#am i showing blatant favoritism here? of course

[omaano]

Hello! If you're still taking the polyam sketch prompts I'd love to see i2 for the bad batch? (i know the prompts only have three so if this doesn't work pls ignore) - i got a bad error last time sorry if the message sends twice

That icy creamy monstrosity in Crosshair's hand (as the only one who has one free) belongs to Echo. Allegedly.

I hope you are still around Anon, I got your message, and I'm real glad you sent it again, this was really fun to draw!

Polyamorous/platonic poses for sketching (I haven’t given up on these, I just needed a little break. I’ll try to get around to drawing all the requests before the end of summer!)

and the other drawings I’ve made for them

[eddiezpaghetti]

It has come to my attention that SOME OF YOU who read my last Byler post remain UNCONVINCED. So I'm gonna tack onto it this:

I'm older than fucking God and air, and I've been out and proud since 2007. Yes, I know what homophobia is, and yes, I know what queerbaiting is. I know about Supernatural and Teen Wolf and Sherlock and blahdyblahdyblah. No new ground is being covered here. I thought I made that clear in the original post, but, clearly, I did not.

I am aware of queerbaiting and homophobia, and I'm still wholeheartedly certain in Byler being canon anyway.

Okay, so there are three types of relationship I want to discuss when it comes to queerbaiting. They're all, like, "queer relationships that could have happened, but didn't".

First off, queer-coding. This isn't really a thing so much anymore, but it still crops up every once in a while. I'd argue it probably happens most with male-male relationships in family shows these days. First example that comes to mind is Mr. Smiley and Mr. Frowny from Steven Universe. You can't make a relationship canon because some shitty overhead bastard overhead said no, so you get as close as you can without compromising the show. Can't make someone gay? Well, now their comedy routine is a blatant allegory for a romantic relationship. Boom-shaka-laka. This is something I don't see being a problem with regards to Stranger Things, but I want it to be there as contrast, a demonstration of one of many things queerbaiting is not. However, one could argue that, thus far, Will Byers is, canonically, queer-coded. It's pretty fucking heavily implied in the show, and the creators have confirmed it, and you're gonna be able to see it if you're not FUCKING BLIND, but word of god is not technically canon which means that interviews don't technically make something canon, blahdyblahdyblahdyblah, technicalities, Robin has been explicitly stated in the text to be queer while Will has, thus far, not, outside of good ol' Show-Don't-Tell. Of course, anyone with two brain cells to rub together can tell that that's going to change by the end of Season 5, but, hey, for what it's worth, I'm throwing this out there.

Alrighty, Thingamajingama Number Two: "Oops, I accidentally made the greatest love story known to man." AKA, a genuine, honest-to-goodness mistake. Unfortunately, we do live in a heteronormative society. Sometimes people who don't think about being gay much write a friendship that's incredibly compelling and don't even consider the possibility that it could have been read as romantic. Something something Top Gun something. This is, again, not queerbaiting. This is Steddie, this is Ronance, this is Elmax, this is your favorite flavor of non-canon ship this week, this is not Byler. The creators know DAMN well what they're doing. They've talked about it. We know this. Nothing new here.

Which brings us to the topic of discussion here. Actual queerbaiting. This usually starts out as an "accidental greatest love story", and then reacts to fan response. And when I say "reacts", I mean like a goddamn chemical reaction. Like bleach and ammonia, bitch. It's noxious and it's gonna kick your fucking ass without mercy. This is when a creator is like, "Hey, let's get our queer audience invested, but we're not actually going to give them what they want because our straight audience isn't here for that/we personally think it's gross/we don't give enough of a shit to want to research a goddamn thing to write a real gay character," blah blah blah whatever excuse they want to come up with this time.

And when you think "queerbaiting", I want you to think "bullying". Because that's what it is. It's lucrative bullying, like beating us up and taking our lunch money, but it's bullying all the same. And it's a real goddamn thing, even if people misuse the word a lot, often when they mean one of the two above, sometimes when they mean "bury your gays", which is another homophobic thing entirely that I'm not going to get into here. Queerbaiting is the thing we're focused on, and it's real, and it's bullying. And here's the reason I want you to think of it as bullying:

They

Think

It's

Funny.

They are actively making fun of us.

That's why Dean had the "Cas, get out of my ass," line in Supernatural. It's why the "Do you like boys?" line happened in Teen Wolf. It's why "Lie with me, Watson," happened in the RDJ Sherlock Holmes movies. Because "It's just a joke, mate." "It was just a prank, bro." "You didn't really think it would happen, did you?" "You should see your face."

So here's probably the biggest reason I don't think it's specifically queerbaiting in this specific instance of Will Byers and Mike Wheeler.

Stranger Things has never, not once, made a gay joke. Ever.

Every single time queerness comes up, it's dead serious.

Lonnie calls Will a fag, and the show is not at all reluctant to show what a goddamn horrible person he is. And when Hopper latches onto that, it's not as "Hahah, is he gay, though?" It's because he's trying to determine a potential motive for Will's disappearance, and even if someone had interpreted it as a joke, Joyce immediately has a line that functions as snapping her fingers in front of the audience's face and yelling "FOCUS" when she says "He's MISSING." Basically outright saying "This isn't funny!"

Troy calls him a fairy, along with targeting Lucas and Dustin for their skin color and disability respectively, and Mike gets damn near murderous. Troy is portrayed as a goddamn monster and the show portrays it as justice when El makes him piss his pants and later breaks his arm.

Steve calls Jonathan "queer" as a slur and gets the shit beat out of him for it.

Billy's father is revealed to be homophobic and abusive in the same breath.

Mike says "It's not my fault you don't like girls!" and we're shown how devastated Will is and Mike immediately follows him to beg for forgiveness.

There is a joke in Robin's coming-out scene, but it's not at Robin's expense. It's at Steve's. Specifically for being heteronormative.

Jonathan has multiple scenes where he's trying so hard to tell Will that he's always going to love him as he is, whether he's gay or not, without pressuring him to come out before he's ready.

Even when there's a little bit of ribbing at Robin's expense, it's always because she's an awkward nerd who's nervous around pretty girls, just the same as Lucas and Dustin are teased when they both first develop crushes on Max, and even then, even then, it always comes as a package deal where they make fun of Steve's girl problems at the same time.

Stranger Things is an emphatically pro-gay show. It may not be the core point of the show the way it is in, say, Our Flag Means Death, but there is nothing less than respect for its queer characters. Its queer characters are always taken completely seriously. No one is making fun of us. They never have. That's why I have serious doubts that this is queerbaiting. It would come completely out of left field for the bullying to start in Stranger Things' final season.

So it's not at all likely to be queerbaiting because queerness is taken completely seriously. The creators have talked about Will's queerness, at least, so it's not an accident. And queer-coding would be silly to expect from this show when it's already on its final season. Like, what is Netflix gonna do? Cancel it? Not to mention all the explicit queerness that's in there already. And no one's gonna "What about the children?" a show that's had sex scenes in it since the first season.

There's no fakeout here. It's gonna happen. Breathe.

[hecates-corner]

When I first heard There Are Other Ways, I was a little disappointed by the fact that Circe didn’t successfully seduce Odysseus, considering the huge Greek Mythology nerd I am.

Bear with me.

Then, I played the saga, and that song, for my wonderful mother tonight. About halfway through, I gasped.

The story is accurate to the Homeric version: he confronts her (clandestinely at first), she fights back, he pulls the sword.

But she’s not afraid. Of course she isn’t.

Why would an immortal being, with the rage and power of commanding a million different beasts if her Plan A goes down, be afraid of a measly man with a flimsy toothpick to her throat, just because he ate a flower and said “Be afraid!”?

That’s right! She wouldn’t.

Because Jay didn’t submit to the blatant misogyny of the tale.

Read this article for incredible information, if you please. It changed the way I saw Circe’s story.

If Circe cowered, simply because a man held a sword to her throat, only then would she have seduced him (if we’re going ultra-canon with the storyline, which Jay isn’t), which would have, yet again, thrown off the balance of power.

Circe could give less of a shit about the sword, in the song. She thinks he’s pretty hot, and maybe she’s manipulating him into coming to bed with her so she can trick him, so she offers a tryst or two. Here, if you read the article, she is throwing off the nature of men and women by being the active sexual partner.

He refuses, too enamored with Penelope, and shuns his curiosity in her. You can hear how it pains him, it’s a struggle to say no. But he does. He’s strong, he’s no god, cheating on his wife for the sake of sex appeal. He’s just a man.

He begs. That’s the thing that got me. Not her, him.

“So I beg you, Circe, grant us mercy, and let us puppets leave~”

Then, Circe offers to help him — not because she’s restoring the nature of being submissive — but because she has empathy and compassion for the man. She helps him because he’s proved himself, to be weary, and faithful, and human. She knows the feeling of love.

So, yes. So many layers. Like an onion, worthy of making you cry.

1. Jay is spitting in the face of misogyny and gender roles, and having her help him because she empathizes. Because she’s in power.

2. It’s sort of a jab, if interpreted a certain way, at sexual assault. He says no, and he holds true to it. Even though everything is telling him to give in, to let it happen, he refuses, and remains as sure as he can be.

3. It shows how very human Odysseus is. Athena forgot it, and somehow held him to it. Even the men forget it. But he never does. There is only so much he can do.

This is my favorite saga so far.

[rottenpumpkin13]

what antics would ensue from a secret SOLDIER department pet lizard (named lazard 2, probably) that zack snuck into the tower going.... gasp... missing?

*Zack and Cloud are in the hallway, on their hands and knees, crawling around*

Zack: Lazard! Come here, buddy!

Cloud: Pspspspsps come here, Lazard!

*Tseng walks in on this*

Tseng: ....You're looking for Lazard?

Zack: Yeah! He's missing!

Tseng: Lazard is missing!?

Cloud: Unfortunately, yeah. But don't worry, we'll find him soon enough.

*Zack and Cloud continue to crawl around*

Zack: Come here, sweetie!

Cloud: Don't be scared!

Tseng: !?!?!?

—

*Genesis is shaking a bag of treats and looking around the hallway*

*Tseng walks in on this*

Genesis: Lazard! Look, darling, I've brought you dried insects to eat! They're your favorite!

Tseng: Commander, I've heard that Lazard is missing, but this isn't the time to joke around.

Genesis: How dare you insinuate that I'm taking my beloved pet's disappearance as a joke?

Tseng: Your pet?

Genesis: Yes. Now if you'll excuse me—

*Genesis walks off and continues to shake the treats*

Genesis: I've got locusts, crickets, and cockroaches! Doesn't that sound delicious?

Tseng: What kind of relationship does the director have with his men!??

—

*Tseng goes looking for Sephiroth, and finds him holding a net while Angeal sets up a plate of fruit*

Tseng: Sephiroth, Hewley, I've heard that Lazard is missing. If this is true, I'll need to start an investigation to locate him as soon as possible.

Sephiroth: It's true. Our beloved Lazard is missing.

Tseng: Then I'll inform—

Sephiroth: No longer can he lay his head in my lap while I stoke his small, fragile body.

Tseng: HUH?

Sephiroth, sadly: If we're unable to find him, I'll miss arriving onto the SOLDIER floor each morning to see him eagerly crawling towards me to receive affection.

Tseng, blood pressure rising: CRAWL—

Angeal, patting Sephiroth's back: Don't worry, we'll catch him! This trap ought to do it. When he comes towards the fruit, we'll swing the net and grab him.

Tseng: Gentlemen, I'm horrified by the information I've been told by all of you today. This behavior is unbecoming of SOLDIER.

Sephiroth: But we're only trying to locate our beloved pet.

Tseng: Please stop calling him that.

—

*The next day, Angeal, Zack, Cloud and Genesis are sitting around making missing lizard flyers when Tseng walks in*

Tseng: We'll be hosting an interdepartmental meeting to discuss Lazard's disappearance and how to proceed from there.

Zack: Wow! You guys care that much?

Tseng: Of course. Director Lazard is an integral member of the board of directors. We must locate him immediately.

*Sephiroth walks in with a lizard on his shoulder*

Sephiroth: Look, I've found Lazard. Isn't this wonderful? He was under the couch in my office all along.

Tseng: YOU TURNED DIRECTOR LAZARD INTO A LIZARD!? I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS.

Tseng: THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH THE DISRESPECT YOU PEOPLE SHOW FOR THE MATERIA SHINRA PROVIDES YOU WITH! YOUR BLATANT DISREGARD AND THE GROSS DISPLAY OF MISCONDUCT ARE ABSOLUTELY INTOLERABLE!

*He grabs the lizard from Sephiroth*

Tseng: WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH HIM NOW? HOW AM I GOING TO EXPLAIN THIS TO THE PRESIDENT?

Tseng: YOU PEOPLE ARE INSANE. I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE. YOU IDIOTS! TURN HIM BACK! TURN HIM BACK NOW OR I'LL—

*Lazard walks in*

Lazard: What's all the screaming about?

Tseng:

[crystallizsch]

in the current event, grim says something like wow it must be nice to be going on vacation. im just gonna be at ramshackle all day. and it got me thinking because!!! yuu and grim really are in it together. he says he doesn’t remember having a family in book 4, so they really are all the other has. a lot of people, when talking about yuu’s problems, forget about grim a lot, i think. of course he gets yuu into trouble and isn’t very helpful, but he’s literally like. a kitten. he fights for? yuu and i just. think they are neat !

YESSS ANON

NOW THAT YOU MENTION IT I’M ACTUALLY OBSESSED WITH HOW THE STITCH EVENT SHOW THE “OHANA” FAMILY THEMES ESPECIALLY WITH YUU AND GRIM (and how it just made it more blatant in the ending) (thanks lilia for spelling it out hfjdjjd)

(source)

literally the recent event has grim all jealous of stitch and even overprotective of yuu (that one scene of grim jumping into water to try and save you??? that got me so much)

anyways you’ve opened a whole can of worms in my brain ougheghdhegr

i dont talk about yuu and grim often but they are actually one of my favorite dynamics in the game

imagine being transported into an unfamiliar world and the only thing that is remotely in the same situation as you is some kind of talking magical cat that doesn’t even respect you in the slightest, looking down on you.

also what are even the conventions in this place? are you even going to be okay? sure you’re being kept in this… ramshackle building but what’s guaranteeing your safety? “accidents” can happen.

then this talking cat is back and suddenly you both are begrudgingly a package deal. you’re essentially just using each other. yuu needs grim bc they’re magicless and grim needs this human to attend this school.

but (since they really have no choice anyway) they spend all this time together that they eventually become THE package deal.

like at that point who is grim without yuu and who is yuu without grim?

it’s also interesting bc grim seems to have these childish tendencies on top of acting like… a cat.

so of course he becomes so attached and dependent to them. who else has given this feline direbeast a home after all? why it’s yuu, of course. especially when he doesn’t remember anything else.

and to compensate, grim is the one to protect yuu. in his mind he’s the leader, he’s the protector. it’s a failure on his part as the great mage grim if he lets anything bad happen to his hench human.

and for yuu’s part, this feline beast is the one who’s always there with them funnily enough (there’s also ace and deuce but they’re not the focus here right now)

so similarly yuu cares about grim as much (at least that’s how i choose to interpret it bc you could argue yuu only “cares” bc if anything happens to grim, they’re kinda fucked)

grim is definitely more than this talking sidekick companion and i will go to my grave believing that he’s the biggest part of yuu’s character and vice versa.

i also believe that canon yuu has a more integral part in the story beyond being an isekai protagonist and the one seeing disney movie visions + mickey. im just waiting on when we find out the real reasons yuu and grim are together.

hdhhfdhdhgd anyways you’re right i think yuu and grim are just neat. i am putting them in a jar and shaking them affectionately.

[friendly-stardust]

These incompetent showrunners really went in for the kill with Aegon II's character assassination

I know this has been said over and over again already but I am actually truly amazed at how far the showrunners/writers went to completely assassinate Aegon's character to make sure that he is portrayed in the worst possible way. As this has already been highlighted numerous times, he is characterised even worse than Mushroom's degenerate description of him in Fire and Blood. They really went as far as presenting us with a caricature, a monstrosity that cannot be believable to be human.

This claim of wanting to make a grey character out of this mustache-twirling villain stereotype they have created to put up against a heroic Disney princess, is just an insult to audiences who came in to watch an actual intelligent and well-written show.

I have never seen such blatant character assassination disguised as some profound creation of a grey character.

In this inconsistent fanfiction seemingly made for the glorification of Saint Perfect Girlboss Rhaenyra, her direct foil and opponent Aegon II is made to be:

A sexual deviant, masturbating out of a widow in his teenage years, and maybe a pedophile (with that ridiculous sentence from the Brothel Madam in the horrendous episode 9).

A bully, mercilessly bullying his younger brother  Aemond.

A rapist, of course! How best to destroy a male character in this day and age if not by making him an obvious rapist! And then they want to talk about complex characterisation? LOL! Sara Hess knew what she was doing here.

Of course, a sadist who enjoys watching brutal children's fights (also including his own bastards) in a pit - the epitome of a laughingly cringe tentative to paint a character as the ultimate villain.  

An abusive husband to his sister-wife, obviously! let's just pile on, shall we, even when nothing in the text in F&B suggests or supports any such claim.

A coward, willing to abandon his family and his dragon (his pride) to sail away and hide, leaving them at the mercy of Daemon and Rhaenyra's whims and wishes - the complete opposite of his character in F&B!

A great work of destruction indeed!  All of these are just blatant and obvious willingness from these showrunners/writers to obliterate his characterisation in order to prop up Saint Girlboss Rhaenyra, but nothing makes my blood boil more than the multiple sexual deviances (the abject rapist characterisation being the worst offender), and the implied abusive relationship with Haleana they completely created in order to drive home how awful Aegon is supposed to be seen as opposed to the complete whitewashed version of their favorite girlboss. Maybe next season, Aegon will be shown to be someone who loves torturing puppies, who knows?

And even when the actor TGC made his concern well known, those amateurish writers just brushed it aside, while someone who is on record for saying that she has not even bothered to watch Game of Thrones (the incompetent Sara Hess) decided to tarnish and destroy his character even more by claiming to want to make it more like GoT. Absolute joke this one!

I just recently read something about how Jesse Amstrong (Succession) listened to Arian Moayed (playing Stewy Hosseini) and respected his decision to not be depicted as a typical bad representation of Iranians in Western media and this just made me realise even more how inept HotD showrunners/writers are at taking into consideration valid concerns from one of their own actors.

Overall, HotD has just been a massive disappointment on the writing side. The writing is cringe and horrendous, making it just an expensive CW-level show with a bigger budget. A huge letdown and an absolute travesty of the book characters.

[tokyogruel]

FINALLY ITS YOUR TURN *desordena todo buscando las que había apartado para ti*

HERE HERE HERE HERE HERE HERE!!! THIS IS FOR YOU!!!! (<- really excited)

THIS SONG WAS MADE FOR YOU!!!! IDK IF IT'S YOUR STYLE BUT ITS SO YOU???? ALSO ALSO ALSO-

Also this one I gift to you (⁠´⁠；⁠ω⁠；⁠｀⁠) it's Aoi Shiori (video w/English subs), and it's a song I hold really close to my heart, but you also give the warmth and gentle and soft feelings this song gives. I know the song is a bit melancholic, but... I don't know, I wanted to give you this song..... AAAAAAND I WANTED TO GIVE YOU ONE IN SPANISH AND I WAS LIKE WHICH WOULD BE GOOD AND I CHOSE THIS ONE (translation)

BECAUSE I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH AND THIS IS A REALLY FUN SONG WITH REALLY GOOD VIBES, SO HERE HERE!!!! TE QUIERO MUCHO MUCHO MUCHO CORAZON DE MELON <3 (literally "melon heart" it's an expression and the closest would be "sweetheart" I guess? I don't really get why melon tho, but it's cute)

seari!!! te queiro mucho mi pajarita!

ahhh you have unlocked my secret,, i enjoy dance music,,, and gumi is a sleeper fav,,, very jammin tune, ill have to listen to it more :3

and youuuuuuuUUUU... you cant just hit me with aoi shiori and expect me to be OKAY,, this shit hurts,, but its so sweet it warms my heart that you thought of me with this song<333

lo mejor de mi vida eres tu... I REALLY LIKE THIS ONE,,.. i am always looking for more songs in my target languages, and spanish is one i dont have a lot for, so im really happy to get a spanish song from you :>

i listened to it once without the translation and recognized a lot more than i thought i would, i feel like i got a general feel for what the song is talking about, but im gonna listen again and check out the translation while i do. AUGGHHH THEM LAUGHING TOGETHER AT THE END KILLS ME DEAD

AGHHHHHHHHHHHAAA OWWWWWW... i read the translation and my heart,,, mi corazonnnn,,,,,.uuhhuhgfuhjhjk THIS HURTS (positive) SEARIIIII MI PAJARITA YOU ARE SUCH A SWEETHEART. CORAZON DE MELON....

of course of course though. i would be remiss if i did not return the favor

this song i think you will enjoy, if you dont know it already. the lyrics arent relevant, i mostly want you to listen to the instruments, so i gave you the off vocal. heres the original if youd like it, and the lyrics if youd like to know them. again though, it is the instrumental that makes me think to show it to you

i think you might enjoy this song. its really jammin, and i personally enjoy the lyrics a lot. i def recommend listening to this one whenever you need a pick-me-up or something to jam out to

ohhhh, oh oh oh seari. have i even shown you my favorite band? im going to see them for the second time in a few months... theyre going to be at a theatre that is super close to my old apartment teehee (i had actually told them about the specific theatre a year+ ago on insta and i think they wrote it down or something. its so crazy)

UM.. blatant fangirling aside. you were perfect & im sorry is the first one that comes to mind for you, with find out the hard way right behind and of course i cant talk about my Darling, Mickey without bringing up reverse cowgirl.....

ahhh ive put so many songs. ive put too many songs. alas, im going to give you one more...

i very specifically want to give you a kiltro song- a band very near and dear to my heart. but of course i cant just give you any kiltro song. so i dug through their discography. a true song dedication, not just a recommendation

ursula - kiltro

[anxresi]

Somehow, I can tell who wrote the script for ‘Derision’...

...The latest leaked script for the bastion of security which is Miraculous Ladybug.

I’ll spare you the predictable scenes set in flashback where Chloe (with the help of that gullible lug Kim and willing assistant Sabrina) covers everyone’s favorite blunette in spiders (didn’t Zoe get cockroaches put in her locker too? WTF is it with this show which considers insects the epitome of bullying?) and covers her ass with green paint (hey, it could’ve been worst! It could’ve been gum... oh.)

The part where it REALLY shows Mr Astruc’s handiwork and how he’s far more manipulative than even Chloe could ever hope to be, stands out in this particular shining moment... 

1. WTF is ‘Rosita’? Is this the Mexican dub, or something?

2. OOH THOMAS YOU SO META WITH YOUR BLATANT EXPOSITION!! But really, you’re using an argument against Chloe fans rivalled only in its disingenuousness by its pure straw man...ibility.

My beef with you regarding Chloe’s development isn’t ‘E-v-i-l people using bad parental treatment as an excuse for their misdeeds’ and more ‘Leading us on a wild goose chase with HOURS of episodes showing Chloe growing both as a person and a superhero, only to abandon all that suddenly to turn her into a wannabe terrorist and psychopath overnight’. Check out TV Tropes. Alpha Bitches do not generally turn from Lovable Alpha Bitches to Complete Monsters in the space of one episode, do they? (Unless of course, you want us all to kneel at the altar of that vast expanse of blandness known as Zoe, but that’s another story...) 

Ways it could’ve been done better: SHOW us during S1 and S2 that Chloe is capable of the mindless thuggery we’ve seen of her more recently. If you’re going to show her pull a Heel-Heel-Face-Turn, do it GRADUALLY in a realistic fashion, don’t just dump it all at the end of S3 by pretending her budding development never happened. And if Zoe was REALLY ‘the true holder of the Bee Miraculous’, how come her name was never even mentioned until the early parts of S4?! I think we’re talking about less of a character here, and more of a placeholder introduced to take on Chloe’s role as a hero because you don’t like her. (Zoe getting Pollen after one-and-a-half episodes was ‘utterly ridiculous’ too, as will be her becoming Chat Noir briefly in a future show(!) But again., that’s a discussion for another time.)

Basically Mr A, you can heap as many humiliating ‘punishments’ upon Chloe as much as you want. Mutilate her once-halfway-complex and potential-filled personality by increasingly marking her as one-dimensionally e-v-i-l to your heart’s content. Insert as much clunky dialogue from the mouths of other characters to get back at your ‘haterz’ if it makes you feel better. Even set entire episodes set in the past designed to make people hate her as much as you do... hey, it’s your show!

But don’t try to pretend any of this was planned. Along with the reasons given above, I don’t think if all this was intended from the beginning, such a MEGA surplus of Queen Bee and Chloe toys would’ve been released... if they always intended her to be one of the most despised characters. It was all done because one man’s blind hatred of a fictional teenager hi-jacked the plot and derailed it from what it could’ve been. At one point at the end of S2, things were ticking along quite nicely. Then YOU got much more heavily involved in the show’s writing... and the rest, as they say, is history.

And no, I am NOT devaluing Marinette’s in-story bullying. I’m more criticizing Thomas’s shameless weaponizing of it to turn this episode into yet ANOTHER stick to beat Chloe with. It disgusts me more and more, to see him paint (pun not intended) a young child as some kind of irredeemable hellspawn incarnate to prop up the kudos of the stereotypically ‘nice’ girl characters around her. Sorry... Marinette, Mylene, Rose and ESPECIALLY Zoe. You’re just boring. CHLOE FAN FOREVER!! :D

So, to conclude... my main reaction to Derision... is complete and utter derision. Just not in the way they intended... ;)

(Someone just left a comment pointing out Mylene’s mother abandoned her. Figures only Thomas would use a side character’s misery as yet ANOTHER excuse to get back at Miss Bourgeois. What’s the betting that this now canonical detail was only put in to denigrate Chloe more? After all, he introduced an entire character for this very purpose, so I wouldn’t put ANYTHING past him now...) :p

[countessofravenclaw]

5, 8 and 20 for the fanfic writer ask game

Is there a tiny detail in one of your fics that you feel goes tragically unnoticed?

Oh my god, this is hard... I am trying remember here what I have actually released and what are still unreleased...

Okay, this hasn't maybe been that apparent quite yet, but it will be and I feel like it has and will end up bit unnoticed. It hasn't been that apparent yet, given that Oscar (Gastón and Nina's oldest and only son) hasn't been that prominently featured yet, when this has to do with him.

There are some certain parallers that appear between Gastón and Nina, Gastón's parents, and finally Oscar and the girl who he will eventually marry (yes, I know who she is. I have though that far, but not gonna spoil things here). So basically, The Perida line kind of rhymes with each other when it comes relationships, marriages and true love

Maybe the most obvious one is the fact that Isla and Marco met at a photgraphy course at University when they were 20, while Gastón and Nina had their first proper interraction during the photography worshops at Blake.

I don't think Gastón realized that paraller himself until he told his parenst about Nina and they pointed it out. Then they knew that Nina was gonna be their duaghter in law

I can't say much about Oscar here, because 1. I haven't written the stuff yet and 2. I don't wanna spoil about the girl, evben thoug it will be obvious when the fics go on.

Is there a story idea you have that you would love if it could appear fully realized but that you do not think you’ll ever write yourself?

Honestly, I am not sure, because like, why I started writing was because the fics I wanted to read didn't exist. I am also such a terriple fic reader with subjects I have my own ideas on, because I keep going: "I wouldn't do it like this" and "I am not sure". I need to keep telling myself that it is not my fic and it is a different interpreteantion.

Is there anything about any one of your fics that you have been dying to discuss but haven’t had the chance to?

I think I kind of talked about this in one of the authors notes of S2AU, but like the whole thing thing with Ambar and Gastón's relationship and why I kind of think Ambar kind of has a soft spot for him.

Even when she was trying to ruin Gastina in S1, she was always just seeking to hurt Nina, never even mentioning Gastón.

This is again something that was mentioned in S2AU and other fics that they have been in the same class since the 3rd grade, and Gastón is the one Ambar has known the longest and they've always been kind of friends.

Okay, so, we see in the show how Ambar looks at the Valentes all sad, because how happy they are as a family, because her life is not like that. What I think she is doing with that, is that she she is justifying it with thinking that the Valentes are servants, low class and don't have money, so it is different and her parental relationship with Sharon is completely normal because they have class and money.

But when she looks at a family Gastón has, she can't really make those argument, because Peridas are a high class family with money and influence in the excatly the same level as Sharon (no mater what she likes to say about them), but they also are totally capable of loving and knowing their child. Sharon didn't even know Ambar's favorite color, while Gastón's parents are able to tell that he is upset about something from how he prounces a letter.

So, it is like this very blatant proof that something is definitely wrong in her relatioship with Sharon. Maybe she is still trying to justify it, by thinking that she is adopted and there is only one parent so it is different, but would probably never actually believe in that. So yeah, she's definitely jelous, but in a way that she knows that she can't change that.

So she more like wants to preserve that, because she likes the idea.

I don't know if this makes any sense, but hopefully you could see what I was going for here

[magnorious]

A Titan’s Curse Retrospective, 16 Years Later

Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters **Spoiler Alert**

When I first got my hands on this book, I looked at how thin it was and worried that each consecutive book would be shorter than the last. Titan’s Curse is the off-beat middle episode of the five, occurring around the winter solstice instead of during summer break.

It was never my favorite, but I remembered liking it because it felt darker. I remembered that, for the first time, characters we were supposed to care about were dying on the page. The gods were up close and personal now, at the heart of the quest. There were guns in this book, destiny-challenging decisions to forestall the Great Prophecy for a little while longer.

And, of course, Blackjack, the Dam Snack Bar, Fred, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, and the arrival of the di Angelos.

Maybe that’s just nostalgia talking, ‘cause I’m pretty sure that when it came out, before HOO, Titan’s Curse was dead last on everyone’s tier list for one reason: Annabeth is absent for most of the plot, and Zoë is kind of irritating.

—

The Titan’s Curse

We open immediately to a much more serious tone than before, and a timeskip unlike before. The growth of Percy and Thalia’s relationship happens entirely offscreen between books, which is a bit disappointing. During the gap between TlT and SoM, the time in between books was filled with school, details unimportant to the plot. Here, though, we’ve missed some potentially juicy plot beats like Thalia’s reaction to the passage of time, her meeting Percy, another illegal demigod, her reunion with Annabeth and discovery that Luke turned traitor.

Maybe, if the Disney show makes it that far, we’ll get to see those missed opportunities on screen. But you do start the book feeling like there was a chapter left on the cutting room floor.

Doubly so, they spent at least a couple months together before chapter one, enough to build a rapport and make a confident team together, and yet Percy somehow has never seen Thalia manipulate the Mist before.

Sixteen years later and it is buckwild even seeing Nico’s name dropped for the first time nine pages in. He’s not even in the book for more than the first couple chapters and right at the end for the big reveal. He was nobody’s favorite leading all the way up to House of Hades four whole ass books from now, just an eager little kid, then a bratty little goth wannabe, then an angsty goth wannabe.

Getting flung back to lil’ wide-eyed and bushy tailed 10-year old Nico is sobering. He was such a little nerd with his Mythomagic figurines and cards and dumb, dorky 10-year-old questions.

**Side note - in my SoM I falsely recalled that the Grover empathy link never made a reappearance and I am pleasantly surprised that it does get mentions here, even if it doesn’t do much.**

—

The opening fight, while thrilling, is held back a little by Percy’s continued ignorance. He’s fourteen, he’s been at this for two years now, and he’s still the last to find things out (for the benefit of the audience). Before, it made sense, he was young and inexperienced, but if he’s out here leading raids and rescue parties, he’s got no excuses to not be doing his homework and I wish Riordan had come up with a different method of getting exposition to the audience this time around.

Immediately after, enter the Hunters’ blatant sexism and I’m left scratching my head on why I remember liking this book so much. It’s off to a rather rocky start.

It’s not so much that Artemis leads a club of eternal tweenage virgins. The Hunters are a sanctuary alternative to Camp Half-Blood and it has its pros and cons. My problem, especially as I’m older reading this, is that Artemis gets Bianca murdered promising her a break from her horrible, no good, very bad baby brother, and there’s no reckoning for that.

There’s no alternative to her statement of only being patron to girls “before they go astray” like the moment puberty hits Artemis kicks these hedonistic sinners to the curb. Thalia sure hates them and calls it stupid (before joining them in the end) and Percy makes his opinions on Bianca’s selfishness clear, but beyond a reluctant approval of Percy after he almost dies holding up the sky, there is no “yeah our club isn’t actually as awesome as us snooty girls think it is”. Artemis is still a good guy, so are the hunters, and their ideology is never challenged.

Bianca dies! She’d still be alive if Artemis hadn’t been a predatory patron, snatching her up in a moment of weakness and ripping her little brother’s only family away because, by nature of being a boy, he sucks.

In other words, she doesn’t get to be painted as a decent goddess when she’s no better than Hera and Zeus with her strawmanning. Especially when Apollo and, heck, Dionysus, show so much more humanity in this book.

Artemis is just so hard on the poor kid and thank the gods Percy didn’t die before he could save Nico from himself. Nico would have absolutely joined Luke and burned Olympus to the ground without Percy’s intervention, and it would have been Artemis’ fault. “Yes, boy. You see, Bianca di Angelo is not the only one with an annoying brother.” My good bitch, who do you think you are? He’s 10!

It is abundantly clear why the Nico di Angelo Protection Squad found such strong footing. The whole nexus of this series is the gods’ neglect and the first 70 pages of this book are a stellar example of what Luke’s been yammering about this whole time.

—

As always, the foreshadowing and subtle reminders are solid. Tyson’s throwaway line about the Princess Andromeda heading toward the Panama Canal so it can eventually reach the West Coast, the reminder of the dragon that scarred Luke’s face via souvenir claw in the Big House attic. The reminder that Percy’s sword Riptide has a tragic past and all the hints that Bianca and Nico are children out of time as they suddenly remember forgotten details from their past and Bianca’s lucky strike on the skeletons.

Oh, and this poignant little nugget from the souvenir pile in the attic, a tag attached to a broken sword hilt: “This broke and Leroy got killed, 1999.” I can picture Leroy’s surviving friends staring at that broken weapon and having nothing more to say than that, and abandoning it to collect dust in the attic.

Percy is still rife with realistic, humanizing flaws. He’s jealous of Thalia and suffering an inferiority complex, mucking up the di Angelo rescue mission thinking he can do it on his own, and then the capture the flag game, and then going off on his own during the second quest that’s not about him. His rivalry with Thalia, the only demigod that can go toe-to-toe with him in terms of abilities, is something fresh for this book. Thalia’s like a less obnoxious Annabeth because she doesn’t suffer that Athenian hubris making her a know-it-all.

—

Bianca fits right in with the Hunters, not missing her little brother one bit (stone cold, girl. Stone. Cold.) Acting like a sudden expert at the Ping Pong table counselor meeting. I know she’s been groomed by a selfish misandrist but she’s not long for this book and it has done nothing to endear audiences to her.

She gets worse when she has her first minute alone with Percy and he reassures her that abandoning her baby brother is perfectly fine so long as she’s happy when… no? Percy took like, two weeks to come to terms with being a demigod and an entire quest. Bianca takes two days and she’s rearing up to go on a quest to save her cult leader.

She explains that she’s raised Nico all her life and wanted to experience something outside of caring for him, even though she knows it’s selfish of her to just up and abandon him, his feelings be damned. Thing is, it is selfish. I feel zero sympathy for this girl and I doubt she fully understands what she signed up for. She will be twelve forever and Nico will, theoretically, grow up, grow old, and see her only a handful of times in their lives before he’s dead. All because he’s a bit irritating at his age and she wants a vacation.

When she dies not long after, the point of her character even existing beyond being Nico’s motivation gets a bit muddied. Artemis and the Hunters aren’t punished by the narrative for getting her killed, she doesn’t die doing anything spectacular and she wakes the very monster that kills her trying to get a trinket for Nico, then she’s dead.

Trying to be independent set her on the path to dying young, feeling guilty about abandoning the only family she had left is what sealed the deal.

—

The original cover art! The ‘07 American version with Percy and Blackjack in indigo. TLT’s art didn’t pull from any one specific scene and SoM was more inspired by the rope bridge with Polyphemus on the sheep island, but TTC’s art is ripped straight from the page and I love how it has both nothing to do with the title of the book and is totally out of left field concerning Dionysus (and I think the best moment of the book).

The scene in question is Dionysus interrupting Percy and Blackjack’s pursuit of the questers in Manhattan, showing more agency in that moment than he had in the past two books. He tells Percy about Ariadne and why he hates heroes (because they’re selfish) alluding to why Zoë hates heroes. Percy has been quite self-important in this book, but he's no Theseus, not even close.

The settings in this book aren’t nearly as colorful as the previous two, and the same goes for the monsters along the way. It’s winter and it feels like it, in more ways than one. There’s human mercenaries, the grey skeletal soldiers, the Nemean lion that doesn’t talk, Talos that doesn’t talk, and a few other oddballs.

The junkyard of the gods where they fight Talos has wonderfully creepy and foreboding vibes. Things that get thrown away there are abandoned for a reason.

All the quirky sense of adventure that existed before is gone this time around and while I enjoy the tonal shift personally, I don’t know that it was the best choice to make for the series as a whole. The lack of “color” is made worse by all the other irritating and frustrating elements.

The best elements remain the most off-beat ones, like Apollo in incognito mode, the Dam snack bar, everything I remembered from reading this as a kid, along with Dionysus’ moments and Dr. Chase.

TTC’s prophecy is solid, and since we get it at the beginning this time, we get to wrack our brains trying to solve it along with the cast. It’s not as ambiguous as TLT’s prophecy, but I like the cadence, how long it is, and how ominous it is – right off the bat, you know two people are dead this book.

Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,

One shall be lost in the land without rain,

The bane of Olympus shows the trail,

Campers and Hunters combined prevail,

The Titan’s Curse must one withstand,

And one shall perish by a parent’s hand.

—

Zoë is… frustrating. I hate to go all “not all men” but jeez, girl, not all men. She even says those exact words herself as she’s dying. So much bitterness and resentment in her long life. Why couldn’t Artemis be a good patron of immortal tweenagers and find them a decent therapist? I’m lumping her in with Artemis for their antiquated and frankly ridiculous pontificating. I get that’s Artemis’ schtick; doesn’t make it fun or interesting to read.

Zoë is a victim of godly propaganda and her death is as tragic as Bianca’s, the fate of heroes little more than divine chess pieces tossed aside at a whim. Her memorial as the new constellation is poignant, it just unfortunately was given to a character more frustrating than endearing. Her whole arc in this book is appreciating that not all heroes are awful thanks to Percy, but she struts around like her sh*t doesn’t smell.

Zoë hates heroes because Hercules did her dirty, Thalia hinted that Annabeh considered joining the Hunters because of Percy, and Dionysus told Percy he’d never stop being selfish and self-centered and the thing is he’s… not?

Yes he messes up at the start of this book but they’re kind of strawmanning him, like by nature of being a boy and being a Greek demigod he’s doomed to be exactly like his predecessors when he’s shown no indication so far of using and abusing people. His fatal flaw is loyalty. Annabeth was never going to be his Ariadne.

—

The villains plan here is solid, Riordan has a good track record of walking the line between complex and contrived. They needed Artemis to hold the sky to get her away from the Solstice meeting so the gods wouldn’t be productive. To get Artemis, they made do with using Annabeth as bait. Then they needed Bessie and an illegal prophecy child (Thalia, the oldest) to trigger the prophecy two books early. It almost works, until Thalia dips out of turning 16 by becoming an immortal fifteen-year-old at the last possible second.

The villains also use mortals this time, and mortal weaponry – guns and helicopters and mortal mercenaries. They don’t do much, none of them even get named, but they exist and they help make this book a little grittier.

—

Despite all the above complaints, the book doesn’t fall to middle-chapter syndrome. The story is fast paced and gritter than the two before it, the battles are all well written and unique. It’s not a bad story by any means, it just has some frustrating elements that dampen the enjoyment. The slower beats aren’t between Percy and Annabeth this time and Grover spends a lot of the book mooney-eyed over the moon goddess so he and Percy don’t get a lot of solid moments either. Thalia is too prickly to let her guard down long enough for a deep conversation but she almost gets there.

Major characters die this time and the approaching war feels that much closer, delayed for now but still looming ever over our heroes. I do like the characterization of the gods this time around being much more involved in the story. When Percy and Annabeth do finally reunite, matching grey streaks in their hair, it's cute and fluffy and a great way to wrap up the story before the Nico reveal, and what a reveal it is. It's not Thalia, unambiguously older, it's Nico, definitively younger leaving you antsy that, still, Percy might not be the prophecy kid after all.

[likeabxrdinflight]

anyways I did finish episode four but I am stopping here for the night

omashu, part two. this one combines the very ending of "jet", "the king of omashu", zuko and iroh's half of "winter solstice pt 1", and is also pulling stuff from season two here and there. we get a bit of iroh backstory.

...I don't want to talk about sokka and katara's part of this episode because honestly even though these posts are clearly marked spoilers I still don't want to spoil what they're doing because doing so might risk revealing what has genuinely been the most delightful surprise of this entire experience. I do not want it spoiled for anyone.

I will comment on katara though, because she's getting a little better. I'm seeing more and more flashes of the katara I know and love. we're not quite there but I'm a little less disappointed with her than I was in the earlier episodes. there's still things I'm not thrilled with- but I think I need to see all eight episodes before I make final judgment.

okay. so first. bumi. weird changes with bumi. he's definitely still bumi in the sense that he's weird and quirky and plays strange mind games with the intent of testing aang. it's just...not the same test as the original. and I'm not sure I like the change here. I'm not sure I dislike it? it's not an uninteresting change. I'm just not sure I like it, either, because it kind of misses the spirit of bumi's original character. utkarsh gave a great performance though.

the stand out for this episode was iroh though. oh my god, iroh. I said I wanted them to do more with him, to fix the inconsistencies that were there in the animated version and oh my god they have delivered that in spades. we have an earth kingdom soldier calling him out to his face for ba sing se. iroh gets to look one of his direct victims in the eyes and it's phenomenal, paul is killing it. the show walks a very thin line between empathizing with iroh and holding him accountable and I think it manages to thread that needle within the limits of what we know can actually happen in this story.

we also see flashbacks to when lu ten dies, we get more insight into why iroh's so attached to zuko and favors him so much. like we always knew iroh saw zuko as a surrogate son but it's very clear here, and it's clear where and when that really started. they also show a flashback to the moment iroh joins zuko in exile and it's...it's such an iroh kind of moment.

back in the present of course we get zuko saving iroh, and it's very similar to the animated version, but there is something much more tender-hearted in this rendition of these two together. not that the animated version didn't have that, but the live action show knows where these two end up. it knows zuko will eventually betray iroh. by highlighting their bond so much now it's gonna make damn sure that moment hurts. and it's gonna make damn sure not one person isn't crying when they finally reconcile.

I know a lot of azula stans don't like iroh. I was never one of them. the bond between iroh and zuko is special, and while I agree it's obvious he showed blatant favoritism and did not do right by his niece, I won't defend him on that, I still can't deny- the zuko-iroh dynamic has always been touching. and I'd argue it's better here. paul is just acting the hell out of his role and dallas is able to bring a softness to zuko's interactions with iroh that betray how close they really are, even when he's angry with him. these two together were critical to get right and they nailed it.

the show is worth watching just to see these two performances. I'm so serious.

[hologramcowboy]

You're one of the most pathetic people here. You overanalyzing someone from acting to personal life. You have no life outside and your fave is boring, that's why you're here blogging about someone you don't like. The funniest thing is that only jared fans think that he's a good and highly trained actor when in reality people know him as a joke outside of the fandom. Maybe read some critics reviews and comments on imdb, twitter and reddit, most people there are not from the fandom and they are likely unbiased. Maybe you don't want to see it because you're delusional.

Maybe you don't see it because you have no experience when it comes to acting or the industry. Have you ever considered that? 🤣🤣🤣 Wow, gaslighting done by a Jared hating Jensen stan, I am shook. 🤣 Such intelligence. Much class. My fav is Jensen so are you saying Jensen is boring? Or are you playing the bully and deciding who my favorite really is? Wow, such power. I could care less about what GA thinks, I judge an actor by the impact the creates, the humanity he has and the professionalism he demonstrates. Being an Actor goes deeper than just embodying a role, do you even know what the origin story of actors is and WHY actors are important to society? Of course not, that kind of knowledge and awareness is way out of your league. All you know is bullying out of frustration due to living a limited, unfulfilled life.

I have no life outside? As in if i step outside I die? lol Might wanna brush up on your grammar and logic there, buddy. So not only do you get to make up who my fav is you also get to make up what my life is like and yet I'm supposed to be the delusional one? Entertaining. 🤣

Let's look at reality, for a moment, together:

Is Jared repped by one of the biggest agencies in Hollywood? Yes.

Is Jared a Leading Man? Yes.

Is Jared highly respected within his industry by his peers? Yes.

Is Jared is a privileged position as an actor who is also an e.p. on his dream project that gets shot in his home town, something some will only ever dream of during their lifetime and never achieve? Yes.

Is Jared one of the most attractive and admired tv stars of his generation? Yes.

Is Jared a highly trained actor? Yes, Jared is a professionally trained actor.

Does Jared exemplify great humanity as an artist? Yes. In so many ways, I can't even begin listing them because this post will become endless.

Finally, since you are clearly an AA, stomach this:

Is Jared more successful than Jensen at the moment? Yes. Yes. Yes. Jared is at Leading Man tier while Jensen is at Guest Star. For your reference, Jared is at the highest tier a tv actor can reach, not only that but the success of his show rested solely on his image initially before people got acquainted with the story. So that's how powerful and recognizable Jared's brand is, he did a remake of a show that strays from the original and the show survived because people love to see him on screen telling stories.

"People know him as a joke outside of fandom" is a blatant, gaslighting, shameless lie and the only pitiful one here is you for even remotely needing to make anyone less in any way, especially someone as successful and appreciated as Jared Padalecki, who has earned the respect of his audience so deeply he is the single reason his show is thriving. Jared is the very definition of a Leading Man.

[madhare0512]

A Comprehensive List of SpideyFist Interactions (pt.4)

hello and welcome back to: reasons Spideyfist is canon. a series where i take you through each episode of The Ultimate Spiderman and show you why i believe that Peter Parker and Danny Rand are dating in canon, or at least that they are each other’s favorites. and also give you commentary on the show itself as i do

warnings for: episode spoilers, season spoilers, action/injury description, unsolicited commentary, probable cussing, violence, caps lock, bullying, mentions of pedophilia

this part features episodes 21 through 26 of season one

~~~

S1E21 I am Spider-Man:

- before i even opened this episode to watch, my brain assaulted me with the plot and i can tell you right now that it was fucked up in more ways than one. Danny’s not really in this episode, so this is probably gonna be headcanon and commentary only and i’m sorry for the commentary you’re about to receive. 

- MJ calling creepy guys out on their bs like the queen she is

- also, the fucking Trapster is boarderline pedo

- okay, we all know how Peter feels about his secret identitiy. that’s always been clear through every iteration of Spiderman, Peter Park does NOT want people knowing he is Spiderman. so, what this is to say: when Peter removes his mask on stage and the camera pans to the reaction, there’s shock on MJ, Luke, Ava, and Sam’s faces. but Danny’s not shocked. Danny looks scared. this is gonna be apparent in later parts, but Danny knows how much Peter’s identity means to him, the entire team is fully aware. Danny’s scared for Peter, not shocked it’s him under the mask

- MJ wanting to change the public opinion is so valid

- Coulson is so self-centered in this episode it scares me

- how in the fuck is Spiderman wrong for the part of SPIDERMAN

- Peter’s bully being chosen to play him is ironic

- Sam’s blatant dismissal of Peter’s bullying, also the costume switch, is another reason i ship what i ship. Sam had no right to take Peter’s costume, that he put time and effort into making, and honestly, i don’t blame Peter for being angry about this

- JJJ really just has a grudge a Peter at this point

- the understudy list is so fucking wrong. also, it shows how much Coulson DOESN’T know Spiderman. Sam is on the list after Flash, Ava after him, Miles Morales next, then Peter. you wanna know who’s NOT on that list? either of the other two people specifically mentioned ealier in the season to be quite similar to Spiderman by Taskmaster. bull-fucking-SHIT

- honorable mentions of poly!team: Danny, Luke, Sam, and Ava show up to support Peter (or laugh at him, but they could’ve just watch a video for that)

- Peter does his job to the best of his ability, even against Flash

- Peter’s the fucking best at speeches

- Peter’s gonna look less like the real thing, which is something else that goes towards his secret identity

- in the team line up, Peter says Danny’s name first

- Danny’s the first one with an inkling that this fight may actually be real, doesn’t count towards SpideyFist, but it does show how observant and smart he is

- “is there some chance that’s the real Spiderman?” Danny knows exactly what Peter looks like when he fights and exactly how he acts as Spiderman, which counts because you have to be paying attention a LOT for that kind of memorization, he dismisses it, probably because of May distracting him, but it’ll bug him until he’s proven right

- headcanon: Danny always knows when Peter’s in a fight from here on out. he’s constantly got a line of his attention focussed on Peter in some way

- Coulson just pisses me off this episode

- the second-hand embarrassment was so real this episode, i had so much of it. i nearly turned the episode off like six times, kid you not

- of course Ava’s worried about sitting out an actual fight

- Flash being a good guy for all of five seconds

~~~

S1E22 The Iron Octopus: 

- Danny’s also not in this episode, so it’s headcanon and commentary

- ah, second Deadpool mention

- happens all the fucking time, apparently, Peter

- huh, i don’t remember this episode well

- nope, nevermind, yes i do

- Peter doesn’t like guns, which likely comes from trauma relating to Ben

- Iron Man no longer has a head

- Tony destroys his own tech regularly, which is kinda funny when you look at it through the “he gets mad when his armor is broke” lense

- two rich guys, one his best friend’s father and the other his mentor. looks at my SpideyFist lists ...man, Peter just attracts rich guys, huh?

- among the things i don’t blame Doc Ock for are being so utterly pissed off at Norman.

- “might want to sit this one out, doc” Peter being so protective of Dr. Connors is adorable on all levels

- knowing what i know now about the team and how the SHIELD thing works for them specifically, i think it’s fucking weird how little Fury calls on them. they’re supposed to be training to be heroes, correct? how are they supposed to learn if they don’t get real-word experience. is it that they aren’t ready? but Peter is? idk maybe i read too much into this. also, what’s the team doing right now that they can’t go and help in this situation with Doc Ock is attacking the hellicarrier?

- WHY DIDN’T YOU CALL THEM ALREADY YOU FUCKING DUMBASS

- Peter’s done things to villains that would apparently see him strung up

- Osborn’s manipulation thing is disgusting

~~~

S1E23 Not a Toy: 

- “i need back up! front up? side up?” Iron Fist appears out of the fog and yes this freaking counts

- “tell me you’re not freaking out and maybe i’ll calm down!” translation: Danny is the most zen and chill guy Peter knows, if he’s freaking out, then Peter knows this is something worth freaking out over

- the second Peter lands, he’s trying to find Danny

- Coulson, i’m pretty sure there are stronger people than Cap around

- Danny and Peter are standing next to each other after a battle again!

- Peter fighting until his last breath to get Cap for one more round just because he and the team are excited about it

- the absolute SHOCK on their faces when Steve puts his shield on the line to keep

- listne, Peter just wants JJJ to stop being so cruel to him and that’s a very valid goal

- Danny lasting more than two seconds in a fight against Captain America when he’s still a trainee and having not trained as long as Cap has. AND landing a solid hit on him

- something i think shows since the beginning is that Danny is always well prepared when fighting against Peter or his fighting style. we know from later episodes that they have a weekly sparing session, but we don’t know how far back it goes. given that it’s pretty far into season 1, i think it goes back far enough, like definiately mid-season 1 at least

- Danny, who’s been trained in a multitude of weapons, knowing EXACTLY how dangerous that shield can be

- i’m not saying Sam ratted Peter out, but i am saying he’s the one quickest to blame Peter for things. 

- headcanon: this version of Captain America can look at someone and know exactly what they’re capable of and the potential they have

- “know the fight” is a piece of advice i try to live by these days

~~~

S1E24 Attack of the Beetle: 

- Danny’s not in this episode, no notable interactions. and unfortunately, at this time, i don’t have the energy to provide more commentary, so headcanons you’ll get. 

- headcanon: Peter doesn’t believe he’s going to get good things (until, you know, the team and Danny), but he does believe he deserves them

- Peter things his aunt and Coulson shouldn’t go out because Coulson isn’t COOL oh my god

~~~

S1E25 Revealed:

- guys, gals, and nonbinary pals, i have a small confession. i’ve been waiting for this episode since i started this plot. this one and a few others are pretty big for Spideyfist. one of those episodes is Strange Days, this is the next one on the list. i apologize for nothing about what i’m about to do

- celebrating the small things

- Danny doesn’t pull Peter away from things. to my knowledge and so far to where i’m at in USM, Danny’s never called Peter in. Ava has, Sam has, and now Luke, but Danny hasn’t. which i’m counting because it means Danny doesn’t want to pull Peter away from his “me time” or his friends

- i feel awful for Harry in this moment. his best friend and his father have both abandoned him

- when Klaw is about to attack Peter while his back is turned, Danny comes barrelling in immediately to make sure Peter stays safe. and the thumbs up they give each other is adorable

- Peter and Danny are standing next to each other during a battle again. i should binge USM and take a shot of chocolate milk whenever this happens, just to see how long it takes me to get a sugar high

- “let’s take ‘em out!” aaaaaaaand Danny’s the first one to follow the order

- “try to maintain calm, friend.” right after you just went and punched the robot so hard it fucking exploded?

- gee, i fucking wonder where Spiderman is. y’all didn’t watch him, so the bad guy snatched him

- also, Sam and Luke look in one direction confused, but Danny looks AROUND in a panic

- headcanon: Danny may not be the first one out the door, but he’s right on Ava’s heels

- ah yes, the Goblin serum

- headcanon: Peter has lightning scars

- Danny is right there at the front, closest to the way this little bot is going. he talks about having patience like he needs to remind himself that he need to be patient, which counts as being very worried about Peter

- “eventually it’ll lead us to Spiderman.” not “to the person who has Spiderman”, not “to where we need to go” both of which would’ve been more in character with Danny not even two episodes ago. “it’ll lead us to Spiderman”

- Danny moves first to go after the robot. almost desperate, like he NEEDS to get to Peter

- you know, for all Doc Ock rants about being a great scientist, he sure doesn’t do well at the whole “creation i can control” thing

- who’s the first one to jump down into the fight to help Peter? Danny’s the first one to jump down into the fight to help Peter

- and Peter’s talking directly to Danny instead of the rest of the team again

- oh, look at that, Danny walks up to get a closer look at the new creature formed and who does he stand behind (protecting his back while also knowing he’s going to be protected)? Peter, it’s Peter. of COURSE it’s Peter

- hey remember when i said back in like part 2 that Danny only talks himself up twice? i was mistaken, it’s just the once. Danny’s saying they should’ve stayed and finished the fight. but why would he do that, this is a new creature, they don’t know it’s power set. well maybe it’s because Doc Ock stole his boyfriend and he’s a little touchy about that. 

- also, Peter says “we’re drawing it out” and lemme just flashback to Damage Control when Luke and Danny’s plan was to draw the assailant out

- in the fucking fight. in the fucking Green Goblin fight, who gets hurt first? Luke. Luke, who’s been electricuted and is not getting up, who Danny and Ava where both worried about depsite having trained with and understanding his powerset. and who does Peter go to when injured? NOT LUKE. NOPE! no, no, no, Danny gets smacked into a wall and Peter goes to Danny instead

- “Iron Fist! Stay with me buddy!” other teammates getting hurt and knocked out around him

- AND PETER STAYS THERE WITH DANNY UNTIL GOBLIN TAKES A STEP TOWARDS HIS DIRECTION! TOWARDS PETER WHO’S RIGHT NEXT TO DANNY

- you wanna know something else? Peter’s all quips and wit until someone fucks with the team. like this is the first serious battle where we see the team get hurt to the point that they aren’t getting back up. Peter isn’t saying any quips, he’s not using those one-liners he’s so famous for. what does he say to Goblin when Goblin makes towards his fallen teammates? he says, “you sick freak.” this isn’t a game to him, and that’s not his best friend’s dad anymore, that’s the person who hurt his team. that’s not Norman Osborn, that’s the Green Goblin. 

- he’s also not holding back. you see him giving EVERYTHING he can. “i should beat you into a paste!” like it’s something Peter can DO without trying. Peter’s fucking terrifying under the quips and the sarcasm and rookie-ness

- and STILL he extends help to Goblin. even after he beat Peter’s team up, even after causing pain and injury to the people Peter considers family, he still says, “let me help you”

- “sorry, Mr. Osborn, but my team? they’re like my family. and if i have to take you out to save them, then that’s what i’m gonna do” FUCK

- the fact that the team is literally carrying each other out is something awful and terrifing. i didn’t watch this episode when it first came out, and watching it now as an adult just sinks it in that we’re meant to view Goblin as an Ultimate Adversary

- Peter blames himself because of course he does

- Danny’s the only one facing away from Peter when the camera pans to the team when Peter says “everyone i care about”, i know i talked about how Danny doesn’t like letting people see him vulnerable or weak. he’s supposed to be a king, a leader, of course he doesn’t want someone to see him injured. this goes DOUBLE for Peter, Danny’s leader. 

- Peter cuts the team coughcoughDannycoughcough out of his life to keep them safe but of course we know that won’t work. their leader sets an awful example

~~~

S1E26 The Rise of Goblin:

- Peter, babe, that’s not healthy, you gotta sleep

- Peter is shocked to see his team, despite knowing that his team would literally follow him to the end

- “what are you guys doing?” following their leader, dumbass

- do i think Spideyfist broke up this arc? no. but i do think their relationship was a little strained. they had to work it out. 

- and despite not wanting his team in the middle of this, he lets them hold Goblin off while he gets Harry out of danger

- “it’s that serious?” no, Harry, it’s all a practical joke being played on you by Spiderman and his team to fuck with you

- Danny is the first one to try and convince Peter that he needs the team and Peter gives Danny his full attention

- Peter gets after Ava, Sam, and Luke for being at the fight, but not Danny who was also there. Peter literally doesn’t even LOOK at him during the fight except for when Danny’s talking directly to him

- “nobody. and i mean NOBODY hurts my friends.” and we’re back to Peter being all business

- hey guess what. Peter and Danny where walking next to each other after a fight again. 

- camera pans over to Sam when he speaks and shows Sam and Danny instead of just Sam

- Peter says stop and Danny (and Luke) is right there to enforce Peter’s rules

- GUESS WHO’S RIGHT BEHIND PETER AS THEY’RE GEARING UP TO FIGHT AGAIN

- do i even need to say it at this point? becaue Fury may have been right behind Peter but Danny was a step behind Fury and that fucking MEANS SOMETHING

- the SECOND Gobling starts going after Danny, Peter is on his feet and MOVING to take the threat out

- “you wanna know who’s responsible for who i am? my mentors! my friends! my team!” aww, he gives credit to his team, that’s so cute

- Peter doesn’t quip when he’s pissed off at the villain he’s fighting. Goblin not only attacked him and Harry, Goblin attack Peter’s teammates. Goblin hurt Peter’s teammates and that’s a transgression Peter cannot forgive

- honestly, i’m just taking a shot every time Peter and Danny are standing behind or next to each other after, during, or before a battle

- there’s a metaphor here about mental health and how the Goblin is the angriest and darkest part of Norman. Goblin wanting to stay as he is, is kinda like a metaphor for a person who doesn’t want to get help, who wants to stay the way they are dealing with the symptoms and triggers that are part of their mental illness. it’s awful to see, in a way

- “i will find them. all of them!” and Peter’s up on his feet threatening both Goblin and Venom with bodily harm if a single one touches his family

- and this is forshadowing for the season 2 finale

- when Peter is presumed dead after the hellicarrier explodes, Ava, Sam, and Luke all call out for him, they’re worried about who’s gonna tell Aunt May. you know who doesn’t say a word? Danny. you know who doesn’t say a word when someone they love and car about had died? that person's significant other. Danny was speechless

- and when Peter comes back up on the beach, they all look happy and shocked, but Danny? Danny’s face is pure relief

- and WHO EMBRACES PETER FIRST? IT’S DANNY

- and Danny coming in with the comforting advice that makes Peter stop and LISTEN

- and here’s where we find out that the other four heroes actually live on the hellicarrier which once again brings me to the question, where the hell have they been the past season when the hellicarrier was under attack? you don’t see them anywhere else but school or training or mission

- honorable powerspideyfist mentions: Peter (teasingly) insults Ava and Sam, gives Luke and Danny compliments. this also applies to Spideyfist

~~~

and this seasons total Spideyfist count is: 169 interaction out of 26 episode. 

thank you so much for reading! season 2 coming soon!

[walker-extended-universe]

Windy 1x10 Thoughts

How this show manages to keep me guessing with every episode I'll never know

Once again, not enough time or energy for a proper review so I'm just gonna put my thoughts here real quick and then get back to my regularly scheduled shitposting.

Calian and Augustus:

You know, when this plotline first came up, I knew this was going to either end with Nascha being dead or with her being assimilated and I wasn't sure which would be worse. Now I know.

Nascha being fed a false narrative about her life and eventually giving up her heritage to fit into the world she was forced into is just...awful. Probably historically accurate (I feel a research itch coming on) but awful

Calian is torn between being grateful that she's alive and grieving the loss of who she used to be. He'd kept that hope up all these years, that he would find her and his tribe would be whole again, and it was all for nothing

I also got the feeling that Calian had a lot of barely tempered rage below the surface during that conversation and it was only the knowledge that Nascha had no say in what happened that kept him in check

"I bet your wife is proud of you" "She used to be" Okay is Gus' wife dead or is she mad at him for his career choice? Being on the frontier would mean she either had to come out with him or that he left her behind for months- if not years- at a time.

Oh boy a new chief was chosen while Calian was gone and he wants war. I'm sure nothing bad will come of this :)

The Side Step:

HAGAN'S BACK!!!!!!

Of course Hoyt chooses a bar to stay in while there's a storm.

Francis having debts to pay off that are now his family's responsibility is a good way to bring Lucia back. Since, yaknow, Hoyt abandoned her -_-

Kate figuring out that Hagan acted to protect her in .5 seconds is both a good way to move the plot forward and another example of how good of a detective she is

Kate and Hoyt secret scheming together my beloved

Kate: Be drunk Hagan: Already am I love them your honor

Hoyt stripping is blatant fanservice but this was better than the watering hole so I'll let it pass.

Tbh part of me wishes Lucia hadn't been in on the plan but she did very well regardless. I guess she had a good poker face after all ;)

Anyway fuck Randall and long live cattle baroness Lucia

Lucia, sweetie, you know Hoyt. I do not think putting him in charge of a bar is a good idea and you really should know better.

Kate and Hagan's reunion was my favorite part of this episode. Kate missed him, even if she was mad, and I think this episode showed how much she looked up to him. He knew about her non-heterosexuality and trusted her to run a business, likely during a time when everyone else she knew didn't trust her much at all. He's a father just as much as she's a daughter. Her tears when asking him if she could run away with him just- *heart breaks*- I'm fine. But he's right; she needs to stay put and find her footing, keep the spirit of Hagan's alive. Perhaps she'll order a hat from him one day.

Hagan's:

Tom's nightmare about him hanging from the rafters of the barn is just *chef's kiss* we love a traumatized meow meow

"What will you do when you find your brother?" "He'll get what's coming to him" I love Abby's concerned face after this like sweetie not everyone is driven by a sense of justice sometimes you just need to shoot people in the face.

"Tom Davidson and Abigail Walker seek shelter in a hotel and get love advice from a strange woman who mistakes them as a couple" is a fanfiction prompt if I ever saw one and tbh I know a few writers who would've done it better. But I digress

I love how Tom just casually drops his family-related trauma onto Abby. That's so normal and hinged of him.

Is it because no one else in his life cares about him and he's become overly attached to her since he first saw her she saved his life?

I swear I thought that woman was Teresa Davidson for a second

Tom saying he knew there was something special about Abby from the moment they first met is either really romantic or really threatening depending on the context.

Very odd woman reliving her married days and sharing memories with two strangers. Not really sure what to make of her (or her comment to Hagan) but she seems nice. I hope she's not evil.

Okay so Abby isn't afraid of Tom anymore because she knows he didn't do it. All the while Tom is becoming more endearing to her because of how he cares about Independence and the way he seems willing to stand up to his family. Kate thinks she should be careful (and I agree) but there is Something here.

If they'd left it at the Almost Kiss, I would've been happy. I would've preferred that. Abby is gaining feelings, Tom has been having feelings for some time, the Pining is at it's peak.

Aaaaand then they ruin it by killing the "will they/won't they" question by having Tom and Abby sleep together right away -_-

Aaaaaand now Kate knows and she's being extra judgemental about it (although to be perfectly fair she was the one that barged into Tom's room without warning....)

Aaaand now Shane's run off. He probably died in the dust storm.

Tom/Abby happened and it is technically what I asked for but...did it have to be this way? Couldn't we have had a few more episodes of pining before we got a kiss?

Solid episode overall but I think we could've used more of Lucia being mad at Hoyt. He deserves it.

[xenomorphee3]

screaming crying throwing up and kicking my feet in the air !! my fave writer has yet again done it again with her writing 💙💙 i will be honest, i tend to not follow or read sequels bc most disappoint me but yours is so good and we’re only at the second chapter 😭 i cannot wait for the third chapter (you have no idea) i just know miles is gonna be pissed with lex & zem lmao

also i love your take on avatar quaritch & zu and it’s so interesting bc had he been an avatar instead of a recom, i just know that man would take forever to finally admit to his true feelings for zu but omg imagine human miles just thinking about zu during meetings… 🤭

😮Your favorite writer🥺

Thank you 🥰

I am happy my sequel isn't disappointing! One of my friends expressed a similar sentiment, that they don't often follow sequels and at that point I had around 5 chapters written and was like 👁️👄👁️ But eh! I'm having fun and I knew at least a few people would tune in. Thank you for being a tuning in people 💙 And in many ways I hope its initial quality is better than the first given what I learned in writing that one, though of course plot and scale will be different!

Again, there is that anxiety of writing original characters that can go toe to toe with the real ones, but I'm doing my best! I wish I could write faster, so I could drop three a week to not keep you hanging, but by aiming for two and staying in a surplus of written chapters it *should* ensure no long lulls or hiatuses!

Anyway, to your alt-alt-universe inquiries-- Ha, yeah just imagine Quaritch seeing like... an orange pen or something and thinking about her eyes and getting all irritable lol.

As he sat at the long meeting table, RDA leadership discussing the Ash People, their potential usefulness and the resources of their archipelago, Miles glanced at an administrator who was taking notes on a yellow notepad instead of a tablet. Such was pretty damn old school and he found it amusing. But then he saw the orange pen he was writing with. Orange like fire-- like Zu's blazing irises. Miles' face suddenly turned and daggers developed in his blue eyes. Daggers toward who? Himself. Why the hell was he sitting here at Bridgehead thinking about his Avatar's Ash Na'vi host's orange eyes? The foul expression that gripped his face did not go unnoticed. General Ardmore caught his sudden shift in emotion in the middle of her discussion. "Colonel, what's wrong?" she pressed. He looked up and around at all sitting at the table, realizing the blatant irritation he was broadcasting. He steeled himself. "Nothing, General... I... I don't think these damn Ash Na'vi are gonna be that useful to us."

And for efficiency, to answer your next submitted question:

"to add up on that, what do you think human quaritch would’ve thought about zu? 🤭💙 and i would love to know how he’d react knowing his recom has children with her"

Human Quaritch with no Avatar influence or Na'vi experience would definitely look at Zu the way he looks at all Na'vi. A pest in the way of human interests. He'd probably be repulsed to a large degree by the concept of being that is him/from him having such a family, regardless of the Na'vi aspect.

But that's one of the things that makes his character so compelling in the 2nd film isn't it? That this Na'vi hating man is now what he hated. And in existing as this new being, he quickly comes to embrace that he is no longer really that person-- at least in waves.

He crushes his former skull.

He tells Spider, "I'm not that man,"

His eagerness to do things the Na'vi way

Tells Neytiri, "He's not mine, we're not even the same species."

He shows a bit of mercy on the Na'vi he interrogated.

But! He still says to Jake, "You betrayed me," refers to Jake's kids as a "litter of half breeds," and still cares for Spider as his son. It's such a cool little war inside him that I am so excited to see shake out in the remaining films. My eagerness for seeing such is why I wrote/am writing my stories! I hope my stories capture/do justice to 10% of his actual arc.

[badedramay]

I just want to say, I knew it would happen but it’s still gross to see the double standards, but how Maya and wahaj were raked over the coals for their mushq photoshoot but YumHaj and even Hamza and Seher are getting tons of praise for their equally as scandalous poses is …super amusing. I’ve never seen quite as much misogyny come from other women as I did for maya in that one photo shoot, but other actresses doing the exact same thing is ok because that’s a fan favorite pair. (Also, I think it’s stupid how our awaam cannot fathom a pairing outside of a recent hit; people complain about wahaj and his “overexposure” post TB, but they also don’t want him to be anything besides Murtasim. Like bro needs to act with others, too, but the audience out there behaves like someone committed blasphemy when an actor from a hit pairing acts with someone else.). To be clear, I don’t want any actress receiving hate for doing her job, it’s just sad how blatant the hate was and for such a stupid reason that Maya wasn’t yumna.

And also I’m just gonna say it—nobody in any recent photo shoot had the chemistry of maya and wahaj. You can just tell how comfortable they are with each other. They did hot, innocent, longing, surprise, admiration…literally everything. What range, yo. Even if for notorious reasons, people are still talking about the Mushq photo shoot while their faves’ photo sessions came and went without making any waves sorry not sorry.

Finally, I’ve been seeing people start to blame Maya for the downfall of wahaj post-TB, as if she forced him to sign MPHT, Mein, etc. Like it is so ridiculous out there, we are blaming a woman instead of holding a grown ass actor accountable for not choosing better roles.

Khaled Hosseini said it for men but the quote fits here as well cuz eh..it's a man involved.

“Like a compass needle that points north, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman. Always.”

just replace "man" with "fangirls of a man".

i have this shit behavior happen across the board again and again that I now consciously try to be numb to it. it's always the same. blame the woman. blame her for coming in between a ship. or blame her for being close to the man. or blame her for just existing. in all cases the man is the bechara masoom who doesn't know any better. it's the woman who has trapped him. it's the woman being insecure. it's the woman controlling his every action. never man, never him. and of course it's always the women who blame the woman.

you didn't mention Anmol Baloch here. Hamza Sehar fans are also hating on her because Hamza did the ghor paap of working with her and promoting his show with her. idk how true the rumors of their relationship are; they shouldn't MEAN anything. like any other pairing, Anmol and Hamza had all the right to do photoshoots in character to promote on their insta pages. that is not a right reserved just for their fav jodi. ANY fav jodi. these are actors. it's the world of social media. promotion on their public accounts is now a part of their JOB. they are all fucking PAID for it. and when money is involved, more times than less it becomes the main motivation. if these fans think their favs don't ask for money to promote their certain fav jodi because that's where their "true love and passion" lies then..i don't even know what to say.

and really I pity Wahaj as well. his own "fans" are close to blackmailing him to not expand his boundaries at all. him doing multiple photoshoots is "overexposure" but him doing them with Yumna is "using the small window of opportunity of being the most popular thing in the industry to its maximum benefit." arey??? it just comes down to what kind of fandom one has amassed over their career. like if on one hand Wahaj fans are criticizing his overexposure, MK fans are making flippant comments about inflation that has made MK do back to back three bridal campaigns. hypocrisy? i don't even wanna care.

frankly i am TIRED of searching Maya's name and seeing it just in connection with Wahaj. i love Mushq. MY BESTIE SERVED ME IN WAYS I CANNOT EXPLAIN! just last night i was rewatching the clips and oh my HEART it's beautiful beautiful beautiful BEAUTIFULLLLLL!! but i have to admit i HATE how Maya's entire existence has been shrunk to that photoshoot only. she's being used both by the yumhaj fans and the non-yumhaj fans as a weapon to use to attack others or defend their own favs. i doubt any one really cares about HER because then i'd actually see her be talked about individually or her projects. but no. it's always "they have been friends for years". like yes so WHAT? baar baar mention karna zaroori hai???

it's just no use trying to sense with these kind of people. i can only hope we get an official annoucement of Maya's next work again so she can leave this behind.