM THE PLOT THAT'S MISSING SO FAR BUT IT'S NOT THAT BAD) And percy, who still thinks that his mother is dead, is resolved to go to the underworld REGARDLESS and bring her back to life. Percy wants to wring hades' neck. INSTEAD they do this weird thing where percy doesn't want to go on the quest until grover tells him that his mom is still alive. Like, I don't know. Sure, I guess. Just seems random.

Other notes:

Please know that all the criticism is just because I care a LOT, and shows that have any meaning to them, honestly, anything that creates controversy, means that people care. To stir the pot and do something to get people roused, is the only way we know we're alive.

And I cannot thank the makers of this show enough that they're doing this, and I am literally so excited for the next episode :) and for the rest of the season. AND FOR THE NEXT SEASONS!!!!

[piracytheorist]

This is just an appreciation post. Ok, first of all, my aroace and "love torturing your favs" fellow ❤️ (enthusiastically shake your hands) Since you want to continue being an anime-only, so I can't say much, but I just want to let you know that I really appreciate your analysis on sxf characters and plot. Your fics are also very interesting. Thank you for your wonderful work. Let's get excited about the movie and new season on October together too. I hope you have a nice day 😁

EEEEEE hello fellow aroace whumper 🤝🤝💜💜💜

I'm so happy my analyses are actually getting attention despite me having less than half of the canon context and also not having had anything new to talk about since last December 🥲 it means a lot to me that people are still engaging with my posts and thank you for sending in to show your appreciation this is so sweet 😭😭

YOUR ART IS ALSO WONDERFUL, BTW!! I still think about that one where Loid falls asleep while resting his head on Bond next to Anya and when Yor finds them they've snuggled up together 🥺🥺 and the one in two parts about the Forgers resting on the couch after a hard day and Loid's smile in the last one 🥺 I love how you draw Loid's face in general I wanna squeeze his cheeks 💜 (I'm also following your Doppelganger tag in case it updates but no pressure just wanna say it's a very cool concept and your art is amazing to present it that's all 💜)

I wish we knew when exactly in October the new season would premiere so I could start counting the days instead of saying a vague "in three months I guess" 😂 I've seen some few spoilers about those chapters and it seems like it's gonna be a great arc and story and I can't wait to experience it myself!! And then once that part is over we're gonna get the film as a big treat!! I can't wait to have my fake family back!

Again, thank you for sending in, this warmed my heart and made my day 💜

[undertheknightwing]

Asking as someone who has never seen the show before, what are your favorite things about Superman and Lois and the Kent family?

[Asking partly to gauge whether or not I'd be interested in watching it, but mostly I just wanna hear your thoughts and what the show means to you, so don't worry about spoilers or anything :) ]

I know you said don't worry about spoilers but I'm still gonna try to keep it simple just in case, I don't wanna spoil everything because it is a really good show.

I watched the show the night it officially aired and I remember smiling seconds after it started. It begins with Clark recapping his life and it's beautiful. Between Tyler Hoechlin's acting, the wonderful music, and the scenery.. it's gorgeous. It's the perfect opening for the pilot.

Maybe it's because of the music or how calm and soft Clark is talking but it just fills me with peaceful feeling every time I watch it.

S&L's music is amazing btw 💛 The song "Who I Was Meant to Be" I can only describe as walking through a field with the warm sun shining on you. I tear up every single time I listen to that song.

To me S&L is everything people wanted from Titans. The romance Clark and Lois have is healthy and adorable, they feel like a real couple and there's no unnecessary drama between them. There's not really any unnecessary drama in the season either. And when there is drama it's balanced out with either a wholesome Clois or family moment, because that's what the show is about: family. And it shines.

And while I don't like Jordan Kent as a character I greatly appreciate the writers showing us him learning to use his powers and the struggles of having them instead of skipping over it and being like "all of the important stuff happened off screen lol".. until season 2 but we're not talking about season 2 right now.

I'm gonna list my three favorite things so it doesn't go on forever

- The emotional and physical comfort/affection from the parents never was balanced between the brothers but their importance to the story was definitely A LOT better in season 1. Same went for Clark and Lois. Despite having no powers Lois and Jon were fucking BADASS and held their own, only ever calling for Super help when they truly needed it. Jon whipped out space guns multiple times to defend and I love that for him. Season 1 NEVER made it feel like Lois and Jon were useless or below their family members with powers. I argue Jon had the most "hero" moments compared to Jordan since a big part of Jon's character is protecting the people he loves no matter what, I mean he about let himself be killed to protect his mom.

- I'm a sucker for parallels so the fact that the boys are mini versions of their parents and show plays into it a few times just warms my heart. Jordan is a lot like Lois and Jon is just Clark but in light mode. But at the same time the brothers represent both sides of Clark. Jordan has the powers, he's the Superman side. The one who has to learn discipline, the importance of powers and using them for good instead of for yourself, and to grow from the struggles they cause. Jon is the Clark Kent side, his human side, the side that learned love and selflessness, how being a hero doesn't come from powers but from your heart, but as well learn how to navigate through the struggles of being the "human".

But my favorite parallel in the entire show is Jon and Jon-El. I won't go into detail but it's just tragic and overflowing with angst but at the same time I LOVE it. They're my favorite characters.

This isn't a parallel, more of a dynamic, but Jon and Jordan's sibling dynamic of one is the dark and moody one while the other one is energetic and sunshine is my favorite. Even their hair colors fit lol

- lastly, I love that s&l really feels like it's in it's own universe. There's no other superheroes thrown in or randomly namedropped, it's just Superman. It makes the show feel focused to me, not so chaotic and overcrowded like Titans. The show is about Superman so it's gonna focus on Superman and his family; not throw random characters in just for fan service. Tyler Hoechlin said Superman and Lois isn’t just about Clark, it's not his origin story, it's about his sons and their story. I really love that ❤️

I'm gonna end it there because all there is left is season 2 and I didn't like most if season 2. The Bizarro World and Jon-El was perfect though, I rewatch those episodes a lot 🤩

I highly suggest watching season 1 if you want to! and if you wanna watch season 2 to form your own opinion instead, I suggest that too lol there were some good episodes tbh, the storyline just fell flat and felt very unfinished but no where as bad as Titans s2 - 3.

I can say in confidence though since you love Gar so much you'll probably love Jon/Jon-El. If you watch it (even just s1) I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions too!! It's definitely my favorite show ❤️

[rinharu-purple]

Milestones

Having read almost all of Gavin dates in season one (and all in S2, that Cheri translated), I think I can pinpoint the certain milestones of MC and Gavin's relationship. In three specific dates, they confess their romantic feelings for each other and also tell each other directly that they want to spend the rest of their lives together...as always...spoilers ahead

MC’s Love confession

MC has been building up romantic emotions towards Gavin ever since they’ve met again at the Loveland police station and Gavin has swept her off her feet for the first time...figuratively AND literally.

This one is very easy to pick because during this date, MC is not only fangirling over Gavin but also shouting her feelings out loud in public as well as confessing them to him...loud and clear...I am talking about the “Slightly drunken date”.

As to her more instinctual urges...They have been growing since the moment she saw him like this for the very first time:

“...than reappeared at his exposed waist and abs...As I reached to touch those scars (around his abdomen)... a different feeling arose in me“. That different feeling arose in all of us MC ;)

So once the slightly drunken date came, MC was overflowing with an ocean of emotions for Gavin for a while so she confessed to him:

“No more talking! Just listen to me! When I said that, I meant it. Not about the bass playing, but you. I like the gift you gave me, I like the bracelet you gave me. I also like that love letter that I never read. I want to see more sides of you...When you’re eating, when you’re sleeping, when you’re happy, when you’re sad, when you’re wearing a tuxedo, or red in the face from drinking.

All of it! I want to see every side of you”.

(If you want to read a longer analysis on this date, let me take you here)

Gavin’s Love Confession

First things first...The question which should be ask before anything is...Has Gavin fallen in love with MC once his Evol awakened or was it an already ongoing process until that specific moment, on which Gavin realized he is in love with her? I think he has been observing MC for a while and was already enchanted by her kindness and beauty way before “the fall" into his Evol-awakening.  

As for Gav-babe’s instinctual urges...I would say, Gavin realizes them during the Shooting Date when he sees MC in a very revealing dress for the first time and she asks him to unzip her, in a very tight space, with the lights out...Our poor birdcop cant help but have naughty thoughts and wonders why MC asked him to do that for her :) I love this man to the moon and back

When he got verbal on his feelings however was during the “Spring Festival Date”. Not only he confessed to MC and her family that he used to have a crush on her during high school, but he also opened up about his honest feelings about her, which are extremely heartwarming.

“I have a very strict father and a brother I seldom see...I don’t even know when I turned into such a loner. Eating alone, sleeping alone, doing everything alone...until I met her. It was a beautiful autumn day. The gingko leaves were floating in the wind. I was also going through a pretty dark time. But she saved me before I hit bottom...It’s she who told me I could live a stronger life. And it’s also she who told me I could live a more tender life. I never felt lonely before, until I met her. I started to get used to star-gazing with her, having dinner with her, spending the New Year’s with her.”

and this part he tells twice...once in front of her family and once while they are alone afterwards to prove that those words were genuine:

“In the future, I will give it my all to stay with you, to take good care of you, and love you.”

Yep, he drops the big L word <3 

“I wanna make up for all the times I wasn’t there“

After all, he’s waited a long time for that day to come...And when that day was finally there, he would make sure to confess to her.

Btw in both occasions out lovebirds were slightly drunk. And on a side note, my very first date with Gavin was the Spring festival date, so you could guess why I am so smitten by him and why there isn't any chance for the other LI’s to dethrone him.

Moving on to second phase...

MC’s future plans

The first time I read @cheri-translates​ English translation to the “Late Autumn Date”, I literally fell off from my chair by the intensity of this highly emotional and extremely spicy date. The date takes some time, but when Gavin and MC gets it going, holy cow it hits you hard!

I will intentionally not dive into the hot spicy details of this date and how they finally make out passionately at Loveland High. Sure both Gavin and MC are overwhelmed with nostalgia and oxytocin, but it’s once again MC’s time to gush out about her feelings for Gavin but this time, she tells him how he is her past, present and the future. MC promises her all to him and if that’s not a hand in marriage yakusoku then I don’t know what is. This again is a very long confession, so brace yourselves:

“ …we seem to have really missed out on a lot.  I’ve thought about a few things since a very long time ago. For example… cheering you on at the basketball court after school. And then proudly telling the entire class that the name of the tallest and most accurate shooter is ‘Gavin’!  Back then, there was a small stall outside the school gate selling red bean puffs. $3 for one, $5 for two. It was crispy on the outside and sweet on the inside, with a generous amount of filling. You’ve definitely not eaten it before… We used to have late night self-study sessions and were only dismissed after 9pm. The girls in the same class would find company to walk with. If you were there, you’d have been able to send me home.  Piano lessons were way too dull. Once I sit here, it would be for several hours, playing the same song over and over again. Sometimes, I’d think of going out to have fun - to go shopping, sing karaoke, eat all kinds of good food, or do my homework while having a drink in a small shop.  Also, the 800-metres physical test was literally my nightmare! If you were there to practice running with me, I wouldn’t have passed only after my third test.

If I could be with you back then… my deepest memories in high school wouldn’t have just been of exams.

– we missed out on a whole six years! Even if we want to make up for it every day, it wouldn’t be enough even if you spend a full twenty-four hours with me!

----(insert NSFW part here) ------

I cling to his waist tightly using my calves, wanting to brand every part of him into my heart.

“I want to bear his everything.”

Gavin: “Do you like it?”

“I like it…I like it very much…I like it so much that I don’t know how to prove how much I like it” “The rest of my life is yours, The years that we’ve missed out on are also yours” (whatever I have, I will give it to you. I will give everything to you, leaving nothing behind)

Gavin’s Future Plans

Here comes the tricky part, because there is not only one single date yet, where Gavin is seriously telling MC in length about his future plans. However there are soo many moments in various dates, events and Co. that implies to Gavin's proposal plans. Actually, I feel like the S2 Gavin dates revolve around the phase in their relationship, when things start to shift from a long term relationship to we're gonna get married soon.

Sure, Gavin told MC also in S1 many times, how he wants to spend the rest of his life with her.

Looking at all these moments in S2. I believe it will be more eminent to see, how his future plans get more concrete:

- Every time he says "We" specifically in Puppy love call "Yes, we"

- Every time he say "In the future"

- Third year anniversary (testing the waters)

- From Afar Date (already has the gem)

- Old Haunt Date (their future home)

- Beautiful Future call (their dream of living in a Shangri-la when they grow old)

Even though Gavin hasn't told MC his future plans in a Monologe like she did directly, I believe he is adamantly planning about a proposal and I expect in his birthday in 2021 something that hints to a concrete proposal.

AU Proposals

Aside from the main dates, there were two official proposals from the AU dates. Because we can only add one video for each post, here is MCs proposal.

Spoiler alert: He said "no"

Masterlist

Disclaimer: The video is taken from YouTube and is linked to the original!

For Gavin's proposal let me take you here.

[anxietycheesecake]

Yeah, also...

SPOILERS AND SPECULATION

Paul Simms I think has spoken in very broad terms about how they feel. He even said something in the line of "as for the romantic aspect, people can see like that if they want to, and maybe there is..." Which to some might sound like it might happen eventually, but to me it feels like a confession of "we didn't write s3 and s4 thinking of nandermo seriously happening" which, at this point... y'all, all our evidence for nandermo as an intentional romantic thing comes from season 3 and they were most likely jokes or unrequited pining.

Let's be real, when a mlm ship is given the "there might be something there 👀 or not 😬" treatment... it's a polite way to say no, sorry, not happening. Cause people get mad when you just say that and the studio obviously doesn't want you to reveal anything.

And I know someone will be all "but wwdits is my best friend and there's no other show like it and she would never-" and... Listen, WWDITS is a bad bitch. Nobody is doing it like her in many ways. It's unfair to compare it to SPN and Sherlock and Teen Wolf or whatever. But it's not OFMD. It doesn't have to be, it doesn't claim to be, they're just not the same. Will OFMD set a precedent? I hope so. But shadows has been cooking for years and the tone is absolutely different. I don't expect it to change.

The will-they-won't-they is Guillermo turning. There's a double meaning to his jealousy, always related to becoming a vampire. That's the joke, same way Manhattan Night Club had them acting like a fighting couple when another person flirted with one of them, except it was a vampire who wanted to eat him. And nandermo wasn't a thing back then, if it is now. "They act like a married couple, but it's all about vampirism" jokes with a side of "aw, look, they actually care about each other, in some way".

Nandor, pansexual icon and designated serial monogamist, always seeks women in his romantic pursues. Not for plot reasons, but because multisexual characters are sometimes treated like that. Every opportunity to build a significant relationship with a man is rejected in favor of a woman (all of them amazing, btw). He had three malewives, yeah, but the one who's sticking around, the one that matters, is yet again a woman. The others are a "haha can you believe they had malewives in Al' Quolanudar" joke that won't alienate the homophobic audience, because we all know how horny the vampires are, they'll fuck anything! Sure, it's not malicious like that, but I see how unthreatening it is for the assholes at home and how convenient that could be for the network.

My point is, whatever they want to do storytelling wise, will they risk that portion of the casual audience (99%, we're nothing, we're just loud) by pairing up two of the most beloved characters in the show, one of which they won't even let have a boyfriend? Even if it's the story they want to tell, would it be allowed or encouraged? I don't know.

Everyone thinks I'm a nandermo defeatist because of my good time girl Marwa. Guys, I know Marwa is not here forever. I know she means nothing but character development for Nandor. If that wasn't the case... well, way to throw his evolution out the window. My fear of nandermo not happening is rooted in too many other factors to explain. Marwa is not one of them. Neither is Freddie.

At the end, nandermo will remain subtext. They might end up with different people or single, but Nandor will never seriously date a man. I'm betting and I hope I lose.

Nandermo Merry Go Round

Everything below this is mostly the wild rantings of a woman waiting for a tv show. There might be a leaked spoiler or two but mostly refers to stuff Harvey and Kayvan have said/speculation.

I think I'm going to have to write a case for and against the likelihood of Nandermo now. I'm like....did going straight from ofmd to wwdits give me unrealistic shipspectations? Did my brain go of course the people who clearly love each other but won't admit it are romantically in love. Today alone I've seen a video of Kayvan doing Nandor on cameo being like 'I love Guillermo but not in that way' in a non-joking way and Harvey posting on Twitter that 'save your tears' and 'both sides now' are theme songs for Guillermo in s4. Now there's a lot of interpretations of those songs but for me, they hit a super 'we are no longer together' 'sliding doors' vibe :/ Which I'm like well. Maybe this is actually a one-sided romantic pining situation.

Yes, way back in the past Kayvan said Guillermo is the best thing that's happened to Nandor, Guillermo has everything he's looking for in his romantic partners but can't find and Nandor does risk his life for Guillermo (a ridiculous unheard of act for a vampire to do for their familiar) but the cameo video was posted only a year ago whereas those other statements were from a few years ago. I know that a lot of these are from Kayvan and Harvey and not like the writers/creators but they wouldn't be allowed to post certain stuff without the go-ahead. They could both be just fucking about too Harvey does seem to very much lean on both sides in interviews of maybe Guillermo loves him but mayyyybe he doesn't maaaybe their relationship isn't like that whoooo knows. And I'm like. Harvey. I beg.

Kayvan's just like let me tell you every way you could see Nandor through every prism, every possibility laid out before you BUT Kayvan has also said stuff about Nandor in the past that's been shown to not line up with Nandor in the show. Though seemingly not cause he was trying to mislead just because that's not how the writers wrote it.