#and then she didn't take it off all episode

[quodo-brainrot]

@tuttle-did-it I'm with you on Troi. I really want to like her because the idea of a counselor who is an empath is pretty awesome, but she doesn't even use her empath powers as much as she could when she's counseling people. I'm not a therapist and I've never been to therapy, but I get the sense that the 'therapy' she gives people is little more than armchair psychology.

And yes, they do have to simplify it for the audience, but the simplification of her methods isn't the biggest problem - it's that her therapy simply doesn't seem to work, even when it's made clear that she spends a lot of time working with someone offscreen. It feels like the only purpose that her on-screen therapy sessions serve is so that we can have a place for certain characters to let out their emotions.

Barclay is a prime example of a character who is not going to talk about his feelings anywhere other than in a therapy session because he's too afraid of being judged elsewhere, so those sessions are the only place we get to see what's really eating at him. So it helps the audience, but does it actually help him?

Not really. Barclay is still noticeably a mess at the end of TNG and even into Voyager. And it's true that not everyone responds well to therapy and he might just be one of those people, but I think it's much more likely that the help Deanna gave him wasn't really much more than what you could get from an attentive and caring friend. And it is good to be able to get that kind of help to take the edge off, but trying to present it as the work of the supposedly amazing counselor on the Federation Flagship is kind of laughable.

Dr. Crusher, or any other medical officer, easily could have given people all the same advice that Troi did. I think it would have been much more interesting if Troi's position on the ship was purely for diplomatic and strategic purposes. Imagine if they ditched the 'counselor' angle entirely, gave her a bit of a hard edge and made her as much of an expert on emotional patterns as Uhura was an expert on language patterns.

Instead of just saying 'I sense anger,' imagine if Troi was capable of producing accurate assessments of a hostile's motivations and goals based on the interplay of their emotions, even when it's her very first time encountering a given species.

But unfortunately, the show quite deliberately leaned away from that idea on multiple occasions, as the characters had to explain 'oh no no no, it's not immoral for us to have an empath helping us because we don't use her powers aggressively' or whatever.

I always thought that was a pretty silly thing to do. Why would anyone even bat an eye at the Enterprise having an empath anyway? Realistically, that crew would likely have several empaths. There are many species out there who are empathic and/or telepathic. It's weird that the default reaction is to suspect some sort of moral failing on the part of the Enterprise for using a resource that's actually pretty readily available in the scheme of things.

But if Troi did use her empathic powers to their full potential, it would make it a lot harder to write episodes that involved deception and intrigue. She'd be able to end the plot pretty quickly. I think that's one big reason that they never really showcased her powers as much as they could have.

DS9's Odo suffers from a similar issue in that he'd be WAY too powerful if he could accurately mimic humanoid faces, so as that one post in the DS9 fandom hilariously puts it, Odo is a shapeshifter who's kind of bad at it. But there are legitimately interesting plot points made specifically out of the fact that he's kind of bad at it, and in addition to that, there's a lot more to him as a character than just his shapeshifting powers.

Unfortunately, Deanna didn't get the same treatment. The show tries to set her up to be this really awesome counselor but the results we actually see are pretty mediocre. And the only other role she ever really gets to play other than 'empath' is 'love interest.' Which is a real shame, because I really liked the air of calm and the gentle mischievous humor that Sirtis brought to the character. She could have been so much more compelling if she'd been more fleshed out.

star trek characters will literally go through the most life changing traumatic multidimensional extrasensory eldritch hell torture imaginable and then they're fine and the next episode they gotta deal with a guy who is bald

[angelinthefire]

"Blisters and bedrock" and The Flashback

So I know the flashback scene with Felicia in s2e5 is controversial. So I wanted to take the time to understand it properly, and do a close rewatch.

And I realized that even though I watched the episode like four times before, I never properly evaluated what was going on with Vander, I wasn't thinking of him as a character in his own right, just as a symbol of Vi and Jinx's past, and hence I didn't understand the scene until now.

Of course, it's all about "blisters and bedrock". That phrase is the name of the episode, the line is repeated three times, obviously it's important. So what does it mean?

The first time we hear it, it's in Vander's garbled memories. The memory that's most impactful to him is the failed rebellion on the bridge and its aftermath.

There's fighting, there's Silco looking at him sadly, with almost child-like sadness, there's Felicia's dead body, then Vander trying to drown Silco.

Those memories are followed by his recent experience killing the enforcers at Stillwater, then by seeing Powder, and a still-blurry image of Vi, even though he hasn't actually seen her yet since he awoke as Warwick, almost as though Powder's presence implies Vi.

Then there's the image of Felicia at the jukebox, and then a disfigured Silco, toasting "blisters and bedrock". It's ghostly, almost accusatory, said as Vander's being faced with the gory injury he inflicted. But what it means is a mystery.

The next instance of the phrase is in Vander's apology letter. He gives his little explanation for his actions, and signs off, "blisters and bedrock." Still not super clear. The letter itself is kind of weak, as far as apologies go. And then there's this cryptic phrase at the end.

Finally, Warwick/Vander is drawn to the girls by the scent of Isha's blood. When he first sees Vi, she almost looks like a two-headed creature from his POV shot, with her massive gauntlets looking sort of like heads, with the glowing hextech gems as their eyes (And I think I need to make a separate post about Vi in this episode, because it's so good). They fight. But then she lowers her guard and he sees her, and that's when we get the full flashback.

Right off the bat, it's established that Vander and Felicia are close. He knows that the song she picked has some special significance. The way they look at each other is kind of flirty too.

They're celebrating the opening of The Last Drop, which they intend to be a pillar for the community of the Lanes (which is a very shop-local approach to politics, but whatever). We knew this was Vander and Silco's endeavor, and Felicia is the only other one there, which means she has a special place in their lives.

Silco is largely passive in the scene. We get a cute little bait-and-switch where it seems like he's going to be a super-serious revolutionary, but then he says something playful instead ("I'm bozo one"), so we get a glimpse of what he used to be like, and what the dynamic of his relationship with Vander was.

And then we get to the reveal that Felicia is pregnant. Now, I think what happens next has been twisted through discourse, so I want to quote it directly:

Felicia: The second I told you I put you on the hook. You two are going to figure this Zaun thing out. I don't care if you have to carve it out of the bedrock covered in blisters. You're not allowed to fail anymore. For her. For me. Vander: What’s the point if we can't raise an ankle-biter or two? Silco: To Zaun, then. Blisters and bedrock.

I've seen people characterize this as Vander and Silco promising to look after Felicia's child. It's not that at all. She's not telling them to look after her kid. She's telling them to succeed at winning independence for Zaun for the sake of her child.

"I don't care if you have to carve it out of the bedrock covered in blisters. You're not allowed to fail." That is: Do whatever it takes. Even if it's hard, and ugly, and painful. That's how you'll help my child.

Vander agrees - what they're fighting for is future generations of Zaunites.

And Silco turns it into a toast. Blisters and bedrock - whatever it takes.

So now we know that in the first ghostly flashback, "blisters and bedrock" was an accusation, it was a manifestation of Vander's guilt. "We said, 'whatever it takes'. And look at Felicia. Look at me."

"Blisters and bedrock" gives Vander's apology letter new meaning too. It turns a kind of weak explanation into something much more meaningful. He's saying he'll do what it takes to patch things up.

In an episode all about regrets and missed chances and forgiveness, it really resonates.

And there's one more instance of "blisters and bedrock" being used - in the song "The Beast" off the season 2 soundtrack.

Vander isn't really able to express himself as Warwick. So the songs providing a very literal window into what he's going through is useful. The lyrics of "What have they done to us", used towards the end of the episode, are just straight-up what Vander's thinking in that scene. I don't think the lyrics to "The Beast" are used in the show, but they're very straightforward too.

Here are the lyrics to the bridge of that song:

What happened to the place where we left off Any progress erased, I was dead wrong Couldn't carve out a place, every dream that we chased Through the blisters and bedrock

Vander is recognizing his failure.

When Vander put down his gauntlets to look after Vi and Powder, he wasn't keeping a promise to Felicia. He was *breaking* his promise to her.

The flashback frames the conflict between Vander and Silco in more personal terms too. In terms of what united them, they both promised to fight for Zaun for the sake of Felicia's child. But when those two things are posed against each other, Silco is willing to kill kids in order to fight for Zaun, while Vander gives up the fight for Zaun to protect the kids.

I think it's significant that the flashback doesn't end on "blisters and bedrock". It ends on Vander suggesting a baby name, showing where his priorities are going to be

And when he sees Vi, as Warwick, he sees the girl who he gave up the fight for. He's remembering his failures, he's tormented by his failures. But Vi, and Powder, are worth it for him.

[icarusredwings]

Carly Crocker

(Not to be confused with Carly Boothe, That's Al's girlfriend, This is Beast's wife, Story of Wade meeting her at the end)

The beauty and the beast episode pissed me off, so let's go, In finding home AU Carly Anne Crocker (aka the ex blind girl) shows up later to the mansconfesses her feelings to Hank. This time, Jeans words ring in his head about letting a girl decide how much she wants to risk and can't turn her away. If anything, he is overwhelmed with joy. I mean, come on, it doesn't take a genius to know he struggles with romance so the fact that he loved her so much and let her go, and she still came back to him? It's enough to make his entire face purple and spin her around. And if you're wondering, 'Do they replace Scott and Jean as the mansion 'lovebirds' ?'

YES. Yes, they do. Because there is not a word that describes how utterly whipped he is for her, and she sees no one else the way him, even before the operation. She can still recognize him by scent and foot steps alone.

Now that I fixed that, here's some head canons.

Carly, now that she stays at the mansion, can quickly be unnoticeable, especially if you don't go in the basement or the lab. Most people only first meet/ notice her when he comes upstairs with her on his arm.

She is mainly seen talking with Jean, but she has no distaste for any of the others. Anyone can come talk to her, and she would be more than happy to talk. She does occasionally ask questions that might seem personal, letting her curiosities of her new friends get to her.

Asking Kurt why his tail wraps around peoples legs when he hugs them, asking Kitty what would happen if she accidently got stuck in a wall, asking Ororo why she was claustrophobic, asking Logan what it was like in the 1800s. Asking Remy what it was like growing up on the streets with his type of powers. She once even asked Charles if he had regrets about opening a school.

Some things she just stook to asking Hank about. Like why Rouge didn't have a very strong trust in other women other than the ones on the team. Or How Scott delt with all the preasure of somehow representing the X men when the entire world seemed to dislike them until a time of crisis when heros are needed.

For the most part, he'd quote something at her or give her a simple awnser. "My dear, Rouge has had a hard life, and not a great time with her mother. I would steer clear of asking her this directly seeing as you dont wish to upset her, do you?" Its asked in a genuine stand point. Never trying to shame her into not being curious.

Of course, she doesn't wish to upset her friends. But there is so many lies on the media and they hold struggles she couldn't possibly understand without asking.

Hank is very chivalrous, between opening doors, taking her hand when they go up the steps, writing her notes, looks away when he feels shes indecent (dispite them having gotten married almost asap) Brings her small gifts of flowers and cakes, anything really he finds she might enjoy.

Being practically attached to the hip, she learns a lot of things and becomes somewhat of an assistant type, bringing him things, scolding him for staying up too late, forcing him to take breaks in order to eat, teasing him as a last resort. It's very Pepper Potts of her really.

Except Hank isn't like Stark. He listens (most days 🙄) seeing as he finds Carly can be very.. distracting.. when she wants too.

Mainly, She dosn't call him beasts unless she is saying "My Beast" or "Youre the only beast in my heart." Sappy stuff like that drives Hank insane. What also makes him a bit looney is when she refers to herself as "Mrs. McCoy." Or calls for him with a sweet low "Oh, Henry~"

Other than that, it's either Hank, Dr. McCoy or just Sweetie.

Carly also doesn't mind him hanging from things. She finds it cute and often teases him about Spiderman kissing her. She also simply adores when the bed dips down low and she can cuddle him like a huge teddy. Who needs a blanket when your husband was covered in the softest fur you've ever felt?

Sometimes Carly brushes him out, to save the drain later you know? But also it felt nice to get him to finally relax and lean into her. She would kiss his face and tell him how handsome he is, dragging the brush across his arms and chest, giggling at how love drunk he looks.

Other times, when Carly got cold she'd just come to him and he'll hold her while working, walking around with her in his arm, her snuggled up on his shoulder. Something Carly has learned is that Hank is very touchy. Almost starved for it so she dosn't mind being carried or held.

He rubs her back, pecking kisses onto her head while he types up something or reads. Sometimes the children make fun of him, comparing carly and him to when king kong grabs that girl and climbs the empire state building. It makes Hank a bit upset but Carly giggles because they have no clue just how safe she feels in his arms.

I wanna assume that during her periods he carries her extra and wraps one of those travel heating pads around her, gives her pain meds and makes her food. Domestic stuff that really just makes you wanna AUUUGGHH when you think about it cause god damn hes a romantic.

At first, Hank, being so gentle with her was sweet. How gently he'd hold her in bed, how softly he'd be sure to grip her when carrying her. But Carly gets a bit frustrated when Hank acts like she's made from glass.

I can see him humming Mozart to her, calling her Dear 24/7, quoting poetry to her, being sure to kiss her before he leaves on missions, etc.

He is OBSESSED when she wears his white coat because its so big on her. He thinks its adorable and cant help but stare when ever he sees her walking around in it. (Even though she lowkey looks like the pope) Carly likes wearing it when its cold in the lab or when shes taking a nap in his library chair because it smells like him. Hank has many pictures of her but one of his favorites is when you fell asleep in his chair while wearing his coat and you can clearly see in the picture that you dozed off while reading. He thinks its absolutely the best thing in that stupid cellular device.

I can definitely see their first night together- TOGETHER being something difficult. Hes too gentle with her and it takes her riling him up to get him to fuck her properly. She fully understands what shes getting into and they have plenty of time and lube, so why not?

"Henry my darling, I love you very much, and I know you are scared but I am not damaged, I'm not going to shatter if you touch me. I'm not an old vase, I am your wife. One who is capable of deciding when it's enough. So please.. stop treating me like im a pricless artifact."

"B-but you are priceless-"

"Henry-" she gives him this look of 'quit the bs'

"O-okay... I suppose I can try.."

Once she breaks his whole "I can't be too rough or ill hurt her cause shes human" bullshit mindset, It's insane.

No, they aren't rabbits but it is quite frequent and its a shock how they haven't gotten pregnant yet.

If anything its like they both cant get enough of each other, between the whispers she does in his ear to his hands around her waist all the time.

Sweet jesus. Poor Logan. He has to hear all this. He (both old logan and worst logan) is very happy for his friend but GOD he didnt ever think he'd hear someone moan 'Oh fuck- Henry!' before as loudly as Carly does. Jesus sometimes he wishes he didnt have super hearing.

It's not until Storm mentions that Hank has a wife during orientation, in which Wade finds out, and clearly, he has to go tease her about it.

Sliding onto the stainless steel work place he smirks. He's in his regular clothes today so he fully expects her to scream. She dosn't.

"Oh.. Hello. Dr. McCoy is out at the moment." She says, like an assistant does.

He smiles all big and leans forward. "So you're married to big blue huh?"

Quite proudly she smiles. "Yes. I am."

"Wwooww good for him. Actually, it's no good for you." The first part seems normal, but it's never normal with Wade. "Does he bend you over that table over there?" He blurts out. Well shit- that was suppose to stay inside.

But Carly already is smirking. "Yes, he does. It's deeply sanitized."

Wades eyes widden as if he had hit jackpot. Everyone in this stuffy place was all stuck up and prim and proper. So to hear Carly straight up admit this felt like immediate friendship.

"Wooo look at you girl. Get it. But I gotta ask. Why?"

"Why the table or why did I marry him?"

"Oooh... Both!"

"Well, A. It's fun. B. He's a good man. He's very sweet to me, even when I was blind I knew there was something about him. He cares for me so much more then anyone else has."

Wade feels like he can relate. He wants to say something honest like 'Yeah, He is a pretty good guy isnt he?' But instead his brain had other ideas.

"What? You into weird lookin mutants or something?" He makes a face that would have been wiggling his brows, if he had any.

It makes Carly shake her head, giggling.

"Well, not particualry but... You know what they say about guys with big feet.."

This made sense about wolvie actually..

He gasps loudly, hand coming to his mouth. "You naughty gal!! So it is true. You know, I've always wondered myself."

"Mmh. Now that I awnsered your questions, you have to awnser mine about the Wolverine."

"Ooh smart. Did your research I see. Who warned you I was coming?"

She gigles again. "My husband."

"Ahh that snitch. So. What do you wanna know? Im an open book but I do have a lying disorder. Full warning."

"Is it true what they say? That canadians make good lovers?" She asks, leaning on the table that Wade was now kicking his feet on.

"Unless...y'know... if you're into that sort of thing." This last bit is a whisper as Wade daintily flashes the tags around his neck while trying to give her a flirty face. "I'm owned, baby! You can't have me. Im too expensive."

He gasps again, putting a hand to his chest. "Woah woah woah! Ladies! Calm down. Im a married man!!"

COUGH engaged. Actually COUGH

Again, Carly shakes her head, giggling. Goodness. What a character this one was. "No, unfortunately, I am not. And im sure you are."

"Well, good! Cause if you break my friends heart ill rip yours out." He says, smiling, but you could tell behind those moonstone eyes that there was no joke about it.

"If I ever break his heart, I'll rip it out myself." Carly says, staring him dead center. She wasn't afraid. Should she be? Yes. But she wasn't. Because she knows the only way Hank was getting rid of her was if he cheated or hit her.

Just as he was about to say something else, he turns, hearing a "Wade?" In which suddenly he gasps again, drimatically. "Woah!! Stay off me lady! You're married!! What would ol hanky panky think about this!?" It's loud, over the top, and he even holds himself like carly was just trying to strip him all while she stood there, crossed arms, hip out and only a slightly entertained smirk.

"Really?"

"Wade what do you need?" Said blue guy asks, coming around to set down two lunch trays.

"Your wifes tryna get dirty with the poole Hank!" He says and now theres two people giving him a stupid look.

"Yeah.. riiigghhhtt.... anyway. I believe Logan is looking for you. Shall I tell him you're busy?"

Wade grins widely as he jumps off the table. "Nope. Have a wonderful day. Great meeting you. You're nothing like my roommate's girlfriend Carly, though. She's polish. You dont look polish-"

"Wade.."

"Bye! My HUSBAND is callin me!" He says, practically skipping away, out of their hair and into someone elses.

".. What a weird man." She says, watching him go. "Indeed..."

[cuchufletapl]

I see your point, but I still think she might have thought she killed him because, even if she heard rumours about him, I doubt she would've heard about the specifics of his disappearence, which also happened not too long after their fight.

Here's my guess at the timeline of events. It's not too exact because to be honest the show plays fast and loose with establishing when the fuck anything is happening, but this is my understanding:

Battle on the bridge, she sets off the grenade, it nearly kills her and injures him.

Over that night and most of the next day, Singed does shimmer surgery on Jinx while Ekko (I guess?) rests under the bridge until he meets Heimerdinger.

I'm pretty sure it's the night of that very same day when Jinx kidnaps Silco, Caitlyn, and Vi and shoots the rocket at the Council.

Season 2 kicks off with Cassandra Kiramman's funeral, so it's probably been no longer than a week (despite the fact that Zaun immediately went up in flames of infighting between the chem-barons vying for Silco's seat).

Memorial and attack on the memorial happens the next day.

I think Viktor wakes up the next morning, but it might have been a a couple of days later to account for how long it must have taken for Caitlyn to put her team together and for Jayce to make their hextech weapons. It can't have been more than a couple of days, though, because when Viktor wakes, Jayce was sleeping at the lab, shirtless and in his bloodied bandages like he was in the scene at the forge in the previous episode.

We see Ekko again for the first time in season 2 right after that; he and Heimerdinger go to the lab and find Jayce there, properly dressed. When Heimer inquires after Viktor, the show cuts to him as he's just gotten to the Sumps of the Undercity. This leads me to deduce this is all happening on the afternoon of the same day that Viktor wakes up.

Ekko, Heimerdinger, and Jayce go to the Hexgates that same day and they get shucked off into alternate realities for months in the original timeline.

This means that, between Ekko and Jinx's fight on the bridge and Ekko disappearing, about two weeks transpired. Less than ten days, if they didn't take an entire week to bury Caitlyn's mother and my assumptions about Viktor waking up next day after the memorial attack are correct.

I also think that Ekko spent those days at the Firelight hide-out recovering from the damage that the grenade blast inflicted on him (he's not being treated with shimmer, after all) and managing their growing population crisis, so nobody but the Firelights (and Heimer and Jayce) saw him in Zaun.

Furthermore, the Firelights are kind of secretive (out of necessity, of course). They conceal their identities when out and about in season 1, they managed to keep the location of their base out of Silco's knowledge for years, and they'll welcome anyone who needs a safe place, but they lead them there with bandaged eyes until they know they can be trusted. This is to say that if, and that's a big if, news of Ekko disappearing made it out of the Firelight community and, say, Sevika found out, I don't think she'd have all the details of the exact timeline of events. And although I don't doubt the Firelights searched for him extensively, there was no sign of him for months; they painted him on the mural, which means they eventually gave him up for dead, and that might as well have been what Sevika was told.

I think Jinx is predisposed to think she did kill him, too. That quote embershroud108 brought up in a previous reblog: "It’s always me. Whether I’m pulling the pin or not, everyone who gets close to me dies." Ekko was one of the very few people remaining from her past when she was still Powder, which would make his death another one in the long list of people who cared for her that she's killed. So when she starts hearing the rumours that Ekko is MIA all of a sudden, and it happened around the same time as the first attack on Piltover, she'd jump to the conclusion that the explosion blast killed him and his body must have fallen over the bridge and into the river, and then she would not inquire further about it because it would hurt too much to know the details and confront (what she perceives to be) the truth that she'll jinx whoever comes close to her.

Someone pointed out that it's likely that until Ekko said, "See if I can talk an old friend out of blowing us up," Jinx thought he was a hallucination. That's why she didn't hesitate to pull the ring in the first loop, but jumped off the platform the second that he implied the explosion would affect him too and therefore he was actually there. And that got me thinking that she hadn't seen him since their fight on the bridge. That it had been months and there had been riots and movilisations in Zaun that the Firelights were involved in and Ekko wasn't among them. She didn't see that he managed to get away when she blew up that grenade. She thought she'd killed him. Jinx thought she'd killed Ekko months ago and was hallucinating him in her final moments. I'm fine.

[wanderingmind867]

I promised I'd share my ideas for a hypothetical fourth season of batman 66. So here it is. All 60 episodes of my season four (although some episodes have more detail than others). I planned to write notes for a season five, six and seven. And I'd have each season introduce more and more characters. But I don't know if my attention span will last long enough for me to write all of that. Or if my fancasting website even works anymore. But at least I have all of this written down?

Season 4: Season Four would get 60-70 episodes, max. A full season of 60 episodes, split into part one and part two, or something like that.

Episodes 1 and 2: A two parter based on the events of the Batman '66 Comic, Issue #1. A story involving The Riddler (Frank Gorshin) and Catwoman (Julie Newmar).

Episodes 3 and 4: A story involving The Joker (as played by Cesar Romero). Not much else to say beyond that right now.

Episodes 5 and 6: A story featuring The Penguin (Burgess Meredith) and Mister Freeze (either George Sanders or Eli Wallach). They team up, only to get busted by the dynamic duo!

Episodes 7 and 8: Introducing Signalman to the world of Batman '66! Signalman uses his gimmicks to try and trap Batman and Robin, while stealing as many symbols of good fortune as he possibly can.

Episode 9: A Batgirl solo episode, focusing on her and her new partner (who she meets in this episode): Jason Bard. Together, her and Jason end up investigating the appearance of a new catwoman on the scene (Eartha Kitt). Together, Batgirl and her private detective partner manage to learn that this new Catwoman is an old friend of the first Catwoman, and they're friendly rivals who compete for the thrill of the chase.

Episodes 10 and 11: Batman and Robin are preparing to leave for London on Vacation, but they're held up by The Bookworm and his criminal gang, who planned to rob Gotham City of a priceless manuscript stored deep within Gotham City Hall. Only the dynamic duo can stop this marvelous mastermind before it's too late!

Episodes 12, 13 and 14: Batman and Robin end up in London on vacation, and they end up needing to bust up two different capers in England; one involving The Mad Hatter (David Wayne) and the other involving The Clock King (Walter Slezak). It turns out these two villians have some negative history together, but it's unclear just what this history entails…

Episode 15: While Batman and Robin are off in Europe, Batgirl and Jason Bard run into Cluemaster, a strange new villian who seems to have an odd vendetta against The Riddler. Although The Riddler doesn't actually show up in this episode, we learn that Cluemaster is a minor villain who's always held a grudge. He wants to take the title of world's biggest riddle/clue/puzzle themed supervillian away from The Riddler! Only Batgirl can stop him now!

Episodes 16 and 17: Batman and Robin end up on a cruise heading back to Gotham, but the cruise ends up being held up by Penguin, who's decided to take to high seas felony after being constantly foiled on land. But he didn't count on finding Batman and Robin on one of his captive vessels…

Episodes 18 and 19: Batman and Robin return to Gotham, just in time for a late september scheme hatched by Egghead, that diabolical master of eggs-pert larceny! Batman and Robin need to enlist the end of Batgirl and Jason Bard just to get him to be defeated before he commits the greatest crime of our time and era!

Episodes 20 and 21: In the brisk early October air, False Face steals a new chemical designed to make a human being shapeshift. But one of his men steals it away from him! Matt Hagen (Rich Little), a greedy henchmen of the dastardly False Face, uses the machine and turns himself into a hideous being made of Clay! Remembering the case of an old villian Batman tangled with named Clayface, Matt Hagen decides to embrace his evil side and become Clayface the second!

Episodes 22 and 23: Batman, Robin and Batgirl all end up tangling with The Scarecrow (Anthony Perkins) on Halloween Night! A washed up former psychology teacher with a love for fear, Jonathan Crane has come to haunt Gotham as the one and only Scarecrow!

Episodes 24 and 25: Batman and Robin tangle with Blockbuster, a menace who's too mindless to actually mean any harm to anyone or anything. He's being used by his mad scientist brother Roland, but the dynamic duo don't figure that out until it's nearly too late…

Episodes 25 and 26: While hosting a Gotham City Beauty Contest to mark the beginning of November and the subsequent colder season, Batman and Robin tangle with Poison Ivy (Ann Margret), that powerful sorceress of seduction! Using her brilliant botanical wisdom, she snares Batman and Robin inside of a horrible death trap. But they escape, and successfully bring her to Justice.

Episodes 27 and 28: Batman and Robin deal with the Polka Dot Man, a bizarre new criminal capable of using polka dots as tools for committing new crimes to bedevil and beguile the people of Gotham City!

Episodes 29 and 30: Batman and Batgirl have to work together to fight off a mad team up of The Penguin and The Riddler. Robin is sick with the flu, so he's unable to help them. So it's up to Batman and Batgirl to save the day this time around!

Episodes 31 and 32: A Christmas Special, featuring a mall santa who gets victimized by The Joker and Clayface, a bizarre new duo of cookery! Batman, Robin, Batgirl and Jason Bard all have to team up to defeat the foe this time. And in the end, it's rather unclear if the mall santa was just a mall santa, or if they were the real santa all along…

Episodes 33, 34 and 35: Batman is challenged by his most dastardly foes yet; a terrible trio of crooks from Gotham's distant past! The Eraser, The Getaway Genius and Killer Moth! Batman hasn't tangled with them in years, not since the days of… Batwoman. Back when Robin was younger (a few years before the show started), Kathy Kane was a rich socialite who teamed up with Batman to fight crime. But she retired after an awful case involving Killer Moth. Yet now, she may be Gotham's only hope for surviving the Triumvirate's terror!

Episodes 36 and 37: Batman was set on edge by the Triumvirate (and by Batwoman's return), so he's gone on vacation. While he's off on vacation, two different teams have to protect Gotham from ill will. Robin and Catwoman are who we're gonna focus on first. While Batman's away, they end up having to deal with Doctor Double-X, a horrible foe from years past, capable of creating duplicates of himself to fight his battles for him!

Episodes 38 and 39: While Batman is off on vacation, Batgirl and Jason Bard end up having to call a truce with Catwoman II (Eartha Kitt), as she's being pursued by an old rival. Catman, a big game hunter who prowled the jungles of africa. He feels that Catwoman gives the noble beauty of the jungle cat a bad name, and so he's out for revenge. Batgirl, Catwoman and Jason Bard have to save Gotham from the deranged anger of Catman, before it's too late!

Episodes 40 and 41: Batman was on vacation in Europe, exploring the beautiful balkans. But he accidentally stumbles upon a plot by Olga, Queen of the Cossacks, and he has to come back out of temporary retirement to stop her.

Episodes 42 and 43: Robin and Batwoman team up to fight against Shane and his wife Calamity Jan.

Episodes 44 and 45: Batgirl and Jason Bard team up to fight off Louie the Lilac and The Siren, a strange duo who've teamed up to try and take down Poison Ivy (for "stealing their gimmicks"). At the end of this two parter, batman finally returns from his vacation.

Episodes 46 and 47: Batman's first case after coming back from vacation involves dealing with The Sandman, Gotham's strange sultan of the sands, a man capable of putting people to sleep (and now even capable of messing with them as they sleep and dream)!

Episodes 48 and 49: Batman's newest case leads him to have to fight against Mister Freeze yet again, who's sprung himself from jail, all to work on an elaborate scheme involving freezing gotham in with perpetual winter!

Episodes 50, 51 and 52: Batman has to go up against The Riddler, Cluemaster and The Puzzler, all of whom have gone on the attack against each other. There can only be one king of puzzles/riddles/clues, and they won't stop until one of them has successfully defeated the other!

Episodes 53 and 54: While Batman deals with the three puzzling champions, Batgirl and Robin end up fighting against The Bookworm and Scarecrow, both of whom have teamed up to try and steal some rare manuscripts for old time classic horror novels. It might be in this story that we get the first hints that robin is beginning to feel stifled by batman's authority. He wants to fly somewhat independently. To prove himself to Batman.

Episodes 55 and 56: Batman and Robin have to defeat The Joker, when he decides to challenge them to a game of wits. He commits crimes using the gimmicks of other criminals, and thusly tries to lure them off his trail. It almost works, until Batman and Robin finally get wise to the scheme.

Episodes 57 and 58: Batman and Robin team up to fight against The Minstrel, their old musically inclined foe. He's come to Gotham to commit more musical thefts, and only the dynamic duo is capable of stopping him.

Episodes 59 and 60: Batman and Robin have to deal with King Tut, who's once again relapsed into his horrible criminal ways.

After this, Season Four ends. Then we'd have the two animated movies (The Return of the Caped Crusaders and Batman vs Two-Face), and we'd also have the third movie which we were promised but which Adam West died before he could film (we were promised a film project with Harley Quinn, according to the Batman vs Two Face wikipedia page). So we'd have the Harley Quinn story (which might also feature Hugo Strange), and then we'd have Robin leave Batman to go do his own thing, the same way he did in the mainstream comics. And that would be the lead in for Season Five, which is all about Batman on his own.

[ptieuca]

buffy + angel's cross

[thedreadvampy]

sometimes I forget that my experience has been. um. not 'your experiences are not universal' vibes but more like 'your experiences are EXTREMELY atypical'

[trashlie]

ILY FP 258

I can't believe we're actually passed episode 250 lmao I Love Yoo is truly the never ending story (affectionate). I appreciate how much of the story we really get to dig into at this pace and while I know a lot of people have long-since dropped it, I imagine the rest of us (those reading this post because why else are you here?) also appreciate it. And that's what is even more refreshing about this episode - if refreshing is even a word we can use to describe it. Getting the extra scenes from other characters, a look at their lives and from these glimpses, what we can glean in the unsaid between the lines.

Can you believe I used to prey on Kousuke's downfall? There's so many posts of me talking about him from a different view, believing that the only way he could grow and develop and make the changes necessary to make him a better person was for him to crash and burn, to fail so significantly that he would be forced to pen his eyes to reality. But here we are, me, fervently swaddling him up like a baby and shoving him into my pocket because GOD he needs to be protected.

I don't even remember when it was, that my view on him began to shift, when I went from "he's interesting but awful" to "GOD THIS IS MY SON AND I WILL FIGHT EVERYONE YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME" but.... lol there's no going back!

That's enough rambling, let's jump in.

There is something so painfully devastating about every time ILY confirms to us something we have long-since known or suspected through nuance, foreshadowing, reading between the lines, etc: That Kousuke isn't Rand's biological son, that Shinae was at the formal for Gun Kim, that Kousuke has been manipulated his whole life. Nothing in this episode regarding Kousuke is actually new to us. We have known, and talked about, for months and months long before the confirmation reveal that Yui drugs Kousuke - that he has been manipulated by her his entire life, that she orchestrated his life to manipulate him into situations she could take advantage of. It's the way she spoke about Rand's affair around Kousuke, the way she commodified Rand's love so Kousuke became convinced he'd never earned his father's love, the way she spoke of their family vs others and convinced him from such a young age that everyone was out to get them, to destroy them, and that he couldn't let them get close, couldn't let them near - and how Nol was very much a target planted in his mind.

But it's the fact that he is speaking of this and acknowledging it! Until now, Kousuke has heavily lived in denial. Again, we know this. We talk a lot about the chasm between reality and the reality he believes in. We talk a lot about how Kousuke couldn't face reality, even though on some level he knew everything he believed and was told was not quite true not quite real, but that he was so afraid of the truth, he couldn't do it. Kousuke admitting that he's been driven by fear and envy explains everything about him, and why he could not accept the only unwavering unconditional love he was offered.

A few weeks ago I saw a video on instagram of this father talking about a conversation he had with his daughter, who was feeling a little uncomfortable with her friend group. A new girl started to play with her and her best friend and she said she wasn't exactly jealous, but that maybe it was that she was afraid that there wasn't enough love to go around. Her dad had to explain to her that love is not like a pizza - it's not finite, a limited amount that could be taken and hogged by someone else. But Kousuke never learned this. His father's love was commodified and he was made to fear this other kid who he mistakenly believed knew a version of his father he'd never been privy to. He never learned that love is finite, that Rand could have enough love for the both of them, and feared that Nol would hog it all - that he WAS hogging it all because whether or not it was good or bad, Nol received more attention that Kousuke did. And that speaks VOLUMES about how Kousuke sees Rand, what he thinks of their relationship. In his mind, he is still unworthy, that he's not noteworthy enough.

This part gets to me so badly. We, as omniscient readers, know that Rand has tried his best, but that Yui runs a spectacular interference with which he can't compete, largely because of the roles their family have placed them in - Rand the busy businessman, Yui the mommy homemaker. But no matter how hard he tries, it isn't good enough. Rand tries to reach Kousuke, but the manipulation and paranoia are so far gone that the times Rand does have the chance to convey his feelings, Kousuke can't even believe it, because he thinks he's not good enough to deserve that love, that he hasn't fully qualified for it yet. And despite that, Nol, who Kousuke feels hasn't done half of what he has to deserve Rand's love, gets the attention. It doesn't matter that it's negative attention, that Rand barks at Nol, that Nol feels Rand hates and regrets him, because ultimately, it's still more than Kousuke receives. And worse, to him, every time Rand is busy reprimanding Nol, he turns away from Kousuke to do it.

I want to make it clear that this is a deep trauma point of Kousuke's. He's never learned healthy love and the only person who gave him healthy love was someone he was set to fear and fight. Something I think about a lot is the flashback to Kousuke, in the bushes, watching Nessa and Nol's display of warm affection, before Yui appears literally looming before him. In that moment, he witnesses something he's been deprived of. "We're not like other families"'. He's told from a young age he shouldn't compare himself to those healthy families, to warm and affectionate relationships that he will not cultivate in this household. From such a young age it is normalized, that they aren't like others, that they are cold and distant. From a young age, he's made to stuff down his feelings, his tender wants and desires, in order to earn them. To be a good little boy who makes his parents proud. To make his father look his way.

There's also something about the way he says "I've been a good boy" that echoes Shinae learning she's been manipulated by Yui, devastated and angry and yelling about how she's been a good girl so why do these things keep happening to her, all she wanted to do was help her dad. Two people who, from a young age, felt they had to be so obedient, so good, to not be a burden, and despite following the rules, despite doing as they were told, despite trying to be whatever version of "good" they believed in, the world still beat them up and mistreated them. The world still punished them.

As Rin in our discord server pointed out, though, to some degree, Kousuke is very much a person who can - and does - act out, when he's emotionally high-strung. He's a volatile man, and it's largely to do with the fact that he's been drugged to placate him for so long. He never learned emotional regulation, he never learned how to deal with high-stress situations or to face conflict or to own up to things. This is something that some readers who hate Kousuke and expect him to act a certain way because of his age are missing. You don't just learn these things with age. You learn them with experience and Kousuke was deprived of the opportunity TO have those experiences. He never had to learn these behaviors, and now as an adult he cannot function when overwhelmed.

Idk this whole episode is just heartbreaking. It's devastating. I remember when I was someone praying on Kousuke's downfall and now I want to take it all back ;___; I always believed he had to crash and burn to be able to see the world for what it really was and to face his fears, but this is somehow so much worse.

And even though he's drunk, I don't think he's going to forget all of this in the morning. Rather, I think what he's voicing are things that have been plaguing him since waking up in the hospital. From that moment, we saw him wary and distrustful of his mother, we saw his concern for Nol rising above everything else, but grappling with the understanding that he doesn't deserve to stand in front of Nol anymore. These aren't epiphanies coming to him just because he's drunk; it's more like he's only voicing them because he's drunk. But even when he sobers up, he will probably still be haunted by these fears, these agonies, these truths, this understanding.

How does he face his mother after this? How does he face anyone? He may not even feel like he can trust Jayce - who while very kind to him, is still employed by his family. He may not even feel like he can trust Hansuke (though I really hope that's not the case).

He's so miserable and it genuinely hurts to have him lay it all out for us - everything we've known and suspected, like how it was so painfully clear he WANTED Nol's friendship, their brotherhood, but feared it, didn't believe that there was enough love to go around, that there could only be one of them and that even if it was for good or bad reasons, Nol cast him in the shadow. And all these years, watching as Nol, as Yeonggi, grew into this person who sounded so very much like this unknown version of their father, someone funny who makes others laugh, someone goofy, someone so boyish in the ways Kousuke was never allowed to be. Watching as he gathers friends, while Kousuke, so unlikeable, is wanted only for his money, for his status, for the clout.

He doesn't even know WHO HE IS! Questioning his own traits he's believed of himself, wondering if this is even him, if these parts of him are real or does he just act it, say it, pretend it, while trying to fulfill a role he was shoved into. That makes me feel SO deeply sad, because it's something I've been anticipating for so long: Kousuke wondering WHO he really is, how much of him is real and how much of it is the result of manipulation.

And that moment that he catches himself and says no no that's offensive and rude you can't be like that. ;AAA;

For him to admit how much he envies others, how much he craves the kind of connection others have, the kind of family others have, to feel that love and warmth that he's been deprived of, forced to endure this solitude because, as he believes, he didn't get the good parts of Rand. And what will happen when he learns that Rand isn't his father? That he never stood a chance to inherit any of those traits. Kousuke has operated on this belief that, if he tries hard enough, he can earn the things he craves, but I fear learning about his parenthood will make him think that no matter how hard he tried, he would never earn that, because none of it was ever him, could have gone to him.

I think this is where Shinae, in the future, will come in. I feel so very strongly that she will be someone who helps Kousuke to see that this isn't true, that these kinds of personality traits aren't something inherited, but rather something learned. For him to one day realize it's the paralyzing fear that holds him back, not his genetics. Of course, I acknowledge this will still take a lot of therapy but...

Something else very remarkable to me is the way Kousuke recognizes Shinae in Shinhye, because their eyes "feel the same" and he opens up to her - on some level, whether or not he is consciously aware of it, Kousuke knows, or maybe just wants to, that he can trust Shinae. That she is someone who is safe. He even knows how she feels about his mother. I don't think we'll see a lot of Kousuke and Shinae's friendship until we're passed our timeskips, but it makes me feel a little hopeful about it, that she'll be able to reach him, because she feels like someone who is safe. It's the way he sees Nol in her and wants to try to have that do over, a relationship with someone who  has unconditional love for him. It's the way he knows he mistreated Nol, that it was wrong, that he took it all out on this kid he was so afraid of because he had no other outlet, and he wants to do better but knows that there's nothing to salvage anymore.

But also, it just makes me hope more and more that in the future we WILL see a reconciliation between the brothers. As I say every time, it doesn't mean they have to become brothers or friends, but I just want them to see each other fully. Kousuke knows what he did to Nol. He doesn't deny it, even if he might not say it out loud unless he's drunk. But Nol is still so in the dark. Yujing is trying to tip him off and make him aware of it, but I hope one day when Nol realizes it, when he finds out that Kousuke, too, was Yui's victim, that he wasn't the only one, that Kousuke was made to fear Nol's love, he might.... understand. I'm saying understand here loosely because I don't want people to get the idea that I mean Nol will forgive him and Kousuke will be justified, but rather that Nol would be able to understand why Kousuke felt that way, and move on. But I can't help but hope that it will lead to an understanding, a reconciliation, where maybe they can try to be in each other's lives.

I think it's also interesting that Shinhye was somewhat honest, even if she wasn't very forthcoming, with Kousuke about her own family. It sounds like her mother has been gone for a long time, that she's been on her own the whole while, and I think it reinforces the idea that she believes both that Simhan is her father and that he rejected her, that he didn't want anything to do with her. It lines up, too, with how she feels that he wouldn't react well if he saw her (although I think she credited that to looking like their mother). In the same way that Shinae has felt abandoned and cast aside by their mother, Shinhye probably thinks their father never tried reach out, to find them, to maintain a relationship with her. Or perhaps it's that her mother fed her lies about him, made her believe him a different type of man, made her believe there would never be anything of their relationship to salvage. And given that she's the one who Kousuke opened to, it makes me think that there must be some kind of parallel there; the way she mentioned her own mother feels like maybe her mother, too, was a manipulative - or at the very least, dishonest - person.

I don't speculate a lot on Shinhye because frankly I don't think I know enough about her to really try to talk about her, but I do think that it's very likely there's some kind of connection between Shinhye and the Hirahras or Gun. To be clear, I don't believe she's working with Yui at all. I think it's more like... Alyssa isn't the only girl who has been trafficked by Gun. What's the likelihood that Shinae and Shinhye's mother was? Given her history, the gambling addiction that was so egregious her reputation haunted Shinae and chased her to a new neighborhood and school, was she seeking money somewhere else, somewhere more dangerous? Is that part of why they had to change their name? There's so many questions left about them, and I look forward to learning more about her, but, much like with Alyssa, I think it will take time and be dropped in little tidbits like this - things to read into and try to glean something from.

And maybe we'll see more of this duo in the future? It would feel a little weird to give them this one single run in, but I'm not entirely sure. Quimchee likes to keep us on our toes. After all, Minhyuk and Shinhye have also had only the one run in. Still, I think it would be interesting to watch, if Shinhye ever felt.... I want to say maybe compelled? to dig in more to Kousuke, ever feel a kind of kinship. I don't think she'll open up to him at all, but rather, maybe she'd keep going back because a. he's wealthy and there's more she can nick from him (assuming he doesn't realize she stole anything while in his apartment, if he even remembers any of this) and b. wanting to gather more intel.

Like I said though, she's hard to read so I don't want to cling too hard to any ideas and, instead, sit back and enjoy the show.

[yeahbumbleby]

nothing broke me more in yesterday's episode than realizing that the only reason why ruby doesn't describe weiss to little when looking for blake and yang simply is because she thinks weiss made it to vacuo. girlie already racking up seven different kinds of breakdowns and she doesn't even know her best friend's presence on the island is going to introduce a brand new one... please pray for ruby rose because she's about to eat dust this volume

[krysmcscience]

Saw this prompt for incorrect OC quotes and couldn't resist with a bunch of my Breach goobers. Some of them would absolutely say these things word for word in canon if I gave them half the chance to, though. XD

They're in order of when they showed up in person - Qīng, Ghost, Red, Marisol, Shio, Cam, Daruk, Tawoos, and Alondra - as well as some important honorable mentions who have only been mentioned or gotten dialogue - Star, Blake, and Creation.

Star's design is a slight spoiler, I suppose, but it doesn't reveal if they're human or impostor, so it's all good. Creation's "design" also isn't a spoiler at all, because They can look however They want, LOL. As for Shio...some of you who have seen the body horror I've done of them may be wondering why they look so normal here, but I promise there are Reasons. :3c

In other news, will I be making a liar out of Shio in an upcoming Breach canon divergence? ..........Maybe~ >:3c

[tanicus-caesareth]

guarana drama, damage control

[tackrusso]

show tempe gang crossover with the morris islanders would actually have been the best episode of bones ever. btw

[heartshattering]

5 AM

Just me and my overactive mind facing the nighttime again 🙃

[timeforsomethrillingheroicsblog]

caught the thinking about jack shephard disease again

[king-spite]

.

[gynaiko]

ㅤㅤㅤSTELLA   IS   NOT   A   GOOD   MOTHER,   AT   ALL;   QUITE   NEGLECTFUL,   ACTUALLY.   THE   KIND   TO   SAY   ‘THAT’S   NICE,   DEAR’   WHILE   NOT   EVEN   LOOKING   AT   VIA.   HOWEVER,   I   DON’T   SUBSCRIBE   TO   FANON’S   GENERAL   INTERPRETATION   WHERE   SHE’S   APPARENTLY   WILLING   TO   KILL   HER   JUST   TO   SPITE   STOLAS.   WE   STILL   HAVEN’T   SEEN   HER   INTERACT   WITH   OCTAVIA   BUT   IF   SHE   TRULY   HATED   HER,   SHE   WOULD   HAVE   THROWN   A   FIT   WHEN   ANDRE   POINTED   OUT   VIA   WOULD   GET   EVERYTHING,

ㅤㅤㅤ&   WHEN   SHE   WAS   SCREECHING   AT   STOLAS,   ASKING   IF   HE   WAS   ‘TURNING   HER   ( VIA )   AGAINST   HER   ( STELLA )’   —   CLEARLY,   SHE   CARES   FOR   VIA.   AGAIN,   SHE’S   NOT   A   GOOD   MOTHER,   PERHAPS   NOT   CODDLING   OR   ‘MOTHERLY’   BUT   ENOUGH   THAT   VIA   HAS   GOOD   MEMORIES   OF   HER   ( PER   THE   LOO   LOO   LAND   EPISODE ),

ㅤㅤㅤREAD   THE   TAGS   FOR   MY   TINFOIL   HAT   RAMBLINGS ,