#but i do think....... it would've been better as a season and not a movie

[ishikawayukis]

saw the haikyuu movie, loved the haikyuu movie, would've loved it more if they showed us a bit more of karasuno's pov

[depresseddepot]

finally FINALLY finished watching the legend of korra. it only took me LITERALLY ten years

[love-byers]

the first time i saw this, when i was NOT a byler shipper, i thought el was running TO mike. i thought we were getting a sweet moment where el runs to mike and he puts an arm around her or hugs her.

then i realized she was running away from him. 

and i was like, why?? they're supposed to be the couple why does she not want his comfort??

and even after will calls her out on doing mike wrong by lying to him, even after she sees that mike is attempting to talk to her and comfort her, that he's not angry at her, she still tells angela to lie to mike. more lies. that's how much she cares about keeping up the persona. had angela lied to mike, el would've continued lying to him the entire week. something she knows in her heart is wrong and not fair to mike.

this is a theme in s4. putting who you want to be seen as before being honest with your bf/gf. going above and beyond to preserve your lie, to be seen as who you want to be.

chrissy does that with jason. who she portrays herself as is completely different than who she really is and what she's really going through. jason has absolutely no idea chrissy is struggling and refused to believe chrissy would buy drugs, because chrissy didn't want to tell him. who knows how jason would've reacted if chrissy was honest, we don't know because chrissy didn't trust him enough to tell him. that's not love at all, that's sad.

this is a point in s2 as well. murray calls nancy out for being afraid to be her true self, and she stays with steve because she doesn't have to be her true self around him. she is her true self when she's with jonathan, and that's why they worked together. that's love.

the exact same thing happens with chrissy. the first time we see her genuinely smile is when she's with eddie. she's sweet and charismatic, and had she lived she totally would've gone to eddie's show, something you never would've expected from her, something her boyfriend, the person she pretends to love, would NEVER do.

robin and steve reinforce this too

you fall in love with the person who makes you feel accepted, the person who makes you feel like you can be who you are. the person you trust with your true self.

mike and el don't trust each other enough, they don't understand each other well enough.

they would have to change their behavior towards each other by leaps and bounds, and we're already at the last season. there is no time for that. stranger things isn't a multi season show about the complexity of romantic relationships and the healthy way to resolve problems. there is no time for that in just about any movie or show, especially a sci-fi show. you know what's way easier and way more likable? pairing your character with someone they naturally click with, who bring out the best in each other and for some reason can't help but be their authentic selves when they're with each other.

did it with jancy, like i said earlier

did it with lumax. when lucas and max talked on the bus max found herself spewing about things she'd never even said out loud before, and she had to stop herself. something about lucas just made her feel comfortable, like she could be herself and tell the truth. she trusted him.

"You're nothing like your brother, okay? You're cool and different, you're super smart, and you're like, totally tubular."

jopper too! joyce constantly had to hide things from bob, she was insecure about their family not being normal.

"This is not a normal family."

"It could be."

though bob had good intentions, the message of the show is not trying to be normal when you aren't. whatever it is about you that makes you weird or different, whatever you've been through that changed you, stay true to it. dont bottle it up and try to be someone else. all of vecnas victims in s4 were doing this, and it didn't end well for them.

they even did it with dustin and suzie. dustin constantly tries to impress max with his teeth, then in season 3 he says suzie thinks kissing is better without teeth. he doesn't have to be insecure about that or try to impress her. she likes him for him.

mike isn't comfortable being his true self around el either. he's insecure about his interests, he feels like he has to act older and cooler to impress her.

you shouldn't be with the person you feel you have to impress. you should be with the person who relieves that pressure, who makes you feel like being the authentic you is enough.

jonathan and nancy, lucas and max, joyce and hopper, dustin and suzie,

cough WILL AND MIKE cough...

[chaosandmarigolds]

It's me. hi i'm the problem it's me (aka here's another installment of Simon Riley's being...Simon Riley)

Dinner Party (gone wrong) edition

He will help you cook, mainly because he's jealous of the literal task of cooking for getting more attention than him for the past five hours- does he know what he's doing? No. But he does his best and lord knows he can and will happily follow orders.

Cleaning? he may seem a bit disgruntled at first but he will stand on the dining room table to clean the lights, and he'll clean the baseboards even though he keeps telling you no one is going to look at them-

Loves watching you cook, or more of he loves watching you do something you enjoy, you could be gardening, writing, reading, sewing- he loves seeing the shine in your eyes- so he does stare, not in a super creepy way but it catches your attention

"I can feel you staring at me."

"An?"

"And you're freakin me out-Oh! Since you're here can you go get the nice wine from the basement?"

"Got it, boss."

He tastes tests everything, it's an excuse to put his hands on you to keep himself still for a moment so therefore he is very eager to do so

As much as he 'loves' PDA (aka he tolerates it) around your supposed friends you've been so desperate to impress for the past two weeks, he can't stomach the idea of giving you any more than an awkward side hug in their presence

Dead stare? yeah, he stares at them from across the table, utterly baffled out they can outright judge your amazing cooking because like??? a free meal?

'It's overcooked' your ass is overcooked Jenni.

Yet he was shocked? you were just taking the harsh words and backhanded compliments with a smile and nod. You were better than him, he would've made some snarky remark already

"Your house is...so cozy." "The decor is very retro."

"Maxmilist but...not? I love it." "Mm, very seasoned."

"It's so... it's so you."

You were taking it, laughing it off and squeezing his hand every time he made any motion or even gave a look like he may snap back at them.

"I think...I think I did good steak- the steak is good right?" You whisper as you grab the wine from the rack in the kitchen- which he technically didn't have to follow you but it was probably for the better that he did. Tears stung your eyes and you were doing your best to breathe and not let a sound escape.

"I thought it was amazing, it was amazing-hey-baby," he grabbed your shoulders to keep you from going back and then very carefully moved to wipe the tear from your cheek, "Baby, how about we kick em out an' then we watch tha' movie in the theatre? I'll make them go away...do you want me to make them go away?"

"That-it would be so mean."

"Do you want them gone?"

It took two words to make the prestige get up out of the seats, 'get out.' however he would tell you he was very polite and told them you weren't feeling well suddenly, and they were very understanding.

He told you to not change, after all you were already dressed up as if for a date and so was he so it worked perfectly.

Sure the movie you chose was a reshowing of a 90's chickflic but he would take your laughter over anything else in the world-

and yeah he did all of the dishes because he felt like when you got home the only thing you needed todo was go to sleep and rest

Next time he would just have the boys come over (after a long lecture on manners for Johnny, will make that man sit through an online dinner manner course thingy)

(annnyway thats it <33 I love comments and feedback!)

[cursedcatchild]

Ok, so I watched TOTTMNT and I am here to rant. Also, SPOILERS ahead!

So First of all, if I had to sum up my thoughts into a single sentence it would be: For the love of God, put those turtles back together, where they belong!!

I didn’t hate the show, but I didn’t come to like it either. And no, I did not have any prejudgment just because it was a new iteration. Honestly I was super hyped for this version, because the movie was a blast. Yea, I ended up being disappointed. But let me just elaborate on that:

First let’s take a look at our turtles from worst to best in my opinion.

Mikey:

Yepp, ladies and gentlemen so far I have never seen a single iteration where I didn’t come to like a Mikey. He’s always among my favs. But this version felt super shallow. He had just as much screen time in the series as his brothers and yet I still have no idea who this guy really is. His jokes were lame not really landing, I couldn’t really point out any particular goal or insecurity that anyone could relate to. Also, the guy is super oblivious. Like he took ten minutes to realize he walked into a robbery when he went for groceries. Heck he was having a casual conversation with the robbers. 

Leo: 

Another kinda shallow guy. Sure we seen a bit of insecurity, he literally quoted Rise Leo saying “ I’m nothing without them!” but it felt irreal. Because Rise Leo had a reason to think that, he wasn’t as much of a functional member of the team and he was always taken for jokes. But right from the beginning of TOTTMNT we see Tales Leo commanding his brothers, they listen to him  and even say it multiple times how planning is Leo’s thing. So at this point this Leo is just fucking blind. ( Also April slaps instant self confidence into the boy.) 

Raph:

Ok, this is also the first time, but I never really took a liking to a Raph before Tales Raph. Boy is filled with anger and sass, yet he’s not coming off as a total jerk like 2012 Raph. And of course he's not a super softie like Rise Raph ( I don’t hate Rise Raph for being a softie, he's my second favorite Raph) either. He had some fun pipe up and overall a personality I got. I think he’s the most perfect Raph I have ever seen. 

Donnie:

The best character of the iteration in my humble opinion. He was relatable, funny, honestly he was stealing Mikey’s job as the comic relief, but at the same time he’s the smart guy. The boy is ranting about not being the IT guy and then goes reprogramming an evil robot. Oh and he saved so many lifes, because he stopped a fucking train crash. He’s epic, I swear.

(My fave screenshot ever 🤣🤣)

Now story wise:

🔥What the fuck was this dumpster fire?! 🔥Who thought splitting up the turtles would be fine?! 😑Especially in a 12 episode season? Look, I don't mind solo or duo time. There were plenty of good ones, for example Rise. I adored the Mikey vs Leo cook off episode or the Gumbus one, but for the sake of my sanity Rise had twice as many episodes and the turtles were not split up for the majority of the story.

Like I'm not joking when I say they were together in 4 episodes intotal.😨😨

Now I heard rumors left and right that the fact that they need to make a show was thrown at the team at the last minute ( IDK how true is that) , but goodness gracious even if I was presented with the task with a “ Due tomorrow label” I could still write a better story. Especially with the goldmine what the writers decided to ignore.

Yes, something that would've made TOTTMNT be really unique….. School people! We were promised that we will explore the turtles from the teenage side. Ummm….Hate to break it to ya all but I think there is no better way to do that than putting them into school.

It would’ve been fire to see them trying to fit in, balancing all the cool hero stuff with school life, maybe wrecking the school, seeing how other teenangers adjust to the fact that now giant talking turtles are their classmates. It wouldn’t be some crazy mind blowing plot, but I swear it would've been amazing.

Now don’t misunderstand me. Despite the story feeling like being all over the place it wasn’t that super bad, but I’m pissed that it could've been better with ease.

Also another thing that bugged me, is the feeling of something missing. IDK if anyone else who watched it felt like this, but I legit felt like if we just grabbed the for example farm arc from 2012 TMNT and aired it as season 1. The fact that the turtles were split and they kept mentioning that they have always been fighting together made me feel like I should’ve seen them do that.

Anyways, If I did not take your will to watch it away, go and check it out. It's not horrible but not great either. I’m disappointed and I'm gonna need Rise back, thank you very much!

[hollowed-theory-hall]

You mentioned a few times that you didn’t like Book 7, both from an analysis standpoint and from a structure/pacing standpoint. If you haven’t done so already, do you think you can do a whole post on all your grievances on Book 7?

I never really made a comprehensive post I think.

Like, I mentioned some stuff under the Deathly Hallows tag here, but generally, it seems to me like book 7 made up a lot of new rules about magic that weren't built up earlier. Like people being able to supposedly learn Parseltongue.

In addition to forgetting magic that was already established. Like, I get JKR wanted the trio hungry and miserable, but even if they can't conjour food, they could summon it, steal it under the invisibility cloak, hunt it/fish it? Like, go to a river band and say "accio fish". Something Ted and Dean actually do when they're on the run in book 7:

“There ought to be a few salmon in here, or d’you reckon it’s too early in the season? Accio Salmon.” There were several distinct splashes and then the slapping sounds of fish against flesh. Somebody grunted appreciatively. 

(DH)

Like, I don't get why the main trio couldn't do that. That's all just one example.

I'm not even going to touch what I think about the wandlore in this book since it changes the rules about wands so much.

In terms of characterization, I think Ron's character suffers the most. Like, Ron is written dumber in this book than in any other. He leaves Harry and Hermione and erases his character arc 7 books in. It just, shouldn't have gone like this.

Book 7 is the only one of the books where the trio feels similar to how they are in the movies. With Ron and Harry being a bit useless (especially Ron) and staring in awe at how smart Hermione is. And Hermione seems to be the only one knowing what's up and wanting to push this quest forward while they're camping in the woods. This isn't their dynamic at all up to this point, and the entire camping in the woods section portrays them in this way.

It's not in the entire book too, just like in sections (which makes me feel JKR wrote them very separately, but I digress) — but I hate it.

Like, in general, the character arcs are not really there. At least, not the way I would've liked them to be. I already mentioned Ron who regressed in his arc to something he never was in the books, but it still felt like a regression. Hermione was basically stripped of a lot of her more ruthless streak. Like, Hermione of GoF or OotP would've been willing to steal food to keep them alive. Sure, these people didn't deserve to be stolen from, but she would've understood the necessity. Hermione of book 7 feels off to me, like, she's supposed to be the morally right one more often than not and it feels jarring when the trio had a more equal dynamic up to this point. At least outside of the camping bits she isn't always right in general. Like, Harry still has his incredible instincts Hermione belittles but he ends up being right. That is character-accurate

Harry as well, like, he has some great moments. His doubts about Dumbledore and how it clashes with Hermione's blind faith in him is a great character arc for them and I love it. I just feel that Harry's conclusion of not doubting Dumbledore because he was sick of doubting and how he got to it fell a little flat for me. Also, Harry casts two unforgivable curses easily in this book, and just, no one reacts to it? Not even him? Like, this could've been a fascinating arc and a way better point of contention between the trio than the fucking lack of food. Like, to open the question Lupin brought up at the start of the book, "How far is too far in war?" like, that theme is there, but, like, bubbling beneath the surface.

And I'm not the first to mention how bizarre it is that Hermione cooks when Harry spent years cooking at the Dursleys while Hermione's got no clue what she's doing.

I also feel like more should've been done with the Horcruxes. Like, with how great of a villain the diary was in book 2, it just feels like wasted potential. I wanted more from the locket and the cup and we didn't get time with the diadem at all. I would've liked maybe more of a showcase of cool magical protections on the cup, maybe, and, like, delving deeper into magical theory the way Dumbledore had to to understand the locket's cave. Idk, I just wish there was more.

The Deathly Hallows themselves are another thing. Like, I feel they or the elder wand should've at least been mentioned prior to this book if they were the plan all along. Like, have someone comment Dumbledore won the allegiance of his wand when he defeated Grindlewald or something. Like, a little hint. Because I love the concept of the Deathly Hallows themselves (and Dumbledore's backstory is great and makes complete sense to me with what we know of his character), I just feel the Deathly Hallows the book is literally named after aren't that big of a deal in the book. Like, most of the book should be called "Harry Potter and the Hunt for Horcruxes", the Deathly Hallows, which, again, I love, feel more like an afterthought.

I did like the theme of grief and death that existed throughout the book and it felt in line with talk of things like the Resurrection Stone. I love that that's the hallow Harry chose (actually I like that scene and which hallow each of the trio chose). Like, Harry and Hermione going to Godric's Hallow was great. Harry's grief and pain were amazingly written there. It's one of my favorite parts of the book and I loved seeing the messages of support left for Harry to show what is going on with the rest of the world. I could've done without the super convoluted plan of having Nagini wait there, that made literally no sense, I don't know why Voldy thought that was a good idea.

The romance is another weak point in this book. Since I don't like how Ron and Hermione are written (I think their dynamic was at its most compelling in GoF) and I don't like Harry and Ginny's romance in any book, but book 7 is bad for them. Like, hinny fans talk about how sweet it is for Harry to look at the map to look for Ginny, but he doesn't open the map for Ginny, he does it for Ron:

Meanwhile Harry had started bringing out the Marauder’s Map and examining it by wandlight. He was waiting for the moment when Ron’s labeled dot would reappear in the corridors of Hogwarts, proving that he had returned to the comfortable castle, protected by his status of pureblood.

(DH)

And that's what leads him to see Ginny and look at her name, but he didn't open the map for her, she just happened to be there.

Similarly, when they arrive at Hogwarts, Harry is reacting to Luna more than to Ginny. And Ginny doesn't trust him enough to send him with Cho to Ravenclaw which is so stupid (I just read that scene last night and I have grievances). Like, Harry didn't even want to kiss Cho when he thought he had a crush on her, Ginny has literally nothing to worry about.

I also would've loved to see more of Voldemort. Whenever Harry goes into Voldemrot's mind it's great to see what he and occasionally the Death Eaters are up to. I would've liked more Voldemort for the final book. (If the Horcruxes weren't so underused we could've had more Voldemort, or, at least, pieces of him)

Then there's the pacing. Now, I think I'm in the unpopular minority who likes the wedding scene. I just love Aunt Muriel. She's such a vibe, and I love her gossip. And there are a lot of other scenes I like. I like breaking into the ministry, I love all of Dumbledore's backstory. Everything once they get to Hogwarts gets better. I actually don't like the Gringotts Heist much (as I reread it recently), and the scenes in Shell Cottage leading up to it, but that's my opinion.

And like, that's the thing about book 7 and its pacing that makes it kind of a mess.

There are sections I love that are well-written and fun. Like, the high notes from book 7 are pretty high (this is why I like it more than book 1. Philosopher's Stone is much more cohesive and has better pacing and character work, but the high notes of Deathly Hallows are much better than the high notes of Philosopher's Stone). The problem is that they feel much more disjointed than they usually do. And, like, the whole flow isn't there. The book doesn't flow.

Reading book 7 is like driving at high speed down a road, and then you get stuck in traffic for an hour and then the road magically clears up, like all the other cars disappear in a snap and you're hurtling in speed again and then BAM another traffic jam that appeared out of nowhere. Instead of having the ebb and flow the books usually have, where you go from one plot point to another relatively with ease, book 7 feels like you start, then have to stop, then start again. The different levels of quality and slightly off shifts in characterization between sections also add to this start-stop-start feel I mentioned. Like, the book just doesn't feel cohesive enough.

Then, of course, there is the epilogue, but I already talked about my problems with it (here and here).

That's like, the things that bothered me most in this reread, I think.

[galactic-rhea]

how do you think anakin (or your anakin) would take clovis? i found those episodes to be really ooc😭

Oh boy, I knew this day would come,,,the day in which someone asked me about these awful episodes, thanks user @songspirits now this conversation won't have to wait any longer NKLJnjfdf

To quote a friend of mine that only watched the movies when I told her the summary of the Clovis arc: "I think Anakin would've asked padme to held her wig instead while she personally goes to fight that guy, the anakin i know at least"

Jokes aside, I'll have to break this down on a few points because there's just,,,a lot going on in these episodes (to be clear I don't intend to change anyone's mind in the matter, since i already know many ppl believe these episodes to be good for anakin's ehh,,,going-evil characterization). This will get long.

So first of all: The very first episode where Clovis shows up is just alright, could've been done much better but seriously I don't have many issues with it.

The problem arises with the new ones in season 6. The why I feel Anakin is out character in these episodes is because his very, very well known and yet somehow missinterpreted flaw is that he reacts with extreme violence, especially when scared, scared not for himself but for someone he cares about.

So him reacting badly and going directly for a bloody fistfight against Clovis wasn't the problem of the episodes. It was how he treated Padmé. Like, literally telling her he would leave her in jail if she kept mentioning Clovis, lmao. Also the "You have no say on this" yadayada. I think the writer for these episodes was probably taking their confrontation at Mustafar as a reference point, which...No, that shouldn't have been the case bc in Mustafar that guy literally turned evil (literally!) and he had lost touch with reality. And also the stakes were higher. And also his anger was completely different there.

But, at the same time, if I play the devil's advocate, I can see some...eh, explanations there. For example he had recently lost Ahsoka and one of his men, the War was on the third year, and Padmé was decidely working with someone that already almost got her killed once, and she wasn't listening to him. They didn't even actually discussed the situation very well. And when Anakin says that "as your husband, I ask-" he turns around and is completelly unable to look at her in the eyes, so it could very well be that not even himself believed that, he was mostly throwing onto the table every single card he had. And one could argue that there's no way he didn't hear/notice/sense/ whatever that Padmé wasn't okay with that kiss.

But even then, the writers were clearly going for your very average possesive-sexist-angry-jealous- boyfriend, which isn't Anakin's problem, like I said, his problem is how deeply scared he is of Padmé being hurt. So Anakin's main concern shouldn't be that he's being cheated on, but that Padmé could be hurt, and they kinda touched on that but they failed at portraying that well, and I think it's because:

a) This episode shows us an extremelly common trope in shows with many episodes and many one-time-plots: The classic add-another-person-so-main-character-gets-jealous-. And almost always this type of episode gets us very ooc characterizations, no matter the show, because this society usually can't see any other reaction that isn't angry-possesive-violent jealousy. He also treats Padmé quite badly even before she decides to keep working with him, which is a no-no for me.

b) The shows forgets that Anakin does, actually, has a lot of faith and trust in Padmé's abilities. Yes, he worries, a lot, but he still is very confident on her being a more than capable person. He doesn't want to keep her in a cage or something, part of the reason he's so in love with her is because of how capable and intelligent she is. In ROTS is different because he quite literally had a prophetic vision that proved to be true before, and there's very little to do in this case, it had nothing to do with abilities or someone else. Also, if AOTC tells me anything, is that they're fairly talktative aka they communicate fairly well. Even in previous episodes we see that Padmé is great at communicating and discussing (look at how she reassured Ahsoka when Ahsoka was worried about her. Or that little bit where she's concerned about a party.); in this episode there was none of that until after Anakin almost kills a guy.

c) I think they simply, and flatly, just wanted to show Anakin being dangerous and darker and have Padmé concerned and all of that. And what better way to show a man becoming evil than being a jealous boyfriend. Isn't like Anakin has already murdered a lot of people, amirite. This is a bit of a problem with the simplification of a character. If they're bad or becoming evil, they also surely must be hyper jealous and possesive, there's no other way.

TO SUMMARIZE: I don't think Anakin was handled well, at all. Because the episodes were rellying on a very basic trope, which needed them to break the characters to fit the cookie cutter. However I can see some attempt at deepness there. It's like if it was the characters pretending to be more cartoonized version of themselves, if you know what I mean.

HOWEVER,,,,that said, the biggest sin for me isn't Anakin being OOC...IS HOW PADMÉ WAS TREATED.

They seriously had to put her into a sexual harassament plot, only for it all to be about how Anakin is evil (tm), and not have her respond at all? They really had her to put up with a creepy rapey dude just because.....What is even the narrative trying to tell us at all, that Anakin was actually was actually right, but overreacted? The plot is so contrived, Lmao.

She was the one that got harassed and yet she had no say on it, she's extremelly passive in the whole arc (which we all already know isn't Padmé's personality, even Anakin tends to follow the narrative in more passive way than she does). Then they also had to have her on the trope of "If a woman is going to be a spy, then she must use all her goods and being a femme fatale", and then they didn't even made her fatale. They could AT LEAST give us a moment of her reflecting about having been lowkey assaulted? No? Huh,okay.

Also, Padmé is actually very good at, let's say, handling Anakin. Or more like, reassuring him/discussing stuff with him, and I say this because of bits of the novels I have seen. She's more self-assured and confident, and experienced with social stuff, she's definitely not naive, and can stand her ground fairly easily, and she knew what type of guy was Clovis, so yeah, it's just...she was badly written here, she lost almost all of her agency. I'm not saying it was her fault or anything, or that it was her responsability to calm down her clown of a husband, but it goes against what we know Padmé is like.

Also apparently throwing himself onto the void was Clovis' apology for...almost getting her killed several times, kissing her without consent, being a creep and also using her as hostage. You know, so he's more of a deep character, I guess.

The good points for this arc though, are:

° Ol' Sheev doing what Sheev does best, and actually having some interesting stuff going on, they should've focused on that.

° They (miraculously) remembered a bit of Anakin's and Padmé's actual personalities, and when she told him to back off and that she needed a time, he accepted her desires to leave her alone and looked like a sad wet cat, like Anakin tends to look like. Also thank god they had Padmé's behaviour being nothing like the one of what you would expect from a victim of abusive relationships (Anakin was making his ooc scene and she just looked like 'bitch,what the hell has gotten into you', she had the audience's response, which is 'anakin? what?', which at least tells us this isn't Anakin's normal behaviour at all, i guess?)

° Obi-Wan and Anakin talking a little bit. Also Anakin's room had a poster of the Boonta's Eve race, he also had a little ship-toy, showing us that Luke really takes after his father, lol.

°...Idk what else to highlight from these episodes 😭😂 Did I already say Sheev's scheming? Uhhhh,well, uhh, idk, Padmé taking Clovis to the opera in an attempt to get info from him is kinda ...Ironic.

[magixfairyix]

Been wracking my brain over how Iorda gains her Enchantix. I've had all seasons and movies planned out for her except season 3, ironically.

'Cause Enchantix: save someone from your home planet. But Iorda was born on Earth and got her magic through unnatural means, so even if long ago the Earth faries could get Enchantix, the transformation wouldn't have activated if you saved a human since they are not magical beings.

So it wasn't as if Iorda could save an Earth fairy, cause they be imprisoned at the time of season 3.

BUT

"From your own planet," so with that I assume the transformation can tell that the fairy has a similar magic trace that all magic beings from similar planets have.

And although the magic trace from the planet of birth is different than the magic trace for one's powers, say that someone like Iorda (from Earth) with a literally non-existent magic trace from the planet of birth has the Enchantix transformation mistakes her power trace for her birth planet trace that she just doesn't have.

And WHO has the same magic as Iorda (minus a small bit of the Company of Light's magic to keep it balanced) that would've been mistaken as the same to her magic trace mistaken as her planet trace?

The.

Friggen.

Trix.

Iorda has an inkling that she either won't gain Enchantix or would have to save the Trix, and she sure as hell won't do the later? Her magical balances who've tried to kill her? Hell no.

She's fine with that.

UNTIL in season 3 when the Winx go to Cloud Tower to kick Valtor's ass after Tecna fell into the Omega portal (just watched this ep and cried so ;-;)

While Stella and Aisha go to Griffin and Bloom, Flora, and Musa go over to Valtor (after being directed by an unusually kind Stormy under the opposite-us spell or whatnot) and after being swarmed by the zombified witches, Iorda promises the Winx she'll go with them after trying to absorb Valtor's spell.

She can absorb some dark spells since Fairy of Dark Arts and all, and even though she'd tried before with the mermaids on Andros and it almost worked, she wanted to at least try after seeing Pyris and Lucina and Nith (witch OC'S, her friends, in the crowd).

Long story short:

At some point Stormy is also attacked by the big-ass crowd of zombie witches while Iorda is trying, and Iorda blocks her (against her better judgement) from a large spell cause she hates them but Stormy is under a spell that is making her honestly fucking useless.

Iorda gains her Enchantix.

She breathes in to not lose her shit cause fuck she hates thus.

And bada bing bada boom she (as someone who doesn't like to use her psychic magic anyhow) wipes that little memory from Stormy's mind because one thing she won't do is let Stormy know Iorda got her Enchantix that way.

THENNN at the time of S.S.S (Winx and Trix try to defeat Shaman Witch and all) the Winx or the Trix still don't know. To be fair Iorda has had more stressful things to think about. Like going from a fairy to a witch and not, well, dying. She's forgotten about it.

Until one night Iorda, Stormy, and Flora and sitting in their shared room about to go to sleep and Iorda remembers. She swears loudly to herself, and at her very loud and tired "fuck," Darcy, who is still awake (and concerned about Iorda's wellbeing, but that would be gay-) comes into the room and is like wtf is going on?

Iorda tells the three about how she got her Enchantix. Flora is surprised and confused. Stormy is just eyes-wide, bitch wtf? And Darcy is cackling.

Iorda reverses the memory spell and Stormy remembers what happened and is just like "glad you wiped that memory cause I don't think I could've lived with myself if I knew I helped you get Enchantix."

(Probs cannon S.S.S scene)

[gaydinosaurbananamilkcarton]

Can't wait for this Shinobu Vs Douma fight to be animated so y'all can see how badly she was whooping his ass. It's clear as day how she SHOULD HAVE won. but of course, they needed to fit kanao somewhere in the story (I'm not sure why) and even if they wanted to include her, it could've been Shinobu, Kanao, and Inosuke (while shinobu was alive💀) Vs. Douma. That would've been so much better. Shinobu was fast as hell, and she managed to stab him 8 times without him even knowing. She also stabbed him and drove him all the way into the wall (ceiling? I think it was cause she fell) even when her lungs were completely slashed. Yet she "was too weak to behead a demon" and then we got muichiro that's like 2 inches taller than her doing it💀 She very clearly should have won, and then she got eaten by him. Which is just bullshit. Then you got fucking giyu over there getting turned into a donut like rengoku did by akaza and that mf lived. Just straight bullshit. The dullest character survived while the best ones died. Mitsuri dying was just plain old mean and pointless. Why would you even do something like that?! Obanai dying made sense cause he carried. (I hate obamitsu as a ship) Idgaf, Tanjiro didn't carry AT ALL. (I hate tanjiro) Genya died but I don't really care cause I ain't care for his character. Sanemi deserved that pain. He said he ain't have no brother so god said "ight bet" and took him. Muichiro dying hurt. He didn't deserve that. I don't care for gyomei, but I gotta give him his props. He definitely carried when fighting kokushibo, and one of my favorite panels was when muzan turned into that big ass baby and gyomei pulled his ass back. Kaigaku Vs zenitsu was mid asf. (I hate zenitsu he the weakest of the group) Inosuke is the MOST UNDERRATED CHARACTER. He created his own breathing style, he can dislocate his joints at will, he kept up with zenitsu when he was using Godspeed technique💀, and he can shift his organs. Tanjiro pushed the rock with his slayer mark, inosuke never got one and did it💀 bro is BETTER than tanjiro at this point. I wish that rengoku's dad, shinjuro, fought during the battle. That would've been so tuff to see him fight akaza🗿then you got tanjiro that knew him for like 3 hours going on for 2 seasons and a movie about it🙈 Imagine if tengen got his slayer mark, and didn't have to retire. Would've been so OP. That blew me cause they really removed the BEST hashira 💀

[throatgoatwill]

I've always asked myself how (realistically) a hannibal and will kiss scene would be like in the actual series. how would bryan make it work as naturally and organically as their relationship's development through the seasons.

I'd never arrived at an answer that seemed right to me, and even reached the point of thinking a kiss scene wouldn't add much because their dynamic was already miles beyond such a thing. BUT. I think I just stumbled upon the best answer. At least to me. Idk, it just really synced with my interpretations of their love.

Ok so i've just watched hannibal (2001) and if you haven't already, I really recommend you to do so!!! bryan put SO many references to it on the series, and it's just incredibly satisfying to connect the dots in regards of the creative process of the series. - that said, the majority of the references that made their way into the show, were dialogues between hannibal and clarice, wich later became some of our favorite hannigram scenes.

and at the very final scenes of the movie, I was caught completely of guard by clarice and hannibal's kiss, and not only because of the kiss itself, but the whole context and build up towards it, and the events that followed. It was fucking perfect. And it really hurt me to wonder if bryan was planning to recreate that scene with hannibal and will, because it would fit SO WELL..... I swear, it would've been beautiful and even more heartbreaking than the original.

Especially because of these specific lines:

"Tell me, Clarice, would you ever say to me, 'Stop. If you loved me, you'd stop'?"

"Not in a thousand years."

"Not in a thousand years... that's my girl."

COULD WE EVEN SURVIVE SUCH THING AS HANNIBAL SAYING THOSE WORDS TO WILL??? LIKE???? "...That's my boy." ARE YOU KIDDING MEEEEEE.

And it gets even fucking better because, later, when clarice cuffs their hands together to prevent hannibal from running away, he threatens to cut of her hand, but just at the very last second before doing so, he ponders quickly, a single tear making it's way across his cheek as he says "this is really gonna hurt." and he follows up by amputating his own hand.

and we just know he is actually talking about being separated from her again, the pain it would inflict on him.

and if bryan had had the time to recreate that and adapt it to hannibal and will, that line would be about how it would hurt both of them, as it is: they're conjoined, not sure if either could survive separation.

here's the entire scene if you got curious, I really recommend watching it, it's beautifully made.

[mammalsofaction]

I liked CATU, the songs are banger and there are a lot of sweet moments. That being said its not perfect, and I wasn't a fan of Isabella's and Doof's dynamic in the movie, being a disservice to both Isabella as a kid and Doof's character arc through the 4 seasons.

That being said, a lot of his actions and decisions while leading the kids through Feebla-Oot is like....correct, actually? Particularly for the song "Adulting"

The dynamic tone between Isa and Heinz throughout the whole movie was just them being condescending to each other. Which I guess makes sense, knowing them both--Isa hates to be belittled, especially by an adult figure she doesn't respect, and Heinz's general first instinct around children was to act as an overbearing overprotective father. Combined with the fact that this child was refusing to listen to him, groping around the spaceship and inventions HE created, and insists on looking down at him, he's going to act condescending right back. It backfires a lot, naturally, what doesn't, around Heinz?

I would like to repeat that while I can sort of wrap my head around it, I didn't like the way it portrayed Heinz as more childish and immature and again, not doing justice to the audience's perception of him through the 4 seasons. I didn't like how they were treating each other.

Condescending was the running tone in the back and forth of the song Adulting as well, which was what made it funny, frustrating and baffling to me. The joke is that...he's RIGHT. It sounds made up, but adulting is a real thing, a statement that can and WILL be validated by any adult who has ever lived independently. They WILL get it when they turn 18. The kids don't get it...because they're KIDS.

I think they assume he's pretending like it was to sound authoritative, sure, maybe. But he's still right. It's not about collected soft and hard skills, it's not about knowing how to read a compass or how to do your taxes or how to fight a bear or to buying a car. Adulting is about sucking it up and taking responsibility for yourself. It's ABOUT the flailing around and learning how to do what as you go, it's about crying and doing it anyway. It's about the mind numbingly, outrageously boring stuff, and it's about the minor milestones that scares people half to death.

Heinz is 48. He's been married, and divorced; He's had a kid. He's bought houses, cars, started and failed multiple businesses. Mind you, Heinz came to America as an illegal immigrant at age 16 with just the clothes on his back, nothing to his name and disowned by his parents. He, probably better than most people, know how it's like to take responsibility for himself somewhere completely foreign, entirely hostile, and with almost no backup or life support.

He wasn't lying. He's right. He could've been less condescending about it, but yeah. It IS about aching knees and keeping perfect medical records, bringing fungal cream everywhere. It IS being lost and asking around, putting up with fucking it up. It's about getting hurt so the people you're in charge of stay safe and healthy and keeping your kids entertained and fed. It's about having to take charge. It made him look incompetent, but I VASTLY preferred that the near 50 yr old man told Isabella off for trying to take charge of the team in a foreign jungle planet actually. Knowing Heinz, there was no way in HELL he would've let her think she was responsible if something happened (and many things did happen), and he was right to.

Isabella is going to hate it SO much when she turns 18 and finds out he was right, btw. Adulting IS a real word.

[plskillme22]

Veil of Deceit

bff!yeonjun x gn!reader, yandere, 1.9k words, not proofread, mdni

warnings: reader wears halloween makeup, yandere themes, knives, reader gets attacked and drugged, violence, talk of drunk people (they're at a party), reference to hooking up but no smut (STILL MDNI)

THIS IS NOT A ROMANTICIZATION OF THESE THEMES, THIS IS STRICTLY FICTION AND POSTED FOR THE SAKE OF SPOOKY SEASON, I DO NOT CONDONE THE ACTIONS PORTRAYED IN THIS STORY. OBSESSION IS NOT ROMANTIC.

IF I MISSED ANY LET ME KNOW! <3

A/N: hi this is kinda bad, i just wanted to get something out, sorry lmao, lmk if it sucks <3

-k

"I'll be fine, Gyu, I'm right down the street anyways."

These were the last words you spoke before you made your way out of the cramped living room and into the front yard. It was your best friend Yeonjun's idea to come to this party--something about his friend's frat throwing it--but squeezing between hordes of drunk people wasn't exactly how you were planning to spend your Halloween. Yes, you would do almost anything to please him, but that was before that weird guy dressed as Maverick from Top Gun tried to grind on you.

You would've told Yeonjun that you were going home if you could find him, but after a few minutes of searching and multiple missed calls and unanswered texts, you figured it might be better to just leave. If he got upset, at least there would be a trail of proof of your efforts. Honestly, he was probably preoccupied with that nun you had seen latched onto him earlier in the night.

Admittedly, you were a little bit disappointed in how quickly your best friend had lost you in the crowd. You were honestly hopeful that tonight would be a fun time. A "great way to let off some steam," as Yeonjun had put it when he was initially convincing you to come. Now, you think you're remembering why it's been so long since he was able to drag you out from the comfort of your couch like this.

Wrapping your jacket a little bit tighter around you as a small breeze blows by, you think about the cup of tea you're going to make when you get home. You'll change into your pajamas, clean the makeup off of your face, and put on a Halloween movie while you snuggle up in front of your tv. The daydream you put yourself in takes over your mind, and you don't even notice the figure trailing behind you.

Footsteps approach you, and you get the feeling that something is off. Right as you whip your neck around to look at your surroundings, you feel a blow delivered to the back of your head. Dazed, you watch with blurry eyesight as the asphalt rushes up to meet you, knocking all of the air out of your lungs.

"What's happening? Is this it?" you think to yourself while staring blankly at the sky with half-lidded eyes, the world spinning around you.

A figure comes into view, looming above your frame. A white mask with black lips and a black heart around the eye stares down at you. They tilt their head, studying your crumpled form.

"P-please…" you manage to squeak out, willing your head to stop pounding so you can do something-- anything.

The figure knelt beside you, their arm resting on their leg. You notice a metallic glint from their hand, and quickly realize that they're holding a knife--either a bowie or a chefs; you couldn't tell. The person raises the sharp object up to your neck, softly trailing it down to your collarbones. You can hear faint breathing behind the mask, and you listen to your own labored breath. The sound grounds you, and you summon all of the adrenaline and strength you possibly can. You slowly and carefully go for the little pocket knife on your keys.

"I won't die like this."

Suddenly, you bolt up, swinging your arm at your assailant. You manage a small cut on the right side of their neck, and you hear a short hiss as they stumble back and reach up to feel the laceration.

You don't waste any time as you sprint off, thankful that your apartment complex is only about a block away now.

You don't look behind you, knowing that it will only slow you down. Instead, you focus all of your energy into running, using every bit of strength to get your keys ready as you approach your door. Fumbling to quickly put the little piece of metal in the lock, you spare a glance in the direction that you came from, expecting to see the masked figure running towards you. You're surprised when you see… nothing. Nobody was there, chasing after you.

Confused, but still on high-alert, you quickly make your way inside and lock the door behind you, collapsing on the other side in fatigue, your breathing labored. Tears begin streaming down your face as you dig your phone out of the pocket of your costume, calling the first person that came to mind.

When Yeonjun still didn't answer, you called Beomgyu, hoping and praying to any deity that would listen that he would pick up.

"Hey, did you make it home safe?" you hear Beomgyu on the other end of the line.

"Gyu…" you sob through the phone.

"What? What happened? Are you okay? What's going on?" his voice turned frantic, and the music from the party fades away as you presume he stepped outside to hear you.

"Please come over" you manage to get out.

"I'm on my way."

~~~

The next day, you don't wake up until you hear Yeonjun enter your apartment, assuming Beomgyu called him and let him in.

You slowly raise your head from your brown couch, where you guess you ended up passing out last night. You don't remember much after unlocking the door for Beomgyu and trying to tell him what happened. You faintly recall him helping you file a police report, but you weren't sure. You really hoped you didn't have a concussion from that hit to the head.

"Oh my God, y/n, are you okay?" Yeonjun asks, quickly crouching next to you by the couch.

"I… I'm alright." you reply hoarsely, your throat raw from crying.

"Beomgyu told me everything, I'm so sorry I didn't pick up the phone. This is all my fault."

"Don't blame yourself, Jjun. I'm okay now, everything is fine."

"No, I-I should have been there for you. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

Yeonjun grabs your hands in his larger ones, looking down at them as he whispered his apologies repeatedly.

You remain quiet, thinking over the events that occurred last night. You're still shocked that something like that happened to you. Getting attacked like you did… that's something that happens in the movies. Something that you hear about on the news, but never something that happens to you.

Beomgyu comes back over to the couch, and you look to him as he stares softly down at you and Yeonjun.

"Are you going to be okay? If you want me to stay, I will." He speaks gently.

Although you were worried that the person from last night might've seen where you live, you ultimately decided that it'd still be okay with just one friend here to watch over you.

"I think I'll be okay now, Yeonjun will take the next shift" you say jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. Humor had always been your coping mechanism.

With a smile that didn't reach his eyes, Beomgyu responds "as long as you're sure. Jjun, will you guys be okay?"

Yeonjun looks up at him, still grasping your hands. He nods slightly, eyes bloodshot from tears unshed.

With a nod and another smile towards you, your other friend makes his way to the door, putting his shoes back on as he takes his leave.

The door clicks shut, and you look back to Yeonjun, still crouched in front of you.

"Hey, c'mon, get up. There's no use dwelling on it like this, right?" you say softly to him. You have always been the one to make sure everybody else was okay before you, and you couldn't help but take on that role now, even after everything that had happened.

The man in front of you looked up at you and nodded, slowly standing up to sit next to you on the couch.

"Is there anything I can do for you? Are you hungry? Thirsty? You must be thirsty, right? You haven't had any water yet today, I'll go get you some water." He rambles as he stands up and paces over to your small kitchen. You try to fight the smile on your lips at his caring nature, watching as he retrieves your favorite blue mug from a cabinet.

You turn towards the TV in front of you, reaching for the remote on the coffee table. Maybe a movie will take your mind off of everything. It would probably be best to just forget about it. Like you said, no use dwelling on it--what's done is done. Now all you could do is wait for the police to do their job and bring your attacker to justice, but you didn't have high hopes.

You hear Yeonjun click the lock closed on your front door and feel thankful that he's looking out for your safety. He comes back and settles next to you on the couch, handing you your water.

"Here, drink up. You have to be dehydrated after the night you had."

You thank him quietly as you take the water, slowly sipping it before downing it, realizing just how thirsty you are. He watches to make sure you finish it, then gently takes the mug from your hands, setting it on the table in front of you.

"What are we watching?"

You think for a moment before responding with "I'm not sure, maybe something Disney? I think that would be the most comforting right now, I don't know if I'm up to start something new."

He nods in understanding, and you eventually decide on a movie from your childhood.

Maybe thirty minutes into the movie, you pulled the blanket from the back of the couch onto you, then immediately kicked it off, then pulled it back on, frustrated. It was if you were too hot and too cold at the same time. Yeonjun looked over at you, concern etched onto his face.

"Are you feeling okay?" he asked gently.

You nodded, but suddenly noticed how dizzy you were becoming, nausea overtaking you. Maybe that hit to the head is having some nasty aftereffects?

You glance away from the TV towards your best friend, breathing getting slower. Why was it so difficult to move? And why is Yeonjun smiling?

"Jjun… wha- what's happening?" you say, your speech slurring together.

Just then, while getting a good look at him, you notice a little cut on the right side of his neck. It looks relatively fresh, as if he only got it within the past 24 hours.

"Oh, Love, use that pretty brain of yours. I know you're smart enough to figure this out." he said, his tone mocking.

You stumble up from the couch and try to head for your front door, but your reaction time has dulled down, and you're having trouble moving. You fall to the ground as your legs give out beneath you.

Yeonjun stands up and walks over to you slowly, his hands in his pockets. He has a smirk on his face as he peers down at your frame on the ground. He's starting to get blurry, and you panic. You feel like you're about to hyperventilate, but your body won't let you, everything going slower.

"Oh y/n, if only you knew how much I love you… you'd never want to leave my side. But now you're mine, and I'll make sure nobody will ever take you away from me."

thank you for reading!! <3

-k

[thesoftboiledegg]

"Mort: Ragnarick" was pure fun, but a different kind of fun than "Rickfending Your Mort" and "Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie."

"Rickfending Your Mort" was a laid-back clip show that gave the viewer a break after the insanity of "Unmortricken"--a smart decision but not one with a lot of substance. "Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie" has been controversial. I thought it was entertaining, but it would've worked better as a YouTube short.

If "Unmortricken" represented lore episodes at their best, "Mort: Ragnarick" was the best of classic Rick and Morty adventures: a wildly imaginative plot, goofy satire, fantasy science and Rick and Morty working together as a duo, reminding us how much they need each other.

Rick's the driving force behind these adventures, but without Morty, he's just a miserable old man trying to distract himself. Morty's the heart and voice of reason. He also gives Rick something to live for. Without him, Beth, Jerry or Summer, why do anything?

Rick pretends to live for science, but "science" just caused decades of grief and isolation. His family isn't a concept; it's an entity that loves him back.

Bigfoot, an evil pope, Pokeballs, Valhalla, clone bodies, infinite energy sources, zombie Summer, Rick screaming "PO-O-O-O-OPE!": only Rick and Morty could combine all those concepts into one cohesive episode. I never thought "Wow, that took me out of the story." The Pokeball came close, but the end credits scene tied it all together.

Jerry's scene was a standout, too. Chris Parnell's reading of "Nana!" was genuinely sweet. It seems like Jerry's becoming a (mostly) willing participant in Rick's schemes instead of a helpless guinea pig. Is Rick learning that releasing his iron grip on his family makes them more attached to him, not less?

I also loved it when the Vikings called Rick a witch. He loves crystals, plays with magic, has two crows as familiars: damn right, he is!

You have to suspend your disbelief a couple of times, mainly when Bigfoot attacks Rick in the kitchen (he crushed Rick earlier like it was nothing, but now Rick walks away with a few scratches?) Still, the little character moments overshadow these flaws.

Judging by old posts that I've seen floating around, I think Rick and Morty's relationship is finally becoming what fans wanted it to be in seasons 1-3. Rick's still mean, but he's less dominant and more of Morty's mischievous co-conspirator. An alien mobster freaking out in "The Jerrick Trap" because of Rick's "touch my grandson and die" policy is straight out of fanon.

Rick's more physically gentle, and Morty responds in kind. He grabs and supports him when Bigfoot attacks him at home and touches his arm during their weird, overdramatic Bigfoot send-off. His pained cry of "Rick!" when Bigfoot nearly crushes him is heart-wrenching. Operation Phoenix is back online, but Morty's tired of watching him die!

Season five is when Rick started showing emotions on his face besides that cold, pissed-off glare--we all know the one--and in season seven, it's accelerated to Rick crying in front of others. He matches Morty's feelings instead of pretending that he's above human emotions.

Needless to say, dudebros have been flooding Adult Swim's Instagram comments and Twitter replies with "Rick and Morty is shit now!" "Rick's too nice!" "Rick and Morty has gone woke!" Justin Roiland's firing gave them more fuel, but they started even while he was still on the payroll.

Their favorite line is "Rick isn't Rick anymore!" And they're right. Rick's not the asshole from seasons 1-2 who had a couple of redeeming qualities. He's not the monster that he was in season three and parts of season four. He's not the defeated man in season five who started to realize that he's hurting people but still wanted Morty to look after him like a child.

Season six is when he started to grow up--not a lot, but enough that he began taking on adult responsibilities instead of thinking he's a teenage boy who sees another teenager as his peer. I wish we saw more therapy appointments, but while they're mostly off-screen, we're definitely seeing the effects.

This doesn't make Rick a great person or atone for what he's done. Some of his crimes are beyond atonement, and not just the obvious ones like blowing up planets. This is a universe where everyone has a body count and events that should've destroyed Earth have no effect on civilization. Death and destruction don't mean that much.

His worst crimes are the personal ones: destroying Morty's psyche in "The Vat of Acid Episode," treating his family like garbage for most of season three. You can't atone for that. You can't apologize for that.

However, I don't only judge characters by their past. I judge them by their capacity to change.

Walter White is a brilliant character, but he's not a personal favorite because his arc is a slow descent into hell. Rick's slowly climbing out of his crater, and while it doesn't erase the past, it's still happening. For me, that's more satisfying than watching a monster become a bigger monster.

Of course, he's still not above cosplaying as Odin while wearing a golden crown that literally says "GOD." But the former "no girls allowed" alpha male has become a dedicated therapy patient who's also a thirst object that would make bros cry about double standards. Sure, Rick, you're a god, now put on that weird half-shirt and prance around a little.

[imthepunchlord]

Just wondering, how do you feel about Marinette keeping Gabriel's identity a secret from Adrien in the S5 finale of Miraculous?

Be mindful, I didn't watch it, so I'm answering with limited details that's just based around what I've gathered from hearing and seeing from the fandom.

And I will give it, I do think that is something Marinette would do. She is someone who has a history of doing things for others for their own happiness, like her cheating to help Nino in Anansi, or her stealing Alya's phone to rerecord a video she accidentally deleted a video recording of Ladybug.

I can see her thinking that she shouldn't tell Adrien this, that this would upset him. She's paid attention to him for 5 whole seasons, she knows how much he loves his dad. So the choice I feel is in character.

But I do hate that she's even in that position at all.

I hate that Adrien's in a position of never being involved in his own plot.

Seriously, what's the point of him being the son of Hawk Moth if he's never going to be in conflict with his dad? If he's never going to find out? We got all that built up angst and no pay off. It feels like we had our time wasted with Adrien being the son of HM. They did nothing with it.

And it's bonkers as you can do something with it.

You got your angst options:

Adrien is going to fully commit to being a hero he was chosen to be and him and his father will be enemies

Gabriel reveals to him what he's trying to do, and Adrien now has a chance to have his mom back, and he joins his father

You got your hopeful Agreste family option: take the route that the movie did, Gabriel realized his son is Chat Noir and he's like, oh no, I can't hurt my own son. And so he stops. Technically happy ending but they're going to need some family therapy.

And you got your comedic route, playing off that HM is meant to be a campy villain instead of a serious one: Adrien finds out, and he just doesn't know what to do, so he doesn't do anything but try to appeal to his father's goodness, just as Gabriel is trying to appeal to Adrien to join him. But neither of them get anywhere, and it delves into them getting passive aggressive with each other, especially as for once, Adrien has some power in this household as he can out his dad's the villain. Adrien drops little hints about his dad not being so great or toes the line of making the Agrestes look bad, and Gabriel starts sending akumas out during major tests or when Adrien has plans to hang out with friends. And they just proceed to annoy each other until it escalates outside family.

And look. That's four options on what they could've done with Adrien finding out his dad is HM. Mindful, some of these do mean they needed to pick a lane with Gabriel, on what sort of villain he is, does he love his son or not; but defining Gabriel as a character would've been better for the show.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

What do you think about Nathalie's original plotline of wanting to betray Gabriel after getting the Miraculous from the heroes so she can use the Wish herself in order to make Gabriel fall in love with her (according to the leaked Bible this used to be her motivation for helping Gabriel all along but it got scrapped from the show before it ever came up). Do you think this would've been a better plot for Nathalie than what we've got ?

I have extremely mixed feelings about that concept, so let's talk through them!

On the one hand, I am here for Nathalie having a motivation beyond, "I love Gabriel so much that I will do everything to make him happy, even if it means committing terrorism, supporting child abuse, and forfeiting my life!" While that kind of selfless motivation can make for an interesting character - or at least an interesting character arc - it requires a lot more character development than Nathalie was given. The way they did it in the show is just another entry in the show's troubling trend of making characters (and notably mainly female characters) do stupid stuff in the name of love.

Love making people do stupid things is a very real phenomena, so I'm not against that happening from time to time. But love can also make you do wonderful things and miraculous rarely shows us those moments. All the big, dramatic, love-based choices have been ones that lead to dire consequences and personal suffering even if the choice was framed as a loving and/or selfless act. Because of that, I'm okay with Nathalie's "sacrifice" being re-framed as a selfish act done because she thinks that she'll be able to get the miraculous and make herself healthy again.

This alternate motivation would pair well with Gabriel's motivation. I like that because they're co-conspirators, so having them share a theme of selfish love would allow for some interesting ideas. For example, what if we did something crazy and let the villains selfish love continually hurt them while the heroes' selfless love continually led to victory? I know, I'm crazy! Who would want that kind of nonsense in a show that's supposed to be all about love and friendship? (Btw, that was sarcasm)

At the same time, I'm really tired of characters being defined by their romantic interests and little else. It makes sense for Gabriel since he's our big bad who is doing everything out of love for his wife, but all of the other characters should be allowed to have more interesting, rich lives in which romance is just one of the many things that they have going on. It would make for a more interesting cast AND really highlight that Gabriel's love is unhealthy while the "true love" of our teens is healthy. A very important theme that has been painfully absent from the show even though it seemed like it was going to be a thing back in the early seasons!

Nino made movies. Marinette was super into fashion and helping her friends. Adrien liked video games and seemed to be into fencing, too. But as time has gone on, the story has become more and more focused on the romantic relationships, pushing aside plots that focus on other things and I'm not a fan.

I'm a big fan of the idea that the foundations of a good romance are a strong friendship and all members of the romantic relationship having personal lives separate from their romantic partner(s). As such, I want a show that gives friendship and romance equal billing. It can even be the friendship between the romantic leads! Episodes like Gamer and Horrificator were excellent in those regards as they allowed for some nice romantic tension while also developing the characters' interests and backstories.

In summary, if we fix canon so that the teen characters all have more healthy romantic relationships, then I'm pretty open to Nathalie keeping her original motivation as it certainly has potential. However, I'd only give it to her if Nathalie and Gabriel were going to get a lot more screen time and development as it adds a lot of complexity to their dynamic and - as I said in another recent post - you shouldn't add complexity to your story unless you're going to actually explore it.

Personally, I don't see myself ever adding this to Nathalie's character since I generally don't have much interest in developing her and Gabriel. Instead, I usually just switch Nathalie's motivation from love of Gabriel to love of Emilie and no, I don't mean romantic love. While I'm totally cool with lesbian Nathalie, I'm a massive fan of her being motivated out of platonic love simply because we don't see that often enough. It's always romance, romance, romance with a little familial love thrown in here and there for diversity and that's fine. Those are strong motivators. But platonic love can be just as powerful and Miraculous is supposed to be about romantic love AND friendship and I don't see why we need to limit the friendship angle to the teen characters. If Gabriel is our example of selfish romantic love, then let Nathalie be our example of selfish friendship.

Assuming that Emilie is some flavor of decent parent, do you really think that she's going to look at Gabriel and Nathalie's actions and be pleased by how they treated Adrien? No! She's going to be furious with both of them! Gabriel for hatching this crazy plot and Nathalie for going along with it. (Btw, this is yet another reason why I like good Emilie. Gabriel and Nathalie are so freaking selfish that I don't really see them caring if the law, the heroes, or the guardians find them guilty. They'd only care about Emilie's judgement and maybe Adrien's. I can see Gabriel going to jail unphased, but melting into a puddle when Emilie serves him with divorce papers while refusing to speak to him. I want him to get his wish - though ideally not via his own actions - but have it be a total monkey's paw!)

[ca-suffit]

I'm actually quite sad that we haven't found out ANYTHING about Armand in the epilogue. I mean, turning Daniel is such a huge point in his character, so we'll (hopefully) revisit that in future seasons, but other than that?? Did he take the magnolia tree with him? It's either that or Louis took it out and we know that tree has meaning for him (he has been growing a magnolia even back in Paris).

I know we're not meant to know where he fucked off, but I'd love to see just a tiny tiny glimpse with him alone. Is he with Marius?? DID HE PUNISH HIMSELF BY GOING TO MARIUS BECAUSE THERE WAS NOTHING ELSE???

Idk, the ending was too cartoonishly evil for him specifically, which is strange since this was the present time, so we assume that what we see is the truth. Liniar movie action style. Of course, it's evil via omission of his side of things, so it makes sense he seems evil. But I still think it would've been better if we had some extra 5 minutes in this episode and squished in there a small scene with, idk, Armand crying in an unrecognisable place (even just due to him transforming Daniel). It can simply be a dark room, so they don't have to build Marius' lair already, but ye know. It would be a glimpse that he's actually NOT okay, lol.

This is my only pet peeve, but trusting the writers to present the other side of the coin when we get back to his POV of things. Just hoping that won't simply be in season 5 of all things, lol. Even Lestat got a bit of POV (via the trial) during Louis' seasons, so they'll probs cram it in seasons 3-4 somehow (with Daniel povs).

Sorry for the rant, I hope this makes sense.

u can rant! it's ok. I know there's a lot going on here that ppl are rly disappointed in.

I am personally holding out that S3 will comment a lot on this. I feel like S2 ended similar to how S1 did with Lestat. Armand is a major character in the plot of TVL as well as QotD and a lot they're prbly going to be piecing together for S3. He's not just "gone" (not that u were saying this, I'm saying in general) and I trust that they'll be answering a lot about this and him in S3 or they will risk losing a lot of viewers tbh.

I know it looks cartoonishly villain like rn but I don't believe long term that is the vision for him. The point is that all of these vampires are deeply flawed and traumatized and hurt each other bcuz of it, bcuz they want to be luved so badly but also don't think they're worthy of it.

The fandom is definitely going to suffer thru this in ways tho. some of the lestans are already overly doing the victim bullshit of "now u know how we felt after S1." but they made a whole lot of racist choices to defend the white character so no it's not the same tbh, when ur trying to defend a brown character against a racist fandom.