#anyway i do love morally questionable sidekicks

[jayladfanpage]

What do you think is the most important trait for Jason? This is totally the first time I've ever asked you this question

Yep totally the first time. I didnt accidentally delete the first ask at all

Anyway the answer is his hypocrisy.

Now, I know I talk a lot about Jason's love and his fears and stuff, but I think all of his everything can be better understood through his hipocrisy and his actions vs his words. Here's some instances that stick out to me:

• Sasha/Scarlet from Batman and Robin (2009)

One of Jason's Most Hated Things is the concept of child sidekicks. He hates that shit so much. However, he literally kidnaps a child from a mental health facility to make her his sidekick.

[Batman and Robin Vol.1 #3]

(While Morrison's Jason is... far from good, the concept of Sasha is one of my absolute favorites, so we're talking about it.)

Jason preaches about Batman being morally wrong for having another Robin after his death, and yet he takes Sasha with him to bloody, disgusting massacres he commits, and encourages her to participate in his "branding," exposing her to the violence of his beliefs.

[Batman and Robin (2009) #4]

BUT!! It's important to note that Jason cares about Sasha a lot. To the point where he's willing to work with Dick and Damian to get her to safety (aka, with him).

[Batman and Robin (2009) #25]

He actively teaches her violence and hatred and these very polarizing beliefs, and he does that because he loves her.

• Jason's idea of a criminal in Beast World

We all know Jason's backstory. We all know he stole the tires of the Batmobile and that's how he met Bruce. That story implies that Jason committed a lot of petty theft before he got picked up by Bruce, and it was his main source of income.

In UTRH, it's talked about how Jason belives that Bruce isn't effective against the "dress-ups" because they know he won't kill them, implying that Jason kills to scare said dress-ups, the bigger fish.

However, in the Scavengers story, we get this speech bubble:

[Beast World: Gotham: Scavengers (2024)]

Jason, as a child, is willing to do what he needs to survive, and yet kills other people who are doing the exact same thing. He talks about hunting down the bigger fish but we never get to see him actually do that at any point. (Seriously, the only Rogue I can remember him killing is Captain Nazi. Which was 8 years ago.) Instead, we get canon confirmation that he harms the little guy, the ones who are just trying to get by.

• Robin vs Red Hood and sex work

When Jason is Robin, we see him hurt pimps and (maybe) kill Felipe Garzonas for sexually assaulting women. He's pretty strongly against the abuse that comes with sex work.

[Batman (1940) #422 and #424]

But in UTRH, it's stated that Jason literally becomes a pimp.

[Under The Red Hood (2006)]

There's nothing to indicate that he treats his girls any better or any worse than other pimps in Gotham, but the fact he becomes a pimp at all is enough to prove my point.

(That panel is also the best way to show my... mild distaste for utrh)

There are definitely plenty more instances of things like this but those were the first to come to mind. Hope the answer is satisfactory!!

[necrotic-nephilim]

ok so sending my question here bc this is more marvel comics than mcu related so im like. sliding you a note in class about an somewhat related but mostly tangential topic here 😂

so i've been wanting to get into bucky comics (and winter soldier comics) recently but as a dc fan now whose only marvel comics background is reading matt fractions hawkeye (the best ever, currently rereading it to feel something again actually) and part of wilsons ms marvel run back when i was in high school i have no idea where to start. you said that you have read comics for bucky; do you have any recommendations?

hello i love being slid notes this is so sweet <3 bc luckily Bucky is one of a small handful of characters i can *actually* give good recs for on the Marvel side of the fence! so i'm MORE than happy to give recs bc i actually already have a list i'm happy to share. also, BIG agree on Fraction's Hawkeye run, oh my god. that comic means *so* much to me and though i haven't really read Hawkeye comics outside of it, i love it a lot. 10/10 taste <3

so when it comes to Bucky, he has a *lot* of Golden and Silver Age comics as Captain America's teen sidekick and all. skip them. they're not worth it and they're not the version of the character you want to read. honestly, you should just start with his return as Winter Soldier, and go from there so

Captain America (2005) - this is Ed Brubaker's run, it's fantastic and it's the run that brings back Bucky as the Winter Soldier. i will warn you if you're used to DC comics, Marvel does this really confusing thing called legacy numbering. (DC sometimes does it but not as much) so you're gonna notice it'll jump from issue #50 to #600. you did not somehow miss hundreds of comics, it's just numbered that way bc it's the 600th Captain America comic overall. this run is super good though.

Captain America & Bucky by Ed Brubaker - once again numbering is weird just don't mind it. but this will give you a primer on Bucky's backstory as Cap's sidekick without you having to read all the Silver Age stuff and it's a great comic.

Captain America: Forever Allies (2010) - if you want to read where Bucky was Captain America for a bit, this comic is good for that. it also briefly touches on Secret Allies, a team he was on as a teen during the war. i'm not the biggest Cap!Bucky fun, but this is decent.

Winter Soldier (2012) - by *far* the best Winter Soldier solo run. Ed Brubaker my beloved. this is just amazing. this was where i started with Bucky and tbh if you vaguely understand his comics backstory and don't want to read all the Captain America stuff, i think you can start here. you get to see his relationship with Natasha, his spy work it's just. everything <3

Winter Soldier: The Bitter March - if you want to see a story that takes place during Bucky's time brainwashed under Hydra, that's what this one is and it's pretty solid

Thunderbolts (2016) - this comic is most known for the relationship between Bucky and a young girl who's a cosmic cube named Kobik and it's just so delightful. the whole team is really fun and explores moral greyness in superhero work, but mostly i love this one for Kobik.

Winter Soldier (2018) - i really enjoy this mini-series, it has Bucky trying to save a young boy who's forced to be a weapon and there's just a lot of good stuff. always have a soft spot for Bucky trying to do right by kids.

Falcon & Winter Soldier (2020) - a good team up mini-series. also Bucky has a cat so yk, that's delightful. <3

there are other Winter Soldier comics and comics he's in but Marvel's comic world is big and fucking confusing (to me as a DC fan, anyway) so these will be the easiest to start with. my top recs are probably Captain America & Bucky and Winter Soldier (2012), though i'm incredibly biased to any comic written by Brubaker for Bucky. i love Bucky so dearly. he is everything to me. i hope you enjoy!

[obsidianpen]

it’s really fucking hilarious to me how so so many people villainize ron for no plausible reason :))))) shitting on one character won’t magically upgrade the other to a god-like status — case in point, ron and hermione. ron’s actually really smart in the books. sure, not book smart like hermione is, but he is brilliant at chess, he’s a really good strategist and he has loads of “street smarts” (essentially he has quite a bit more common sense than hermione does).

do i like ron as a character? not necessarily, but hermione can also be extremely uptight, inflexible, jealous and prissy.

like, they both have flaws, that is the point when trying to make realistic characters.

honestly one of the main reasons i enjoy blood and gold so much is because hermione is quite out of character, at least in my opinion. i think you played very well on her canonical strengths and then took every single interesting trait she displayed and expanded it — for example, her ruthlessness, her cunning, her willingness to do very morally questionable things if they align with her own moral and ethical compass. she’s quite the hypocrite and i love that about your hermione. it makes her so much more compelling.

i genuinely feel like people who jump on the “ron is a stupid, useless, good for nothing sidekick who definitely cheated on amazing, powerful, unbeatable hermione” haven’t picked up the books and just watched the movies — which also portray ron as only the comedic relief, sucking every bit of intellect out of him to pump it into hermione and make her into this goddess who couldn’t ever be possibly wrong about anything.

they don’t even know hermione and ron’s story yet, please😭

‘hermione is quite out of character, at least in my opinion. i think you played very well on her canonical strengths and then took every single interesting trait she displayed and expanded it — for example, her ruthlessness, her cunning, her willingness to do very morally questionable things if they align with her own moral and ethical compass. she’s quite the hypocrite and i love that about your hermione.’

okay this is confusing, so she’s OOC but I successfully based her on her interesting canon traits? Or are you claiming I made those up? You lost me. My Hermione is OOC from the books, in my opinion, because of where she’s starting from in B&G (being lonely and sad and whatnot), a backstory that’s only now coming around. But outside of that I do try to keep her core traits intact; she did do morally questionable things in canon when it aligned with her own ethical compass (she lit snape on fire, she kept Rita in a jar, she cursed the DA name list, she confounded what’s his face in the quidditch tryouts, and probably more I’m not thinking of). Maybe you weren’t arguing with that point. That’s where you lost me though.

anyway yes I agree I think a lot of people have only watched the movies, and/or have been in the fandom world for too long. To be fair Ron did fuck up several times in the books, in big ways - but he always admitted it and came back!

[neverbackdown-never-what]

Note: #skillsposting is not an insular community. Anyone can take part in the role-play or create a fandom acc. The spots can’t be “taken”, just have fun.

My tags: ‘#skillsposting’ for everything skills related, ‘#ooc’ for out of character notes, ‘#questioning sanity’ for asks, ‘#disco elysium’ for important posts, ‘#Volition: 7’ + ‘#CHECK SUCCESS' & ‘#CHECK FAILURE’ for checks.

Favourite interactions under the cut:

· AUTHORITY's tantrum. His gaslighting. Conflict resolved. Yeah or maybe not. Take two. Sidekick beef. Kineema keys. Wooo breakthrough;

· Knock-knock. Failed joke;

· Moralism;

· Back pain;

· He's ourple. [Trivial: Failure]. Turning him off. We are *so* back. Fixing some arms;

· She was beautiful;

· KU*GPOWPENIS. OO-RAH;

· ENCYCLOPEDIA drowning. Explaining who Kras Mazov is. Dissecting the Kineema. Text book Book. Hot cops in your area. How many clicks? Rodionov's Trench backflip. What is the Pale? Longest-range killing shot. Legality of cigarettes;

· Tie moment. His tits. ECHEM's Halloween;

· I want you dead;

· SHIVERS about a young woman. You're alive. That was silly. Hugging Kim;

· What is sanity;

· Is pregnancy possible? Doesn't matter, you’ve gained this thought anyway;

· Boykissing drama. Confession through ECHEM. Pestering continues. DRAMA joins. More confusion. Whatever is happening here. What is going on!! I am going to detonate. Investigation continues. Stupid corner. Bookhead going nonverbal. Case closed;

· LYING SACK OF SHIT FOR A HEAD! DRAMA with a concussion;

· Failed meow check;

· VOLITION and physics. Take a rest. You’ve got this. No need to fix;

· Do you love it?

· This is literally '84. Cheese and panic attacks;

· He hates it here. He HATES IT HERE;

· Waltzing;

· It’s “Happy New Year”;

·

·

·

[hurtmyfavsthanks]

Febuwhump day 5: “That’s gonna scar.”

“You’re always picking fights with Hero, but when they finally fight back, you run like a coward?”

Villain didn’t bother looking towards the flying Sidekick, too busy dodging the relentless attacks their nemesis threw at them. Sidekick wasn’t totally wrong. They liked fighting Hero, mocking their nemesis as they caused chaos within the city. By the way Hero always had to suppress laughter at their jokes as they fought, they knew it was a mutual enjoyment. They had a system, and it worked for them. Villain never seriously hurt anyone, and Hero never tried too hard to imprison them.

But this was different. They liked fighting Hero, not whatever blank faced, mind controlled puppet was chasing them down now. If Villain could spare the breath, they’d tell Sidekick exactly what they thought of this new power they’d pulled out of their ass. But they didn’t have time, because Hero was fucking fast.

Villain turned down another alleyway, narrowly dodging Hero’s fist as it slammed against the wall, cracking it. Their chest burned as they pushed forward, legs burning from the effort. They didn’t know how long they could keep going, but stopping wasn’t an option. 

They turned another corner, only to be met with a dead end.

Crap. Crap. Shit. Fuck. Why the hell didn’t they have a power that could help them here?! For once in their life, Villain wished they had a generic, boring power. Like flying, or invisibility, or–

Their panicked thoughts were cut short by the sound of approaching footsteps. Hero had caught up to them, with Sidekick hovering close behind. Shit.

Villain lifted their hands in surrender, giving their best innocent smile. “Y’know,” they wheezed to Sidekick, not even bothering to try talking sense into the mind controlled lump of muscle walking towards them. “I don’t think mind controlling heroes is super heroic of you.”

Sidekick scowled. “Do you know how much time Hero wastes on little league villains like you? Too. Damn. Much. If they got serious, if they really used their powers, we could drop crime to nothing within a week. I’m showing them that!” They lifted their arms in frustration, as if they were repeating an argument they’d had hundreds of times.

“So, what’s the plan?”, Villain questioned, hoping to buy enough time to think of a way to escape. “You’re gonna keep Hero all mind screwy forever, just using ‘em like a weapon? What happens when people find out? What about the other heroes?” Sidekick didn’t respond, simply glaring and clenching their firsts. Villain grinned. “You didn’t think this through at all, did you? God, you’re really just a kid. You don’t have a single plan outside of catching m–”

Villain only had an instant to regret their choice of words before Hero’s eyes glowed red. A shearing pain bloomed in their shoulder, taking their breath away. They lurched back, instinctually bringing up a hand to cover the wound. Villain could feel two wounds burned into their skin, the material of their outfit melting around the area. The air smelled like burning flesh.

They stumbled backwards, but Hero was faster. They couldn’t pull back before Hero grabbed their shoulder and squeezed. Villain screamed. 

“Well,” Sidekick said, looking smug, “That’s gonna scar.”

[elsecrytt]

im gonna go ahead and Be Like That for a bit and talk about my oc,,, i'd like to just yell abt this in dms with friends but i'm feeling self-conscious atm so onto tumblr go these ramblings

i actually DO have a longfic conceptualized of main/canon mc!elsey's storyline. i also have a shitload of aus/alternate storylines/one-off concepts that i really enjoy but i wanna ramble about canon elsey

it's hard for me to decide like,,, how promiscuous i want them to be bc on one hand YES GIMME ALL THE BOYS but on the other,,, that sweet delicious one-on-one intimacy hhh.

they start out pretty reasonably upset by the whole devildom exchange program thing in general.

elsey's arc as a whole contains a lot of questions about the morality of the exchange program, and specifically, the lack of checks on diavolo's power.

throughout the story, as they gain confidence that they're not about to be immediately killed for mouthing off, they challenge diavolo on many an occasion, and in general tend to be his harshest critic.

this is mostly bc they do believe he is genuinely good and has the capacity to be the person he wants to think he is - but he needs to get actually chewed out when he does something wrong instead of walking away guilt free.

a big part of their dynamic is that elsey is lowkey grooming him to become an ideal leader, and diavolo is going to get very hung up on them because he doesn't want to disappoint them.

no one else shows disappointment in him, not in a way that matters. but with elsey, it feels real, like he's failed his dreams.

anyways in the main story. i think asmo is actually the one elsey gets with intimately first. he's super affectionate and bubbly and it's just very easy to love someone so sweet, plus, he CAN show them a good time. a really good time. (plus spa nights,, painting nails,, all the sweet little indulgences).

it's ironic because elsey won't build a relationship with him really, and although they'll get very affectionate and fond of him, he's just not what they want in a partner.

mammon is the sidekick he always is. elsey can read the room and it's not hard to figure out how he feels, but they're content to let him be all cute and tsuntsun.

ultimately though, although i do ship them in some aus, mammon is really just there to be their best friend. so elsey ALWAYS has someone they know is on their side, and to keep them from feeling completely and utterly alone in the first part of the story.

i know i have one scene imagined of elsey climbing into his bed, completely platonically, just to feel safe for a bit. i really do play up the danger/dark aspects of season 1 and elsey has a hard time :(

later on, as elsey gets Into It with lucifer (and not in the sexy way - he is very much straight up threatening their life and meaning it), they do get involved with satan, who is extremely their type.

this relationship starts out pretty shallow, but it's very good sex. they appreciate one another as people and elsey is probably catching feelings but for satan this really isn't that deep, he's just enjoying getting one over his brother and having a good time with a like-minded partner.

elsey refuses a pact with satan much like canon mc does, for mostly the same reason; they feel a real bond with him and they don't want to let him bind himself to them for such a casual and petty reason. they're genuinely trying to respect him and be good to him.

ofc satan takes it wrong and lucifer comes into the rescue and the arc continues as normal, and elsey and satan really bond on that nice juicy deep and intimate level. they both have Issues, okay?

but elsey becomes more distant bc their issues with the lucifer+belphie situation start really coming to a head and they're genuinely scared for their life.

they don't trust any of the brothers to be on their side, not even mammon. they're still scoping out diavolo, but they suspect he'd toss his morals aside if his precious lucifer needed him to.

a lot goes down around the lesson 16 stuff. it happens differently dksjhfglg i'll just put it like that, and elsey is much more involved in belphie's escape than mc gets to be in canon.

their relationship with all the brothers gets a lot WORSE from there. i've contemplated an amnesia arc here and there after it, it's that bad.

season 2 kinda consists of the brothers trying to win elsey back. belphie and lucifer's pacts were offered to make them feel safe and didn't actually solve the hard feelings between them.

lucifer and elsey have sexual tension/mind games going on between them HARD in season one. like, really hard.

elsey is doing their best to play on his flaws for their survival, but doesn't know him that well, and he wants to keep his brother secret but can't just kill them.

after everything's wrapped up, ofc, lucifer ends up feeling extremely guilty about it, but Pride and all, etc., plus his relationship with elsey is too volatile for an apology.

season 2 is the one where they start to get closer bc lucifer is willing to be honest or direct, and the finale allows him to display how he really, genuinely does care about them. more than his brothers, even.

like just imagining,,, how they get together is a surreal thing in my head bc i actually do ship them very much, luci is a fave and Big OTP material, but...

they're both really prideful people. lucifer is more mature - he's able to put aside his pride and take a rejection pretty gracefully - but i prefer a more erratic elsey who's like,,, almost a tsundere

if it were anyone but lucifer, they would never even consider forgiving the threats to their life. but they admire him so much; he has so many traits they look up to and enjoy, and on some level they do know they really crave his presence and attention.

elsey WOULD be prone to having hatesex with him lmao (they've probably done it with satan or asmo once or twice) but lucifer wouldn't because he doesn't want to poison the potential for a real relationship.

perhaps after a long period of groveling and displays of affection and him even getting one over on them here and there bc of course he does - elsey will relent,, bc like satan they are extremely attracted to him.

[ordinaryschmuck]

Walt Disney Animated Pictures Studios from Worst to Best-Part Four: The Good Films

Salutations, random people on the internet who certainly won’t read this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck! I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

Today, we get to the better half of the ranking of Walt Disney Animated Pictures Studios films. They’re more than ok this time. Now, they’re good. You see, these are the movies that I’ll genuinely seek out if I’m in the right mood for them. Not as much as others, but I still know I’ll be in for a good time when I put them on.

But enough talk. Let’s keep moving forward with…

#30. Meet the Robinsons-This is a movie that’s either is your thing, or it isn’t.

You either find it funny, or you don’t.

You’re either willing to overlook the nonsensical logic regarding time travel, or you’re not.

And you either find the characters delightful, or you don’t…Except for the Bowler Hat Guy. Do not hate the Bowler Hat Guy. He’s both funny and tragic, meaning that hating him is a sin.

Anyway, you’re probably wondering how I feel about the movie. Well, to be honest, I’m half in half. I like some of the characters and some jokes got a laugh out of me, but others…didn’t. And, yeah, the time travel makes no sense. It’s one of those things where if you think about it for too long, you’ll get a major headache. And that’s no good.

However, love or hate this movie, as far as I can tell, everyone agrees on the same thing: The message in Meet the Robinsons is fantastic. To tell kids that they just gotta keep moving forward despite a failure or two is a great thing to teach, and I hope some of them went out to make some great stuff because of this movie. And it’s true. You can’t get bogged down by failure. You just got to buck up and improve on the next big idea.

So, this leads to a question: Can a great lesson save a movie with a few mistakes? Personally, I think it does…to an extent. While a great ending could make a story worth going through, it still means you have to sit through some mediocre stuff to get to what’s outstanding. It just depends on how much you’re willing to sit through as you keep moving forward through a film.

#29. The Hunchback of Notre Dame-This is Disney’s second–and arguably more famous–attempt in making a darker story. And I think there are two reasons why this one is more fondly remembered than The Black Cauldron. For one, the main character, Quasimodo, is ten-times more likable than that other turd who’s name I already forgot. Quasimodo isn’t whiney or pathetic, but rather sympathetic. His existence is quite honestly a sad one, and yet there’s a sense of optimism and purity in his personality. Despite how bad things go for Quasimodo, you admire him for doing good despite having such a twisted teacher of morality. Speaking of which, this brings me to the second reason why The Hunchback of Notre Dame works better than The Black Cauldron, and that’s Judge Frollo. The Horn King can be intimidating, but not only does it feel like the writers are trying too hard, but the character as a whole lacks personality. With Judge Frollo, his evil is one many can identify, as there are dozens of people who use their religion as an excuse to do awful, twisted things. Maybe not to the extent Frollo does it, but pretty close at times. As for his personality, he’s oozing with it, acting as a character whose views are hypocritical as they are diabolical. It feeds into the darkness of this film, definitely making it one of Disney’s grimmer stories. But this leads me to discussing The Hunchback of Notre Dame’s fatal flaw: It doesn’t go all the way.

There are too many times when this movie tries so hard to be a grim drama, but scales itself back with cartoonish comedy. Now, that doesn’t say none of the jokes work, as there are a few cute ones the movie makes. But there’s too much slapstick and dumb jokes that feels like the writers are pandering to kids. And then there’s the gargoyles, one of the textbook definitions of the bad Disney sidekicks. They’re rarely funny and the idea that they’re apparently magical and real instead of figments of Quasimodo’s lonely imagination hurts the story.

“And don’t forget the maybe offensive representations of the Romani people!”

Oh, yeah, that hurts the film too.

The dark moments work really well, and the main hero and villain sells this movie, but if the writers went further with things, The Hunchback of Notre Dame could go from good to amazing.

#28. The Lady and the Tramp-Oh, those racist cats...

There are some other awful racial/cultural stereotypes in here too, but it's the cats that people remember the most. And with good reason. They're...really bad...The rest of the movie's cute, though.

Lady and Tramp's (can I still say that?) relationship is pretty believable. They go on one date, get to know each other, have a spat, and get together after Tramp proves how much he's all in for Lady. Granted, it'll take more than one good deed to know someone's other half is there for the long run, but it's still more realistic than most Disney couples.

...I said most. Not all. Plus, this movie has a cocker spaniel as the main character. And as a former cocker spaniel owner (RIP, Max), it already won ten points from me. The story may drag a bit at times, but The Lady and the Tramp (still not sure if I can say that) is still a solid love story that'll make me go "d'aw" in all the right places.

#27. The Fox and the Hound-MY CHILDHOOD!

Everyone has that one Disney movie. The one movie that you've watched several times as a kid so your parents could take a break from you for an hour and a half. And The Fox and the Hound was that movie for me. I remember loving the friendship between Tod and Copper and all the heartbreak that came with it. It was everything to me...so believe me when I say it hurts to claim that the movie doesn't hold up as much when watching it as an adult. Don't get me wrong, all the emotional moments work, but I feel like they would have been more effective if the movie was longer. An hour and twenty minutes aren't exactly enough to effectively tell the story between Tod and Copper, filling in all the tragedy and heartbreak that comes with it. It's good enough, but more time would have been better. The Fox and the Hound still holds a special place in my heart, but I can't hold onto the nostalgia despite how much I would love to.

#26. 101 Dalmatians-Listen. Listen. Listen...I am a dog person. I love canines with all of my heart and soul. So you better believe that a movie about ninety-nine cute little puppers and their two underappreciated parents is going to be a movie I adore. And I do adore it. Seeing those doggos in peril breaks my heart, but it results in their ultimate triumph being all the more gratifying. And as much fun as Cruella De'Vile and her two stooges are, it's more entertaining (and satisfying) to see them fail rather than succeed. Because of f**king course, it would. I mean, why would I want to watch a woman who wants to skin puppies actually do just what she seeks out to do? That would be insane, and any chance to make a story where we should root for her is equally so...just putting that out there. For no reason at all.

101 Dalmatians is a movie that I love simply because I'm a dog person. And if that's so wrong, then f**k you, this is my list. Go make your own.

#25. Sleeping Beauty-F**k Princess Aurora and her dull Prince Philip! The Good Fairies are the true stars of this picture! Their personalities are identifiable, their interactions make them a solid comedic trio, and they're the ones who actively go against Maleficent. Philly-boy gets the credit for throwing the sword at the dragon, but you want to know who freed him from Maleficent’s castle and enchanted that sword in the first place? The Good Fairies. And you want to know who raised Aurora to be such a respectable young lady for sixteen years? The Good Fairies. If you ask me, they're the main protagonists, with Aurora and Philip feeling like they’re nothing more than supporting characters in their own story. Seriously, I'm not kidding when I say that they're both flatter than a plank of wood. 

Aurora's sort of that middle child in terms of classic Disney princesses. She's not mature like Cinderella or naive like Snow White. She more or less takes aspects of both characters, both with Cinderella's friendship with animals and Snow White's curse of being in sleep until awakened by true love's kiss. And Philip...is just another boring, perfect, pretty boy who took the credit of saving the day. And is also a grown man in love with a sixteen-year-old, and that's just...ew. I don't care if it's a thing in the period in that movie. It's still an "ew."

Sleeping Beauty is carried by characters like the Good Fairies and especially by a genuine threat like Maleficent. The Prince and Princess may not be anything special, but everyone else sure is.

#24. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs-I'm not a fan of the idea of "The first one's the best one because it's the thing that started it all!" I get the mentality that if this movie failed, then all of Disney might not have existed, but calling Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs the best Disney movie by that ground alone is a major disservice to their future feature films. However, that doesn't mean Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs isn't worth some praise. It features a lot of what makes Disney, well, DISNEY. The movie has characters that are identifiable and unique, a story that’s simple enough for kids to understand while adhering enough for adults to respect, a tone that balances dark and light really well, and the whole thing manages to be charming as all forms of hell. I physically cannot hate a single second of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. However, despite showing everything we praise Disney for, it also has the studio's criticisms. Primarily through the happily ever after, not going all the way with the darkness, and having a...not great role model for young girls. Now, Snow White isn’t an awful character. I want to get that out of the way. She proves why she’s the “fairest in all the lands” through her good nature in helping others. But all she does is cook and clean for the dwarfs, eat the apple like an idiot, and falls in love with a creep who kissed a fourteen-year-old girl. Like I said, not exactly the best role model.

Something tells me the movie's ending isn't the best thing to teach, and I'm more impressed by Disney films that have the main character earn their happy ending rather than receive it through inaction. With that said, everything up to it is still charming as a movie can be. I can roll my eyes at the issues but smile through everything else done right.

#23. Alice in Wonderland-This movie is a trip and a half, but I feel like that's the point. Alice in Wonderland seems to go for that moral of how one shouldn't let their imagination run wild. And the best way to go about that is to have this poor young girl running around in a world that makes no sense with a cast of uniquely designed characters driving her up a wall. The end result is definitely a unique experience, with an extra emphasis on the word experience. This is not one of those movies you watch for the story, but for the fun visuals and characters, with Alice balancing it all out by being a straight man to the insanity while still being a tad bit bonkers herself. But just a tad. Alice in Wonderland is still a solid film, despite how nonsensical and maddening it can be at times.

#22. Robin Hood-I don't know anything about the original Robin Hood, but I feel like you don't need to when it comes to this movie (or most Disney movies, for that matter). You still get this fun movie about this cunning and mildly charismatic fox outwitting Prince John, who's the perfect balance of a hilarious incompetent and even a genuine threat at times. Prince John's the type of character who can talk a big game but never stand up for himself, making him the perfect foil to Robin Hood, who can outthink his way against any problem with both his confidence and skill. Even the rest of the cast is chock full of entertainment, with all of them standing out with their personalities and humor. My personal favorite is Lady Kluck, who wins my favor by being the character who plowed her way through rhinos as if she was a linebacker. And it's good that Robin Hood has such great characters, as it helps add joy and intensity to the story. If I didn't care for our heroes' plight and enjoyed seeing the bad guy fail, I wouldn't have much interest in it. But because I love these characters so much, the movie warmed itself into my heart, making Robin Hood a blast to watch. And, hey, you know what? I might just read the book this time.

#21. The Great Mouse Detective-This movie is a lot better than I remember. The animation is pretty top-notch, with every character having movements tailored to them, such as Basil being often stringy and wild, whereas Dawson is often bouncy and stumbling. The climax itself is also quite the spectacle, combining CGI and hand-drawn animation in a way that still looks nice for something made in 1986. But none of that would matter without characters, and The Great Mouse Detective certainly has just that. Basil's enthusiasm for solving a case is infectious, and it's a blast watching him run around, mouthing a mile-a-minute to figure something out, whereas Dawson's calm and rookie behavior has him act as the perfect straight man to Basil's wild antics. Then there's Ratigan, who is the perfect foil to Basil. Ratigan is wild too, but there's a bit of fury to him, with his stature showing he can easily kill Basil with his bare hands if he wanted to. But he doesn't. This battle is that of the mind, not mass. And Ratigan proves he can outwit Basil in ways where he can turn a possible inconvenience into an opportunity. It's well done, making The Great Mouse Detective a solid movie with great animation and a better cast of characters...too bad the mystery couldn't be as perfect. This movie is obviously trying to imitate Sherlock Holmes, with the actual Sherlock Holmes even being a character. But the film misses the important thing about those stories: the mystery. We know who caused the caper right away, meaning that the movie is more about Basil finding Ratigan rather than solving a case. Granted, it's still entertaining. I just feel like a movie with the word Detective in its name should be more focused on a mystery, if anything else. As is, The Great Mouse Detective is still a strong movie, even if it does have one strong fault.

And that’s about it for the good. Tune in tomorrow (I mean it this time) for when good turns into great.

[ohheyitsokay]

good eye

part 4 of the ‘hey batter batter’ series

pairing: Francisco Morales (Frankie, Catfish) x reader

wordcount: 3.5k (I’m only 14% sorry about that)

warnings: strong language, extremely mild injury, Benny Miller working out, a little bit of a cliffhanger ending

summary: it’s a Triple Frontier baseball AU! Trust me, you don’t need to know anything about baseball. 

“good eye” is an encouragement for batting players, essentially applauding them for having good judgement when and when not to swing.

In this chapter, the guys becoming increasingly aware of how interesting you are to the whole gang - and what they’re going to do about it. 

>>

Bottom of the ninth inning – the end of the game.

Sometimes players fixated on the score, glancing at the flashing lights or acting desperately but for Will, keeping it in his head was just as natural as breathing. Floating around first base made it easy for him to keep an eye on everything, and stay focused under the summer sun. His team was up by two.

The opposition was at bat – their final advantage as the home team. He didn’t feel particularly nervous, but couldn’t breathe easy just yet. They already had two outs, thanks to his little brother’s inhuman speed and some excellent Garcia pitching, and just one more to go before it was all over. Preferably, this would happen before the man on third made it to home base. 

There was a bead of sweat rolling down, down, down his temple over his cheekbone, and into his beard. The clouds from the start of the game were long gone – even with his cap, his blue eyes were getting tired.

They were focused on the batter, not even Pope, and never the crowd, since it was always just a blur of noise and rival colors and waving hands. The closer the game came to an end, the more the mass of people writhed with tension. It was better just to ignore it. There was no reason at all, but he looked up just for a split second and he saw a single, tiny form make itself clear, sending a confusing thrill down his spine.

A familiar crack rang through the air and he snapped back to focus. The batter was hurling towards him, the crowd was holding it’s breath as he looked around, almost frantically.

Where was the ball?!

Your form was still in his minds eye, he didn’t understand, but then – there, in the outfield. No, here. Instinct had taken over.

It was in his glove, and his left toe had found first base. Will heard a curse as the opposing player plowed behind him a second too late, a yell from the umpire, and then the satisfying groans of the other team’s fans.

Pope crashed into him first, then whoever else was the closest. It was giddy and triumphant chaos, hands clapping his shoulder, sweaty hugs, slaps, and high fives, and Will barely noticed any of it. Jogging back to the locker room was quick, the crunch of their shoes in the grit of the field like a stampede, impossibly loud. The locker room wasn’t as bad. It would have been louder if they had lost, like they had expected. Something still felt strange in his gut as they changed and rinsed off and packed their things.

You were interesting to him, he liked how real you were. He was normally the one that grounded others, that kept his head, learned his lessons and left the game on the field. It was nice, spending time with someone he didn’t have to do that for – or really anything for. There wasn’t a need to put on a show for you, or be your steady sidekick. It was nice. But it had only been a lunch and a night at the bar, no reason to know the shape of you, much less be thrown off by it.

He was taking extra care to clean his newest tattoo, absentminded, when the locker-talk caught his attention.

This was the first away game they had won this season, and everyone was debating why their luck had changed. Some of them were arguing loudly, ridiculously, and as usual, his friends started gravitating together, interested, but with lower voices and cooler heads.

“Do you think it was because I wore last weekend’s socks, Fish?” Benny was grinning, as his friends eyebrows answered for him. Frankie was superstitious, but in a way he’d gotten from his abuela, not the game. Will had a thought, the confusing last moment of the game clicking into the conversation, his eyes meeting Pope's for a moment.

“Actually, I have a theory,” he kept his voice quiet. If the rest of the team got wind that William Miller was participating in the banter, they’d be all over him, sure he was right only because he rarely cared. His friends looked at him, curiously, and he chewed on the idea for a moment, liking it more and more until he actually believed himself when he told them.

Their good luck charm?

You.

-

Tom had missed the conversation, occupied with a love-sick staff member in a quiet corner of the stadium.

He would never admit it, but he always needed a distraction when the winning catch had nothing to do with him. And Molly had to travel with the team most weeks anyway, the availability becoming increasingly more appealing than trying his luck with a random fan.

The next day after practice, he found her again and this time, despite the crude nature of the location, he took little more time. It was strange, to grab her without pent up frustration driving his actions, but not an entirely unwelcome change of pace.

He didn’t dwell on it, almost running away, but she did, trailing her fingers over the places his had been as she put herself together again. She wanted to remember each one, to savor them like it was the first time. And maybe it was – the very first time he had even kissed her with no particular personal agenda. Of that, she didn’t feel as guilty about wanting more.

Tom had long since slipped out the door when she finished the process, just slipping on her heels when the someone knocked.

Opening it, she found an eager and awkward shortstop pushing into her office. He seemed nervous, more nervous than she had seen him during photo shoots and press conferences and final innings. It wasn’t what she expected – not the demeanor the players normally held when they asked for favors. Professional athletes were confidant, suave, even. Ben had something else going on, something sweeter, maybe even innocent.

He called her ma’am, and she rolled her eyes when he asked for you number.

“Don’t you boys ever talk?” she was kind of annoyed. Ben was confused, it showed on his face.

“Tom got it awhile ago,” she started, and he got it, immediately. The older man hadn’t told any of them that you would be at the bar last week. He wondered if you knew he had arranged it. Something felt off but before he could ponder it she finished.

“And Santi got it yesterday.” Actually, she was more than annoyed. You hadn’t seemed special at all when you’d been there opening weekend. Your grandfather was sweet but nothing about that day could explain why three of the players were willing to bend the rules to find you again.

Tom’s voice rang in her ears: he’s got it bad for her. That didn’t quite fit what she was seeing, but she cooled down a little.

She didn’t even have to shoo him away, his thank you, ma’am, sorry to bother you made her feel like an old lady as he turned on his heels and trotted off.

The younger Miller was increasingly thoughtful, but he could feel something shift in the air. Then he shrugged it off. He was sure he’d find out, sooner or later.

-

“Ben, where’s your brain?” Catfish had caught him making eyes upside-down at the girl standing by the athletic trainer while he was mid workout. He didn’t really need a partner to work out, but they tried to go together, to spot on another and to argue over who could bench press the most.

He watched as his friend’s brain and body scrambled to put down the weights and he stood up too fast.

Across the room, girlish laughter bubbled and Benny blushed, still not attending as he grabbed the water bottle he was being offered and squirted himself in the mouth.

“What?”

Frankie shot him an amused look, gesturing vaguely, his point now proven. This had happened before. The young player was almost certainly going to tell him some random information now to distract him and trying to avoid the inevitable teasing.

“Did you know Tom got her number?”

It worked. There was almost no context, but he knew immediately and there was a twist in his stomach. It was the answer to a question he didn’t know had been on his mind - Catfish fully short circuited.

Redfly got your number? That was why Frankie had found him putting the moves on you before they were scheduled to meet. He was shaking his head, dazed, when Ben added, “And Santi got it a couple days ago, too.”

A moment of silence, and then,

“Fucking what?!” 

Heads around the private gym turned.

Ben hissed for quiet as he dragged him towards the locker room, and he found himself allowing it as he heart tried to catch up with his mind. No way Pope was going after you too.

“Weird, right?” Frankie felt like ‘weird’ was putting it mildly.

“I just asked for it,”

“You -"

“- because I wanted to be friends, but,” the younger man was ignoring his sputtering panic. He didn’t know if he should be mad or grateful. “Why wouldn’t they tell us?”

That stopped his racing heart. That was the question, wasn’t it? Frankie dragged his hand down his face, smoothed his mustache, readjusted his hat, trying fruitlessly to ground himself.

He said something noncommittal in response, barely hearing himself as he changed the topic. Ben was watching him, he could tell, but it wasn’t as though he could explain why he had reacted so strongly. He didn’t even know why.

It’s not like the feel of you against his hand was all he had been thinking about for the past few days.

His head was spinning, and not in the same way as when he had heard you were at the last game.

Of course other men had their eyes on you. You were gorgeous. His hand twitched on the locker as an image of him pressing you against it flashed through his mind. Shoving it down, he moved on.

You were smart, too, and kind. Certainly he couldn’t be the only one who liked the way you looked when you were thinking, or the little messiness of your hair, or the curve of your neck and shoulders as you leaned against the table.

There was a flare of something green in his chest. He was thinking about your hand on his arm, the way it made him feel like he was your anchor, the white lines on the ground guiding your feet. That, was his. For a moment, his brain reminded him of your lips on Pope’s cheek, your fingers on Benny’s shoulder, and palm on Redfly’s jaw. The locker door resonated in the quiet room as he slammed it shut. Even your eyes in Ironhead's for just a moment… it made him want to kidnap you, press into your space, surround you with his body until all you could see or touch or think about was him. Or maybe it was the opposite. Maybe what he was aching for was for there to be a room full of handsome, athletic, perfect men, and for you to seek him. Find his eyes, and hold them in yours until you reached each other. To choose him. 

Either. Or maybe both.

Whatever he’d been saying got lost on his tongue.

Benny was looking at him thoughtfully, and Frankie sighed, his anger slowing to a simmer. It was absurd, he knew that. Knowing didn’t make it go away, but it helped.

Really, he should be lucky he got any of you at all, that alone was a minor league miracle. Hiking his bag up, he clapped his friend on the shoulder and changed the topic once again.

The smell of dirt and grass and sweaty men faded as they walked out of the room, and when someone made a group chat that included you, Frankie remembered that he liked his friends. The bats in his bag clanged like bells, and Ben said something that made him laugh, and he thought he was a fool to have forgotten it.

-

Santiago was the first one there, over half an hour early, by accident or design you had no idea. He made all of James' things look small, and it made you laugh, because you knew it was only the beginning.

You’d been added to a group chat a few days ago. The list of total bizarre things happening to you was increasing every day of knowing them but you couldn’t exactly complain. It was exciting and honestly, you ached for them in a way you couldn’t explain. Seeing Santiago sent sharp excitement through the anxiety of preparation, but even with the handsome man removing his shoes, you couldn’t help but check behind him for Francisco.

It had been a joke, sort of. They had invited you out and you retaliated by saying you owed them a meal. You should’ve known, already, they weren't afraid to take you up on it, and you’d had to use James as your crutch. His house was much bigger than your apartment, and he was so excited to talk to them it was adorable. Before you’d even turned to Santi properly, they were already chatting, and you watched, smiling.

He looked good. It really was almost as if they actually were family – not physically but you could see it in how they interacted. Santi was more cleaned up than he’d been at the bar, thanking your grandfather like it really was an honor to be welcomed into his home. Jimbo was standing as tall as he could to scruff the younger man’s perfect hair, and you laughed as he clarified that they were always welcome, as long as they helped cook. And when Santi grinned, agreeing readily, the line on his forehead smoothed.

The stress of hosting even such strange guests lessened again, and you slipped back into the kitchen.

Not two minutes later, he found you there, and you could feel him watching you, lounging against the door as graceful and powerful as a panther. Slicing vegetables to grill, you let him, for the time being. He would tell you what he was thinking if he wanted to.

It made you smile again, when his large, calloused hands began to make motions for you to let him take over. Determined or maybe even insistent, but not entitled. He mimicked your cuts, checking silently for your approval, and you saw something in his eyes you hadn’t noticed before.

Over food and drinks he had been smart and clever and passionate – an idyllic picture for over-ambitious fans. None of that was gone, but there was another layer under it, something distinctly humble, and if your dreams hadn’t already been occupied, you might’ve fallen in love with him a little bit. Prepping food to the sounds of quiet music and the rhythmic thumps of the knife against the cutting board felt domestic, but in a familial way. There was no pressure for words, for you, and when he did speak, it seemed as though he agreed.

“This might sound fu… uh, stupid but I’m glad there aren’t bobble heads around.” Of him and his friends, he implied. You wondered if he checked his language for your sake, or out of mindfulness for James.

“He really respects you guys,” you shrugged. “He’s always lecturing me on remembering that you’re human, and not overstepping normal people boundaries.”

Pausing your salad assembly, you stole a glance at him, only to find deep brown eyes looking at you curiously. His hand scraped over the stubble on his jaw, and you could almost see his thoughts, running diamonds in his head.

“Is that why you shot Redfly down?” he wasn’t looking at you, so he missed the tilt of you head. You didn’t need to know the nickname to know what he was talking about, but he clarified a moment later.

You weren't prepared for this to come up, but it shouldn’t have surprised you.

“Yes and no,” was the most honest answer. “He’s already got a girl, whether he knows it or not.” You felt good, talking to him, good like laughing, so you did. It was a strange moment, when the team’s outfield dreamboat had leaned in to kiss you, and you turned him away, but it wasn’t weighing on you at all.

Santiago was grinning at you, hands still, and you wondered if this was the first moment the two of you were seeing each other clearly. Biases and judgement and wariness stripped away easily in the kitchen, like the peels of potatoes.

“So,” his tone and eyes were mischievous, and you had never felt more like an almost stranger was your brother. “If one of the other guys asked you out, you would consider it?”

Face flaring with heat, you barely contained a squawk. He let out a triumphant noise and you shoved him. There was no doubt he wasn’t talking about himself, but you still wanted to melt into the floor.

“Don’t think I haven’t seen –”

“Shut up shut up shut up!”

Both of you were laughing when the other men pushed through the front door.

Santi answered their raised eyebrows by sticking out his tongue.

-

There was moments all the time in baseball, where when you have the ball and have to choose which opposing player gets to make it safe and who you’re going to try to get out. It’s a split second where you feel torn in two, and that was exactly how Frankie felt now.

When he had seen you, flushed and laughing, part of him wanted to give a damn thank you speech to Pope for helping bless the world with that, and the other part of him wanted to murder his best friend.

They had all pushed into the little home and he tried to focus on greeting James and looking at the cozy, dated furniture, the humble decorations, clearly cleaned just for them. There had been a moment, where you’d waved at what felt like just him, and his heart rate had doubled. He tried to talk with the guys, the friend you had invited, or help grill or set the table or … anything, but all he wanted was to find you again.

Staying by your side the other night felt as natural and the ball hitting the palm of his glove, time and time again. It was exactly where he was meant to be.

And you were so lovely he wanted you to press into him so close he absorbed just a fraction of your glow. He wanted to wrap you up and take you with him wherever he went, or maybe just settle into your shadow, to follow you forever. It felt greedy, which he didn’t really mind, but the problem was that it was unrealistic.

You were working hard to be a good host, floating around, making sure everyone was content, helping, handling things, or happily having heaping helpings of your cooking. There was another game on the TV, and James was telling stories, and his friends had made themselves right at home. In a strange way, it felt like a Sunday with his abuelos, and cousins, casual and comfortable. It was telling, of you, fitting, and he liked that, but it was distinctly missing... you.

Santi found him, listening to James, trying not to look over his shoulder for you, hand twitching to find it’s place on you again. They kept their voices low, trying to be respectful, as they caught up on the last few minutes, hours, days. Frankie felt a pang of guilt, wondering if he had been subconsciously avoiding his friend. There was still some more private communicating they had to do… He offered Pope a drive. That would do it.

There was an understanding as the looked at each other, under the music and talk, and clatter of dishes. Will was making James laugh, loud and care-free. The uneasiness settled in his gut – he trusted Santi with his life. He could certainly trust him now, with whatever this was.

Not long after, Frankie found himself being herded through the little house, around tables with glasses and napkins, and back into the little kitchen. There was a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder, and then he was alone with you, for the very first time.

Your eyes were big, staring at him, as you held a pile of dirty dishes.

He wanted to kiss you.

Of course, he didn’t, only cursing himself as he awkwardly offered to help. When you shook your head, your hair fluffed, and with the sunlight through the window, he was having trouble remembering how to function.

Frankie was solid, known for being sturdy and safe. Not like Will was, with his ethics and upbringing like roots into the ground, but that of Atlas, supporting the world on his shoulders.

He was the cornerstone of the team, the background man behind the curtain, with hair and eyes and thighs that Santi swore made women swoon.

And he was doing dishes in the kitchen of your grandfathers house, weak in the knees because you had smiled at him, impressed and grateful. His mind was telling at him to talk to you more, to say something interesting or impressive or to make you laugh when he heard you yelp.

The sound was awful, and adrenaline pumped into his blood as he realized you were hurt. Swinging around he didn’t see you for a moment before registering you had sat down, hard, and were clutching your wrist. There was a thick line, throbbing and an angry red – burnt.

When his knees hit the tile, he didn’t even notice the dull pain. His hands grasped yours as you tried to apologize, explaining the stove was still hot after you had turned it off. Frankie heard you, really he did, but he mind was chanting do something! And stringing Spanish curses, demanding that he protect you, that he fix it.  

He didn’t realize how close he was to you until your eyes found his. it crashed into him the realization that if he leaned forward, tilted his head a bit, and sunk a little lower onto his knees, he could have your mouth against his. 

Panic slowing, he looked at you. You were so sweet and beautiful, collapsed on the kitchen floor with him like the two of you were the only things in the world, and you were trying to tell him you were fine, that it was a silly accident. Frankie felt ridiculous, caught up in his thoughts, and he just... threw aside logic.

Time stopped, and he kissed the burn.

>>

taglist:

@fangirl-316 @scribbledghost @writeforfandoms @beautyagegoodnesssize

hey batter batter taglist:

@icanbeyourjedi @studyofawearymind @hnt-escape @athalien @the-witty-pen-name

[averylainey]

A Second Date

Clementine and Louis have a second date to continue getting to know each other better.

“I hate you,” she jested. “I love you too.” He smirked. “Even if you do have a weird thing for cowboys.” “Damn it, I do not! You’re never gonna let this go, are you?” “Absolutely not.” 

~  AO3  ~  FF  ~

Clementine grit her teeth and dug her nails into her bed sheet as a sharp pain shot up her leg. She  raised her head slightly and looked to the foot of her bed where Ruby was busy dabbing the limb with a wet cloth to clean it. The redhead insisted on cleaning it every day until it scarred over. It was already a miracle that Clementine had survived the amputation; Ruby didn’t want to test their luck with an infection. She gave the other girl a sympathetic look.

“I’m sorry, hon. I know it sucks, but it’s gotta be done,” Ruby said, rubbing the injured girl’s other leg in a futile attempt to soothe her. 

“I know,” Clementine grumbled, squeezing her eyes shut and resting her head back against her pillow. Of course she was grateful to Ruby for looking out for her, but God, did this suck.

It had been a little over a week since she returned home, and her recovery was going a lot more smoothly than anyone expected it would. The color had returned to her skin, and she was able to stay awake for the better part of most days. The pain was still overwhelming at times, but with the help of painkillers and emotional support from the other kids, she was able to push through it. 

AJ had been particularly attentive-- not that that was at all surprising. He spent most of his time by her bedside when she was awake, keeping her spirits up and making sure that she had everything she needed. He wasn’t beside her today, however. This was the first day he had left the walls of the school since they came home. He had initially been reluctant to go too far away from her, as even though she was improving, he was still terrified that something would go wrong. He was still terrified that he’d lose her. But that morning, Clementine was finally able to convince him not to worry-- that she wasn’t going anywhere, so he hesitantly agreed to go hunting with Aasim and Louis. 

When he headed out, leaving her alone in her room, part of her regretted telling him to go. Having him around kept her from thinking too hard about her condition. She tried her best to suppress it, but she couldn’t help the grief she felt over the loss of her leg. She knew that her disability would make life a lot harder from here on out; there were so many things she’d probably never be able to do again….

A light knocking at the door brought Clementine out of her thoughts. She propped herself up on an elbow and called out, “Come in.” 

The door opened and Louis stepped in. 

“Hey,” he greeted her with a grin and shut the door behind him.

“Hey, you.” She smiled affectionately at him then raised an eyebrow when she noticed that AJ wasn’t with him. “Where’s AJ?” 

“He wanted to help Aasim get a rabbit ready for dinner,” he told her then glanced at Ruby, who was still busy tending to Clementine’s leg. “Uh, I can come back later if you want.”

“No, it’s ok.” She stared down at her leg and frowned before meeting his eyes again. “Honestly, I could use a little moral support.”

Louis mirrored her dejected expression and walked the short distance to her bed. He crouched down beside her and took her hand in his.

“I’m so sorry, Clem. I--”

“Hey, I said I need support, not a pity party,” she interrupted.

He dropped the rest of his sentence with an amused exhale and squeezed her hand. “Right. Sorry.”

“So… how was hunting?” Clementine asked, wanting to shift the conversation away from her plight.

“Pretty good. We caught a couple rabbits, and I showed AJ how to reset the traps.”

“That’s good.” She chuckled before adding, “Guess you’ve replaced me as his sidekick, huh?”

“Hey, he’s the sidekick,” Louis joked, earning another light laugh from the girl. Of course, the sight of her laughing brought a grin to his face, as it never failed to do. 

Clementine looked lovingly at him for a moment before extending her arms to him for a hug, which he happily gave. 

“Thanks,” she mumbled into his shoulder.

“For?”

“Just, y’know... being here. It helps.”

He pulled slightly out of her embrace and kissed the tip of her nose. “I’ll always be here.”

A soft giggle from the end of the bed caused the pair to separate. Ruby had finally finished cleaning the girl’s wound and was looking fondly at them. They both blushed and lowered their eyes; they had almost forgotten she was there….

“Y’all are too cute,” Ruby remarked, shaking her head. She noticed the redness on their faces and gave them a small reassuring smile. “You don’t have t’ be embarrassed. It’s real sweet how close you two have gotten.”

Ruby picked up a roll of bandages and turned her attention back to Clementine’s leg. 

“I’m a lil’ jealous,” the redhead admitted, still looking down as she began to wrap the fresh gauze around the limb. “Not, y’know, of either of you specifically,” she quickly clarified. “Just of what y’all have, I guess.”

Ruby paused and looked back up to them. They were staring at her expectantly, apparently waiting for further explanation, so she continued:

“I used t’ read those sappy romance books the old English teacher kept in her desk and wish I could experience somethin’ like that,” she continued and smiled sadly at her hands. “I stopped a while ago, though, when I realized it wouldn’t ever happen.”

“Well, how do you know it won’t?” Clementine cut in gently. 

“I dunno… Not a lotta people left... And I doubt any of ‘em would like me.”

Clementine was surprised to hear that she felt that way. Did she really not realize that Aasim had a massive crush on her? He wasn’t exactly very subtle about it….

“You don’t know that. Maybe somebody does,” the brunette hinted.

She looked to Louis, who had his hand over his mouth in an attempt to hide the huge knowing grin that spread across his face. He dropped his hand and opened his mouth to speak but was stopped short by a light tugging on his wrist. He glanced down to find Clementine gripping it then shifted his gaze to her face and gave her a questioning look. ‘Don’t,’ she mouthed, knowing exactly what he was planning to say. As much as she herself wanted to just tell Ruby about Aasim’s crush too, she knew that they shouldn’t. It wouldn’t be fair to either of them. Louis pouted but obeyed and stayed silent.

Ruby raised an eyebrow at their behavior but chose not to question it.

“I don’t think so,” she sighed as she tied off the fresh bandage on Clementine’s leg. “Well, think I’m all done here.” Ruby stood and wiped her hands on her pants. “Anything else I can get’cha?”

Clementine shook her head. “I’m ok. Thanks, Ruby.”

She gave a little nod in response and turned to leave the bedroom. Clementine and Louis watched as she exited the room and gently closed the door behind her. They stayed quiet for a moment, listening to the sound of her footsteps down the hall fade away.

“I can’t believe this,” Louis quickly broke the silence, shaking his head in incredulity.

“I know, right?” Clementine agreed. “She really has no idea.”

 “I gotta tell her.” He turned to Clementine. “Come on, you shoulda let me tell her. This is too perfect.”

“No, he needs to tell her.”

“But he won’t, Clem. It’s been, like, a year.”

“Just... give it a little more time. He’s not very good at hiding it; she’s gonna find out eventually.” 

Louis crossed his arms and quirked his brow at her, clearly unconvinced. Noticing his skepticism, the girl continued:

“What if someone else told you that I like you?” she asked. “Wouldn’t that have kinda ruined it?”

“Honestly, I would’ve just thought they were fucking with me.” He stared at the door and frowned, pausing to consider her point for a minute before sighing in defeat. “...I guess you’re right.”

“Of course. I’m always right.”

He smirked at her. “I’m still gonna keep harassing Aasim about it, though.”

Clementine snickered. “That’s fine; you should. Just don’t tell Ruby anything.”

“Deal.”

Louis looked down in thought for a second. He sat down on the bed beside her and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “So, um...anyways... I actually came in here for a reason,” he said.

“Oh? What’s that?”

“Well, y’know, I figured you must be bored laying in here all day, so I thought, ‘Hey, what better time for our second official date?’” He pulled his deck of cards out of his coat pocket, set it on the bed between them, and looked to her with a hint of anxiety on his face as he waited for a response. 

She gave him a soft smile. “That’s a good idea. I am pretty bored.” 

Louis smiled and let out a breath of relief, which Clementine took notice of.  

“What? You thought I was gonna say no?” she asked as she sat up and rested her back against the wall.

“I mean, not really, but”-- he shrugged-- “you never know. Maybe, in the last thirty seconds, you realized you actually hate me.”

Clementine rolled her eyes. “No such luck,” she joked before focusing on the deck of cards sitting on the bed. “So, did you have a game in mind?” she asked the boy.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Y’know, I still don’t really know a lot about you, so I thought we could play the game we did the night you first got here. Remember? Highest card asks a question?”

“Yeah, I remember,” she confirmed. “Is War the only card game you know?”

“Of course not; it’s just the easiest. I know Golf, Spades, Cribbage, some that I made up...” As he listed off card games, Louis split the deck in half and handed half of the cards to Clementine. “I also know how to play Poker, but I hate it.”

“Why?”

“It’s boring.” He paused before mumbling, “And Violet always beats me.”

The girl chuckled. “Really?”

“Yeah. She’s impossible to read. I think she’s secretly a lizard-person,” he said, somehow keeping a completely straight face.

Clementine burst out laughing. 

“Don’t tell her I said that,” Louis added, as he laughed along with her. 

“Don’t worry; I won’t.” The girl’s smile faltered. “She… doesn’t really talk to me anyway.”

Not wanting to ruin the mood, Clementine quickly changed the subject. “So”-- she held up the stack of cards Louis had given her-- “are we gonna play?”

Louis nodded and gave the cards in his hand a quick shuffle. They each drew a card from their respective stacks and flipped it over; Clementine won with an eight of diamonds. 

“You win,” Louis said. “What do you wanna know?”

Clementine looked up and thought for a second. She couldn’t think of anything particularly creative to ask, so she just asked the first question that came to her mind:

“What’s your favorite color?”

“Damn, we’re already starting with the real hard-hitting questions, huh?”

The girl smiled and rolled her eyes in response before looking back at him expectantly. 

“It’s green,” he told her. “What’s yours?”

Clementine raised an eyebrow and smirked at him. “Hey, I thought only winners got to ask questions,” she teased.

“Ok, new rule then: losers can ask follow-up questions.” 

“Fine,” she chuckled before answering, “Mine is pink.”

“No way. You’re lying.” 

“What? What’s wrong with pink?”

“Nothing!” he laughed. “I just wasn’t expecting that. I thought you were gonna say something hardcore like black or blood red or something.” His expression softened. “That’s kinda cute-- that it’s just pink.”

The girl snorted, trying to hide the slight blush that crept onto her cheeks at his words. “If you say so.”

“Wait, what kind of pink, though? Hot pink?” Louis suddenly asked. 

“Ew, no.” Clementine wrinkled her nose at the thought of that obnoxious color. “Just regular pink,” she specified.

“Ok, good,” he chuckled and took the card she had drawn out of her hand, stacking it with his and setting it to the side. He motioned for her to draw again for the second round. “After you.”

Clementine drew another card from her stack and flipped it over: six of spades. Louis followed and produced a three of hearts.

“I win again.” The girl smirked at him. 

Louis shook his head and said flatly, “You’re cheating.”

She scoffed. “What? How do you even cheat at this game?”

“You stacked the deck.”

“It’s your deck!” she laughed.

“Alright, fair point… I got my eye on you, though.” He winked at her. “What’s your question?”

This time, she already had a question in mind. “Where are you from?” she asked. “Before you came here, I mean.” 

Louis smiled and answered, “Baltimore.”  

“That’s cool; that baseball guy I met was from there,” Clementine shared.

He raised his eyebrows. “No shit? What was his name?”

“Javier Garcia.”

“Wait, seriously? I’ve met him.”

Clementine’s eyes widened. “Really? When?”

“Yeah. Well, kinda. My grandparents used to take me to the baseball games in the city sometimes. He signed a ball for me. I think I still have it somewhere...” He shook his head and chuckled to himself. “I can’t believe you met Javier Garcia and didn’t tell me.”

She giggled at his enthusiasm then shrugged. “You never asked.”

“Alright, you gotta tell me everything now. How’d you meet him?”

“Well… I, uh…” Clementine sighed, slightly embarrassed of how she had acted back then. “I almost shot him; then, I tried to rob him.” 

Louis snorted. “Really, Clem? I mean, I knew you were edgy, but damn.”

She rubbed the back of her neck and said sheepishly, “Yeah… I was going through some shit at the time… He was pretty cool about it, though.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. He was a pretty cool guy in general,” she said and placed her card atop the other discarded ones. “He’s kinda like you-- little less dorky though.”

“Dorky!?” Louis clutched his chest and feigned offense.

“In a good way!” she quickly added with a laugh before switching focus to her stack of cards. She held them up and asked, “Round three?”

“‘Round three?’ You’re really gonna act like you didn’t just insult me like that?” He continued pretending to be offended as he drew another card. Before Clementine could respond or even draw a card herself, he blurted out, “I win.” and revealed that he had drawn an ace. 

“Not necessarily,” she protested. “What if I get an ace too?”

“I’d be very shocked.”

Clementine picked the top card off her stack and lifted it up in front of her face so that he couldn’t see it. She smirked. “It’s an ace,” she told him.

Louis looked at her skeptically and peeked over the top of the card to see what it really was. “That’s a four, darling.” 

The girl sighed and dropped the card. “Fine... I guess losers do deserve to win at least once.”

“Exactly,” he agreed before asking his question: “What’s your favorite kind of music?”

Clementine smiled; that was such a him thing to ask. She pursed her lips as she considered the question. Music hadn’t really been a part of her life like it had Louis’. When she and AJ were living on the road, they avoided it for the most part; it was unnecessary noise. She had probably heard more music in the past month at the school than in all her years on the road. 

“Honestly, I don’t know. I never really had the chance to listen to much music before I came here,” she admitted. “Sometimes me and AJ would listen to some rock CD in the car; I guess that was pretty cool.”

“Rock? That makes sense.”

Clementine shrugged and moved to draw another card, but Louis interrupted her:

“Wait, you’re not gonna ask what mine is?”

“I already know what yours is.” She smirked at him. “It’s obviously super girly pop music.”

“Ah, shit! How’d you know!?” he joked. 

“Gut feeling,” she joked back as she grabbed the next card off her stack.

She drew a Jack, beating Louis’ draw of a nine.

“Yes!” Clementine pumped her fist in celebration of her victory. “I have a good one this time.”

“Oh boy,” Louis said, slightly worried. “What is it?”

“What’s your biggest irrational fear?” she asked.

He eyed her suspiciously. “Um, you’re not trying to get ammunition to use against me are you?”

“No!” she laughed. “I’m just curious.”

“Ok...” Louis sighed before answering, “I’m terrified of wasps.”

“Wasps?”

“Yeah. I hate them. A couple years back we found a wasps’ nest under the lookout tower. I wouldn’t go outside for a week.”

“Are you allergic to them or something?” the girl asked.

“No, they’re just… fucking demonic, y’know?” he replied as an involuntary shiver ran down his spine at the thought of the wretched insects.

Clementine giggled. “Yeah, I guess they kinda are.”

“I’m glad you understand,” he chuckled then raised an eyebrow at her. “So, what’s your irrational fear, then?”

 “Oh, I’m not scared of anything,” she responded matter-of-factly.

“Everyone’s scared of something.”

“Not me.”

 Louis pouted. “Come on, I told you mine.”

She stared into his pleading eyes for a moment before groaning and giving in. “I guess I’m kinda creeped out by mirrors,” she confessed.

“What? Mirrors? How could someone as pretty as you hate mirrors?”

“Ha ha,” she replied sarcastically before explaining, “They give me a weird feeling... like they’re watching me or something.” She shuddered. “I don’t know how to explain it; they’re just creepy.”

The boy gave her an amused look. “Not gonna lie, that’s… a pretty weird fear. Was not expecting that,” he said.

“Hey, don’t judge me.” 

“I wasn’t.” He held up his hands. “There’s nothing wrong with you being scared of mirrors. In fact, if you want, I’ll go smash every mirror in the school for you right now.”

Clementine snickered. “I think I’ll be alright.”

“Ok, if you say so.” Louis picked up his stack of cards, preparing to draw for the next round, but before he did, he added, “If you ever change your mind, though, lemme know. I will do it.”

“I’ll let you know,” she promised. 

The pair each drew another card, and this time, Louis won with a seven of clubs. He held his card up to his lips as he considered whether or not he really wanted to ask the question he had in mind. Clementine cleared her throat and raised her wrist as if she were checking an imaginary watch, teasing the boy for taking so long to ask his question. So he decided to just go for it: 

“Alright, I gotta ask… And I’m not judging, ok? But...” Louis reached over her and picked up a book that had been laying on the opposite side of her bed. He held it up in front of her and asked,“What the fuck is this?”

“Oh God.” Clementine could feel her face begin to burn when she saw the cover. It was one of those cringeworthy western romance novels with a shirtless man in a cowboy hat on the front. The terrible thing was mixed in with a stack of a few books that Ruby had given her a couple days prior. The girl tried to explain herself:

“It’s a book Ruby brought me to read when I get bored. She gave me a few different books, and-- and I already read all the others. So y’know, I thought reading it would at least be better than staring at the ceiling. I--It’s super dumb. I swear I’m only reading it to laugh at it.”

Louis smirked at her babbling. “Right. Sure.” 

“I promise!” Clementine really wasn’t lying. The book was horrible-- probably the worst thing she had ever read in her life. It was almost impressive how bad it was, and that made it hilarious to her. But of course, Louis wasn’t going to let her off that easy.

“So what’s it about, then?” he asked as he scanned the pages, stopping when his eye caught a particularly cringeworthy passage. He smirked at the girl beside him and began to dramatically recite it:

Annabelle watched with wide eyes as he dismounted the horse, his bare six-pack glistening in the afternoon sun. God, he was sooo hot. He took off his cowboy hat and ran his fingers through his hair before turning to her and smiling. “Howdy, baby. I have come back for you,” he said in his deep, sultry voice.

Clementine lied back and buried her burning face into her hands. “Please stop,” she laughed. Of course, he ignored her and continued reading:

“Oh, Bill. I knew you would.” She ran into his arms and kissed him passionately. He tightened his hold on her and pulled her to the ground with him. He tenderly stroked her-- 

Louis cringed. “Oof, that’s a little inappropriate,” he mumbled to himself and quickly flipped a few pages ahead until he found a different section to read. “Here we go.”

Luckily for Clementine, before he could start reading whatever awful new passage he found, the dorm door opened and someone stepped inside. Louis lowered the book and turned around to see who it was. He smiled when he saw that it was AJ.

“Hey, little dude!”

“Hi,” AJ greeted the older boy then raised an eyebrow when he caught sight of Clementine lying back with her hands covering her beet-red face. “Uh, what are you doing?”

“I’m just reading Clem her favorite book,” Louis replied nonchalantly. 

“It’s not my favorite book! I hate it!” the girl blurted out. 

“Oh, stop lying, Clem. Your secret’s out; you might as well own it.”

“I hate you,” she jested.

“I love you too.” He smirked. “Even if you do have a weird thing for cowboys.”

“Damn it, I do not! You’re never gonna let this go, are you?”

“Absolutely not,” he laughed, planting a quick kiss on her cheek. 

“Lou, I swear to God when I get out of this bed...” Clementine playfully threatened.

“I’ll go into hiding,” he chuckled and stared down at the book in his hands. Something suddenly occurred to him. “Wait, so Ruby gave this to you?”

Clementine nodded. “She did.”

“I wonder if this is one of those sappy books she was talking about.” He mindlessly flipped through the pages then slipped the novel into an inner pocket of his coat and flashed her a sly grin. “I’m gonna show it to Aasim-- tell him to take notes and act it out for her.”

“Great idea,” she snorted. “You can torment him instead.”

“He is pretty fun to torment.” He grinned mischievously then glanced at the door. “...I’ll be back.”

Clementine watched as Louis stood and rushed out of the dorm room, his coat flapping behind him. She chuckled to herself as she heard him running down the hall. She loved that idiot.

“...I don’t get it,” AJ suddenly said. “What just happened?”

“Don’t worry about it, kiddo,” Clementine chuckled. “He's just being a dork.”

End Note: Thanks for reading! ♥

[sleeping-lilies]

AHHAAHA ok i also have very mixed feelings abt the robins panel they just released, i think it would be an amazing chance for DC to acknowledge all the shitty things Batman has done in the past (and the good things of course!!) in the way he’s treated the Robins to show even good ppl mess up and also address the whole “wtf why is he letting literal kids go feral like that??” part. And in regards to what Dick said abt discussing whether being Batman’s Robin was a good thing or not: i definitely have my own opinions of “yes, having the robins was good for Bruce and helped him grow to be a better person, but his still treated them like crap way too often. and yeah being Robin helped a lot of them too in a lot of different ways, but they deserved better than what B gave them” at the same time. But the little snips about cereal is cute and i love love love that they actually included Steph AND DICK WITH A MANBUN!! (akdjal im scared this is like the first long ask w an opinion ive ever sent and i hav no idea if it’s even coherent ive been working on mid term stuff😭)

dont worry bestie, i can read this perfectly fine!!! and i can’t talk much about it if it was difficult anyways, between my excessive 😩😩😩 and mushy brain from studying for ap exams i would look like a fool.

see i agree because the concept is actually kinda cool and is a good opportunity to show how bruce messed up with his kids (i don’t think they’ll go the whole “sidekick bad” route because that’s their entire brand, they’re not gonna do that) but i like the idea of bonding over it. but also i DONT TRUST THIS WRITER TO GO THE GOOD ROUTE FOR THIS HE MESSED UP WITH DICK BEFORE HOW IS HE GONNA WRITE ALL 5 ROBINS WHEN HE COULDNT EVEN WRITE ONE 💀. so ya, the concept is so cool but i’m really scared because of this writer. this sort of storyline(?) always looks so... bad when executed in the wrong way (like that one scene in yj when diana was like “why you bring robin out at 9 😡” and batman is like “because he needed to take man to took his parents’ lives to justice and he won’t turn out like me 😡” because BRO. THAT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE BECAUSE WE ALL KNOW ITS MORALLY WRONG!!! WE ALL KNOW, BUT THATS THE WAY THE UNIVERSE IN CANON WORKS SO NO ONE QUESTIONS IT!!! SO DONT BRING IT UP!!! AND TRY TO JUSTIFY IT OR ITLL LOOK SILLY!!! like if dick tries to say “sidekick bad” in this issue after he literally made damian robin it’s 💀 SORRY I GOT OFF TRACK) ANYWAYS so if they go that route then they should solely focus on the type of mentor bruce was instead of the idea of child heroes as a whole in my opinion. also it has the vibes of fanon characterizations and i hope they don’t completely go that route because fanon 🥶🗿💀 overall i am terrified but kinda hopeful even tho i don’t think i should be💀💀💀

the cereal but was so cute!!! dick really just? stockpiles on his brother’s favorite cereal 🥺 i’m in love.

DICK WITH A BUN WAS SO NDJDJSJS god i love drawing him with a bun i’m so glad they gave him long hair and for once made it look good (long hair dick grayson as a concept fucks so hard 😩 but the execution is usually 🥶) AND YAAA!!! MY GIRL STEPH!!!! WAIT IM SO EXCITED FOR HER TO BE INCLUDED HERE!!!

[queen-erika-the-songful]

Okay, here are my initial thoughts on Princess Adventure. These are in no way organized; they’re just as I can remember them. Feel free to send asks if you want

- Barbie defending Chelsea’s creativity and imagination is great to see. It’s one of the best parts of Dreamhouse Adventures so it’s nice to see them continue that in this film

- I like “Try It On” a lot more now. It’s not my favorite, and I think it’s one of the weaker songs in comparison to the rest of the soundtrack, but it’s honestly kind of a bop.

- “It’s like they don’t even want me in this movie!” LOL even Tammy herself knows she’s been done an absolute injustice.

- Holy crap Amelia’s plan is so freaking funny to me. She could’ve just, like...invited Barbie over to her kingdom since she’s the princess and was already a fan of Barbie’s vlogs anyway. But nah, she’s gotta have this whole convoluted “cultural exchange” bullshit I just can’t

- Speaking of Amelia, it’s a little disappointing that we don’t spend nearly as much time with her as we do with Barbie, and, thus, we don’t get to see who the supposed “real” her really is. She says she finally got to explore things about herself, like her fears and dreams, but she never goes into details. Ironically, the audience never gets to see who the true Amelia is, we just have to go off what she said about “who [she] is does matter”. I mean, we certainly get glimpses of it (again, the convoluted plan - she’s obviously ‘act first think later’), but overall it’s not nearly enough, at least to me

- “(Not A) Picture Perfect Girl” might just be my favorite song from this movie. It honestly made me tear up a bit. We’ll see if that changes over my next rewatches

- The running gag with Trey mixing up Barbie and Amelia while Ted and Ned knew was a lot funnier than I expected it to be

- Trey is now trans and you can’t change my mind.

- I really appreciate “Somewhere New” a lot more now since seeing it in the movie. I love that the choreography starts on the plane. It was a cool choice that really felt like a “musical” thing to do. I also like that everyone got to sing at leaset a line or two on their own. 

- WTF happened between Floravia and Johanistan? Did they have a war or something? Why are they being united into just a bigger Floravia? It sounds pretty fishy. I can understand why Johan is so upset based on what little information is given to us, so I wish they had gone into it a bit more.

- Johan asked “Amelia” (Barbie in disguise) if she remembered what they said they would do as rulers when they were kids. That never comes back and it really bothered me. What was the promise? That they’d rule together? That they’d treat each other’s kingdom equally? I actually thought at the coronation that Amelia would give the answer to that question (something like “Johan, remember what we told each other...”) and then do something like absolve the treaty so that she and Johan would rule their own respective kingdoms. l

- IDK, I think I would’ve just liked it more if Johan had been like Amelia’s brother/cousin/whatever that wanted to become King. He’d be a more boring villain that way but it would be less complicated than this.

- WE GOT REPRISES OF 2 SONGS BUT THEY AREN’T ON THE SOUNDTRACK?! I will NOT stand for that. As soon as the movie comes out on DVD I’m ripping those tracks out and adding them to my playlist

- I really thought Ken and Barbie were finally going to get together. I shall now accept my clown shoes and wig. I’m already applying the makeup now.

- The sequence for “Life in Color” disappointed me a bit. It’s one of my favorite songs on the soundtrack, but the placement in the movie felt like it came out of nowhere. I was really hoping for a nice, tender moment between Barbie and Amelia. Even if they were kept separated, it could’ve started with them video-chatting again. Maybe they’d talk about their personal struggles and then Barbie would stop the recording (”We don’t have to film this...”) and they’d just have a moment between themselves to talk.

- On the other hand, “King of the Kingdom” was such a good scene. It was very entertaining and I laughed a lot (which I had to hold back a lot since I was still at work). Also, those boys can move!!

- To make up for all of the interruptions and missed opportunities, Ken Carson deserves at least 3 episodes centered on him and his life and 1 where he finally tells Barbie how he feels

- TAFFY HAD NO REASON TO BE IN THIS MOVIE. I don’t care that Barbie almost always needs an animal sidekick. Snowy (Amelia’s bunny) fills that role. Taffy just gave everyone a freaking heart attack. Also, how the heck did she survive the plane ride? California to Floravia is a 10-hour flight so how did she stay unnoticed for so long?? ROBERTS FAMILY, GET SOME DAMN LEASHES!

- Speaking of that scene, I hate it. It ate up valuable time that could’ve been later spent developing the plot or Amelia’s character. It was only like 2 minutes but in a movie that is already pretty short (1hr11min) every second counts

- Can DA please finally drop the whole “Hey look Renee is claustrophobic” already? It’s repetitive as all hell and honestly it rubs me the wrong way how often it’s played for laughs. It works in the DA Halloween episode since it’s all about everyone facing their fears but everywhere else it feels like a cheap & undeserved laugh (it only happens twice in the movie I think but I wanted to mention it anyway)

- Morningstar being a little bitch to Barbie was hilarious. I don’t really like animal toys anymore but I’d totally buy her. (She’s part of a doll-horse set called Prance & Shimmer Horse. The Barbie doll has Amelia’s princess dress).

- “This is My Moment” really warmed my heart. The last shot with Amelia and Barbie smiling at each other reminded me a lot of Princess & the Popstar actually. I also really like how they brought back stuff from “Try It On” for Barbie’s verse. Musical finale numbers that bring back earlier motifs is something I just cannot get enough of. 

- I liked Alfonso. Like Amelia said, he means well; he just didn’t put as much thought into what Ameila herself wants as he could have. But hey, he was learning just as much as they were

- I LOVED all of the stuff with Barbie trying to make it big and that bitch Rose Ross being all “This is what you have to do to make it sweetie :)” like that’s a great thing to show to kids. You can want to be famous and expand your content like Barbie wanted to, but you have to be smart about it, and you have to stay true to yourself. That plotline also mixed pretty well with Amelia’s life being formulated for the public too. I really did like all of that stuff about how media, social media especially, is constantly fabricated and edited to make things seem easier/better than they might be in real life. 

- THEY FINALLY WENT BACK TO INDIVIDUAL END MORALS THANK GOD. I got really tired of seeing “This is our story, what’s yours?” after every Barbie movie, especially when every movie that used it wasn’t going for that message. Hell, that’s not even a lesson or anything, that’s just a random end quote.

- “Life doesn’t happen on camera. Life is what happens when the cameras are off” THAT IS SO GOOD AND RELEVANT I CAN’T EVEN!!!

[slytherinbarnes]

I don’t why but I’ve hated always hated this about the 100 fandom (I obviously don’t mean everyone) but a lot of people just see Bellamy as a side character to Clarke or her love interest, like yes he cares about her but he always risks his life to save everyone else

Bellamy Blake is just such a unique character, his character arc from jumping between the good guy and the bad guy is so interesting on its own, I hate when it’s overlooked

I hope that made sense hahaha

oh no friend, you have opened up a can of worms bc I am PASSIONATE about bellamy blake and his complexity. he is so much more than a sidekick to clarke! I love that we get to see him be morally gray a few times throughout the show. he's less concerned with being a "good" guy vs "bad" guy, and more interested in who can give him the safety and life free of war that he so desperately wants. that's why he follows bad guys like pike and bill, bc they offer him safety. but when pike threatens that idea of safety for his family through octavia, that's what finally gets bellamy to switch sides again.

speaking of octavia, the blake sibling dynamic??? beautiful, and I'll never forgive the writers for fucking it up over the years. as an older sister who is best friends with her sibling, I relate to bellamy SO much. I would do anything to protect my brother and keep him safe, including doing a lot of the same questionable things that bellamy does. I love that his concern is more on his family and not on sides and morality (though we definitely see him struggle with his morality, i.e. "I'm a monster." but isn't it interesting that we only see that AFTER octavia and bellamy fight for the first time?)

anyways, I could talk about this for hours so I'll shut up now, but just know that you're right anon, and bellamy is so much more than people give him credit for! 💗

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Disability and James

@zarohk asked for my thoughts on a Disability Studies/Media Studies perspective on the disability depictions in Animorphs.  [PLEASE NOTE: I am nondisabled, so if I err, please tell me so.]

I’ve mentioned before that James is one of my faves, and possibly my favorite minor character who isn’t a yeerk host.  His introduction pulls off a seemingly impossible feat through not only creating a likable Sixth Ranger, but creating a likable Sixth Ranger who comes after David.  James is also a complex, nuanced character whose disability is a feature but not a summation of his personality.  Plus, he’s a masculine boy who is all about about nurturing others, which always makes me happy.

A few places where I commend the depiction of James:

He leads a social community of disabled kids who help each other.  It’s a big part of third-wave progressivism to emphasize sub-communities and various identities helping each other out: women supporting women, queer pride, Latinx-American culture, etc.  That’s what we see with the Auximorphs, especially James.  James’s motivation is somewhere between 99% “help my roomies” and 100% “help my roomies.”  His initial response to Jake and Cassie explaining the war is “so what, a bunch of ableds are gonna get taken by yeerks, not my problem.”  It’s only when Cassie points out that the yeerks are eugenicists who murder disabled humans that he switches to “okay, I guess we’ll go fight in your stupid war.”  He insists on even the kids who won’t be fighting (Pedro, Tuan) getting the power to morph, and tells Jake that he’ll take suggestions but not orders.

He emphasizes his own and Pedro’s bodily autonomy.  James actually goes so far as to throw Jake onto the floor when Jake tries to grab his wheelchair — a move that emphasizes James has the right to move his own body around, and that that includes prostheses.  Everyday ableism too often involves random strangers taking charge of the bodies of disabled people, attempting to guide blind pedestrians or push wheelchairs around without asking permission to move a person’s body like that.  "My body, my business” is obviously a huge motif in Animorphs, and James pretty explicitly extends that to prostheses as well as fleshy limbs.

He’s nobody’s sidekick, and nobody’s fool.  When the Animorphs first tell James that they’re alien-fighting shapeshifters, he assumes that they’re here to prank the disabled kids who they think must be desperate for attention.  He barely gives them the time of day even when they prove themselves, and he doesn’t “play nice” even when they add him to the team.  James defies the cliché of the disabled kid desperate for the approval of nondisabled peers, and specifically calls it out.  He’s the leader of a semi-independent unit who has his own agenda, rather than being at the original Animorphs’ beck and call.  Like Toby and her hork-bajir, he’s here to make sure that his group and his loved ones don’t get left behind when the war ends and intersectional identities threaten their rights once again.

He kicks ass.  James is competent, tough, skillful, and self-confident with or without the Animorphs.  There’s a fairly realistic period where he has to learn the basics of morphing along with the other Auximorphs, but once he learns he’s highly effective.  He saves Jake’s life during the Air Force battle (#53), rescues the original Animorphs from Tom’s yeerk (#50), and helps Ax and Cassie escape a mob of morph-controllers who have them cornered in a subway tunnel (#52).  He’s agentic and powerful, something we don’t see enough of in disabled child characters.

He emphasizes that the more-privileged communicator has to be the one to do the work of meeting in the middle.  Cassie notes in #50 that James puts in a lot of work to communicate with Pedro (who is paralyzed) and Timmy (who has a speech disorder).  James is the one who can hear/speak in a fairly normative fashion, so James often “translates” for Timmy — but he always does so by letting Timmy finish a sentence rather than cutting him off by trying to guess what he’ll say next.  James is the one who can work the stereo in his and Pedro’s room, so he makes sure that he always lists genres and waits for a blink of confirmation before he changes the music.  James also defers to Pedro’s request for country western in spite of being a punk rock fan himself, because James remains conscious of the fact that if he doesn’t like the music he can always leave the room, while Pedro doesn’t have that option.

He’s thoroughly individuated.  James likes Blink 182 and dislikes reality TV.  He uses his morphs for agility — peregrine falcon, lion — more than firepower.  He spends a lot of time on his hair, and he treasures privacy as much as he values his friends.  He repeatedly calls Cassie and Jake on their bullshit, in spite of being visibly scared to do so as the new kid on the team.  One wouldn’t necessarily think that these are huge accomplishments (and to be clear, they’re not) but there are way way too many minor characters in wheelchairs, especially sci-fi stories, that don’t get characterized beyond their various emotions and thoughts that directly relate to their wheelchairs.

A few places where James falls into the common traps of implied ableism creeping into fiction, as written about in Narrative Prosthesis:

He gets “cured”.  The fact that James’s body is, however implicitly, depicted as a “problem” that must be “fixed” suggests that the theoretical ideal point is the nondisabled body he would have had if not for the car accident.  Like I said, it’s 100% fine if a disabled character gets written as preferring to be nondisabled, but if the series offers the unquestioned assumption that the “correct” body is the nondisabled version, then that’s... not great.

His disability is presented as a mystery that needs solving.  Like Loren, James gets presented with an implicit frame of “why are you like this?” that assumes his body is “abnormal” and therefore begs a question.  In James’s case, it comes in the form of Collette explaining why he’s disabled (a car crash) before we ever even hear from James himself.  Again, it’d be fine if this was the only time this happened, but the fact that the series “explains” almost all of the disabled characters (Taylor, Loren, Mertil, Kelly, Pedro) suggests that disability is something that needs explaining because it’s aberrant.

Some of the physical descriptions of James are a bit eugenicist.  After he first demorphs, Cassie says “standing over the group now, steady and strong, was James. He was taller than Jake, broader-shouldered... long and muscular” and describes how James helps to carry the other Auximorphs as they acquire battle morphs (#50).  James gets presented as a contrast point to the Auximorphs who remain disabled, because his body is presented as “correct” while theirs are not.  If it was just Cassie, that’d be one thing, but Ax says “unlike James, the others are physically helpless” (#50) and later Jake describes the contrast between James being strong and the other Auximorphs being “weak” and “faintly pathetic” (#53).  In the process, the descriptions tie together the ideas of being masculine, being independent, being physically strong, and being worthy of respect.  American rugged individualism, especially as it applies to white men and boys, has a dark side in that it often regards physical dependence on others as a sign of cowardice or weak will or moral failing.  That assumption underwrites some of the way that James gets described by the other Animorphs.

He gets killed.  By killing off James and his fellow Auximorphs, the series falls into the “kill or cure” narrative that Mitchel and Snyder trace throughout history for the overwhelming majority of disabled characters.  Disability is too often presented as being necessary to “solve” through death or cure, to the point where the Fries Test (designed to be a minimum threshold for disability representation, like the Bechdel Test for women) requires that disabled character(s) make it to the end of the story without being eradicated through cure or kill as the bare minimum condition that a story be somewhat less ableist.  Animorphs does not pass the Fries Test, because it eradicates its disabled characters through a combination of cures and kills.

Specifically, he gets killed to manipulate the emotions of a nondisabled character.  When Visser Three kills James, the moment is presented through Jake’s point of view, and it leads up to Jake’s decision to flush the Pool ship.  Maybe my biggest frustration is that that moment only serves to cause Jake pain and help push him off the rails.  It doesn’t change the plot of the final battle the way Tom’s death does, it doesn’t stop to give James a conscious choice the way Rachel’s death does, it just makes Jake sad and mad and reckless.  It’s the same dang dynamic as women in refrigerators: the less demographically privileged character becomes a prop for a more-privileged protagonist to have emotions about.

Anyway, to say it again: none of those individual elements of James’s story — death, cure, urgent backstory — would be necessarily problematic if there were equally-major disabled characters in Animorphs who didn’t demonstrate those elements.  It’s the fact that James demonstrates all of those elements and so do most of the other disabled characters that makes me wish the series had done better.

[thekrazykeke]

Title: we found love

Fandom(s): Spiderman: Into the Verse

Relationship(s): Miles Morales x reader. Aaron & Miles. Peter B. Parker & Miles. Gwen & Miles. Olivia & reader. 

Request: Kinda?

Requester: @supremethunda

Summary: Trust is a gift, don’t try to exchange it for something else.

Warning(s): Miscommunication, attempted hiding of the secret identit(ies). Light spoilers for the movie. Slight canon divergence. Angst. 

This is the second part of the other Miles Morales x reader imagine I wrote yesterday. I don’t know if I’ll keep expanding on it because I’ve got a terrible habit of not knowing when enough is enough. If I do, and there’s no promises that I will, it’ll probably continue on to explore their relationship throughout the years because every version of Spiderman deserves his happily ever after but especially Miles Morales. 

Part I.

~

You had told Miles you liked him and he said he liked you too. 

The two of you had gotten cheeseburgers and milkshakes and you tried not to feel so flustered and awkward when he sat close to you in the diner booth. You’d even tried to eat daintily and such! That plan failed spectacularly though when dessert, a slice of fresh fruit tart, big enough for two, is delivered to the both and free of charge. 

Unsure for why this was happening, you’d looked to Miles for answers, only he lifted a forkful of the treat to your lips, brow quirked in silent question. Heart skipping several beats, and yet loud enough where you’re positive he can hear it, you let him feed you the forkful, maintaining eye contact. And then calmly as he pleased, with that same fork, he used it to feed himself a little piece of the tart.

‘Does that count as an indirect kiss?’ 

Miles glanced at you, surprise and then a little amusement in his pretty brown eyes (and really, anyone saying brown eyes were boring needed to get a reality check). Too little too late, did you realize that you’d said that aloud, because Miles’ hands are clasping yours now (and ohh boy, why and when did he put that fork down?) and his thumb is rhythmically tracing the pulse point of your wrist and it should be relaxing but it’s having the exact opposite effect and--!!

You think. You’re having. An out of body experience. 

Because Miles drew your captured hand up to his mouth, placing a light kiss on the back of your palm.

Error-error-error! Danger! Heart in jeopardy!! Brain. Meltinggggggggg.

“I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do. Ever. I swear. I...I’ve liked you for a...a long time...So...please...”

Before he could finish his sentence, his confession, his phone rang.  Miles glanced at you, you glanced at him and he glanced at his phone. He let go, hit the decline call button, fiddled with it for a second, and then turned back to you. 

“So, back to what I was saying. I--”

Again his phone, now on silent, vibrated noisily on the table. 

Though you’re desperate to hear the end of what he has to say, and it’s really cute that he’s trying so hard, the moment had passed and it’s probably his parents. “Miles.” He’s about to decline the call again, you know, but you reached out with your own hand, touching his wrist to gain his attention. “It’s okay. You can answer it.” 

“Really?” You nod encouragingly. “Okay then. I-It’s my mom...” Miles looked a little embarrassed and apologetic. 

Smiling, hoping to set him at ease and assure him wordlessly that you didn’t mind the interruption, you jerked your head at a vacant corner, then mimed walking away. He nodded, mouthing sorry, still wearing that guilty expression as you rose up out of your seat, walking away to give him privacy. You expected that his mother was calling him to come home and so paid for the meal, and not even five minutes later, that guilty expression even more obvious, and you shrug. 

“You can tell me the next time we hang out....if, if you want...?”

Miles smiled, warm brown eyes finally losing the guilt as he nodded. “Tomorrow, maybe? I can give you my cellphone number so we can work out the kinks.”

The two of you exchanged numbers, and he reached for your hand first. Heart in your throat, you swallowed thickly but didn’t pull away as hand in hand, y’all walked out the diner. He waited at the bus stop with you, never once letting go and you...you couldn’t be happier. Once you boarded the bus for home, waving at him until you couldn’t see him anymore, your heart felt felt full to bursting.

An old couple seated across from you sighed about young love, tone whimsical. 

This...this was progress right?

It felt like nothing could bring you down from your cloud of happiness, even with your sister lightly ribbing you for your dopey expression, not due to the fact that your parents chewed your ear off for cutting school, nothing.

Everything was going to be okay. 

Or so, you thought, until you didn’t get a text at all the next day as promised. Figuring that Miles was just busy and while you were a bit bummed out, you resolved to let it lie for now. Just because you got sort of confessed to did not mean you were his girlfriend and nobody liked the clingy types anyway. Resolved to push the crummy feelings out of sight and mind for the time being, you got showered, got dressed for school, and half listened to the lecture that your mom told you, only getting the tail-end of the spiel.

“...Olivia agreed that you could chaperone her at work today.”

“What? But ma,” You’re whining a little and you know it. Didn’t really try to stop it. “I’ll be all by myself at Alchemex you might as well say, since Aunty Olivia gets so into her experiments and research that she forgets literally about everything and everybody.” 

Hand on her hip, brow raised to show and you knew you were on thin ice. “Are you back talking me, young lady?”

“No ma’am.” Grasping your arm behind your back, your gaze darted off to the side. “I’m just sayin’ that...”

Cutting off your mumbled words, she talked over you. “You were saying nothing except you’ll be there at Alchemex after school with your godmother.” You remain quiet. “Correct?”

“Yes...”

Jerking her head at the door, she turned back around, about to finish what she’d been doing before you walked downstairs. “You’ll be late. I’ll see you later.”

The school day passed in a hazy blur. Jayla was a godsend, keeping your spirits up and encouraging you to think positive thoughts. Even offered to go with you and hang out with you at Alchemex, but you declined since people, even visitors, needed a keycard for most every room plus you knew that Olivia Octavius wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, her intensity caught people off guard. 

                               »»————-　　————-««

Spending the day, your after school hours, at Alchemex is as exactly you’d expected. Besides the glomping you received from Aunty Liv, like in front of everyone, and being stared at like a bug beneath a microscope, you realized that there had been a recent hire, someone around your age. 

Gwanda. 

Unfortunately you couldn’t get to know her better since your godmother had her working on some other task, which likely was so far above your skill level, you didn’t even entertain the idea to ask if you could help her out.

Instead, you wandered the halls, entering as many rooms as you could, just being a teensy-tiny bit nosy. You even snagged some candy off the candy dish on a desk. Nomming on twizzlers and wondering if it was too late to ask to go home, you all but jump out of your skin as you hear a crash, glass breaking. 

And you see Dr. Octopus...fighting Spiderman? 

‘Maybe a Spiderman cosplayer? You didn’t remember Spiderman having a gut, or a sidekick...?’  The thought comes floating out of the abyss of your brain and part of you is amused by your weird humor but at the same time, you can’t really focus on that. You’d never been close enough to a fight between hero and villain, had only caught glimpses of the aftermath of the TV, and it was usually grimy, unclear.

“...Aunty...Liv...” Your voice is impossibly small. It shouldn’t be possible for the villainess to hear you, but somehow you know she does, knows that she really is your godmother, because just for a fraction of a second, she paused, a translucent tentacle poised to do harm to the two Spiderman dressed people. “I...”

“[Your Name]...” And then she was reaching for you.

Legit, you’re not proud of it, but you freaked the heck out. Dropping your twizzlers, you spun on your heel, mind in fight or flight mode. You heard her call your name, you could even hear her chasing after you in her villain get up, and that only fuels your terror, especially when she reached for you with her tentacle thing, the weapon that she used to hurt and kill people with. You don’t even consciously decide to do it but you’re screaming, screaming like some white girl being murdered by Jason on film or something. 

“Leave her alone, crazy lady! It’s us you want!”

‘...Miles?’ 

Opening your eyes, and when did you close them, you don’t even know, but then you take note of Spiderman Jr. and...and you recognize that profile, the way he’s holding himself, his voice. You aren’t mistaken, you know you’re not, you’d spent years studying his back, watching him, waiting, hoping. 

Aunty Liv is torn between continuing her pursuit, can see the conflict in her expression, but then a mask of indifference dropped over her features and she turned back to the duo. You want to say something to get her to stop, to not do this, but what on Earth could you say? She’d been doing this for years, there’s no way she’d listen to you.

So you stay in that hallway, frozen stiff, for who knows how long.

Eventually you were found by personnel and sent home. 

You don’t say anything to anyone, you ignore your mother’s sobbing pleas to say something, that she’s sorry, your dad asking if you’re okay. You don’t react when your sister squeezes your shoulder. 

You’re just numb. 

Tap-tap-tap!

Confused about that sound and considering just ignoring it altogether, you blink as you see your phone vibrate on your desk. Figuring that it’s your mother, begging you to please come downstairs and eat, you’re prepared to ignore the message again.

Except it’s not. 

[ 😍 Miles 😍 ]: Can we please talk?

[ 😍 Miles 😍 ]: I know you probably don’t want to see my face ever again.

[ 😍 Miles 😍 ]: because I’m a jerk that got scared and panicked and didn’t know what to do. Or know how to tell you anything.

[ 😍 Miles 😍 ]: but if you would just give me this one chance to explain...

Sucking in a fortifying breath, gathering the shreds of your courage, you walk over to your window. Unlocking it, you pull it up and crawl out, stepping onto the fire escape. Standing there, in his Spiderman get up, though he’s wearing a hoodie, confirming your suspicions... is Miles. 

For some reason, you feel something like grief lance through your chest. Miles takes a step toward you, but you held a hand out, indicating that he stop and so he did. “I’m here. I’m listening...” 

And you did listen. 

Listened to him explain that the Kingpin and Dr. Octopus (Aunty Liv) and other villains had and are currently working on something called the Collider, which tampered with other dimensions. The Spiderman in this universe is still dead, but there are others. 

His uncle Aaron being the Prowler. 

It was...almost too much.

“So, that’s all my secrets.” Miles’ voice is scratchy and hoarse after talking for so long. “I get it if you never speak to me again after tonight. I don’t even care if you tell anyone else. I just, please let me protect you?”

You wanted to ask who would protect him. To tell him that this was something for the adults to figure out. It’s too much, you’re both just kids, teenagers at that. However, you could see it in his face. The set of his eyes, the way he gritted his teeth, fighting tears, of frustration or not, you couldn’t be sure.

“...I guess I’d better take up self defense classes if I’m going to be the Mary Jane to your Spiderman.” You said in the most nonchalant voice you could muster. He made a strangled noise and you glanced at him, eyebrow raised. “Too soon?”

“Nope!” he stated quickly. “I just...you really want to be my girlfriend?” He inquired, sounding completely blown away. “I mean, I hoped to be really smooth and romantic and not at all like t--”

You stepped into his space, placing a hand to his cheek and he stopped talking, his own hand covering yours. For a second, the two of you just stared at one another and then he was leaning in, head tilting to the side at just the right angle.

It was the perfect first kiss.

[fanfic-inator795]

Speculation on the new eps:

Sidekick Ahoy!: Sooo, I guess they’re going with Jim just being a bit off his rocker and not straight up evil, which is nice. Like other people have said, pretty much EVERY idol the boys and April have had have turned out to be evil, so it’d be nice if Jim was still a decent guy, if a bit unhinged, and didn’t just try to kill or use them all the time. If anything, maybe the Turtles interacting with him more will help bring him back to reality a bit, since he’s pretty isolated. Plus between Dr. Noe, The Purple Dragons, Baxter Stockboi, Tim Dunkman and now whoever is selling the brownies in the next ep, the Turtles could reaaaally use some more human allies. So, yeah, please don’t make him evil

Anyway, as for the plot, I could see it being another sort of Brother VS Brother thing like in ‘Lair Games’ since they all wanna be his sidekick, and in the end we get that classic “I wanna win but not if it means giving up my family” moral - which is fine! Nothing wrong with a familiar story or lesson, and I’m sure the animation and jokes will help keep the ep entertaining

The Hidden City Job: YAAAAAY MORE HIDDEN CITY! Also SENOR HUESO! I feel like we haven’t seen him OR Run of the Mill in ages (which is funny cause in season 1 we had like three eps in a row of Run of the Mill, lol). Anyway, I have no doubt that Piel’s ‘redemption’ is just a scam to get his skele-bro’s help, and I have a feeling that it’s gonna sort of parallel the Draxum storyline where Hueso’s mindset ends up kinda being like Mikey’s, where you should try to help family when you can. However, this ep will add to that mindset “yes, you can try to help family, but you can’t change them - not unless they want to change too.” And it kinda ends ambiguously, hinting at both a Draxum relapse and redemption, where Leo’s not sure which Draxum’s going to choose, but remaining cautious nonetheless.

OR maybe Piel wants to change but is struggling, and it becomes a question of “do you make this person’s problems your own because you care about them/they’re family, even when those problems can cause other issues?” and “can someone really change their ways?” Maybe seeing Piel struggle and eventually make a choice for the better convinces Leo that there’s a chance Draxum could feel the same - that there’s a part of him that would be willing to change and start to be better. Either way, I’m excited! ^v^

Always Be Brownies: OKAY CAN I JUST SAY SOMETHING? I just... It was already great seeing the turtles treat April as an equal/their big sis, but seeing Splinter treat her like a daughter and a partner in crime is just an absolute treat ^v^ They’ve got a great dynamic, work together really well, and I love how much they care about and trust each other, having each other’s backs while still snarking at one another. 

Anyway, I have no idea who these “dangerous middle school brownie sellers” could be. Like, are they gonna be actual girl scouts selling brownies *thinks of that one iCarly subplot with Spencer and the fudge balls* or is it going to be a bunch of rogue bake sale moms who’ve gotten their hands on mystic ingredients? Honestly, I don’t know which one would be funnier, so either way this ep will probably be a good time ^v^

Mystery Meat: When I saw that Draxum would be living and working near April, this was EXACTLY what I was hoping for ^v^ Also I’m glad that April can get a spotlight ep without any of the turtles - I think that kinda proves what a strong character she is, that you can just throw her into any situation and it’s still interesting and fun. 

Anyway, I’m wondering if this ep will actually further or develop Draxum’s character any or if it’ll just be a farce. ...Honestly, as much as I’m on TeamDadxumRedemption, I’m fine with either. It’s still early in the season, and after only getting 8 Draxum appearances last season, I’m just happy to see him getting more screentime ^v^ Though I wonder if the mystery meat monster will be done on accident or on purpose, what motives he had behind creating it if it WAS on purpose, and if seeing human kids scared/at risk of getting hurt up close will kinda get him to see that “okay maybe this is kinda messed up”. 

He always talks about humans either in a past tense or in an ‘in general’ way, like they’re some giant force or giant army. So, seeing their day-to-day lives up close and kinda humanizing them (pun unintended) in his mind could help in the long run of making him see that yeah, though humans are awful sometimes and yokai should be allowed to live on the surface, maybe you shouldn’t just go around killing/mutating them either because they’re still alive too, and they aren’t too different from the kids of the Hidden City. 

Anywho, those are just my thoughts. I’m excited about The Hidden City Job and Mystery Meat the most, but they should all be pretty fun and enjoyable, I would think. The only thing that’s missing is an update on the Foot which, I’ll admit, is starting to feel just a liiiiiittle bit overdue at this point... But Rise is usually pretty good at picking up plot points and not letting them hang too long, and we saw that one screenshot of Raph and Foot Lt. on DVE’s twitter, so I’m guessing we’ll finally see the Foot again and learn what they’ve been up to in episode 8 or 9.

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I thought about We Bare Bears: The Movie

Salutations random people on the internet who probably won't read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons. Today, I'm going to do one-fourth of what I do best by talking about We Bare Bears: The Movie. Now, if you're a member of the cartoon community, odds are you've heard of We Bare Bears. It might not be as well-remembered as shows like Adventure Time or Steven Universe. But We Bare Bears has gained its own following through its charm and simplicity. So much so, that the series got it's very own movie, acting as the series finale to the beloved show. And to honor that milestone, I thought I'd share my thoughts by listing the things I liked and disliked about the film. Keep in mind, this is your last chance to avoid spoilers if you haven't seen the film yet (even though it’s been out for more than a week). Because I'll be spoiling the heck out of the movie by listing plot details, characters, and little touches that I think are worth mentioning. With that out of the way, let's dive on in with-

WHAT I LIKED

The Baby Bears meeting: To me, this was the first indicator that the movie was going to be the end. The Baby Bears meeting always felt like a moment saved for the series finale to me. Because answering the question of whether, or not, the Baby Bears find a home isn't something we need an answer to. But learning about how they met? Now that is something I'm sure most fans were curious about. And in true Baby Bears style, it's big and epic while still being downright adorable. Not to mention that Grizz's line at the end of how not looking alike is the best part about being brothers is not only sweet, but it also sells the main moral of the movie. If I had to nitpick, a part of me wonders how their separate journeys got them all in that one spot. But that's just another question that doesn't really require an answer, so I'm alright with not receiving one. Besides, that's what fan-fiction is for. GET ON IT WRITERS!

The Bears Running Through the City: I'm sure some people are tired of the cliche of having characters run through the city because they're late for something. But to me, I think that type of thing works for a series finale. It offers one last glance at familiar environments, but familiar characters as well. Not only do you get to see the people who love the Bears the most, but you even see the Human Bros in the background as the Bears run. This scene also sets up the conflict of the film as the Bears accidentally wreak havoc to get to where they're going. Even more so than usual. Plus, the scene serves as an excuse to hear the extended version of the theme song. And personally, I just love it when a series finale finds a way to incorporate the theme in a way that's better than the opening.

The Bears Complaint File: This was another indicator that the movie was going to be the end of the series. Usually, when a show like We Bare Bears finally acknowledges consequences to a character's actions, it's safe to say that the end is nigh. Because this presents the idea that the characters are close to being the straw that broke the camel's back. Which is something you can never do twice.

The Bears Viral Video: There are going to be people out there who'll find the Bears' video of outdated memes cringy. And to those people, I say: "THAT'S THE FRICKEN POINT GENIUSES!" Seriously, the characters themselves point out how what they're doing is going to be cringy, so it's safe to say that it was very much the intention from the writers. Besides, We Bare Bears always had scenes, and entire episodes, that acknowledged modern trends. And unlike other shows and movies, We Bare Bears doesn't use memes to stay fresh and hip with the kids. Instead, the show-and movie for that matter-uses trends to tell a story that will be timeless. Albeit dated in a few years. The only complaint I'll accept is that you didn't find their video funny, which can be valid. As for me, yeah, I chuckled. Speaking of-

The Comedy: We Bare Bears might not be the funniest show I've seen, but it still gets a chuckle out of me from time to time. It works with an absurd sense of humor, which is either your thing or it isn't. As for the jokes in the movie, most of them work pretty well, and the ones that don't aren't too bad. Personally, my favorite scene is when the Bears slowly drive away from Wildlife Control. The fact that that plan worked was so absurd, I could not help but laugh.

The Blackout: This was the straw that I mentioned earlier. The Bears have finally crossed a line that turns several people against them. In fact, it's very reminiscent of Ed Edd and Eddy's Big Picture Show, where the characters are forced to leave after doing something unforgivable. Although, there's one thing that We Bare Bears: The Movie does better than Big Picture Show. In Big Picture Show, fans never really saw what the Eds did that was so horrid. We were just told that it was so bad that our trio had to leave everything behind. Never seeing the answer always bothered me as a kid because I was always curious about how their last scam was somehow their worst. This is why it's nice that we actually get to see what the Bears did that was so unforgivable in We Bare Bears: The Movie.

Agent Trout: At some point, if you found Trout to be the most unlikeable piece of trash that he is, then you found the writers' possible intention. Trout acts as the movie's main antagonist, and on top of that, a character you're not supposed to like. And granted, there have been movie antagonists that are pure evil, but audiences can't help but love them anyway. But personally, I feel like making Trout a likable antagonist would have spoiled the point of the film. The movie's message, which I'll get into later, is about how being strange is ok, and that anyone can fit into society. Because society changes and people become accepting of these changes, every day. Trout is meant to represent the type of people who refuse the idea of change. He is a character who believes everything should operate as nature intended, which in this film's case, having bears reside in their natural habitats. And I honestly think Trout does his part as an antagonist really well. He's easy to hate for all the right reasons, and it's satisfying to see him get his coupons. It's also even better that we don't know his motivations to be so cruel to the Bears. Because there are real-life people out there who share Trout's mindset, with zero reasons behind why. Plus, his design is really great, being devoid of color and drawn with sharp edges in comparison to the bright and smooth looking characters. It helps him stand out from most characters in the show, while also making less overly threatening that the hunter in "Yuri and Ice Bear."

Officer Murphy: As far as I know, Officer Murphy was never really that big of a character. In fact, I don't even remember if the show mentioned his name until this movie. So to some fans, it might come off as a surprise that Murphy is given such an enormous role in this movie. Regardless, the position Murphy has is a great one. He is meant to represent the positive type of law enforcement. The officers who don't punish people due to who they are or what they look like. Instead, Officer Murphy is an officer who upholds the law to protect others. Take note of the fact that Murphy never wanted to physically or emotionally hurt the Bears. He understood that the Bears crossed the line and needed to be punished, but never to the extremes that Trout took. Speaking of Trout, Murphy acts as a great comedic sidekick for the antagonist. There's this nice running joke where Trout shoves random food in Murphy's mouth when Murphy makes an unwanted comment. And said running joke also leads to a great payoff in the movie's final act. So while I'm surprised at Murphy's inclusion, I gotta say that I really appreciate it.

Mystery Machine Cameo: I'm the biggest Scooby-Doo fan you'll ever meet, so believe when I say that seeing the iconic van just made me giddy.

Pizza Rat: I'll be the first to admit that Pizza Rat was a scumbag for betraying the Bears. But gosh darn it he was hilarious. I'm not kidding, whenever Pizza Rat showed up, he got funnier and funnier with each scene. Especially with his hatred of the rat with Spaghetti.

Grizz’s Nightmare: There are two things I really like about this scene. The first is that Grizz's nightmare is easily the creepiest the show has gotten. Seriously, something tells me that Trout's face being on the death train is going to be in kids' nightmares for weeks. The second is that there is some outstanding visual symbolism in this scene. It shows how Grizz is under a lot of stress for carrying the weight of protecting his brothers at all costs. Not only is that the best symbolism the show has ever used, but the scene gives the perfect insight into Grizz as a character. It's rare that we ever get to see the serious side of him, so I appreciate this one last glimpse into his personality.

That Epic Car Chase: If I'm being honest, there were not that many scenes that showed this movie being anything else than an extended episode. But this scene, however, was the most cinematic that We Bare Bears have ever been. The quality animation and cinematography help make the scene action-packed and surprisingly tense at times. Like I genuinely felt worried for my favorite trio of weirdos. There's not much I can say about this scene other than it was pretty impressive as well as awesome.

The Bears’ Plan Fails: It's weird saying that I like this, but I do. The movie could have gone down the same route as The Simpsons Movie by having the plan work for the sake of a joke. But no. We Bare Bears: The Movie actually employs logic and says, "you can't move to a new country, without a passport." And I can't help but give kudos to a movie that doesn't allow a simple solution.

The Third Act Break Up: Ah yes, the one cliche scene that makes audiences go "Really? We're doing this song and dance again?" Now, here's my defense: When it comes to something made for kids, you gotta be more forgiving of cliches. Odds are, some children watched this movie, and this will be their first third act break up. So you can't really fault the film for wanting to use a popular cliche. Granted, you could wish to have your kids watch something original, but that's a request that gets harder to do with each day. Besides, some cliches, like the third act break up, aren't bad unless they're done correctly. And I honestly think the movie uses the cliche just fine. The tension between Grizz and Panda has been built up throughout the film, so one final blow-out was bound to happen. Plus, the Bears don't really break up, but rather argue. If Panda had walked off dramatically, after saying "we're not brothers," then I would consider it a break up. Instead, it comes across as characters saying things they don't mean due to the heat of the moment.

Trout’s Bear Sanctuary: This was depressing but in a good way. The colors being swapped out from the show's usual bright pastels to dull and gray? That perfectly explains how dire the situation is without outwardly stating it. And yeah, I got a little misty eyed when watching this scene.

Grizz Talking to Baby Grizz: Another scene that I thought would be endgame would be having the grown-up Bears meeting the Baby Bears. I always dismissed this idea because I kept reminding myself of how it was impossible. I mean, how can you make characters meet a younger version of themselves? Turns out, the answer to that question was to have the younger version of a character act as a conscience. And yeah, this scene was pretty sweet and charming. And once again, my eyes started to get all misty. The tears didn't fight hard enough to get out, but they still fought pretty hard. Also, was it just me, or did it sound like Baby Grizz's voice actor was beginning to hit puberty?

The Bears Cheering for Grizz: I'm not the only one who thought it sounded like the bears were chanting/roaring Grizz's name, right? Because that's what I heard during this scene. Also, this scene was pretty epic, while doing its job to get me hyped up for what happens next.

The Moral: I've touched upon this moral earlier, and I want to make it clear how important it is. Some people feel as though they don't fit in anywhere, mostly because law enforcement has a history of punishing those that don't. But as Grizz says: "Nature adapts." The same goes for society. More and more people are fitting into groups that make them feel welcome. And those groups become more accepted with each passing year. Now to be fair, there are scum bags like Trout, who seek to punish people who are different. But again, there are still good souls like Murphy that attempt to do the morally correct thing no matter who/what you are. And I have to give kudos to We Bare Bears: The Movie for showing the brighter side of things. Because let's face it, we all could use something positive as of late. And I'm sure there are going to be people out there who'll call this movie 'preachy' and 'overly optimistic.' To those people, I would like to once again point out that this is a kid's film. Yes, kids are smarter than we give them credit for. But that doesn't mean you should give the harsh truth about how hard issues won't have simple solutions. They at least have until their teen years before that happens. Besides, look at the ending shot of bears normally fitting in with the rest of society. If you can see that and not love the symbolism being represented, then this film clearly is not for you.

WHAT I DISLIKED

It’s More of an Extended Episode Rather Than a Movie: Before I explain, I want to make it very clear that this is mostly a nitpick. Like I said before, there weren't many scenes that made this movie feel like, well, a movie. The animation never seemed better in comparison to the show, there weren't that many cinematic scenes, and the story didn't feel all that epic either. I honestly feel like the bears went on grander adventures than the one they went on here. Like the first time they became wanted criminals in "Captain Craboo." Yeah, remember that episode? It was emotional, intense, and actually kind of epic at times. And that episode was a half-hour long! The movie was an hour and eight minutes, and it still couldn't outdo the quality of "Captain Craboo." I know that I'm being a little harsh. But when I see "the movie" attached at the end of a show's title, I expect something grander and more epic than the original show. And yeah, We Bare Bears: The Movie is good for an extended episode, but not for what I consider for a movie.

What Supporting Cast?: Here's where looking at the movie as a series finale becomes an issue. This is the last time we'll see ALL of the characters from the show. So giving no proper goodbye from the supporting cast, who have all been significant people in the Bears' lives, feels wrong. The best-or rather worst-example of how wrong this is would be Nom-Nom. This was a character who was on the road towards redemption. So to have his last appearance show that he's the same jerk as he started is disappointing. The worst part is that the movie had the right idea with Charlie's scene. He helps the Bears one last time and says he's happy to do it for all the times they helped him. It's a touching moment and honestly feels like a proper goodbye to his character. And I can't help but see ways that the movie could have included the rest of the supporting cast. Have Ranger Tabes join Murphy and Trout due to her being a bear expert. Have Nom-Nom stand up for the bears at the Internet Animal rave. Have Chloe literally do anything other than stand and watch her best friends in the world be in danger! I understand that the Bears are the main characters who deserve most of the closure. But that doesn't mean other characters should be left in the dust because of it.

Panda’s Kind of Annoying: Cards on the table, I'm not the biggest fan of Panda. I don't think he's the worst character or even a bad one. But to me, he always came across as so whiney and annoying, and he's somehow worse in the movie. I get that he's a straight man who's meant to be the voice of reason, but there's a way to make a character like that entertaining. Some amazing straight men are specific iterations of Leonardo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Velma from Scooby-Doo. Those are characters that know how to be the calm of the crazy storm that their fellow cast. They offer witty comments and charismatic one-liners that prove they could also hold off on their own at times. Panda never really did that for me in neither the show nor the movie. He has his entertaining moments for sure, but most of them get overshadowed by his weaker ones. So while I don't exactly hate Panda, I can't really say I love him.

Ice Bear Does Next to Nothing: I'm not the only one who thinks Ice Bear was underutilized, right? In fact, We Bare Bears: The Movie is also similar to Ed Edd and Eddy's Big Picture Show in how to write its main trio. Both films pay more attention to the relationship between the leader and the straight man, where the comic relief is there for jokes and to give the occasional contribution. However, it's easy to forgive with Ed, because his character has little to offer other than being a loveable doofus. But Ice Bear? He has so much personality, so much backstory, and so much more to his character that you could make an entire movie just about him. Plus, going back to the fact that the film is a series finale, this is not a proper conclusion to his character. Sure, it's nice to see the Bears be accepted for who they are, but what about all that stuff with Yuri? Are you seriously telling me that the show wouldn't do anything with the fact that Ice Bear fell in love with Yuri's daughter?! I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I really wish the movie had something more in store for Ice Bear.

On The Road Song: Out of all the good qualities that We Bare Bears have, having good music isn't one of them. The few songs that the show has are not bad by no means but aren't really songs I would find myself listening to on repeat. The same goes for "Road Trip Song." It's perfectly fine, but nothing more than mediocre. Plus, weirdly, it's the only song in the movie. I mean, if you're gonna introduce something like a musical number, at least go all out with making a musical. I'm not saying the film should have been like Steven Universe: The Movie in terms of a soundtrack, but at least have two or three more songs. As is, it just feels like a weird detour on the road to Canada.

The Bears Survive Falling Off a Cliff:...That’s it. Just the ludicrousy of the fact that the Bears survive a fall like that. When you think about it, it removes a lot of the tension when you they could survive huge feats like that too.

Overall, We Bare Bears: The Movie gets a well earned B+ for me. When you judge it as a movie AND as a series finale, it loses a lot of points. But when you look at it as an extended episode? You get something that has a great moral, an outstanding antagonist, and a nicely put together story. Like the original show, I'm probably not going to remember it in about ten years down the line. As for the here and now, I'm glad I took the time to watch something so much more than BEARable.

(Now if only we got that Amazing World of Gumball movie. GET ON IT CARTOON NETWORK!)