#aj is ranking stuff again

[allaboutnayeli]

ranking nwsl kits (with actual explaining this time)

I like to ramble and yap so let me yap about these kits 😍😍 going in whatever random order i want

at the bottom: washington spirit

what is this? im sorry like y'all finna be running around the field looking black sharpies and yellow highlighters for the whole season? also the stripes on the black jersey is nothing special. honestly they don't even look good it's like when you spill smt on ur shirt and it just won't come off. 0/10

right down at the bottom: north carolina courage

it's giving 2014 realness like the design on the blue one is ugly and the pink one is whatever. their colors aren't even really incorporated into the jersey? like it doesn't give ncc. the logo sticking out like a sore thumb on both of those jerseys and that's sad fr. 1/10 and only because i like that pink shade

another bottom tier...: kansas city current

do better.... like these are the most basic jerseys i have ever seen. there even isn't nothing to say because it's just boring! they just switched around some things on their last jersey and called it a day. 1/10 because their colors are very cute

go back & try again!: gotham fc pt1

for this jersey... it's giving race cars and shit and it just looks weird to me. like it feels like last year's kit but they decided to do dots instead now. the white text across doesn't look good against the colors to me personally, i just don't like it. 2/10 because i see the vision but it's not connecting

BASIC!BORING!TRYAGAIN: angel city pt1

i expected more from a club that's heavy on their aesthetics. the black looks good, but it's just so basic like do something else. looks like five other jerseys i have seen. just wish they did more. 3/10

adorable, but no sweetie: racing louisville pt1

this isn't even that bad, but it reminds me of a picnic blanket. the colors is AMAZING like I love the lavender (i think..) and the white go well together. like the colors aren't ugly in all honesty. it's just the pattern is not giving what it's suppose to. they could had tried something else, but it's not that bad. 4/10

at least try to stand out...: utah royals

nothing. it's giving nothing. like your a new club and could had stood out, made some waves. show you are not here to play around but nah just like this teams vibes the jersey is just as bland and uninteresting. the only thing i like fr is the colors (not like it's anything else to rank it on but that..). 2/10

what are you doing?: portland thorns

i expected more like last year jerseys were creative and interesting to me. why suddenly go basic now? even if they're ugly designs at least you tried something cool. these are bland asf and the colors aren't giving portland thorns to me but okay, have fun. 2.3/10

peachesssss: orlando pride pt1

i forgot what fruit is that on the jersey, but I LIKE THIS. it's actually so creative and makes sense because florida be having mad fruits growing there with the warm climate. incorporating something that significant to the state is such a cute thing. also it's just adorable like the players really gonna be running with fruits on their jerseys. however the longer you look it, the uglier it gets ngl. 8/10

basic but cute: gotham pt2

this is cute, simple, and a nice color. that's pretty much it. it's alright, i like it. 5/10

honestly whatever: racing louisville pt2

went from creative to whatever this basic thing is it. that shade of purple isn't appealing to me, but whatever. 3/10

another blue one, wow!: houston dash pt1

nothing to say really. it's a cute shade of blue, they could have gone with a different color but it's fine. 3/10

another new team with boring jerseys, wow: bay fc

congrats on being boring, bay fc! they could had done something really cool with their jerseys and added in something that's significant to the bay, but okay let's use basic ass colors and slap our ugly ass font logo on it. 3/10

cute and simple: angel city pt2

another cute simple and boring jersey, but it's not bad. i love the pink and angel city is just like so pink to me idk how to explain. it's whatever. 4/10

basic BUT IN A GREAT WAY: reign

the logo is really making this kit what it is and the colors are just so royal like. everything goes together well. it's giving rich bitches and idk why. in this instance being basic is the way to go. 6/10

just the colorrr: orlando pride pt2

I LOVE ITTT. very basic duh but the color shade is so appealing to look at it. it's giving very orlando pride, I love it. 6/10

i see the vision: houston dash pt2

when i first saw this i was like this is ugly but i see the vision tho now. it's cute and simple and the design looks good with the colors. it's not giving race car at all. 7/10

AMAZING, BRILLIANT, INLOVE!: chicago red stars

tbh their jerseys in the past were whatever, but these two eat down so bad. the design on the light blue one fits the team and it just looks so cool. while the shade of blue (?) on the other jersey is gorgeous and looks very refined. 7.5/10

this is how you do a jersey baby!: sd wave

BRILLIANT, SPECULATOR, NEVER SEEN BEFORE. just these are fucking amazing they put all their energy into this. it's really giving the wave in their name. this is how you incorporate your name/the area around you. very unique and the colors are so gorgeous, I'm inlove. the wave deserves their props for this one because wow they came and delivered. 10/10

ANYWAYS OVERALL at alot of basics and more could have been done. a lot of misplaced visions that could have been done well with the right people idk. all i know is imma be happily watching the players run around in these jerseys during the season.

[non-plutonian-druid]

[ID: 11 doodles of Umbrella Academy characters in a style imitating the webcomic Paranatural. Allison, Luther, Diego, Klaus, Viktor, and Lila are drawn as kids, approximately 12 yrs old. Ben is a similarly aged ghost. Hazel, Cha Cha, and the Handler are present as well, all looking vaguely villainous. Five is drawn to be maybe in his twenties. All of them have colorful smoke rising from them indicating the powers from Paranatural, except for Viktor and Lila, for whom the smoke is white. End ID.]

Look, a Paranatural au! I wish I had been hit by this muse in time for Masked Author/Artist, but alas it was not to be. If you've read Paranatural is you can probably guess.... basically everything there is to know about this au. If you haven't read Parantural, you should!! It's a wild ride! But also I rambled for a super long time about it under the cut

Everyone has cool spirit powers and can see the dead, so Klaus isn't special sorry Klaus. I'm making up for it by making him directly possessed by a spirit that gives him superpowers, instead of everyone else who has to use a possessed object to get superpowers. I didn't put a ton of thought into what Cool Accessory (possessed object) to give the kids so I could change that later, but for now Allison has a megaphone, Diego has a yo-yo, Viktor has his violin, and Luther doesn't have anything because his dad thinks he needs to learn to control spirit energy on his own. Klaus doesn't have any either because he's possessed directly. I adjusted the rules of Parantural slightly because [Paranatural spoilers!!] in the comic someone with white energy can connect with spirits whose energy is any color. Viktor's should absolutely be white by show rules, but that power set suits Lila a lot better. So in this au, the rules are adjusted so that white can only connect with white, and Lila's is actually colorless (IE, it only looks white now because the background is white). She can't bond with any one spirit for long, but she can bond with any of them for a short time.

Hazel, Cha Cha, Five kind of, and the Handler are all members of a version of Paranatural's Consortium, which I'm just going to call the Commission again because why not. As you may be able to guess, it's slightly more villainous in this au than the Consortium. I wanted AJ to be a high ranking member, but if I made him the Handler's spirit then we wouldn't get to see him ever, so I made him Five's. This was before I remembered that people possessed by spirits look more and more like their spirit over time so the fish head thing could still totally work, so I might revisit that. Hazel and Cha Cha's spirits look like thier masks, of course. I didn't spend much time on the mask/spirit redesign so they're not as fun and funky as I'd like, but they're still reasonable stand-ins. The Handler is this version of the Boss Leader because.... duh. If you've been keeping up with Parantural and are wondering about how That One Thing About Boss Leader translates... I haven't decided yet.

Five is the Mr. Spender of this au. He is possibly the least Mr. Spender-like character to ever exist, but look me in the eyes and tell me that acting as the teacher-supervisor of a club of unruly kids that can see ghosts who is secretly part of a nefarious (?) organization is not where he belongs.

I have a few more doodles of this waiting in the wings! Mostly of Five because I love him. But also if you have stuff you want to see, send it in. No promises I'll draw your suggestion, but the main obstacle between me and drawing more of this is not having concrete ideas for situations to put characters in

[ssaalexblake]

the thing about cm is that the writers have always been totally upfront about there never being an inter-team romance played out on the show, that's not what it's about and that was the score and remains it. What Other show that's been on air as long hasn't had a will they/won't they? lasting for like 8 years before they finally do it? Or had a pair have a very ill advised affair? or any number of other combos.

CM is different to that by design, not by accident.

(that they had luke and garcia flirt all the time with nothing to show for it, and then when they thought they'd been cancelled they had them agree to a date in the last 5 minutes of the show is Telling. That they tanked it in the very next episode 2 years later that they never thought would exist is More telling.)

teasing moments between characters is not promising you that they're gonna suddenly have an ooc gay affair, and while i'm going to assume what's happening here is that they've not mentioned the No Romance rule for a while not realising that their audience is not all the same one they Used to have back on CBS, they really have made the score clear multiple times in the past.

If you're waiting for JJ to divorce herself from her own personality and suddenly decide to have a steamy gay affair with Emily you're going to be waiting a Long Time. And this is Really obvious and doesn't really even need stating, to be frank.

I've seen some Wild shit coming from the fandom, like somebody saying with their whole chest that the only reason jj ended up with will was because of aj's pregnancy (that part is true) but devolved into 'what universe are You from' territory when they claimed that otherwise they were going to do a shippy story with jj and emily. And even Aside from the whole No Team Romance rule, you are Aware this was in like 2007 right??? I know you're all young and all but in 2007 every gay thing in a tv show was a Groundbreaking Moment in television history still. Stuff you slam for being tame representation that's not good enough for you was ground-breaking rep in the mid 2010's!! This was 2007. CM barely acknowledged that gay people existed for an entire 15 seasons.

That their first episode on paramount made one of the leads queer is actually kind of funny in that regard, and Incredibly telling in general. It was Never the writers who were against that (in fact, a number of them in the cbs years were gay themselves) but got forbidden to go there by the network.

For the record, other topics that were considered unpalatable by the network and not to be used in stories very often were things like cannibalism and a variety of other disturbing things you can do to people. So gayness was ranked with them. Charming. (there used to be webchats with writers after episodes aired, and you learnt some Shit in those, let me tell you).

Anyway, i digress, they're not going to go there and have been honest about it. Whatever ship 'there' is is sitting somewhere at Snowball's chance in hell, and while i'd sell maybe a rib for tara and emily to be canon, i'm more than aware it'd be a waste of a rib. At Most i think maybe they'll do another 11th hour thing with luke and garcia when they eventually get cancelled again.

Because the same show runner is still in place. There's not been a change of management. Maybe If they'd got a new person in, but they haven't.

[exquisitexagony]

MULTIMUSE QUESTIONAIRE !!

RULES: Answer the questions with the Muses that would best fit the answers. Bonus if you give details why.

TAGGED BY: @ask-thedepressedkidatthetable

TAGGING: @miidnighters @heartxshaped-bruises, @dramatiique, @starrymused, whoever wants to really!

Answering this based on all of my muses between all 4 of my blogs since this blog is technically not a multi-muse. Thanks for tagging me!

1) Rank your softest Muse and your toughest Muse. (Personality-wise)

Ohh...That's a tricky one...I thinks softest is a tie between Rhys and Sam. Ah! Or maybe even Daianira or Hypnos! When I first think of softest, though, my brain goes to Rhys. He's always been my precious little boy. Toughest? Jazzi or Chell, maybe E. I think Chell comes to mind first, though.

2) Which Muse would blow through $1000 quickly?

Aurelius Bridgers...Because $1,000 is nothing to zem.

3) Do any of them have nicknames? Is there a meaning behind them?

Rhys & August have a couple of my fave nicknames I've written for characters. Rhys' being Reese Cup & August's is AJ or Almond Joy. They typically only really use those names with each other, like sweet little brotherly affections, but August will use AJ with people he's close to...Samuel's nicknames include Sami, Sam, and even Arthur which is his last name or Arlo when he was a kid. Aurelius has lots of little nicknames mostly because people struggle with spelling and/or pronouncing his name and it's just easier that way--his stage name is Aurora. Daianira goes by Daylight or Day because they find it pretty and it's easier to pronounce/spell for most humans. I also gave that to them because it reflects their personality very well--sunshine. Elizabeth goes by "E" because they hate their name and it's more gender neutral, which they prefer. Leo (@gollldrush) calls Ambrose Rose which I find absolutely adorable. Jhazala typically goes by Jazz or Jazzi again just to shorten the name. Some people call Demetrius Demi, but don't ever say it to his face because he'll smite you. James hates nicknames and would be absolutely livid if anyone called him Jim or any shorter version of James. Shimi goes by Sami or Sam sometimes as a sort of "human" name in homage to his transition from living with xyr jinn brethren to living amongst humans.

4) Are any of them up-to-speed on the latest trends? Anyone more old school?

OK that last one was long, I'll try to make this quick: Sami is very old school. Aurora is trendy as hell. Rhys is old school or at least just somewhere in the middle because he doesn't care. August is a mix of old school and trendy--he likes what he likes and sometimes that's old stuff sometimes that's new stuff. Chell, Ambrose, Luna, Demetrius, Jazzi, and maybe Skylar are all what I'd consider up-to-speed on trends. James, Shimi, Sarai, and Day are all a little old school. The rest just don't care so they're probably aware of trends but don't pay much attention to it.

5) Who has the best relationship with their siblings?

Rhys & August, of course.

6) Karaoke night! Who is likely to grab the mic first and bust out a tune?

Aurelius, for sure! Godly voice and proud of it. August would try to talk Rhys into it, but he'd definitely decline and August wouldn't push him too much. Luna would probably jump up there too. Maybe Ambrose because they'd probably be drunk as all get-out.

7) Who is least likely to enter a beauty pageant/model?

Oh gosh, um...Probably Rhys & August would be least likely, but also Elizabeth, Day, and obviously Sarai would require a lot of convincing. Hypnos probably wouldn't either and probably not Hermes.

8) If your Muses visited a haunted house where actors scare you, who would panic and who would be unfazed?

Muses that would panic: Sami, Hypnos, Day, Ambrose, Luna (but she'd be enjoying it), Aurelius (also probably enjoying it just a little)

Muses that would be panicking on the inside: Shimi, Rhys, August, E

Muses that would be unfazed: James, Sarai, Demetrius, Hermes, Zagreus, Chell

Muses that would be kicked out for punching an actor: Chell (maybe if they happened to spook her), Elizabeth, Skylar, Jazzi

9) Are any of your Muses particular about taking certain modes of transportation?

Rhys takes the bus or bikes a lot because he can't drive. He definitely prefers biking over bus, though, and is known to bike in the rain so long as it isn't storming. Aurora loves to take his convertible whenever he can have the top down. Sami prefers not to drive even though he can so he'll take the bus sometimes. Day will usually walk because she can't go very far anyway and she's taken a couple of taxis but has definitely gotten in trouble for not having money to pay for the trip.

10) Share a little-known fact about any Muse.

Oh gosh...but I have so many muses with so many little facts! Here, I'll throw a few out there... Rhys is trans-male--something that I've gone back on in the past but recently brought back again because it just feels right for him even though his faceclaim isn't trans. Sami doesn't talk about it at all or even know how to put a name to it, but he's definitely queer in terms of gender, which is why I use different pronouns for them even though they would never ask someone to do it because they're still learning. Aurora has a verse that's technically his canon in which about 10 years from his main verse he contracts a deadly disease that is extremely rare and most typically developed in demi-gods and basically dies in his mid-thirties! Little known part of that is that it's also the same disease that killed his mother.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

I loved your ranking of Jane! She gets way too much hat. Tbh I like her way more than Kenny

Thanks anon, glad you enjoyed the post!

But yes, I agree. I think Jane gets too much hate and I believe it comes from a misunderstanding of her character, as well as a lot of bias set in Kenny's favor.

Believe me, I understand a lot of the criticism with her character and I don't fault anyone for disliking her. To each their own, y'know?

I find her compelling and way more likeable than Kenny, and while I stand by the Wellington ending being the best outcome for Clementine and AJ, I loathe that you only get it by going with Kenny. Personally, if forced to throw out the Wellington ending, Jane is Clementine's best option as far as S2's ending goes...

...We don't talk about ANF Jane. ANF is forever on my shitlist for what it did to Jane. You ever want to study a great example of writers fully misunderstanding a character then writing a total character assassination? Then look at Jane in ANF.

But anyway, Jane isn't heartless and she actually listens to Clementine when she chews her out and tries to improve, something Kenny just... doesn't do, no matter how many times he says he will be better. Actions speak louder than words, my guy.

One example I can give comes with Arvo. Jane will threaten him with a gun and suggest they take his stuff, that she doesn't care about his supposed sick sister, all that... no matter the outcome, Jane shows remorse for her actions and questions how she got to the point of threatening a kid like Arvo, someone clearly powerless against her and in a position to be taken advantage of.

Then you have Kenny who treats Arvo as a personal punching bag and never once does he feel remorse. Kenny just treats him as an outlet for his rage, nothing more. Arvo isn't even a person to him. Hell, he cares more about going after Arvo and beating his ass than he does if Clementine falls through the ice while trying to save Luke.

You know who pulls Clementine out of the icy water? Not Kenny. Jane does, and she's the only one in a huge panic about her freezing to death, running around looking for a way to start a fire and what is Kenny doing? Right, beating Arvo again.

That's just one example. Also, to touch on the topic of Sarah, because I know that's a big thing for people who dislike Jane which fair enough, I get that. I don't have time to give a full analysis, but Jane's backstory is a huge part of why she tells Clementine that Sarah's going to bring her down. Sarah isn't in good shape after Carlos is killed, and you can't just pretend that she didn't endanger them when she refused to move. It makes sense why she doesn't, and it's incredibly tragic, but Jane can see as an outside observer with no attachment to Sarah that if they stay here, they're all going to die. So, either Clementine forces her to move, abandons her, or dies with her.

There are plenty of flaws with how Sarah is portrayed and handled in S2, again I don't have the time to give a full analysis, but Jane is gentle no matter what Clementine decides to do, save her or leave her. She doesn't chew Clementine out, she doesn't say, "I told you so." Jane explains her story with her sister, and the Sarah situation clearly triggered that trauma for her.

Again, soooo easy for people who hate Jane to be like "see?? she left her sister to die?? Jane bad, she want Sarah dead too," but that's just purposely ignoring the nuance and grey of the situation so you can think easy. And no, Jane doesn't want Sarah to die, that's just a straight up lie.

When Sarah is trapped, Jane will put aside her beliefs and safety to help Sarah when Clementine asks her to. It's not Jane's fault Sarah died. Maybe if she hadn't been hit with that plank of wood, she could've gotten to her faster. Maybe she would've died because Sarah was such in a state of panic that she would've brought her down, too. Y'know that drowning metaphor-- a drowning person will almost always pull you down, is it worth sinking with them? all that.

I want to make it clear that this isn't Sarah's fault. She's a victim here, both in the situation and in the games writing. Jane knows this, too. She's sincere in her apology to Clementine, and seeing Sarah die is yet another trigger that causes her to leave.

There's so much about Jane's character that I could get into, and I plan on it at some point. Like I said in my tier list, Jane is a great character and I'm tired of pretending she's not.

[bloodgulchblog]

Ok I got two ODST ocs but the issue is I know like next to nothing about how ODSTs work. Besides what was shown in Halo 4 ODSTs. Is there any wisdom you can impart upon me,,?

Alright full disclaimer: I have successfully put off playing more than like the first level of Halo 3: ODST for 13 years, and my knowledge of what happens in that game is limited to what I remember of the summary of it in New Blood.

Shame disclosed, I can now begin taking a swing at this.

HOW ODSTS FIT INTO THE UNSC

ODSTs are specialists within the UNSC Marine Corps. Marines take orders from UNICOM (Unified Ground Command) along with the Army and Air Force when operating on the ground, and from NAVCOM (Naval Command) when operating in space.

ODSTs are usually looped in with the Navy because the Navy has to drop them, and some groups of ODSTs are specialized for operating in zero g and that kind of thing is also on Navy turf.

WHAT KIND OF PERSON GETS SELECTED TO BE AN ODST

First of all, ODSTs are all-volunteer. You don't get assigned from on high into being an ODST, you ask to be considered.

The most important criterion for an ODST is being able to get in the pod and drop, knowing that something could blow you out of the air and you could do nothing about it, into hostile territory. And to keep doing it. It takes a lot of courage to be able to psyche yourself up into doing that again and again and again. (Honestly, when you see mention of ODSTs doing things like playing loud music during a drop, I feel like that is a huge part of what they're doing.)

The second factor is toughness and ability to fight, obviously. Training for ODSTs is intense and they have to be very fit before they can proceed to the later parts.

The third: A certain fighting spirit. ODSTs need to be initiative-takers and they are trained to push to establish a foothold where they land. They need to be aggressive and bold, that's their job, and even beyond helping win a battle it's also a factor for morale. Having a squad of ODSTs roll up whooping and yelling and ready to rock bolsters the confidence of the people around them. That matters.

Ideally the Corps would also love if ODST candidates were also smart, but the UNSC was fighting a losing war for almost 30 years and humanity lost absolutely catastrophic numbers. They had to take what they could get. Not everybody can be AJ Johnson.

There's a reason that when ODSTs heckle the Navy it's for being dweebs with cushy jobs, and when the Navy heckles ODSTs it's about how many it takes to screw in a lightbulb.

WHAT IS ODST TRAINING LIKE?

How long does it take to become an ODST? Our sources are kinda vague, we know 3 weeks of the training is just hammering them on physical fitness and then they go on to the specialized part and it's possible to wash out and embarrass yourself by being sent back to your original unit. We know there are "months" of it. If you want me to guess based on my very vague and incomplete knowledge of US military things gleaned from wikipedia, I'd say prrrrrobably a year, maybe more.

It's kind of fucky because Halo lore doesn't usually think about this kind of stuff and you can tell. You have to do some conspiracy diagramming yourself, but like. We know Palmer was 19 years old when she was a Lance Corporal. (....but Palmer's rank in general when she was in the ODSTs doesn't make sense at all if you look at it with more than your peripheral vision and sshhhh, shhh, it's fine, shhhhhhh.)

Basically, it seems like if somebody really really excels in their first year they can be considered for ODST training but it's probably safe to say that's on the extreme end. I would also be willing to suppose that they probably will not take anyone as old as 29 or 30 as a candidate without it being a major exception.

The most detail we have on what the training itself is like is the short story Dirt in the Evolutions anthology, much of the information on halopedia's ODST page sources that story. (For the record, while I'm still thinking about tacking up red strings, the timeline indicates that Gage would've been 20 at most when he was training to be an ODST.) Here's a piece.

WHAT ARE ODSTS LIKE IN GENERAL

Everybody's an individual, but the most stereotypical ODST is loud, gregarious, swole, and full of machismo. They're probably fun at parties, but maybe sometimes too fun. They're very tight with their buddies. Being ODST is a huge, huge source of pride and identity. They're great to have on your side. They're a huge, bull-headed problem if they're not.

They are good under pressure, experienced at putting a brave face on, and have most likely developed some kind of coping strategy for handling fear and worry because there's no room for that shit when you're jammed in a pod.

ODSTs are brave as shit, and in the ODSTs the leadership is expected to drop with the rest and their pods accelerate ahead and are the first on the ground. Leading from the front is a huge virtue to them. The ODSTs are immensely proud of this and it's what they admire in leadership and in general. If you want to stand tall in the eyes of an ODST, make big fucking plays at great personal risk that pay off.

Here is a very charming anecdote about the time a young Captain Keyes impressed some ODSTs.

And this explanation:

...

Other than that, I don't have much more speculation. I guess keep an eye on the distinctions between the armor ODSTs have and MJOLNIR, because ODST kit is a lot less OP. Other than that, I'm out.

[speakingofdoorknobs]

I was tagged by @mikesmoustache

name: ehhhhhhhh we'll go with AJ (I'm too old to feel comfortable using my full name online)

star sign: Cancer - I have never seen a zodiac lighter with my sign on it, which is a shame because it would be hilarious to offer to people ominously.

birthday: June 26

height: 5'10" (~177cm)

time: 1.30 am

favorite bands/artists: Top 3: Queen, Depeche Mode, Devotchka in that order. After that I can only give categories, not ranks.

last movie: in a theater: The Addams Family/at home: The Incredibles (just happy it wasn't one of the Cars movies again)

last show: Currently rewatching 'Allo 'Allo

when did i create this blog: this specific blog was created March of 2011

what i post: on this blog, just shiny things I like - stuff comes in waves as I get into different things, but Star Trek and Disco Elysium are pretty constant content. Also cats.

last thing i googled: "can you skip a ring on water" (wanted to see if it was plausible for a character to dramatically toss a ring into a lake and have it skim/skip)

other blogs: okay, so: This blog started as a sideblog of All Our Yestertomorrows, which was a comic I was drawing based on the TTRPG we were playing at the time (a mashup of several White Wolf settings). I kind of ran out of steam on that (I should really get back to it, I found the binder with my game notes again), and decided that I'd switch this blog over to be under another account I'd made to use as a portfolio (@effulgentinara), which is only for original work like fanart, jewelry, sketches, etc. Unfortunately, this causes some confusion since I mostly interact with everyone through this side blog.

Please, please @staff - let me either make this its own account or let me swap which is my main and which is my sideblog, or at least let me choose which account replies and asks are marked as being from. It's been eleven years, I think I deserve this.

do i get asks: Not often, but I always enjoy them.

following around: 100. I've determined that's the maximum number of people I can follow without feeling overwhelmed trying to keep up with Tumblr, and it's a pleasantly round number.

average hours of sleep:

My personal best/worst is technically only around 50 solid hours awake, but yeah, I'm really bad about just... forgetting? to sleep? But I'm trying to be better about it recently.

instruments: couple of years of piano lessons that I could probably dredge up with a little refresher (don't currently own a piano or working keyboard so I'm out of practice), guitar, ukulele, a little bit of flute, playing around with an electronic drum pad I bought as a treat, every now and then I give that toy accordion a shot again, and recently I've been enjoying the otomatone I got for my birthday

what i’m wearing:  t-shirt and shorts (with pockets!)

dream job: children's book illustrator or just creating weird little games (I do some stuff in my spare time, but don't have a lot of chances to work on it)

dream trip: would be nice to go to Japan (particularly the Korakuen Gardens), but if I'm being perfectly honest my main motivation for brushing up on my French is to go visit Parc Astérix someday.

nationality: American/Irish (technically UK as well, but I've never bothered to file the paperwork because I don't really have any plans to live there anytime soon)

favorite song: Fire Escape in the Sea by Sea Power may have managed to dethrone '39 by Queen, or has at least tied

last book i’ve read: Does an epic fanfic completely re-writing Star Trek: TNG but with Tasha surviving count? If not, then I think it was either Howl's Moving Castle or James Acaster's Classic Scrapes.

top 3 fictional universes i would like to live in: Star Trek (fully automated luxury gay space communism FTW), Animal Crossing, or Wallace and Gromit

Tagging @shoutsindwarvish @tiwaztyrsfist @singedsun @nerdishnerd @angelchrys @tardigradesonthemoon @thewinterarcher

[localhornist]

Heptarchy: the d’Arc Siblings

So some more Heptarchy info, but this time some stuff that’s more WIP - the d’Arc siblings.

Both growing up in Frankish Kingdom within the Holy Empire, which stretched throughout the Rhineland and past the Meuse River up to the north of the channel, they would largely lead an ordinary childhood that any other peasent children would. That was, until their magical talent was discovered.

However, they would be lucky. As this discovery wasn’t through a freak accident, or a burned down village, but in fact, through the Church.

In particular, a lone Inquisitor, who owed her father a life debt from battles with the Gaullic petty Kingdoms west of the Franks, would take the two in once their abilities were discovered, saving them from a much worse fate. However, this good luck would only last so long.

Throughout the years, Jeanne would find great experience as a medic, working with healers within the Church to enhance her experience, and aiding those harmed in battle and by disease. This career would not be shared by AJ, however, who would instead go down the road of their mentor, and become an inquisitor.

And she was good at it.

Rapidly rising through the ranks thanks to her magical talent, she would soon gain great renown with the Church troops she served with throughout the Holy Empire. This would not be without consequence, however, as the experience of carrying out the brutal will of the Church would chip away at her, jading her to life as she fell further and further into the atrocities of the Church.

Then, it would get too far. As she would have to target someone personal.

She would get a message to move to support a group of Inquisitors targetting a town in southern Jutland. Where her friend lived. Brynhildir.

And she would get their to late to save her. As the Inquisitors raged through the town, with fire and sword, as they had so many times before, all AJ could see was what had become of her friend.

The weight of realisation. Of realising what she had done to so many before. Of what she had now lost. All hit at once, with grief and anger.

And it broke her.

In vengeance and grief, she turned on her once allies, and from the resulting slaughter, would be the only one to survive.

She would not stop, however. Going underground, she would work to combat the Church’s influence, much in the same way as how she had operated before, eventually rising back once again as the infamous “Dragon Witch”. She was not just intent on fighting the church, however. For it held her dear sister in its grasp. And she would pull her from the eagle’s talons, no matter what it cost.

However, on the opposite side of the sisters, Jeanne did not stop working under the Church. Angered by the supposed death of AJ by the hands of heretical sorcerors, she would fall under the influence of Giles, a high Church official, drawing her into the Inquisitor ranks with promises of vengeance for her sister’s death. This would not stop, however, when AJ resurfaced. Twisted by Church propoganda and grief, Jeanne refused to believe AJ could have turned to the heretics of her own volition. Instead, surely, her stalwart sister was changed forcefully. Brainwashed, by dark magic.

And with her knowledge of magic and Inquisitor experience, Jeanne is now determined to change that, in whatever way necessary.

And at this penultimat time, with both sister’s determined to save the other, they would face a new player.

Mordred, the traitor prince.

[magnoliapip]

Ranked: Mother of the Year (Choices) Main Characters

I can’t sleep so that means I need to make another list that I’m not going to proofread before I post, right? Of course it does. But before we start, please remember this is my opinion on who I liked best. Not who impacted the story the most, not who was the best written fictional character of all time, yada yada. This is my personal opinion of the characters I liked best.

Spoilers WILL be featured below. You have been warned.

#13 -- Tallulah Copeland

Tallulah is a parent to a child at Bernhardt Academy, a friend of Vanessa Blackwood, and an active member of the PTA. Hugo is her partner.

This woman. I would flat forget this woman existed until she would show up again just to wreak havoc on MC’s day, usually at someone else’s urging. Every single time she spoke, I just wanted it to be over and she is just an awful, AWFUL person. She’s also the only awful person in this book who never pretends to be nice and/or never apologizes for her actions. Just an all around nasty person.

#12 -- Hugo

Hugo is a parent of a child at Bernhardt Academy and an active member of the PTA. Tallulah is his significant other.

If you’re actually reading these little blurbs, you have to be wondering “MagnoliaPip? How in the hell is Hugo ranked lower than two other unmentionables in this story?”

Thank you for asking, no one ever.

Put frankly, Hugo just annoyed the crap out of me. I know that’s supposed to be part of his character, but it went above and beyond the scope of acceptable annoyance. I grew to hate every second he was speaking. He never really contributed anything to the plot other than some irritating drivel. He wasn’t an antagonist, but he also wasn’t a pleasing good guy. He’s also the reason I’m considering not re-reading this book again right away like I want to.

#11 -- Guy Ledford

This man. This. Man. THIS MAN!

This part is going to include major spoilers, y’all, so if you haven’t read it and are still intending to, skip away now!! Again, major spoilers from here on out kids.

Guy Ledford is your main character’s ex-husband who has been absent for four years since the start of the book and wants to reconnect with his daughter. He is also a CEO of a snack food company/app, Nomme. He is the main antagonist of the book.

The reason I didn’t rank him lower is he genuinely adds something to the plot. He IS the plot. He’s the reason this book exists. However, he is such a scumbag he deserves nothing. He feels like a trope for quite a lot of the time, but at least he’s not physically abusive like a true trope could have been (at least, I never noticed him being physically abusive). Just, you know, a gaslighting, manipulative, arrogant, rude, selfish son of a-

I also love that they named him “Guy”. I’ve only ever met one man named this in my life, so it’s funny to me that they named this jerk “Guy” so it’s not only the most generic sounding name (did his parents also get a dog named “Dog” and a cat named “Kitty”?), but also one that a lot of men won’t likely have so they don’t have to get name checked in relation to him.

I like that you can get a good outcome (Guy ends up with joint custody with visitations  every weekend and having to back pay) without spending diamonds in this game as long as you make the right choices, but for those who DID spend all of the diamonds, I would have liked to have seen Guy end up with worse. I would have liked to see, if you made most of the right choices and bought all of the diamond stuff, him ending up with every other weekend or maybe just visitation. I know he’s trying to be a good dad (but still an absolutely terrible human being), but every weekend seems like so much when your daughter is in school.

#10 -- Augustus Blackwood

August Blackwood is one of Vanessa Blackwood’s sons and is a student at Bernhardt Academy.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this one. But he hurt my daughter and that’s enough. I would have liked to have seen him fleshed out a little bit more beyond being basically just a schoolyard bully. His motivations for his actions are hinted on, but nothing is really ever done and he’s mostly just a prop for something to hurt your daughter.

#9 -- Vanessa Blackwood

Vanessa Blackwood is the president of the PTA, a single mom, and a lawyer and becomes an antagonist to your character.

I’m probably going to get hate for this, but I want to like Vanessa. Obviously, she’s hateful and offensive, in some very, very unredeemable ways, but there’s something about characters like that which makes me want to forgive them and teach them how to be better. How to rehabilitate their bitterness. I felt it with Olivia Nevrakis, I felt it with Victoria Fontaine, and I know certain people in the fandom felt it with Becca Davenport and Poppy Min-Sinclair. 

**DISCLAIMER** Keep in mind, I’m not trying to excuse homophobia and racism here. They are both despicable things and should be accounted for. However, after having grown up in a homophobic and racist home and learning to leave that shit in the dust by the time I was eighteen and SLOWLY teaching my family to do the same over the course of the last 10 years, I believe people can change if you give them room and help to. Not everyone will, not many people will, but I believe in giving the chance. We need to force people to take responsibility and learn from their mistakes. Should the book have been approved as a series rather than a stand alone, I think this might have been a very real option within book 2.

#8 -- Ajax “AJ” Blackwood

Ajax Blackwood is one of Vanessa Blackwood’s sons and a student at Bernhardt Academy.

AJ is the quieter of the Blackwood boys, AJ is a shy kid who hates that his brother is mean just as much as your daughter does. He finally has enough within the book and stands up to him, which was more than a little satisfying and he does seem to have a genuinely good heart. I think it would be so cute for him, your daughter, and Luz to be their own adorable trio of friends. 

#7 -- Levi Schuler

Levi Schuler is your neighbor who helps save the day for MC early on in the book and becomes a friend to both her and your daughter. He is also one of your love interests.

And if this list is going to invoke hate from the masses, it will be this entry that does it. I know how loved Levi is. And I love him too! I just find him, and his musician plot, to be a bit tiring. He’s a wonderfully supportive friend/love interest, just about one of the nicest people, and he’s great with your daughter. I swear, all of the love interests in this book would be god tier in any book. It’s truly unfair to the others that we got three amazing ones here along with a great cast of characters. However, since that did happen, Levi will sit here at #7. He can have a consolatory rugelach while I continue on.

#6 -- Faye Devore

Faye Devore is your ex-husband’s new girlfriend, a younger social media influencer.

I loved Faye. Right from the start, I loved Faye. I prayed they weren’t going to make this into one of those books where we were supposed to hate the “other woman” because those plots are old, outdated, and overused. Thankfully, MOTY lets us skirt right around it and we end up with a wonderful character like Faye, who is the human definition of having the best intentions.

She gets on well with your daughter, even pointing out to MC at one point that she thinks of her like a little sister, and goes above and beyond to make her happy. She is genuinely upset about going against MC’s wishes about your daughter appearing on social media and doesn’t appear to want to cause any harm or hard feelings with MC at any point during the book. In fact, she wants to be friends. 

I would have loved for this and for it to be fleshed out more, again, if we had ever gotten a book 2. I’m also that jerk who would have totally romanced her in a replay and would have emptied my wallet to get a scene in that hypothetical book 2 where Guy finds out. Take that homophobe!

#5 -- Dr. Eiko Matsunaga

Dr. Eiko Matsunaga is a science teacher who teaches at the private school your daughter goes to and becomes friendly with MC because of your daughter. She is also one of your love interests.

If I would have had a teacher like Dr. Matsunaga when I was in school, maybe I would have cared about science at any point during my childhood. Eiko is so incredibly smart but has a heart of gold. She could be off teaching at colleges or writing published journals, but she’s teaching elementary science at a private school and honestly enjoying herself! She wants to see children succeed and will give any child who wants to do so, like your daughter, all of the help they need.

I want to romance her. I want to be her friend. I want it all because I’m selfish even when I don’t because I could never possibly be worthy of the supremacy that is Eiko. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

#4 -- Your Daughter / Zoey

Your daughter is 9 years old at the start of the book and desperately wants to be an astronaut. She is a science whiz and moves from public school to Bernhardt Academy at the beginning of the book to kickstart her education.

It makes me so sad that I will never actually have this child. “Zoey” is just so smart and funny and sweet and I love her so much. I spent so many diamonds on her. She’s a pixelated little bundle of amazing and I would die for her. That’s it.

#3 -- Alma Velasco

Alma Velasco is your neighbor, best friend, and (for part of the time) co-worker.

What did our character do to deserve such an amazing ride-or-die friend like Alma? She never disbelieves MC, is forever supportive as a shoulder to cry on and a supplier of good wine, and also helps MC out of more than one pinch. Seriously an amazing friend, and I wish we could have done something equally amazing for her to reciprocate.

#2 -- Thomas Mendez

Thomas Mendez is a lawyer and a single dad who becomes friends with MC very early on in the book. He is also one of your three love interests.

A big reason for why Thomas is at #2 is because of who #1 is but we’ll get there in a second.

There’s also something about Thomas that speaks to me as a person. It’s more than just being interested as a love interest or as a friend. There’s something about who he is. His awkwardness, his humor, his kindness and his generosity all make him someone I envy as much as I admire.

He takes on MC’s case pro bono when he doesn’t have to. He shrugs it off like it’s no big deal, but stepping back and looking at the it, by all accounts he was walking into a handily losing situation. He was also super busy at this time being a single parent himself and working on his class action lawsuit. That’s not even saying anything about him still grieving for Soledad.

However, the biggest reason I love Mr. Mendez is...

#1 -- Luz Mendez

Luz Mendez is a student at Bernhardt Academy who becomes best friends with your daughter early in the book. She is a soccer and art fan.

This little girl is the best thing I have ever read in my entire life. She made the entire book. Every character that came before her pales in comparison to her majesty. She is a goddamn queen and deserves everything.

Every scene with her is gold and I wish we had more. This little girl was completely willing to curb stomp someone with her cleats at the courthouse if something would have happened to your daughter. She is so aggressively herself and it is a joy to see. The relationship between her and her father is what really kept me going through the book’s more difficult spots. There is such true love and acceptance there, as well as the drive and desire to do better for the other than I just...There is really no way for me to properly explain the perfection that is Luz Mendez so I guess you’ll just have to read it yourself.

---

I’m not sure why it took me so long to start reading Mother of the Year (MOTY), but I’m so glad I did. In 3 days flat I binged the entire book, wasted so many accumulated diamonds, and had the time of my life. The cast of characters in MOTY is perfect and I wanted to rank them according to my opinion on which ones were the best. I ranked all of the characters I found to be profound enough to matter to the storyline or that MC or “Daughter” had enough interactions with to matter. As a result, there are several characters who didn’t make this list. 

Sound off below if you wish.

[sparring-hyena]

and then there was only one bed.

alright, so, @satrinadia said they wanted a ‘and there was only one bed’ fic for poppy and mc. i’m a writer. i’m a little drunk. i’ve got some free time. i figured i’d have a crack at it.

-

when AJ found out that one of her classes had an interstate trip as part of its final piece of assessment, she was apprehensive, because what university class has a compulsory field trip?

“think of it as a break from this place,” Zoey had said.

AJ had hummed, because maybe Zoey had a point there. it would only be for one night, but even that one night away could be refreshing. they were supposed to be going some place rural to conduct research, so maybe it would remind her of home a little bit. ease the ache she sometimes feels being so far away from the family farm. and who knows, maybe it could give her the chance to sleep without the ever looming presence of the ranking weighing her down. the fact that Poppy was in her class and would be going on the trip too? well, she decided not to dwell too much on that.

the day of the trip quickly comes. a bus meets the thirty or so students at the edge of campus. AJ picks a seat in the middle of the bus, plugs her headphones into her phone, and readies herself for the weekend ahead.

and the day’s fun. surprisingly fun considering it’s being graded. she does what she needs to do and manages to steer clear of Poppy. it’s fine. it’s great. everything’s going great. then sleeping arrangements are announced.

“there aren’t enough rooms for everyone, so you’ll all be doubling up for the night,” the professor explains.

and that’s fine with AJ. she’s no stranger to sharing a room. she shared a room with her sister until she was fifteen. it’s fine. sharing a room is fine. who knows, maybe she’ll be able to make a new friend out of it too.

names are read off and students start heading off for the night. it’s all fine until it’s just AJ and Poppy left.

“no way,” Poppy says almost immediately. “you expect me to room with her?”

“you can ask one of your classmates to swap if it’s really such a problem,” the professor says, already picking up her own bag and getting ready to turn in for the night. “goodnight, ladies,” she says, passing AJ the key and offering her a sorry smile on her way out.

AJ takes the key and considers her next few words carefully. “look, i’m not stoked about this either, but maybe we just try make the best of it.”

Poppy glares. “is this where you say we can braid each other’s hair and paint our nails?”

“i mean, if you want?”

“no, thank you.” Poppy plucks the key from AJ’s hand and leaves to go find their room.

AJ decides to be optimistic about this. it’s just one night. she can share a room with Poppy for one night. however, upon seeing their room, her optimism about this whole situation dwindles.

there’s a bare-bones bathroom, a couch pushed against the wall, a small box TV in the corner, and one bed.

they both stand at the foot of the bed, and AJ curses herself for being so optimistic about this trip.

“yeah, no. this is not going to work,” Poppy says.

and maybe if AJ weren’t as tired she’d fight this a little harder. say something about how they’re both adults and can be mature about this situation. but she’s tired and really in no mood to argue.

“it’s fine. i can just sleep on the couch.” and maybe she sees something akin to regret flicker across Poppy’s face for a split-second. but she’s tired, so she’s probably just imagining it.

sometime passes and they get settled in. Poppy disappears to the bathroom and AJ can hear the water move through the creaky pipes. with not much to do in the room, AJ decides to go for a walk. she only ventures as far as the park across the road from the small motel. she sits on the swings for a bit, flicks a quick text off to Zoey when she manages to get some service, and stops at the vending machine on her way back.

when she steps back into the room, she finds Poppy sitting on the edge of the bed, hair damp, and scrolling through her phone. “where’d you go?”

“why? worried about me?”

Poppy scoffs. “you wish.”

“i went for a walk. got some snacks too.” AJ tosses a bag of Cheetos and a bar of chocolate onto the bed. “those are your favourites, right?”

“yeah,” Poppy says, shocked. “how’d you know?”

“you mentioned it when you invited me into your room.”

it’s the first time either of them have mentioned that night. it’s also the first time they’ve really talked too. well, that’s not totally true. they’ve texted, but they were mostly just hurling insults at each other.

“oh. thanks.”

and then AJ thinks she sees Poppy smile. one of those faint and barely there ones. but she’s tired, so she’s probably just imagining it again.

it’s not long later that the light is off and they’re both laying down; Poppy in the bed and AJ on the couch.

“i didn’t share that video of you,” Poppy says, her voice loud in the quiet room.

“huh?”

“that video of you hog calling. i didn’t share it.”

“oh. i thought you did.”

“i figured.”

AJ wrings her fingers together and watches the small slither of moonlight shift across the popcorn ceiling. a moment passes like this, and she’s certain Poppy’s waiting for some kind of response.

“i’m sorry,” AJ says, “for releasing those screenshots.”

“i probably had it coming.”

“doesn’t mean i had any right to go through your phone. that was wrong.”

“it hurt,” Poppy says after a moment, “finding out that you’d gone through my stuff like that. and i’m not saying that i haven’t done shitty things too or that i deserve an apology. it’s just... i don’t know. finding out that you did that after we hooked up... it really sucked.”

AJ sits with that for a moment. “you do deserve an apology, Poppy. what i did was shitty. so, i am sorry.”

“me too. i was cruel to you when i shouldn’t have been.”

“can we have a fresh start?”

“yes.” and Poppy smiles as she says that. “is that couch comfortable?”

“not really.”

“you can sleep up here. if you want.”

“really?”

“yeah.”

AJ’s off the couch and climbing into the bed a moment later. she lays on her side facing Poppy, which feels strange and normal all at once.

just as she’s about to fall asleep, AJ feels Poppy grab her hand and tangle their fingers together. and then, her voice little more than a whisper, Poppy says, “don’t tell anyone, but i think i might be falling for you.”

[the-irrelevant-trumpeter]

My Ranking of StarKid shows

Okay, so I haven’t posted any original content for a while, so I’m gonna do some ranking. Note: I don’t dislike any of the shows, they’re all amazing and just because a show is low on my list doesn’t mean I don’t like it. 

Also, spoiler warning for all of them (duh)

So here we gooooo

12) Holy Musical B@man

I don’t know, to be honest... the humour just didn’t click with me as much as the other shows did. I’ve never seen or read any Batman or DC stuff, so that doesn’t help, but it just really didn’t stick out to me. However, it’s still amazing. The soundtrack is great (Rogues are We is my 3rd favourite StarKid song), Brian Holden as Superman is iconic, and it was overall very sweet and fun. 

11) Me and My Dick

This is mostly because I don’t like sex, but the other parts are really sweet! Joey/Sally is such an underrated ship (so is Tiffanessa... yeah I’m still thinking about them...) and it had a lot of good songs and funny scenes (AJ as Joey’s Heart was the best thing ever). It was made in 2009, so some of the jokes are outdated, but the good parts are great. 

10) A Very Potter Senior Year

This is mainly so low because of some personal reasons (that I’m not going to go into). But it was really sweet and made me cry, had some great songs (looking at you Sidekick...) and was amazing when you take into account that they barely had any rehearsal time. 

9) Ani: A Parody

I’m actually really sad about putting this so low. Ani is so good and is severely underrated. Chris Allen was amazing, and JJ’s death was, in my opinion, one of the saddest deaths in a StarKid musical. My only criticism is Tarkin and Emily’s relationship, which has got to be one of my least favourite ships, but it did provide some funny moments, and Joe and Julia were amazing. Nick’s Obi-Wan was hilarious. Also, the music slaps and anyone who says it isn’t a real musical because the cast doesn’t sing can fight me, because Clark and Pierce went too hard for us to say that it doesn’t count. Also, despite what a lot of people say, I have watched like 2 Star Wars movies and still understood most of the jokes. They actually did a really good job of making it funny for everyone, and the point of most of the jokes were that you didn’t have to understand them. I think that if I hadn’t seen or read Harry Potter, or watched Aladdin or Disney, I would have enjoyed Ani more than the AVP Trilogy and Twisted. 

Wow, went on a rant there. Okay...

8) Twisted

This is going to be unpopularly low... I do love it, I just don’t vibe with it as much. It was really great, it was constantly making me laugh, the soundtrack was amazing, and I loved how it kind of had a moral to the story. I just don’t really care, y’know. It was great, but just didn’t capture my attention like some of them. I don’t really have any more to say on it. 

7) A Very Potter Musical

Ah, the OG musical. AVPM has so much nostalgic value. I think it really holds a special place in all of our hearts. It was the first StarKid musical I watched, and I just have a lot of fond memories from it. Actual quality wise, it’s probably not as good as a lot of them, but it’s what started this whole thing, and it’s gotta go up higher. 

6) Black Friday

I’ve seen a lot of dislike for this one, which I think isn’t really fair? My only real criticism is that it’s very busy and has got a lot going on, but so do a lot of the others. I think it has one of the strongest soundtracks, Jeff did an amazing job. All of the cast was great, and the filming was outstanding. I think a lot of people don’t like it because it was the most serious, but honestly, I like that StarKid is trying something new (AND it still had so many funny moments as well). Yeah, I just think it is amazing. 

5) A Very Potter Sequel

In my opinion, this is definitely the best of the AVP Trilogy. It was the funniest for me, had the best soundtrack (Days of Summer, The Coolest Girl, Harry Freakin’ Potter, I could keep on going for ages). Obviously there’s the problem with the portrayal of Umbridge. I’m not the best with words, so I won’t go into it, but a lot of other people have put it really well. But apart from that, it’s really great. 

Okay, the next two are basically tied. I usually choose them based on which one I’m vibing with at the moment, but just consider them the same. 

4) Firebringer

I’ll admit, I originally didn’t like this one, but then I rewatched it and was amazed that I’d slept on it for so long. It’s very funny, the soundtrack is amazing, the choreography is amazing (thank you Denise Donovan), and let’s not forget, THE COSTUMES. HAVE YOU SEEN HOW GREAT THE COSTUMES ARE. JUNE SAITO IS A QUEEN. Anyway, yeah, it’s really well written, and i super sweet and fun to watch (also Jazzalil was not rushed and I can and will write a whole essay on it). 

3) Trail to Oregon

I just love how dumb it is. It’s so silly and immature, and it’s great to watch. It is, in my opinion, the funniest StarKid show. It has the perfect small ensemble cast (also let’s take a moment to appreciate Joey Richter. Thank you, you may continue) and it has CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! WE LOVE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! The music is amazing (even You Gotta Go, which everyone seems to hate because of the fart noises). I just love it heaps. Also, it has my ALL TIME FAVOURITE STARKID SONG EVER! WAGON ON FIRE ROCKS! 

2) Starship

I feel like most people assume this is my favourite because of my username, which is valid and I can understand why. Starship is my comfort musical. It’s my emotional support musical. It’s just... so cute? It’s silly and a bit of fun, and is just kind of a feel-good show. I don’t mind how busy it is, it keeps me entertained all the way through and makes me want to come back and watch it again. It is also the home of my OTP (Tootsie/Megagirl is the cutest thing ever and I will die with that opinion). It also has some of the best characters. Also, in my opinion, it has the best soundtrack, despite only having 10 songs - it’s got 2 songs in my Top 5 (The Way I Do at no. 2 and Kick it up a Notch at no. 4), and there’s not a single song I dislike. The puppets were freaking amazing! I just love it A LOT and I think all of the StarKid’s are really sleeping on it (looking at you Nick...)

1) The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals

Yes, I know, I’m very boring and stereotypical. I’m sorry I couldn’t have a more interesting opinion. 

I really don’t think there’s much denying that TGWDLM has the best plot/storyline. It gives me big Dr. Who vibes, which I love. I’m usually not a big fan of horror, but this was the perfect mix of seriousness and comedy. It’s very engaging and keeps you wondering what happens next. I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for angsty endings, which TGWDLM definitely provides. I just really love sci-fi stuff. It has a really strong soundtrack, top notch dancing, and was just overall the best StarKid show. 

So yeah, that’s my ranking. Tell me what you thought! I’ll probably do some song rankings for each show. Also don’t be too angry at me please. 

[yougoodfahm]

I Won’t Say (I’m in Love) - 5/5

Part 5: Truth or Truth

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

Pairing: Analogical (Virgil + Logan), background Royality (Patton + Roman)

Characters: Virgil, Logan, Roman, Patton, Janus, Remus

Warnings: none — lmk if I need to add any!

Summary: Patton and Roman plot how to get Logan and Virgil to admit their feelings for one another.

Wordcount: 1625 words

Read it on ao3!

-

“How about the power to kill a yak, from 200 yards away, with mind bullets!” Remus screech-sang, cackling maniacally.

“That’s telekinesis, Kyle! How about the power, to move you,” Roman sang mellifluously, sending a wink toward Patton who was curled up on the couch. The whole group giggled as the twins continued to belt the song, eventually collapsing on the couch with the others.

“Alright, so what game are we going to play this evening?” Logan posed to the group.

“How about some truth or dare?” Roman suggested. Patton nodded enthusiastically, which prompted the rest of the group to also agree.

Patton clapped his hands and announced, “Awesome! I’ll go first! Janus, truth or dare?”

Janus replied without missing a beat, “Lie.”

Patton was taken aback for a second before chuckling a little. He said, “Ok then, if you were invisible for one hour, what would you do?”

Janus thought for a moment, then said, “Well, I certainly wouldn’t take the opportunity to go into all of your rooms.” After a brief moment of surprise, the rest of the group shrugged and mumbled in sheepish agreement. Janus said, “Remus, truth or dare?”

“Dare, and make it a juicy one, Jan!” Remus bounced around in his seat, eyes gleaming with excitement.

Janus rolled his eyes and said, “Definitely don’t sit completely still for the next 10 minutes.”

Remus’s eyes went wide as he slid to the floor and went completely rigid. Janus facepalmed and said, “I meant– Wh–“ he sighed. “Ok, and you can talk but only to participate in the game.”

Remus started to nod but stopped himself quickly when he realized that he was moving. He carefully said “Roman, truth or dare?” trying not to move any part of him except his mouth.

Roman said, “Oh god, uhh truth?”

Remus grinned and said “Rank everyone in the room based on how much you’d like to fuck them! Start with the least fuckable, of course.”

Roman groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. “Oh my god, that’s horrible! Y’all are my friends, this is so weird!”

Remus cackled and said, “I know, right! Now suck it up and rank us, Prince Bince”

Logan tilted his head and asked, “Bince? I don’t think I know that one, what does it mean?”

Remus eagerly replied, “I was on Urban Dictionary earlier today as usual, and I just HAD to use it today! It means ‘an absolute wench of a man who likes to tronk around town showing his willy to all the ladies.’ Isn’t it such a wonderful word?!”

Logan nodded, a serious look on his face and said, “Hmm, I’ll have to make a flashcard for that later.”

Remus said, “Ok, now Roman, you’re up! Remember, start with the least fuckable.”

Roman held his head in his hands, then muttered, “Remus, obviously you’re the least fuckable to me since you’re my brother and that would be absolutely disgusting.” Remus giggled, and Roman quickly continued. “Then, uhh probably Janus, Logan, Virgil, Patton.” His face turned bright red as he took a sip of water from the glass that was by his side.

He glanced over at Patton whose face was also quite red. The other side was looking down at his hands, a mixed expression on his face. (Was he… happy? No, that can’t be right)

Roman blurted out, “ANYWAY! Logan, truth or dare?”

Logan said, “Truth.”

Roman asked, “Ok, which of us do you think is the most attractive?”

Logan sputtered for a moment before replying, “Well, objectively, Virgil.” He looked over at the other side, who was nestled in the corner of the couch. Virgil’s face grew red and he burrowed into his oversized sweatshirt.

Logan continued, “I mean, for starters, his face is the most symmetrical out of all of ours, which is commonly deemed to be an aesthetically desirable trait. Then, his eyes are in correct proportion and position with the rest of his face while the rest of ours vary slightly. He also has rather high cheekbones, which is generally deemed quite attractive. Plus, his eyes–“

Suddenly, Virgil stood up and ran out of the commons towards his room, his baggy sleeves raised to his face. Logan paused, staring down the hallway where the other side had just disappeared. After a moment, Logan asked the other sides who were sitting there in just as much surprise, “Should– Should I follow him?”

Patton nodded vigorously in response. Logan stood up, then turned back and asked, “Are you sure I shouldn’t wait a bit? I don’t want to invade if he’s needing space.”

Patton said, “No, go talk to him. If he truly needs space, he’ll tell you. But I have a feeling he’d appreciate talking with you right now.” Logan nodded and slowly headed down the hallway.

Knock, knock. “It’s Logan,” he said quietly.

After a moment, Virgil opened the door, wiping his damp cheek with a sleeve of his sweatshirt.

Logan asked, “Can I come in?” Virgil stepped aside to let Logan come inside, then shut the door behind him. “Did what I said cause you feel uncomfortable?”

Virgil gave a noncommittal shrug, then said “I mean, not uncomfortable I guess but just… I don’t know”

Logan asked, “Do you think talking about it would help?”

Virgil gave a sharp laugh and walked over to his bed, sat down on it and hugged a pillow. “No, it’s just my own issue to deal with. Not yours.”

Logan stood awkwardly by the door for a moment, unsure of what to say or do before he followed Virgil into the room and sat next to him on the bed. Logan said softly, “Well, whatever the issue is, it would be helpful to know so that I don’t upset you again”

Virgil mumbled, “No, really. There’s nothing you can do”

Logan replied, “I truly doubt that, I may not be able to fix the problem, but I can at least attempt to not trigger any of these negative feelings that you seem to be experiencing.”

Virgil sighed and hugged his pillow tighter, shaking his head. He whispered, “I can’t.”

Logan looked over at the other side and said quietly, “I… don’t like seeing you hurt, Virgil. You can tell me anything, I promise.”

Virgil shook his head once again.

Logan sighed and said “Alright. If you don’t wish to tell me, that’s up to you. However, if you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

He started to stand up, then Virgil panicked and grabbed his wrist, saying, “Wait— Uh. Just, oh god.” Virgil buried his face into the pillow and groaned, “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Logan turned back towards him and softly touched Virgil’s cheek to lift up his face so they were looking at each other. “Virgil, you can tell me anything, but if you don’t want to, you don’t have to.”

Virgil squeezed his eyes shut, took a deep breath and blurted out “You.” He slowly opened his eyes and said “You, Logan.”

Logan asked, “What do you mean?” and tilted his head a bit. He moved his hand back slightly, worried that he’d hurt Virgil somehow.

Virgil ran a hand through his own hair and laughed nervously. “Oh my god I can’t believe I’m actually doing this. Ok, uh.” He took a deep breath. “When you said all that stuff out there, it made me feel kind of sad, I guess. I just— I just wish that you really meant it.”

Logan, taken aback, said, “But I do mean it. I thought that was the point of the game, when you choose to say a truth then you are supposed to answer the question honestly.”

Virgil looked up at him in wonder, eyes wide. Logan asked, “Was I mistaken in that?”

Virgil shook his head, glancing down at his hands, and said, “No, yeah, that’s what you’re supposed to do, but like you said, you were answering objectively. Not about how you feel.”

Logan paused for a moment to process what Virgil meant. “What if how I feel also matches up with the objective answer?”

Virgil looked back up at him as Logan took a deep breath. He quietly said, “Virgil, out of all the sides I find myself drastically more attracted to you in nearly every way. There is no doubt about that.”

Virgil softly croaked, “What?” His face had turned quite red as he stared at the other side, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Logan continued, “I didn’t want to interfere with our friendship, but it seems that both of our feelings have become complicated despite my best efforts. I… have become quite fond of you, in a romantic sense, and although I don’t know exactly where you stand with all that, I thought—”

He was cut off by Virgil wrapping his arms around him and giggling. After a shocked moment, Logan returned the gesture and laughed slightly, albeit in confusion.

Virgil quietly said into Logan’s shoulder, “I like you, too, Lo. I’ve been worried about complicating things between us, too.” He pulled back and smiled shyly.

Logan smirked mischievously and said, “Well, I suppose I never got the chance to ask you, truth or dare?”

A confused look crossed Virgil’s face as he replied, “Uh, truth?”

Logan said, “Ok, would you like to be my boyfriend, Virgil?”

Virgil giggled and burst into a huge grin as he tucked himself against Logan’s chest. He nodded and said, “Yeah, I’d like that a lot, Lo.”

Logan smiled into Virgil’s hair and wrapped his arms around him, both feeling a wave of peace and contentment as they sat intertwined for several minutes, before eventually going back to join the others.

-

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

-

Taglist:

@the17thmeatball

@lunaloner

@aj-that-person

@lonelyanxiousbean

@ravenivy2079

@croftersjam15

[northernscruffycat]

phoenix wright, bispearl, clive, spop x kipo and top five: the gaang

Ace Attorney Favorite character: This isn’t surprising to anyone, but Klavier’s been my fave since like 2010 or something. Least Favorite character: It’s hard to say, because there’s a lot of annoying witnesses but, like, they’re intended to be annoying and I actually admire the series for creating so many characters you’re supposed to not like and doing it so well- ...Oh wait, Godot. I just remembered him. He’s my least favourite. 5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Klavier/Apollo, Phoenix/Iris, Kristoph/Phoenix, Kristoph/Apollo, Franziska/Adrian Character I find most attractive: Phoenix, specifically Hobo!Phoenix Character I would marry: Apollo Character I would be best friends with: Vera a random thought: They need to release Apollo Justice on the Switch. I would buy this game again just to be able to play it on a TV. An unpopular opinion: I’m one of those obnoxious AJ fans who ignores AA5/6 and I’m not sorry. my canon OTP: Phoenix/Iris Non-canon OTP: All my ships for this series are canon most badass character: Gumshoe is more badass than he gets credit for. All the stuff he’s been through to protect Phoenix & Maya from danger! He’s thrown himself in harms way and lost his job more than once for them. ;0; pairing I am not a fan of: Klavier/Ema character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Now that I’m older and wiser, I do not like how Godot was presented at all. They could’ve done the exact same character, but just taken out the chauvinistic crap and it would’ve been fine. Replace Godot with Lana tbh. favourite friendship: Phoenix, Apollo, Trucy & Klavier  character I want to adopt or be adopted by: I want to adopt Regina to protect her from all those creeps. Bispearl when of if I started shipping it: I mean I thought it was cute when Bismuth first appeared, but I didn’t properly get into it until Bismuth made it obvious that she has feelings for Pearl. my thoughts: Look, I just wanted Pearl to get a girlfriend and have a nice, requited relationship with them. And there Bismuth is and she’s absolutely great, so I support these two being together. What makes me happy about them: That they get to be together and live in peace from now on. What makes me sad about them: I don’t think there was anything? things done in fanfic that annoys me: I haven’t read any yet, so I couldn’t say. things I look for in fanfic: I’d like fics where Bismuth is awkwardly trying to confess her feelings to Pearl. Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Bismuth/Peridot is great. I also used to be big into Pearlnet, but I’m really so much any more. They’re still fine though, so I guess that? My happily ever after for them: Bismuth takes like 4557 years to pluck up the courage to tell Pearl how she feels and even then, Pearl doesn’t get that she means that romantically for a while. So after a series of wacky miscommunications they eventually manage to confess, realise the feeling is mutual and get together. who is the big spoon/little spoon: Bismuth is the big spoon, Pearl is the little spoon. what is their favorite non-sexual activity: Roller-skating~ Clive Dove How I feel about this character: Clive’s great! I still love Clive even now and since I’ve got distance from the fandom, I don’t worry about saying so anymore. All the people I ship romantically with this character: Mostly just Layton. Maybe Dimitri a little bit, but I’m less into that. My non-romantic OTP for this character: Clive & Luke friendship. My unpopular opinion about this character: I mean Clive’s always been divisive, so it’s hard to say what’s an unpopular opinion when half the fandom detests him and the other half adores him.  One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: He got out of prison some years later, just cuz I’m spiteful. my het ship: None. Clive is ace/gay. my fem/slash ship: Layton/Clive my OTP: Layton/Clive my OT3: Layton/Clive/Dimitri a head cannon fact: Clive wears those stupid long socks even when he’s not impersonating Luke. She-Ra & Kipo crossover ship: Since Kyle’s on my mind after that last ask, how about Benson x Kyle? Benson would treat him right. Gaang rankings: 1. Aang 2. Katara 3. Toph 4. Sokka 5. Zuko (assuming ur including him to make it 5 characters?)

[nefariouscryptid]

Hi, hi OC question! What are your OCs' best and worst memories/moments in their lives? Your arts about them are beautiful btw.! :)

It’s definitely easier for them to say their best moments then their worst. Many would argue their life is just a worse moment. A lot of that stuff kinda just blurs together, good or bad. But here’s what I got

Peter:

Best: marrying Jason (not legally, they just both mutually agreed they’re now husbands after a year of dating) not only has he secured the bag with the man he loves, he’s at the height of his career

Worst: the incident with his face. He’s had worst periods of time in his life but as of events that’s definitely the worst.

Anahii:

Best: time in highschool where she had no worries in life, just did teen shit, hung out with friends. This was before she got deeper and deeper with Peter. She was just a kid.

Worst: getting kidnapped by Ivan and literally everything that followed. She wonders how Rosalina is doing.

Jason:

Best: although he never wants to go back to this time, moments in his childhood and teen life where he would just be a kid and fuck around, much like Anahii. He misses playing football. And securing the bag with Peter was pretty awesome too.

Worst: when his sister went missing, and when he walked in on Peters burning corpse.

Cooper:

Best: living his life with his husband and wife. A lot of moments in there that mean a lot to him. And the wedding, of course.

Worst: excluding the traumatic event of his and everyone’s death, probably when he thought plethora died in one of his missions because he was mia for a while.

Cassandra

Best: wedding day and just her rising up the ranks, feeling like she’s putting her potential somewhere.

Worst: also the day where she thought plethora was dead. Once again, excluding her death day.

Plethora

Best: once again, wedding day and the day when he actually suggested they all start dating n shit. Also it’s arguable that his top surgery date was very significant and the best but he just treats it as something he had to do. Still was happy tho.

Worst: the moments when he found out people were coming after him and his family to kill them, along with everyone else. Also the fear he felt when he realized Ivan had an insider voice.

Michelle:

Best: moments with her family, her childhood. Her playing in the streets, riding her bike to her friends and playing basketball with the neighborhood kids. Her going to school.

Worst: watching everyone around her die and watching Ivan take over

Aj:

Best: she’s had some good moments in her life, like getting best in the tasks she was given, a lot of her alone time. Hanging with Gwen

Worst: literally everything else

Gwen:

Best: same as Aj. Just her succeeding in the tasks she was given, her becoming closer with Peter (is that really a good thing though) and her and Aj doing things together.

Worst: everything else. They’re kept in a camp ffs

Ivan:

Best: rising up the ranks as quickly as he did, every feat he survived, and his daughter being born. How good of a man...

Worst: seeing Peter do it better

[johannas-motivational-insults]

She-Ra season 2 episodes, ranked

All right, I have a lot of feelings about She-Ra season 2 and what was good and not so good. I’ve been doing a lot of shitposting but this is legit analysis/meta, or at least it wants to be.

To be fair, though I’m trying to rank these as objectively as possible, it will be influenced by what I care most about and find most interesting in the series. I stan Catra and the Superpal Trio and think Adora is a loveable mess, and I really can’t stand Swift Wind. So, take this with a grain of salt. Needless to say, SPOILERS AHEAD.

7. 2x03 “Signals”

I would rank this episode higher, except the A plot was so meh. It felt like it should have been a Halloween special, and if it was I’d give it a pass, but I found it so thoroughly disinteresting I all but tuned out. Of course, people who stan the Best Friend Squad might have still loved it, but their dynamic isn’t as interesting for me anymore because we’ve seen so much of it, and this episode didn’t do much to change it other than add Swift Wind in (and he really, really annoys me). The only real thing it did to move the plot forward was introduce the subplot about the mysterious transmissions, and it didn’t do anything characterization wise. Ultimately, it’s a set up episode, and to be fair it might be more interesting in retrospect once we get some payoff and see where that whole thing is going. But I dunno, I kinda doubt it.

It’s mostly a set up episode in the other subplots too, but I enjoyed watching the political machinations in the Horde because there were real, tangible stakes and important power shifts. Catra learning that having power and authority is not all it’s cracked up to be was a crucial bit of character development. That bit of her getting the air sucked out of her lungs was more genuinely scary than the creepy ghost holograms by far. You felt her desperation trying to save face with Hordak and regain her sense of power and safety after that terrifying threat, and watching Shadow Weaver tune in to and play with her insecurities was a good bit of development for and insight into their relationship. It also foreshadows how easily Shadow Weaver is able to manipulate Catra later in the season.

Meanwhile, Entrapta’s excursions and work with Hordak supplied some comic relief (which I think the A plot also tried and failed to do) and also made the Horde plot take an interesting turn. This is the episode where Catra really starts to lose power, and meanwhile Entrapta gains a lot without even meaning to. She just wanted to fix the problem with Hordak’s experiment, dear girl. On that note, I did not expect to enjoy watching Hordak and Entrapta so much, but one thing this show does really well is throw together unexpected combinations of characters and make an amazing dynamic (e.g. the Superpal Trio, Scorpia and Seahawk, Catra and Glimmer and Bow).

The Entrapta subplot was the most interesting of the episode and unfortunately it was relegated to the C plot. This episode would have been way better if they’d put more focus on the Horde side of things and/or given the “Best Friend Quad” something with more substance.

6. 2x01 “The Frozen Forest”

This episode was fine, but it didn’t do much to stand out. It was important, of course, to follow up on the end of season 1, and if they had skipped this episode entirely it would have left a huge gap. But with the two main groups of characters not interacting at all in person, there was little reason to be emotionally invested in the fight scenes. We don’t really care if Horde bots get destroyed. It would have been more interesting to see the Superpal Trio directly fighting the Princess Alliance, but on the other hand it did set up just how big a role Entrapta’s tech knowledge was going to play this season. The stuff with the princess alliance was cute, I always enjoy seeing more of Mermista, and they did some character work (which I can always appreciate) with Glimmer and Frosta. But since we only see the princesses once more this season, it hasn’t had much of a chance to pay off yet.

The highlight of this episode was Adora fighting Catra in the simulation and her ensuing conversation with Light Hope. (“There. There.” and “I also have buttons” were two of my favorite one-liners of the season.) The simulated fight was very cute, and I definitely screamed when Catra grabbed Adora’s hand while delivering her customary “Hey Adora,” right before taking her down. And look, the fact that Catra was flirting so hard with Adora in that simulation means that an AI with very poor social awareness has picked up on their sexual/romantic tension, and that’s hilarious.

The Horde side of things gave us more time with the Superpal Trio, who are always delightful, but not a ton happened over there either. This episode established that Entrapta has fully moved in to the Fright Zone and Catra is comfortably leading the Horde’s advances and has respect from Hordak and the Horde’s soldiers. It also foreshadows how impressed Hordak is going to become with Entrapta’s work (and unimpressed with Catra’s) when her EKS bots steal the show in that meeting. Finally, the episode introduced the shifted dynamic between Catra and Shadow Weaver now that the power position has flipped. That ongoing subplot was possibly the saddest part of the season, and this one scene did a good job of setting that up.

Overall, this was a good and necessary setup episode, but because it had all that exposition and setup to do we didn’t get a ton of good character/relationship moments (Frosta/Glimmer and Catra/Shadow Weaver being the notable exceptions). So yeah, it was fine. But there were definitely stronger episodes, which we will now get into...

5. 2x04 “Roll With It”

This was a very cute episode, a fun one to watch. The reason I ranked it fifth is because there are three very strong episodes this season and 2x07 had higher stakes, being the season (mid-season, lbr) finale. On the Horde side of things, I loved seeing more of Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio. Lonnie really shined this episode and I keep waiting for someone to realize how smart and capable she is and promote her. And of course, Scorpia. Darling oblivious Scorpia who just wants to impress her crush. She’s not very smart but she’s earnest af and can pack a punch, and this is the first episode where she really stands out.

The planning session in the rebellion camp was really fun to watch, though I’m sure I missed a ton of jokes because I’ve never played D&D. The chaotic way the princesses all play off each other was more evident here than in 2x01, which made for some great gags. The different approaches they each take and the different aninmation styles used to portray them were a lot of fun. Glimmer’s noir hero fantasies were my favorite, personally. (And apparently she sees Catra as a very sexy villain? I need more on this, please.)

Adora’s monologue about the worst possible secenario revealed all her insecurities, and it was one of the highlights of the season. Her anxiety issues and messiah complex have been touched on before many times, but this is the first time they’ve really come bubbling to the surface this season. It was really nice to see the whole group reassure her that she isn’t in this alone, much like Bow and Glimmer did before the Battle of Bright Moon. And while it’s been hinted at before, this episode really solidified her obsession with Catra. And Scorpia’s too, as I mentioned above.

It’s easy to forget that Catra wasn’t actually in this episode (AJ Michalka was, but her character was not, not for real) because you felt her presence everywhere. The bit with all the princesses’ different renditions of her was hilarious. But you know, it was nice to see the show put together such a strong episode without Catra. Having the emotional focus on Adora again was a nice change of pace.

4. 2x07 “Reunion”

This episode gave us what 2x03 lacked: it made the Best Friend Squad interesting again. That group is most compelling to watch when there’s conflict among them, like in the stretches of 1x01-1x02 and 1x08-1x10. They weren’t in an actual fight this time, but Glimmer and Adora being so thrown by Bow’s secret family life meant that things didn’t feel “as usual.” Glimmer’s insecurity about not meaning that much to Bow resurfaced, and Bow’s “coming out” scene was extremely moving. But thankfully there was comic relief, too. Adora mispronouncing words to try and sound scholarly was a great ongoing gag, and the eventual fight between the Best Friend Squad and the elemental was really fun because it was so chaotic with Bow’s dads being extremely confused.

Okay and look, Bow’s dads. Finally we get to see why Bow is the most well-adjusted person in the group. His parents aren’t perfect, but they did way less to fill their kids with insecurities than Angella or Shadow Weaver. Angella’s not a bad mom but it’s easy to see why Glimmer feels so inadequate. And Shadow Weaver is, well, Shadow Weaver.

This episode was sort of oddly structured for what is essentially a mid-season finale in the sense that the A plot was about relationships more than the overarching plot, but that’s not necessarily bad. And they tied the plot back in at the end with the reveal about the Crimson Waste, setting us up to finally move forward in this transmissions subplot in season 3.

There wasn’t a lot of time for Horde stuff this episode, but Scorpia forcibly loving Catra and turning her into a burrito was one of my favorite scenes of the season (maybe I will do a Top 10 later on). Catra opening up to Scorpia about her problems for the second episode in a row was huge, especially after experiencing a heart-shattering betrayal in the previous episode. Catra’s final scene where she gets exposed as a liar and choked out felt a bit truncated to me... like after they set that up as this terrifying threat in 2x03, they lingered a lot less in the terror of that moment in this episode. So that was kind of disappointing, but it still worked well as half of the cliffhanger (the weaker half, imo, but it was still extremely nerve-wracking).

It was hard to pick between #4 and 5 on this list, but ultimately the amazing cliffhanger was what put this one over the top. Both our protagonists are in danger, at the mercy of our two worst villains, and even though I knew what was coming as soon as I saw Adora sleeping, the shot of Shadow Weaver standing over her bed made me scream. I hate this show for leaving me hanging here, so they did it right.

3. 2x02 “Ties That Bind”

Ranking this one so high may be an unpopular opinion, but I personally loved this episode. I didn’t care much for the B plot except it was good insight into Adora, but the A plot was so delightful it made up for it. Mixing members of the Superpal Trio and Best Friend Squad almost always results in something good... maybe not for the characters, but for the audience. Watching Catra and Glimmer play off each other’s insecurites was great, and it was sweet watching Bow attempting to befriend Catra, just like he did with Adora. The conflict between him and Glimmer about how to treat their hostage felt very in-character, a good callback to the beginning of season 1.

Of course, Catra is a much more annoying hostage than Adora was. Her being a little shit and doing everything she could to get on their nerves was amazing, and I would have gladly watched a full hour episode just of that. The sassiness and manipulation we see from her in this episode balances nicely with the deep emotional stuff she goes through this season in her fight to win approval and prove her worth. It also produced my favorite joke of the season: “How are you such a nightmare?!?”/”Eh, years of practice.” I felt that in my soul as a youngest child. I also loved all the cat mannerisms they incorporated in this episode, it was very cute.

There is a bit of emotional meat to that story, with Catra and Glimmer’s confrontation at the end after Glimmer says Adora ran away from Catra, not the Horde (rude, btw). But the real emotional moment comes when Bow and Glimmer find out Entrapta stayed willingly with the Horde. That was heart-breaking. Heart-shattering, even. Especially because Bow and Glimmer feel such guilt for her being left there in the first place. I wish there had been more follow-up on this major emotional beat, but that’s not a weakness of this episode itself. This was my favorite Entrapta scene of the season, even though there were a lot of other great ones.

Like I said, the B plot was... okay, but not amazing? The bits with Light Hope glitching were funny, if a bit creepy. (But she’s always creepy, so.) Swift Wind annoys the hell out of me when he’s being hyper, but seeing his eventual heart-to-heart with Adora gave him some good depth and development. Plus, this episode does a really good job of illustrating not only how uptight Adora is, but why. There’s that messiah complex again (which I don’t blame her for btw, that’s Shadow Weaver’s fault). I like episodes that focus on Adora emotionally, and separating her from Glimmer and Bow meant her storyline got to be a bit more serious and in-depth. I just wish it hadn’t been opposite Swift Wind... not because it wasn’t effective, but because Adora’s arc was good but I have little desire to rewatch it if it means I have to watch more of him. Sorry, I guess I’m an anti.

2. 2x05 “White Out”

As I’ve said before, this episode is the highlight of season 2. Once again, that has a lot to do with the dynamics that occur whenever we mix members of the Best Friend Squad and Superpal Trio, and this time we got all of them in one place! And they added Seahawk to the mix too, which I didn’t expect to like because he tends to get on my nerves, but pairing him with Scorpia was a move of pure brilliance.

Scorpia and Sea Hawk’s little heart-to-heart about feeling unappreciated and Drunk Adora validating and encouraging them was so so cute and heartwarming. All the Drunk Adora and Scorpia stuff was great, actually. It was funny but also made very textual how much Catradora is an insecurity for Scorpia and how she’s afraid she’ll never be able to live up to that and Catra will never open up to her the same way. And Adora actually seems to genuinely like Scorpia when she’s not focused on the evils of the Horde, so that’s good to know moving forward. And yeah, that pairing also brought us “Girls night in!” and the closet joke, another highlight of the season.

In the other mixed grouping, Catra and Glimmer renewed their rivalry, and that’s always fun to watch. Entrapta continued to be her usual chaotic self, and any time we see her interacting with Bow it tends to be a great scene. The reveal at the end that she had the tech all along but didn’t tell Catra because she liked hanging out in this remote place with her friends was really, really cute.

I would be amiss to not mention the Catradora of it all in this episode, because holy shit this is actually the only time they interact in person all season. That is just wrong, by the way, but I did thoroughly enjoy what we got. It’s very clear they still have an emotional hold over each other despite their attempts to “let go,” between Adora’s overly-focused anger and Catra’s expressions whenever she hears or sees Adora. Adora actually kind of hates Catra right now and I think that caught Catra off guard. Catra’s panic when Evil She-Ra almost killed her was a great moment of vulnerability, how she tried to appeal to the Adora inside. She dropped the act for a moment and genuinely tried to connect with Adora, and maybe it made me tear up a little.

Along those same lines, the one thing that pissed me off about this episode was that we didn’t get to see Catra interacting with Drunk Adora. That would have allowed Adora to interact with Catra in a vulnerable state too, and in general it just would have been amazing. And the trailer kinda suggested we would get to see that, so that made it extra disappointing. Can’t these two just talk about their feelings and actually hear each other and communicate properly, please? Ugh. Still, despite these frustrations, I loved the Catradora content.

But the real highlight of the episode was Scorptra. The scene where Scorpia tried to ask Catra out on a date was amazing and so freaking cute. Of course there’s also the stuff I mentioned where her insecurities about Adora came spilling out. And the look on Catra’s face when Scorpia aborted a mission to save her life and then whisked her away despite her protests... that was a huge moment. She doesn’t think of herself as worth saving, but someone else does. And despite the fact that Scorpia disobeyed direct orders, I think this is where Catra really comes to trust her. It’s certainly where she comes to respect her. And then they shared a blanket! God, this was so cute. I expected to enjoy the Catradora stuff more but a) there wasn’t all that much of it and b) this was so incredibly pure and sweet, watching Scorpia finally make some headway and Catra finally open up to someone again, even if it was only a little bit. I am a multi-shipper now, I can’t help it.

1. 2x06 “Light Spinner”

It was hard choosing between this and White Out for top spot, but I’m a slut for villain backstories. This episode was the less entertaining of the two, and I think I’d have to say White Out is my subjective favorite, but objectively I do think this is the better episode. Why? Character development.

Shadow Weaver was a bit too twirly-moustache of a villain at times in season 1, so seeing how she became what she is now did a lot for her character. Seeing how a desire to do good mixing with a thirst for power can drive someone to make mistakes and turn evil was very interesting, and having Micah be part of the backstory made it all the more compelling.

The ways Shadow Weaver tries to mold people with more intrinsic power than her so she can use that power was a crucial new insight, one we’ve never seen before. It explains why she’s so obessed with Adora, which was never really explained in season 1. And it also suggests that part of Shadow Weaver’s dislike for Catra came from Adora’s connection to and therefore influence over her. Shadow Weaver wanted Adora’s loyalty to be to her above all, even above the Horde, and Adora having a close friend (who’s a rebellious loose cannon, to boot) was a danger to that goal.

This episode is essentially about Shadow Weaver and Catra, both separately and together, and it does a great job of drawing parallels between them even before Shadow Weaver outright tells Catra that they are the same. They both go off on a rant about how no matter what they do, no one listens to or respects them. Shadow Weaver seems to have a bit of a self-loathing streak that she took out on Catra, too... kinda like Glimmer being annoyed by all her worst qualities manifesting in Frosta.

As for Catra, it shocked me that she was so upset about Shadow Weaver being sent away to die. Though she obviously still craved Shadow Weaver’s approval, I didn’t expect her to react so badly to this. Clearly Scorpia didn’t either, and her trying to tease Catra’s reasons out of her was sweet. It was nice to see Catra continuing to open up to Scorpia after that moment with the blanket at the end of White Out, but there’s still a lot she’s holding inside. She still genuinely cares about Shadow Weaver despite how she’s been trying to hurt her for revenge and her own satisfaction... that sound familiar?

And unfortunately, Catra’s connection to Shadow Weaver and her need for maternal love and approval was her downfall. After she mocked the rebellion for their bleeding hearts and how easily manipulated they are, mind you. This is where Catra’s tendency to sympathize with Shadow Weaver (which we saw at least twice in season 1) finally came back to bite her in the ass. It was terribly sad because Catra actually has a big heart and Shadow Weaver knew that and took advantage of it.

It’s hard to say how much Shadow Weaver meant of what she said to Catra when they had their big confrontation. It wasn’t clear whether or not she had seen her badge hidden in the food, whether she was only trying to manipulate Catra or if she was being earnest about any of it. Was the physical affection she gave her genuine, her way of making up for things and saying goodbye, or was she just fucking with Catra? I dunno, but either way this betrayal she pulled was awful, and if she was trying to be nice she would’ve been better off holding Catra at a distance than letting her get her hopes up. For real, Catra’s reaction when she realized Shadow Weaver had used and betrayed her was gut-wrenching, one of the rawest moments we’ve seen from her. I might have cried, a lot. She let herself be vulnerable in a way she rarely does, and for that she got absolutely obliterated emotionally. Again.

So yeah, this wasn’t a particularly fun episode, but it was a very strong episode of television and it did a lot to make Shadow Weaver more fleshed out and interesting. It finally brought one of the show’s most fraught relationships into the spotlight and let it combust in front of us, and as painful as it was to watch, I can’t help rewatching the Catra and Shadow Weaver scenes again and again. I never expected Catra to so openly ask Shadow Weaver why she was never good enough for her and what she did to deserve all the abuse. It was an incredibly rewarding scene to watch with great emotional payoff. And for a stan like me, that made it the best episode of the season.

[alliluyevas]

Top five soprano episodes

okay I cheated and did a top ten lmfao

I’m doing them in chronological order not in ranking, and bear in mind I haven’t quite finished the sixth season and am dragging my feet

1x7 “Down Neck”

I love a good flashback episode, and this delivers! I think this episode does a really beautiful job weaving together several related plot threads about Tony’s relationship with his parents, his relationship with his children, and what being part of a multigenerational mafia-connected family means. The episode has a tone that’s both domestic and disturbing, and then finishes with the incongruous yet frankly adorable scene of Tony and AJ making sundaes in the kitchen, which always makes me feel very soft and squishy. 

2x4 “Commendatori” 

This is such a strong episode! The comparison of the Italian-American mafia and their Italian mafia counterparts is really interesting and there’s a lot of fascinating stuff there about like. ethnicity and assimilation and all that good deep stuff that is why I love the sopranos. And then you’ve got the secondary plot with the mafia women back home and the interactions between Carmela and Angie and Janice, these absolutely wrenching conversations as Carmela processes these extremely complicated feelings about her life and her marriage. 

2x12 “The Knight in White Satin Armor”

This episode is so good, I don’t want to reveal too much because it contains a huge plot twist, but that plot twist was both absolutely shocking and somehow felt like the logical conclusion of everything that had been going on all season, and the fallout from it was handled in a really affective way. Also the episode in general is really rich and well plotted with all these beautiful details like Carmela’s tears at the engagement party and the way that Richard Junior and his dance partner float through the house in the opening scene and it almost feels dreamlike. 

3x11 “Pine Barrens” 

This is kind of an outlier on my top ten list because all these other episodes are quite emotionally heavy and Pine Barrens is like. The Sopranos at its most humorous which is to say EXTREMELY funny. Like this is a pretty dark show but it’s also a show with a lot of genuine humor and the main plot of this episode, Paulie and Christopher getting lost in the woods overnight, is absolutely masterful comedy. 

5x8 “Marco Polo”

This episode has a lot of really interesting material about the dynamics within the extended Soprano family, especially focusing on Carmela’s relationship with her parents and Tony’s relationship with his cousin Tony, but it’s on here in large part because of the incredibly soft and loving Tony/Carmela scenes which made me feel some type of way I’ll tell you that. 

5x11 “The Test Dream” 

I honestly really love this show's use of dream sequences, both the shorter ones that are interspersed and the longer episodes that are predominantly dream sequences like this one. I have two other extended dream episodes on this list and I almost included 2x13 as well which is also a dream episode. They’re so surreal and so full of fascinating details, and I love how the show lets itself get frankly really weird sometimes. Anyway, this particular episode is great because it really uses the dream as a way to show a lot of Tony’s emotions and how he processes things and it’s also absolutely full of little details and references to other movies like the Godfather which are really cool. Also I really like the conversation Tony and Carmela have over the phone at the end :’)

6x2 and 6x3, “Join the Club” and “Mayham”

I’m combining these two because they feel very much like they bleed into each other and I have a lot of the same things to say about both. Again, kind of the same thing I said earlier about the dream sequence episodes being really well done. Frankly, I probably found these two episodes the most emotionally moving of the whole series so far and I was absolutely watching it through pretty much a veil of tears at many points (especially Carmela’s scenes! Edie Falco was an absolute powerhouse in these episodes). 

6x13 and 6x15, “Soprano Home Movies” and “Remember When”

Again, I’m grouping these together even if they’re not as directly related as the last two, because they were effective for some of the same reasons, and they have a lot in common. There are some really excellent scenes dealing with themes of masculinity, fatherhood, and men’s relationships with their own fathers or father figures running through both episodes that tie them together, and both episodes have a lot of retrospective stuff examining characters’ pasts that effect who they are today and how they relate to each other, which is something I always love.