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Wifey <3

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Sardonyx (c) vs Lacey Karmens- MPW Fatales Championship- MPW: Hell on Earth 2

April 24th, 2021.

Wes Barkley was the first person to fall, quickly fading to Mass Destruction as Sardonyx began her warpath throughout MPW. Big names and MPW originals alike have fallen at the feet of the Savior. 538 days, 49 victories, 0 losses. Two of her biggest victories came against long time rival - turned friend and stablemate, Riley Ishimori, BLADE, former MPW Tag Team Champion, Bayley, and the heavily decorated 44OH!. It didn’t matter who stepped up, what accolades they held or their history, their in-ring style. It didn’t matter if they attacked from behind or challenged her head on, Sardonyx was always prepared, always ready. Whether it was a 30-minute classic against submission specialists or former champions, or 8-minute squash matches against Queens or Goddesses, the fact remained the same. Sardonyx always wins.

Darkness Falls marked the beginning of the Savior’s unstoppable reign over the Fatales division, and it was hard to imagine anybody could stop her. But Lacey Karmens is the ultimate underdog, with several big wins under their belt. Nick Gage, Talia Rogue, Lilith Brookes, BLADE, and even a pinfall victory over their dear friend, Jade Cargill. They were the odds on favorite to win the Femme Fatales tournament - but how many of those people have beat Sardonyx? How many of them could?

“The following contest is a singles match, set for one fall, and it is for the MPW FATALES CHAMPIONSHIP!” Chicago screams at the beginning announcements. On one side of the ring, the challenger, Lacey Karmens, stared down the champion with a heated, intense gaze. Shoulders rolling as Steve Guy continues his announcements. “On my left, the challenger. Fighting out of San Francisco, California, and weighing in tonight at 148 pounds, they are Karma, LACEY KARMENS!”

It’s undeniable that Lacey is a fan favorite everywhere we go, but tonight had to be the loudest one yet. Thousands of people shrieking as Lacey’s name is announced, the challenger turning to face them, raising their arms before they gesture to their waist, indicating that the title is coming home with them. Cocky, for sure, but Lacey knows it’ll be a lot easier said than done. It’s going to take every ounce of strength, every ounce of energy, every play in their arsenal if they want even a chance of walking out of here with the belt around their waist.

“And to my right, the champion,” a much more somber reaction from the crowd tonight. There was a time when Sardonyx might’ve been on their good side; the aloofness making her a mystery to all, but since she’s aligned with The Fallen, that has changed immensely, “Fighting out of Auckland, New Zealand, and honoring The Fallen, she has been undefeated for 538 days, and she is the MPW Fatales Champion, SARDONYX!”

Sardonyx drops to her knees in the middle of the ring, two toned locks hanging in front of her face, with the Fatales Championship raised into the air, left arm stretched at her side. The NOW Arena is loud, a mixed reaction leaning more towards hostile. When she stands, Jessica Carr asks for the belt, but Sardonyx ignores her to get directly in Lacey’s face. Nose to nose with her challenger, Sardonyx holds the title up next to their face, but Lacey’s eyes are locked with Sardonyx’s. They vowed to come after all titleholders, but this one has become more personal than just a chance at the silver and purple title in Sardonyx’s possession. Lacey Karmens presents a real, massive threat to Sardonyx’s title reign, but it’s going to take more than just a threat to scratch the invulnerable champion.

The moment the bell rings, the room becomes electric. There’s been so much speculation, so much talk, but it would all come down to this. Opinions and statistics won’t matter now, the only numbers they need to care about are 1 - 2 - 3. Ultimately, it’s going to come down to who wants it the most. Who can persevere, who can withstand, who can survive the longest. Lacey steps forward, but Sardonyx is a stone wall. Unmoving, emotionless, while Lacey’s burning with desire. Their love for this business, their want, their need, to pick up their first piece of gold in MPW was shining brighter than ever. Their head tilts to the side as the white hot crowd begins to chant for Karmens, most of the arena with a resounding, “LET’S GO LACEY!”  But the other half, growing in numbers, responds with, “UN-DE-FEAT-ED!”

“LET’S GO LACEY!”

“UN-DE-FEAT-ED!”

“LET’S GO LACEY!”

“UN-DE-FEAT-ED!”

The NOW Arena is split in half, rooting for both of them, as The Fallen have, so far, been much more beloved in Chicago than they are in most other places, and that was no more true than it is right now. Of course, Lacey is a beloved fan favorite on any side of the globe, even more so here in Chicago. The chants die down after nearly a minute as they begin to circle each other, before they finally touch, for the first time in their respective careers. Moving into a lockup, they battle for control. They fight to the ropes, Lacey pushing back, before Sardonyx switches them around, pinning Lacey. She slips back and pats Lacey’s chest, telling them to bring it as she backs up. Lacey looks down before they go swinging, but Sardonyx is able to duck and trip them up, slipping and sliding over Lacey’s back before locking in a front facelock. Lacey reverses into a front facelock, but Sardonyx rolls out and on top, into a waistlock, bringing Lacey up and into another facelock. Lacey picks the leg and works the ankle, maneuvering over Sardonyx before getting her in a headlock. Sardonyx rolls back, holding onto the waist, but Lacey hangs onto the headlock all the way up to their feet. Sardonyx pushes up against their face, pushing them back to the ropes. Sardonyx grabs the arm as they’re whipped away, pulling Lacey back and slamming them down on their head - but Lacey kips back up! Sardonyx turns them around and pops them in the mouth with a right hand, before pushing them to the ropes, but Lacey reverses and whips Sardonyx across the ring. They charge, knocking Sardonyx down with a single leg dropkick! The challenger scores the first point, asking Sardonyx if she needs a time out, before nailing her with a forearm smash.

Moving to the ropes, Lacey gets a running head start, but when they touch the ropes, Sardonyx goes low, kicking their knees out from under them! Lacey goes face first on the mat, and Sardonyx stays on the knee, sliding right out of the ring and slamming it on the apron. An elbow is driven into the tender muscle, leaving Lacey hobbling on the right leg. The left is placed on the guardrail before Sardonyx lifts it up, slamming it right on the barricade! That’s a straight shot to the hamstring! Sardonyx rolls inside the ring as Lacey’s left to their own devices, the leg becoming more useless with each brutal shot. Lacey forces themselves back inside the ring, and Sardonyx is instantly on the attack, jumping on the knee before it’s wrapped around the rope, bending it over the stiff cable. Lacey grunts in pain, burying their face deep in their arm. Eventually, Sardonyx relents, no rules in place in this championship contest to stop her. When she relents, they’re forced to their feet, but Lacey swings back and nails Sardonyx with a chop, the champion visibly wincing from the pain. Lacey rears back, landing a forearm smash, before following up with another chop, taking Sardonyx off her feet. They turn to run the ropes, but Sardonyx grabs the left leg, holding on and tripping Lacey up. Lacey tries to kick back, but Sardonyx kicks the left and hooks her legs around them, turning Lacey over in an inverted figure 4! The left leg is hyperextended over the right, Sardonyx locking in the submission deep. She may not keep the title via submission, but she’ll do plenty of damage to the knee like this. Eventually, Lacey’s able to move on their forearms and to the ropes, grabbing hold of the bottom. Sardonyx doesn’t have to break, but as Lacey starts to pull themselves out, Sardonyx lets go and drags them up to their feet. She holds onto the leg, but Lacey fires back with forearms, getting Sardonyx off them. Throwing her to the ropes, Lacey twists for a rolling elbow, but Sardonyx hangs onto the ropes, avoiding danger, and forcing Lacey to stop their momentum in an instant. Sardonyx charges, but gets tossed overhead with a belly to belly suplex!

Sardonyx lands hard on her tailbone, and holds it as she gets to her feet. Lacey sees the opportunity and takes it, trying to take Sardonyx out with the San Fran Bicycle knee - dodged! Sardonyx moves out of the way and swings, aiming for a spin kick, but Lacey ducks under it and grabs Sardonyx, spiking her with a DDT! A twinge of pain flashes through the left leg, and Lacey grabs for it before grabbing Sardonyx, throwing an arm over their own neck to prepare for a back suplex, but Sardonyx holds on. Locking down so she can’t be lifted, before driving her elbow into the back of Lacey’s neck. Lacey drops to a knee, and Sardonyx looks to run the ropes - but they’re drawn in by the tights! Sardonyx is spun up high, and driven down with a sitout powerbomb! Shoulders down!

1… 2… Kickout!

Sardonyx survives the first cover of the matchup, a moment of disappointment flashing over Lacey’s face, but they knew it wouldn’t be that simple. Sardonyx wouldn’t have gone undefeated this long if that was all it took. Getting Sardonyx up in the corner, Lacey charges in with a running boot, but Sardonyx moves out of the way at the last second! Lacey’s leg is hung up on the top rope, and Sardonyx rolls them up, shoulders down!

1… 2… Kickout!

After Jessica’s hand hit the mat for the first count, Sardonyx put her feet up on the ropes, but Lacey kicked out anyhow. Jessica caught it, and warns Sardonyx against doing it again. The champion only glares back at Carr, rolling her eyes. It was a mere test to see if Lacey had what it took to be here tonight, or if they could be outsmarted so easily. That would not be the case, but this discussion gave Lacey enough time to get to their feet, surprising Sardonyx with a charge - but she won’t be caught off guard tonight! Sardonyx lifts Lacey up, dumping them on the top rope, but they don’t bounce off. Lacey hangs on while Sardonyx runs the ropes, blasting Lacey with a dropkick to the face! Lacey flops back into the ring, but Sardonyx moves out to the apron. She leans over the ropes, trying to pull Lacey up, but Lacey punches their way out of it. Back on the mat, Lacey charges, and nails Sardonyx with a running big boot! Sardonyx is slouched over the top rope, and Lacey moves to the apron, getting behind Sardonyx and grabbing their waist, trying to hit a German suplex onto the floor, but Sardonyx desperately clings to the ropes. Maybe she even wouldn’t be able to survive a fall like that, and has to dive into the ring to avoid certain doom, but she still gets a headbutt from Lacey. Lacey gets back inside, and Sardonyx kicks the rope, vibrating it against the left leg! Lacey’s hung in the ropes, stuck there, and Sardonyx kicks her to the floor with a running bicycle knee strike on the side of the head! Lacey’s knocked to the outside, and Sardonyx hops down as well, telling all the fans and staff members to clear the area. Steve Guy jumps on the mic to advise they stay out of their way, as Sardonyx drags Lacey over to the third row. On top of the chairs, they stand side by side before Sardonyx leans back, hitting a Russian leg sweep onto the chairs! That’s a rough landing for both parties! Lacey’s face is contorted in a deep look of agony, and Sardonyx only adds to it as she rains down punches on Lacey’s head, beating them further into submission. At this pace, Lacey’s chances of walking out of here with the Fatales Championship were looking worse and worse by the minute.

Hopping over the barricade, Sardonyx moves up the second turnbuckle, hanging out on the outside as she waits for Lacey to find a way to her feet. When they do, Sardonyx jumps off the turnbuckles and crushes Lacey with a diving crossbody! They’re driven into the chairs, and Lacey might be done for! Sardonyx might’ve just taken out her opponent for the night, and she’s looking to seal the deal! Moving them back inside the ring, Sardonyx gets up on the top turnbuckle, going high risk once more, with a Phoenix Splash! She crushes Lacey, and hooks the far leg, trying to retain!

1… 2… Kickout!

Not yet! Lacey hangs on, but as they kick out, Sardonyx transitions into a crossface! With the submission locked in tight, Sardonyx wrenches back, applying intense pressure to the jaw and the neck, while forcing Lacey to spin on that left leg to get over to the ropes. They eventually find a reprieve, but they spend long enough in the hold before doing so, but Sardonyx looks slightly annoyed. She moves to Lacey’s side as they hang onto the ropes, trying to pick themselves up, before Sardonyx starts to kick. Not at full power, but it’s enough to send Lacey rolling back. Sardonyx looms over them, sinking fingers into their hair. Lacey grabs the hand locked into their hair and bends back on the fingers, forcing the hand onto the mat. They’re both pinned down by Lacey’s toes, Lacey flinking Sardonyx’s hair out of her eyes so she can see Lacey’s gift, a middle finger to the face, before launching their boot to Sardonyx’s jaw, hitting a bicycle kick! Sardonyx is rolled back, and Lacey lifts her back up, going for a wheelbarrow German suplex, but Sardonyx rolls through! Shoulders down!

1… 2… Kickout!

They get out, but Lacey’s back up and at it with a clothesline, but it’s a swing and a miss. Sardonyx grabs them by the waist, but Lacey elbows back, knocking Sardonyx sideways. Lacey to the ropes, but the champion strikes, grabbing Lacey under the arm, and hitting a pop-up knee strike! It hits square in the forehead, and their eyes roll to the back of their head, as Lacey falls through the ropes. Sardonyx looks at them before turning to run the ropes, diving through the middle - but they’re caught! Lacey grabs them in a vertical suplex, slamming Sardonyx onto the apron! What a reversal, and Sardonyx is HURT! It clearly took a lot out of Lacey to counter that dive and inflict that much pain on Sardonyx, and they’re able to persevere through the pain. No pressure is put on the left leg, but the energy pouring out from the crowd, their chants filling the room once again, Lacey is energized. They’re able to dig down deep to find what they need to get the action back inside the ring. With Sardonyx in one corner, Lacey faces the corner opposite. Head down as they shake out the left leg, getting themselves prepared for whatever they’re planning. They turn around and charge, nearly taking Sardonyx’s head off with a running boot! Her head is nearly sent to the third row, and Lacey wants to take it off all the way, throwing Sardonyx to the ropes and into a rolling clothesline - but Sardonyx ducks!

She hangs on and floats around, hooking her hands under Lacey’s arms and pulling her up into the crucifix. Quickly, Sardonyx spins, before pulling them up and into a powerbomb! Normally Sardonyx would get the sitout here, but slamming Lacey down meant landing on her own tailbone, and after it was just introduced to the hardest part of the ring, the impact does almost as much damage to deliver it. She’s clutching her tailbone as she moves to her feet, Lacey doing the same. After two excellent, high impact reversals from both parties, we still don’t have a victor, Lacey getting the shoulder up off of one of Sardonyx’s newer, spectacular moves. You’d be smart to bet on this one being nowhere near finished, with these two likely pushing the time limit, if they don’t end up going the distance. And that could very well be a possibility here, as, somehow, Lacey surprises Sardonyx with a rolling elbow, catching her right on the jaw! Sardonyx is spun around from the force of that shot, and Lacey grabs her by the waist, planting Sardonyx with a release German suplex! She damn near lands on her head after that one! Sardonyx is seeing stars while Lacey is fueled by adrenaline. The pain in their knee seems to be ancient history as Lacey holds onto the ropes, watching as Sardonyx groggily pulls herself together. They hit the ropes, and absolutely DECAPITATE Sardonyx with a clothesline! Sardonyx completes the full circle before hitting the mat, what power from Lacey Karmens! And it could win them the title, shoulders down!

1…. 2… KICKOUT!

Only two! Lacey almost can’t believe it, but they haven’t even busted out their best move yet. They’ll have to put everything they have behind it, if they’re able to find the opportunity to do so, since it could be their only shot. On their hands and knees, Lacey places their head on the mat as the NOW Arena starts to chant for Karmens, trying to will them back into the fight. The Un-de-feat-ed chants aren’t quite as loud now, as almost all of Chicago was on Lacey’s side right now. That could change with the tides, but for now, it was fueling Lacey, giving them what they need to get back up. They punch the mat as they rise, rolling out their arms as they crouch over Sardonyx, picking her up by the waist. Lacey snaps back for another release German suplex - but Sardonyx sticks the landing! She lands on her feet, and catches Lacey by surprise with a hurricanrana, but Lacey holds on! They throw Sardonyx up for a powerbomb, but Sardonyx shifts her hips, and turns it into a Canadian Destroyer! Lacey is spiked on their crown! They’re practically folded up on their neck after that one, and a dazed Sardonyx crawls into the cover, throwing an arm over their chest!

1…

2…

KICKOUT!

Lacey gets the shoulder up at two and a half, and even more than that, they’re on their feet! After all that, Lacey is standing, but they’re not for long, as Sardonyx charges into an omoplata, bringing them down into another Crossface! Softening up for the Hemonga Lock, without introducing it to Lacey too early on. She knows this is going to be much easier said than done, and doesn’t want to show Lacey her best tricks yet. There’s still more left to come, but she may want to rethink that soon. Very soon in fact, as Lacey overpowers the Crossface! They lift Sardonyx right off the mat, and spin them into a Tombstone position. Lacey lets her slide down a bit, arms hooking over the legs, before they drop, crunching Sardonyx’s neck with a cradle Tombstone piledriver! Sardonyx is dropped right on her neck, and this could be it! Shoulders down!

1… 2… KICKOUT!

It’s starting to feel like nothing was going to end this one. We could be looking at a rare MPW draw. There’s only been one before, all the way back when VENY faced Kenny Omega for the first time, their original bout coming to a 30-minute draw. In title matches, the limit is upped to 60, so we could be in for a long wait before we have a decisive victor.

Nevertheless, Lacey remains undeterred. They still have plenty of tricks up their sleeve as well, and look to enact something here, when Sardonyx grabs their leg. They look down, clearly annoyed, and knocks Sardonyx back with a hard knee to the jaw. They start to crumble, but they’re able to rear back, catching Sardonyx with a superkick! The champion goes down, but the left leg of the challenger gives up, leaving neither with an advantage. But Lacey could be wanting to change that here as they move to the top rope. They leap off, going for a Moonsault Leg Drop - but nobody’s home! Lacey hits the mat hard, landing directly on their legs, and Sardonyx charges, knocking them down with a penalty kick! She forces them upright, and sinks into a Black Widow! One of Lacey’s own moves, and Sardonyx is trying to beat them with it! She has the submission locked in tight, middle of the ring, but they’re able to shift Sardonyx onto their back, slamming them to the mat! A modified Air Raid Crash gets Lacey a reprieve, and they’re able to find a way up to their feet. Hair hanging loose in their vision, Lacey surges forward, knocking Sardonyx down with a superkick under the jaw! Sardonyx rolls outside of the ring, trying to shake off the cobwebs, while Lacey stays in the ring. They run the ropes, looking to fly, and dive out between the ropes - but nobody’s home! Lacey risks life and limb to make that dive, and it might’ve just cost them big time!

Lacey hits the venue floor HARD, and Sardonyx drags her motionless corpse up, trying to add injury to more injury with a back suplex on the unprotected tiles, but Lacey, somehow, has it in them to hold on. She doesn’t get the back suplex, but Sardonyx still rocks them with a forearm. Lacey’s stumbled, but fires back a forearm, sending Sardonyx back a few steps. She forces them to stand tall, and take another forearm smash to the jaw, before they both collapse! Down on their knees on the floor doesn’t stop these two from fighting, as Lacey rears back, landing another forearm! And Sardonyx keeps the pattern going with a third forearm from her! Lacey falls to their back, but it’s not the last of it as she powers back with another forearm, forcing them self to sit up to deliver it. Sardonyx barely moves back as the shots come more frequently, more intense, until Lacey’s rocked onto their back again. Sardonyx holds onto their locks as they’re pulled up, Sardonyx laying into them with even more forearms! She’s all but battering Lacey now, the challenger dropping to their knees, and Jessica Carr leaves the ring to separate them, wanting to check on Lacey. But Sardonyx isn’t having any of it. With Carr being the usual enforcer in the Fatales title defenses, Sardonyx has grown more consistently fed up with the referee, and shoves Carr to the floor! Jessica tries to pick herself up, but Sardonyx uses her back like a launching pad, taking Lacey off their feet with a European uppercut! What innovative offense, but that’s gotta be a fine?! These two are willing to risk anything and everything they have to walk out of here the winner, no matter what the cost may be!

Getting Lacey up on their feet, Sardonyx goes for a Northern Lights Bomb, but Lacey manages to turn it around, leaning back into a Tombstone! But they can’t deliver, the leg giving out as they attempt to, but they’re able to come back with a roundhouse kick! The champion’s dropped, and Lacey picked them up and put them upside down, this time, successfully hitting the Tombstone piledriver, spiking Sardonyx on the venue floor! Lacey’s leg gives out at the last second but they’ve taken Sardonyx down for a moment! Hopefully it’s long enough to give Lacey a chance to recover. Eventually, after several long moments of resting, they do make their way back inside, Lacey sliding in under the bottom rope before Sardonyx grabs their feet. Turning them back around, Sardonyx grabs their head and pulls them back, before spiking Lacey with a hangman DDT off the apron! Their head’s driven into the floor! Lacey might be out cold after that!

Sardonyx moves this one back inside the squared circle, kneeling as Lacey crawls over, and lands a headbutt! They’ve used their feet, their legs,their arms, and now resort to using their head as a weapon. But Sardonyx has no qualms with that, and knocks Lacey all the way to their back with a stiff headbutt. Lacey’s seeing stars, and doubting their choice in attack, as Sardonyx pulls them back up and hits a second headbutt. Standing in the corner, Sardonyx calls Lacey up before charging, trying to take their head off with a running bicycle knee strike, but Lacey ducks under it and tries to trip Sardonyx up, but the champion stands tall and sits on Lacey! Sardonyx holds onto the waist before a count is registered, pulling them up into a wheelbarrow - and slamming them down into the Hemonga Lock! It’s locked in DEEP, dead center in the middle of the ring! Nowhere for Lacey to go! Sardonyx has the arm digging into Lacey’s throat, cutting off the carotid arteries and choking the air out of Lacey’s lungs. They desperately try to search for more, but none is found, as they’re quickly losing consciousness. To come so far to be choked out in the end is a bitter pill to swallow, but there’s no shame in losing to someone with the track record and prestige of the MPW Fatales Champion. As much as many wanted to see them sit at the top of the mountain, it doesn’t seem to be fate, at least not tonight, as their eyelids begin to droop. Growing heavier by the passing moments, their arms slow to a gradual stop, and they look to be fading here. Carr crouches down, grabbing the arm… one… a second test… and Lacey stops it at the last second! There’s still life in the challenger!

Sitting up, Lacey rises from the ashes and leans back, breaking the submission! They get to their feet, unleashing a battle cry before they slip behind Sardonyx, landing a German suplex! Sardonyx lands on her god damn neck, but she springs up! Arms around the waist, she snaps back, hitting another German suplex, and putting Lacey right on the base of their neck! But Lacey won’t stay down! They’re wobbling, but they’re on their feet, unleashing another battle cry! Moving behind Sardonyx, Lacey hits a second brutal German suplex, only for Sardonyx to roll through into another German suplex! They’re teetering, but somehow, both parties remain on their feet. Sardonyx tries a third German, but Lacey sticks the landing! They run the ropes, bringing Sardonyx down with a hurricanrana, tucking her in tight for the cover!

1… 2… KICKOUT!

As Sardonyx kicks out, she pulls Lacey up into the 9 of Swords! Before she can deliver, Lacey starts to kick, forcing their way out, and forcing Sardonyx back. Lacey charges, and nearly takes Sardonyx’s head off with a running high kick, nearly kicking her over the ropes! Sardonyx is pulled down to the mat, and Lacey punches at the left knee before climbing up the ropes. They perch before flipping back, hitting the Moonsault leg drop! Shoulders down to win the title!

1… 2… KICKOUT!

No dice! Sardonyx out at two, and Lacey lays back with their head in their hands, wondering if they have anything left in the tank. But they wouldn’t have come to Chicago if they didn’t. Lacey gets up and pulls Sardonyx to her feet. One arm hooked in, then the other, before Lacey moves up into a wheelbarrow, and snapped back with a Dragon suplex, bridged over!

1… 2… KICKOUT!

Still two, and Lacey’s eyes nearly bug out of their head! Lacey falls back again, shaking their head, while Sardonyx moves to the top rope. Lacey jumps up and climbs up, only to get knocked back by a headbutt, but Lacey comes back and slaps Sardonyx across the face. Lacey tries to climb up, but Sardonyx wraps an arm around their head, locking them into a hanging Guillotine from the top rope! She can’t get the submission victory like this, but she can utilize every second given to her to inflict as much damage as she can, and choke Lacey out. When she lets Lacey drop, Sardonyx drops down to the apron. She slingshots into the ring - AND EATS A SAN FRAN BICYCLE! LACEY PULLS IT OUT OF NOWHERE, BUT SARDONYX FALLS THROUGH THE ROPES!

Lacey falls to the mat, head in their hands, as they just watched their best shot yet fall through their fingers! What unfortunate luck was that. After all of this intense back and forth, Lacey finally hit the big one, but Sardonyx was in the ring place at the ring time. Whether it was by luck or by design, Sardonyx will hang onto the Fatales Championship, if only for a few more moments.

Self-pity aside, there’s still a match going on, and Lacey still has a chance. More than a chance now that Sardonyx is out of it, having taken all of that knee strike to the jaw and neck area. Maybe if they’d landed it on the temple instead, there might be a different story here, but they’ve been targeting that jawline all night, so it made sense to use that big red X for the final blow. But as luck would have it, Lacey’s time has not yet come to pass. It could be soon, though, as Lacey gets them back inside the squared circle. But as Lacey slips in through the ropes, Sardonyx jumps up, cracking their temple with a roundhouse kick! They droop, and Sardonyx plants them right on the neck with a Northern Lights Bomb! One big move transitions right into another, as Sardonyx all but deadlifts them up into a vertical suplex. At the last second, Sardonyx moves them over, and spikes them with a Suplex Piledriver! Lacey’s dumped right on the top of their skull, and they’re out cold! Folded up like an accordion, this is it! Sardonyx retains!

1…

2…

KICKOUT!

LACEY SURVIVES! WHAT THE HELL IS IT GONNA TAKE TO END THIS?!

Sardonyx is tired of playing this game, of dealing with the stubbornness, the resilience of Lacey Karmens. She demands a definitive victor, and demands it be her, and she’s going to ensure that in a big way. Leaving the ring, Sardonyx digs around for plunder, and eventually finds… a glass sheet. The pane is slid into the ring, Jessica already pulling out thick, black construction gloves in anticipation of what’s coming next, as Sardonyx leans the pane up against the corner. She turns and moves up to Lacey, pulling them up by the hair. She hooks them into another Crucifix, and charges, trying to throw Lacey through the glass - but they slide off! They shove Sardonyx, but she’s able to grab the ropes to stop herself. But she isn’t scot-free! Lacey charges, delivering a San Fran knee to the back of the neck, and sending Sardonyx through the glass pane! It shatters into a million tiny pieces as Sardonyx is forcefully driven through it, her head smacking into the turnbuckles in the process. Coming out of it, her face is leaking profusely, draining down the front of her body, while Lacey runs the ropes, nailing a second straight bicycle knee strike! Sardonyx drops to a knee, but it’s not enough to knock the champion down! Lacey looks a bit frustrated, maybe even heartbroken, but doesn’t stop fighting, doesn’t stop swinging. They hit a superkick, a shoot kick, then a buzzsaw, trying to knock Sardonyx down, but she won’t budge. Another superkick into a quick knee on the temple, then another buzzsaw, and a bicycle kick. Superkick, buzzsaw, knee strike - Lacey’s lighting up the champion, laying into Sardonyx until blood starts to drip out between her lips, mixing in with the blood making its way down her face. Sardonyx raises her arms to her sides as Lacey moves back to run the ropes. Sardonyx, somehow, is on her feet as Lacey does it, and they bulldoze through Sardonyx with another bicycle knee strike! Sardonyx drops to the mat, but they kip right up! For a moment, Lacey isn’t sure what to do, but they decide to run the ropes, hitting another bicycle knee strike! Sardonyx goes to kip up again, but as her feet hit the mat, her body gives out. The sudden blood loss mixed in with all those kicks to the head, 9 kicks, 3 bicycle knee strikes, all in the matter of a few seconds. It was enough to keep a normal man down, but Sardonyx isn’t human, until she is. Until the blood loss, the head shots, the months and months of agony and pushing through to win comes crashing down on her, in this very moment, but Sardonyx doesn’t stay down. She tries to get back up, her blood covering the mat, her partial white locks starting to turn pink, as she gets to her hands and knees, Sardonyx is trying to get back up. One more push to the finish line, and she could make it there. She could make it to 50-0, but Lacey runs the ropes, and cracks her temple with a third straight San Fran bicycle, their fourth of the night, and they fall on top of Sardonyx in delivering it, getting a deep cover to snap the streak!

1….

…..

2…

…..

3!

THAT’S THREE!

LACEY KARMENS HAS DONE IT!

THE STREAK DIES AT THE HANDS OF KARMA!

“HERE IS YOUR WINNER, AND NEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW MPW FATALES CHAMPION, LACEY KARMENS!”

Tears fill the eyes of Lacey Karmens as their name is announced by Steve Guy, the confetti and streamers popping off into the air. Lacey’s unable to move off their knees, frozen in shock, as they’re presented with the Fatales Championship. 49 other wrestlers came and failed, but Lacey Karmens is the 1 in 49-1. Lacey takes the Fatales Championship and holds it in their arms, cradling it like the precious trophy it is, before turning to the Chicago fans, the fans that have showered them with love since day one, and holds their prize high in the sky. The building is practically shaking at this point, cheering Lacey, before they begin to shout in unison.

“YOU DESERVE IT! YOU DESERVE IT! YOU DESERVE IT!”

And deserve it, they do.

[mimik-u]

“Snow Day” Thoughts:

Omg, Steven and I roughly wake up around the same time in the mornings. On weekdays, I drag my tired ass out of bed at seven, so I can have a few extra hours to myself to write and drink coffee before school and work.

Omg, I also drink a breakfast drink in the morning in lieu of eating breakfast. Wtf

AWH, the cheeseburger backpack!!! Remember when he was so excited to get it in the mail? 😭😭

SKSJSJS @ Garnet packing Cat Steven.

Omg, the Gems are in full mom mode, and I really love it. I’m tender. Steven is so bemused, though, lmao.

“Wait for us. We can head over together.” 😭 I’m going to be using this emoji a lot during this episode, okay?

“Yeah! Go get ‘em!” The Gems all place a hand on Steven’s head, and Steven scowls. 😭

No thoughts, only 😭.

“Surprise! We were sitting in the dark!” They were waiting on the couch for him!! Awhwhwhwhwhwhwhwh.

Do y’all remember back in S1 when the Gems were constantly leaving Steven behind to go on missions, when they were somewhat emotionally unavailable, when Steven slowly but gradually taught them how to play?? 😭

Awh, man, Steven. The gems are trying so hard to simply hang out with you, but you know, I get it. I think something about Future that’s really allowed me to empathize with Steven more than ever this series is that, well, he’s reminding me what it feels like to be sixteen. In and of itself, it’s a hella tense time. You’re navigating what it means to be on the precipice of adulthood while, really, you’re still just a kid in a lot of ways. You’re trying to reconcile the parts of your childhood that didn’t make sense, and well, sometimes hurt, and that manifests in ways you could never expect. You’re driving for the first time and gaining new friends, enjoying some newfound independence, but at the same time, you can be prone to moodiness. Hormones changing. The stress of school and extracurricular activities. You love your family, but in carving out your own identity, or, well, trying to figure it out in the first place, it’s far easier to push them away sometimes when you get stuck in your own head. Of, course, there’s no monolithic experience to being a teenager, but factor in some of these common struggles with Steven’s entire complex, which requires him to stress out over the tiniest details due to ingrained trauma, then, well, you haven’t got an excuse, but you absolutely have an explanation.

It’s so hard to be a teenager; it must be really hard to be a teenager with superpowers and a hell of a lot of unresolved baggage.

Does anyone know if there’s a meta reason Steven’s alarm is 7:13, lmao? That’s such an arbitrary number.

TOGETHER BREAKFAST. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

The callback to that particular episode is really on point. In “Together Breakfast,” it was Steven who was trying to get the Crystal Gems to hang out with him, so he wouldn’t have to eat his pancakes alone. 😭

“Ooh, we can re-read No Home Boys.” / “And I’ll do all the voices.” 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Another fitting callback. The theme of No Home Boys was, well, the main characters didn’t have a home, an anxiety that Amethyst above all used to metaphorically espouse. But then, with Pearl and Steven’s help, she came to realize that, yes, she did have a home. She’s always had a home. And it was never the Kindergarten.

“Man, you had a better work-life balance when the Diamonds were trying to destroy the planet.” SKDJDJDJS.

“Classic Steven.” / “Classic Steven????????” || And here’s the gist of the episode. The Gems are nostalgic for the way things used to be, for the things that Steven used to like, for the child he once was. They want to play with him. Steven loved to play sm. But Steven doesn’t want to go backwards; he thinks he’s put away his childhood and all that it ever entailed.

But really, I think this episode is going to school Steven in one of the most important lessons that’s so easy to forget in the daily grind of life: It’s okay to still be a kid sometimes, no matter your age, no matter your maturity.

PEARL DRAMATICALLY FALLING WHEN SHE GETS TAGGED JS SO FUCKING FUNNY ROEOEOFKDSMSKKSIFCIFIS.

“Ha! Jokes on you! Pearl doesn’t shapeshift—” OH MY GO D. PEARL IS SHAPESHIFTIN G

THE DEVELOPMENT????????? THE EVOLUTION!!!!?????

(The last time Pearl shapeshifted, it was to try and bring an end to a war. It was for her Diamond. It was for Rose. This time, it’s for Steven. It’s for helping him to re-learn what it means to play.)

STEVEN IN PEARL’S PALETTE LOOKS SO WRONG. HELP.

Knowing what a big step it is for Pearl to shapeshift, Amethyst and Garnet go and throw her in the air. Even Steven murmurs, “Wow, good for her.”

I’M TENDER. 😭😭😭

That one shot of Garnet holding a frame up to pretend like she’s a picture is very funny.

“Steven, no! I just folded those!” WOOWWOSJSJSJSKSJSJJSSN. HELP. I love Pearl.

SUGILITE STEVEN?!!!???!?))3$:$&:8:&:

HELLO?!!!!?!!!

(Omg, I think with Sugilite now, we’ve pretty much seen all the main CG fusions in Future except for Obsidian, Sardonyx, and Opal.)

SCRATCH THAT! SARDONYX STEVEN.

OPAL STEVEN.

HELP?!/&39:8:’skskssksksk

OPAL USING GARNET AS AN ARROW DOROEODKSKSKSJS.

Related but unrelated, Sugilite, Sardonyx, and Opal’s themes have always been so good, omg.

“It was a snowman. With Steven’s jacket.” Garnet collapses dramatically to the ground. “NOOOOOOOOOOO.” OWOWOEODJDDJDJMSSKJSSJ.

ALEXANDRITE STEVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Her theme is so good, too, omg.)

RUBY AND SAPPHIRE STEVEN??? THEY’RE SO ADORABLE???????????

SAPPHIRE HELP DOEOWEOSMDJDIOEOENDMDNSDJDNIDDJDJJDDOSKSOSIDJDODI.

I love Cat Steven with my entire heart

“He’s so cute!!!” / “No, I’m not.” WOSKDNSKSSKSJ HELP

But Steven also makes a salient point: He’s not the same kid that he was anymore, and he doesn’t want to be seen as that kid.

UGH, THE GEMS HUGGING HIM AS STEVEN. It’s here we most get the sense of how small he used to be. He’s grown up so much.

“Please forgive us.” / “We didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” / “We just miss you, Steven.” HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

😭😭😭😭

AND THEN THEY ALL PLAY TOGETHER. STOP. ImM GONNA CRY

AND THEN THE NEXT DAY, THEY ALL GO TO SCHOOL TOGETHER. I CANT DO THIS. I LOVE THIS FSMILY

No final thoughts, only 😭😭😭😭.

This might be my favorite episode in the season so far.

[sithvampiremaster27]

Think for Yourself, Cass!

Look: I love Cassandra. She is my favorite character in Tangled (that will never change!), and I still believe she can be redeemed,

But...

I admit she has her flaws and has been making bad decisions.

Just because I love a character, doesn’t mean I agree with everything they do:

1. I love Star Butterfly, but her ending the show with destroying the Magic is something I (and many other SVTFOE fans) completely disagreed with,

2. I love the Crystal Gems, but even they made bad decisions (e.g. Pearl lying to Garnet just to get her to form Sardonyx with her; Bismuth attacking Steven; Lapis stealing the entire barn; Spinel’s actions in the movie; and the things that are going on with Steven right now...),

3. I love the Mane 6, but they messed up a lot too (e.g. Rainbow Dash lying to Pinkie about her pies; Fluttershy becoming aggressive, Spike letting his greed get the best of him; etc.),

4. And as much as I love the Loud Siblings, I do not deny that they too did things I disapproved of (looking at you, episodes like “Brawl in the Family” and “No Such Luck”! Not to mention Luan’s prank rampages, Lola’s brattiness and Lynn picking on Lincoln...)

Same is the case with Cassandra. I’m aware that she did terrible things lately, and I do not agree with all her actions.

I get the feeling that Cass doesn’t... Think for Herself...

This is why I started listening to this little song by The Beatles lately:

Pay attention to the chorus and the 3rd verse and you’ll see what I mean...

But this still doesn’t mean that I hate Cass. No, no: I still love her and she’ll always be my favorite Tangled character; I’m just saying that she’s got some serious thinking to do about her actions. She needs to make up for her mistakes and apologize to everyone she hurt (not just Rapunzel, but also Varian, the Captain and everyone else). That, and stop listening to Zhan Tiri!

So Cass, as one of your biggest fans and as someone, who still has faith in you, I ask you: PLEASE: Think for Yourself... please...

[elven-ariaera]

I was watching Steven Universe pretty much since the beginning. I thought it was a cute show at first, but I also didn’t mind missing a few episodes here and there. With each new episode, I was becoming more engrossed in this wonderful world created by Rebecca Sugar and her crew. While I will be the first to admit that the show did have its problems and there were some elements I personally feel did not need to be added, I would still rank this show as one of my all-time favorites overall.

Now that the series has finally come to a conclusion (spoilers ahead if you’re not caught up), I thought now would be a good time to reflect on the series and take a look back at some of my favorite characters. To me, they were the heart of the show (along with all the Gem lore), and watching them grow throughout the series is definitely what kept me coming back. With that being said, here are my top 10 favorite Steven Universe characters.

Of course, before we begin, I must provide the disclaimer that this is, in fact, my personal opinion. There is no right or wrong best character (though there is a correct worst character, and we all know that’s Renaldo — Kidding. Sort of.) Whether you agree or disagree with my list or the order, perhaps I can at least offer a different perspective on these characters that I just find fascinating.

10) Yellow Diamond

Yellow was the first Diamond we were introduced to, and she clearly made a presence on the show. Her enormous stature and terrifying expressions were enough to show us that she was a force to be reckoned with. Her design and demeanor alone were enough to capture my attention, but there was more than just that as we saw more from this so-called tyrannical leader.

“What’s the Use of Feeling, Blue?” is one of, if not my absolute favorite songs from Steven Universe. Yes, I love the melody, but Yellow Diamond shows her true colors during this piece and it is evident. It’s clear that she’s affected by all the strife of the past, but to maintain power and appearance, she hides it all away. She grieves with aggression, taking it out on other planets and people, but deep down she’s hurting badly. It’s clear to hear near the end of the piece where she tries so hard to keep from breaking down.

9) Pink Diamond/ Rose Quartz

A lot of people started to hate Rose Quartz when her identity as Pink Diamond was revealed. I personally found it fascinating. Rose was by no means perfect; it’s made quite clear that she’s had quite the troubled past both by her own doing and the doings of the other Diamonds, and through it she’s done some pretty terrible things. I understand that. The thing is, though, she learned from it and eventually lead a whole rebellion to right her wrongs and allow Gems to have their freedom.

I think the main concern of why people only seem to hate her more and more is because in the beginning, we learned how ‘good’ she was and as we learned more about her, going further and further back, we see all of her biggest errors. If we play those events in reverse, we see her grow as a person. Her dynamic change is what makes her such a well-written character. The mystery, the reveals, how we learned about her bit by bit — it all built up to some very heavy drama, which for a television show, is a great thing.

I also believe that her transformation from a childish tyrant to a compassionate mother was a genuine one. I don’t doubt that she really wanted to have Steven more than anything. Even with all that we know about her now, looking back at that videotape she made for him, those feelings stand the same.

8) Amethyst

If you asked me my opinion on Amethyst when I first started the series, I would say that she was a fine character. She made me laugh, she had a fun personality; there was nothing wrong with her as a character, but I thought that she would only ever be comic relief. I never expected so much depth to be behind this goofy facade. Then “On the Run” premiered.

I never expected the episode to take such a turn. I always had a feeling a Pearl-Amethyst fight was coming with the way they constantly butted heads, but I never thought it would be for reasons like this. This was probably the first thing that really impacted me on an emotional level in this series. Amethyst’s face when she wails out “I never asked to be made!” still stands out in my mind to this day.

As the series progressed, Amethyst learns to love herself and embrace her faults, leading her to become, as Steven says, the most mature crystal gem. She has seriously come such a long way and I’m so glad that she was not simply comic relief. 

7) Greg Universe

I feel like a lot of us were expecting Greg to be a kind of absentee parent when this show first started, but he proved us wrong and has definitely shown us what kind of top tier dad he can be.

Is he perfect? No, but that’s okay. Yeah, he’s made his fair share of mistakes, but everything he’s ever done has only ever been for his son. The lengths he would go to keep Steven safe or to even push him to be his best self astounds me. There has been a lack of role model father figures in animation for a certain point, and ever since Steven Universe, I’ve definitely noticed an increase in them. While I’m not sure if he is the reason (probably not, but), I definitely think he’s an example to be followed for storytellers to come. 

I guess it comes with getting older, but I find myself feeling more sympathetic, interested, and entertained by the parents of the child protagonist rather than the protagonist themselves. Seeing Greg come to learn about the Gems from an outsider’s perspective rather than Steven’s somewhat knowledgable background, being partially raised by them and all. I think that so many of Greg’s flashback episodes are among my favorites of the series. 

6) Rainbow Quartz 2.0 & Sardonyx

I had to give a tie to these two fantastic fusions because I adore them both for the same reasons. They’re fun, flashy, and always a pleasure to see them on screen. Also, they both include Pearl, who’s quirks are evident in each fusion.

I was immediately drawn to Sardonyx’s larger-than-life (pun fully intended) personality. She’s bold and poised, but also knows to get a chuckle out of her audience — No, really, she plays up her act as if she were performing for an audience. She has a tendency to break the fourth wall, but in a more subtle way than Sunstone. Everything she does is simply entertaining and I just love it.

Rainbow Quartz 2.0 is similar in the sense of having a whimsical charm. Rainbow has a bit more tendency for being a caregiver than Sardonyx, but that only makes sense with both Pearl and Steven’s gentle natures being a key component in Rainbow’s makeup. Still, that doesn’t stop Rainbow for exerting a goofy attitude as well, which is so much fun to watch. A natural Mary Poppins! 

5) Spinel

A character that I thought would be a one-off movie villain has squirmed her way right into my heart. She is one of the most precious characters I have ever seen. Seriously, I was going into the movie with not many expectations for this new Gem, but man was I blown away with just how equally charming and threatening this character could be!

As a villain, she was terrifying and crazy. There was clear reasoning for her behavior, but even though we didn’t find out her motivation until about the halfway point, that hostility was clear and kept me wondering why. To find out she had been abandoned for so long was heart-crushing, especially after getting a glimpse of who she used to be. While I still like Pink/Rose as a character, this was something that I could not just let slide by.

She can still hold her own once she makes peace with what happened and moves on to befriend the other Diamonds. My heart skipped a beat when she reappeared for the series finale and she was as bubbly as ever. It’s so nice to see that she got her happily ever after too!

4) Peridot

The first of many characters with solid redemption arcs, and I think hers was the most effective and well thought out from a writing perspective. The Crewniverse were allowed to really take time with this one and so it felt genuine when Peridot finally decided to make up her mind and join the likes of the Crystal Gems. I truly think she had one of the best arcs in the series.

Aside from that, she’s also got such a strong personality. Gems made in Yellow Diamonds court have a tendency to be more on the snobby side, which she definitely is. Despite that, she still manages to be charming with her naiveté of Earth and its people. Even when she does have downright “unlikable” moments, such as her degrading mannerisms towards Pearl or the way she insulted Amethyst without even thinking, she eventually comes to the realization that what she did was wrong and makes it a priority to apologize in her own Peridot way.

Peridot is the product of what kindness can do to someone. Steven had no reason to keep caring for her the way he did, but in the end, it changed her. She kept her core personality traits, which I so appreciate as well, but she also didn’t revert back to her old ways either. She’s a changed Gem and had returned the favor by being a kind ambassador for Lapis, Bismuth, and I’m sure plenty of uncorrupted Gems once Little Homeworld had been completed.

3) White Diamond

White Diamond was exactly what I expected and what I wanted her to be. She has a radiant presence (quite literally) and exudes authority. As an antagonist, she was a worthy final opponent. While I would have loved the finale to be a few more episodes to get some more depth on the matter, what we did get, I loved.

From her first appearance, I knew White would be a threat like no other. While she certainly had unbelievable physical prowess, it was her manipulative brain-washing that had me both intrigued and terrified. Simply when we first saw Pink Pearl, who we assumed was White Pearl, you could tell something eerie was going on. Slowly, one-by-one, she took hold of all Steven’s allies — even the other Diamonds — and she proceeded to remove his gem. She had all the power. Of course, if anyone was going to stop her, it was Steven, but she put up one heck of a fight up ’til the very end.

A lot of people are iffy about how quickly she turned to Steven’s side, and I do understand that. Like I said, I wish there could have been a bit more time for that, but regardless I don’t mind what we received. I love how over the top White is, and how she’s trying so hard to be more compassionate but in the end, she’s still, so to say, living in her own head. Again, I love that these characters have a change of heart, but they still struggle with their past.

2) Blue Diamond

Throughout learning about the Diamonds, we are told by the Crystal Gems how heartless they were and what tyrannical rulers they could be. Granted, all these stories were true, and these actions should not be simply overlooked, but what we weren’t told is the tragedies they too have endured. After seeing the brash conqueror, Yellow Diamond, it was easy to label them as the clear “bad guys.” However, when we first meet Blue Diamond, she is weeping over a loved one.

Grief and sadness is something I easily relate to, so Blue was easy for me to sympathize with right from the start. Seeing how (for lack of better words) human she was made me think that perhaps there was another side to the Diamonds. Maybe they could be talked to instead of fought against. Seeing as Blue seemed like the most empathetic of the group, I was hoping that she would be the one they would turn to first, and she was.

Getting there wasn’t easy, and I’m glad it wasn’t — disregarding the last few episodes that needed to be a little bit squished to finish the story. Blue was the most emotional of the Diamonds, but she let them overtake her, deafening herself to hearing anything that might help her. Even Yellow Diamond, her closest confidant, could never fully restore her to a sound mind. This is an all too real problem, to let depression consume you, so to see that she was eventually able to be freed from this grief was truly satisfying.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Connie Maheswaran Connie is such an endearing character and the rock which Steven relied on. She was always the voice of reason and her love and dedication always shone above the rest.

Bismuth The only way to properly describe this character is strong. Strong personality, strong warriors, and strong beliefs. Though a little misguided, she believed in her cause and wanted to do what she could for her newfound family.

Padparadscha A precious angel of a Gem who needed much more screen time (along with Lars and the other Off-Colors.) Though her abilities were not so much helpful, she was still eager to do her part and help her friends. 

1) Pearl

So here’s the thing about Pearl: I loved her since the beginning. She was my favorite character from the start, being able to relate to her overly-protective behavior and somewhat neurotic antics all with a side of salt. I always admired how graceful she was and enjoyed the show most when she was on screen. Wonderfully brought to life by the voice work of Deedee Magno Hall, I was eager to see what would be in store for my favorite Crystal Gem. Little did I know how much she had been through and was about to endure throughout the course of the series.

The world-building and mystery of Steven Universe are some of its most fascinating elements, and so much of this is explored in Pearl’s overarching story. There was so much we didn’t know about the world of Gems and in turn, so much we didn’t know about Pearl. There was so much hidden within her, whether it be her history with Homeworld, Rose, or the alleged shattering of Pink Diamond, there was so much to be unveiled and I was on the edge of my seat waiting to learn more.

Pearl has been through so much suffering in her life, struggling to know where she belonged, and once she thought she knew what that was, she was ultimately denied it in the end. After grieving the loss of Rose Quartz, she took it as her new duty to be there for Steven as she once was her. Though she was technically a liberated Pearl, she was still binding herself to someone.

Throughout the series, we learn these secrets and see her as she still struggles to overcome these foreboding obstacles. It was so uplifting and such a victorious moment when she claimed “I do this for me!” in “Reunited.” I know she’s a fictional character, but I am so proud of how far she’s come and the independent individual she’s finally become. She doesn’t need someone else to serve or define who she is, no matter what her future entails, she is the master of herself. 

It’s rare that you find a show that has such an exceptional cast of characters where so many can resonate with you on a personal level. Each character in Steven Universe, whether we personally like them or not, has such depth and thought put into every one of them — and yes, that includes the townies. While I understand it’s not necessarily a show for everyone, I myself am glad I decided to give it a shot when it first aired. These characters have shown me so much in terms of both writing and personal growth, and I hope this little list of mine serves well as a love letter to thank all who worked on this show. Though it’s over now, these characters will always be in my heart.

I’m curious to know, who are your favorite characters from this show? Have any similar opinions? Different? Feel free to respectfully share your comments down below! 

Now that Steven Universe has finally come to a conclusion, I thought now would be a good time to reflect on the series and take a look back at some of my favorite characters. I was watching Steven Universe pretty much since the beginning. I thought it was a cute show at first, but I also didn’t mind missing a few episodes here and there.

[nacrepearl]

This anniversary, I wanted to pay tribute to the show by redrawing my favorite SDCC poster. With a few changes. It’s been 3 years since this poster came out on the internet, but it’s the poster for the first SDCC I experienced in this fandom. Below the cut is me being sentimental because I really love this show and its impact on my life is greater than one would think.

March 26th, 2015. I decide to watch Steven Universe after seeing gifsets of the first Stevenbomb on my dash from lingering members of the people who worked on my previous hyperfixation Attack on Space (A spinoff AU from the parent series Attack on Titan, which my interest in was fading quickly). I opt to watch the episodes that are on demand because they’re easier to access. I watch Alone Together first, Full Disclosure second (actual quote from me, who hadn’t known about SU’s musical nature: “Since when is SU a musical?!”). I then spend the next week or two watching the episodes on demand, then going onto KissCartoon to watch the series in order, in its entirety. (Quote when watching S1E05 Frybo: “I’m glad I’m watching these now before this inevitably becomes my new hyperfixation.” I have second hand embarrassment moments from this episode to this day). My brother decides to watch with me occasionally.

Fast forward to the end of March. I’m caught up with the series (back then only up to Joy Ride, which aired the day I began this journey). My friend Zac and I are now both into the show, and the following week Attack the Light comes out the same day that Say Uncle airs. Say Uncle is the first episode I watch live. I download ATL and finish it within a week. The rest of the weekly episodes (you heard me: weekly) were to follow and I was excited to officially be involved in the fandom. The beginning of April, I found the comics and I got to issue #5, the one where Pearl sucks in a gem-embedded book into her own gem and becomes ill from it. that was the day that I realized Pearl was my favorite character. Hurt/comfort is my way to tell.

I carry on watching the episodes throughout the month, and then after Reformed airs, we are faced with a hiatus. back then, a month and a half was a long time. Then, I got into the Pearl theories. I was all over the so called “nacre theory” right up until the theory had been confirmed in Back to the Barn (I still am, though the term “nacre theory” takes on a whole new meaning that I’m not sure will see the light of day now that we know more about Homeworld). You should have seen me go ham reblogging things about Pearl being lower-class, a lowly technician (ha), a maintenance drone. And all Pearls looked exactly the same back then in the fanart.

May 26th they announced the second Stevenbomb, half the fandom combusted. So did I. Sworn to the Sword happened and I had more fuel for the NT. I woke up that Thursday morning to a gifset of Pearl and Rose’s fusion dance because We Need to Talk leaked and spontaneously combusted right there. Then they announced Week of Sardonyx and our naive selves said “another one?” I went camping that weekend, which was also the weekend of SDCC. I nearly had a heart attack from my over-excitement when I got home that Sunday.

Week of Sardonyx came and went, with even more fuel to the fire for the NT. Cartoon Network does their greatest fuckup of the year by accidentally putting all of the Summer of Steven episode titles a whole year before they air. They changed the release date for the weekly episodes from August 6th to September 10th, and then we were graced by small Peridot on September 24th.

Back to the Barn airs. I die.

Then we go into a very long hiatus until Stevenbomb 4, airing in January 2016. This marks the first epsiodes to be leaked with the traditional screenshots + 2 minute clip. This was our first look at both diamonds + their pearls, and people were reasonably excited. Then we entered what we thought was the longest hiatus in fandom history–and we got the In Too Deep special earlier than expected.

Following the special, they announced the Steven Nuke/Summer of Steven. 4 weeks of episodes every night from mid-July to mid-August. Mr. Greg was the first musical episode and the crew hyped it up so much and yet it still had a huge impact on those watching that night. It was nominated for an Emmy one year later in 2017. We got some of the most intense episodes of the show in that bomb, with Amethyst’s arc, Bismuth holding the first half-hour special, the revelation that Rose supposedly shattered Pink Diamond, and Centipeetle’s corruption being explained further. Following SOS, there were weekly episodes and then another short hiatus, until Gem Harvest’s release in November. A short hiatus and then Three Gems and a Baby aired in early December.

During 2016, I meet two of my best friends through the fandom - @always-make-it-gayer and @hackerperidot. Gale and J have been my friends since that summer and because of this fandom, I’ve been less lonely and have had a blast in the ever growing group chat we have (Reverse Garden of Eden). I love you guys, and of course everyone else in the chat.

Following 3GAAB, in early January 2017, the entirety of Stevenbomb 5 drops on the app. Pictures with the diamonds and the zoo and the famethyst were on the internet in seconds. I had been on holiday break from school, and the night this all dropped was the first school night when the break was over. I stayed up very late, watched the episodes when I woke up for school in the morning, and listened to What’s the Use of Feeling Blue on repeat in the cold, snowy weeks to come. This was also right around the time my mom bought a house and we were ready to move in.

I got another birthday episode–Rocknaldo, airing on February 24th. Could’ve been better. I’m not complaining though. SU was crucial during this time because I was feeling very depressed and closed off due to the move and missing the apartment. The New Crystal Gems was the last episode the apartment got to see, and I promised to show Pearl’s backstory when it eventually aired, but we moved too early for that to happen. I like to imagine it can see my journal entries (you can ask if you want, in short it’s a coping mechanism I developed). Thereafter, we had another hiatus leading up to the sixth Stevenbomb with Aquamarine and Topaz. That bomb ended with the saddest episode in the series, finalizing season 4. Then the Wanted event aired, and we got so much lore content and more hints to the Pink Diamond mystery.

There came the biggest hiatus in the fandom’s history to this day. We were so thirsty for content. It was dry as fuck and the only light in the dark was SDCC with the Lars of the Stars clip (which would then air months later) and the trailer for the first half of season 5′s kickoff bomb.

Gemcation airs, and everyone finally understands Pearl’s quirk with covering her mouth in discussions about the diamonds. We all were getting so antsy at this point to find out what was happening with Pink Diamond and the lore behind the show and by god where is White Diamond?

We get Stranded in January 2018, allowing us to spark the “diamonds get revealed in January” meme with the Pink Diamond face reveal. Of course, this is debunked by Legs From Here To Homeworld in July 2018.

We get more episodes in March, and then are plunged into the final reveal in May with the half hour event, Can’t Go Back and A Single Pale Rose. The fandom collectively freaked out with the revelation that Pearl and Rose were diamond and pearl and faked the shattering in an effort to end the war. The people who survived this saw the Heart of the Crystal Gems arc in July. This was the week that held the Rupphire wedding.

Reunited airs, and I am surrounded by 3 of my best friends ( @asassynerdnamedgabbs, @neroblackcat, and @hackerperidot who had been visiting New York from Australia that week ) so I hold myself back from reacting too much. I cried that night out of sheer joy that my favorite show was the first cartoon to show a lesbian wedding on national TV. Of course, we get the diamonds and then SDCC the following weeks, with Legs From Here to Homeworld. I am at my cousin’s graduation party the day of the panel and my phone is slowly losing battery percentage as I try to keep up with the tweets and posts about what was going on. It was a huge deal.

Now we arrive here. Nothing had been shown at last month’s NYCC which is unusual, but that’s okay. We are still on hiatus, and it is SU’s 5th anniversary of being on the air. I am patiently waiting for the show to come back, and I’ll have more memories to make with this fandom in the months to come.

Happy Anniversary, SU!

[thecrystalcaverns]

Three questions 1. what is your favorite theme from undertale 2. what is your favorite song from steven universe 3. who is your favorite fusion

1) My favorite Undertale song has always been Undertale itself. I’m like really excited to have a version of it for TCC but that’s a long way off. 

2) My favorite Steven Universe song is “It’s Over Isn’t It” It’s just something that so powerfully embodies grief and emotion, from the cast’s most talented singer. It also helps that it foreshadowed Change Your Mind.

3) God, if you asked me before Change Your Mind I’d have definitely said Sardonyx (discounting Garnet as a member of the main cast). But now Sunstone is either tied or a very close second. I love them. Like a lot.

[bluekayanite]

Observations: Contradictions in “Familiar”

I’m not dead!  Life was just kicking my butt hard and kept me from having much in the way of spare time, and it sent me into burnout, anxiety, and depression.  I tried to push through and still work on blog stuff, but it seemed to have a pretty bad impact on the quality of my work.

I’ve had some time to recover now - just in time, too, because I’d hate not to get a theory/observation post out before Diamond Days releases.

(Yes, I know I’m cutting it close.  I’m just trying to get it at all right now.)

Okay, did anyone else notice that Familiar felt a bit off?

(Besides Steven, that is.)

To the point: Part of my main theory has long been that White has been using mind-control powers on everyone, including Blue and Yellow.  Right now, that includes the idea of making everyone think that Rose and Pink are the same person.

I expected to see at least one contradiction in this ep - probably while Steven talked to Blue or something - but really, this ep is littered with them.  Even if you weren’t actively looking for contradictions, I bet a lot of people still noticed something that was strange.

First, the most obvious one:

Yellow says that the sauna/extraction chamber is new, i.e. Pink and Pearl wouldn’t have known about it because it was made while they were away.  And yet...

Pearl somehow knows about it, and even knows how to help Steven prepare for it.

Perhaps the next most noticeable oddity: It’s pretty obvious that Pink is Blue’s favorite, to the point that she would sneak away to think about her, neglecting her duties.

Instead, Blue seems to now be neglecting “Pink” for the sake of her duties - a complete reversal.  In fact, she doesn’t even seem to bother drying off when she leaves the pool, like she’s in a hurry to get out of there.

In fact, you’d expect Blue to be the first Diamond to want to be with Steven, but instead, Yellow beats her to it.

My theory on that particular detail: You know how in LFHTH, Yellow said that Steven should let her do the talking?  And how she was more willing to approach White than Blue was?

I think there’s a good change that Yellow did talk to White shortly after Steven.  And as such, White affected her, before Blue, and Yellow was the first available.

Getting to more subtle notes, you remember this part?

This is the first one that really stood out to me.  Pearl never says “Thank the Stars,” or anything like it.  Instead, she seems to favor Earth expressions when exclaiming things.

I was even under the impression that she had abandoned Gem theology.  And yet, here she is, thanking the s/Stars.

(No, I’m not counting when Sardonyx greeted Steven.  Along with it being hard to tell how exactly personalities affect a Fusion, there haven’t been any non-fused references to the stars like that - from Pearl, Garnet, Ruby or Sapphire - so it’s not a good data point.)

There’s more moments where the Pearls seem to be out of character.  You probably remember this part:

I don’t think that Yellow Pearl would normally have a problem with something like a name.  She’s normally shown a lot of personality - i.e. not limited to a few tasks.

And she’s emoted at Steven’s nonsense before.

But now, not only does she seem to not realize that Steven’s being silly, but he somehow risks breaking her with it?

I’m pretty sure that she’d be able to handle something like a name, especially since Steven didn’t even make it complicated  Heck, part of her job seems to be working with names.

Blue Pearl also has moments.  When Steven heads to see Blue, I noticed this:

This is the first time we’ve seen Blue Pearl with her hands behind her back.  Normally, she keeps them clasped in front.  Having the hands behind the back is more of a Yellow Pearl thing.

I also wonder about her “Welcome back.”  I mean, come on, she was there when Pearl helped Rose make an attack at the Cloud Arena.

I know we don’t know her very well, but I still wonder why she’d welcome Pearl after that.

Also: Have you really listened to her when she says it?  It’s kind of creepy. o.o;

Speaking of which, if I’m not mistaken, Yellow sounds a bit flatter than usual when she talks.  Blue might be a bit off, too.  To me, they both give off a sort of “hypnotized” vibe, as do the Pearls (all three of them).

Regardless of their tone, they both seem too calm for everything that just happened, at least IMO.  Really, they go from “worried about dealing with White” to, as Steven puts it, “spa day,” in what seems like a matter of minutes.

I’m thinking that White basically told them not to worry.  In fact, it might be why Yellow laughs at the idea of failing to get White’s attention, instead of getting angry.

Pearl herself is also oddly calm, or even weirdly happy about a lot of... less fortunate things.

I know she likes Pink/Steven, but liking Pink and Steven is exactly why I’d think she’d be more upset about Yellow conquering planets, slaughtering countless people, and having Gems sucking the life out of the ground after the fact.  Not to mention the idea of Pink helping celebrate such things.

Speaking of, that’s another thing that Pearl probably shouldn’t know about: If the murals are any indication, Yellow probably only had nine colonies when the Earth colony was just started, i.e. the last time Pearl would’ve been in touch with Homeworld.

And now she has hundreds.  And the way Pearl talks, it sounds like she somehow knows about them all.

“Yellow Diamond oversees all aspects of Gem production on every single one of her colonies.”

On the other hand, Pearl talks about Yellow often being off with her army - singular - whereas Peridot said in Hit the Diamond that Yellow has control over “all the armies of Homeworld” - plural, and probably very many.  So it’s like Pearl knows about the newer colonies, but not the new armies.

And unless the Diamonds are normally friends with the Gems in their courts, it also feels like a stretch for thinking of Pink’s court to remind her to get Steven’s friends.

If you ask me, it seems like Pearl’s mind is so filled with active contradictions that she’s the Pearl most likely to break.

Maybe not too unlike a certain other Pearl that I bet White worked her magic on.

Anyway, since I mentioned odd grammatical usage, Blue has a couple moments:

Grammar is one of my strongpoints, and in this context, “you and I” is nonstandard, or even considered incorrect (I checked - it often comes with hypercorrection).  But more strange is how she turns down Steven’s suggestion to play a game.

I’d think that, now that Steven’s here, and White is obviously glad for it, the Blue would think that idea of playing the game again would be wonderful, and that it might be a good way for the Diamonds to get together again.  Instead, she talk about how no one wanted to come when Pink wasn’t there.

Okay, so either of those on its own seems like a stretch, but two odd word choices seem like a pattern to me - like a little hint that something is wrong.

And if you think about it, Blue doesn’t really answer either of Steven’s requests.  Along with turning to the past and not the present, she says nothing about talking to White.

Pearl also seems to have some odd responses to what Steven says, not always answering the real question.  (You could probably count Yellow, too.)  And there are a lot of oddly convenient interruptions.

Also, both Blue and Yellow seem to have a lot of focus on wanting to be with White, especially if they’re afraid of her.  It almost seems like White might want them to, well, want to be with her.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned, but I’ve long theorized that White actually fears loneliness, but is very selective about who she lets in.  This could be evidence of that.

I do suspect that the singing underwater game is actually canon.  It seems a bit too specific when White seems to be missing a lot of details.  It also suggests both intelligence and a degree of creativity on Pink’s part: things that would help if she wanted to lead a rebellion in secret.  I also think there’s a chance that the Pebbles can’t be affected by White’s powers.

Speaking of which: Why would the Pebbles accept “Pink,” but run from her Pearl?  Unless maybe they knew that she’s not actually the Pearl that belongs to Pink. ;3

Anyway, I know I’ve been all over the place with this post (esp. toward the end here), but there were a couple more things that I wanted to mention: You know the new “Love Like You” recording in the credits?  The one that doesn’t quite sound like it’s being sung by Rose?  I noticed that it was heading towards the line “What makes you think I’m so special?” and in Familiar, it got to that part.  Not only that, but it really emphasizes the word “special,” making it sound a bit strange.

I was thinking that it would make sense if they played that line right around the time of a “Rose ISN’T Pink” reveal, and considering that Diamond Days has its own trailer - one that’s on the dramatic side even - it seems like that ep is probably going to be important.

Maybe Steven’s going to find out that something is very wrong, and maybe even question whether Rose was Pink after all.

If so, then it would be sooner than I expected. 83

Connie also seems to be giving the CGs a somewhat-strange look, possibly on the concerned side.

Have they all been affected?  Has Connie noticed that something’s off?

I’m curious to find out.  I suppose that will be soon. =3

And yes, there is a lot more I could talk about here, but I think I’ll leave it at this for now. XD

[love-takes-work]

Sorta-Transcript from online fan Q&A with Shelby Rabara, Deedee Magno Hall, and Michaela Dietz

Anyone can watch this online Q&A with the above voice actors, but if you don’t want to watch/can’t listen to audio, I made this sorta-transcript. Meaning I did not transcribe the exact words in most cases, but I wrote down the questions and the basic idea of how they answered. Enjoy! 

Shelby Rabara (voice of Peridot) was the Livestream host for fan questions! Deedee Magno Hall (Pearl) and Michaela Dietz (Amethyst) were giving answers, but usually Shelby gave her answer too.

Shelby read fan questions.

1. Favorite episode and why?

Deedee: “Steven and the Stevens”: she likes the song, because it reminds her of the movie That Thing You Do.

Michaela: Is it a cop-out to say all of them? Ha. “Tiger Millionaire” is great because Zach's performance is great and wrestling's cool.

Shelby: “Lion 3: Straight to Video.” Because it's emotional.

2. What character that you don't voice do you relate to most?

Deedee: Amethyst.

Michaela: Really??

Deedee: Because I like to eat. I like to eat FOOD.

Michaela: You don't like to eat stacks of garbage and moldy burritos?

Michaela: Steven. He has a good head on his shoulders.

Deedee: And you also have a very good heart like him!

Shelby: I relate to Connie. She is level-headed and uses logic and makes the correct choice.

Michaela: She's bright and assertive and so are you.

Shelby: Are you having fun here?

Michaela and Deedee: YES! We just had a great panel and cosplay!

3. If your characters were human, what jobs would they have?

Deedee: Pearl would work in a Laundromat because she's really good at folding clothes and I think either that or maybe she might be in the cleaning business because she likes to organize. She's tidy.

Michaela: I need the Pearl method in my home. Amethyst would be a camp counselor. She would be the wacky counselor who's getting too into the games.

Shelby: I'd want Amethyst as a counselor.

4. If you were a Gem, what would your gem weapon be and why?

Deedee: Because I'm a mom, I would want to have a healing blanket to heal them.

Michaela: The power of a bad joke. "Orange ya glad I didn't say banana?" So powerful.

Shelby: I would wanna read people's minds. Can I use that? Is that like Garnet's third eye?

Deedee: Similar but not.

5. How do you get into character when you perform voice-overs?

Michaela: I have an evolved routine. I wake up. And that's what I do. I'm so close to Amethyst! I wake up, I talk, it's acting.

Deedee: That comes so easy to you! I have to wake up early, and warm up, especially if it's a singing episode. No coffee with cream. I have to drink water to avoid sticky saliva. Green apples!

Shelby: I noticed that you ate green apples!

Deedee: I wish I didn't have to do that! But green apples help lubricate and get rid of mucus.

Michaela: Or a potato chip. Not a weird flavor.

Shelby: I'm gonna try those things next time I'm in the booth with you guys.

6. What's your favorite Fusion?

Michaela and Deedee: [Start singing "Giant Woman"]

Deedee: Though I do like Sardonyx.

Michaela: Every time a new Fusion appears I like that one. I'm crushing on Smoky Quartz.

Shelby: I like Stevonnie. That's an aesthetic I haven't seen in cartoons. It's Steven and Connie mashed together!

Michaela: Says young cosplayers remind her of Stevonnie with the maturity they exude. Stumbles over calling Stevonnie a "young woman" and then acknowledges they're a nonbinary Fusion. Says that easy confidence is so attractive.

Deedee: AJ is a perfect voice for Stevonnie. She killed it at the panel, and the singing with Estelle with Rebecca playing was amazing. What a great Fusion they are.

7. Give your best impression of another character.

Michaela: muhmuhmuh! [Onion voice]

Deedee: I'm nervous doing this in front of you. "YOU CLODS!" [Peridot voice]

Shelby: YOU'RE GONNA TAKE MY JOB AWAY!

Deedee and Michaela: NO YOU'RE THE BEST!

Shelby: Let's just fawn over each other.

8. How long does it take to record an episode?

Michaela: Depends on how many lines we have. Could be an hour, could be four hours.

Deedee: We get in at 9, could be wrapped up by 1.

Michaela: An episode takes ten months from the idea to on the TV.

Deedee: Like a baby. It IS a baby.

9. What celebrity would you like to see appear on the show?

Michaela: Rebecca Sugar. And T-Pain. He's a big Steven Universe fan.

Deedee: I just want to meet him and sing with him: Bruno Mars.

Shelby: I would wanna see Adele. Adele should voice a character. And she's funny. And she loves herself.

Michaela: Loving who you are is so on-brand!

10. Who's the best Steven Universe villain?

Deedee: Can I say Peridot? She started out as a villain and then changed for good. [Michaela helped express this and they say they Giant Womaned that.]

11. What would your fusion dance be?

Deedee and Michaela do a fusion dance with Shelby providing beatboxing.

Michaela: Actually that's how we greet each other on the street.

Deedee: I was nervous. Dancing in front of you makes me nervous because you're a pro dancer.

Shelby: Imagine us in a booth together! Our work isn't even work.

Michaela: People probably see us and ask if we had too much ginger ale. Too many vegetables.

Deedee: YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY VEGETABLES. Fruits and vegetables. Also, hydrate. Drink lots of water.

12. What are your favorite memories from recording?

Deedee: We're still making more memories! The efforts! When we crack up over making effort noises.

Michaela: Do you hear that? It's an earthquake!

[All three make noises like they're losing their balance.]

Michaela: When we get together it's always a great time, like a mini family reunion. Recently AJ was there, Estelle was there, you [Deedee] were there, Paz was there . . . I think Zach wasn't there? Toks was there! [Nanefua's voice actor.] We had a reunion. We're so close!

13. What has been the most difficult scene to record?

Deedee: There are many re-dos. For me, the really wordy Pearl lines, 'cause I don't speak like that normally. The intricate dialogue that Pearl says is tough for me.

Michaela: You execute them flawlessly.

Deedee: Take after take after take.

Michaela: During Amethyst's angrier self-expression phases, it was hard to scream a lot and vary it so it didn't all sound the same. Very challenging.

Shelby: We're our own biggest critic. When we have long runs, we have to think so quickly. Finding the levels is important, trying to hit them emotionally.

Deedee: It's so helpful to have Rebecca, Kent, Matt, and Ben in the booth giving specifics to us on how to execute our lines.

Michaela: You both are so good at taking the text and making it feel like your own. I learn the most from watching other actors.

Deedee: We go to school every sesh!

14. Tell the fans what your favorite line is.

Deedee: OH MY GOODNESS.

Michaela: CHAIRS!

Deedee: I like saying everybody's names. "STEVEN!" "AMETHYST!" "~GARNET!" [The “Steven” read sounds fearful, the “Amethyst�� read sounds angry, and the “Garnet” read sounds almost pleading.]

Shelby: Mine's definitely "Clod."

Shelby: On Sunday, Cartoon Network they're filming a music video for "Stronger Than You" with Estelle!

[The VAs sing a line from "Stronger Than You."]

Michaela: But we're not really stronger than YOU because you guys are really strong.

Deedee: Really strong. Stay strong! In the real way.

Shelby: YES.

[antojai]

Healing yourself from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with Alternative Medicine

Healing yourself from PTSD with Alternative Medicine!

My personal journey

PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), Is one of the toughest conditions I have personally had to deal with. For years it haunted me, taking away my peace. It was during those years that I decided to put my expertise of medical Shamanism to good use. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t want to test the full range of healing that could come from Shamanic Medicine.  I told myself that I had helped so many people with different conditions because I had healed myself first. Which eventually gave me knowledge to help other people dealing with those blockages I had conquered.  I saw a PTSD as nothing different. As a shaman, it is a custom to heal yourself from your past demons, current emotional blockages, and any subconscious hindrance that is stopping you from living to your truest potential. The following advice comes from three years of my personal battle with PTSD. This is what helped me get my life back, so I could go back to being who I really was.

For those of you unfamiliar with post-traumatic stress disorder, it’s a condition that comes after experiencing a traumatic event.  Some events have greater weight than others, and it’s those events that can leave a haunting impression on us.  PTSD is most commonly seen in soldiers, but is not limited to war. Child abuse can lead to PTSD, and other social scars can do the same thing.  The results are uncontrollable flashbacks. These flashbacks can be extremely vivid, throwing the person back to the moment that caused their trauma. For some it completely immobilizes them, and for others it makes living extremely difficult. You may feel an uncontrollable urge to sleep for several days, all while having nightmares and confusing thoughts. Those are only some of the blockages that at person with PTSD can be facing.

For me personally, I would sleep for days… with no energy to eat, shower, or other.  My friends would have to wake me, and help me with the most basic of things. If not, I would sleep like a fairytale character cursed by some witch.  My dreams became so frequent, and vivid, that I would wake up at times questioning what was fact from fiction.  There’re times where I would begin reliving a memory, but then the effects of dreaming would tamper with the memory.  There were days where I would spend the entire day trying to sort out what wasn’t part of a dream.  My fear, was letting the dream take control over my psyche, my reality. I was most certain that insanity would be the result if I slipped.  If I didn’t experience lapses in my memory, I would have dreams of an epic battle that I was in the middle of. For those of you familiar with Dragon ball Z (anime show), I was always in the final showdown with Broly… the legendary super Saiyan. If he one, I would sleep for another few days; if I won, I would have a few days to a week of regular living.  It became a priority to never lose this battle. It was after I won, that I would dedicate myself to cherishing every actual living moment I had.

Even when I wasn’t sleeping, I was far from free. The PTSD kept me terrified in anxiety of leaving my home alone, or in general.  As a result, the network of people that I had spent years building dissipated.  Surely depression followed.  When I did step outside of my house, usually with a friend, I would have moments where I would be shopping for groceries and suddenly find myself reliving a flashback. To the rest of the world, it looked like I checked out. This made it impossible for me to drive, and only made it more difficult to leave the house because I found myself checking out during walks. It had to stop!

That’s when I decided to put all of my training, and knowledge to finding the escape route. I had been accustomed to different states of mind during meditation, and interdimensional travel…. but nothing like this.  I had to engineer a plan to escape my own subconscious. My mind would just remember all my masters, and this felt like a final exam I hadn’t studied for.

So here we GO!

1.     Resolve, & Knowing

You have to be dedicated to healing yourself. You need to be real with yourself. Know that this will not go away in a day, month, or year even. Healing takes time, and that time is dependent on you. I hope that these tools speed up your recovery, and if you find anything else that helps…share them with us! Remember to motivate yourself. The illusion of failure here is simply that, an illusion. YOU CAN DO THIS!

& Don’t you ever forget it.

Other articles might tell you to have faith, I won’t. Faith, is in a way, to force yourself to believe it will work. I’m telling you to KNOW it will work. The law of attraction and manifestation highlight that your mind has incredible power. If you’re mentally sure that you will get better, the universe has no other option but to respond. We can’t manifest cures at will, but we can manifest our well-being. This is your strongest tool. Positive thoughts, and energy behind everything you do. Most of us visit a Western doctor, and just trust that they know what they’re doing. Some of us even know that a western doctor will do something for us to make us better. It’s the exact same in the situation.

 2.     Support

I would say that this is a requirement …. But, everyone’s situation is different. You need to get your support system involved. If your support system knows about your goals to better yourself, they can keep you motivated. Tell them what approach you would like to take (holistic or other), and develop a plan for success!

 3.     Feng Shui & Color Therapy

Feng shui is the art of arranging belongings in your home in ways that produce, and maintain the flow of positive energy. It’s a lot easier than many make it out to be. I’ll even give you a map to use. I personally love to use crystals over a ton of furniture rearrangement. The one thing I tell everyone about furniture is to make sure that you can’t see yourself in the mirror from your bed. If you can see yourself in the mirror while lying in bed, this will produce negative energy. The main thing about this form of therapy is having clean, open spaces.

By having less objects that interrupt the flow of energy, you can welcome in more positive energy. I essentially want you to find each area of the map within your house. The rooms may not be all on the same floor, so use common sense when mapping what rooms go where. The following list of stones placed in the correct areas of Feng Shui, will leave you baffled. Also, pay attention to the colors on the map that correspond to each room. This is where the color therapy comes in. The list below are some of the stones I use in my house.

Prosperity: Citrine, Pyrite, Jade

Fame: Sardonyx, Carnelian, Bronzite

Love: Rose Quartz, Moonstone, Coral

Family: Selenite, Malachite, Rose Quartz

Physical: Quartz, Celestite, Amethyst  

Children: Amethyst, Citrine, Sepentine 

Knowledge: Lapis, Septarian, Lodalite 

Career: Labradorite, Lodilite, Jade, 

Helpful: Citrine, Malacite, Sunstone

What is color therapy and how does it work? Color has a significant impact on the human mind, body, and soul. That’s why hospitals have certain colors to help with healing, or staying calm. This is a form of healing that is grossly overlooked due to its ease of access, and application. You can play sees colors in each room by painting walls, putting objects of that color in the room, or even something as simple as making your bedroom sheets that particular color. After some time, you will begin to notice a difference in yourself, your environment, and even those who live with you. My family absolutely loves it. So, I’ll even give you a nice breakdown of what each color can do for you.

 Red brings in vitality, sensuality, vigor, and confidence. It helps make you feel safe.

Orange stimulate sexuality, allows the ability to have more emotional control over yourself, and can stimulate creativity. It helps fight off feelings of guilt.

Yellow is great for mental focus, clarity, creativity, and transcendence of thought. It helps fight off feelings of shame.

Green helps calm the environment, mind, and body. It’s great for stress relief, healing of all kinds, and promoting healthy life choices. This color helps reinforce your feelings of love and progression from the past.

Blue helps calm the mind, is good for inducing sleep, and promotes the creation of sound. What I mean by this is that it encourages people to talk. Blue helps disarm the soul. It will open up the flow of knowledge available to you.

Purple is great for your intuition. It will heighten your senses, promotes creative problem solving, and allow you to see the bigger picture. Purple is great for stress relief, sleep, relaxation, aids in the creative arts that deal with writing.

White is a high healing color. Yeah - a lot of people have white in their house, but do you notice how much brighter a room is with the white on the walls? Since white is a combination of color, by wearing white you’re constantly exposing yourself to all the colors. Remember you don’t have to just wear it either.

·The last color I recommend, and is my favorite, gold. Though many healers will tell you that white is the master healing color, Gold is a high concentration of light and positive energy. Gold Will motivate you to succeed, and let go of any pesters that don’t really matter. Gold can make you feel great about yourself again, and about living. It will help you heal faster.

 4.     Plants! Green, Green, Green

I had always had the black hand of death with plants, (I know a shaman plant killer is WEIRD). I had read so much about Japanese forest medicine that my friends figured they would bring the concept to me. They helped me set up a few pots with plants I found beautiful. This in time grew on me. My plants were my pets, I could not ignore feeding them! So, I would start trying to force myself out of bed in the morning, JUST to water the plants. If I went back to sleep…it was a process. As time passed, waking up didn’t seem so heavy, my plant collection grew, and I began to see a shift in myself. If I couldn’t do it for myself, at least I could do it for my garden. The green would great me every morning, helping me change my mental progression each day. It’s safe to say that I am no longer the grim reaper of plants. Push yourself a little more each time, keep hope, and soon you will reap benefits too.

 5.     Service Dog

Like I said, getting out of the house was difficult beyond comprehension.  After some time with the plants, I felt like I could take on a small dog. I was home alone a lot, and since the plants managed to get me up in the mornings, I thought a dog my push me through my day. In time, Artemis became my service dog, and now we go everywhere together. He’s helped me with going out alone, without fear because I have him. If I’m ever anxious… he’s there with all his fluffiness to calm me down. With the help of Artemis, and Pokémon Go, I’m driving again! I only mention Pokémon because it really did motivate me to play. I was forced to go on walks with Art if I wanted to get more levels! So, if you hold a spot for Pokémon…try the combo and see where it goes.

Now, you are probably thinking that getting a service dog is ridiculously hard! Wrong. If you are someone who is blind, or needs a dog for those purposes…you need a professionally trained therapeutic dog. You want to get a service dog because they can go anywhere people are allowed, and cannot be turned down. Emotional support dogs can be turned down at public transportations, and are not considered a requirement for your health.

 What you need:

-Get a letter from a mental health professional stating that they recommend a service animal.

-Then get your gear! I went here to get my certificate, vest, and handler ID.

-Carry the prescription and ID with you at all times. No one has the right to ask you why you need the dog, but they can ask you what services the dog provides.

-Know your rights!

 RULES:

Your dog must abide by human customs. That means:

-No barking

-No eating off of floors

-No jumping on people

-The Animal has to be under the table by you at all times when sitting unless you have a medical condition that requires the dog on your lap

Your dog should be a hypoallergenic dog that sheds only once or twice a year, if at all.

If you can’t properly train your dog to follow basic commands, I suggest hiring a trainer.

I’ve always had dogs, so I knew what was needed to train Art. I did plenty of research when training so that no one could give me crap later about my service dog.

*FYI- not any dog is considered a service breed…like Pitbulls etc.

If you can’t properly handle a service animal, skip this step entirely because you make it harder for people who actually benefit from this form of healing.

     6.     Reiki & Antojai

Energy healing is on the rise in western society as of late, but it has been around for centuries. The bible even describes it when Jesus heals by touch. This goes for so many other dogmas, and philosophies. Scientifically, it has only been around since 1922, when Reiki was developed. Almost a century later, 94 years to be exact, Antojai was also developed. Each energy style is great on its own, but it’s when they are put in combination that the definition of energy healing evolves.

Reiki stands for universal life energy. When a Reiki healer works on you, they are filling you with the energy that flows within all life across the universe. If you choose to try this non-invasive method, I would say trying a session first… and if you like it, LEARN IT! If you learn Reiki you will have it readily available at all times. Plus, you will save costs in the long term if you already have financial restraints.

Reiki will prepare your mind, body, and soul for a deeper stage of healing. If you are not used to energy healing, Reiki is the key to understanding energy medicine. This should be a consistent standard to your healing. I give myself Reiki every day. Think of it as a mega anti-depressant, and beyond. If you have body pain, reiki! If you are low on energy, reiki! If you are feeling negative in any way, reiki. You get the point.

Click here, or full detailed medical information about reiki by the University of Minnesota. Reiki gave me the energy I needed to pursue my healing process, and it made it much easier to walk that path.

Some reiki instructions can be expensive, $700+. I teach it in person, or by distance anywhere around the world at a fraction of that. Other courses take a weekend. My course is 2.5hrs, 3 TOPS! That’s how fast you can learn it. Reiki can be achieved by anyone who truly wishes to learn it. Everyone should have access to a form of healing, and it’s because of that reason that I teach it starting at $280/usd. Click here to set up your instruction now!

Now, not everyone can learn Antojai, but you should take advantage of it if you have access to a Antojai Master. I recommend it if you are already a frequent Reiki user, or if you need a deep healing to allow you to enjoy the benefits of reiki.

Antojai essentially targets the causes of your PTSD, and helps you with releasing ties to triggers. My condition was so bad I ended up trying western medications for a while before my research. As I began to apply Antojai to myself daily, I began to see changes in the ways I was thinking, the things I was inspired to do, and so much more. It was because of Antojai and Reiki that this healing suggestion is present today. Antojai opened full access to the components of my subconscious so I could address, heal, release, or erase the glitches within my subconscious. I was on 5 different medications, and today I’m down to 1. With Antojai and Reiki I was able to free myself from the depths of my own mind.

I began applying different signatures of Antojai to myself, and I would switch the signature in use every month. Month one was Kundalini, 2 Emotional Sacral, and so on. For seven months, I applied it to myself- and I’m a totally different person. I feel like I have my life again, and I can pursue being the person I have always aimed to be.

 7.     Subconscious Diving

Subconscious diving is the act of going within yourself to analyze the root causes of certain thoughts.  Some people need a hypnotherapist, or energy healer to help them through this kind of healing. It is possible for you to do it on your own though.

This technique doesn’t work for everyone, but if it does work for you… Take full advantage of it. I constantly dive within my own subconscious to understand myself better by analyzing my experiences. The experience doesn’t really matter where it took place, or when. The importance of this exercise is to understand why a particular effect was in play at that time. For instance:

In mid-college, I had moments where the world just seemed lost, and internally I didn’t know where I was either.  This memory use to pop up all the time at random. It wasn’t until I went into my subconscious, and addressed my past self, that I was able to release myself. I sat down with my past self and explain to him what the future holds. I told him that everything would be okay even though right now it doesn’t seem like it. After the first time doing this, I felt a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders, but it wasn’t fully gone. It took me another subconscious dive to that same memory, along with journaling to completely erase my ties to this moment that exacerbated my PTSD.

Not all of these modalities, and techniques will work for everyone, so go with what feels right.

 8.     Soul Retrieval

 So, retrieval is the act of going to a point in time where a vital portion of yourself was lost. This can be in a memory of a past life, your childhood, or something current that you didn’t even notice had taken a portion of you.

Most people need an energy healer, or a past life regression is to help them with this kind of healing. Some Reiki Masters can perform this kind of procedure.  If you are accustomed to meditation, you can do it yourself as well. Just go online and find the most popular book on Amazon that talks about the process of soul retrieval. This kind of healing can be very beneficial as it is a form of you putting yourself back together spiritually. This then transfers over to mental faculties, and finally physical.

This kind of healing should only be done when you feel ready for it. Your soul will let you know that you’re prepared to receive this kind of information. You may start hearing, seeing, or thinking about soul retrieval. This is an indication that you perhaps should try this method of healing. The results are completely different for everyone, since we each have our own personalized demons. Try it out!

 9.     Journal Transfer

The technique of journal transferring your emotions is something many people have done for centuries, and hidden from those of us who actually could benefit from it. It may take you little bit to get accustom to doing this style of healing, but once you start… it’ll be a lifesaver.  One major technique I use with journaling is analyzing my life. If I have an altercation with someone, but I just can’t shake it off, I write about it. I deconstruct the meanings behind the interactions, and I find my own rationale.

Other times, I may be faced with a flashback that randomly attacked to me. This is why I carry my journal with me everywhere. It has a pen attached to it that I absolutely love writing with, and my notebook itself is beautiful to look at. It’s the little details that draw me to it. You want to same affect with your journal. Connect with it, as it essentially is an extension of your soul. When I get hit by this flashback, I may be forced to lay down for a while, but I write everything that I can down. Even if it’s not in straight lines, or they’re half ideas… every bit you can get out helps. When you’re Flashback passes, you can look at these notes and deconstruct so many things from it. I’ll give you my example:

Many years ago, I knew this woman who was extremely dense in her ability to connect with other people through empathy. For some reason, I always felt like I had to do something for this woman, but every attempt was met with negativity. I couldn’t avoid her, so I saw no other options at the time. For some reason, it always bothered me not accepting the fact that this person was not worth my energy. That it wasn’t my responsibility to drag her from the depths of her own misery. This tiny detail has haunted me for years without me fully understanding why. When I finally wrote it down, it was as though I transferred the entire experience onto the paper. I was later able to deconstruct it with tree maps, and other methodologies that help you analyze a topic to find peace with this matter.

A moment trapped in history, that haunted my soul for some reason, that would put me down for a 2hour sleep… no longer surfaces. This kind of technique is similar to erasing a file on your computer, or rewriting it all together. This is a similar technique found in soul retrieval, and subconscious diving. I do not limit you to just one particular mode of detoxification. I do know there’re some people who cannot accept the metaphysical easily, and for you this journal technique is perfect. I’ve been doing this technique for over six months now, I love how it has released my mind from the monsters that haunted me.

Not every recollection will fall into a journaling category, interacting with your deepest portions. Feel no stigma, feel no shame because no one needs to know what you’re writing about. Remember, there are people who write every day. I only say this because when I began the journaling technique, I would feel as though I were being judged for being strange. No one judges a person reading a book. Apply that same concept to your writing.

I will be adding an instructional podcast for further assistance on this technique.

 10.  Forceful Courage

The world may make you feel out of place during your healing. REMEMBER, you are healing. It’s better than being a victim to the consequences of your condition. I'm not entirely healed, but I am determined to continue to fight. I wish you the very best on your journey, and feel free to reach out with any questions.

I leave you with this wonderful TED Talk by Eleanor Longden.

[literally-sarcasm]

I dare you to answer all 170 questions

1: How tall or short do you wish you were: Like 5'4 or 5'5

2: What’s your dream pet? (Real or not): Probably cats

3: Do you have a favorite clothing style: Not overly

4: What was your favorite video game growing up: Probably Super Mario 64 or 

Mario Kart 64

5: What three things/people do you think of most each day: Watching YouTube, sleeping, drawing

6: If you had a warning label, what would yours say: Don’t break this person’s trust

7: What is your opinion on [insert person/thing here] It’s an opinion 

8: What is your Greek personality type? [Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Choleric, or Melancholic]: Somewhere between Melancholic and Phlegmatic

9: Are you ticklish: Kinda

10: Are you allergic to anything: Not that I know of

11: What’s your sexuality: panro/Demi 

12: Do you prefer tea, coffee, or cocoa: Cocoa all the way

13: Are you a cat or dog person: Cat person

14: Would you rather be a vampire, elf, or merperson: Merperson

15: Do you have a favorite Youtuber: Not really

16: How tall are you: 5'2

17: If you had to change your name, what would you change it to: Not sure, nothing has really stuck with me yet

18: How much do you weigh: Around 150-155 lbs

19: Do you believe in ghosts/spirits: Yes

20: Do you like space or the ocean more: Do I have to choose?

21: Are you religious: No

22: Pet peeves: When people break my focus on something (i.e. Talking loudly when I’m focusing, etc.)

23: Would you rather be nocturnal or diurnal [opposite of nocturnal]: Nocturnal 

24: Favorite constellation: Leo

25: Favorite star: I don’t know

26: Do you like ball-jointed dolls: I don’t care too much for them

27: Any phobias or fears: Thunderstorms and there being nothing after death

28: Do you think global warming is real: Yes

29: Do you believe in reincarnation: Its a possibility that I can’t rule out

30: Favorite movie: Guardians of the Galaxy 

31: Do you get scared easily: depends on how you’re trying to scare me

32: How many pets have you own in your lifetime: 12

33: Blog rate? [You’ll rate the blog of the one who’s asking.]: I love your blog a lot

34: What is a color that calms you: Most of them are really calming but especially warm tones

35: Where would you like to travel and/or live: Italy, France, and England are just a few 

36: Where were you born: United States

37: What is your eye color: A mostly green hazel color

38: Introvert or extrovert: Introvert

39: Do you believe in horoscopes and zodiacs: Somewhat

40: Hugs or kisses: Hugs

41: Who is someone you would like to see/visit right now: I’m not sure

42: Who is someone you love deeply: My friends

43: Any piercings you want: Septum, eyebrow, possibly snakebites, more in my ears

44: Do you like tattoos and piercings: Yes

45: Do you smoke or have you eiver done so: No and I don’t think I ever will

46: Talk about your crush, if you have one! Don’t really have one

47: What is a sound you really hate: Yelling

48: A sound you really love: Rain

49: Can you do a backflip: No

50: Can you do the splits: Not any more

51: Favorite actor and/or actress: Don’t have one really

52: Favorite movie: why is this on here twice

53: How are you feeling right now: I am in a mood ™

54: What color would you like your hair to be right now: Purple

55: When did you feel happiest: Uh, awhile ago

56: Something that calms you down: listening to music 

57: Have any mental disorders: Depression, anxiety 

58: What does your URL mean: It was for an OC of mine and I just kinda turned this into a personal blog

59: What three words describe you the most: Tired, quiet and angry

60: Do you believe in evolution: Yes

61: What makes you unfollow a blog: They start acting gross/ bigoted or I didn’t notice that they were that way before I followed them

62: What makes you follow a blog: They’re nice and post content that I like

63: Favorite kind of person: nice people

64: Favorite animal(s): Cats, fish

65: Name three of your favorite blogs. @my-best-is-messy @savan27 @ubih (honestly I have so many that are my favorites and this is really difficult to pick 3)

66: Favorite emoticon: 🍩

67: Favorite meme: idk

68: What is your MBTI personality type: INTP-A/-T

69: What is your star sign: Leo

70: Can your dog roll over on command, if you have a dog: No, none of them can

71: What outfit out of all your clothes do you like to wear the most: A graphic t and jeans/ shorts

72: Post a selfie or two: Not right now

73: Do you have platform shoes: No

74: What is one random but interesting fact about yourself: I broke my toe by accidentally kicking a rock really hard

75: Can you do a front flip: No

76: Do you like birds: yeah

77: Do you like to swim: Very much so

78: Is swimming or ice skating more fun to you: Swimming is

79: Something you wish didn’t exist: Hateful people

80: Some thing you wish did exist: Dragons

81: Piercings you have: I have both ear lobes double pierced

82: Something you really enjoy doing: Reading

83: Favorite person to talk to: So many

84: What was your first impression of Tumblr: This is pretty cool

85: How many followers do you have: 23

86: Can you run a mile within ten minutes: No

87: Do your socks always match: They almost never do

88: Can you touch your toes and keep your legs straight completely: Sometimes

89: What are your birthstones: Peridot, Sardonyx, and Spinel

90: If you were an animal, which one would you be: A cat

91: If a flower could aesthetically represent you, what kind would it be: Probably an orange rose

92: A store you hate: I dislike makeup stores but I don’t hate them

93: How many cups of coffee can you drink in one day: Like half of one 

94: Would you rather be able to fly or read minds: Fly

95: Do you like to wear camo: No

96: Winter or summer: Summer

97: How long can you hold your breath for: At least 30 seconds

98: Least favorite person: Quite a few people (especially at my conservative school)

99: Someone you look up to: My section leader in band

100: A store you love: Hot topic

101: Favorite type of shoes: Flip flops or just no shoes

102: Where do you live: The Midwest 

103: Are you a vegetarian or vegan? If so, why: I am not

104: What is your favorite mineral or gem: Talc

105: Do you drink milk: I haven’t really recently but I do like milk

106: Do you like bugs: Yes so long as they don’t fly at my face or bite/ sting me

107: Do you like spiders: Yes so long as they aren’t on my bed 

108: Something you get paranoid about: People

109: Can you draw: I can, just not to well

110: Nosiest question you have ever been asked: Got any boys you like?

111: A question you hate being asked: Do you have a boyfriend

112: Ever been bitten by a spider: I don’t think so

113: Do you like the sound of waves at the beach: Yes

114: Do you prefer cloudy or sunny days: A mix of the two

115: Someone you’d like to kiss or cuddle right now: No one

116: Favorite cloud type: The big fluffy ones

117: What color do you wish the sky was: Maybe a pastel Purple

118: Do you have freckles: Maybe? Idk

119: Favorite thing about a person: When they’re nice

120: Fruits or vegetables: Fruits

121: Something you want to do right now: sleep 

122: Is the ocean or sky prettier: I love them both equally 

123: Sweet or sour foods: Sweet

124: Bright or dim lights: Dim lights

125: Do you believe in a certain magical creature: Not sure

126: Something you hate about Tumblr: The shit that some people post

127: Something you love about Tumblr: A lot of the people are super nice

128: What do you think about the least: Nothing

129: What would you want written on your tombstone: Fight me

130: Who would you like to punch in the face right now: Lots of people 

131: What is something you love but also hate about yourself: My hair

132: Do you smile with your teeth showing for pictures: No

133: Computer or TV: Computer

134: Do you like roller coasters: Yes

135: Do you get motion sickness or seasickness: I don’t get motion sickness and uh I’ve never been on a boat 

136: Are your ears lobed or attached: Attached

137: Do you believe in karma: Yes

138: On a scale of 1-10, how attractive would you say you are: Idk. Maybe like a 4

139: What nicknames do you have/have had: I haven’t really had many

140: Did you have any pretend or imaginary friends: No

141: Have you ever seen a therapist/shrink: Yes

142: Would you say you are a good or bad influence to others: I try to be a good influence to others

143: Do you prefer giving or receiving gifts/help: idk

144: What makes you angry: Bigots

145: How many languages do you speak fluently: 1 but I’m learning French and Italian

146: Do you prefer boys, girls, and/or non-binaries: I don’t really have a preference 

147: Are you androgynous: Probably 

148: Favorite physical thing about yourself: My eye color 

149: Favorite thing about your personality: ?

150: Name three people you would like to talk to right now in person. All my mutuals 151: If you could go back into time and live in one era, which would you choose: ?

152: Do you like BuzzFeed: I’m indifferent 

153: How did you meet your spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend/partner? [If you have one.] I didn't 

154: Do you like to kiss others’ foreheads or hands for platonic reasons: Not really

155: Do you like to play with others’ hair: Depends on whose hair it is

156: What embarrasses you: Being called out for no particular reason by people

157: Something that makes you nervous/anxious: Talking in front of more than two people/ anyone I don’t know very well

158: Biggest lie you have ever told: I’m going to the park (I actually went to tp someone’s house)

159: How many people are you following: 726

160: How many posts do you have on your blog(s):1,881

161: How many drafts do you have on your blog(s): I don’t know

162: How many likes do you have on your blog(s): 2,749

163: Last time you cried and why: Today because my life is nuts

164: Do you have long or short hair: I would say it’s medium length

165: Longest your hair has ever been: About halfway down my back, maybe an inch or 2 longer

166: Why do you like, dislike, or have neutral feelings about religon: I mostly dislike religion because so many people use it to excuse being bigoted and to try and disprove science/ say that x thing that is backed up by facts isn’t actually real

167: Do you really care how the universe and world was created: I’m curious about it but I don’t think I really care too much

168: Do you like to wear makeup: I like the idea of wearing it but I hate trying to do it

169: Can you stand on your hands or head for more than thirty seconds: No

170: Did you answer the questions you were asked truthfully: Yes

(sorry this took like 30 years to answer)

[mayhemproduces]

Sardonyx (c) vs Lacey Karmens - MPW Fatales Championship

April 24th, 2021.

Wes Barkley was the first person to fall, quickly fading to Mass Destruction as Sardonyx began her warpath throughout MPW. Big names and MPW originals alike have fallen at the feet of the Savior. 538 days, 49 victories, 0 losses. Two of her biggest victories came against long time rival - turned friend and stablemate, Riley Ishimori, BLADE, former MPW Tag Team Champion, Bayley, and the heavily decorated 44OH!. It didn’t matter who stepped up, what accolades they held or their history, their in-ring style. It didn’t matter if they attacked from behind or challenged her head on, Sardonyx was always prepared, always ready. Whether it was a 30-minute classic against submission specialists or former champions, or 8-minute squash matches against Queens or Goddesses, the fact remained the same. Sardonyx always wins.

Darkness Falls marked the beginning of the Savior’s unstoppable reign over the Fatales division, and it was hard to imagine anybody could stop her. But Lacey Karmens is the ultimate underdog, with several big wins under their belt. Nick Gage, Talia Rogue, Lilith Brookes, BLADE, and even a pinfall victory over their dear friend, Jade Cargill. They were the odds on favorite to win the Femme Fatales tournament - but how many of those people have beat Sardonyx? How many of them could?

“The following contest is a singles match, set for one fall, and it is for the MPW FATALES CHAMPIONSHIP!” Chicago screams at the beginning announcements. On one side of the ring, the challenger, Lacey Karmens, stared down the champion with a heated, intense gaze. Shoulders rolling as Steve Guy continues his announcements. “On my left, the challenger. Fighting out of San Francisco, California, and weighing in tonight at 148 pounds, they are Karma, LACEY KARMENS!”

It’s undeniable that Lacey is a fan favorite everywhere we go, but tonight had to be the loudest one yet. Thousands of people shrieking as Lacey’s name is announced, the challenger turning to face them, raising their arms before they gesture to their waist, indicating that the title is coming home with them. Cocky, for sure, but Lacey knows it’ll be a lot easier said than done. It’s going to take every ounce of strength, every ounce of energy, every play in their arsenal if they want even a chance of walking out of here with the belt around their waist.

“And to my right, the champion,” a much more somber reaction from the crowd tonight. There was a time when Sardonyx might’ve been on their good side; the aloofness making her a mystery to all, but since she’s aligned with The Fallen, that has changed immensely, “Fighting out of Auckland, New Zealand, and honoring The Fallen, she has been undefeated for 538 days, and she is the MPW Fatales Champion, SARDONYX!”

Sardonyx drops to her knees in the middle of the ring, two toned locks hanging in front of her face, with the Fatales Championship raised into the air, left arm stretched at her side. The NOW Arena is loud, a mixed reaction leaning more towards hostile. When she stands, Jessica Carr asks for the belt, but Sardonyx ignores her to get directly in Lacey’s face. Nose to nose with her challenger, Sardonyx holds the title up next to their face, but Lacey’s eyes are locked with Sardonyx’s. They vowed to come after all titleholders, but this one has become more personal than just a chance at the silver and purple title in Sardonyx’s possession. Lacey Karmens presents a real, massive threat to Sardonyx’s title reign, but it’s going to take more than just a threat to scratch the invulnerable champion.

The moment the bell rings, the room becomes electric. There’s been so much speculation, so much talk, but it would all come down to this. Opinions and statistics won’t matter now, the only numbers they need to care about are 1 - 2 - 3. Ultimately, it’s going to come down to who wants it the most. Who can persevere, who can withstand, who can survive the longest. Lacey steps forward, but Sardonyx is a stone wall. Unmoving, emotionless, while Lacey’s burning with desire. Their love for this business, their want, their need, to pick up their first piece of gold in MPW was shining brighter than ever. Their head tilts to the side as the white hot crowd begins to chant for Karmens, most of the arena with a resounding, “LET’S GO LACEY!”  But the other half, growing in numbers, responds with, “UN-DE-FEAT-ED!”

“LET’S GO LACEY!”

“UN-DE-FEAT-ED!”

“LET’S GO LACEY!”

“UN-DE-FEAT-ED!”

The NOW Arena is split in half, rooting for both of them, as The Fallen have, so far, been much more beloved in Chicago than they are in most other places, and that was no more true than it is right now. Of course, Lacey is a beloved fan favorite on any side of the globe, even more so here in Chicago. The chants die down after nearly a minute as they begin to circle each other, before they finally touch, for the first time in their respective careers. Moving into a lockup, they battle for control. They fight to the ropes, Lacey pushing back, before Sardonyx switches them around, pinning Lacey. She slips back and pats Lacey’s chest, telling them to bring it as she backs up. Lacey looks down before they go swinging, but Sardonyx is able to duck and trip them up, slipping and sliding over Lacey’s back before locking in a front facelock. Lacey reverses into a front facelock, but Sardonyx rolls out and on top, into a waistlock, bringing Lacey up and into another facelock. Lacey picks the leg and works the ankle, maneuvering over Sardonyx before getting her in a headlock. Sardonyx rolls back, holding onto the waist, but Lacey hangs onto the headlock all the way up to their feet. Sardonyx pushes up against their face, pushing them back to the ropes. Sardonyx grabs the arm as they’re whipped away, pulling Lacey back and slamming them down on their head - but Lacey kips back up! Sardonyx turns them around and pops them in the mouth with a right hand, before pushing them to the ropes, but Lacey reverses and whips Sardonyx across the ring. They charge, knocking Sardonyx down with a single leg dropkick! The challenger scores the first point, asking Sardonyx if she needs a time out, before nailing her with a forearm smash.

Moving to the ropes, Lacey gets a running head start, but when they touch the ropes, Sardonyx goes low, kicking their knees out from under them! Lacey goes face first on the mat, and Sardonyx stays on the knee, sliding right out of the ring and slamming it on the apron. An elbow is driven into the tender muscle, leaving Lacey hobbling on the right leg. The left is placed on the guardrail before Sardonyx lifts it up, slamming it right on the barricade! That’s a straight shot to the hamstring! Sardonyx rolls inside the ring as Lacey’s left to their own devices, the leg becoming more useless with each brutal shot. Lacey forces themselves back inside the ring, and Sardonyx is instantly on the attack, jumping on the knee before it’s wrapped around the rope, bending it over the stiff cable. Lacey grunts in pain, burying their face deep in their arm. Eventually, Sardonyx relents, no rules in place in this championship contest to stop her. When she relents, they’re forced to their feet, but Lacey swings back and nails Sardonyx with a chop, the champion visibly wincing from the pain. Lacey rears back, landing a forearm smash, before following up with another chop, taking Sardonyx off her feet. They turn to run the ropes, but Sardonyx grabs the left leg, holding on and tripping Lacey up. Lacey tries to kick back, but Sardonyx kicks the left and hooks her legs around them, turning Lacey over in an inverted figure 4! The left leg is hyperextended over the right, Sardonyx locking in the submission deep. She may not keep the title via submission, but she’ll do plenty of damage to the knee like this. Eventually, Lacey’s able to move on their forearms and to the ropes, grabbing hold of the bottom. Sardonyx doesn’t have to break, but as Lacey starts to pull themselves out, Sardonyx lets go and drags them up to their feet. She holds onto the leg, but Lacey fires back with forearms, getting Sardonyx off them. Throwing her to the ropes, Lacey twists for a rolling elbow, but Sardonyx hangs onto the ropes, avoiding danger, and forcing Lacey to stop their momentum in an instant. Sardonyx charges, but gets tossed overhead with a belly to belly suplex!

Sardonyx lands hard on her tailbone, and holds it as she gets to her feet. Lacey sees the opportunity and takes it, trying to take Sardonyx out with the San Fran Bicycle knee - dodged! Sardonyx moves out of the way and swings, aiming for a spin kick, but Lacey ducks under it and grabs Sardonyx, spiking her with a DDT! A twinge of pain flashes through the left leg, and Lacey grabs for it before grabbing Sardonyx, throwing an arm over their own neck to prepare for a back suplex, but Sardonyx holds on. Locking down so she can’t be lifted, before driving her elbow into the back of Lacey’s neck. Lacey drops to a knee, and Sardonyx looks to run the ropes - but they’re drawn in by the tights! Sardonyx is spun up high, and driven down with a sitout powerbomb! Shoulders down!

1… 2… Kickout!

Sardonyx survives the first cover of the matchup, a moment of disappointment flashing over Lacey’s face, but they knew it wouldn’t be that simple. Sardonyx wouldn’t have gone undefeated this long if that was all it took. Getting Sardonyx up in the corner, Lacey charges in with a running boot, but Sardonyx moves out of the way at the last second! Lacey’s leg is hung up on the top rope, and Sardonyx rolls them up, shoulders down!

1… 2… Kickout!

After Jessica’s hand hit the mat for the first count, Sardonyx put her feet up on the ropes, but Lacey kicked out anyhow. Jessica caught it, and warns Sardonyx against doing it again. The champion only glares back at Carr, rolling her eyes. It was a mere test to see if Lacey had what it took to be here tonight, or if they could be outsmarted so easily. That would not be the case, but this discussion gave Lacey enough time to get to their feet, surprising Sardonyx with a charge - but she won’t be caught off guard tonight! Sardonyx lifts Lacey up, dumping them on the top rope, but they don’t bounce off. Lacey hangs on while Sardonyx runs the ropes, blasting Lacey with a dropkick to the face! Lacey flops back into the ring, but Sardonyx moves out to the apron. She leans over the ropes, trying to pull Lacey up, but Lacey punches their way out of it. Back on the mat, Lacey charges, and nails Sardonyx with a running big boot! Sardonyx is slouched over the top rope, and Lacey moves to the apron, getting behind Sardonyx and grabbing their waist, trying to hit a German suplex onto the floor, but Sardonyx desperately clings to the ropes. Maybe she even wouldn’t be able to survive a fall like that, and has to dive into the ring to avoid certain doom, but she still gets a headbutt from Lacey. Lacey gets back inside, and Sardonyx kicks the rope, vibrating it against the left leg! Lacey’s hung in the ropes, stuck there, and Sardonyx kicks her to the floor with a running bicycle knee strike on the side of the head! Lacey’s knocked to the outside, and Sardonyx hops down as well, telling all the fans and staff members to clear the area. Steve Guy jumps on the mic to advise they stay out of their way, as Sardonyx drags Lacey over to the third row. On top of the chairs, they stand side by side before Sardonyx leans back, hitting a Russian leg sweep onto the chairs! That’s a rough landing for both parties! Lacey’s face is contorted in a deep look of agony, and Sardonyx only adds to it as she rains down punches on Lacey’s head, beating them further into submission. At this pace, Lacey’s chances of walking out of here with the Fatales Championship were looking worse and worse by the minute.

Hopping over the barricade, Sardonyx moves up the second turnbuckle, hanging out on the outside as she waits for Lacey to find a way to her feet. When they do, Sardonyx jumps off the turnbuckles and crushes Lacey with a diving crossbody! They’re driven into the chairs, and Lacey might be done for! Sardonyx might’ve just taken out her opponent for the night, and she’s looking to seal the deal! Moving them back inside the ring, Sardonyx gets up on the top turnbuckle, going high risk once more, with a Phoenix Splash! She crushes Lacey, and hooks the far leg, trying to retain!

1… 2… Kickout!

Not yet! Lacey hangs on, but as they kick out, Sardonyx transitions into a crossface! With the submission locked in tight, Sardonyx wrenches back, applying intense pressure to the jaw and the neck, while forcing Lacey to spin on that left leg to get over to the ropes. They eventually find a reprieve, but they spend long enough in the hold before doing so, but Sardonyx looks slightly annoyed. She moves to Lacey’s side as they hang onto the ropes, trying to pick themselves up, before Sardonyx starts to kick. Not at full power, but it’s enough to send Lacey rolling back. Sardonyx looms over them, sinking fingers into their hair. Lacey grabs the hand locked into their hair and bends back on the fingers, forcing the hand onto the mat. They’re both pinned down by Lacey’s toes, Lacey flinking Sardonyx’s hair out of her eyes so she can see Lacey’s gift, a middle finger to the face, before launching their boot to Sardonyx’s jaw, hitting a bicycle kick! Sardonyx is rolled back, and Lacey lifts her back up, going for a wheelbarrow German suplex, but Sardonyx rolls through! Shoulders down!

1… 2… Kickout!

They get out, but Lacey’s back up and at it with a clothesline, but it’s a swing and a miss. Sardonyx grabs them by the waist, but Lacey elbows back, knocking Sardonyx sideways. Lacey to the ropes, but the champion strikes, grabbing Lacey under the arm, and hitting a pop-up knee strike! It hits square in the forehead, and their eyes roll to the back of their head, as Lacey falls through the ropes. Sardonyx looks at them before turning to run the ropes, diving through the middle - but they’re caught! Lacey grabs them in a vertical suplex, slamming Sardonyx onto the apron! What a reversal, and Sardonyx is HURT! It clearly took a lot out of Lacey to counter that dive and inflict that much pain on Sardonyx, and they’re able to persevere through the pain. No pressure is put on the left leg, but the energy pouring out from the crowd, their chants filling the room once again, Lacey is energized. They’re able to dig down deep to find what they need to get the action back inside the ring. With Sardonyx in one corner, Lacey faces the corner opposite. Head down as they shake out the left leg, getting themselves prepared for whatever they’re planning. They turn around and charge, nearly taking Sardonyx’s head off with a running boot! Her head is nearly sent to the third row, and Lacey wants to take it off all the way, throwing Sardonyx to the ropes and into a rolling clothesline - but Sardonyx ducks!

She hangs on and floats around, hooking her hands under Lacey’s arms and pulling her up into the crucifix. Quickly, Sardonyx spins, before pulling them up and into a powerbomb! Normally Sardonyx would get the sitout here, but slamming Lacey down meant landing on her own tailbone, and after it was just introduced to the hardest part of the ring, the impact does almost as much damage to deliver it. She’s clutching her tailbone as she moves to her feet, Lacey doing the same. After two excellent, high impact reversals from both parties, we still don’t have a victor, Lacey getting the shoulder up off of one of Sardonyx’s newer, spectacular moves. You’d be smart to bet on this one being nowhere near finished, with these two likely pushing the time limit, if they don’t end up going the distance. And that could very well be a possibility here, as, somehow, Lacey surprises Sardonyx with a rolling elbow, catching her right on the jaw! Sardonyx is spun around from the force of that shot, and Lacey grabs her by the waist, planting Sardonyx with a release German suplex! She damn near lands on her head after that one! Sardonyx is seeing stars while Lacey is fueled by adrenaline. The pain in their knee seems to be ancient history as Lacey holds onto the ropes, watching as Sardonyx groggily pulls herself together. They hit the ropes, and absolutely DECAPITATE Sardonyx with a clothesline! Sardonyx completes the full circle before hitting the mat, what power from Lacey Karmens! And it could win them the title, shoulders down!

1…. 2… KICKOUT!

Only two! Lacey almost can’t believe it, but they haven’t even busted out their best move yet. They’ll have to put everything they have behind it, if they’re able to find the opportunity to do so, since it could be their only shot. On their hands and knees, Lacey places their head on the mat as the NOW Arena starts to chant for Karmens, trying to will them back into the fight. The Un-de-feat-ed chants aren’t quite as loud now, as almost all of Chicago was on Lacey’s side right now. That could change with the tides, but for now, it was fueling Lacey, giving them what they need to get back up. They punch the mat as they rise, rolling out their arms as they crouch over Sardonyx, picking her up by the waist. Lacey snaps back for another release German suplex - but Sardonyx sticks the landing! She lands on her feet, and catches Lacey by surprise with a hurricanrana, but Lacey holds on! They throw Sardonyx up for a powerbomb, but Sardonyx shifts her hips, and turns it into a Canadian Destroyer! Lacey is spiked on their crown! They’re practically folded up on their neck after that one, and a dazed Sardonyx crawls into the cover, throwing an arm over their chest!

1…

2…

KICKOUT!

Lacey gets the shoulder up at two and a half, and even more than that, they’re on their feet! After all that, Lacey is standing, but they’re not for long, as Sardonyx charges into an omoplata, bringing them down into another Crossface! Softening up for the Hemonga Lock, without introducing it to Lacey too early on. She knows this is going to be much easier said than done, and doesn’t want to show Lacey her best tricks yet. There’s still more left to come, but she may want to rethink that soon. Very soon in fact, as Lacey overpowers the Crossface! They lift Sardonyx right off the mat, and spin them into a Tombstone position. Lacey lets her slide down a bit, arms hooking over the legs, before they drop, crunching Sardonyx’s neck with a cradle Tombstone piledriver! Sardonyx is dropped right on her neck, and this could be it! Shoulders down!

1… 2… KICKOUT!

It’s starting to feel like nothing was going to end this one. We could be looking at a rare MPW draw. There’s only been one before, all the way back when VENY faced Kenny Omega for the first time, their original bout coming to a 30-minute draw. In title matches, the limit is upped to 60, so we could be in for a long wait before we have a decisive victor.

Nevertheless, Lacey remains undeterred. They still have plenty of tricks up their sleeve as well, and look to enact something here, when Sardonyx grabs their leg. They look down, clearly annoyed, and knocks Sardonyx back with a hard knee to the jaw. They start to crumble, but they’re able to rear back, catching Sardonyx with a superkick! The champion goes down, but the left leg of the challenger gives up, leaving neither with an advantage. But Lacey could be wanting to change that here as they move to the top rope. They leap off, going for a Moonsault Leg Drop - but nobody’s home! Lacey hits the mat hard, landing directly on their legs, and Sardonyx charges, knocking them down with a penalty kick! She forces them upright, and sinks into a Black Widow! One of Lacey’s own moves, and Sardonyx is trying to beat them with it! She has the submission locked in tight, middle of the ring, but they’re able to shift Sardonyx onto their back, slamming them to the mat! A modified Air Raid Crash gets Lacey a reprieve, and they’re able to find a way up to their feet. Hair hanging loose in their vision, Lacey surges forward, knocking Sardonyx down with a superkick under the jaw! Sardonyx rolls outside of the ring, trying to shake off the cobwebs, while Lacey stays in the ring. They run the ropes, looking to fly, and dive out between the ropes - but nobody’s home! Lacey risks life and limb to make that dive, and it might’ve just cost them big time!

Lacey hits the venue floor HARD, and Sardonyx drags her motionless corpse up, trying to add injury to more injury with a back suplex on the unprotected tiles, but Lacey, somehow, has it in them to hold on. She doesn’t get the back suplex, but Sardonyx still rocks them with a forearm. Lacey’s stumbled, but fires back a forearm, sending Sardonyx back a few steps. She forces them to stand tall, and take another forearm smash to the jaw, before they both collapse! Down on their knees on the floor doesn’t stop these two from fighting, as Lacey rears back, landing another forearm! And Sardonyx keeps the pattern going with a third forearm from her! Lacey falls to their back, but it’s not the last of it as she powers back with another forearm, forcing them self to sit up to deliver it. Sardonyx barely moves back as the shots come more frequently, more intense, until Lacey’s rocked onto their back again. Sardonyx holds onto their locks as they’re pulled up, Sardonyx laying into them with even more forearms! She’s all but battering Lacey now, the challenger dropping to their knees, and Jessica Carr leaves the ring to separate them, wanting to check on Lacey. But Sardonyx isn’t having any of it. With Carr being the usual enforcer in the Fatales title defenses, Sardonyx has grown more consistently fed up with the referee, and shoves Carr to the floor! Jessica tries to pick herself up, but Sardonyx uses her back like a launching pad, taking Lacey off their feet with a European uppercut! What innovative offense, but that’s gotta be a fine?! These two are willing to risk anything and everything they have to walk out of here the winner, no matter what the cost may be!

Getting Lacey up on their feet, Sardonyx goes for a Northern Lights Bomb, but Lacey manages to turn it around, leaning back into a Tombstone! But they can’t deliver, the leg giving out as they attempt to, but they’re able to come back with a roundhouse kick! The champion’s dropped, and Lacey picked them up and put them upside down, this time, successfully hitting the Tombstone piledriver, spiking Sardonyx on the venue floor! Lacey’s leg gives out at the last second but they’ve taken Sardonyx down for a moment! Hopefully it’s long enough to give Lacey a chance to recover. Eventually, after several long moments of resting, they do make their way back inside, Lacey sliding in under the bottom rope before Sardonyx grabs their feet. Turning them back around, Sardonyx grabs their head and pulls them back, before spiking Lacey with a hangman DDT off the apron! Their head’s driven into the floor! Lacey might be out cold after that!

Sardonyx moves this one back inside the squared circle, kneeling as Lacey crawls over, and lands a headbutt! They’ve used their feet, their legs,their arms, and now resort to using their head as a weapon. But Sardonyx has no qualms with that, and knocks Lacey all the way to their back with a stiff headbutt. Lacey’s seeing stars, and doubting their choice in attack, as Sardonyx pulls them back up and hits a second headbutt. Standing in the corner, Sardonyx calls Lacey up before charging, trying to take their head off with a running bicycle knee strike, but Lacey ducks under it and tries to trip Sardonyx up, but the champion stands tall and sits on Lacey! Sardonyx holds onto the waist before a count is registered, pulling them up into a wheelbarrow - and slamming them down into the Hemonga Lock! It’s locked in DEEP, dead center in the middle of the ring! Nowhere for Lacey to go! Sardonyx has the arm digging into Lacey’s throat, cutting off the carotid arteries and choking the air out of Lacey’s lungs. They desperately try to search for more, but none is found, as they’re quickly losing consciousness. To come so far to be choked out in the end is a bitter pill to swallow, but there’s no shame in losing to someone with the track record and prestige of the MPW Fatales Champion. As much as many wanted to see them sit at the top of the mountain, it doesn’t seem to be fate, at least not tonight, as their eyelids begin to droop. Growing heavier by the passing moments, their arms slow to a gradual stop, and they look to be fading here. Carr crouches down, grabbing the arm… one… a second test… and Lacey stops it at the last second! There’s still life in the challenger!

Sitting up, Lacey rises from the ashes and leans back, breaking the submission! They get to their feet, unleashing a battle cry before they slip behind Sardonyx, landing a German suplex! Sardonyx lands on her god damn neck, but she springs up! Arms around the waist, she snaps back, hitting another German suplex, and putting Lacey right on the base of their neck! But Lacey won’t stay down! They’re wobbling, but they’re on their feet, unleashing another battle cry! Moving behind Sardonyx, Lacey hits a second brutal German suplex, only for Sardonyx to roll through into another German suplex! They’re teetering, but somehow, both parties remain on their feet. Sardonyx tries a third German, but Lacey sticks the landing! They run the ropes, bringing Sardonyx down with a hurricanrana, tucking her in tight for the cover!

1… 2… KICKOUT!

As Sardonyx kicks out, she pulls Lacey up into the 9 of Swords! Before she can deliver, Lacey starts to kick, forcing their way out, and forcing Sardonyx back. Lacey charges, and nearly takes Sardonyx’s head off with a running high kick, nearly kicking her over the ropes! Sardonyx is pulled down to the mat, and Lacey punches at the left knee before climbing up the ropes. They perch before flipping back, hitting the Moonsault leg drop! Shoulders down to win the title!

1… 2… KICKOUT!

No dice! Sardonyx out at two, and Lacey lays back with their head in their hands, wondering if they have anything left in the tank. But they wouldn’t have come to Chicago if they didn’t. Lacey gets up and pulls Sardonyx to her feet. One arm hooked in, then the other, before Lacey moves up into a wheelbarrow, and snapped back with a Dragon suplex, bridged over!

1… 2… KICKOUT!

Still two, and Lacey’s eyes nearly bug out of their head! Lacey falls back again, shaking their head, while Sardonyx moves to the top rope. Lacey jumps up and climbs up, only to get knocked back by a headbutt, but Lacey comes back and slaps Sardonyx across the face. Lacey tries to climb up, but Sardonyx wraps an arm around their head, locking them into a hanging Guillotine from the top rope! She can’t get the submission victory like this, but she can utilize every second given to her to inflict as much damage as she can, and choke Lacey out. When she lets Lacey drop, Sardonyx drops down to the apron. She slingshots into the ring - AND EATS A SAN FRAN BICYCLE! LACEY PULLS IT OUT OF NOWHERE, BUT SARDONYX FALLS THROUGH THE ROPES!

Lacey falls to the mat, head in their hands, as they just watched their best shot yet fall through their fingers! What unfortunate luck was that. After all of this intense back and forth, Lacey finally hit the big one, but Sardonyx was in the ring place at the ring time. Whether it was by luck or by design, Sardonyx will hang onto the Fatales Championship, if only for a few more moments.

Self-pity aside, there’s still a match going on, and Lacey still has a chance. More than a chance now that Sardonyx is out of it, having taken all of that knee strike to the jaw and neck area. Maybe if they’d landed it on the temple instead, there might be a different story here, but they’ve been targeting that jawline all night, so it made sense to use that big red X for the final blow. But as luck would have it, Lacey’s time has not yet come to pass. It could be soon, though, as Lacey gets them back inside the squared circle. But as Lacey slips in through the ropes, Sardonyx jumps up, cracking their temple with a roundhouse kick! They droop, and Sardonyx plants them right on the neck with a Northern Lights Bomb! One big move transitions right into another, as Sardonyx all but deadlifts them up into a vertical suplex. At the last second, Sardonyx moves them over, and spikes them with a Suplex Piledriver! Lacey’s dumped right on the top of their skull, and they’re out cold! Folded up like an accordion, this is it! Sardonyx retains!

1…

2…

KICKOUT!

LACEY SURVIVES! WHAT THE HELL IS IT GONNA TAKE TO END THIS?!

Sardonyx is tired of playing this game, of dealing with the stubbornness, the resilience of Lacey Karmens. She demands a definitive victor, and demands it be her, and she’s going to ensure that in a big way. Leaving the ring, Sardonyx digs around for plunder, and eventually finds… a glass sheet. The pane is slid into the ring, Jessica already pulling out thick, black construction gloves in anticipation of what’s coming next, as Sardonyx leans the pane up against the corner. She turns and moves up to Lacey, pulling them up by the hair. She hooks them into another Crucifix, and charges, trying to throw Lacey through the glass - but they slide off! They shove Sardonyx, but she’s able to grab the ropes to stop herself. But she isn’t scot-free! Lacey charges, delivering a San Fran knee to the back of the neck, and sending Sardonyx through the glass pane! It shatters into a million tiny pieces as Sardonyx is forcefully driven through it, her head smacking into the turnbuckles in the process. Coming out of it, her face is leaking profusely, draining down the front of her body, while Lacey runs the ropes, nailing a second straight bicycle knee strike! Sardonyx drops to a knee, but it’s not enough to knock the champion down! Lacey looks a bit frustrated, maybe even heartbroken, but doesn’t stop fighting, doesn’t stop swinging. They hit a superkick, a shoot kick, then a buzzsaw, trying to knock Sardonyx down, but she won’t budge. Another superkick into a quick knee on the temple, then another buzzsaw, and a bicycle kick. Superkick, buzzsaw, knee strike - Lacey’s lighting up the champion, laying into Sardonyx until blood starts to drip out between her lips, mixing in with the blood making its way down her face. Sardonyx raises her arms to her sides as Lacey moves back to run the ropes. Sardonyx, somehow, is on her feet as Lacey does it, and they bulldoze through Sardonyx with another bicycle knee strike! Sardonyx drops to the mat, but they kip right up! For a moment, Lacey isn’t sure what to do, but they decide to run the ropes, hitting another bicycle knee strike! Sardonyx goes to kip up again, but as her feet hit the mat, her body gives out. The sudden blood loss mixed in with all those kicks to the head, 9 kicks, 3 bicycle knee strikes, all in the matter of a few seconds. It was enough to keep a normal man down, but Sardonyx isn’t human, until she is. Until the blood loss, the head shots, the months and months of agony and pushing through to win comes crashing down on her, in this very moment, but Sardonyx doesn’t stay down. She tries to get back up, her blood covering the mat, her partial white locks starting to turn pink, as she gets to her hands and knees, Sardonyx is trying to get back up. One more push to the finish line, and she could make it there. She could make it to 50-0, but Lacey runs the ropes, and cracks her temple with a third straight San Fran bicycle, their fourth of the night, and they fall on top of Sardonyx in delivering it, getting a deep cover to snap the streak!

1….

…..

2…

…..

3!

THAT’S THREE!

LACEY KARMENS HAS DONE IT!

THE STREAK DIES AT THE HANDS OF KARMA!

“HERE IS YOUR WINNER, AND NEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW MPW FATALES CHAMPION, LACEY KARMENS!”

Tears fill the eyes of Lacey Karmens as their name is announced by Steve Guy, the confetti and streamers popping off into the air. Lacey’s unable to move off their knees, frozen in shock, as they’re presented with the Fatales Championship. 49 other wrestlers came and failed, but Lacey Karmens is the 1 in 49-1. Lacey takes the Fatales Championship and holds it in their arms, cradling it like the precious trophy it is, before turning to the Chicago fans, the fans that have showered them with love since day one, and holds their prize high in the sky. The building is practically shaking at this point, cheering Lacey, before they begin to shout in unison.

“YOU DESERVE IT! YOU DESERVE IT! YOU DESERVE IT!”

And deserve it, they do.

[groundramon]

I’m bored and I cant focus on my drawing so...

Since I’ve been ratting on Teen Titans all week even tho I insist I like the show (I SWEAR TO GOD I DO...I was off-put at first but? its okay, its hard for shows to immediately hook me), I think it’s only fair to list some of my major problems with some of my all-time favorite shows and some other shows that are currently on that aren’t really my favorite, but I still think are objectively decent and arguably pretty damn good.

I’m not gonna go in order from best to worst but here we go: (keep reading tag because this is going to get really fucking long and ik i dont usually do this with my rants but i feel like i should this time, idk im inconsistent this is a personal blog sorry)

Steven Universe: - I sometimes feel bad critiquing SU because it’s not too far into its run.  I love the show, some of the moments and even full episodes are legitimately mesmerizing, but it...has quite a few problems, yeah.

- The one I bitch the most about is the pacing.  Steven Universe tries to combine serialized storytelling, which is telling an overarching story over the course of several episodes (IE Avatar: The Last Airbender, most anime, ect), and episodic storytelling, which is telling several smaller stories that each fit in one episode with little to nothing connecting them besides the characters (IE SpongeBob, We Bare Bears, most cartoons honestly).  But emphasis on “tries”; Steven Universe, unfortunately, is not very good at blending these two styles.  Steven Universe ridgedly adheres to the idea of having a season that is half filler/”townie” episodes and half “cool alien”/plot-related stuff - and this is something that’s been confirmed, by the way.  So while this was fine in the first season (where the only true overarching plot-related episodes that weren’t just worldbuilding were at the end of the season) and the second season (where the plot episodes can be summed up all-together as “they catch and befriend Peridot and learn, not stop, the Cluster”), it isn’t in the later seasons.  Season 3 has the following plot points: the Cluster is defeated, Malachite is found and defeated and defused, Lapis joins the Crystal Gems, more homeworld gems (rubies) find earth, Jasper is corrupted and bubbled, its revealed that Rose Quartz shattered (killed) someone, and Steven gets lost in space because of a plan gone wrong with the Rubies (and he’s rescued in the last episode).  That is a paragraph worth of plot points.  And, being generous (IE including plot-forwarding episodes that feel more like filler than actual plot, like the baseball episode) that is 13 twelve-minute episodes worth of content.  All of those plot points are addressed in 2.6 hours time.  That is not long enough to visit all those episodes.  And there are a few more I didnt count that /are/ related to the aliens, but Bismuth and Centipeetle currently irrelevant and weren’t related to the plot points I listed so I didnt mention them.

- I’m also still waiting somewhat impatiently for resolution on certain character arcs.  Pearl’s behavior hasn’t been properly addressed for a while and I’m really hoping they dont wimp out of addressing what a piece of shit she can be sometimes.  Like, I love Pearl, but get the fuck outta hear with your Pearl stanning shit.  She’s unintentionally awful and I lvoe her for it.  I’m more patient about Bismuth but.......crewniverse, im starting to get a little impatient with her too.  Bring her back.  You should’ve brought her back in the next episode, because her friends shouldn’t have left her bubbled, but whatever.  It’s fine.  I’m fine.  (I’m not fine).

- Also, Lapis’s character arc.  Wasn’t properly addressed. ��One episode she was saying she deserved to be with Jasper and the next she seems fine.  One episode she hates Peridot and two episodes (well several episodes, but two episodes as far as they appear) later they’re buddy-buddy with one another.  I get that there was probably a time gap where they developed closer with one another, but fuck, I would’ve liked to see that instead of Future Boy Zoltron but okay :) (and i dont even hate future boy zoltron, its just one of the few “meh” episodes I bothered to remember the name of)

- SPEAKING OF UNPROPERLY ADDRESSED CHARACTER ARCS I swear to god Crewniverse, if Amethyst was being sincere when she said she didn’t have self esteem issues anymore, I dont think I can call this one of my favorite shows anymore.  Where.  Where did she find the resolve to get over her self esteem issues.  The last time we saw her talk about them was when she broke down in Sardonyx’s room, but, she was speaking through Smoky Quartz (btw, where the fuck has Smoky been? I literally forgot about her because its been so long...).  But still, even if she WAS speaking through a fusion, before then she displayed the same self-destructive mindsets and she was never given the resolve to better herself.  All she did was wallow in her own pity with Steven (which? relatable, but not constructive).  Show us her getting the resolve to better herself.  Show her positively reinforcing herself.  Have her whisper “you can do this, Amy,” under her breath right before she kick’s a bad guy’s ass.  Have her high-five herself, have her cheer for herself, have her be sincerely proud and acknowledging her accomplishments.  Because that’s how you fix self esteem issues and kids should be taught that by someone other than a therapist or the internet.

- Just because a lot of these issues could be fixed with time doesn’t change where they are at this moment.  The past pacing issues might not ruin the show for me depending on the direction they go in, but I feel like they’re going to continuously make the same mistakes over and over - and with the intense direction this show is going now, the idea of having five filler/townie episodes in a row while Lars is in space is terrifying because of how awful that pacing is.  I do not care about Onion, please go back to Lars.  But even if they fix it and the rest of the series is near-spotless, what’s done is done, you cant fix the rushed pacing of the past seasons’ stories and the dumb filler that padded out the seasons in the wrong areas.

- Also, another problem with combining episodic and serialized storytelling is that SU’s story gets WAY too serialized for an episodic show.  There’s so much going on that you can’t just sit down and watch a random episode of the show and start watching the show from there, which is a huge problem when you have episodes like Onion Gang and Future Boy Zoltron that take up 30% of the episodes and offer literally nothing to the story and honestly arent usually even that great as far as episodic stories go.  You cannot have 30% of your serialized show be 100% filler.  That’s bad writing.  And SU is in denial of the fact that it’s too serialized to be episodic.

Gravity Falls: - I generally cite Gravity Falls as one of the best combiners of the traditional episodic and serialized styles.  It’s what Steven Universe dreams of being; it becomes serialized when it counts (the final half of the last season), but up until then, it’s episodic with just a few clues/reoccuring things sprinkled throughout.  However, this show is far, far from flawless.

- Some of the episodic shows, and I mean a lot of the episodic shows, have a tendency to feel rather generic.  Ah yes, a girl whose obsessed with boys and boybands.  Okay.  Seen that.  A nerdy, whimpy boy who has a crush on a cooler older girl.  Again, seen that.  I’m not saying that’s all there is to Mable and Dipper; clearly not.  But a lot of their traits encompass many different stereotypes, and while the characters themselves aren’t bad, the situations they find themselves in aren’t always the most original.  Sometimes I feel like Gravity Falls is a PG-rated Scooby Doo meets Disney Sitcom.  Which is okay if you like Scooby Doo and Disney Sitcoms, but it doesn’t always make for the most eloquent storytelling.  Which is fine for a kids show, but less fine for one of the cartoons heralded as a harbinger of the current cartoon renaissance (then again, I’m not into hardly any of the other harbingers of the “current cartoon renaissance” and I’d argue that we aren’t in a renaissance at all; we’re just finally, finally getting some decent cartoons after the awfulness that was the late 2000s)

- I’m gonna say it; we should’ve learned more about Ford’s adventures in the other dimension.  It’s possible some of the non-animation related materials (namely books) have information about his travels, but as it stands, I havent got a clue what happened to him during those years.  And I want to know.  I should know.  Its a glaring plot hole in all honesty, because we should know what happened to him and how it affected him.  Or maybe im overreacting idk.

Voltron: Legendary Defender: - Hoo boy, where do I even start with VLD

- VLD seems like a show that wants to be character-driven but somehow refuses to.  It wants you to be emotionally attached to the characters, but either it does that and does nothing with it, or it doesn’t even bother to do that.  The only characters whose struggles I care about are Pidge, Shiro, Allura, and only as of season 3, Keith.  Allura I was kinda on the fence about until season 3 but thankfully, if season 3 did one thing right, it was Keith and Allura (and yes I know people are complaining abt Allura’s treatment but I like watching my faves suffer).  That leaves two paladins - and Coran, but I’ll give him a pass because literally the only show that’s done a comedy relief right is ATLA so I’m not expecting him to be superbly well-developed - that I dont give a shit about.

- Lets start with Hunk.  GOD I want to love Hunk so much.  So FUCKING much.  But every time a new season comes out, I feel more and more disappointed.  This show is so obsessed with melding him down to “the fat kid who eats a lot and makes a lot of dumb jokes” and it’s....so disappointing, because there’s so much potential here for something more.  In the first episode of the series, we see Hunk display cowardice (which isn’t an uncommon trait for a fat stereotype) and a prowess for engineering.  Yes he’s a bit of a fat stereotype, but you know what?  I dont care if a fat character is cowardly, makes bad puns, likes to eat, throws up a lot, all that jazz.  I care that they’re more than that.  I hate the idea that a character having a stereotypical trait (assuming its not straight-up a caricature) makes them automatically stereotypical.  Sorry buddy but smart asian people exist.  Preppy blondes exist.  And food-loving fat people exist (hi! i know that last one is true because I am one).  But they’re so obsessed with ignoring Hunk’s other traits - his love of cooking and his engineering skills.  I dont even remember if he used his engineering skills in season 2 and I know he only used it once in season 3.  He didnt even cook in season 3.  And I think the most telling thing in this show is how the show described Hunk’s relationship with Shiro.  As Keith was expressing grief over loosing essentially his big brother figure, Lance thought back to when he viewed Shiro as a legend and a hero, Pidge reminisced about how her father and brother used to praise the guy, and Hunk?  Hunk basically said “uhhhhhh he taught me to pilot my lion.....that counts right.”  Because Hunk has no relationship with Shiro.  Because Hunk has no relationship with any character.  He doesn’t even have that much of a relationship with Lance, and the two seemed to be best friends - or at least friends - prior to the formation of team Voltron.  At best, Hunk is friends with Lance and Pidge.  But all Hunk has done with Keith is make bad jokes while Keith acted all loner-y, and Hunk hasn’t even interacted with Allura and Shiro.

- Now, speaking of Lance, lets talk about him.  While Hunk gets points from me because he’s a sweetheart who deserves better, Lance is a flirter whose too high on his own horse and makes even worse jokes than Hunk does.  Considering Lance is the one we follow in the first episode, I would’ve expected him to be the most centric member of the team.  But first off, fuck me for projecting anime stereotypes/tropes onto a western cartoon (even though voltron was originally an anime kinda but shhh), but secondly he actually is...the most forgettable of all the Paladins.  Yeah I said it.  I legitimately dont like Lance at this point.  Yeah, I said that too.  I basically cant remember anything about him besides the fact that he flirts and jokes around a lot and that Klance is inescapable (like, not that its inevitable that you’ll ship it, but you’ll never escape the fandom for it).  He’s Sokka with all the charm, intelligence, and depth taken out of him, and also bi but that’s the only improvement.  Seriously, what...draws you all to Lance?  I dont want to judge, but he’s just....so stereotypical.  So boring to me, despite being the most lively paladin.  And the development cockteasing.  Oh, the development cockteasing.  I cant tell you how many times I’ve gotten my hopes up specifically because of something the show said about Lance/Lance seeming to be insecure about something, only for them to immediately shoot it down and replace it with more bad jokes or...nothing at all.  Because did Lance even do anything in season 3?  He pilots Red now, he had a funny bit with Blue during the “breakup”, he comforted Keith, Keith comforted him, uhhhh ??? did he even have a line in episode 7??  I feel like there might’ve been episodes where he literally had no speaking parts.  The only good things I can say about Lance so far are: 1. sometimes hes really fucking funny, and 2. it looks like they COULD be building up to something.  But if they’re just cockteasing me all the way through, I’m disowning dreamworks entirely.

- The tone of the show? also shouldn’t vary as much as it does.  The tone of a show varying is fine, but it shouldn’t vary in the way it does in Voltron prior season 3 (I’ll get to what I mean by that in a second).  In season 1 and season 2, the heavy moments of the show were almost entirely carried by Shiro; there was something for Pidge and something for Keith, but even then, Shiro got involved or was there for the entire time.  Shiro, by merely existing, brings the tone of this show down to something almost too serious for a kid’s show (emphasis on almost).  During the light-hearted parts, he just has to keep his mouth shut, because the only time he’s done anything funny (besides ironically funny like with his new outfit and haircut) was when he was yelling at Sven.  Yelling should not be your only source of humor.  But the rest of the show?  Was pretty goofy, yeah it took itself seriously sometimes but it also knew how to have fun.  Which is fine, a show should be able to have fun sometimes.  But that means all parts of the show, including Shiro.  Shiro is physically incapable of having fun and that’s kind of sad.  Season 3 was better about this though; nothing in season 3 felt fun and goofy, like at all, besides Lance taking selfies with girls in the first episode, and that was just one scene.  So I mean, they didn’t fix their problem, but the tone didn’t vary as much.  And I’m not saying the tone shouldn’t vary.  No, it should; you shouldn’t have all serious moments or all goofy moments.  Have some fun, but also take yourself seriously sometimes.  The problem is that parts of the show can’t take themselves seriously (Lance, Hunk) and other parts of the show can’t take a joke (Shiro, Zarkon/any villain too but they get a pass since they’re villains).

- Also we REALLY should know all of the Paladins’ backstories by now, ESPECIALLY Keith’s.  I know his is a mystery, but we need to know what he knows or else we cant get invested in the mystery.  If we dont have the same facts as the characters, we dont know where to start or what to expect.  We should’ve also seen flashbacks to Lance and Hunk’s families - ESPECIALLY Lance’s, since he seemed to care so much about them, but welp now that’s gone :).  We should’ve also seen more flashbacks to Pidge’s family but at least she’s trying to find them.  Nobody else gives a shit about their families and I just.  Aaaaaaaaaa this show infuriates me sometimes.

Avatar: The Last Airbender: - There’s nothing wrong with ATLA, move the fuck along

- I’M JOKING IM JOKING SWEATS okay but it’s no surprise I like ATLA and think its near flawless.  But still, it’s near-flawless, not flawless.

- If you cant stand a little kiddish cheese, you wont be able to stand ATLA.  ATLA takes itself super seriously for something on Nickelodeon, especially something on Nickelodeon in the mid-to-late 2000s (god I wish I watched this show as a kid, my standards would’ve been so much higher and i would’ve known what animation could actually do if you tried) but it’s still written for kids.  Which is fine!  I actually prefer things written for children over things written for adults.  But if you can’t handle something with content that’s clearly written for children, ATLA isn’t for you.

- Ozai fucking sucks.  There’s no other way to put it, his character fucking sucks.  He’s meant to be the embodiment of pure evil, he’s not meant to be sympathetic like Zuko, but for fuck’s sake, we needed his backstory.  And no, The Search doesn’t count; love that comic book, but that’s not enough backstory on Ozai (unless I’ve forgotten an important scene in the comic, idk its been a while).  Azula isn’t a sympathetic villain but we see her reasons and backstory.  Give us something like that for Ozai.  Show us a character that was emotionally neglected and then grew up in a society where killing and genocide were encouraged and praised.  THATS the backstory for Ozai I want.  I want to know where he came from to fuel my hatred for him, to see him as a real person but not as someone who should’ve done what he did, and I want to hate him BECAUSE he feels like a character.  Right now he just feels like the embodiment of evil and that doesn’t make for a good, truly intimidating villain.  A truly intimidating villain is one that you understand and can possibly relate to.  Not...whatever the hell Ozai is.

- Katara and Aang’s romance plot fucking sucks.  I am ace/aro and cannot write romance for shit nor tell when characters have chemistry, but I can still tell this.  It’s not...forced?  It’s not...rushed?  But it’s unnecessary and poorly written and it’s just puppy love and honestly if it was real live I couldnt see their relationship lasting.  Also the idea of seeing someone as a brother and then dating them later is verrrry .... poorly worded to say the least bUT ANYWAYS NEXT BULLET POINT

- Toph and Suki could’ve been developed more.  Like, they were okayly developed, they were great characters, but idk.  Toph didn’t grip me nearly as much as Sokka, Aang, and Katara and I feel kind of bad about it, but thinking about how much development the others got compared to her, it’s not really surprising.  I also am not the hugest fan of rude characters anymore, but I digress.  Also Suki.  Suki had like, little to no development.  I want Suki to be part of Team Avatar.  Can we do that

- General Zhao also fucking sucks.  He’s so generic that the first few times I watched the show, I forgot he was even a significant reoccuring villain.

- Sokka could’ve also been more developed but they could’ve all been more developed honestly?  You can always add to perfection.  I shouldnt complain about Sokka tho, he was finely developed and I love my nonbending son

The Legend of Korra: - Uhhhh the first season’s ending?  0/10 bad, rushed, not good.  I wanted to see Korra deal with the loss of her other elements.  I wanted to see her cope with that.  But no, because Nickelodeon kept screwing over LOK, they had to rush it because otherwise it wouldn’t have been a happy ending for the series if they potentially had to end it after one season.  Fuck Nickelodeon :) but I’m still going to critique LOK for it even if it is Nickelodeon’s fault.

- Bolin and Mako were horribly underdeveloped.  Especially Bolin.  It’s so sad how underdeveloped “Team Avatar” was in this series compared to the last series.  I feel bad complaining about Toph, Suki, and ESPECIALLY Sokka in comparison to LOK.  The only one even comparably as bad is Suki, but she got half a season to be developed and these two got an entire series.  We got some of their backstory and then...that was it, besides the love triangle that Bolin was barely part of.  I guess they were kinda irrelevant for season 2 and season 4, but they had no reason to be missing in the later half of season 4, plus they had season 1 and season 3, so....  God, poor Bolin.  It would’ve been nice to see a nice (fat) comic relief guy like him get the same treatment as Sokka, but whatever....its fine.......ill just sit here patiently waiting for my good representation coughs.  Also all Mako did was do the love triangle and I Do Not Like Him for it.  Keith is a better Mako than Mako ever was because Keith dont need no love triangle and also he already has more development

- Asami also should’ve been more developed, but it looks like there’s potential for more development in the comics so thats good.  From the series alone though, she was pretty flat; better than Bolin and Mako for sure, better than Suki from the original series, but not nearly as good as Toph or the others.  At least she did have some development and a likeable personality that’s relatively original.

- I hate saying this but...Korrasami should’ve been more developed.  I wouldn’t like, take points off of a rating for this point because I mean it was the first lesbian/gay representation in a kids cartoon (from my understanding) and Nick might not’ve even known they were sneaking in something romantic at the end, not to mention they completely subverted the love triangle plot so it actually gains back favor in that way and its great.  Also, I mean, they had that buy-curious joke lmao.  And I’m pretty sure its expanded upon more in the comic; there wasn’t really room to expand upon it in the show because it was just starting.  But they probably could’ve done better than that.  It was still okay though and also, the subverting of the love triangle trope is the greatest thing ever and i long for the day that I can do that plot twist in one of my shows lmao.

- The Villains could’ve been more developed.  Besides Ammon (who is FUCKING AWESOME and you can FIGHT ME) they all had the same problem as Ozai; we dont have many reasons to see them as human or relatable and it makes it hard to hate them as much as we should.  I mean, they do show /some/ human qualities which I appreciate, but I dont entirely understand their motivations half the time and I want to know how they came to view the world the way they do.  But at least unlike Ozai, they do feel somewhat human.  (Except maybe Unaloq, I didnt like Unaloq very much)

And that’s like half of what I could say about each of those shows, and those are just some of my favorite shows I watch.  Dont ask me to go off on like, AOT or something, because I’ll be writing for another three hours lmao (actually feel free to because i wanna INSULT this PIECE OF GARBAGE ANIME that looks rlly pretty but otherwise IS BAD AND IDK WHY I WATCH IT lmao [idk if im joking or sincere sorry])  No show is flawless so I’m going to insult whichever flaws I see.  Fight me.

[sufferingsapphire-blog]

What did you think of the new bomb? :O

OKAY so tl;dr: much better than sb5. which yeah, is still a pretty low standard, but this bomb had far more interesting elements to it! the first three eps had a season 1 vibe that i really liked, and the last two were pretty engaging as well. that isn’t to say that my sentiments are all praise though. i’ll put an episode-by-episode opinion under the cut!

lion 4: alternate ending: the art and colors were actually really nice in this one! steven and greg were visibly chubby, too, thank god…….and the reappearance of lion. too bad he won’t come back for a while since his voice actor is so expensive :\

this episode would have worked wayyy better as a season one or two episode though. ive heard people say that the point of this episode was to show that you shouldn’t overhype things (i.e., steven overhyping what he was supposed to find given rose’s key only to find out it’s an alternate tape), but it just immediately fell flat when you realized that the tape for “nora” was pretty much a carbon copy of the tape for steven. i felt really sad because it ultimately robbed the emotional value of lion 3′s ending for me. 

lion 3 is the first time we really get to see rose quartz, and she’s shown as this beautiful, all-loving being. and then we get into some darker stuff as the series progresses, learning she kept a bunch of secrets and has done some questionable things. so when we see her again, it would have been really nice to balance that out and have her with some deleted messages for steven, perhaps (like…actual alternate endings)? to sort of show she still genuinely cares about her son instead of making him seem like “just another outcome.”

(annnd this is just me perhaps but GOD that line from greg, “you could be steven or nora or anyone else, you could always change your name” just made my mind scream TRANS GIRL STEVEN but yknow. idk if theyd ever go in that direction but wishful thinking :’) )

doug out: HHHHHHHH i LOVE doug maheswaran so much. what a dork. i kinnnd of felt like the writing in this was…a bit stiff, though. perhaps it was just doug’s va’s delivery?? it felt kind of text-to-speak. but perhaps they were just trying to go for the effect of doug clearly putting on an act to impress connie and steven which i can get! 

only negative things aside from that i can really give for this one is that the art was just…hoo boy. i think you know.

im usually pretty lax on art inconsistencies (which are still valid criticisms since this is an entirely animated show by animation professionals! it’s just not my main beef w/the show), but sweet jesus what the actual fuck i am laughing so hard rn

the good lars: OKAY this is gonna be extremely biased bc i love lars (well, loved his potential, anyhow) and we actually got development from him holy shit. this is probably one of my favorite human-centric episodes of seasons 3 and 4 (it still won’t beat s1/s2 eps like lars and the cool kids andhorror club but it’s definitely a step up from, like…rocknaldo, yknow?

and i’ve known from the start that he was nonwhite (it was confirmed by burnett via tweet back when s2 was still airing), it was nice to have some specification on that! although i really do wish the term “filipino” was actually used in reference to him.

the cool kids were just. they were perfect. and i liked all of the characterization in this episode! steven still felt a little bland personality-wise, but the little things such as lars picking up “bingo bongo” from him and buck thinking it was cool was cute!

are you my dad? + i am my mom: I HATED THAT DRAWING JOKE SO MUCH. garnet just going “uh, i like me” was so ooc. she’s…supposed to be intelligent, right? that was honestly one of the worst garnet lines ive ever heard. and yeah, of course pearl has to be the ultra-talented one who modestly shrugs it off. like god. amethyst was the one who spent time with an artist (vidalia), shouldn’t she be the “artistic one?” it would have been an okay joke (in regards to pearl) if she wasn’t shown having 320840810382110930+ interests and talents prior in the series.

the designs for aquamarine and topaz seemed really bad when we first saw them but i steered clear of that discussion until i actually got a chance to see the two animated and in action. and i was…pleasantly surprised (halfway, at least).

aquamarine’s design was actually really cool in action! and the whole bow turning into a wand thing was cool. topaz still seemed kind of bland to me though. im totally fine with her body type and such but she just…doesnt look visually interesting, you know? like at least lapis had her wings going for her before aqua stole them and owned them better than her

the fight choreographed between aqua + topaz and the cgs was pretty weak, though. it felt like they were just kind of standing there attacking one at a time. and it’s not like the crew isn’t capable of doing better, you know? like the alexandrite vs malachite fight was REALLY good, along with the lapis vs the cgs fight. everyone was fighting simultaneously in the fight in ocean gem which made it so much more interesting! now, theyre just attacking one at a time like what is this?? attack the light or smth?? did garnet’s gauntlet punch use up all of their stars?? idk

BUT GOD I LOVED JAMIE SO MUCH. his lines were gold, esp “no garnet i’ve moved on i swear” that was funny. 

aqua seemed pretty overpowered though. like if you give a gem the ability to move other gems around at their will at least give it limitations, or else the “fight” won’t be interesting at all. or have aqua’s weapon get lost temporarily or something.

i actually thought referencing the “list” given by peridot was pretty clever, but having steven blow it up so much…was a bit too much. like if anything, peridot should have been the one upset over it and i seriously hope we get to see her reaction later on. 

ANYWAYS im actually looking forward to stuck together a LOT! they left lars on the ship for a reason and im interested to see how that’ll pan out. honestly?? thank god they didn’t try to make this bomb another “conflict solved in five episodes” like week of sardonyx.

[zatsy]

Amethyst could have beaten Jasper without fusing.

I will preface this post with the disclaimer that I have been following the show since the pilot, and I LOVE it. I encourage people to watch it all the time. But lately, I’ve noticed how Amethyst almost always gets the short end of the stick when it comes to character development. Rather than talking about all of the missed opportunities for character development, though, I’d like to talk about Amethyst and her fights with Jasper in season 3. It was a huge opportunity for Amethyst to get some serious character development, and, in my opinion, it was wasted on her fusion with Steven. I love Smokey Quartz, and their fight against Jasper was incredible, but...

I would like to start with the first Amethyst vs Jasper showdown in “Crack the Whip”. It’s one of my personal favorite episodes (mostly due to Stevonnie’s badass appearance), and it was building up to something great for Amethyst. We all remember Jasper’s chilling lines like, “You aren’t even trying! Is it because you already know you’re a failure?” and “You could have been me!” And let’s not forget the most chilling scene in the episode—

The way this is written, it’s shown to be a brutally one-sided fight. All of Amethyst’s attacks do virtually nothing to Jasper, while she gets absolutely curb-stomped. When she reforms and sees that Stevonnie has already defeated Jasper for her, it diminishes what little self-esteem she had. Everything Jasper told her seems true because she couldn’t size up.

This leads into the next episode, “Steven vs. Amethyst”, which is where I think things started to go wrong. In the episode, Pearl (accidentally) reinforces Amethyst’s feelings of self-loathing by suggesting that she’s losing on purpose to boost Steven’s confidence, and Steven does the same (despite his intentions) by losing on purpose in Lonely Blade. All of this is fine and dandy by me, but where things really went south is the fight between Steven and Amethyst. It wasn’t constructive, it was more of a way to indulge in their self-loathing in an incredibly destructive way. No progress was made towards building Amethyst or Steven back up.

It gets worse in “Bismuth”. I personally don’t like this episode because a lot of things were handled poorly, but for now, I’ll address Amethyst’s role. Or, rather, a lack thereof. Most of the episode centers around Bismuth’s appearance and disappearance, which completely disrupts the story of the last two episodes. Amethyst is seen, hardly heard, and no one even mentions the Homeworld gem causing havoc on Earth, or any of the events that have transpired in recent history. It halts the arc in an awkward way.

We get back to the story in “Beta”. Amethyst is still clearly upset with her loss, and she hasn’t made a whole lot of progress towards becoming a better warrior. She is discouraged further by her visit to the Beta Kindergarten and her discovery of Jasper’s perfect exit hole. Sure, Steven manages to pick her up, but all that really manages to do is get Amethyst even more fired up about fighting Jasper, which she’s ill equipped to do. Peridot’s little humdinger about how Amethyst shouldn’t fight her, the “ultimate Quartz”, wasn’t a big help either.

And then we get to “Earthlings”. Hoo boy. The fight is going about the same way it did in “Crack the Whip”, which proves that Amethyst hasn’t made any progress. “Is it sinking in yet?” stings because if Amethyst and the people around her had been making more constructive efforts to build her up, this fight would have gone much, much differently. In the end, Steven gives Amethyst a little monologue and they resort to what appears to be the only way to beat Jasper.

Fusion.

This further reinforced Jasper’s accusation that fusing is the only trick the Crystal Gems have. While the audience might know that isn’t true, Jasper doesn’t. So far, she’s only been shown to be defeated by fusions. While Steven and Amethyst’s fusion wasn’t a bad thing, it was a huge opportunity for Amethyst to prove herself, and she missed out on it.

So, I can talk and talk about what went wrong, but what would I do personally to change it?

1.) Eliminate “Bismuth” and put it at the end of this arc. The fact that this episode occurs right in the middle of this arc halts the story being told. Finish the story you’re telling before you start another one. I could rewrite that episode altogether, but that’s something for another day.

2.) Give Garnet a role in this arc. We haven’t seen Garnet and Amethyst interact very much throughout the show, aside from comic relief bits. This arc would have been the perfect opportunity to show what their personal relationship is like. Since this occurs after the Sardonyx arc (another bad arc I’d like to break down sometime), this would be a good point for Garnet to tell Amethyst that her strength isn’t her power, and that she needs to explore other ways to take down opponents. Even better, Garnet mentors her and helps her train. Not only does this give Amethyst a constructive way to build up her confidence, it gives Garnet something to talk about other than fusion and rounds her out.

3.) Show Amethyst’s progression from “Crack the Whip” to “Beta”. At the beginning, it’s obvious that Amethyst wants to be just like Jasper, so she tries to fight like Jasper. But it’s obvious that Amethyst isn’t like Jasper, and she needs to focus on her strengths, not what her strengths are supposed to be. We already know Amethyst has some kind of grasp on this because of episodes like “Ocean Gem” and “Catch and Release”, where she uses her weapon to grab things rather than strike.

Again, this is a good time for Garnet to step in and remind her that her weapon isn’t built around power, and there are ways to defeat opponents besides being a powerhouse. Hell, if you wanted, you could add in a Peridot moment where she reminds Amethyst how she’s captured her with her whip on more than one occasion. What’s important is that Amethyst learns that she doesn’t need to be like Jasper to be a great warrior.

4.) The fight in “Earthlings” should be even without fusion. It makes the end result so much sweeter when the “ultimate Quartz” is evenly matched with a “defective runt”. The dialogue here could be intense and moving, where Jasper hurls insults at Amethyst for being afraid to fight her honestly, and Amethyst retorts by saying she doesn’t need to be like Jasper to be strong. She could even turn it around on Jasper by saying that while Homeworld may only value one type of strength, Earth gems see value in all types of strength. This raises Amethyst’s confidence when she sees that she can beat Jasper fair and square, no fusion required. Jasper becomes so desperate to win that she’ll fuse with a corrupted gem monster in order to defeat her because if the Crystal Gems will resort to cheap tricks, why can’t she? It makes Amethyst feel better about herself as a gem, not just as a component to a fusion.

That about wraps up my thoughts on this. I know I can’t change what’s already been set in canon, but Amethyst deserved better.