#also because I don't have a specific story planned out for this the ships are up in the air

[ace-s-fav-dp-posts]

Currently cooking up an AU heavily inspired by the magical girl concept.

And I am going ahead and making Danny a girl in this AU.

Her name is Danae, pronounced exactly the same as Danny.

Yes it's because I think Vlad hearing "Danny" and being convinced it's short for Danielle, is funny.

Mostly because I've also loved the AU that Maddie isn't short for Madeline but some other name, like Madison, since I was 14 myself.

I've just always thought it suited Vlad's character, and his more or less parasocial (remember they haven't seen each other since the Vlad's accident before the 20 year reunion happens, this is 100% parasocial) obsession with Maddie that her real name doesn't actually matter to him.

He loves her as an object, a prize to be one and then flaunted/hoarded as the mood strikes him.

We know this from the episode where Danny goes back in time to mess with Vlad's accident, and Vlad ends up married to Maddie.

Because unlike Maddie and Jack who're ecstatically happy and ridiculously in love with each other even after 20 years.

Maddie Masters is unhappy in her marriage and constantly lies to her husband, and Vlad is completely dismissive of Maddie's continued interest in ecto-science and pressured her into giving it up.

Personally I love it when the nickname actually comes from her middle name, and her first name is something completely different like Amelia.

But she's gone by Maddie for most of her life because Amalia and Alicia (her older sister) sound pretty similar, and both start with the same letter, and end with the same two letters. And she was sick of getting called Alicia by teachers who'd previously had Alicia as a student.

[Can you tell me and my older sister have very similar sounding names, that start with the same letter, and end with the same two letters. And I spent most of elementary school getting called her name by teachers.]

But enough about Vlad's misogyny and inability to view women as anything more than objects. Back to the AU I was originally talking about.

Magical girl Danae.

Who I can't decide if I want her magical girl alter ego to be Phantom. Considering in canon how Phantom operates is 100% based on superheroes, and not magical girls.

With all of Phantom's abilities being treated as superpowers and not magic, and the use of scientific gadgets to supplement where said superpowers don't suffice.

I'm honestly leaning towards Phantom being like part of all the names of those in the magical girl group.

Like with Sailor Moon all their magical girl names have Sailor in them, or with the Star Guardians they're all Star Guardian Blahblahblah.

So Danae's magical girl name is Phantom Infinity, but most people only know her as Phantom, until other magical girls going by Phantom start showing up.

[Phantom Infinity is in reference to both Danae's love of Space, and her status as a being of protection of both the Infinite Realms and her home dimension.]

Danae however is still 100% a halfa, and remains the only 'turned' halfa other than Vlad himself. The others who join the Phantoms, aren't half ghosts.

They're magical girls by way of more stereotypical magical girl methods. IE being given power by an exterior force in order to fight to protect peace.

Anyways, yes, Danae does eventually gain the ability to turn people into magical girls. If, they're ecto contaminated to a certain level, and the person's personal ecto doesn't conflict with what Danny does to turn them into a magical girl.

Said magical girl gains magical girl powers an a transformation, but they don't get ghost abilities. At least not most of them.

Like Sam becomes Phantom Arcadia (she successfully fought off Undergrowth's claim on her, but adding Danae's own claim to her keeps him from ever being able to try it again as long as Danae's claim remains in place), Valerie is Phantom Athene (she joins the Phantoms after she learns the truth about Cujo, and Axiom Labs, and ghosts in general, which allows for Danae to transform her into a magical girl. Which also keeps Valerie from being at the mercy of Technus again), Paulina is Phantom Wondrous, and Star is Phantom Songstress.

As Aracdia Sam obviously has powers over plants, but also has a soothing aura towards animals in general. She doesn't command them into battle, because she's not comfortable enough to even try something like that, but she does influence them into wanting to leave the area of the battle.

Her powers are best described as influence (possibly even outright control) over the natural world. Her colors are purple with green and black accents.

Athene (Valerie) still has access to all of the ghost hunting gear like blasters that the suit Technus infused with her body. It's infused with her body after all. However it's not as anti-hero tech-y as it used to be, instead reformed and reshaped by her new magical girl magic.

Her powers is best explained as weapon manifestation. Her colors are now shades of Orange with no red (Red was chosen by Vlad, not Valerie), with black and yellow accents.

Valerie is one of the team who can fly, due to her having a bio-suit before becoming a magical girl.

Wondrous (Paulina) had no real influence from a specific ecto-being before her transformation, so her powers are based entirely on her own personality.

This being attention manipulation, the ability to move and shift an opponents attention how she wants. Most easily being able to pull it towards herself, but can also push someone's attention away from her, even to the point she more or less disappears from their perception. Her colors are primarily pink with blue accents.

Songstress (Star) is much like Paulina in that her powers are rooted in no one else but her own personality. Her powers are (obviously) based around music.

When first starting out they thought the extent of it was being able to influence the emotions of her opponents (which is pretty powerful when fighting ghosts), but the more they experimented the more they found she can do. She can sing songs that have different effects based on intention. Songs that heal, songs that make people sleep. It's eventually discovered that singing a song with someone else in a duet or as a group will boost the other person's own powers.

Her colors are blue with pink and orange accents.

Infinity's (Danae) ghostly powers are mostly the same to canon Danny's powers with a few exceptions/tweaks.

Primarily being that instead of sending blasts of energy out of various body parts (hands, fingers, eyes) Infinity manifests a magical girl wand and uses that as a conduit by default.

Which essentially placebo's her brain into thinking she can't use her powers without her wand summoned, which does prevent most of the embarrassing accidents and power mishaps Danny has in canon. But also fully locks her out of using her powers without her wand before meeting Vlad and learning he's also a halfa.

The other being a power (obviously) unique to her in this AU, this being Appointer of Champion(s). The power to give someone else a portion of her own power/energy, with certain rules and restrictions applied to it.

Which actually within this AU calls her to gain the same power classification as Desiree, who's a Wish Granter. This being the Bargainer classification, ecto beings who use deals of varying types to gain power by way of spending power.

Anyways Tucker can't be made a magical boy because he's a reincarnate soul who's thousands of years old.

And Duul Aman isn't going to give up he's accumulated power he'll be able to access once he's back in the afterlife, all so his current mortal lifetime can coast on some infant's power.

Boy has to man up and learn sorcery the old fashion way he did the first time around. (So Says Duul Aman. Who'd love to angrily shake his scepter and tell all these upstart brats to get off his lawn.)

Jazz can't be made a magical girl because she's extremely liminal, and has been so longer than Danae's been alive. She has a personal ecto signature that's too potent and too established for Danae to turn her without possibly wrecking her health in the process. So she remains a sci-fi action girl who uses the Peeler.

Anyways if you couldn't tell this is also based around those AUs were Danny, and Tucker were friends with Paulina, Dash, and Star back in elementary school.

But they have a falling out, or rather Dash and Tucker have a falling out, and the girls are made to pick sides. Over an accident, which boils down to Tucker tripping during lunch and spilling his food on Dash. Making him have to go to the office to change his clothes, resulting in multiple people asking if he'd had an accident (peed his pants).

Originally Danae tried to do her best to play mediator, while Star just wanted everything to blow over because it's not a big deal, but Paulina sided with Dash.

And someone openly siding with him just made him get louder and more insistent that he's right in the situation (even though it was a dumb argument over an accident). Escalating into him intentionally dumping his tray on Tucker the following day, in order to "make things even".

Which Tucker didn't appreciate at all, and went as far as to declare him and Dash not friends any more. Because Dash did this on purpose, while Tucker did it on accident.

Danae, having known Tucker her whole life and being fiercely loyal, instantly sided with him.

Paulina was of the opinion that Dash dumping the food on Tucker made things fair because both boys ended up humiliated and having to go change. So she thinks Tucker ending their friendship over it is a complete over reaction.

While Star was of the opinion that Dash intentionally dumping his food on Tucker was going over the line, and he should have just let it go. But also that Tucker immediately ending his friendship with Dash over getting food dumped on him was too far.

Considering Tucker was telling Dash that people would forget about him having to change his clothes in a few days and how it didn't matter. But it did matter. It mattered to Dash. Who Tucker inadvertently humiliated and didn't really sincerely apologies to.

Star eventually ends up remaining friends with Dash and Paulina. Because Tucker tells Danae that because Star didn't side with them, she sided with Dash, and if Danae keeps being friends with Star he doesn't want to be friends with her anymore either.

[The kids are like 6-7 year olds when this happen, and it happens over the course of a single school week.

By the end of the school year, Tucker's completely forgotten he'd ever said anything like that to Danae. Mostly because he never would have actually followed through with it, he was just angry.

Danae is basically his sister, he's known her his whole life. He'd never be able to just end his friendship with her the way he could with Dash, Paulina, and Star, who he'd only started hanging out with that school year. Danae isn't blood, but she's as good as, as far as the Foley family is concerned.

Heck Tucker barely even remembers the three-ish months where he was friends with Paulina, Dash and Star. Most of what he remembers is the blow out fight that ended it, and in his mind, the three of them ending up as A-lister bullies in high school only makes sense to him.

If you can't tell being the reincarnation of an ancient pharaoh who was worshiped as a living god by his subjects, along with being a doted upon single child as his current reincarnation, has resulted in Tucker being a bit self-centered in general. He's not evil though, just deeply flawed.]

A situation that results in Dash, Paulina, and Star hating Tucker for a pretty long while. Star mostly lets it go, but remains bitter over it. While Paulina and Dash are never really able to let go of their anger. It's a massive part of why Dash bullies Tucker specifically so much, and why Tucker, and Danae by association, end up as social outcasts.

So Paulina and Star get brought in after her and Danae start repairing their friendship. Dash gets kind of locked out of the dynamic for a pretty long while, under the guise of it all being "girl stuff".

Star befriended Valerie back in Middle School, while Dash befriended Kwan, which is how Valerie and Kwan end up as part of the A listers. With Star and Valerie ending up best friends, and Dash and Kwan ending up as best friends.

Tucker never really rebuilds any kind of friendship with Paulina, Star, or Dash. They can eventually work together without constantly insulting each other, but it takes a while.

Tucker doesn't even remember being friends with them in the first place. Only clearly remembering how said relationship ended, and just assumes they were probably crappy friends considering how they act now. So he's completely disinterested in trying to build a friendship with them beyond the potential for popularity.

Dash finds Tucker the most irritating guy in the world. Considering that for the few months they were friends, he considered Tucker his best friend. When they originally had their blow out fight, Dash spent basically the rest of that school year convinced he and Tucker would patch things up and be friends again by the following school year.

That's half the reason why Dash held the grudge for so long. The other half being that he heard from Star that Tucker basically forced Danae to stop being their friend.

Anyways this post got way too out of hand, and I have to stop it now or I'll never be done with it.

[acorviart]

Europe VAT laws not changing any time soon, recent. If understand FAQ well, mean shipping to Europe impossible for several years minimum?

That's correct, I won't be shipping to the EU for the foreseeable future due to some import packaging regulations that either have already been implemented or are planning to be implemented in the future.

Note that this is for EU countries only—I can ship to all other non-EU countries like Switzerland, except for the UK due to the UK's own convoluted VAT system.

The only workaround I can offer for EU folks is that you can have a friend or family that lives in a non-EU country place an order to deliver to their address, and then they are able to ship that order to you marked as a gift. Not an option for everyone, I know.

Longer explanation under the readmore for those curious:

As it stands now, each EU country has its own system and fees that I can't keep up with (for example, France would cost me 80 euros per year), I'd need to individually register and report to each country, some require reporting and tracking of what sources of packaging I use, I believe? It's all very complicated, and it makes my head spin just trying to figure out what the requirements actually are, so that's why I stopped shipping to the EU entirely out of an abundance of caution. I also just don't get enough sales to the EU to justify the headache, I'd probably actually lose money paying all the fees. Actually, while I was looking up details while writing this post, apparently there's a new PPWR that's going to replace the old EU Packaging Directive? This is why I can't handle this (ಥ﹏ಥ)

As for why this doesn't seem to be affecting all companies—corporations can obviously afford their own professionals whose entire job is to handle this stuff, and the requirements are also different for large vs small volumes. Meanwhile, a lot of other small or 1-person businesses straight up don't know about these requirements, because it's not like there's a memo passed around about updates to international shipping law. It's also even more confusing because some packages are slipping by without any issue, probably in part due to how the regulations are still new and still being implemented, so I assume it's kind of a mess.

I know of a few people who are willingly taking the risk and shipping to the EU anyway and have had no consequences (for now at least), but I'm not risking the fines ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Now for the UK, their VAT system doesn't have anything to do with packaging, but what it does require is similar registration with the government, and I'm required to collect and pay the VAT myself. No thanks!

TLDR; laws hard. laws also expensive. too stupid to figure out and too fearful of fines. no ship to countries

fun story: someone also once emailed me this long diatribe about how they think I'm shit at research and that I'm just making all this up (specifically just to screw with europeans or something, I guess?), so I sent them a few links to the literal official government websites where I got my info (like that UK one), and they never responded. lol

[piko-rose]

A Masterpost Of All My Sonic Fics and Headcanons So Far

Edited this post to add some other stuff of mine that doesn't involved fanfics.

I didn't include ALL of my fics because the first few ones I did when I started my blog were cringe as hell lmao

My Fanfics/Drabbles

Sonic Movie Series Fics

Enter Gamma - The Wachowski Bros try to come up with a new name for their new fiend UNIT. (Set after Sonic Drone Home.)

Sonic's Dream - Dreams are mysterious. They can be good or they can be bad. Sonic enjoys good dreams, whether their about running, chili dogs or his family. …But he despises bad dreams. Sometimes their about deep waters, the dark… Or being alone all over again. (Set after Movie 1.)

Sonic Told A Dumb Joke... - Sonic begins to realize that humoring up his brothers makes him come off as annoying, and vows to never say another word. (Set after Movie 2. Unsure if I'll make a part 2 since this might need some reworking.)

Sonic and Tails Talk About Tom and Maddie - Tails was confused by the way Sonic talks about Tom and Maddie. If they're not his parents, then what are they to him? (Set during Movie 2 before the dance battle sequence.)

Under the Moonlight - After hearing a ghost story about Dark Gaia, Sonic transforms into the Werehog in the middle of the night and must find a way to turn back to normal while before he looses control of himself. (Set after Movie 1. Currently thinking about reworking this fic in the future.)

Heroes Don't Fail - After Tom fell ill due to protecting him from a bullet, Sonic was left to wonder if his own friends had any faith in him to begin with during their most dangerous adventure yet. He was left to wonder if him and Shadow had more of a similarity than he thought. (Movie 3 Headcanon fic. VERY outdated now but there are some writing bits I really enjoy here that I might bring back in the future.)

Modern Sonic Fics

Rose Gold - Sonic was horrified by Amy doing all she can to make sure her hero stays alive, no matter the cost. (Platonic Sonic/Amy fic.)

What Big Brothers Fear The Most - Sonic had an unpleasant dream about the worst case scenario for any little brother in the world. Specifically, Tails. (Unbreakable Bond fic.)

Without One Another (Aftermath Of What Big Brothers Fear The Most) - Sonic talks about his nightmare to Tails, while confessing a fear greater than deep waters. (Unbreakable Bond fic.)

A Talk Between Two Hedgehogs - Shadow felt strangely guilty about his outburst at Sonic, and wanted to chat with him. (Sonic/Shadow fic.)

My Headcanons and Rambles About Characters and Ships

Sonic Movie Series

Sonic Movie 2's Official Timeline I Think? (I'm Planning On Reworking This Post)

Rambling About Sonic and Knuckles' Dynamic Throughout Movie 2

Sonic's Thinking Process While He Was Stuck And Couldn't Reach for Tom, Maddie and Tails (and what happens afterwards 😈)

Modern Sonic

Why Amy's Love For Sonic Died Down And Their Current Dynamic

If Sonic Found Out About What Amy's Going Through

Sleepy Sonic Headcanons (I edited this post because there are some words here that I used wrong and some more stuff I should've added lol) (Also Some Art Based On These Headcanons By @/sparkles-rule-4eva Thank You Dude XD but the reblog doesn't have the updates I've added on the post so I apologize for that DX)

Sonic Crying Out Shadow's Name In Sonic Prime And How It Drove Me Crazy

More to add soon.

[serenastark-official]

🖤✨ 02: How to Not Ship People: A PSA from Serena Stark ✨🖤

Alright, Tumblr, we need to talk. Specifically about the very weird habit some of you have of shipping me with literally everyone I’ve ever shared air with—and I mean everyone—from Stephen to Wong to TONY to Peter to Dani to Laurya (like, seriously??).

And no, this isn't a "How to Ship Serena Stark" guide (because apparently, everyone on here thinks they’re qualified to play matchmaker)

Understand the Basics of Platonic Relationships

Not every interaction means romance, folks. Sometimes, people can just...I don’t know...exist in the same room without being soulmates.

For example:

Stephen Strange? My best friend and highly respected mentor. Not my boyfriend. Not my soulmate. Last time I checked, calling someone “Old Man Wizard” every five minutes isn’t exactly romantic. I can’t even get through a conversation without him lecturing me on the multiverse and responsibility. Romance level: zero. Also, he calls me “kid,” so that’s basically “I’m your dad now” territory.

Tony Stark? That’s my dad, y’all. MY DAD. Did we skip basic human decency 101? This isn’t Game of Thrones. Sit down.

Wong? Look, I respect the guy. Love him even (in a totally platonic way). But the man is way too busy dealing with magical disasters to worry about me. Plus, I’m not about to ruin his zen vibe. We’re too busy exchanging takis, not vows.

Peter Parker? Do you people hear yourselves when you type? Peter can’t even win a staring contest with me—how would he handle dating me? As I said already, he's my too-kind-to-be-a-real-kid brother.

Daniella Romanoff? Practically my sister. (Though she could definitely crush me in a fight, I’m not even gonna lie.) She’s got enough trauma to handle, she doesn’t need me adding fuel to the shipping fire.

Laurya? I can practically hear you all— “Oh, they’re so close! It’s so obvious! Sisterly love... or, y’know, whatever!” NO. She is literally my sister in arms, not in love. If she were reading this right now, she’d be laughing so hard, she’d probably throw a shoe at me. So let’s not, okay?

Bruce Banner? Bruce Banner and me? Are you seriously trying to make that work? Listen, I’m all for the science nerds’ club (believe me, I’m practically a founding member), he’s in the “dad” zone with Tony and Stephen. I don’t need a third one of those.

What next? Are you going to ship me with Jeff, the land shark?!

Now that I’ve screamed into the void, here’s your 101 on how NOT to ship people (especially me):

Step 1: Don't Assume Every Glance = Love Story

Just because I looked at someone for more than 2 seconds doesn’t mean I’m secretly planning our wedding. I could be judging them. I could be plotting their demise. Or I could just be zoning out because I’m thinking about pasta. You don’t know.

Step 2: Don’t assume everything is subtext.

Just because I exchange sarcastic banter with someone doesn’t mean I want to kiss them. Sometimes, I’m just being me. (Which, let’s be honest, is fabulous enough without adding romance into the mix.)

You don’t marry everyone you talk to. Shocking, right? Sometimes, people just have good friendships. Not every bond needs a kiss at the end. I know, mind-blowing.

Step 3: Stop Projecting Your Ships Onto Others

I get it, shipping is fun. But hold your horses. Ask yourself:

Is this ship actually plausible, or am I just bored?

Have I considered how weird this might be for the people involved?

Would Serena personally come for me for this? (Hint: Yes.)

If you can’t explain it without sounding like a total creep, then just… don’t. My life isn’t your rom-com script, and I’m not auditioning for a Netflix special.

Step 4: Respect Boundaries

If I say “No,” it’s a no. If I roast the ship in public, it’s definitely a no. Stop trying to make me and Tony a thing. That’s therapy-inducing territory, and I already have enough on my plate.

Me and Stephen = Two sarcastic nerds saving the multiverse.

Me and Peter = Sibling energy with a side of web-based competition.

Me and Tony = Snark battles + family dinners.

Me and Laurya = Sisterhood, no strings attached.

Me and Dani = Chaos and platonic love, no ships allowed.

Me and Wong = Team Sorcery and food buddies. (he has a lot of takis in the Sanctum, if you'd be more responsible about your ship, I'd give you some)

Me and Bruce = Science buddies and, he’s already got enough on his plate with, y’know, the Hulk and being an honorary member of the “dad” squad.

Step 5: Focus On YOUR Ships

If you’re feeling the itch to ship someone, look in the mirror. Find your own love story. Or ship Jeff the Land Shark with world domination; he’s working on it anyway.

Step 6: Put that energy to better use.

Instead of shipping me with everyone I’ve ever breathed near, how about you create fanfic where I absolutely obliterate HYDRA agents in a beautifully dramatic showdown?

In conclusion:

Stop it. Get some help. If you keep shipping me with random people, I’ll find you. And I’ll make you explain yourself to my face. Let’s stop pretending every time I make eye contact with someone, we’re about to enter a rom-com montage. Please, for the love of all things sarcastic and logical, stop.

[starryjkoo]

Kinda wanna remind everyone too, when Tae dropped that Hawaii pic of him and Jk with staff right before the AYS trailer and how it sent shippers into a frenzy and they started hammering on Jikook and AYS, saying it proved it was a fanservice show, blah, blah, tk real private yada yada, Tae sending us signals, claiming his man, you know the usual. And pretty much the entire fandom was at each others throats, like it was bad. Shippers vs shippers, solos vs solos. The harassment and targeting Jikook's relationship. Guess who came online immediately after? Jimin. Jimin who had been very quiet pretty much for a long time, came to say he was doing well, not to worry, but he said something very important, that he is now a soldier and careful of what he posts online. I think his message was clear and not only a subtle message to Tae, but the fans, considering Jikook were being attacked so bad & their show being called a fraud And that is exactly what JK did, this time coming online not even 24 hours after a hell storm. So they do both defend their relationship, the best way they can without just flat out saying back off. So yes, Jimin has come online in the middle of chaos, like JK. Maybe not as much, but he and Jk are the only ones who do it when a mess is made and fans start acting up bad. That should tell you something. That they clearly don't like it, but trying to remain professional.

JK has for sure swooped in with his lives a few times to try and calm fans down (I’ll never forget that post-FESTA dinner live 😭). I think he was probably already planning on doing a live during his break, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the recent situation was also a motivator.

With JM’s comment, I’m not sure if it was intentional or not tbh, but the timing was definitely pretty funny lol so it does make you wonder. I also just appreciate his letters, they’re always so sincere and you can tell he really puts a lot of thought and care into them (I’ll never forget the first letter he wrote to us post-training, handwritten and the little creases 🥺)

But you know what I also think is super cool about Jikook? The way they also just ignore all the noise and stay unbothered.

in CH2 alone there’s Jikook going to Japan together in the middle of the situation with JJKs tagging the military, JM posting JK’s hot100 #1 while PJMs were attacking JK during Seven era, JK doing that whole Jimin live while JJKs were attacking JM during FACE era, now JK sharing several military stories that include JM right after that whole mess. I think it’s amazing that they’ve never let antis make them change the way they behave together or stop them from hanging out, making content, enlisting together, mentioning each other, or toning down their dynamic (teasing, roughhousing, or just being weird as hell lol).

I think that’s what makes tkkrs (and some other antis) so mad sometimes because they’re constantly trying to control/demand things with vmnkook - canceling orders and threatening to boycott, tried to get GCF Tokyo taken down, trending hashtags to cancel AYS, trending hashtags for all sorts of things tbh, emailing BH to stop the gay etc. They're constantly trying to demand things from the company, which is why it’s always been so ironic to me that they call Jikook the “company pushed ship” when they’re literally the ones trying to use money and other means to manipulate BH into giving them the ship content they want 😭 (as well as force them to “hide” jkk lol) so talk about projection. But yeah, none of that has ever stopped Jikook from doing their thing.

Also your ask makes me think back on JK’s JM live. I’ve always sort of thought that JK may have intentionally hyped SMFpt2 the way he did because of the ridiculous hate it was receiving. Especially because he really emphasized how much he loved the specific part antis were trying to drag. iirc he said that it was his taste or his style or something like that. I just really loved that moment, it was super vindicating lol. I remember even non-jkkr ARMYs commenting about it too, talking about it being a slap to the haters, or karma or whatever (I definitely also just think he really liked SMFpt2 tho!).

Anyways yeah, I’ve always just assumed that it’s probably a collective group decision to not address solos/shippers. Some people think it would be so simple but it really wouldn’t. If JK said something it would just be a domino effect of extreme responses (re: his NewJean’s comment). It would also drag the other members into it, expecting them to make similar statements or risk being attacked. I think that’s why it’s easier for him to address situations that only involve himself. Maybe they'll try to address it as a team one day, but imo it definitely won’t be happening while half of them are in the military with limited phone access, having to watch what they say and do more than ever.

[firewasabeast]

Well, I was waiting for the more recent ep of 911 to come out to see how it was handled, but I've finally submitted my criticsm to abc. I think I covered all the bases:

I have been a fan of 911 since the show first aired and I was happy when the abc picked up the show after it looked like the show might be cancelled after season 6. However I must say, I have been steadily getting more and more disappointed with the show in that time. While the big disasters are certainly fun and flashy, the personal stories for the all main characters seem to be recycled from previous seasons and their characters don't seem to be experiencing any growth. The only story line I have been interested in since the start of season 7 is that of Buck. His bisexuality arc, while it did at first come as a surprise to me, soon made me realise that this had been telegraphed as part of his character for a while, and I was excited to see where this might lead for him. His relationship with Tommy as well, had me excited as to Buck's growth, as it looked like he was finally maturing as a character and I was looking forward to finally witnessing a new relationship within the show as well as a new character, both of which had the potential of finally bringing some fresh stories to the table.

While I was highly disappointed in the dissolving of the relationship because I was a fan of the pairing, and the waste of the potential stories the show could have brought us, it was the handling of the breakup that was most upsetting.

For starters, it really highlighted the lack of story cohesion. It showed either the writers couldn't be bothered or just didn't care to research their characters or the show's timelines to make sure the story make sense. Episode 8x06 was just a mess of storytelling, and the characters we saw didn't even match the ones we saw in just the episode prior. It felt very much like it was written for shock value with very little thought put into it other than they just wanted Buck single again.

I also understand that there are many people in the queer community who have been very disappointed in the handling of this story line, and while I am not queer, I understand where they are coming from because I feel it too. The show's inability to outright declare that Buck is bisexual, and even after the most recent episode, the constant insinuation that someone who is bisexual needs to "explore" in order to know themselves is a stereotype that is quite frankly, disgusting and outdated. (I was personally insulted at the mindset that someone's "first can't be their last" as I felt it was a slap in the face to the many couples, both straight and queer, who's first *is* their last.)

But what has been even more disappointing is the care - or lack of - that the show seems to have towards their actors - specifically the guest actors who play Buck and Eddie's love interests. There are a small group of fans who believe that Buck and Eddie will end up together, and for years they have been harassing 911 fans who don't agree with them, the show's writers and any actor who plays a love interest they feel "gets in the way of their ship". Lou Ferrigno Jr especially appears to have copped far worse than any so far, even having death threats sent to both him and his family from these people, yet there has never been a single mention from any of the showrunners asking these "fans" to stop. Despite the writers implying in interviews that Buck and Eddie ("buddie") will never happen (and Ryan Guzman (Eddie) saying that his character is straight), I feel the writers need to directly state they have no plans to take the characters in this direction, or at the very least, call out these people and state that in no uncertain terms that this behaviour is unacceptable in order to try and put a stop to the harassment that, in particular, these actors are recieving for simply doing their job. However the fact that neither of these things have happened gives me reason to believe that the showrunners are perfectly happy stringing along these fans because keeping these few viewers to maintain ratings is more important than protecting their supporting cast. And as I am someone who takes mental health seriously, especially within the workplace, I feel I can no longer in good conscience support the show. Which is a shame, as like I have said I have been watching from the very beginning, but as long as the show refuses to let the characters evolve, keeps reinforcing harmful stereotypes and won't do anything to protect their staff from bullying (because as history has shown, if they try to bring in someone else as a new love interest for either Buck or Eddie, those poor actors will receive the same vile harassment from the "fans" that Lou received) I am not inspired to watch.

Please do better.

So glad you wrote in!! Thank you 💕💕💕

[directdogman]

Hello Hound!! Since it's Dialtown's 2nd anniversary, I've been planning up a few "general" related questions about your series that I've been meaning to ask, but I decided to save them up for the big day because why not? Anyways, here's what I've got, these were meant to be fun to answer so don't sweat it :]

1: How do you feel about Dialtown's success? Are you proud of how far you've come? 

2: Which character was the MOST fun for you to write, and which was the most PAINFUL?

3: What is something you wish more people would talk about or just know about related to Dialtown in general?

4: If you had the opportunity to write a FULL complete, detailed life story of any of your characters, who would that be?

5: What's a character you wish you could have given more screen-time or just in general content? (Considering iirc you were trying to make sure Dialtown wasn't TOO long, so I was wondering if this ever came to mind)

6: From what I know, you've been doing the job of cosplaying several characters in the game and acting out their sprites, which one was the most fun to act out?

7: Speaking of sprites, do you have a sprite you could consider your favorite, out of ALL your characters?

8: Do you have a specific line of dialogue you could consider your favorite throughout the entire game?

9: Could you ever see Dialtown expanding into perhaps sequels or maybe even prequels? More DLCs mayhaps? Heck, maybe even a Dialtown 2 or a Chapter 4??

10: If you could make any fan-made interpretation (such as headcanons, designs, or ships) canon if given the opportunity, what do you think would be your pick?

11: What was the MOST fun part about developing Dialtown? Coming up with new characters? Writing them? Adding all the bizarre dialogue options?

12: And last but not least — on a scale of 1-10, how fun was developing Dialtown just in general?

That's all I have for now, and I'm really excited to see your answers!!

I normally don't answer this many questions, but... alright, sure, tis the season!

1: How do you feel about Dialtown's success? Are you proud of how far you've come? 

Yeah, of course! I'm a lil proud, admittedly, but I'm aware of how comically little I really have to do with it all, even if I did make the game. Luck does play a LOT into it, of course. Granted, I made my share of predictions that wound up being useful, but it always comes down to lady luck at the end of the day. I've seen good projects fail and bad ones go viral. It's really all just a hodgepodge of probability and whimsy. That being said, I am very pleased with DT's success, and the community that's formed around the game! It caught me by surprise!

2: Which character was the MOST fun for you to write, and which was the most PAINFUL?

Gingi's always fun to write. And Mingus. Most painful is tough to say. Maybe Crown. I got a little weird when I wrote his full backstory, kinda caught up in the emotion Norm talks about. Never been a fan of stories getting cut short. You gotta wonder what would've happened if he'd made different choices, y'know?

3: What is something you wish more people would talk about or just know about related to Dialtown in general?

Honestly? Karen, probably. She's super underrated for sure. The fandom still loves her, but she doesn't get the same kind of attention as Oliver, Gingi, Randy, Norm. She's worth it.

4: If you had the opportunity to write a FULL complete, detailed life story of any of your characters, who would that be?

Oh, I already have. I have this monstruous 30-40 page document detailing Crown's life and entire career. It's quite a read. and quite a mind-fuck if you don't know Dialtown's universe too well.

5: What's a character you wish you could have given more screen-time or just in general content? (Considering iirc you were trying to make sure Dialtown wasn't TOO long, so I was wondering if this ever came to mind)

Oh yeah, a few characters had scenes that were cut. Stabby, Shooty, Mingus, Bunny, even Bigfoot! There's also the game's cut 6th datable, who was an interesting character with ties to other characters in the cast who I wanted to do more with. Ah, maybe one day.

6: From what I know, you've been doing the job of cosplaying several characters in the game and acting out their sprites, which one was the most fun to act out?

Bigfoot. I made the ape noises in the suit. Had to. It felt right.

7: Speaking of sprites, do you have a sprite you could consider your favorite, out of ALL your characters?

I quite like Norm's set, Mingus' too. Karen's poses too are quite good.

8: Do you have a specific line of dialogue you could consider your favorite throughout the entire game?

That answer probably changes every day. I like pretty much any scene where Mingus loses her temper.

9: Could you ever see Dialtown expanding into perhaps sequels or maybe even prequels? More DLCs mayhaps? Heck, maybe even a Dialtown 2 or a Chapter 4??

I'd love to make sequels one day! I've got a lot of ideas for where the characters/story would end up. By the time DT1 wrapped up, I'd conceptualized way too much stuff to put in one game (without it taking another few years to finish), so if I ever wanted to make sequels, I'd 100% know where to start! But, that's a later down the road conversation.

For now, I'm gonna keep working on the Roger DLC and if there's demand for more, I can go from there :)

10: If you could make any fan-made interpretation (such as headcanons, designs, or ships) canon if given the opportunity, what do you think would be your pick?

I guess I COULD do that with, like, anything. Nothing immediately springs to mind, since, y'know, I'm in control of the canon anyway. I will say, I've seen headcanons and theories that ARE scarily accurate to canon, to the point where I've feared people would just think I'm lifting stuff from the fanbase! It's a good thing I talk about these things with collaborators, huh? I've got a PAPER-TRAIL!!!

11: What was the MOST fun part about developing Dialtown? Coming up with new characters? Writing them? Adding all the bizarre dialogue options?

Finishing a new scene and realizing how stupidly long it was (without me realizing it) was always a treat. But yeah, writing the characters had to be it. Specifically any scene where a character the audience knows meets someone the audience doesn't know well (or at all), with the dynamic changing. Those are fun to write.

12: And last but not least — on a scale of 1-10, how fun was developing Dialtown just in general?

Hard question to answer. I do really wanna give a high number, but truthfully, a lot of game dev actually isn't super 'fun'. Some tasks are, granted, but many parts are a slog. Sitting and formatting dialogue, and then adding text pauses and pose changes isn't exactly a super thrilling activity. The engine itself also has some issues which I have to work around that adds to the workplace. Play-testing a scene for the 4th time isn't super fun either, or trying to figure out why the game crashes on some PCs and ONLY very rarely... Those tasks are Sisyphean to some degree.

...But, while most of those parts aren't fun, it's all still rewarding. There's a sense of accomplishment when you finish a scene. You get to look back at your hard work, remember the hours you spent typing dialogue into a text box and formatting mass amounts of pngs, painstakingly + manually getting the game's awful pre-loader to deal with the sprites right, etc... and suddenly, at the end, you've got this lil experience that people can play and enjoy. Somehow, the sum of all of those not so fun activities has created something that's going to make people laugh, feel happy. That's special. and even if some parts of development weren't super fun on their own, that's always what I remember. That in the end, all of those not so fun days mattered.

The route I agonized the most over was Oliver's. I went through a few weeks of writer's block, and now, it's one of the most popular routes in the game! Crazy how that happens. I was SURE for about a week that people would rank the route at the bottom! That's what I mean, all of the stress I went through trying to figure it out amounted to something people connected with! To think I almost CUT the route entirely!!!

And y'know, God knows Dialtown gave me something to throw myself at during a time where I REALLY needed the outlet. I'm very grateful to the project for that. So, I'll give DT an honorary 8 out of 10, even if it wasn't a consistently 8/10 experience making it heh heh! Sure glad I did, though and I'm very glad if any of you reading this had a really good time playing it! :)

Thanks for the questions!

[jbk405]

I think I've found one of the key reasons why I prefer the old Expanded Universe to the current Star Wars content: Unique types of villains.

More specifically, people who weren't just Evil Force Users With Long Robes And Red Lightsabers. While there were always a few Darth Vader-clones that popped up to fill up space, so many of the Arc Villains were distinct not just in personality, but also how they were dangerous.

Grand Admiral Thrawn was a military tactician, which wasn't the point of any of the main villains in the Original Trilogy. Grand Moff Tarkin was a "Build a bigger superweapon and bludgeon the galaxy into submission" kind of villain, and Vader and the Emperor were mystical dark wizards. This isn't a complaint or criticism, but just pointing out that military tactics were never on display in the films since that wasn't the type of story they were telling. But Thrawn didn't have prophetic powers or Destiny, he had to analyze and plan around what he could learn about his adversaries. It's a different type of fight than Literal Magic. In the original Thrawn Trilogy, Captain Pellaeon frequently internally narrates how different Thrawn's style of leadership was to either Vader or the Emperor (Even if his art-analysis did verge on magic by itself).

Ysanne Isard was a political and/or espionage manipulator, which was even less a point of the Original Trilogy than military tactics were. She took advantage of the realities of actually needing to build a nation out of an underground military movement. With all of the dirty gutter politics, self-serving agendas, and logistics that doom so many revolutionary movements. I'm not as big a fan of her arc as I was when I was younger (I re-read the Rogue Squadron novels a few years ago and the writing quality is not as good as I remember, and Isard's plans frankly don't hold a lot of water), but the concept is still fantastic.

Warlord Zsinj on the surface seems like a merger of Thrawn and Isard -- he's a military commander who specializes in espionage -- but he also has a big focus that neither of them demonstrated: Business. While he still blows stuff up with his giant space ships and is sowing dissent through brainwashing and spycraft, he's simultaneously establishing a galaxy-wide network of completely-legitimate commercial businesses that he owns through untraceable pseudonyms. They fund his campaigns, give him influence on planets outside of his direct control, and allow him to control resources without any of his adversaries even being aware of it.

Even one-shot enemies like the Ssi-ruuk were so unique: They're invading the galaxy because their technology is powered by living souls and they want to harvest all life in the galaxy. That's messed up, and so distinct from the general "Take over the world" motivation of the Empire.

But as time went on, more and more of the enemies were just "Darth Vader Again". Another Jedi who fell to the Dark Side, or another long-lost schism of the Sith who rediscovered mainstream galactic society, or some other thing that is eventually resolved by a one-on-one lightsaber duel and a personal grudge against the Skywalker or Solo families. It definitely felt like they were out of ideas and kept running through the same villains over and over again.

This kicked into high gear after the Prequels came out, and continued in the new continuity after the EU was rebranded as "Legends".

I wish we could go back to the idea that there could be an enemy who wasn't super powerful in the force and consumed by Hatred Of The Jedi. With their own skills, their own methods, and something that makes them more than just another wannabe-Sauron. Pirates who are just pirates, marauding ex-Imperial Warlords who are just marauding ex-Imperial Warlords, and corrupt politicians who are just corrupt politicians, instead of revealing that Palpatine returned (somehow) all over again.

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Thoughts on Staff of Hermes

This story was overall a fun read but it was not as enjoyable or deep as Diary of Luke Castellan. I wouldn't read it again. I can definitely say I prefer Luke's narration over Percy's now. I love you Percy, but I am seriously wondering if I still prefer you over Harry as a POV main character. Hmm, that is another topic for another day.

There are several things that stood out to me so I will try to organize my thoughts under different sections.

Feelings on Percabeth

So this is the first time I have fully read a canon material on this ship. I came into this reading with a lot of bad faith...but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be honestly. I am by no means a fan let's get that straight and I still dislike the ship but I have a more balanced view now. Maybe my opinion will change as I get into TLO.

Where to start? First of all, BOTH Percy and Annabeth suck here. To my surprise, I found myself siding more with Annabeth (to my horror) in general but against her more in specific sections.

I don't like Annabeth's personality. Her opening dialogue accusing Percy of forgetting something I felt was deliberately vague to make Percy squirm. She could have easily said, "You forgot about our anniversary, didn't you Seaweed brain?" On it's own, it seems like a minor thing but it's a callback to TLT where Annabeth wouldn't give Percy straight answers, making him feel stupider. I also think it's unfair of Annabeth to be all miffed at Percy about the anniversary when it was surrounded by other major events that I feel are way more impactful than a kiss. You know, considering that a war happened! Let's say I got my job offer the same day my dad died and a week later, someone asked me what happened last week. The first thing to come to my mind would be my dad's death. Again, it's nothing major against Annabeth but the small things keep adding up.

I am also not a fan of Percy's constant fear of Annabeth. It comes up numerous times. Percy is willing to throw himself into a possible quest to avoid communicating a simple matter with Annabeth. I bet Ricky was trying to play it as comedic but a boyfriend being more comfortable with his girlfriend as a battle partner is not a good sign. Annabeth comes off as a demanding girlfriend who always takes but never gives.

“Was that amazing?” she demanded. “That was amazing,” I agreed.

Like why this tone? It could be a manifestation of her hubris flaw but it's just rubbing me the wrong way.

“And Percy…feel free to start planning our two-month anniversary.”

Why doesn't Annabeth get off her butt and plan the two-month anniversary?! Who the hell celebrates a two-month anniversary!

Rick could have made this scene so much more wholesome as a continuation of this line which I liked:

“You did forget, Seaweed Brain.” But her smile told me she wasn’t really mad. “Nice save,though. I’m impressed.” “I have my moments.”

By Annabeth saying something like "But next time for our two-month anniversary, my date idea will beat yours Percy. And I won't need a god's help to do so."

This would maybe make Percy laugh and relax, show Annabeth has forgiven him, that she's still competitive and she's willing to treat Percy too. Seriously, ugh!

Next: Percy does not get a pass here either. As much as I love Percy, I wanted to scream at him. Here are my issues:

Annabeth has a right to feel disappointed that Percy broke his promise. I felt for her. Percy was a coward and he should have simply said he would make it up to her. I don't know if Percy made a throw away promise that Annabeth took more seriously than he did or he genuinely forgot. Either way, Percy should have manned up. I will give him leeway because he is scared of her but still.

Not exactly a Percabeth issue per se but Percy has no right to be talking about Luke's feelings about Annabeth. How the hell would he know what Luke was feeling? Even if his last words could be meant as ambiguous, when did Percy see Luke show any romantic inclination towards Annabeth over the years? Get over yourself Percy. Will be following up when I look at TLO...

This is a character peeve, not a shipping peeve but Percy comes off as a lazy idiot. His comment about not watching the news is fair. Not many teens watch the news (I watched the news growing up with my parents but it's not because I was dying to know local events, I just had nothing better to do). I also understand it being easier to have people explain things to you (I feel the same way a lot). BUT! You would think with all the monsters coming after him, Percy would be slightly interested in knowing about their abilities to better protect himself. I have the same issue with Harry Potter. UGH!

I stand with Annabeth in feeling pissed that Percy is dragging her on an impromptu quest. It's ultimately Hermes' fault but Percy partially accepted so that he could use the reward to avoid communicating with her.

However, I will admit that it was cute when Percy hyped up Annabeth's skill and beauty. Also, Percy protecting her from Cacus is very gentlemanly :). Annabeth being so done with the quest and Percy throughout the story was hilarious. Can't blame you, girl. Still don't like you but I understand your pain.

Feelings on Hermes and the PJO gods

I understand now why I keep seeing posts about Hermes being whiny. This dude is not serious and I struggle to take him seriously.

As amusing as it is to see old men beefing with teenage girls (**cough**Snow**cough***cough***Katniss***cough!), it really makes the gods seem like complete jokes. Hermes is a god, an Olympian. He either needs to rise above the matter or put Annabeth in her place and end it (can I see option 2 please?). Hermes needs to get a grip and stop being so pathetic to teenagers. I don't understand why he doesn't follow Apollo's lead and look like a teenager or young adult if he's going to act this way.

Second, I don't understand why Rick makes the gods look so incompetent in their domains. Apollo is bad at poetry. Hades is being beaten in his domain. Zeus is a joke of a king. Ares was beaten by a barely trained preteen. Hermes is supposed to be the god of thieves, yet some low IQ giant steals from him. Shouldn't thieves know how to guard their valuables better??

I just have no awe or respect for most of the PJO gods. Where's the majesty and power? Rick could have made them avatars of the real gods and nothing would change really. Percy is 16, why doesn't he know by now how to greet a god?! Even if he's not an all year round camper, basic courtesy should be common knowledge. Especially with all the gods who want to kill him. What is Percy learning at CHB?!

Now, let me talk about gods and their interaction with the mortal world. I feel the same empathy for mortals the way I do for muggles in Harry Potter. I get the concept of the mist and I can see the benefits of shielding mortals from the craziness of greek myths. But...it impacts mortals worshipping and honouring the gods. Don't the PJO gods want mortals to praise them? Pray to them? It seems stupid to depend only on demigods for their source of power, especially given how bad their parenting is. Or lack of it.

The PJO gods also seem unimpressive to me in other ways. You're telling me that Hermes is basically useless as a messenger without a single symbol of power?

Finally, the attitude towards quests. Similar to Apollo in Singer of Apollo (need to add that to my reading list), Hermes gives Percy this task to save face (where Apollo gave Percy the task because he was busy with 'more important things'. Not sure which one is worse honestly). But it turns out that a more nefarious plot is underfoot. Hermes and Apollo can't be bothered to clean up their own mess even though the ramifications are potentially quite severe. All the while, mortals are put in danger. Hermes' couldn't even be bothered to tell Percy where Cacus' location was. Some friend, you got there Percy. Also, you're telling me that the gods lack the control to search for items without destroying the place?? Gosh, what are we even doing here?

On the topic of quests, why don't the gods give these quests to their own freaking kids! I know Percy is top dog and everyone wants a piece of him...but why didn't Hermes ask one his many kids to help him? Ask a thief to outsmart another thief, you know. It would be cool to see other demigod kids interact with their parents' symbols of power. Apollo kids in the sun chariot and playing his personal lyre. Martha and George talking to Hermes' kids. But Percy is the MC and special so he gets to do everything, sigh.

Oh, one more thing about the gods! They need to stop making monster kids!!!! They truly don't give a damn about their demigod kids or poor innocent mortals. Honestly, keep the mist up. These lowlives don't deserve any worship whatsoever. Glad to be a Christian!

Well, those were my two main topics. Other questions and thoughts:

How is Hermes Percy's friend? What are the many times Hermes has helped him other than book 2?

Hermes has such little brother energy with Apollo and Athena! Love it!

It was cool to see the potential power of other demigods be highlighted here. I need to see more powers from the other demigods. Annabeth quite frankly is kind of underwhelming and doesn't have much going on as a daughter of Athena.

What equipment is Annabeth using on Mount Olympus?? It just makes the world feel less magical.

I like that Hermes gives nice rewards. I mean the dude almost tried to get out of paying Percy but the point is that Percy got his payment. At least Hermes was not all self-absorbed like Apollo.

He took the caduceus and patted the heads of his sleepy snakes. “There, there, my friends. You’re home now.” -> This was so cute!

I wish the "best part of your job" response in the George and Martha interview chapter was expanded upon. It would have been nice to hear some thoughts on Luke or the other kids.

Edit: Both Percy and Cacus have the same faux paus of implying that thousand > million. Obviously, this is due to Rick being one of those writers who failed basic math lol. It's certainly not helping with showcasing Percy's intelligence.

That was longer than I expected. I am either going to read Son of Magic or Singer of Apollo next.

[azaharinflames]

I noticed two interesting things while watching episode 816.

The first is the development of Tommy’s character. Other fans have pointed this out too, but it's worth emphasizing: Lou is a guest star, which means he gets paid per episode. So unless a storyline specifically requires his presence, there's no real reason to include him—especially after he and Buck broke up. Despite that, he appeared in episodes 811, 815, and 816. We’ve continued to see this push and pull dynamic between Buck and Tommy, as if they're on the edge of reconciling. Episode 816 was particularly interesting because he didn’t even appear in the present timeline—he showed up in a flashback from eight years ago, where he was saving Bobby. During the funeral, he was shown as one of the pallbearers, grouped together with the other 118 members. This made me feel like Tommy is being expanded into a character with his own narrative arc, rather than just being simplified as Buck’s li. While it felt like the writers had no idea how to use Tommy during 8A, 8B feels like they’ve finally figured out a plan for him.

The second thing is that it feels like Tim has closed the door on Buddie. I always thought Tim never intended to make Buddie canon, but he kept dropping bait to keep Buddie fans engaged. Even in Aisha's interview about 811, Tim seemed to want to leave room for interpretation. But in 816, he gave no room at all. Of course, it's risky to make such a judgment based on just one episode, but if Tim wanted to bait Buddie again, 816 gave him plenty of chances. At the very least, he could have had Buck and Eddie hug—but the only interaction between them was, "I should’ve been there.", "Hey, You're here now". After this episode, I saw quite a few Buddie fans finally realizing that Tim has no intention of making them canon. It feels like he’s trying to wrap up existing storylines and rebuild the show in a new direction.

Of course, we still need to see how episodes 817 and 818 play out. But 8A felt like a chaotic mess with no clear story direction, whereas 8B feels like a completely different season. Bobby’s death is incredibly sad, but in a way, it feels like it breathed new life into the show. To be honest, I still have doubts about Tim’s storytelling abilities. However, at the very least, he seems to be trying to keep the show alive by not relying too heavily on one specific character. Even if a major character leaves, he’s finding ways to make the show survive through the remaining characters and by introducing new ones.

All great points, Nonnie.

I will add to your first point that they did build on Tommy's character whilst reminding the audience of his connection with Buck. Granted, it is not outright stated in 816, but it is in the previous episodes. And even in this one, we can try to read between the lines and see Maddie and Buck's moment as could-be foreshadowing (the I love you part, I mean). So the show is constantly building on Tommy and Bucktommy, even if in the background. Which, you know - very interesting.

To your second point - I will add that it is interesting that the one scene they could've had alone, they didn't. They had Ravi with them , and whilst it did feel natural, it is also a statement to have Eddie stay with Buck, yet not give us a scene of them together. Of course, we don't know if 817 or 818 will give us a (platonic, ofc) scene between them, but to have such a big episode that relied a lot on connection... it surely is a choice*

Lastly, I still think 8a was a bit of a mess (it had its good moments, mainly -for me- 805), but 8b is picking up on themes that 8a insinuated, and in turn making it look better. This half of the season is definitely much stronger (which I'm relieved by ngl).

*And I am not saying this from a shipping perspective. I think it was the right choice to not focus on any romantic B-plots, or anything that could hint at more. But I don't think Buddie has that type of scene, so I'm strictly referring to a friendship scene, the way we had it with multiple other characters - including Eddie and Ravi.

[aangarchy]

How I would have re-written episode 1 of the netflix live action series

I've been thinking about this a lot, especially after watching several analysis videos and breakdowns of bad writing.

Keep the opening sequence. I liked the opening with the two Earthkingdom soldiers well enough. Just get some better actors, and maybe a better reason for the Earthkingdom to believe the Fire Nation will start a war, bc just tossing a scroll to your companion telling him to get it to the Earthking bc "they're going to start a war" is a bit too vague for my liking.

Skip the Kyoshi narration. Completely get rid of it. The only thing it does is repeat things we already know, or tell us how we're supposed to feel about the main character before we even meet him. The one thing that we'll miss here is the explanation of what an Avatar is, but that's something that can be remedied later, in a way that isn't just spoken exposition.

Now, because they wanted a "mature & gritty" live action they kan keep the airnomad genocide sequence. Controversial, I know, because personally I didn't feel like it needed to be there, but for the purpose of keeping the live action's specific story, we'll keep it.

We start off with Aang, he's playing with his fellow students (not just by himself), this shows us he's playful, whimsical, goofy. This way he doesn't have to tell us this later while talking to Appa. While Aang is playing in the background we go to Gyatso, who is being told by the abbot that he has to tell Aang his identity because they got some really bad intel from the Earthkingdom, the Avatar needs to be ready sooner than planned. Gyatso is sad about it but goes outside to call Aang away. This gives us the first indication that Aang feels ostracized and isolated because of his identity. Gyatso and Aang walk through the temple and pass a statue of Yangchen. This is where we explain what an Avatar is, as Gyatso reveals to Aang that he is the Avatar. I like the idea of still implementing the airnomad identification method, the four toys that are actually Avatar relics. Aang is scared and confused, and he's also told he can't complete his training in the Southern temple, so he'll have to be separated from Gyatso. We get the same emotional payoff. I also want to introduce a bit of a time skip, we have time for this because we got rid of the Kyoshi intro monologue. We see Aang get rejected by his friends, we see him get taken away from Gyatso for extra training, we see him bored out of his mind during important meetings concerning the Fire Nation's movements. Then we skip to the night of the comet festival. Comet is in the sky, and Aang tosses and turns in his bed. He was told he has to leave right after the comet festival, so Aang runs to Appa and runs away. Actually RUNS away, not just getting a breath of fresh air.

Then we go to the attack. Same turn of events, the airnomads realize they're under attack, and while they're not outnumbered they are still clearly overpowered. The one change I would put here is make it a cliffhanger. Don't show Aang make his iceberg, we basically don't know what happened to him from this point, at least not yet. We don't show the outcome of the battle with the airbenders, but we can already tell it's not going well. End with Gyatso in a room being surrounded by firebenders, the firebenders ask Gyatso where the Avatar is and he says he doesn't know, which isn't a lie. The firebenders aim to shoot, but as the camera pans away we see Gyatso do a last airbender move. It only gets revealed later that he basically sucked the oxygen out of the room to kill everyone including himself, but we don't see it happening.

Boom: we switch to Katara. She's not in the haunted ship, she's with Sokka on the boat for a hunting trip. Same thing happens, they get dragged by the current, they stumble upon the massive iceberg. I would keep Sokka's sexist remarks, and Katara breaks the iceberg because of how angry she gets at him. Aang is free, the massive beam appears and we cut to Zuko, who stares at the beam like it solved all of his problems. Aang asks Katara to go penguin sledding.

Aang gets taken to the village, everyone is confused to see his tattoos. Gran gran makes the same comment as in the original: "we thought the airbenders were extinct". Both Aang and the audience get confused now, bc we were with the airbenders just now. How many of them died during the fight? How much time has passed? Aang and Katara do some bonding. They go penguin sledding, Katara reveals she's the only waterbender in the south pole. Sokka gets mad at them goofing off, because there's a war going on. Aang doesn't understand, what war are we talking about?

Then instead of letting Gran gran do the iconic intro as pure boring exposition, I'd say make the scene more atmospheric. Aang gets invited to join a watertribe feast, and they tell a story around a campfire. Katara is the one telling the story, she's looking at the kids, Aang sits amongst them, sticking out like a sore thumb in his airnomad tunic amongst the watertribe kids. Katara then gives her iconic intro, and tells it like a story, talking about their brave warriors off to fight in the earthkingdom, lots of the kids listen in awe because their fathers are amongst the warriors, and Aang slowly starts to realize that what happened to him was 100 years ago. He still doesn't know the airbenders got attacked, and the audience doesn't know if any airbenders survived.

Zuko attacks the village. He doesn't do any exposition to Iroh (because Iroh as a character already knows Zuko is banished). He just shows up and tries to capture the Avatar. We don't tell the audience yet, we just know he's from the same nation that attacked Aang's people. Zuko wreaks havoc and Sokka nearly ends up getting killed, so Aang intervenes, shows off some airbending and we have the same revelation: "you're the airbender? You're the Avatar?" And Sokka and Katara look at Aang in shock. Aang goes with Zuko, and Katara convinces Sokka to go help him. Gran gran agrees, and gives her blessing to the both of them. They take Appa, we keep the gag of Sokka protesting and then cutting to him screaming on Appa.

Aang frees himself, goes into Zuko's room, steals Zuko's stupid diary, they have a fight, Aang escapes but falls in the water, cue Avatar state (i'm still mad they took the first avatar state moment away in the LA) but because Katara and Sokka looked from a distance they didn't really see what happened. They take Aang away, Katara manages to freeze some soldiers, they fly off. Katara asks Aang why he didn't tell them he was the Avatar. Aang says he doesn't want to be. Then they ask where to go to now.

We try to give the illusion of a time skip. Boom: southern airtemple. Only it looks different from what we saw earlier in the episode. It's completely overgrown and deserted. Every hope that Aang had of anyone being alive is slipping away. They walk around, and Sokka accidentally steps on some bones. Aang asked what happened, and Katara explains that they don't really know because it was so long ago, all they know is the Fire Nation started the war by first attacking the airtemple. Aang is confused why the Fire Nation would do this, Sokka goes off on a tangent calling them monsters and heartless, Katara stops him when she realizes Aang isn't really listening, bc Aang is walking off to the room Gyatso died in.

We see Gyatso's skeleton, finally it's confirmed to the audience that he didn't survive. He's surrounded by skeletons of Fire Nation soldiers. Cue Avatar state again. Katara and Sokka nearly get blown off the mountain, but Katara talks Aang down (because yes, it's important that she's the one getting him out of the avatar state, not that he manages to calm himself down). We end the episode the same way, Aang breaks down sobbing in Katara's arms.

Rewriting the episode this way gets rid of several writing flaws that are very noticeable in the live action. It also sets up plot points that are important for later, and leaves some satisfaction for the audience so they can piece the plot together while watching instead of having their hand held and being told what's going on by the characters as it's happening. It also leaves some important reveals for later (zuko having been banished and why, the reason he's trying to capture aang), so the audience still has some surprises coming its way. I personally feel this version of the rewritten episode is also good for people who never even watched the original, it's easy to follow without being so easy it gets boring, and still leaves an air of mystery.

I could rewrite every episode this way honestly, but if i were to do it for episode 3 and 4 specifically we'd be here for ages because there's so. much. wrong. in there. Also episode 5 while we're at it. 6 can remain roughly the same.

Let me know what you guys think.

[originalaowrytheian]

Ok, so I've been doing a ton of research lately because I've been planning to open an Etsy shop, but yesterday I discovered this other platform called Goimagine and I NEED to tell y'all about it! I haven't actually joined yet (still working on getting my stuff together) but here's the info I've gotten from their website and a YouTube video I found interviewing the founder.

Goimagine is a 100% handmade marketplace. They don't allow vintage, print on demand, or drop shipping

They're completely human run (no pesky bots causing problems and taking your stuff down with no explanation)

A portion of all the sales made through their website goes to charities supporting children (you can see the specific ones on their website)

Whether or not you offer free shipping doesn't effect your search visibility

There are three membership tiers that include a monthly flat rate and a transaction fee. That's it. No other fees

All of your products are listed on Google so people don't even have to be on the site to see your stuff

They seem to be really focused on giving their sellers the best experience possible and the one video I watched talked about them having an election to vote two of their sellers onto the board of directors

They remit sales tax and calculate shipping for you (I'm not sure if you can print labels from their website or not)

They only operate in the US and there's an option on their website to shop by state so you can buy from local vendors

Really the only complaint I was able to find is that people weren't getting as much sales traffic on there as on Etsy. The company has only been around since 2020 though, so it's a much newer platform than Etsy and still in the developing phase. This means there are a lot fewer sellers and therefore a lot fewer customers, but it also means you have less competition. I found people who did really well on the platform and people who didn't make any sales at all, but I feel like that's probably just as true for Etsy, there are just so many more Etsy success stories because they've been around longer and had more time to build.

Also they don't seem to be trying to compete with Etsy so much as fill a gap they feel Etsy has left open. There's even an option to import your Etsy listings onto their site.

Anyway I think what they're doing is super cool and I hope to open a shop there either instead of or in addition to an Etsy very soon. I highly recommend checking them out!

[castlebyersthoughts]

This is such a weird way to explain my reasoning behind byler but stay with me. There was an interview I remember watching with the duffers after s2 came out and they were talking about how people were a little bit upset at the death of Mews the cat. The duffers said that they saw all the posts on social media and they understood the upset and said that they made sure to add something in s2 (I believe it was Dustin’s mom getting a kitten in the last episode) as a little nod to Mews (a Mews 2.0, they said) hoping that it would quote “soften the blow a little bit” and for some reason that got me thinking that if the duffers saw that than they definitely see all of the milkvan and byler stuff that is being said. If that’s the case than they’ve seen us going on and on about all the reasons down to the smallest detail as to why byler is endgame and also heavily stating that if it doesn’t happen at this point it’ll be queerbait. Plain and simple. If the duffers had the wherewithal and the mindset to add a little nod to the death of a cat knowing that it might upset some people then they could’ve easily given us something by now to quote on quote “soften the blow” if byler wasn’t going to happen and yet we keep getting more and more moments every season that keep our hopes super high for s5. Whereas milkvan have been begging for some cute and couple-y moments and to stop breaking their ship up and they just get ignored season after season.

Oh I didn't know about the Mews story. But I know they basically said the same thing about Barb after season 1, and that's why Nancy's plot focused on Barb so much, #JusticeForBarb and all. You know what, there's definitely some truth to what you're saying, anon. Even if they sometimes say otherwise, the Duffers do see the fan response and make some adjustments based on it (we saw that with Billy, Steve & Dustin, Kali who disappeared from the show, etc.). We know they knew for sure that there was a big Byler fanbase when writing season 4, because that was the time when the stranger writers account was being super active, and basically every tweet was flooded with Byler comments (this was end of 2019). I actually remember saying to myself that if they don't intend to go there with Byler they will probably try to shut it down in season 4, make it clear that it's not happening. And look at what we got instead. Will confirmed to be in love with Mike, and Byler exploding in popularity as a result. So, if they wanted to soften the blow, they definitely failed. I wouldn't be surprised if they were actually happy to see fans be so passionate about the story they created and reading so much into the details of their show. They probably even wrote the Byler season 4 plot with this in mind, knowing the fans would pick the scenes apart, which is why Byler was so easy to see for us but still seemed invisible to the GA. I think that was kind of a mistake on their part to be honest, they overestimated the GA and the non Byler fandom, and they probably should've hinted at Mike's feelings for Will a little more, but that's another story. And at the same time, it worked for us! They wrote this storyline for us, so, who cares about the rest of the fandom. It's not like we didn't warn them anyway!

So, yes, I agree that if Byler was never in the plans they wouldn't have written season 4 they way they did, because they knew how passionate this specific fanbase was and I don't think they would just do something this cruel.

[bixbythemartian]

This is About Oceangate

...kind of. Like, heads up for people who are sick of hearing about it or are too disturbed by this, just scoot on by, that's fine.

Like everybody else my age who had a middle school special interest in the Titanic that was further fueled by the James Cameron movie (and that sounds very specific, but I absolutely know I'm not alone), I've been following this story fuckin voraciously.

I think everybody I know IRL and online is fucking sick of me talking about it. I have been actively trying not to blog much about it here because I'm so obsessed with it that I'm annoyed with myself. I would like to not be this interested in it.

But a lot of the stuff I can think of to say has been said by a lot of people already, I don't want to add to an already noisy environment if I've got nothing new to say.

So, instead, I want to talk about what I haven't seen very many people talking about- something that's stood out to me about the way the media has been handling this story from the get-go. So, finally, I'm inflicting my days long media binge on you.

The media's handling of this was bad. Like, comprehensively fucked.

For the uninformed, a primer on the situation- feel free to skip down if you know all this, there's a bulleted list right after I get done with this part, look for that. But some of this is important to the terms I use, so I wanted to lay it out. (Also I just want to get a lot of this out of my system, please just let me have this.)

The Titan is a 'cyclops-class' submersible. As far as I can tell, 'cyclops-class' is unique to the people who made this submersible, it's not a widely recognized thing.

The Titan can carry up to five passengers. It was supposed to be rated to reach depths of up to 4000 meters below sea level.

The Titan is/was owned and operated by a company known as Oceangate. There's a lot of questions regarding the safety of the submersible, where the math came from on their depth rating, and- basically everything about the Titan is in question, at this point. There's a lot of questions, but that's not what I want to talk about.

Right now. Maybe later.

A submersible is distinct from a submarine in that it requires a surface support ship for many things- the Titan moved too slow to leave port under its own power and go to the site, it didn't have enough life support to do that kind of thing, etc. A submarine is self-supporting and can operate independently. Kind of pedantic, I know, but the Titan is a submersible, not a submarine.

The Titan had a planned expedition to the wreck of the Titanic on June 18, 2023- this past Sunday, at the time of writing. The expedition was supposed to last around 10 hours. It chartered a ship- the Polar Prince- to act as mother ship, the on the surface support that the Titan requires. (The Polar Prince is owned and operated by a different company than the Titan.)

1 hour and 45 minutes into the expedition, as the Titan was still making its way to the sea floor, the Polar Prince lost all contact with the submersible.

The Titanic wreck is at just under 4000 meters deep, right around 2.5 miles.

Now, my understanding is that the Titan was not fully at the ocean floor at the point contact was lost, but it's not clear how deep the Titan was at that time. We may not ever know this for certain.

When the Titan was reported as missing to the coast guard is kind of unclear, to me- I heard 6 hours after they lost contact, I heard 12 hours after they lost contact, I saw something that indicated they reported it missing immediately- I don't know for sure. When the coast guard report comes out, I'm hoping we'll get a more accurate timeline.

However, as soon as it was reported missing, a massive search and rescue operationg was started. Complicating the search efforts were the fact that the submersible seemed to have no type of emergency distress locator beacon (I'm not sure what the precise nautical terminology would be for this).

The search included visual searching of the surface, dropping buoys with microphones, and ROVs (unmanned remote operated vehicles, deep sea robots operated by crew on ships at the surface) searching the floor, and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting. Deep sea radar etc etc, every tool they had access to.

The search and rescue concluded on Thursday (June 22, 2023) around midday, when they definitively found pieces of the destroyed submersible's pressure vessel (the part of the submersible that held pressure and kept the people safe and alive) in a debris field, approximately 1600 feet away from the Titanic.

The destroyed pressure vessel and reports from the Navy on hearing sounds consistent with implosion at the time the Titan lost contact indicates that the submersible underwent what is being called a 'catastrophic implosion'.

It is now an investigation and recovery operation, while they try to figure out what exactly went wrong.

The five men in the sub are dead. In all likelihood, they died so quickly that their nervous system didn't have time to process what happened. What happened to their bodies during this was probably gory and kind of horrifying, but it's unlikely they experienced any awareness of this.

There were five extremely wealthy men on the submersible- they were not all billionaires, but those that weren't were worth hundreds of millions of dollars. If you want a rough sketch of their biographies, there's a link here. Other than them being pretty wealthy, who they are doesn't play that much into what I want to talk about, so I don't feel the need to go into it right now. (Again, as more information comes out, I may come back for another swing.)

So, my complaint. The number of times I saw a news interview with an expert that went like this is not small:

news host interviews deep ocean expert of some variety (who is not involved in rescue)

host asks expert what chances are that the dudes are alive and will be recovered alive

expert, being honest, says something like 'slim to none'

host responds with some amount of sincere-seeming disappointment, then after interview, pivots to the ongoing search for the definitely still alive people

There were news programs with clocks counting down how much theoretical oxygen was left. There were frequent updates to news stories with nothingburgers of additions, just to pad it out. It was, if they were alive at that moment, fucking ghoulish. That they were dead makes it even more horrible.

And I cannot emphasize enough how many experts said, to generalize and paraphrase here: "Unless they are found bobbing on the surface in the next n hours, they are dead. Even if they are alive right this minute, on the bottom of the ocean, there is no hope to rescue them in time."

This is not a failure of any of the rescue entities involved, by the way. The environment they were presumed to be in- 4000 meters under sea level- is so extreme that there are very few vehicles in the world with the capability of even getting to that depth. Like, 10 or less. As far as I know, none of them are designed to do any kind of deep sea rescue- which would have involved carefully scooping up or netting the Titan and hauling it up very slowly. There's no way to transfer personnel between ships at this depth, and the Titan had the largest passenger allowance at this depth, afaik. Like, the odds were incredibly, vanishingly small that these men would live.

The media, at large, never ever really allowed that to change the way they talked about this story or treated the participants in the story. At around 11 am or noon (central daylight time) on Thursday I saw them talking about how 'oxygen is critical'.

Oxygen was critical 24 hours prior. Even by the most generous of expectations, they were out of breathable air. Given how, to put it mildly, janky the submersible seemed to have been, there was absolutely no guarantee that they had even the 96 hours that Oceangate claimed.

Their likelihood of being rescued alive from the ocean floor was minimal on Monday. By Thursday, they were dead- again, unless they were found on the surface somewhere and had managed to carefully preserve their air somehow, they were already dead.

The media didn't really allow for the reality of the situation to be clear until Oceangate and the USCG came out and said 'yeah, they're dead'.

"Well, what's the problem with that?" you might ask. "The United States Coast Guard was the one who was saying it was a rescue up until that point."

Sure. That's their job. Their job is to treat it like an urgent rescue until it is certain that it is not. A significant amount of what they do is to rescue people from doing damnfool things in the water, and keeping hope alive until they find bodies, or evidence thereof. They were doing exactly what they should be doing.

(Whether they do this to this extent for everybody lost at sea is another conversation that's absolutely worth having, as well as their role in border patrol, but I have no bone to pick with the USCG in this particular instance. They did their all until they could do no more, that's the whole point of them, this is how they're supposed to operate.)

The media was not doing what they should be doing. There's an old quote somewhere that I think is just a journalism truism (everyone I've heard talk about it says their journalism professor said it)- if someone tells you it's raining, and someone else tells you it's not, your job isn't to report that, your job is to go outside and see if it's wet.

James Cameron- director of the aforementioned Titanic movie, as well as being a Titanic and deep sea submersible expert, knew they were dead on Monday.

He reached out to some people, he found out that the mother ship lost contact with the crew as well as their location at the same instant, and that the Navy heard a sound consistent with an implosion at around that time.

The information that the Navy heard the implosion was not classified information- they heard it via a listening system that was declassified in the 90s, I believe. Like, I knew about the system just kind of casually because I know random Navy stuff. (My dad was in the Navy, it's mostly osmosis.)

The people on the scene were informed as soon as the Navy knew. (When that was, I'm not sure, except it was before Monday. Probably they had someone go back and listen to it and weren't actively monitoring it, but it's hard to say.)

The deep ocean submersible community knew, well enough that James Cameron could call a buddy and find out. He was telling people on Monday to raise a glass to them.

The media could have had this information, if they did not have it. Either they didn't want to know, or did know, and didn't say it. And I can't say for certain they were suppressing information, but I do know that they frequently downplayed any evidence that these people were dead.

I know on CNN they ran a story about FADOSS- the FlyAway Deep Ocean Salvage System- that was shipped out to Newfoundland. It arrived Wednesday afternoon. Description in the alt text, link here.

At the time this story was published, the people in the sub would have theoretically had less than 24 hours of breathable air. They hadn't even chartered a ship for the FADOSS, at this point. And the port in Newfoundland is hundreds of miles from the site. I'm not sure how many hours away but, like, hours away. I think I heard it's a 6 hour trip, but I'm not certain on that.

This system was referenced in the news as if it was going to be part of the rescue process. Very clearly, this was never going to happen. The quote, 'a process which can take a full day' is a mild understatement, here.

It could, theoretically, be done in 24 hours, but was much more likely to take longer, unless they had enough crew in Newfoundland to do round-the-clock welding.

The response to the question about recovering someone alive is a polite way of saying 'that's not what we do'. They were not part of the rescue operation and were never intended to be, as far as I can tell.

(If you're wondering what part the FADOSS is going to take in the recovery and investigation process, it's not. It's used to lift heavy objects off the floor, and the Titan broke into small enough pieces that the ROVs are believed capable of handling it. FADOSS is on its way back to wherever it is kept. I suspect it was brought out in the edge case that the submersible was found intact with dead crew, to retrieve the vessel whole, so that the families would have bodies to bury.)

Setting aside the 'oh they definitely blew up' news that seems to have been available the whole time, every single piece of evidence and expertise pointed to these people being dead, and yet the news persisted in sort of breathlessly (sorry) talking about the rescue efforts and how much time was left. They persisted in talking about how definitely still alive these people were until they could not do that anymore.

Other examples of this issue are the knocking thing. There were reports of some of the buoys picking up something that could be described as 'knocking'. Some said it was 'every thirty minutes' but we don't know how precise a measurement that was. As soon as they started talking about the knocking, I looked into it.

As it turns out, this is just a thing that happens. The sea is very noisy, and it's hard to determine the source of a sound. Some geological things sound manmade, vice versa. They had a lot of ships cooperating together to work the search area, it's possible that they were hearing noise from those, or something from an oil platform a jillion miles away, because noise travels far and is hard to pinpoint. They had this issue while searching for the sunken USS Thresher and it was one of the ships doing the searching. Given how many different moving parts there were in this search operation, it's hard to say what the knocking was. This is just a thing in the ocean, there's a lot of fuckin noise and experts can't always pinpoint it down in location or even what it might be.

This is why, even though they heard sounds that were consistent with implosion, at the time that the Titan lost total contact with the mother ship, it was still treated as if there was a live rescue operation. Because they couldn't be certain.

But the odds were extremely poor that these men were alive, and almost everybody involved knew that fairly early on. Again, the rescue operation had to go forward like they were looking for someone alive because that's how that works. The media, on the other hand, handled this in a very irresponsible way.

And, like, I know, news media is bad at being news is not some like hot new thing, I've just been building up frustration for days and so it had to come out somehow.

I'm not sure how much of this was just because they're very wealthy men- only one of whom I've ever heard of before- and how much of it was because it was a very bizarre and unique ongoing situation, how much of it was the intersection of that.

But pretty much everybody with enough knowledge to be worth talking to about this knew, like, Monday that even if they weren't dead right then, they were very unlikely to make it out alive, and watching the news wind a bunch of people up over the hopeful outcome was revolting.

Okay. We'll see if I can go 24 hours without talking about this. If you made it to the end of this absolute fucking novel, congratulations and/or I'm sorry.

[random111sposts]

[S2 SPOILERS] My problems with JayVik (Mostly Jayce) and season 2 in general

DISCLAIMER: YOU CAN SHIP JAYVIK, IT'S FINE, I JUST WANNA EXPLAIN WHY I DON'T AND HOW THE SHIP ENDED UP HARMING THE CHARACTERS' ARCS INSTEAD

WE HAVE DIFFERENT OPINIONS, THIS IS MINE

The more and more I rewatch season 2 of Arcane and the more I talk about it with my friend, the more I see problems with the writing and how they did the characters

A lot of it revolving around Jayce specifically and how they seem to have sacrificed Jayce and Viktor's individual characterization and why I don't see Viktor and Jayce together and much prefer they stay just friends and focused more on their own individual struggles and stories

(It seemed like they wanted to put more emphasis on how much Viktor and Jayce need each other rather than focus on how they need to fix up their own individual growth, like how Mel was basically cast aside for some reason as if she and Jayce weren't a thing so he left her alone to become astral buddies with his partner without even saying good bye to Mel first

Sure, just forget the woman who influenced you greatly both in bad and good ways, the same woman who was trying to convince the council not to want weapons made with Hexcore

Forget the woman who you would go to for comfort and who WAS THERE FOR YOU WHILE YOU WERE STRUGGLING WITH YOUR DYING BEST FRIEND

And how Viktor keeps on doing stupid shit like not defending himself or hiding in Act 2 when he himself says that Jayce is not acting like himself and even invites Jayce, thus allowing Jayce to do exactly what you would expect your bestfriend who you said seemed not like himself would do, kill people

He wastes Ambessa's and Singed's time and visits Jayce first even though he can just forcefully get Jayce to join him anyway by having Singed already go through the plan in Act 3 when Viktor was a villain

But nah, doc, gotta talk with my boyfriend first even though I'm currently supposed to be the version of myself that prioritizes evolution more cuz I changed after being killed)

(I wish they went more in depth about Viktor wanting to help the people of Zaun and creating inventions while also struggling with his own flaws and weaknesses both physically and mentally while also having to deal with the discrimination and ignorance of Piltover towards what they keep doing that ends up harming Zaun)

(I wish they went more in depth about how ignorant and naive Jayce is with how he keep accidentally causing more harm towards Zaun like when Ekko called him out for basically making shit that bring the trash of Piltover over to Zaun. Then have Jayce start to grow more as a character and actually LEARN AND KEEP TRYING to go against the superficial demands of his fellow council members and actually try to help the people of Zaun properly by actually listening to them and not just listen to the higher ups because he's a people pleaser. Have Jayce learn more to be independent and less susceptible to being easily manipulated and influenced

DO NOT JUST IMMEDIATELY SHOW SOME TIME TRAVELLING BULLSHIT THEN HAVE JAYCE SUDDENLY KILL GOD VIKTOR THEN SUDDENLY MAKE JAYCE SEEM LIKE HE'S RHE HERO ALL ALONG WHEN WE DIDN'T PROPERLY SEE HIS CHARACTER GROW OTHER THAN HIM BEING FORCED TO BE HARDENED DUE TO THE TRAUMA OF BEING TRAPPED IN A DYSTOPIA

That's not growth, THAT'S TRAUMA

AND PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF FUCKING GOD, STOP MAKING HIM DO THE "Trust me bro" SHIT LIKE HOW HE DIDN'T ELABORATE ON HOW HEXCORE IS A CURSE TO VIKTOR AND HOW ALL HE DID TO PROVE VIKTOR IS BAD IS SHOW A MANNEQUIN)

Like, with Jayce and Mel, they barely had a proper resolution with Jayce just leaving Mel to play Astral God with Viktor without even thinking about how this would affect Mel

And with Jayce's decision to kill Viktor I initially thought "Okay, cool"

But then, the more I think about it, why didn't Jayce just talk to Viktor and ACTUALLY explain how the Hexcore is a curse? THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT HE DOES ANYWAYS AT THE FINALE, SO WHY NOT DO IT BACK IN ACT 2?

SHOW VIKTOR YOUR MEMORIES OR TALK OR SOMETHING SINCE YOU DO THAT ANYWAYS AT THE END

Like Jesus, all Jayce said was "Hexcore is a curse" without elaborating then kills Salo

I keep justifying why Jayce killed Viktor immediately with the whole "Jayce is traumatized cuz he was trapped in a dystopia for God knows how long" but someone else pointed out that it probably isn't enough to justify Jayce's brutality

And I already made a post all about Viktor's POV during all of season 2 so I wouldn't blame Viktor for now changing his views on the world AFTER BEING KILLED BY HIS BESTFRIEND AND WAKING UP TO ALL HIS PEOPLE DYING TOO

https://www.tumblr.com/random111sposts/769459212648693760/viktors-pov-hexcore-kills-friend-i-am-about

I was initially fine with Jayce being a dumbass in season 1 mostly because his dumbassery is constantly called out (Vi calls him out when he panics about killing a child by pointing out how he people have been harming for years and he is just to ignorant about it, Viktor KEEPS calling out Jayce's bullshit like with preventing Zaunites from crossing the bridge and Jayce considering making weapons)

But season 2, not many people do that as much so I ended up getting more and more mad with Jayce's actions since not many of the characters are gonna call him out

The closest was (again) Viktor who full on ended their partnership because Jayce broke their promised, revived Viktor with the thing that killed Sky, and MADE WEAPONS with said thing

Now onto Viktor, my main problem is THEY HAD MORE POTENTIAL TO FLESH OUT VIKTOR'S CHARACTER

LIKE HAVING HIM WORK TOGETHER WITH JINX?

HAVE HIM HAVE MORE PARALLELS WITH SINGED?

HAVE HIM REALIZE BEFORE THAT HE ACCIDENTALLY MADE A HIVEMIND AND STRUGGLE TO UNDO IT THEN GET DEPRESSED THAT HE ONCE AGAIN ENDED UP HARMING PEOPLE IN AN ATTEMPT TO SAVE OTHERS?

BUT NO, LET'S HAVE VIKTOR BE AN EMOTIONAL DUMB FUCK AND NOT ASK JINX AND VI "Hey, since I'm helping your dad and stuff, mind helping me by defending my people since my ex BFF is coming here and he seems not to be in the right mind?"

VIKTOR WOULDN'T HAVE KNOWN IF THEY WOULD SAY YES BUT MIGHT AS WELL TRY, RIGHT?

WE COULD'VE HAD A COOL ZAUN NATION THING WHERE VI, JINX, ISHA, VANDER, AND VIKTOR WORK TOGETHER TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE

BUT NO, HAVE VIKTOR DO NOTHING TO TRY TO DEFEND HIMSELF, HAVE HIM INVITE JAYCE OVER, THEN HAVE HIM MEDITATE WHILE JAYCE TURNS HIM INTO A DAMN DONUT

YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

Also, the damn line "You were trying to fix imperfections" or whatever

JAYCE, VIKTOR WAS FUCKING DYING

COUGHING BLOOD

WHAT? THE HELL YOU MEAN HE'S A PERFECTIONIST

If anyone was a perfectionist, IT WAS FUCKING PILTOVER, NOT THE DISABLED GUY DYING WHILE TRYING TO HELP OTHERS

Another missed potential, they kept show Jinx as Les Miserables or something in the intro, so obviously seemed like she would be a revolutionist

And Viktor wants to help the less fortunate and gets mad whenever Piltover does anything to further ostracize Zaunites

WHY NOT HAVE THE TWO WORK TOGETHER IN THE REVOLUTION?

MACHINE HERALD AND THE FEARED WANTED GIRL WORKING TOGETHER TO REBEL AGAINST THE PRIVILEGED

THAT WOULD'VE BEEN SO FUCKING COOL

COME ON

[askhezureviews]

no spoilers/specifics but when you get to Ghostfuckers it becomes so obvious Brandon is doing the writing again

it's the closest helluva has gotten to its season 1 self in all of s2, and it's still not fantastic, if I'm being honest

there's only so much he can do to right the ship

ep11&12 ping right back into Goetia melodrama, because of course

OKKKKkkkk finally sat down and watched this episode!

Hey! Look, it's like, their first actual job in forever!!! They're actually going to the human world again, great!

I'm very relieved Brandon was brought in to rewrite this. I know some Viv fans were upset about the leaks, but I think it was actually a good thing these leaked and sparked enough outrage for Viv to cave in and change it because Millie unaliving herself for being a bad wife is completely inappropriate. I'd personally feel ashamed and embarrassed if I had wrote that. She claimed they had plans for Millie, that she will get her episode in season 2, but she didn't. Even with Brandon's assistance here, she really didn't. I'd say those leaks are proof she lied to her audience, however... at this point, Vivziepop is merely not self aware of her writing and doesn't comprehend the stereotyping she does to her own characters and their stories. So I don't think she lied, she's unable to comprehend that she isn't delivering on what she claims she will.

The episode establishes: -Blitz's business is now bankrupt. He has not paid his employees in over a month. -Wally Wackford knows IMP and hangs out with them?? / wants to hang out with them?? -Ghosts aren't real in Helluva / Hazbin universe -There's infestor demons that eat off angst I guess? First time we're ever seeing one

Seems like a good portion of this episode is a scooby doo reference. The montage scene was unnecessary, you could have cut it for time / budget.

~~~

Regarding Millie: She claims the most screen time, but this episode actually isn't about her. The main focus is on Blitz. It's Blitz's trauma, Blitz's pain, Blitz's melodrama, and she just happens to be on screen dealing with it. We get a small pinch of something, but I'll talk about it after this analysis:

Millie asks Loona to take care of Moxie for her. These two still haven't passed the bechdel test yet. The only thing I recall them talking about outside of the men in their life is when Loona takes a jab at Millie's age in season 1, which also isn't ideal.

Millie claims she "always has fun with Blitz" and that he is her "best friend" which is news to the audience. This is the first time they've ever hung out in an episode. "I've never had a real friend that I didn't wanna f*ck." But you DO want to f*ck her. Earlier in the episode, he had Millie punch a card he's used frequently. Unwavering loyalty in exchange for leaving Moxie and Millie alone on 1 date. In a single episode he seems to have changed his mind quite suddenly and I'm unsure why.

Millie's backstory is chalked up to "She left the farm to become a hitman in Wrath. The market for assassin's is actually inflated in Wrath, it's high competition, so she was in between jobs. Blitz finds her after she stole their kill, and offers to pay her double. She accepts (Even though he went back on this, he does not pay her double. In fact, she barely gets enough to survive between both her and Moxie.)" She's hired by IMP to do various assassin jobs, and then Blitz decides to move to a different ring and use humans as their new clientele. This is an extremely smart move for his business, because there's quite literally zero competition for this. Millie for some reason thinks she "won't fit in"(??? you don't need to?) because imps are only good for their muscle" This doesn't make sense for Millie to say here. If anything she should have been more insecure staying in Wrath BECAUSE she would be actively compared to the higher competition of her birthplace. Here, they've hit a gold mine.

"Blitz, you made me realize I could be anything! Not just a simple farm girl or underpaid goon." But you are. Millie IS a simple farm girl and underpaid goon. Assassins are extremely common jobs for imps in wrath. She has not subverted people's expectations nor does she have a unique job to that of an imp.

"My mom said sweat, blood, and hard work washes the tears right off!" - Okay now THIS is the first piece of Millie development we have received in perhaps ever!! This implies that Millie's mother/family were emotionally unavailable to her as a child. That whenever she was upset/miserable, she was taught to bury her sadness with work. Which indicates she's a workaholic who probably needs therapy / has trouble expressing emotions properly. This would be a direct cause/effect action that shaped her into who she is today. This is an actual real Millie moment, and it comes from a passing comment. I don't think the writers caught on to what they did here, but THIS is good Millie development! THIS is a genuine character trait that is all hers!

~~~

Some stuff that did get a genuine chuckle out of me:

"I should have been a theater critic, I have objectively correct opinions!"- Moxie , It's also nice to see Moxie attempting to be the brains of the operation again, trying to solve their financial crisis, even if there's no way to save it.

"Your husband is still a little fuckable." - That actually made me laugh too despite the context being a little confused

Anyhow, overall the episode felt like it could have been 15 min long. They should have shortened it. We didn't really get much Millie backstory or character development. Instead of being insecure about her womanhood due to stereotypes(bad wife), she's now insecure about her race/species due to stereotypes (inbred brute). It's still not the best, but it's better than the leaked storyboard. Otherwise the entire episode was basically Blitz wanting to fuck a ghost. Also Blitz's trauma... again. Felt like filler you could frankly delete.