#anyway all i'm trying to say is please give us s2

[scribe-of-hael]

The complicated life of Starscream

Tw: mentioned of Abuse/abusive Realtionships

I think whats interesting is the dynamic that Starscream has with Megatron in some ways. Because seems like no matter WHAT Starscream does. Being helpful ,loyal, or being backstabbing and sneaky.

Megatron finds a way to abuse him. That comes back around to the idea of , "No matter what you do, your abuser will never be happy and find new ways to be upset at you."

This is shown pretty well in TFP. Where Starscream trys to break free, be on his own. He struggles, even looses his Tcog in the process but he is a problem to everyone. The switch between his loyalty form s2 to s3 is a bit drastic. He is, very clearly, trying to do what Megatron asks of him and never once trys to go behind his back again.

Yet, even for a simple mistake, he is beaten. Megatron is completely incapable of trusting Starscream fully (reasonable) but Starscream is never going to be able to please Megatron fully either. Megatron doesn't know how eles to communicate with Starscream that isn't violent because that's how he responses, to violence and fear.

Starscream isn't perfect in TFP, he's killed Bots (as he told us repeatedly about Cliff jumper) , but everyone was someone before the war. I always wondered what he was like?

That and the fact Starscream mimics Megatron's abusive behavior in order to try and get respect. He HITS people , somtimes with little reason. He shoves and even belittled those who have actively tried to help him and show him concern (Knockout). Somtimes it works, most times it doesn't. He knows fear and violence works on him, why wouldn't it work in others ?

It's kinda a real thing, a friend who has these problems , basically puffing out their chest and bullying people close to them in order to get a sense of power and control that they normally don't have.

It comes down to Control and Safety.

Alot of times, in IDW Starscream does become a leader of Cybertron but almost always finds a way to sabotage himself. Why? He's traumatized. Conditioned to think he can not be anymore than what he was, what Megatron thought he was and what ppl think he is.

Bumblebee even calls this out, and in a fit of emotion, Starscream says its because he is Alone. No one is there to protect or vouche for him. (Which isn't fully true but that's his reality, how he sees it)

In order to keep himself safe, Starscream has defense mechanisms and coping strategies that are built to protect himself. He lies, he backstabs, he starts shit, he is combative even verbally when he doesn't even need to be. These strategies that were once used to help him, now make life difficult when ppl are trying to be there for him. Pushing people away, trying to give the illusion of control and dominance.

Rounding back to TFP, there was a theory i saw, (I think so, but in pretty sure I'm not the only one who thought of this anyway) that in RID, Starscream puts back in his old armor or parts of his frame from before.

My theory was that Starscream in TFP looks alot like Megatron in terms of color. Why go from a blue, white and red color to grey ? And was the armor even off him in the first place ?

My theory is Megatron purposely stripped him of parts of his own body, to make him both smaller and physically more vulnerable. Being a good representation of an Abuser stripping away who a person is, will all is left is the then vulnerable and under their control.

To add intop of it, in s3, its clear Starscream is loyal. The bot trys to go get Megatron or attack the autobots for killing him. Shockwave has to DRAG him away. In the movie, he STILL flinches at Megatron's movement towards him depsite him saying he "now knows what oppression is". FLYS AWAY & LEAVES HIM BEHIND.

This Starscream still has Decpeticon values, has only ever served Megatron for Millions of years, is still clearly afraid of his abuser and atm purpose to keep going. And he just LEAVES. Leaving Starscream to pick himself of being confused, scared and no idea what to do i'm sure.

Not to mention Megatron never once got anything done to him for all the pain and suffering he ever cause ld. He basically got off scotch free. Which to me, reflects the injustice some ppl feel and get when an abuser just leaves you in the mess THEY made and you get NOTHING from it. No justice, no recompense, no apology. You have to figure out how to BE without them.

Point is that Starscream is a complicated character in media. Different versions to show case this behavior. What i hope to see in the future, what I pray for, is seeing Starscream not only be able to break free of this cycle. But become more than what he thinks he is, what anyone thinks he is.

[findafight]

On the one-sided harringrove post- I feel it becomes infinitely funnier with bi steve. He likes men, just not Billy. Never Billy.

Oh yeah. When Billy fiiiirst comes to school with his music blaring Steve is head over heels for Nancy, so he might register that the guy with the Camaro and loud music has a good ass, but then billy opens his mouth and Steve is like "oh, no ass can make up for that personality." And continues with his life.

Just. Okay I like to project just a liiiiittle on Steve with him just. Not realizing his attraction to men isn't a straight thing. Like. Of course all straight people feel that way, you just kinda ignore it or don't do anything about it. So Steve is half way between being comfortable in his sexuality and being closeted to himself because buddy used Hawkeye Pierce as the blueprint of straightness.

So Billy is out here, wallowing in self hatred and internalized homophobia, hating Steve and wanting Steve and hating that he wants Steve and wishing Steve would pay attention to him enough for a hate fuck he can cry about later, and it's all very angsty. All the while Steve is just actually completely fine with thinking a dude is hot he's just got standards that include "not racist" "doesn't try to beat up kids" "hasn't made me blackout from head trauma"

Wait. Oh no. I feel an au coming on. Shit. Au where post S2 Robin hears piano coming from the band room after hours and is her curious self going "I must see who is this mysterious genius" and it's Steve. They get to talking and hanging out and all of a sudden Robin thinks they are actually good friends. Best friends. Somehow.

Cue them going to a band party together. Someone spikes their drinks with waayyyy more than they were expecting so they are blasted. Robin has to go pee but does not want to go alone so she drags Steve into the bathroom with her and makes him face away. He's like haha Woah you really had to pee. And she goes shut upppp and washes her hands but sits across from him. Steve smiles at her and gives her his speech about how amazing she is and how glad he is to be her friend (it is like March '85 so he is still not ready to get back out into dating yet). Robin tells him about Tammy. They sing. Someone slams the door open and kicks them out of the bathroom because there's a fuckin line.

They lay on the grass outside and look at the sky. Steve like. Caaaaasually mentions once having thought he was gonna marry Tommy when he was six and then realizing you just didn't do anything about those feelings and Robin's gotta shoot up going WHAT!! WHAAAT? Because it sounded like Steve coming out to her? Right after?? She came out to him??

And Steve is like yeah. Like you don't really have to? Easier to ignore it and flirt with girls who I like or think are hot. And poor Robin's brain is melting she's like please Steve I'm really drunk are you telling me you sometimes want to kiss boys? And he's like yes, obviously, everyone does. Just like everyone also wants to sometimes kiss girls. Except lesbians I guess who only want to kiss girls? And gay guys only want to kiss guy? Yeah that makes sense and straight people don't care but go for the opposite ya know?

Robin is like NO!! And calms down some and says "okay I'm telling you this because you are my friend and you just told me almost the same thing. Steve. I like girls and only like girls. That not a straight thing"

"yeah. You've said."

"but I am ninety nine percent positive that just because you like girls doesn't mean you're straight because you also like boys."

"what"

"yeah dude, I do not think this is a heterosexual experience you're describing. I'm not an expert but. Yeah.

"oh. Huh."

"yep."

"I definitely thought it was."

"your brain is so weird I'm still kind of obsessed with you."

"haha. Honestly I'm kind of obsessed with you. This is wild."

"well. At least I know you're stuck with me."

"ohhh nooooo whatever will I do with my best friend always around..."

ANYWAYS THE ACTUAL POINT OF THIS is not in fact the stobin. It's actually that

Sometime probably in may, when Steve is ready to be on the dating scene again, he gets with Eddie. Robin is happy for him but also so mad because he went from "probably shouldn't act gay even tho everyone feels a little gay sometimes" to "hey Robin what would you say if I said I got a boyfriend?" In less than two months. How does he have straight AND gay game. That's not fair.

Steddie getting together is a non event. Eddie is still like ewww sports and yet somehow he made out with Steve Harrington and the next day Steve asked if he wanted to get milkshakes and throw rocks into the quarry to see the splashes. Eddie must restrain himself from thinking it's a date because he knows it's not but it'd also be the perfect date (Eddie is a simple man)

At the end of the night steve kissed his cheek and says "I had a really great time..."

Eddie just blurted "hey do you want to be my boyfriend?"

To which Steve perks up like "yes! I'd like that!"

And Eddie didn't actually think he'd get that far so he was like "neat!! See you tomorrow!" before slamming the door in Steve's face.

So they're dating and Eddie disparages sports but Steve is like haha aw you don't like watching me play? Which is sooo mean to Eddie because obviously?? He likes?? Watching his boyfriend??? Run around in tiny shorts and sometimes shirtless?? He has to reevaluate some things he supposes.

All while this is happening Billy is still on his Greatest Homoerotic Rivals shtick with Steve. Eddie notices and is like to dude...what is with Billy? And Steve just sighs. Says Billy is weird and obsessed with him and glares all the time. It's a whole thing. Billy is pissed because what is Steve, his epic rival, doing hanging around some random band geek, his sister's bitchass friends, and maybe the local dealer.

Alright. Grad happens. Yay Steve! Poor Eddie. They go to some party , hang out with people, sell some drugs, etc. Billy is unfortunately also at this party, and is like. Lazer eyes boring into Steve's back. Very annoying. At some point, he sees Steve slip away and is like this is my chance so he follows him.

Howmever he comes across Steve, his epic and totally heterosexual rival, making out with Eddie the freak Munson.

And listen this is a scary thing to be caught inna town like Hawkins, but that's not the point of this post.

So Billy goes "what the hell?"

They turn around. Billy is still spluttering.

"what are you-why would you-- with him?!" He says.

Steve raises his eyebrows, alllll cocky confidence. He smirks a bit. Drawls. "Well, yeah. I like cock, billy. Just not yours."

Because the point of this post is that Steve is a bitch.

Thank you.

[my-mt-heart]

TWDU's (2nd) Most Incompetent Showrunner

Nobody will ever be worse for this franchise than Scott Gimple, but while I suspect he plays an active role in all of this, he's not the one who was stupid enough to nuke his own show with a single sound bite, so let's just focus on David Zabel for now.

This isn't coming out of left field. We have an interview from him last year saying Daryl and Isabelle, who by his own account have known each other for no more than a few months, have a "deep bond." We have multiple leaked script pages that explicitly position Daryl and Isabelle as romantic while treating Caryl's 14-year relationship as insignificant. We have multiple interviews of him saying Daryl Dixon, the most loyal character in the whole franchise, is torn between his family and his "surrogate" family. We have synopsis after synopsis and quote after quote of the word "friend" defining Caryl's relationship, a whole trailer that centers on Daryl's relationships with Isabelle and Laurent, and now we have a sound bite--not a misquote or a misdirect--of this man calling a romance between Caryl "a TV book of tricks." That one's ironic considering he wrote a whole season of the oldest, most tiresome tricks in the book.

When someone shows you who they are, believe them. David Zabel is not an ally to us, to Caryl, Carol, Melissa, and not even to Daryl or Norman. He doesn't understand them. He doesn't care. That will always be true as long as he's showrunning. Just because Caryl are in Spain alone does not mean he's going to decide to develop a romance between them that he's made explicitly clear he doesn't want. The real question is who is going to be the next ship bait in S3? As always, everybody is free to watch if they want to watch and free to step away if they want to step away. Personally, I think supporting anything Zabel is in charge of will only lead to more disappointment. If I ever find tangible proof that the Caryl show I was so excited about 4 years ago is really the Caryl show, I will come back, but I was very clear about my dealbreakers. No shipbaiting, explicit canon, Daryl and Carol both trying to get back to each other, a title change, and equal billing. By my calculations, I'm getting....none of that, so I'm not quite sure what my incentive is supposed to be anymore.

I understand that some Carylers are feeling pressured to stay silent and gaslit into thinking their "negativity" is undermining Melissa and to those fans, I just want to say 1) that is ridiculous and 2) you have a safe space here if you need it.

And to AMC (as I already said on Twitter), the ball is in your court. What are you going to do about a showrunner shitting all over the work you've done to hype Caryl and McReedus for the fans who have returned that hype tenfold? What are you going to do about a showrunner who tries to make Norman the scapegoat and won't even acknowledge any input he received from Melissa (why is that btw)? If the answer is nothing and the expectation is for all of those fans to watch the show, give you free promotion, and bring in money for you anyway, fine, but I want to make it clear right now that the reason I won't be tuning in for S2 OR S3 is because of that showrunner who cares more about pleasing himself than pleasing fans who have actually invested in Daryl's and Carol's journey for 14+ years. I support Melissa McBride, Carol, and Caryl. I wanted their story to continue for several more seasons to come, but I do not and will not ever support David Zabel. Talk about undermining Melissa...

[campbenji]

*JWCT SPOILERS* very messy first thoughts

OH BOY here we go

-ben and darius's dynamic was epic. the hug. the roadtrip scenes. "is your friend okay?" "no 😊". ben getting darius out of his isolation cabin and darius grounding him in ep2. the parallels with s3ep7. "you kiss your mother with that mouth?" i'm gonna be thinking about that scene for days. their ship is still a swim to me but please they better keep whatever the fuck they have going on in s2 because it's fucking wonderful

-i love that they took the chance to give more light to duos we didn't see much in jwcc. teamups we didn't often see like ben and sammy, THE B-DUO, and darius and sammy got very special moments here

-the amount of pictures/videos from the six years in between??? the brooklynn flashbacks??? we were so well fed

-BRAND!!!!!! i got so happy when i heard him the first episode, he's clearly been checking on his brother and i'm glad he's ok

-bowman family FEAST. brand and darius talking over the phone. the pictures on the cabin. kenji saying he calls mrs. bowman once a week and all the nice things he said about her. the whole mess between kenji and darius. "we're brothers, right?" i died dead. i love this family your honor

-sammy. she's got so much going on and we desperately need to talk about it. i'm so worried about her, she's desperately trying to avoid confronting what happened with brooklynn, with yaz and her own trauma, and then they casually dropped on us that her family isn't speaking to her and never elaborated on that?? sammy, who's love and care for her family was her biggest motivation in jwcc?? i need to know what happened because it must've been big

-mateo!! i liked him a lot, he definitely doesn't want to get into any of this mess but still dabbles around a bit to help the kids, which i respect. also i hope we get to meet his daughter hiraya, she sounds really cool

-MS MICROBANGS (or the handler, or whatever name we're calling her). what is her deal. who is she working for. she's so uncanny, literally almost robotic i need to know more about her

-brookenji over i cheered. don't take this personally i've never been a fan of this ship and a part of me knew they weren't going to last long

-the animation increased in quality so much. the scene after ben, yaz and sammy get out of the sinking van is so well done it's so pretty to look at. and the t-rex with the explosion behind her? it reminds me so much of toro in the tunnels in s1ep8, and i haven't tested this out but i feel like if you put them one next to the other the improvement would be so noticeable.

-also related to the point above: that thing when a character's eyes start filling up with tears but they don't cry just yet? 10/10. chef's fucking kiss

-sure jwct has the same tv-y7 rating as jwcc, but from minute 1 it's obvious it's not the same audience they're talking to. it's not a big change in tone, like for example adventure time/distant lands/fionna and cake, but it's there, you can tell they know it's not little kids watching anymore

-BUMPY IS HAVING A BABY BUMPY IS A MOM NOW they had me shit scared for her and then they pulled a freaking egg my heart was literally pounding. anyways i hope they get both bumpy and the egg somewhere safe and that they name the new anky "speckles" (i've gotten so attached to that name in the last 24 hours it's insane)

-YASAMMY THE QUEENS THAT YOU ARE. their relationship was stellar this season, i was scared when i saw that they were apart but their issues felt organic to their relationship and i just love how they were written in the show, they are still so in love with each other and i can't wait to see where they go next season. they're everything to me

-yeah they were apart for half the season but. benji crumbs. the egg cradle scene. kenji helping ben after he got hit with the stun gun. basically all they did was act like they knew each other but idc. we are so back.

-the brooklynn reveal was... meh?? it could've been more rewarding if they waited until s2 to reveal she's still alive, but at least i hope they take their time before reuniting her with the rest of the camp fam. also i can't believe ppl even guessed what arm she was going to lose y'all have prophetic powers or smth

-bringing daniel back to kill him the same episode was an insane move btw. i would've normally complained but it's all worth it for causing the panic attack scene in ep7. kenji's reaction felt so genuine, i'm forever in awe at how well this show writes grief and trauma

-i'm so conflicted about darius's confession. i like dinostar, but i feel like it wasn't needed for darius to be in love with brooklynn to explain the voicemails and the way he was dealing with her death. she was one of his closest friends, his grief made sense even with them being platonic. on the other hand, i love how he admitted it to kenji and the fact they didn't turn it into a huge fight between them; also, "i didn't know i could even feel that way" aroace/acespec darius truthers never lose

-maybe it's just that i need to rewatch, but i'm lost as to where they're going next season?? i know they're getting on a boat but where does that go?? what are they trying to do?? there's so much happening my head is spinning

-ben... he kind of felt like the comic relief for most of the show, the first episodes showed him as being really paranoid again and struggling with being alone, but halfway through the season they just sort of forgot about it?? idk something was off

-bring back kenji's old latin spanish va idk who this guy is but that is not kenji i can't do this. i'll survive the loss of ryan potter but i won't survive this

anyways yeah i think those are most of my uncooked thoughts, overall i really liked the season, i can't believe we got to see the kids again this is still so unreal to me

[rey-jake-therapist]

So far ever since S2 ended, I been watching ao3 and the haladriel fanfics have been growing. It's amazing. We're getting so fed. Meanwhile on X Antis are coping hard about Cele/born and his return, which is whatever, it will happen anyways, but now it's like they're demanding they want the S3 arc to revolve around him and Galadriel like Sauron is some side character (lol). It sounds like they want what haladriel had in S1, which was purposely directed in a way to make the viewer ship the two characters because lore-wise, most people wouldn't automatically think of them in a relationship. But whatever headcanons they come up with their reunion, it's their business. The weird part is tho, they always like to latch onto this idea that Gal was this poor, innocent elf who never wanted any part or involvement with Halbrand, and they're just now emphasizing the part where he lost control and tried to kill her (while again, cognitive dissonance blinds them to the part where she was trying to kill him first) It's always pretty funny watching antis and their double standards with violence and killing between men and women.

It's amazing that the ship gets bigger ! It seems that the Haladriel finals made a significant impression on many social media users who didn't watch the show before.... It's good, very news !

Lol, It's actually hilarious to see this character suddenly become so popular, while Tolkien himself didn't care that much about the guy, and certainly didn't write Galadriel and Celeborn's marriage as this "epic love story" that these people imagine.

Whatever floats their boat, but if they seriously think that their reunion will get as much screen time as Haladriel season 1 did, they're going to be disappointed. Galadriel and Halbrand's story took much screentime because it was a part of a bigger story : how did Sauron deceive everyone, including Galadriel, and got to Eregion where he could forge his rings. The romantic bits was just a nice bonus !

(Almost) nobody wants a Galadriel/Celeborn rom-com in season 3, (almost) nobody cares, because it will have zero impact on the overall story. Halbrand and Galadriel's story had to be told to understand what would happen next. If not for Arwen, Galadriel could be remain single that it wouldn't change anything to the overall plot : she needs Celeborn only because she must have Celebrian, so Elrond can marry her and have Arwen. Sorry guys but he's just not important, except for Galadriel's personal happiness. I'm not saying their love story doesn't matter at all, but it's not enough important to hijack the overall plot of TROP !

And I say that as someone who wants Celeborn in the show, because I love Galadriel and I think she deserves some peace of mind, healthy love and stability, all things that Celeborn can give her. Do I think it deserves several hours of screentime? Sorry, but no. I'm more interested in seeing Sauron corrupt men with the Nine rings, for example.

And for the love of Eru, Sauron didn't try to kill Galadriel in season 1, he also didn't try to kill her in season 2. He just never did. Galadriel was drowning in an illusion. Sauron wanted to punish her for rejecting him, so he maintained the illusion to make her believe she was drowning and that this time, he was not going to save her. He wanted her to despair, which she did. This scene's actually hearbreaking, because we can see that for a moments she's still hoping that he will come for her.

It was cruel, but it was definitely not a murder attempt. Her drowning was an allegory of the despair she felt over Sauron's deception, but physically she was always safe. He literally had a dagger he could have used to kill her ! And he's Sauron ! He can kill anyone. Can we be serious a minute ? please ?

In the real world, she attacked him with the dagger like she did in the illusion, he pushed her in the river, where she had no risk of drowning for real, and he left when he heard Elrond come, probably. He didn't even have to maintain her face in the water, like I've seen suggested once. Her face was NOT under water, she was clearly not drowning for real and as soon as Elrond broke the illusion, she was well awake and ready to cut his throat !

Does she look half dead to you?

Besides, she never told anyone that he tried to kill her? Why ? Because she knows he didn't.

And in season 2, he didn't want to kill her with Morgoth's crown : again, he wanted to punish her for rejecting him, and also bind her to him. He knows where the heart is... If the point was to kill her he would have aimed right.

So actually, only Galadriel tried to kill Sauron, repeatedly, and I suspect that this situation will never change.

[thegeminisage]

star trek update time. monday we watched ds9's "in purgatory's shadow" (ohio edition), "by inferno's light" (ohio edition), and "doctor bashir, i presume" (ohio edition), which did blow my tits clean off, and then last night we watched voy's "unity" and "darkling" (south carolina editions, sadly).

in purgatory's shadow (ds9) (ohio edition):

kira and odo's little moment at the beginning of this episode 🥺 he was soooo embarrassed to be caught attempting to try and learn how to snag a spouse but she didn't judge even a little. girl, break up with your stupid ass boyfriend. odo is right here

i really loved bashir pointing the phaser at garak when he figured garak was lying. i was like oh damn he knows him so well and i love when this twink has had enough and becomes a little evil BUT THEN IT LITERALLY WASN'T HIM! what an incredible plot twist. we literally had to pause the episode and work out the timelines to see how long we had been living with changeling bashir. it was sooo good and i wasn't expecting it at all. mwah

jadzia and worf are so good. her personality being settled into like, comic relief makes for such a good match to his whole straight man aura. obviously she taunts him with his klingon operas. please.

also lol "at the first sign of betrayal i will kill him" <3

i do NOT like whatever they are doing with garak and ziyal. first of all, he's gay. secondly, she is like at LEAST 20 years younger than him. i want to trust them but after jake dating all those older women i am so suspicious

the backpedaling they're doing on fun and friendly former facist dukat is insane. not to say i'm not enjoying it. also, i like when he threatened kira and she was like "pffft whatever" like what a blow to his fucking ego. get his ass

VERY cool to see martok again - totally unexpected

our last wonderful surprise of this ep was tain being garak's DAD- it makes so much sense and puts so much into perspective, and, hi, JULIAN WAS IN THE ROOM DURING THIS. garak could have asked him to leave and he would have. garak could have told tain he was there. but he didn't, because he wanted the moral support, and because he wanted julian to know something true about him. AUUUGHGHGH

like, we haven't had NEARLY enough garashir since s2, but this was SUCH a good moment, even though it feels like they're trying to backpedal on that too. what a series of plot twists for this ep 10/10

by inferno's light (ds9) (ohio edition):

dukat's betrayal here i like vaguely saw coming, but jesus christ lol. he is back to FULL villain status...such a change from his little fireworks show for sisko and jake

garak's claustrophobia <3 absolutely loooved this especially since julian had to go in and get him. bangs tankard on table MORE GARASHIR! there literally has NOT been enough. i would love to know more about tzenketh but i know they will never ever tell us but wow <3

i am SO tired of seeing worf lose fights this episode was fucking great. not only did he not lose any fights except under an extremely unfair circumstances he totally kicked ass even while injured. FINALLY. even that jem'hadar guy was like i can kill him but i can't defeat him so i give up. SOOOO true finally let's respect my boy worf. why don't you bitches call him a pussy NOW

anyway, the little moment worf and garak had at the end of this episode...mwah. put them on the fuck chart

extremely excited to see gowran in this episode. he and his freaky eyes are so special to me

"this station was built by cardassia" "that's funny i thought it was built by bajoran slave labor" I LOVE WHEN SISKO IS FUN AND FERAL.

also i know the circumstances were extenuating but i cannot BELIEVE julian just fucking murdered that jem'hadar <3

watching little fake julian run around was so distressing...i kept yelling when he came on screen because nobody KNEWWWW he even fooled US! what a cool twist, again

overall these two episodes were incredibly good even though the strong action-y episodes are usually not ds9's forte. absolutely baller content for everyone except ziyal. i will at least take comfort in the fact that garak looked very uncomfortable to be hugged

doctor bashir, i presume (ds9) (ohio edition):

AGAIN. THIS ONE BLEW MY TITS CLEAN OFF

i'm mad garak wasn't in it. AUGHGHGH

okay, my main beef with this one was pacing...i thought they resolved the problem extremely quickly after the cat was out of the bag, and it's because they spent so much time on the doctor and leeta and rom. which would have been a GREAT b-plot for any other episode, i LOVE leeta and rom and i was cheering for him the whole time, but even though the EMH (sorta) cameo was very welcome, i do not welcome it at the expense of time taken from one of the most pivotal episodes for julian bashir probably in this whole series, especially when i have the sneaking suspicion that it won't be brought up again

and i did LIKE the resolution of this episode, his parents paying for what they'd done, but it didn't feel like he got to sit with it for long enough, and it certainly felt like we skipped over a few pivotal moments - the scene where he found out his best friend knows could have been EXTREMELY meaty. is he afraid of judgement? is he angry? is he worried miles will be angry? etc. but we just kind of breezed right on by it. like, i loved the way miles sat and let him get it out of his system in a fun inverse of julian talking him down from suicide but we could have had SOOO much more

anyway side from that i love. I LOVE. holy shit

like, i can't even talk about the episode itself, just this entire concept. like, they did essentially kill their kid. they made him the way he is, a new kid, and then hated him for the way he is. SPOCK CORE. and then to find that out as a teenager...

like, you know he had to google "does being genetically enhanced make me a bad person" and then of course what google spits out is "did you know about khan noonien singh and would you like to?" and he was like Oh No

like, he went into MEDICINE. and i know he had other reasons and all but he went into MEDICINE because that's the most harmless you can possibly be. he's using all his ill-gotten brainpower to HEAL PEOPLE because his first reaction was to not want to be khan...2! you can enhance genetics but just like o'brien said that can't grow compassion, which is what makes julian who he is

I WISH GARAK HAD BEEN THERE.

anyway, i will continue to think about dr bashir for a very long time and he definitely just rose a couple of notches in my character ranking

unity (voy):

i actually liked this one a lot. i love borg eps and i'm fascinated by a post-borg life lived by these people

that said, this lady gave off SUCH evil vibes that even after the truth was revealed and she and chakotay fucked i kept waiting for her to stab him in the back. which only kind of happened i guess

also, :( that chakotay is out here running around on janeway. SAD

i did love the borg meld scene though. it was incredibly scary. and i was TWIRLING MY HAIR when he got possessed or whatever the fuck

it was also so fun that he spent half of this episode dazed and stumbling around because of his little head injury. excellent material overall

oh yeah and i KNEW that corpse was gonna wake back up. i think it's so terrifying that when you're borg, even if you die, you aren't done. you can be revived because nothing kills you, not even the vacuum of space. that is easily the most horrifying part of it all

i also really liked chakotay and janeway's moment at the end. like, she was distrustful the entire time and he was too trusting, as he tends to sometimes be, and then at the end she was like aw but they weren't so bad and he was like [thousand yard stare of guy who has fucked 2! women who later betrayed him and has now been radicalized against the borg]

like i'm not saying it wasn't 99% consensual with riley or seska but i AM saying that he was hopped up on the borg meld when he fucked riley and later riley was willing to use chakotay's body for her own means when push came to shove and i'm saying that seska knew full well the whole time it was happening that it was under completely false pretenses and she stole his dna without his consent to make a baby he also didn't consent to, even if it turned out she fucked up and got that kaxon baby instead. like, chakotay better be careful or he's gonna start fitting into captain kirk's niche

darkling (voy):

this one fucking sucked so bad

like, sure, yes, emh evil now. does he have to keep creepy-touching all the women

also, WHAT? we get ONE LINE about kes and neelix breaking up and he's not even IN this episode? why did they even break them up??? just because they wrre planning on having her leave soon????? absolutely baffling

i don't think evil emh was very compelling...i am glad he got to act or whatever, but i didn't even get the usual "battle of the selves" that we often wind up with when we do these kind of tropes. it was just...a malfunction, and eventually it was corrected

also, what a BAFFLING b-plot. if you measure each of kes's years (except the first, i suppose) as a decade in human beings, we can assume she's in her thirties now, so she just...breaks up with her boyfriend to smooch the hot alien guy she met a few days ago and then maybe wants to run off with him? in her THIRTIES?

i DID like the EMH quoting the oath at the end, but without any sort of battle of the selves or real emotional investment in what he did when he was evil, it feels kind of wasted on this episode. it's a fine concept, but the execution falls soooo flat

NEXT TIME: voy's "rise" and "favorite son."

[half-truths-and-hyperbole-louk]

Louk's Bad Batch rewatch part 15 !!! AND part 16 !!!

TWO IN ONE WHAT these eps are kinda short ?? or my thoughts are idk ?? so I put them both together on one post 😬 but anyway let's go batcherssss 🤟

The Bad Batch 1x11

Crosshair you little gremlin 💕

ELENI AND HOWZER 🥺😭🥰👑

can someone please explain to me why Orn Free Taa has extra lekku, weird tiny ears and three fingers instead of four ??? mans looks like a different species 👀

"They fought for us and they have earned our respect" settle down Cham we all know you're gonna change your mind in 5 minutes hush

HERA AND CHOPPER MY BELOVEDS 💕💕💕

"uncle Gobi" 🥺

Hera watching the birds in the sky 🤲 following them with her hands 🥺

Howzer you absolute king 👑

Eleni and Gobi scheming together hehehe

I just know Eleni is SO proud of Hera 🥲 she's so much like her mom fr

"my hope is that you won't ever have to live a life like mine" ~ General Cham Syndulla ... meet General Hera Syndulla

"no take offs or landings" this is actually so adorable tho

Wrecker carrying all the weapons himself like he's only doing one trip with the groceries from the car to the house hehehe

Hera asks about the Marauder and Omega's like 'this beauty' *pat pat*

I wanna see Hunter's face watching Hera and Omega together 🥺

they're besties forever 💕

it's Hera's dream to live on a starship 😭

lmao could've had a bad batch reunion rn but Crosshair had other plans

Omega: ☝"did you know flying is about a feeling?" Tech: I have no idea what this means

Howzer being the only one to question imprisoning a child 😭

Eleni didn't even wait for the speeder to stop moving before jumping out 💅

"attempted assassination of Orn Free Taa" ??? attempted ?? did he not just die ???

The Bad Batch 1x12

"how unfortunate for your people to see your fall" LMAO Rampart I've seen s2 👀

Howzer immediately plotting to save Hera 💕

Hera and Chopper are absolute menaces and I respect them both for it

Gonky being part of the bad batch family 🤲

"you gave her our comm channel?" ~ Hunter is so done pls 😂

Tech: "children often overreact" Omega: "no we don't" YES OMEGA 🙌👑 she is so passionate and caring and loving and loyal I genuinely feel so proud of her 💕

Omega: "isn't that what soldiers do" Hunter: 😯

Wrecker @ Chopper: "what's his problem" how long do you have buddy?

Hera asking them all so desperately to save her family 😭😭😭 she has always cared so deeply

y'all I'm confused did Orn Free Taa actually survive that shot to the head? I feel like Rampart has no reason to lie about it?

they all peeking with their binoculars

Hunter's little 'let's move' gesture 🥰

Hunter hearing the droid and his sneak attack just dropping down on it 👌 bro how did you get up there so fast ??

knife knife knife knife knife knife knife kni-

Tech: "oh good" lolol

Wrecker's face when Hunter says Crosshair knows they're there 😭

Omega grabbing Hera's hand 🤲

Echo's face explaining to Hera why they're after Cham 😭😭

"I don't care about any of that, I just want my parents back" she's just a little kid in the middle of a war she doesn't understand 💔 this is too real and absolutely heartbreaking

"She's trying to save her family Hunter. I'd do the same for you" you tell him Omega 💪👑

Howzer and Crosshair staring at each other.....

Chopper and Hera having a lil chat 🥺

Omega: "he's my brother, they all are" Hera: "you're lucky" she really is 🥺

Howzer is trying so hard to protect Hera even with Cham hating on him and refusing to help save his own daughter 🙃

Omega and Hera came up with a strategic plan and now Hunter's on board 🥰

Tech is worried about them going by themselves 🥲

Echo getting caught scaling the wall: "a little help?" lmaooo

AND Hunter's little "hey" to distract the reg before pulling Echo up 💀

"I won't tell if you wont" lmao I love these two together 💕

Omega: "don't shoot down our shuttle" Tech: "wait what shuttle?!" ~ how many heart attacks does Omega want to give Tech this episode 😂

Hera blowing up an imperial refinery........ 👀

Tech: 'Omega what was that explosion?!?! Omega: hehe don't worry about it 💀

Omega: "do some damage Wrecker" Wrecker: "that I can do!" Wrecker happy makes me happy 🥰

THE TECH TURN THE TECH TURN THR TECH TURN THE RECH TUENCJDIWJXNW

Hunter telling Cham and Gobi that Hera hired them 💀

Hera: "we're getting the hang of this" Tech: "yes your dangerous and uncontrolled manoeuvring is as confusing to them as it is to us 🙂" he is so far past done with them oml 😂

Howzer 💕💕💕💕💕💕

Hunter looking back at him before they leave 😭

Howzer's whole speech in this scene 😭😭😭 it reminds me of Fives giving his pep talk to the cadets 🥲

Hunter sensing Crosshair??? and what if I never stop crying ??

my heart is breaking for Howzer I love him so bad 💔

Wrecker Omega high five 🥺

Tech teaching Hera and Omega 🤲💕

"Tech showed me how to scramble a ships signature" TECH TAUGHT HERA ONE SKILL THAT SAVED HER ASS A MILLION TIMES 😭

"keep an eye on your brothers, they need it" ~ Hera, the wisest person in the show fr

...did Chopper just say "Chopper out"

Crosshair has too many expressions to count this last scene, asking to hunt the batch down... my theory is he never had his chip removed but that venator engine fried it and it slowly stops working... we know that a lot of the chips are slowly starting to stop working in other clones, maybe its the same for Crosshair ?? so he's feeling a lot of confusion at hunting them down ?? maybe idk lol

two more down!!! my internet is still shocking and it's taking me like an hour to watch each ep bc of all the buffering 🥲 but anywayyy thank yalls for joining 💕💕💕

[vole-mon-amour]

3x11, part 2, RJK edition.

oh my god, just make out already, you two. Jamie is so fucking sad, who fucking hurt him, I wanna hurt them back.

Jamie is on the verge of tears, can't Roy fucking see it??? LOOK INTO HIS EYES AND SEE IT.

That is probably the most mature and concerned reaction I've ever seen from Roy towards Jamie. Like when he hugged him in s2, it was great. But here he's actually trying to TALK about it. He's genuinely concerned and interested in what's going on.

EMMY WINNER PHIL DUNSTER WHEN?????? Jfc. Just hug the boy, Roy.

;_____; Sharing trauma aka I've been thrown into Sunflowers and Amsterdam again. BEST FRIENDS.

Ok. This is ok. I'm okay. There was a glimpse where the kiss could've happened and Jamie could've continued wailing and it would WORK. Roy wouldn't even say a thing bc Jamie is a mess and it might now mean anything, and if it did, they can talk about it later.

Anyway. Jamie going in for a hug FIRST bc he trust Roy and he feels safe around him and he feels okay about physical intimacy and being vulnerable with him now. I wanted my hug & I guess this is the closest I can get to that one in 2x06. And with Jamie crying again. Ohhh my god.

The poor boy needs a vacation with both Roy and Keeley (and a lot of sex and love from them). I'd say RoyJamie only, but it's more likely at this point that ot3 happens instead of otp.

Well, it's close to Will walking in on Roy and Jamie kissing. Almost.

I'm fucking staying here. I don't need anyone else. I'm staying here and going down with this ship. Jamie full on can do whatever he wants at this moment & Roy would probably allow him. The hands interlinked on Roy's back, Jamie's head going from Roy's shoulder into the crook of Roy's neck. They really are best friends. Jamie feels so comfortable and safe with him. Putty in his hands, huh?

And I can't fucking keep quiet about Phil pulling this off. Like... MY GOODNESS, GIVE HIM ALL THE FUCKING AWARDS. It makes me sad but at the same time I can't stop laughing, and I'm sure this was the intention. Bc this dramatic wailing is truly something.

At the same time, "I can't sleep, and I can't eat" is a serious sign of depression or at least a serious burnout. Get Jamie a therapist and some quality time break from all the stress.

"Jamie is a mess & I gotta help him."

Keeley is so excited she gets to help Roy with Jamie. This is very ot3 of you. I gotta say though, Roy has to learn how to talk and communicate. It's all fun and all, the idea of when there's a miscommunication or Roy unable to go to emotional depths, but it's really important. In the previous ep he watched Jamie and came up with the right words for Keeley. In here he went to Keeley so she could help him with Jamie. I see a pattern, but I'd love Roy to act on it. Saw Keeley maybe, came up with the right words, knew how to act with Jamie, went back to help.

But then I expect both of them to go back to Jamie and help, so also very ot3 of them.

Jamie and his rings. Jamie being so many fans fav player. Jesus, I love this kid so. fucking. much. Get him into therapy again, please.

"How's he doing?" "Fucking hell." "I'll talk to him."

For a show that gives so many queer references, it would be weird if they were queerbaiting us tbh. It's possible, but it's still weird, especially with so many queer characters.

For the reference.

IF NOT OT3, THEN WHY THIS. They're gonna drive me insane.

[rahnekat]

OFMD and Love

"Love your neighbor as yourself."

"I loved you best I could."

Spoilers for S1 and the first 3 eps of S2, along with triggers in those episodes.

I'm sure there will be a lot of deep and insightful metas about the themes of OFMD from people who are far better writers than I. (For example, I think we're very clearly seeing the effects of toxic masculinity in Ed. Ed's inability to healthily process emotion becoming violence towards himself and others is often the conclusion that toxic masculinity barrels towards.)

However, what's really stuck out to me on this first watch is love or possibly the inability to love. Another way to look at it is that I'm having feelings about stupid fucking Izzy Hands.

Season 2 starts with Izzy getting what he wanted. Ed loves him. Ed even admits it in the second ep. The problem comes when you realize that Ed loves Izzy as an extension of himself. Izzy is possibly the part of himself that Ed identifies as Blackbeard. I think Izzy even starts to see it since he asks Ed what he is to him, tells Ed he has love for him, and gets nothing in response.

Since Ed sees Izzy as part of himself, Izzy becomes victim of Ed's self-image. Purgatory!Ed didn't have to say that he thinks he's unlovable when he shows it every moment. He repeatedly maims Izzy in order to torture himself. He lets Izzy rot for an indeterminate amount of time with his infected leg wound before giving him an out.

Even the fact that Ed tries to push Izzy into killing him shows that Ed sees Izzy as part of himself. (I'm about to start reaching so stick with me please.) Ed seems to still have his hang up around killing. The only murder we personally witness him do this season is a guy who has a sword through his chest and will die anyway. He can explain that away as putting him out of his misery. Now, you might think his killing ~*thing*~ is why he didn't just commit suicide but I think it's more than that. I think its because Ed thinks he's unlovable and also doesn't love himself. He's in so much emotional pain that death would be a mercy, in his mind. The problem is that mercy and grace are forms of love. Ed doesn't think he deserves that or is even capable of having it. I think Izzy confessing his love is the tipping point and the reason Ed is finally ready to end it. If Izzy is telling the truth, that's enough love for Ed to get his peace. When that doesn't work, it's not long before he uses Jim and Archie's relationship to try for his mercy.

This is all a big long way of saying that Jenkins & Co. seem to really believe in the idea that "you can't love anyone until you love yourself." Since Ed cannot currently love himself, the love others have around him becomes poisoned like an infected wound. I personally think you can love while still learning to love yourself, but for the purposes of the story, I think they are right about Ed. He needs to reach a point of self-tolerance at the very least if not self-love. He can't rely on a fantasy to save him. (It doesn't matter how adorable merStede is.) This all leads me to believe that the love story for this season will be Ed/self. Stede's in it for the long haul; he'll wait around until Ed figures himself out.

Note: This didn't come out quite the way I hoped, though that's gonna be because I haven't completely figured out what I want to say. I have thoughts brewing under the surface about several other themes though I doubt I'll end up writing anything about them. So, um, fix-it fic writers got their brief with "warmth, good food, and orgasms," huh?

[itsdelicate]

hey ojo!! okay so i realised that i completely forgot that we're both swifties lmao. so whats ur fav ts album/era? and do u love folklore or evermore more?

i heard the bp songs u liked and some of the musicals' soundtracks and i kinda really love phantom of the opera. def will watch that. also based off that i think maybe you'll find some songs u like in mitski's album "retired from sad new career in business"!! and from hozier, maybe try foreigner's god, would that i, shrike, and no plan? as for f+tm, i think you might like her most so just start w any album of hers!! i'm feeling very tentative ab recommending but i hope you like it ajkfjnjkm <3

AAHH i LOVE heartstopper!! i read the books before the show and im a major tao stan lol. have you read the books? also do you watch young royals (i feel like most ppl who've watched heartstopper, have also watched yr)? ive been meaning to watch anne with an e for ages cause everyone loves it and i love amybeth mcnulty sm too so i'll def give it a shot. my fav shows are all sitcoms. brooklyn 99 is my fav and i love modern family and new girl too!! im currently rewatching mofy for the millionth time lmao

it makes me so happy to hear you like these messages, i really love sending them and reading your replies!! it's been a bit of a slow week but tmrw im doing smth fun so i'm excited for that!! how ab you? hows your week been?

xxx ur secret santa <3

help agsjs that’s so funny my fav album’s rep! oooh era i think 1989 because being online on tumblr at that time was truly insane there was just So Much going on 😮‍💨 omg that’s so hard because as a whole album i think i like folklore more? but evermore has more individual songs higher up on my ranking, wbu!!

yee i’m so glad u liked it! omg no i’ll definitely check those out i always appreciate recs thank u!

YES omg!! ultimate comfort show i may or may not be on hstwt 🫣 i was at a convention recently and met kit, joe, will and bash they’re all so 🫶🫶🫶 a tao stan so true of you tbh!! ive seen so many people say he’s annoying which is just,,, anyway yes i have read the books! i used to read the webcomics years ago :’) omg i’ve seen one single episode of yr but i started it in the middle of my uni assessment period and i have to get back to it now that i’m free for a bit, have you seen it? yesss please do it’s such a beautiful show it makes my heart so 🥺 i love sitcoms! b99 and the good place were my top shows for some time! i haven’t seen modern family or new girl though! also speaking of shows i loved s2 of bridgerton sm kate and anthony <3 i wanna ask a question back if that’s okay! what are ur fav movies? 👀

stop that makes me so 😭😭 ooh what are you doing tomorrow? (if u wanna share!) my week’s been okay! the assignment was a bummer but i think i’ve come to terms with it LOL i’m going for a little weekend trip on sat (and getting another tat) so i’m excited about that!

[goldenfire357]

I'm not really into this fandom anymore, but I'm STILL REBLOGGING IT ANYWAYS!!!!!!!!

Guys trust it's a good movie. You may not like the show, but the movie is infinitely better because it's way more serious and dark compared to the show. What's crazy is that Leo was actually supposed to DIE in this movie originally, but he didn't because of one thing: Hope. Which is US FANS!!!! Like literally, I always saw the symbolism in this movie as Nickelodeon trying to cancel RiseTMNT.

Kraang=Nickelodeon

Hope=Fans

Turtles(mainly Leo)=RiseTMNT show

If it wasn't for us, then Leo would've quite literally died in this movie, just like the show could've died, but technically it didn't. From what I know, it is seemingly "ON PAUSE." Sooo yeah, go watch it on Netflix. If you don't want to, then at least give it a like. Two likes. The double thumbs up please!

MILD SPOILERS START HERE!!!

Honestly, last year I used to LOVE this movie. I would think about it everyday, jot down concepts that I want to draw and only draw 10% of those ideas ;) I wouldn't say I have a favorite turtle(at least in Rise, in 2012 that's Mikey) but I hated how weirdly underrated Rise!Raph was in his OWN fandom. So most of my TMNT thoughts were mainly about him because he needs some love :(

Believe it or not, I didn't watch the season 2 finale. I couldn't because I don't have Paramount Plus. But I pretty much know what happened. I honestly still think it was downright FOUL that Splinter decided to make Leo leader and replace Raph.

Imagine practically being a big brother/second parent to three younger brothers(two of them desiring for approval and recognition) and taking care of them while your dad goes through a depressive spell and automatically being enrolled leader because you're the oldest, only to be really bad at it and have all of that pressure on you to do better to protect your family or else they'll all end up dead and you'll be alone forever, so you sacrifice yourself FOUR TIMES(maybe more, read the tags if you don't know) and then you actually DO better around the end of season 2 along with having reassurance that you aren't alone and then they "Anata wa hitori janai'ed" that bitch Shredder and they save the city and your leader skills have finally improved and you were finally do good............but NOO. Then your neglective(but trying) dad then decides to swap your leader role with your younger brother LEO with NO EXPLANATION WHATSOEVER. I'm honestly surprised he wasn't way angrier with Leo after that. The only reason he gets mad in the movie is because Leo isn't taking "Anata wa hitori janai" seriously(basically he doesn't want to work as a team) Raph actually wasn't mad at him for taking his role, and that takes MAD PATIENCE. Guess he's called a MadDog for a reason.

But let's be honest, it makes perfect sense why Leo was chosen as leader. Sure, he's a jokester and takes situations lightly, but at times, he was shown to have WAY more leadership qualities than Raph did such as quick planning and keeping calm under pressure, which were two things Raph ABSOLUTELY struggled with. And another thing is that Splinter noticed these qualities in Leo, especially in S1 Finale/ S2E1, and knew he was leader potential. As for Raph, well... it's been a while since I saw the show, but I assume he only saw the worst of his leader moments. And most importantly, he didn't see Raph's breakdown in the S2 finale where he literally did an emotional trustfall off of a cliff. So these factors inclined him to choose Leo as the leader(in the worst way possible).

Besides, Leo IS leadership potential, but he has no confidence in himself. Despite his humourous exterior which makes him appear overconfident and cocky, he really has no faith in himself. And he doesn't think he's a worthy edition to the team. So when Splinter elects him as leader, even he is surprised by his choice. And ever since that, he's been trying to do stuff his way, and alone, so that he can finally proof himself worthy of a leader, and as a creature. Problem is, that actually makes everything WORSE especially since the S2 finale's message was about TEAMWORK. "Anata wa hitori janai"= "You are not alone." And Leo just ignores all of that. And it bites him back in the shell in the worst way possible in the movie.

I want to talk about Mikey and Donnie and the movie, but I wrote WAYYYY too much and I have stuff to do. So yeah, give this show it's recognition!

Hey RISE FAM! Time to join the event!

Watch the movie! Post about it! TODAY IS THE DAY! Spam the hashtags! Let’s confuse Netflix AND Nickelodeon and show them that the show is NOT going down without a fight! Shell yeah!

[knbposting]

Not to be insane in the ask box but I was going through your knb blog (which is a miracle given that it's 2024 and not 2014) and all the kagami-posting just makes so😩😩😩

And MY personal crazy moment is that his cynophobia is treated as a joke because while I am personally not afraid of most dogs, I also scare myself with watching "It's me or the dog" type of shows and those animals can bite - we KNOW that Kagami had near death experiences in America and I'm sure his encounter with the dog landed him in a hospital getting stitches so I never liked it how Kuroko chases him with Nigou :(

PLEASE GO INSANE IN THE ASK BOX BESTIE otherwise i'm here going insane By Myself

i'm with you!!!!!!! i guess it's because kagami is the big, very tough, scary looking guy (also he's cat/tiger coded which might be important) and it's sooo haha that such a big guy is scared of a puppy, but it's not that funny to me either. like ik i sound insane but STOP MAKING KAGAMI CRY WTF???

i'm sure you saw my stupid meta about his near death experiences but i wholeheartedly reject his being bit on the butt like they try to tell us he did. not to belittle ppl who actually get bit on the ass but it's so clearly part of the joke and it's also sooo not funny whattt.

to me, they set up kagami to be the big tough main character, and then gave him a SHIT show of a backstory (neglectful parents, potential dead mother, having no friends for ages, being a sad sack, abandoned by his brother, language barrier issues literally wherever he goes, all those near death experiences, very very very big phobia of dogs, not liking his childhood nannies and not having any power to do anything about it, running away from home multiple times, becoming so strong at bball that he surpasses all his friends and they stop wanting to play with him, being called a monster, getting into scary situations with actual real bad guys (i.e. when alex makes him compete in those streetball comps when he travels to america in s2-ish). they built him up to be as traumatised a character as any of them (aomine in his loneliness, his insurmountable skill. akashi with his parental issues, neglect. himuro with his quasi-delinquent lifestyle. also fuck you himuro sorry idk what just came over me right then. anyway), and then they did nothing with it.

i'm not saying i WANT kagami to show trauma or anything, but his backstory is in canon absolutely miserable and yet they don't give him space to feel it? or to realise that he's deliberately not feeling it? they don't even give him a chance to express his opinion on any of it? the closest we get from memory is kagami saying that he was hurt by the dog, and what himuro did by leaving like that, but then he's back to being friends with him when they reunite. and that's just totally?? accepted as fine? idk bc i havent watched it recently but himuro FUCKED KAGAMI UP. he fucked up his trust, his enjoyment of their sport, his trust in himself, all of that. himuro is such a fucking slimy bastard to him and then it's :) just totally fine :) and it IS fine that kagami acts like that because it's in-keeping with his inability to register his own traumas. but nobody else has anything to say? i think kuroko gets close when he talks to kagz about it on the court in their game, but STILL? if i was kagami's bestie, i'd have some harsh fucking words for himuro i am TELLING YOU.

[elisacifuentes]

Verbotene Liebe: Next Generation - 1.03 // 1.10

[sunnys-rewatch-blog]

S2 Wrap-Up

Part 2

CW: Reference to teacher/student grooming and SA, the Montgomeries, reference of horrific crimes committed against babies

Okay, so, I might have suggested this before, but I'll say it again anyways. If PLL has to go making the protagonists' families into mini-soaps, I have some ideas that I think would make it a better watch. I would like to see Ezrella play out, and Byron- wallowing in self-pity- stumbles into Ashley Marin's arms; they bond over being separated from their partners or whatever. They develop a romance, we see Byron steamroll over Ashley a few times before he starts crossing boundaries with Hanna and inserting himself in places he shouldn't be, and Ashley finally tells him off. He ends up going to therapy and not making much of an appearance until later. They end up getting divorced and it stays that way, but maybe they could reconcile and become friends later. Meanwhile, on the Ezrella side, Aria is mad into Ezra and he uses this to leverage information from her about Alison's disappearance. I want a couple of scenes where it's blatantly obvious to the audience that he's doing this. Her crush on Ezra could affect her romance with an appropriate suitor (I still like the idea of Shawn/Aria, but Noel could also be a long-standing love interest) or keep her from developing one. Obviously, Ella would find out about the book and kick Ezra's ass out- because in this version of the story, Ella has standards. The showrunners could use the divorce to characterize Aria through her relationship with her brother (I think maybe this was what they were trying to do but it wasn't successful); I desperately want to see some narrative self-awareness on the show that Aria is being parentified and is vulnerable to abuse outside the home. They successfully manage to tell the story of how the systematic emotional abuse of a teenager left her vulnerable to the grooming and predation of an authority figure who pretends to care about her for his own personal gain- Ezra actually very closely matches the predatory teacher personality as documented by the people who study these kinds of things, as does his storyline (the practice of sending teachers to another district after they have been reported for sexual misconduct is a documented phenomenon known as "lemon passing" or "passing the trash"), to the point that I wonder if the writers did it this way as a covert joke on Marlene. However, in spite of the fact that Aria is a textbook victim and Ezra is a textbook predator, the writers seem completely unaware of what they wrote. Aria's family problems and completely inappropriate relationship are always treated like separate, disconnected things; Ezra is supposed to be her "true love" so their relationship isn't even meant to look like a problem that needs a cause and any family problems that are acknowledged aren't handled adequately.

Alright, I have spent far too much time on the Montgomery family, so it's time to move on. I want to talk about how queerness is treated in this show (and most others). This show in particular focuses super heavily on giving their lesbian character an unrealistically robust dating life, even at the expense of her characterization and the story, itself. Emily Fields is a character whose portrayal is designed by a lesbian and acted by a woman who chooses not to label her sexuality and she still reads like a lesbian as written and portrayed by cishets who have no experience in the queer community (except maybe their gay best friend). I'm not saying she's a bad character or even a poor rep, please enjoy my opinion with all the nuance it requires, I'm saying there are things about being queer that aren't directly related to your dating life and would make positive representation. For example, if you're the lone LGBTQ+ in your friend group (*and you usually are not, one friend coming out usually sends a shockwave of friends coming out around you), no matter how good your cishet friends are, you're going to want to find other queer people to share experiences with. Being accepted- even supported and encouraged- doesn't fill the need for a shared community. There's a lot you could do by including queer characters in the story who aren't love interests for Emily (or whatever was going on with Jenna, not to mention CeCe was trans). She is still the first lesbian to come out at her school and her role as a gay rep shouldn't be tied up in having a dating life that goes non-stop. It could have been cool to see the LGBTQ+ of Rosewood through Emily, maybe use her storyline to introduce the audience to some queer issues or represent even more marginalized identities (lesbians absolutely do need to be represented, especially as characters who actually survive the story, but at least anyone you talk to knows what a lesbian is; there are queer identities some people don't even know about, like aromantic and/or asexual, non-binary, gender-noncomforming- this show desperately needs more GNC folks- and although not all intersex people see themselves as queer and should not be forced to take the label, there is room for them in our community if they want to be included). I get that the story isn't meant to be educational, necessarily, but I feel like having an arc where Emily gets involved at that group where she met Samara and gets to know some people and learn more about the community she belongs to would have been a more satisfying watch than most of the filler they put on-screen, and it's not like we never see the other characters with other friends outside the group. We get to see Hanna with Lucas and Aria with Holden. They don't need to be heavy-handed with it, even just having a scene where she uses they/them or even neo-pronouns to refer to someone would be cool. And, being that she's apparently the first gay person to come out at a school where they apparently don't have a support group or alliance, she could very easily end up being someone that the baby queers of Rosewood High go to for advice ("How did you figure it out?" "Do you ever think maybe you should have been a boy?" "What does it feel like to get a crush?" etc). That's something they could do that would increase representation, characterize Emily, and allow them to take a few steps back from putting her in a bunch of meaningless, thoughtless relationships because they felt like they couldn't leave their queer character single for a few episodes. Her storyline and characterization could have benefitted by giving her, and us, time to sit with the trauma and grief of losing both of her first loves the same way in a span of two years. Getting to know some other wlw (specifically) could also help us glean insight into Alison as well.

Speaking of Alison, this season did some very weird stuff with her characterization that somehow goes...nowhere?? They just throw in a bunch of weird stuff she did that seems super disjointed and somehow tells us nothing about her. Why- and how- is she involved in so many relationships? Who is Duncan (to her)? Did he mean anything to her? Why was she taking pictures of Aria while she slept? I want to know more about "Vivian" as a character she made up (*probably with some help from Cece, whom I wish had been introduced by now), I want to know more about her fling with Ian, and they give me "randomly took pictures of Aria, specifically, while she was sleeping." What is this shit? What does it mean? I think they just wanted to throw in something a little creepy and ominous and didn't know what to do with it after to make it a twist (because this story can't just be a story, it has to have a bunch of twists that ultimately add up to nothing) so they decided to attribute it to Alison because she's the one known character no one can ask, right now, and also because she's supposed to be a little mysterious and unpredictable and they figured having her do weird, out of character shit with no hint at her motivation would develop the mystery behind her character. And frankly, I am throwing tomatoes at them.

If any of the characters could have been benefitted by focusing on their family, it's Alison- a character whose backstory we are meant to be interested in by design- because she isn't on screen to develop herself. Strangely, we see very little of them, and almost nothing as it relates to Alison. They develop a little sibling rivalry between Jason and Alison and emphasize it to make him credible as a red herring, but once you figure out that Jason has nothing to do with it, those flashbacks don't amount to much. All siblings have a little rivalry between them. They spend time early in this season on this teenage fashion show Alison was supposed to be really into, they could have done way more with that. I would also like to get a glimpse into Dilaurentis family life, both before and after the disappearance. I'd like to see some sign of the family dynamics that made it possible for Alison to establish a completely different identity in another town and go on flying trips with a teenage pilot. I'd like to see more of Jason getting loaded, or maybe even some drug-related scenes with Alison that could make her a little more complex- like finding and hiding his stash of cocaine and also stealing his alcohol. I also want to see more of what's going on with her parents, I don't even think I've heard her father's name by now. We could get some insight into her character by seeing what's going on with her family, and I desperately want them to show us something "off" with them- especially Jessica, whom we are later supposed to believe is a baby-killing psychopath. Give me something about her that seems insincere, something that seems put-on, something that's cold and callous. Let me hear her talking shit about her dead daughter and drug-addicted son.

Also, let me see Jason and Spencer going head-to-head, because they bring this up like it's common knowledge and it isn't.

I also wish they had done more to develop Alison's relationship with each of the girls. I'm no fan of flashback sequences, especially when there are already so many that you could make a whole season with them- and I don't know if just starting the story that far back in time would work, because we need the context of the disappearance and mystery to be invested in seeing that play out. I guess I wouldn't mind having some flashbacks that occur in the context of one character reminiscing about their friendship- like, making the funeral its own episode or even a two-parter where the characters talk about her, or giving us an episode completely dedicated to the memorial and showing us some scenes there. The stories don't always have to come with dramatic reenactments, though. They could just talk about her with the other members of the group or with other people. Something to give their friendships more depth. So far, I think Emily is the only one whose had flashbacks that show Alison in a genuinely positive light, and that's even debatable because we know Alison was kind of leading Emily on (I'm not sure if that's exactly the right phrase, but I think it works). I want to see more of her complexity realized, and I want to see any social pressures that might have made some of the girls feel obligated to stick it out with a "friend" who was always down to blackmail them for no reason (straight up, usually blackmail is used for leverage or control but this shit gets brought up out of nowhere). I want to see some backing for the phrase "I made you. I made all of you," because that line...I don't know, it definitely has a cheesey daytime drama vibe but part of me thinks it's cool- but it would carry more weight if we got to see it.

Now, last but not least, now that Mona has been unmasked, I want to talk about her diagnosis. First of all, I think giving her a fictitious psychiatric condition is a fantastic idea to avoid further stigmatizing an existing condition (one of the reasons I am thankful that Mona is never explicitly said to be autistic even though she's coded that way- hopefully the people who can pick up on those tendencies in her character won't be as likely to conclude that autistic people are inherently villainous and criminal in real life). However, narratively speaking, it's also a really bold move; your audience doesn't have a real-world context for what you've created, which can damage any empathetic connection we have with the character if not handled adequately. And what did the PLL writers handle adequately? I still go to sleep at night sometimes wondering what the fuck was in that barrel. This is a problem, especially because I don't think Mona is supposed to be the only one of our villains afflicted with it- both Mona and Cece admit to getting "addicted to the game" and Alex apparently came up with the idea to do this very weird and specific thing all on her own. All of their storylines include stalking, both Mona and Alex were replacement stalkers in particular. Alison might have had a variant of it, which would have been cool to explore.

If you're going to create a disorder, you have to create the disorder. Is it genetic? Inherited? Trauma-based? Maybe it's a little-known condition that hasn't gained much traction in the world of psychiatry and hasn't been studied enough to determine the cause. What are the symptoms? What is the onset? I think we could have really benefitted by having an episode focusing on Dr. Sullivan putting the pieces together Criminal Minds-style over the diagnosis, or splicing in some scenes like that in her reveal episode. We could also benefit from spending time in the perspective of these characters- not just seeing what they're doing for a few seconds at the end of an episode, but seeing how this all looks to them.

This mental health diagnosis only seems to exist as-needed for the plot and, to be honest, I don't know what the point of it was. "A state of hyper-reality" isn't even really needed to explain how Mona knew everything that was happening; a lot of what she knew, she learned through Ali's diary, and what she couldn't have learned from there she could probably have learned from her informants- especially since they all have very personal, supposedly secret conversations out loud in very public spaces all the time. She has her own motive. And I really can't imagine setting up something like a fictitious psychiatric condition, you could have a lot of creative freedom with that, and just doing fuck all with it.

It occurs to me now that a lot of what I said may have been repeated, but I'm not too pressed about it. If anything, at least I'm consistent.

[ceterisparibus116]

Honestly Foggy was just ill informed and instead of listening he remained willfully ignorant, maintaining a if I don't see or hear about it all, and if I don't like it, then it isn't there or doesn't exist mentality. He made Matt's actions into a personal betrayal instead of what it really was. I commend him for showing up and wanting to work things out with Matt but it didn't really mean anything when he really wasn't going to put in the effort to understand, he just wanted Matt to relent. Foggy made everything about himself, he needed to have some give and he wasn't willing to. He didn't really fight all that hard and say No Matt explain it all to me he was just like that's not what I meant but okay then take care. He didn't fight to be informed. (also on a similar note: seeing Matt work so hard to stop being DD in the defenders, so his friends would be pleased, makes that scene hurt even more,looking back. Matt,for a time, really did end stop doing something that did so much and meant so much to him, for people who made it all about themselves, and were ignoring the big picture of what he had been doing in favor of getting what they wanted and deemed appropriate. He tried so hard) I'm not bashing Foggy, I love him, but he was so wrong by saying Matt was inventing problems. The problems existed even if you didn't see them personally Foggy.

Hard agree, Anon! I've talked before about how Foggy disappointed me, so I won't go into that too much here, but I do want to simply reiterate that Foggy's feelings don't justify his actions. I've seen some posts, fics, etc. that essentially argue that Foggy would be a bad friend if he weren't scared for Matt. And I agree with that. Foggy absolutely loves Matt, I don't think that's in dispute.

But we have to analyze Foggy's emotions separately from his actions. Foggy's fears, though legitimate, don't excuse his behavior. Love doesn't give you the right to be hurtful, no matter how good your intentions are. And it's possible for us, as the audience, to both understand (and even relate to) Foggy's emotional distress while still critically evaluating his treatment of Matt.

Anyway, moving on, I really like how you brought up Matt's sacrifice in the end of S2 and beginning of Defenders. It's often said that Foggy constantly reaches out to Matt while Matt gives him nothing in return, but that's simply not true. Matt gave up what he believed was his calling. And I'm not saying that was 100% an act of sacrifice on Matt's part for Foggy and Karen; I think there was a lot of depression mixed in, especially after losing Elektra. But Matt's scenes with Foggy and Karen indicate that at least some part of that choice was his attempt to appease Foggy and Karen.

And really I have a whole essay I could write on the subject, but I'll try to keep it short for now. But it's quite personal to me. There have been many times when I've been so excited over a way I've found to help people, and that excitement has been confirmed by seeing that yes, I actually am helping people. Like, me! I'm living for something bigger than myself, and I'm helping people! It's amazing. And in the middle of that, I've had people tell me to stop because I'm not doing what they think I should be doing. It's like a slap in the face. I mean, it's one thing if they say "Hey, you're doing this in an unhealthy way" (which has definitely been true at times), "let's figure out how you can do it while still taking care of yourself." Or it would be one thing if they say “Hey, you may think you’re helping, but let me show you why you’re really not.”

But it's different when they essentially say, "I don't like the way the things you're doing make me feel, so you have to stop."

And that's what I imagine Matt feels. He has this calling, he's good at it, he's helping people every single night...and then he's yelled at because it makes Foggy (and sometimes Karen, although I think her issue is more with Matt's lies than with Daredevil) feel some negative emotion. Like...really?

Honestly, the situation makes me think of this song "Alive in the Lights" by Memphis May Fire, specifically these lines:

Maybe if you paid more attention Asked more questions and actually listened You would see this is not just a dream But a path I've chosen that means everything to me

Don't you see the minds that have changed? Don't you see the lives that have been saved? Don't you care to see the difference I've made?

Anyway, that got weirdly personal, but what can I say, I take my fandom analyses very seriously, which sometimes requires diving uncomfortably deeply into my own experiences. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Tldr; Matt is not perfect, but he deserves to be listened to and understood.

[aceofwhump]

Guys

The Weeping Monk.

The Weeping Monk has become my new obsession. I love him. I knew I would because seeing all the gifs of him in tumblr is why I watched in the first place I didn't not expect for him to capture my interest so much. It's not the strongest hyperfixation I've ever had but it is one nonetheless and I'm thrilled. Welcome the list of "Ace's Favorite Whumpees"!!

SPOILERS ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously I got ramble and let some spoilers loose so if you want to watch it still and don't want spoilers just keep scrolling

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So not only is Daniel Sharman fucking gorgeous but Daniel Sharman looking like this?

With the eyes and the hood and the darkness and the scruff. Oh hell yeah! He's like some omen of death with that cloak. I love it.

So why do I like the Weeping Monk so much?

Well first of all I LOVE A GOOD REDEMPTION STORY!!!!! Like so much! I blame Zuko for that. But if you give me a bad dude who's done some bad shit but also has one hell of a traumatic past then put him on a path of redemption and healing? I’M SOLD! And at the end of the season, The Weeping Monk has been set on his redemption beginnings and I will die if Netflix doesn't give us a season 2 so I can see this boy walk his new path towards redemption and healing. I crave it.

But anyway. This man right here. The emotional angst and whump he exudes is so lovely.

Towards the end of the season we find out that he's Fey and I fucking lost my shit. This boy is a Fey who was raised by the people who hate Fey. His people were killed and he was taken as a child by the same people who murdered them. He was then brainwashed to believe he was demon born and evil and a sinner purely for existing and was taught to punish himself for it (he whips himself in a form of self flagellation!) and I'm sure he was punished for all sorts of things growing up by his "Father". The amount of self hate and self doubt he must feel breaks my heart. He knows he's Fey! He remembers his real name (also that reveal sent me to another plane of existence) so he must have some memories of his family and his people. But he's spent his whole life being used as a weapon against his own people and brainwashed into thinking he was saving them because fey are inherently damned. And that's all he is to the Red Paladins. A weapon. But he sees them as his people, his family because that's all he knows!

This dude is so broken and brainwashed and lost it just breaks my heart.

LOOK AT HIM!! Look at this lost and broken boy!! He just needs some love and affection dammit!! I mean he flat out asks "Do you love me Father?" AHHH!!

And oh my god this conversation between him and Gawain?!

Allow me to share the whole conversation because I need to talk about it.

Gawain: Don’t be afraid Ash Man. I don’t bite. It’s those eyes. The mark of the Ash Fold. There haven’t been any in these lands for centuries. How did you find your way here? Have you just come to watch me die?

The Weeping Monk: Why didn’t you tell them? Before...you could have told them. But you didn’t. Why?

G: Because all Fey are brothers. Even the lost ones

WM: This suffering, it will cleanse you.

G: You parrot these words, but you know it’s all lies. I can feel it in you, my brother.

WM: You are not my brother.

G: They have turned your mind so far inside out...that you don’t know the difference between kindness...and hate. Who did this to you?

WM: We are saving souls. Your soul.

G: Tell that to the little ones that you burn.

WM: I don’t harm the children

G: You burn their homes, you slay their mothers and their fathers, and you watch your Red Brothers run them down on horses. And you see it all through those weeping eyes. That makes you guilty. Brother! You can fight. I’ve never seen anything like it. You could be our greatest warrior. Your people need you.

WM: You are not my people.

G: Then tell them. If this is where you belong, tell them what you are.

WM: I’ll pray for you.

G: And I you.

First of all this conversation is the reason I now ship these two. Just saying. Gawain saw that he was kin, that he was lost, that he was broken and reached out to try and help him even though he is the reason he is being tortured. I can’t with these two! But also, the WM felt guilty about turning him in and worried about his own fate but you can tell that Gawain’s words sink in and set something inside of him and it’s because of Gawain that WM is now on this path of his. AND Gawain! I fully expected him to hate this man after everything hes done but he saw a lost and broken fey brother and tried to help him and I just...Gawain is so good you guys! This whole exchange is just *chefs kiss*. Cause after this the WM saves Squirrel.

Which leads me to Squirrel and the Weeping Monk. The other reason I desperately need season 2 is because I can't wait to see this unexpected pairing. I mean come on, big bag tough guy with trauma becomes unexpectedly joined with a young child? Best trope ever. Plus he got his ass kicked pretty bad and I need season 2 start off with that so I can see Squirrel take care of this injured man. Anyway, these two are going to have a great adventure getting back to the Fey and I NEED TO SEE IT!!! I want to see Squirrel and Lancelot bond and Squirrel defend him against Fey who hate him and for Lancelot to reluctantly become attached and defensive of this Fey boy and AHHHHHH!!

Oh and side note: One of my favorite tropes occurred. Defeated in battle, manhandled to their knees and hood pulled off revealing their bruised and bloody face. God yes please.

Time for some headcanons:

Okay he's totally touch starved am I right? This boy hasn't known a kind touch in his whole life. Pain is all he's known. The Paladins only touch to punish him or wield him. And he thinks he deserves it. He deserves the pain. The punishment. But kindness? A soft touch? Someone tending his injuries gently? He doesnt know what to do it that. He ends up stiffening or flinching away from the blinds hands of the fey, confused at first but slowly he starts to crave that kind touch.

Squirrel is always hugging him. Like whenever he sees him. And WM doesnt know what the fuck to do with that. You think he ever for hugged? I DOUBT IT! So hes all stiff and awkward and kind of bears it but after a while he starts hugging back kind of awkwardly.

Oh and speaking of tending his injuries I can almost guarantee that he has either had to tend to his own injuries in the past or he didn't do anything for them at all. But he's in a Fey camp now and the Fey help each other so when he and squirrel first show up at the camp and a he's taken to a healer and at first he balks and is like "I'm fine" but people like Pym and Squirrel and Gawain (YES GAWAIN! I have thoughts hang on) are like clearly you're not so just sit down before fall down again and let Pym heal you! AND then we get a scene of them all seeing the scars and fresh lashes and being horrified

Okay Gawain. He's not dead and he and Lancelot become best bros (or lovers cause I kind of ship them so much. Forget Nimulot. It's Gawain and Lancelot all the way) and Gawain protects him from the Fey who want to kill him after Squirrel and Lancelot arrive at the makeshift Fey camp and he's taken prisoner. Gawain watches him and see his humanity and goodness and self hate and trauma and Lancelot has someone who sees him as a "brother" as someone lost but not irredeemable and they fall in love okay bye

His powers as one of the Ash Folk. We know he can track. But from what we saw what if he's also got some camouflage or healing abilities hes never explored. NEVER EXPLORED BECAUSE HE THOUGHT IT A MANIFESTATION OF HIS INNER DEMON!!!

Also, I saw these two onset pics and now I'm ready for this to be s2 WM and Squirrel.

Okay rant over. Sorry. Bye now ✌