#but this happened with pretty much every movie that I've thought should have won and swept for the past 5 years now so

[jacksonlamb-official]

well you know what the academy awards may be stupid but at least I know the truth congratulations Conclave for being the film of the fucking year in the hearts of the people in all the world 💖

[sukibenders]

TBOSAS movie is proving time and time again that as long the character is a handsome white man, he can get away with anything or be babified of any wrongdoing. Like the number of people that I've seen go out of their way to try and justify Snow's actions, not even just young Snow anymore at this point but he's largely where this happens, using the term "he was just misunderstood" and acting as if his trauma was an excuse is mind-blowing. Did he go through traumatic stuff? Yes, but acting as if that excuses many of his actions, specifically for young Snow because there's no way in hell that mindset will work even a fraction with his older self (but people still try), is false and a mindset that needs to be stopped. Like I can't help but think about the way he views the people of the districts already in TBOSAS, seeing them and anything about them as animals rather than people, and how that mindset even falls on to the Covey and Lucy Gray herself. When reading some of their scenes together he comes off so passive aggressive when she talks about her plight, but it's largely because he treats her like an object---no, a PRIZE to be won and owned (thinking back to how, before they were even together romantically and where she didn't owe him shit, he still saw her as "his girl" and would get obsessive over the fact that others gravitated to her in a way he didn't like).

I'm not saying that it's wrong to find the bad guy attractive, it's not and Snow is very handsome, I will admit that. But just because he got a face card doesn't mean that should be basis for justifying every horrendous act he's done. And also, he's eighteen years old, why are people acting like he doesn't know his right from his left? He knows exactly what he's doing, from the books where his thoughts are literally laid out for us, to the movie itself. Though not as clear cut sometimes as the books, there are plenty scenes that let you know who he is (I think back to that classroom scene where Gaul is asking them questions, and Sejanus rightfully calls them out on their bs, but Snow uses his outrage and turns it into a way to make the Games better, completely going against Sejanus' original point).

What's even more sinister is some in the fandom going as far as to blame Lucy Gray for all of Snow's problems by saying "oh, but if she had just heard him out then maybe he wouldn't have been so heartbroken", as if she should had further risked her life and wellbeing to adhere to this man's needs when he was out to harm her or the fact that him having his heartbroken is justification for everything else he did before and after. There are many other examples of this, but it set a precedent for a very glaring problem in fandom spaces where the female character, especially if they are woc, is always to blame for the male, usually white, character's bad actions and that if they just listened to them and heard them out then so on and so on. Reminds me very much of the treatment of Alina in both show and books fandom spaces and babifying of the Darkling's actions by putting all the blame on her (never mind the fact that he's the cause for so much of her trauma, he's pretty after all *this was sarcasm*).

It's been a minute since I've seen the movie, so my example may be a little fuzzy, but my point still stands. You can like these characters and find them attractive, that's fine and normal. But where problems arise is when you try to paint over their bad acts because you thirst after them and/or proceed to place blame on the female characters, especially if they are woc, as a scapegoat.

[merpshire]

Wow haven't made a reading post since November... I used to do one per book. XD I should try to get back to that for 2025. Alright here we go!

Since last post, I've read a couple books! First was finishing Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. The plot in the book is pretty different and I think the movie hurt itself with the changes it made. The whole bit at the end where Sophie is the only one who can put Howl's heart back w/o killing both him and Calcifer has a meaningful explanation in the book. Book Sophie is explicitly a witch who does magic by talking to things and imbuing her wishes into them. To avoid killing book Howl and Calcifer she does magic. The movie just has Calcifer say she can do it and the audience is left to ascribe their own reason for why. If you've read the book before watching the movie, there's a bunch of subtext in the movie that Sophie is magical, but it's pretty weak and isn't specific enough for the audience to understand WHY she's the only one who can do the thing. This is by no means the only difference but since it's the ending emotional climax of the movie it's the easiest to discuss. I don't really wanna go into the rest so I'll stop here. The book is good, 8/10, and I'd recommend it!

After HMC, my book club decided on A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan. THIS DISCUSSION HAS A MAJOR PLOT SPOILER. The book is ostensibly the memoirs of famous natural historian Lady Trent and details how she became a famous natural historian. I honestly thought this book was a standalone and was SHOCKED to discover it's the first of six books. This cleared up some confusion for me. In the beginning, Lady Trent talks about how her readers might know of her numerous exploits and she highlights several in particular. Thinking this was a standalone, I was increasingly confused as to the pacing of the book when 2/3rds of the way through she was still 19 and doing 1 thing. Knowing it's a series makes the pacing much more sensible. It's a cutely written book and the idea that it's a memoir is what really makes it enjoyable. If it were a typical 3rd person fantasy story I don't think it'd have worked as well. My only complaint is that the author kills off the love interest we spend the whole book growing to enjoy. Near the very end of the book we've finally grown to like the guy and appreciate his and lady Trent's romance when the author just kills him and moves on... I had just accepted this was a 6 book series and was getting ready to settle in with familiar characters when this happened so I found it really jarring. Maybe it plays better if you know it's a 6 book series from the start but, I didn't like it. Still a fine book and worth reading if you like fantasy and/or Regency era romance.

The first book club book of 2025 is The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin, second in The Broken Earth Trilogy. Having read it, I further understand why every book in the trilogy won a Hugo Award. The second in the trilogy continues to follow main character Essun as she settles in to Castrima having lost track of her missing daughter Nassun and husband Jija. The first book switched perspectives between Essun as an adult and her experiences as a child and teenager to set the stage for who the other characters are and what they know. The second book does away with that and instead gives us Nassun's perspective in addition to Essun's. In book 1 we learn a fair bit about the magic system but it's left with room for expansion and oh boy does book 2 take advantage of this in a good, fun way. The pacing of the book is incredibly well done and it feels like not a word is wasted. You can read it just to follow the main plot or you can deep dive into the other themes about family, love, domestic violence, discrimination, community, etc. I give the book 10/10 and I think everyone should read the series. I can't WAIT to finish it out with The Stone Sky and if my book club doesn't pick it for March or April I'm just going to read it on my own.

Speaking of reading on my own, I'm currently reading Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (not a book club book). Reading it after The Obelisk Gate is a little painful. I think this is the author's first published series and the writing is... Fine. It's not nearly as polished and I'm struggling a little bit with it. This book is the second in a series. The first was a cute romance first and foremost and I thought that's how this would go as well. Unfortunately, the author is focusing MUCH more heavily on the overall world and the fantasy plot of the story. I think this choice was made to stretch the series out to three books instead of two. The romance in the first is a sunshine/darkness, will they/won't they pair and by the end of the first book it's very WILL THEY when the darkness guy is kidnapped. The author tries to reset us in book 2 to will they/won't they and it just doesn't work for me with the way book 1 went. It's still cute and I'm going to finish it but... I suspect I'm gonna give this 5 or 6 out of 10. If you devour romance novels, you'll PROBABLY like this.

After this, book club has chosen Onyx Storm for our February book but since that doesn't come out 'til MLK day weekend, I might have time for another personal book before I have to read it. That book will be Elantris and w/e of the Ars Arcanum by Brandon Sanderson that I can get to before having to switch back.

Phew, long post. I'll try to do one per book from now on so I can avoid dumping like this. XD

[fuckmeuselessdegen]

spoilers for the most recent dol update below (avery's new date) + some of my thoughts + what canonically happened in daiki's save file. (PART TWO)

the first motherfucker that won daiki was quinn. little did i know, that would be the most terrifying thing i've ever experienced in dol 😭. i like to think that i'm pretty resilient when it comes to certain things, but my god. reading and experiencing quinn's event after the date was just. wow. some of the details were just a little too fucked up, even for me 😭. the fact that bailey even goes out of his way to WARN you about quinn is already such a huge red flag, i should of known that motherfucker was gonna be a fucking weirdo. and the implications of what he does to you when you accept the drink he gives you and after he shows you his "movies" is just… eugh. i legit felt dread after that entire scenario. so! the canon event that happened between daiki and quinn is that daiki decided to actually listen to bailey's warning and did not ingest anything quinn gave him, and manage to run away from quinn before he showed him any "movies". anyways, quinn scares me now 😃

the second person that won daiki was bailey! and his scenario was actually the most normal and pleasant out of the 4 of them, which was crazy to me. you just do chores and run errands with bailey, what more could you ask for? the canon event that happened between daiki and bailey is that daiki did help bailey tidy up his flat, and then intimidated the men that approached him in the car.

the third person that won daiki was leighton, which had me a little excited. leighton was actually the first character that i really liked when i got into dol (which is just crazy to think about ngl), so i was happy to see this scenario with him. daiki and leighton have a bit of a complicated relationship, but it does involve daiki mainly trying to humiliate leighton as much as possible as a way to gain control, so seeing some of the options during this scenario made me very happy. the canon event that happened between daiki and leighton is that daiki sabotaged leighton's seduction with the person at the bar and decided to elope with them instead. however instead of going through with it, daiki shoves the person away and leighton ends up finding them, leaving leighton to drag daiki to the private bedroom.

the last and final person that won daiki was avery, whom i deliberately left for last as avery IS one of daiki's love interest. unexpectedly, this was another scenario that would scare me, just like quinn's 😭 (not as bad as quinn's though). i don't know why i was a little surprised that avery and remy know each other, but it makes sense, seeing as they are both well known, rich, and socialites. every asshole just know each other in this fucked up town. anyways, the whole party was a little strange to me, but it's dol so of course it's gonna be strange. i was hoping to maybe see a wren appearance, but nope. the canon event that happened between daiki and avery is that daiki went along and listened to everything that avery had asked him and managed to dance his way back to him during the dance portion.

i don't know if there are different scenarios if you have experience these events more than once since i only did these once, but this is just the general idea of what happened in daiki's run. overall, very interesting event and it only leaves me asking more questions about the characters and the lore of dol (coughquinncoughavery). still can't wait for the day that avery's mansion actually becomes a thing, but for now, this will satiate me… and i hope to make an art piece based off this new avery date!

spoilers for the most recent dol update below (avery's new date) + some of my thoughts + what canonically happened in daiki's save file. (PART ONE)

spoilers for the most recent dol update below (avery's new date) + some of my thoughts + what canonically happened in daiki's save file.

spent a lot of time sleeping through days in a separate cheat file so i could experience avery's new date + every single option that you can choose. it was definitely an experience, but i really liked it, and i like that whoever wins the card game has their own little event after the date.

first of all, the fact that you could spit in all of their drinks is so fucking funny to me. i saw that option and i audibly laughed out loud. also, avery and bailey actually knowing each other makes me so feral. when i first was into dol, i actually shipped the two of them together just from the small interaction they had from the cafe expansion event, but eventually i forgot about it because the two of them seemingly never interacted again (and also i ship bailey and eden now). until NOW.

second, the flavor text is so funny to me too, and i like the little bits of details it reveals about each character. i know i definitely haven't seen them all, but some of them i really liked. like one, bailey actually owning SNAKES. i knew he was hinted to have some correlation to snakes but i didn't think he'd actually OWN them. and also i didn't expect quinn to be so… jolly? i know we don't get to see much of him with the limited events we do have with him, but he's a lot cheerier than i thought he would be.

anyways, just the entire card game portion of the date really entertained me. i love all the options and all the flavor text that i saw. the events of the winning person are a whole different story though.

[madness-in-the-flesh]

Dude the breakup with Jebus fic was intense as hell wtf! As in horror movie intense level and I love it! You think there's a possibility of a good ol sequel to it? 👀

UHWADDA damn, Glad to hear you enjoyed it because I've had A LOT of fun writing and ohhh would you look at that! A sequel! Written right below this ask! what are the odds!

Jebediah Christoff Drabble - 'til death do us part [ #2 ]

GENRE - Romantic

TRIGGER WARNINGS - Toxic relationships, hinted at Manipulation and just plain ol' manipulation, Gore descriptions, cannibalism ( via zombies ), Graphic Violence, Injury, open ending but maybe reader dies??

It had only been a couple weeks since you left your husband. You hadn't been able to file for divorce as of now but you are waiting for a better time, when you could afford such things. Although you did work, You hadn't realized how much you did rely on Christoff for pretty much everything. It was odd. You hadn't really clocked it in your relationship but he was... in charge of a lot of things that you'd started to pick up on over the past weeks. That independence away from him though, made you feel proud of yourself. It was a way to prove to yourself, Him and everyone in-between that you didn't need him in this world as you remembered a co-worker remarking. You totally showed them! Kinda....

The haunting image of how he grabbed your wrists. The way he spoke a soft pet name. Your gut swam with the memory so you opted into going to do something else. Looking around the small motel you were currently staying in. It was simple, Nothing fancy as you couldn't really afford fancy. Just a simple bed and bathroom on the second floor. You'd been eating out a lot for breakfast, lunch and dinner. An unhealthy habit but you had to until you could find a place with a kitchen. Part of your brain could already hear Christoff scolding you, Shaking his head lightly and telling you that you should be looking into more health appropriate foods and you'd argue back that just because it was take out, doesn't mean it's entirely unhealthy but then again. It is Cheap shit. He would have won that little spat.

You paused for a moment. You didn't need to be thinking about him, you should be thinking about yourself! You don't need him to make solidify every little thing for you anymore. You are your own person and you'd be fine. Yeah. Everything will be fine! You nodded as you reassured yourself.

You paused however once you had heard frantic knocking outside your door which made you perk up. With a few quick and careful steps, You went over and opened the door. A pale looking grunt, quivering in fear as they looked around.

" Y-You need to get out of here! " They squeaked, Glancing to the side every couple seconds which cause you to raise a brow. This was... sudden

" Why? " You asked, first thought floating that Christoff was going to do something drastic. You had heard stories about such things, which made you mildly anxious but brushed off. You knew him and as far as you were concerned, He would... never hurt you or anyone. He prided himself of being better than that. However, What caught you off guard was a sudden grab of the hand and drag as the grunt screamed in terror, Footsteps rounding the corner of the motel stairway. You struggled against their grip and they did as you wanted, letting you go: However, they instead rounded the corner and slid into a nearby door. You rolled your eyes, still slightly anxious but decided that whatever was happening couldn't be that bad.

At least, until it wasn't, sighting some strange green monsters chewing on another grunt. Ripping and tearing their body away hungrily and you quickly felt yourself freeze up in horror.

" What the fuck " you barely breathed out, causing one of them to turn to you. Barely reacting as it took a full sprint towards you and it was only then that you realized the things happening around you. How had you not noticed the screaming, the yells for help, the noise in general. Although Nexus city was always noisy: It was never this awful.

You turned and ran, not bothering to try get around the thing or it's friends. You could feel the thumping of your heart, in rhythm with the way your feet met the floor, trying to gain as much distance between you and the thing as possible. You took shallow breaths, mind racing of what might happen now. Why of all times did the end of the world have to occur now, I mean that's what it had to be. A second and final attack of madness to finish you all off. But one questioned still remained: why, oh why, did it always happen to you?

You soon skidded to a stop, hitting the railing as the path came to an end. You looked back as the zombie rounded the corner. You only had one way out of this and swallowed your fear. Climbing over the railing and looked back to see the green monster. They pounced and pushed you off the railing and towards the ground. The zombie got caught of the railing, Struggling to fall down with you but it didn't relent. Reaching and grabbing as you fell.

You made contact with the ground and landed wrong. Your left leg snapped under the sudden pressure and weight. You screamed in pain, Feeling your own leg bend in ways it was never meant to. Bent into a slight L shape from the knee with a sickening crack. Falling to the ground as multiple grunts ran. You cried as tears quickly built up in your vision. The white noise in yours ears built up as pain overtook you but you began to panic and scramble as you watched the thing finally make it over the railing, landing beside you with a thud and a groan. It locked eyes with you as you helplessly crawled over the ground, nails digging into the pavement in hopes of somehow moving yourself faster but it was too late. It already gripped your broken leg tightly and began gnawing away.

You screeched out in as a sharp pain shot through your leg. Teeth met flesh, tearing your own from your body as stuffed it's face with your own body's meat. It was a gluttonous creature clearly, because it wouldn't stop. Digging and consuming as much as it could. You struggled against it but it would not let go. It's grip was iron and jaws clamped down with little trouble. Soon enough you gave up struggling against it, Because it only served to tear your own skin and muscle more. Only making it easier.

Soon you subsided, the pain becoming too much as you huffed. How much blood had you lost? You were starting to feel woozy. A grunt noticed this and seemed like he was debating something, their friend told them to ignore you, but looking between both of you: They just couldn't. They called out, breaking into a jog as they attempted to get to you. They said they'd help and almost did. Kicking the zombie away from you and starting a fight. The zombie pounced back, snarling with anger. It didn't enjoy it's meal being interrupted. This got the attention of more, Glancing over to the grunt's friend as they scrambled over to you and tried to drag you out of there and over the dull concrete.

The grunt who had tried to save you, broke into a scream as more Zed's seemed to show up. Green skin and decaying, the same initiable hunger. They were swarmed by the rest as they rounded the corner: Colliding with him and the other zombie. You could hear flesh tearing from bone, screams and a quick gasp from the other dragging you.

You could feel them shaking, quickly looking between you and the Zed's before breaking into a run in hopes of getting away - Leaving you to your resigned fate. You didn't blame them knowing exactly who was next on the chopping block if they didn't get the fuck out of here.

You guessed you'll never know what it would be like to grow old, to have your body wither away. You recalled that's what you wanted with Jeb. Jebediah, the name was now fresh in your mind as your sobs started up again. You'd never find out what happened to him because you'd be dead: - or worse, one of those monsters that were currently ravaging the now silent corpse of the one who tried to save you. Looking down at your leg, Maybe you knew what it would be like to decay, maybe you would become one of them.

You let yourself fall back and stare up at the Nevadan sky while smoke danced across the sky. Taking in the Noise of the city. Screams orchestrated along with the fire, sirens and the likes of the apocalypse. Smoke danced along the sky, Accumulating in certain spots.

You'd finally accepted your fate but until your final breath, You'd wonder about him. Part of you thinks that if you had stayed with him, It'd have been different. Jeb always knew what to do in these sorts of situations while you were helpless. You remembered how he'd tell you not to " Worry your pretty little head " about it because he'd fix it and likewise, he always did. Maybe you had become too dependent on him. Maybe that's why you were sitting here dying or maybe this was the universe's way of saying " fuck you " for leaving him. Karma as they called it.... Jebediah didn't believe in such things.

How did it all go wrong? You asked yourself as you closed your eyes. Hoping that maybe you could just pretend you weren't there and it wouldn't hurt as much. Retreating into a good memory, only to be interrupted. A shot rang out, But you never saw where the bullet hit. It did, however, catch the attention of the Zed's around the one who attempted to save you. Not all but a few perked up, mainly the ones who were having to push just to get to the scraps of the grunt. The only thing that was left was the some of the left over flesh and bone. Stripped clean of the grunt's body mass.

You could hear more gunshots as your breath began to become more shallow. You felt cold and stiff, closing your eyes for a moment as you felt sleepy. You watched as the rest of the zombies ran, one stopping to loom over you. Preparing yourself for the pain, You grit you teeth. It bent down into your face, meters away. You couldn't feel it's breath which scared you. That meant the thing wasn't breathing, it didn't need to expel carbon dioxide like you. A new wave of tiredness once again washed over you once again.

Although it wouldn't last long as just when the jaws were about to clamp down and tear around your face however such visions would never come. You watched as it's own jaw was shot off by someone else, flying to the side with a scream of pain. Another shot and it was dead, Square in the face and your new saviour was looming over. For a moment, You were taken aback by the halo floating above it's head.

You blinked, vision still blurry but it was slowly adjusting. A familiar face came into view. That of your husband, Jebediah Christoff. Your eyes widened. Had you died? Was this actually a hallucination from blood loss? Could you not deal with the fact you would die, a meal to a monster so your brain tried to make you feel better? You couldn't care less. You breathed out and smiled, tears still welling you eyes as Jedediah's hand reached down, cupping your cheek.

" Jeb " You sobbed, out trying to reach for him. He obliged and picked you up. You wrapped your arms around his neck. Whining and sniffling into his neck. You couldn't contain both the overwhelming relief or the terror. Emotions combining into one as you couldn't think of how to convey it and all you could do was let the mixture pour out your tear ducts, voice wavering.

" It hurts.. " you cried, voice cracking as he glanced down at your half eaten leg. He took a moment to stare at your leg. Visually there was no saving it, already having most of the flesh peeled from the bone. Amputation was most likely the safest option as well as an easy way to secure you could not leave him again. However, he was a little disappointed. He had payed the grunt at the door to keep you safe and he failed at that task, Already planning to pay a little visit to them later.

" I know. But your safe now. I'm here. " He spoke, just above a whisper. You weren't really paying attention to your surroundings anymore - All the mattered was that you were with him.

" I'm sorry I left. I won't ever again " You whimpered, trying your best to keep your eyes open. You could feel the two of you were moving now. He seemed to be rushing back, You had no idea where you were. Unfamiliar streets that were now lost to whatever monsters roamed them, Both grunt and agent alike panicking as they scatter around. It was every man for themself respectively at this point.

" I know. Bad things happen when you're away from me. I've always told you that. " He responded with a soft kiss to your temple as you whined, Still trying to not focus on the pain but the adrenaline was wearing off, making it a lot harder to keep yourself conscious. Your eyelids felt heavy, drooping as everything started to move slower. The pain wasn't helping at all either. Part of you knew there was a possibility that if you closed your eyes now, let unconsciousness take you that you may never wake up from this slumber.

However you were happy, Dying in his arms if that were to be the case. So let yourself slip away, subtly hoping that the phrase " 'til death do us part " was nothing more than that. You don't think you could bare leaving him ever again.

[phenomenalcosmicpowers]

In a recent post on I Dream of Twilight Sparkle I said that I noticed asks that were not in my inbox the last time I decided to read through my entire ask box. So I did the same for my mod blog. And while there were some also that I didn't see before. Most are questions I feel either I feel like I may have already sufficiently answered enough with my thoughts on an episode and/or it'd be weird at this point to answer something that's obviously years after the fact.

But there is two I found that I feel like I may want to respond to. The person who sent it was someone who used to discuss the show with me almost all the time, though obviously they must no longer be on Tumblr as all their blogs are deactivated. But I still want to answer since it is sort of relevant to recent stuff. Particularly in their 2nd ask.

By the way, I'm always open to questions on the show or even non-pony topics here on my modblog. I still do love talking about G4 ponies and I wouldn't mind some questions if any of you would like to know my opinion on anything. Now that the show has been over for nearly 2 years , I can have a perspective on many topics about Friendship is Magic that I wouldn't mind sharing. Maybe some things have changed here and there, though I think I still generally have a positive attitude towards most things for certain. I stuck with the show until the very end, and was satisfied with how it ended. And I still have interest in doing more in G4's world even as G5 approaches. (Though I'm sure perhaps once that movie has aired that may be the focus of any questions sent here)

((My answer and more after the break))

For the most part, I think I still generally agree with what I said in my initial thoughts about the Season 6 finale. It's a solid episode with some great interactions between Starlight, Trixie, Discord, and Thorax. Though the way the ending is executed is a bit of a headscratcher. Maybe somewhat less so since thinking about it now, like even if Chrysalis did keep some things loyal. What would stop them from eventually seeing what Thorax's changelings did shortly after.

But I suppose I wanted to answer this mostly about Starlight. Since while the Season 6 finale made HomerJ get over some remaining feelings about Starlight. I'll admit it took literally until writing Secrets of the Dragon's Tear (A year after the show was over) to realize the sort of potential that Starlight had. The baggage from the Season 5 finale always felt like a cloud above her for the entire rest of the show's run. And I consider Season 6's largest mistake is not trying harder to endear us to Starlight. That's what that season's entire job was, to try to make us feel a little better of how rather rushed Starlight's redemption was by giving us a more expanded look into Starlight's character. And unfortunately, I feel like it failed at that in my opinion. Thus I basically disagree (Though respect the opinion of) with those who would say the Season 6 finale was when Starlight finally won them over.

Don't get me wrong, I like how Starlight is portrayed in the episode. But it would of been stronger if say the season had explained more about Starlight's past. How did Starlight get her cutie mark, and given her opinion on Cutie Marks how did she feel at the time?

Instead, we mostly just got Starlight reuniting with Sunburst that didn't exactly give any more details to her rather vague reasons for turning to darkness from him moving away other then finding out Sunburst's personality and how his side of the story went. And from there we had Starlight befriend Trixie... in an episode I still don't really like to this day.

Ironically, the character in the Hearth's Warming episode that casts Starlight as the story's version of Scrooge (Snowfall Frost) is given more reason to sympathize with then Starlight herself.

Starlight then just about disappears up until the episode that introduces Thorax. Where she doesn't do much other then be among the crowd that Spike has to convince that Thorax is not evil.

The next time we see her is Every Little Thing She Does. Which is something of a controversial ep from what I hear, though ironically despite my skepticism of Starlight at the time. I actually sort of liked that episode since it was basically Starlight's own Lesson Zero. Though I get why Starlight deciding to hypnotize all the Mane 6 besides Twilight against their will would not be approved of. Though it does feel like at the very least Twilight and the rest give her enough of a piece of their mind at the end.

And that's how things stood before the Season 6 finale happened. Even though I do think Starlight has good moments in said finale, nothing earlier in the season really dispelled many of my feelings about the Season 5 finale's ending. So despite a good showing, I could hardly care for it. I wasn't convinced yet we were given a satisfactory answer about the many questions that Starlight's sudden redemption prompted.

Another part of my thoughts I feel still applies is when I mentioned that Starlight's a "Diet Sunset Shimmer" (Which considering what I did to link the two for SOTDT, is a bit funny in hindsight). It took just one movie (Rainbow Rocks) for the fanbase to turn a 180 on Sunset. While an entire season with Starlight as one of the good guys goes by and she remained just as divisive as before if not more so by the end of Season 6.

Come Season 7, and Starlight appears quite a bit more often though under the assumption that the Season 6 finale was enough to warm you up to her. There were many complaints during the first half of Season 7 that she was appearing more then she should (Even in an Equestria Girls special where she got to meet the character she was so often compared to). Though another thing about Starlight in Season 7 in hindsight is besides from her meeting a few more friends like Maud. Starlight isn't actually given much to actually work towards. They dropped the whole student aspect so it's not like she was doing friendship lessons under Twilight anymore (Though I suppose on the bright side for the detractors, it lessened worries about her becoming an Alicorn). Season 8 and 9 does somewhat fix that by having Starlight employed at the school, first as a counselor and ultimately ending with her as the school's Principal as Twilight herself got promoted to sole ruler. Which I'm still unsure about if fans of her character feel that was a proper ending for her. Though probably the best that could of been done in context of not much having been done with her over time.

Still, at least for me personally it felt there was alot missing about Starlight and as time went on it became obvious I wasn't going to get the satisfactory answers about her that I wanted. So as a result, I only had lukewarm reactions when a new Starlight episode was coming up. It also didn't help that there were two episodes that raised my hopes of at least one interesting aspect that would of been cool to see. The first being the episode "All Bottled Up" which I had hoped would mean it would be an episode that's somewhat genie related. And then there was Road to Friendship where Starlight and Trixie try to travel to Saddle Arabia (which is an important location in I Dream of Twilight Sparkle)... and yet never actually get there. So even on the few times that I was hoping to be excited about a Starlight episode, it dropped the ball. Partly my fault for getting so hyped about something that wasn't promised, but I would of loved to at least SEEN canon Saddle Arabia.

I'd never say that I hated Starlight back during the show's run. But she was a frustrating character for certain back then. I couldn't hate Starlight as much as some others did, but at the same time I couldn't like her as much as others. She was in likability limbo. For every fun and or good moment that included her, it's brought right back by either lingering problems that arised from the Season 5 finale or otherwise dropping the ball in some way.

In some ways, she's still a frustrating character. Though that's just how it'll always be with the canon Starlight. It's up entirely now to fanon to give their approach on Starlight that was never done in Canon. With SOTDT, I obviously did a bit of a "Fine, I'll do it myself" when it comes to making Starlight a more satisfactory character for me. Though I'm sure there are many interpretations that are vastly different from how I approached it that can satisfy others and probably be more popular and better written then mine. (My interpretation might be understandably controversial just for Starlight being put back on a path where she'll likely become an Alicorn eventually. Something Starlight detractors feared the most. Though I think I at least try to explain as best I could that makes sense with the story, her cutie mark moment being similar to Twilight's, and the identity of her mother. And I myself sort of feared Starlight becoming an Alicorn might happen, so for me to actually write it so that it might be inevitable. That's just how much of a 180 I've taken on Starlight because of writing SOTDT)

I think I mentioned this before, but I can pretty much say that in a way that I can actually say I like Starlight now. But sort of in a "FiM's biggest missed opportunity" sort of way that it becomes sort of sad to look at how canon Starlight was done. Rather then me simply shrugging her off back when I didn't care so much about her. I also understand it's a bit cheating to say I like Starlight now after doing my own sort of fanfic that had her in a major role since that might be me tooting my own horn a bit.

Though I will say as much as necessary that I am very aware alot of what happens in SOTDT would have been impossible to do in canon and I don't plan on pushing what I did to expand on Starlight's backstory as gospel. It only applies to what I'm doing on the blog, I will not be making a case that my interpretation is the only correct one. I'd actually welcome seeing some different interpretations on things such as who Starlight's mother is, what they feel her past was like outside of the Sunburst leaving incident, and/or especially how Starlight originally got her cutie mark. (I've even said my personal guess is different then how I did it in SOTDT, as my guess is she got it the first time she discovered the cutie mark removal spell). Cause if nothing else, I've realized Starlight is a very interesting character that I think would be fun to explore all the possibilities with. It certainly could be something for those still on the G4 train to talk with one another about.

[purplerose244]

Thinking journal for season 12 Prime Empire 😎😎😎 (2/2)

Here we go with the next part! I really hope we get some major big plot twist at some point, because it's all really cool but I need something to really change from good to GREAT

For now, let's focus on the next episodes!

It's the 17th of April and here we go!

GENERAL

I feel like there's little time to really pull up something, I don't know. Like, what plot twist could happen now that there just half season left with only Unagami/Dyer's identity and maybe Scott's past as mysteries? There's little space for more plotlines, that's what I think

Overall fighting scenes, character designs and game backgrounds are AWESOME!!

Let's see how it goes, maybe I'll be surprised. Wouldn't be weird for Ninjago to pull a bomb last episode 😅

ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK

ZANE AND PIXAL FINALLY!!! IT'S DETECTIVE TIME!!! 😎

Okay, so there is a photo, and there is a friend. As I thought, Dyer might not be Unagami at all, I feel like there's a lot of backstory coming along. I wonder if Scott has a part in this... WHERE IS SCOTT 💙

Ah, of course Kai would spend his credits on an avatar, I should've known, my flame babe can be such a dummie sometimes I mean why would you even do such a thing as buying an avat-

NEVER MIND I LOVE IT 😍😍🔥🔥 I thought him being blonde was going to bother me, I actually kinda like the change. Still prefer my baby brunette, but it's really cool as well. The best of this season are definitely the characters designs

Was that "let's fight an ogre mission" a hint for next season? I wouldn't be weird, but it's been a while since I've seen forshadowing for new season in this show

HECK YEAH THE DANCING EPISODE!!! I was waiting for this, Jaya is so cute while they are on the dancefloor 😍 They have chemistry 😘😘😘

I like the implication that Nya was really bad at dancing before Jay, like Kai covering his eyes because he cannot handle her sister not being perfect at something 😛

And Cole being the dance expert, that little tango moment with Kai I bet made many lavashippers super happy 🖤❤🖤❤

THE TRIPLE TIGER SASHAY ALL THE WAY FROM SEASON 1-2 ABSOLUTELY YES YES YES!!! AND HE DIDN'T ROAR, HE STRAIGHT UP SAID "NO ONE PUTS COLE IN A CORNER" I'M DYING!!! With this and Nya's 'catch me', I expect so many Dirty Dancing AUs from this 😂👌

JAYA BEING AWESOME HECK YEAH ❤💙❤💙

JUST LOOK AT THEM!!! Nya better say I love you back soon, like Kai and Skylor are a little behind, Zane and Pixal already said it, Jay can't stop doing it, come on girl it's your turn! 😎😎

RACER SEVEN

SCOTT IS BACK YES!!! 😍😍😍💙💙💙

Okay, I think my theory won't happen 😅 Feels like there are not enough episodes for a good reveal, and it doesn't seem like Scott is that influenced by Jay. My last idea is that perhaps he has spent so much time in the game like Jay said (POOR BABY 😭) that he doesn't remember. Maybe the moment he will come back, we will find out that it is Jay's brother/twin, I mean he still has those dragon and lightnings drawing on his back... yeah I like this theory a lot, gonna hold on to it!

So Scott is indeed a person trapped in a game, at least that's confirmed 👍

Also he's got some major issues, the poor thing, and I think there is some special reason behind him not wanting to race besides having just one life.

HERE IT COMES

OH MY GARMADON 😂😂😂 Okay, okay, it's actually better than I expected really. The scarf is cool, and so are the golden tattoos, the suit and the golden sleeve. It's just the mohawk that will take time to get used to, it's not even bad, just weird 🤷‍♀️

Racer Seven is so cool! Always nice seeing a new female character in this show that is not a love interest. I do love Nya, Pix and Sky to death, but I love variety too 💪

Really, really nice the piece of all Racer Seven's crashes! Impactful and sad, a never ending loop that she wants to break through from. That's the heavy stuff I like!

Okay, ready for the race! And I'm... scared? Like, a lot of they guys have one life?? KAI HAS ONE LIFE?? 😱😱 I hope for the best I guess 😅

THE SPEEDWAY FIVE-BILLION

Might be my favorite episode yet

Seven is SO COOL, it's another reason why I'm sad these episodes are so short! I really would had liked see her more, truly have her bond with the guys

Soooo... I guess since Scott's been in the game for 30 years it's safe to assume he's not Jay's brother/twin. To be fair it's really hard to tell a LEGO person's age😅 At this point I guess he could be either Dyer's friend, even if it sounds unlikely, or... idk, still think he could have a connection with Jay. Maybe he's like... an older brother? Libber had him a long while ago?

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! WHY DID SCOTT HAVE TO DIEEEEEEEE??? 😭😭😭 Just when he was getting more involved, come on! He even said he wanted to try that hero stuff, I love him! WE WILL SAVE YOU MY TECH BABY!!!

Cole getting a ride from Kai, this season has some pretty good lava material ❤🖤❤🖤

I've got some major Ninjaball Run vibes from this, that brings me back 😂 Even the no rules thing is there, come on, there has to be a little bit of inspiration from it!

Still don't know what I think of the rats, kinda seems useless and annoying, gonna be honest. But it's a nice race, exciting with nothing big happenin-

Kai and Cole sacrifice for Jay

I KNOW I THOUGHT ABOUT IT BEFORE BUT I'M NOT OKAY WITH THIS!!! MY FLAME BABE AND MY ROCKY BABY!!! 😭😭😭😭 WHY PEOPLE KEEP DYING IN THIS EPISODE???

I so, so enjoyed how they did it. Like, one look between them to realize that yes, this is it, Jay is the expert and needs to go on. This is the end of our race... AAAHHH!! (Infinite shipping potential too)

Omg Nya screaming her brother's name and Jay his best friend's name, while Lloyd looks so devastated (those masks are actually kinda espressive, I really like them). Wow. This is the angst I needed, finally👌

YES SEVEN WON!!! HECK YEAH GIRL!!! SO HAPPY FOR HER!!! Also Okino in the background being happy, nice touch!

And now they are three... it's gonna end up with only Jay huh. I... I'm not ready actually, my heart 😢 They better all hug when this is all over!!!

STOP, DROP AND SIDE ROLL

I CAN SEE THEY ARE KEEPING THE FEELS FOR LAST APPARENTLY??? 😭

The music of the old school section was actually very nice, reminds me of the past, I kinda hoped The Fold were going to release some game themed songs. Been a while since I have one of those 😍

Lol, explaining the side scroll games was actually pretty cool

YES THEY ACTUALLY ACKNOWLEDGED THE AIRJITSU!! Maybe they will remember they can used it, right Cole? The ladder scene? YOU CAN FLY???

OMG NYA ACTUALLY SAID CICLON-DO JUST HOW CUTE IS THAT!!! All the way from my favorite season Possession, Jay's definition of airjitzu that I actually still kept in one of my fanfictions 😂

Okay the design of the temple of madness is REALLY cool, you can immediately tell it's from an old videogame. Gives me the double vibe the googles for the first 3D movies used to give me 😂

Also look at this

THIS IS ADORABLE!! 💙💚💦 Really old style videogame 😂

And there we go!! Harumi!! Since I saw her in the set I was wondering what she was going to be, maybe an avatar or an NPC of some sort... THIS HURTS WAY MORE!!! And of course pure heart BABY boy Lloyd doesn't feel good fighting her, he had a crush on her! AND HE FREAKING SAW HER DIE!!! It's really sad that he still hopes for her to be good...

The fighting scenes are really, REALLY good! So fluid and active! This fight was really pleasant to watch, not gonna lie 💜

NOOOOOOOOO!!!! NOT MY GREEN BABY BOY!!!! I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN BUT STIIIIIIL!!! 😭😭😭

Okay, down to three members. Remaining Zaptrap and water godess... omg Nya will totally die first and at that point Jay will go completely nuts. I'm both scared and DYING TO HAPPEN!!! ANGST FINALLY!!! THIS IS THE STUFF!!

Got some major Skybound feeling, like when it was only Jay and Nya... will Nya finally say I love you back?? I HOPE SO ❤💙❤💙

With the three keytana now, what will happen? I'm actually curious now, this is the exciting stuff I need! And yes I do realize it's a little weird that for getting hype I need my faves to die 😅

NINJAGO CONFIDENTIAL

OMG THEY ACTUALLY DID A DETECTIVE THEMED EPISODE BLACK AND WHITE I'M DYING 😂😂😂

The Weekend Whip with sax, never thought I needed this in my life 😍

Bet Brent had a blast recording this

Okay this is the third Chima reference I see, they better throw some Nexo Knights hits as well next season! Come on, it's about freaking knights!!!

This is not what I expected when they said there was going to be an episode with only Zane and Pixal but I'm sure as HECK not complaining 👌

Oh, seeing Pixal joining in so normally is so beautiful, I really wish we could have her even more often

Dareth's karaoke bar! From Sons of Garmaron! Also him guessing first try because the ninja really do get post in other dimensions very often 😂 Gotta love them indeed

Pff Zane narrating and getting stopped every time because of it, how I missed this naive little nindroid

So the bartender Tony is the friend? That's it? A little easy really, hoped for more... still calling him Milty is cute 💕

Buddy's Pizza from season 2!!! This season is killing me with references and I LOVE IT SO MUCH 💜💜💜

So, the mechanic is free again (the Kryptarium dudes should really learn how to do their job right 😓), Zane is kidnapped, and Pixal has a fedora that makes her possibly even cuter. I have emotions

AH!! KNEW IT!! UNAGAMI IS NOT DYER!! FREAKING CALLED IT!!... kinda expected really, but still called it 😅

So Unagami was the first name of Prime Empire and is also an AI that got crazy and was shut down, but now is back after programming the game itself and wants to get to the real world?... I'm down with it

So I'm guessing we won't get much of a Scott backstory... Eh, let's see how it goes!

THE PRODIGAL FATHER

I was seriously confused by why those dudes wanted to kidnapped Wu, but it made sense later. Still come on sensei, you're a freaking half god or something, pull yourself together 🤦‍♀️

Very nice that Pixal is the one to bring up the argument about feelings and AI. So very nice to have her in this!!!

I THOUGHT ZANE WAS GOING TO TAKE A BREAK FROM LAST SEASON, WHY ARE THEY MAKING HIM SUFFER AGAIN??? 😭

Oh finally the backstory of Unagami I'm really curious about what happened in the past and what exactly brought the shut down of Prime Emp-

I LITERALLY CARE ABOUT NOTHING ELSE BUT THIS BEAUTIFUL GAMER BOY IN REAL LIFE!!! 😍😍😍😍😍

So Scott was the first beta tester, Milton asked Unagami to make the experience as exciting as possible, and that ended very badly so the game was shut down and THEY LEFT HIM INSIDE FULLY KNOWING HE WAS THERE??? I HATE DYER NOW!!!

Although it is really interesting knowing a tech genius like him, until now we got Dr. Julien and Cyrus Borg that were plenty open about the idea of AI with feelings as meaningful as humans'. While he doesn't get that, they are only machines for him and that's the reason why he doesn't understand how much Unagami is mad and filled with need for revenge.

This is why I want more than 11 minutes, the themes of this season are really, REALLY cool. I would have loved more introspection and development.

I guess Scott being Jay's brother is officially debunked 😅 Although I am curious about the life he left behind, since he was stuck in that game for 30 years. He still has those lightnings on the jacket I don't understand...

DON'T YOU DARE LET ZANE BE DESTROYED AGAIN PLEASE I STILL CRY WATCHING "THE TITANIUM NINJA"!!! 😢😢😢😢😢😢

The portal is open, Zane might get destroyed, Unagami wants revenge, Jay and Nya are the only one left and I'm pretty sure Nya will be killed as well leaving only Bluebell so there's THAT. So yeah, this is actually pretty cool!

Two episodes left. Okay Ninjago season 12 Prime Empire, wow me 😎

THE TEMPLE OF MADNESS

This felt a little simple if I'm gonna be honest. I felt like the last mission before facing Unagami was a little basic, with nothing really exciting. Still liked it, but this is probably my least favorite episode 🤷‍♀️

Of course, put Jay is a sushi restaurant-themed level and he will kill you with puns 😂 I love this prankster

Again, the fighting scenes are dope. Definitely one of my favorite things since they changed the animation. You lose something you win something 😙

Wooo, Jay saying that he had trained for years just for kick his butt was actually cool! Bluebell is unleashing!

"And that's how we roll!". You rock we roll, am I right 😂

AH!!! CALLED IT!!! TOTALLY CALLED IT!!! MY POOR BABY BLUEBELL 😭😭

I wish Nya said that she loves Jay back though! Freaking come on girl, he is your yang!!! ❤💙❤💙

Unagami is not Dyer, he wants to get to the real world, I'm actually kinda curious about the confrontation that is about to happen... ALSO THERE BETTER BE LOTS OF HUGS WHEN THIS IS OVER

I... genuinely forgot about the dragon medallion 😅 Eh, I love dragons so I'm fine with it. Well, let's see how it ends!!!

GAME OVER

Wow, I actually love this ending?? A LOT?? After last episode I didn't have much hope, but after seeing it I gotta say, it was really great 👌👌

Thanks for not dying on us again Zane, much appreciated

Jay taking charge is quite rare and when it happens you know things are about to get crazy 😂 It was really nice seeing how sensible he could be, telling that Unagami wasn't evil after all, that he needed closure and answers

I know I miss the animation peak we reached with SoG and Hunted, but I gotta say the atmosphere of the city with the lightnings and the gray sky was really awesome. Very cool.

Pff, that part with the elevator though, reminds me of the one in season 1 that made me start watch Ninjago ✌ Also it's always Borg's Tower indeed 😂

OKINO KICKING BUTTS HECK YEAH LOOK AT OUR RONIN GO!!!

And wow. WOW. I didn't expect Jay to drop the I'm adopted bomb on us, I think I never heard him talk about it since Skybound (that technically never happened so 😅). It was SO good seeing him sympathize with Unagami because he was also left with no explaination. His desire to know, along with the hope that the past is the past, but they had a good reason for. Also he freaking said he didn't have the chance to ask because Cliff is dead and I 😭😭😭😭

And here I melted, because we finally see the situation for what truly is, the way Jay also sees it: Unagami is a kid, a child that doesn't understand how the world works, that just wants to make his father proud but got rejected instead. The confrontation was actually touching, I really wish we had more time for that. Even a little resistance from Unagami, another fight, and a finally reconcilliation with Dyer.

MY NINJA BABIES ARE BACK I MISSED YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!! ❤💚💙🖤💦💎

Could you seriously be cuter than this?? ❤💙❤💙 I wished for more hugs but I'll settle for this I guess 😍

Okay, very nice to see Seven and Okino out there and deciding to live their lives in Ninjago, nice to see some others like the rats going back to Prime Empire. As Unagami said, he gave them a choice, it's up to them at this point

But I'm sorry, WHY ARE WE NOT GOING TO TALK WITH SCOTT??? That guy's been trapped inside the game the longest, not even a "Hey bud, you're alive, cool cool"? I know I've been overbearing about how much I love Scott, especially since I had all those theories about him (still don't know why he has lightnings on his jacket and hat, is it just a style thing? Idk), but come on! Well I guess if he's happy I am 🤷‍♀️

Is that his girlfriend or something? After 30 years? Or maybe she got trapped with him a while later? Or maybe that's his... mom? Look, we all know determine the age of LEGO characters is hard, give me a break please 😅😅

Overall, very nice ending, it brought everything together quite nicely. I'm satisfied, yes!! 💜💜

FINAL THOUGHTS

As I said, the episodes' lenght I really think gets in the way of making this an excellent season. There is so much that could be explored more, the choice matter, all the amazing characters, and the AI feelings stuff from the latest episodes. There is room for more, I wished we got that

The characters though were really amazing. Between Scott, Okino, Seven and Unagami himself, there were very different personalities with very different dreams and thoughts, that made this ride much more interesting

Fighting animation was 👌👌👌

Comebacks from past seasons were 👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌

Maybe it didn't really focused on Jay as much until the end? Yeah it was about him, but we got to see his sensibility and his past only last episode. He loves Nya, he likes videogames, of course but there's more about him than meets the eye! Wished we saw that, but in general it was nice seeing him first line again 💙

I liked this season. It has flaws, but I enjoyed many parts and at the end I was left satisfied 👍

Just... wasn't Jillian supposed to be in this? Or is it next season? She said a mom was going to come back, I took for granted it was going to be Edna. I'm curious about next season now... FINALLY A COLE SEASON EVERYONE!!! 🖤🖤🖤

Thank you for leaving notes to my last rant, this helps me not jump excitedly every time a new episode comes out 😅 Well then, that's all from me!! Have a nice day everyone!! 💜💜💜

[ohdarlingohsweetheart]

FIVE.

One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six

Second time's the charm~

A casual greeting at a book store turns into so much more.

[WARNING]: This is a YANDERE story! Stalking, murder, the whole nine yards!!! Read with caution!

If you find this story on any website NOT under misfitgirlwrites/misfitgirl3390 please let me know!

Font for book cover credit (x)

Cherri: Mary I'm so nervous ;;;

Mary: Nuuu it'll be okay! Did you find the flannel I told you to add to your outfit??

Cherri: Yeah, I did

Mary: Excellent you'll look so cute!!

   Leo didn't look at any pictures of the outfit. He wanted that to be a surprise.

Cherri: What if he is like Darius? He was nice too;;;

Mary: Bab I don't want you to overthink too much! You have every right to be nervous but don't let Darius ruin this for you. He is a meanie! And a jerkface >.> If you don't want to go on the date you don't have to

Mary: If you do go, you have Marcel on speed dial and trust me he will come to wherever you are

   Leo didn't like how much whatever Darius did bothers Cherri this much.

Cherri: You're right I shouldn't let what he did stop me from going

Cherri: It's just hard...

Mary: It won't be easy 😔 Darius is disgusting and not every guy is like him though it may seem like it

Cherri: Okay

Cherri: Thank you, Mary ☺️

Mary: Of course! So are you going? It's okay if you don't want to!

Cherri: I'm still gonna go

Cherri: I like being with him

Mary: Have funnnn!

Cherri: Okayyy ❤

   Leo stood and grabbed his jacket as he started to text Cherri.

[Text]: Ready to see Little Women? 👀

Cherri: Yes!!

[Text]: I heard Arundel Mills Mall is pretty big and the theater is nice

Cherri: Arundel? I've never been out there ;;;

[Text]: If you don't want to go, White Marsh is much closer

[Text]: I figured since that mall was bigger, there's more to do

Cherri: Well, as long as I'm home before 6:30 I'm sure it'll be okay

[Text]: No time to waste then! Text me your address?

   Leo grabbed his car keys and looked at her address before smiling and leaving out to go and get her.

~~

   He was very excited to go and get Cherri and smiled when she came out of the house. Her outfit was cute; Mary did a good job helping her. Cherri got in the car and gave a small smile.

   "Hey." Leo grinned, "you look nice."

   "T-Thank you." Cherri smiled and looked down.

   "Let's get going then."

   The drive was comfortable and Leo was glad that she wasn't as nervous as he thought she'd be. She did get tenser once she realized how far the mall was but he did a good job distracting her. It was clear by her actions that her curfew wasn't flexible. Leo found a parking spot and looked at the time. It just became one in the afternoon.

   "We can get a ticket for the movie now and go see it without missing too many trailers and then grab some food. If you want, we can do something in the city after that so you'll be less tense." He spoke softly and she looked at him.

   "That sounds good. I'm sorry if I'm ruining the mood or anything. I just, I've never--"

   "You're not ruining the mood, I just want to make sure you're comfortable."

   "Okay."

   Cherri felt much better after that. She enjoyed the movie a lot and after she convinced Leo to take her to Dave and Buster's since she's never been. They ended up eating there and they didn't even leave right away. Leo enjoyed seeing Cherri so excited and happy, he managed to sneak a few pictures of her. When they left, it was nearly 5 and Leo wanted to make sure she was back on time.

   "That was so much fun!" Cherri held a big purple stuffed unicorn that Leo had won for her.

   "I'm glad you had fun. We should do something like this again." Leo put his arm around her and she looked up at him.

   "I-I would like that."

   "Cherri?"

   The redhead tensed up and Leo quickly looked over once he heard the familiar voice. Darius made his way over to them and arched a brow, "what are you doing all the way out here?" His brown eyes went to Leo. "And who the hell is this?"

   Leo's grip tightened just a bit and Cherri inched a bit closer.

   "I-I was just--"

   "On a date. How cute. Does your dad know?"

   "Don't tell him--"

   "What? Don't tell him that you decided upon yourself to go out on a date with some guy?"

   "Why is who she goes out with your concern?" Leo didn't let Cherri try to respond. He could feel her shaking now.

   "Because she's mine."

   "Oh really?" His green eyes narrowed.

   "I don't care what she told you or what you think." Darius hissed.

   Leo clenched his jaw, "if you think she even remotely likes you, you're fucking delusional." He shot back.

   Darius scoffed and moved closer. Leo was about to as well but Cherri gripped his jacket and he looked down at her.

   "C-Can you take me home? Please? Don't--He wants you to do something to him so you'll get in trouble."

   Right. The Commissioner's son. Leo let out a breath and nodded. He glanced back at Darius.

   "Nice meeting you." He stated before leading Cherri to his car.

   The drive back was quiet. Cherri hugged her stuffed unicorn close to her and her eyes didn't meet his. He could tell that she was embarrassed and nervous all over again. So much for a good date. When he stopped in front of Cherri's house, he got out of his car with her.

   "Thanks for today...I-I'm sorry about what happened."

   "It's alright. Just, text me later?"

   Cherri nodded and made her way into the house. Leo closed his eyes and sighed.

   "Fuck." He got in his car and made his way back home.

~~~

Taglist: None yet~

[badass-women-league]

TIVALI

5- Tali’s birthday

6 months has passed. Ziva was now feeling like her life was back on the tracks for good. Tony had helped her to see a brighter future. Him and Tali had been the lights that helped her get through the darkness of the past years. Tony was sitting on the couch, he was watching an old movie on the Tv. Ziva walked into the living room and sat next to him. She was getting back from Tali's bedroom after putting her to bed. She was looking concern about something. She said:

-"we need to talk about Tali.."

Tony muted the tv and turned to Ziva without saying a word. Ziva continued:

-"She is asking a lot of question about herself.."

Tony was confused:

-"what do you mean ?"

-"She asked me question about her skin... why is her skin not as white as other children at her school ? Why are we not living in the same country as uncle Tim and her cousins ? Why aren't we sharing the same last name ?"

Tony said with his charming smile:

-"we are working on that..."

-"I tried to explain her but I think she is still very confused about all those questions"

-"what did you say ?"

-"I told her that one day we will take her to see Israel and D.C so she can see the lands from which she comes from"

-"why not doing this now ?"

Ziva was surprised:

-"what ?"

-"now is the perfect time, her birthday is in a few weeks.. we should take her to D.C. and Israel"

Ziva seemed nervous. Tony grabbed her hand and said:

-"it's gonna be alright.. You said it, she needs it and so do you.."

Tony was suddenly more nervous. He had something in his mind, Ziva could see it.

He leaned over her to kiss her neck. His hands caressing her face, her shoulders, her breast.. he stopped and whispered:

-"I want another one..."

Ziva was confused. As she kissed him she asked:

-"what ?"

Tony's hand stopped on Ziva's belly. He stopped his kissing to check her reaction when he said:

-"I want to have another baby.."

Ziva tensed up. Tony tried to reassure her:

-"I know this is a big decision but Tali will be 7 soon, she's not a baby anymore. If you need more time we can wait but you seemed to feel better so I thought..."

Ziva stopped his monologue by placing a kiss on his lips. She was kissing him so strongly that it was almost painful. When she broke the kiss, Tony was still confused by her reactions. She still haven't given an answer. She cupped his face and smiled:

-"are you sure you can handle my "deadly pregnant mood" ?"

-"well.. we all have to die one day"

Ziva laughed and kiss him again. Tony asked:

-"I don't want you to feel forced to do it..."

-"I don't... I just need some time to be sure that I am myself again.. I haven't had panic attacks for months which is a good sign. Just give me some time and I can be ready"

Tony felt his heart pounding through his chest. He smiled and kissed her passionately.

-"Take all the time you need"

A few days later. Tony was putting Tali to bed. He tucked her in and said:

-"Ima told me about those questions that you have.. you wanna talk to me about it ?"

She shrugged her shoulders to indicate that she wasn't sure. Tony said:

-"it's ok.. if you don't want to talk then I will do the talking, that is something the DiNozzo's are really good at" he brush a lock of hair away from her face and continued: "you and your mom are the most beautiful things that ever happened to me. Your skin is the same color of the sand of Ima's country, you have my hair and your mother's eyes. You are looking more like your mother everyday and it makes me happy. You know that Ima and I, had to make difficult choices, right ? I told you about why Ima had to live away from us for so long." Tali nodded. "I promise you that from now on, there will be no difficult choices anymore and we'll stay together, Ima, Aba and Tali... and who knows, maybe one day you will be a big sister"

He kissed Tali on her forehead and stood up.

-"good night Tali, I love you"

Tali answered with her tiny voice:

-"love you Aba"

Tony walked out of the room and closed the door, Ziva was waiting outside of the bedroom, leaned on the wall next to the door. She had been listening to their conversation. Tony was surprised:

-"hey, you there"

As only answer Ziva kissed him. It was a long and soft kiss. She was putting all the love she had for him in this kiss. She had been nervous about welcoming another child, until now. Seeing Tony taking such a good care of their daughter overwhelmed her. She knew he would be there to help her as he had been there to help Tali. She broke the kiss and said:

-"let's make a baby"

3 weeks later. Gibbs stepped out from the elevator with his usual coffee on his hand. He stopped between Mcgee and Ellie's desk and looked at his team. They were quiet, too quiet. Mcgee raised his head from his screen, smiled and greet him:

-"Morning boss"

Gibbs didn't answer. Nick nodded to him with a smile. What the hell was going on here. He walked to his desk and stopped when he finally figured what they were hiding. He smiled when he saw Tali, sitting at his desk. He turned to Mcgee and asked:

-"our new recruit Mcgee ?"

Tali jumped from the chair and rushed to Gibbs. Gibbs lifted her up to hug her and Tony and Ziva appeared on the bullpen. Tony said:

-"you should be proud Tali, you are the only DiNozzo ever allowed to seat at this desk without getting your head slapped" Gibbs looked at Tony with a smile, he was lucky that Tali was there otherwise he would have gotten that head slap. Tony smiled and said:

-"Hi boss !"

They shook each other's hands. Gibbs turned to Ziva. It was a special moments for them. They haven't seen each other since she left D.C after Sahar. He said:

-"Ziver... you look fine"

-"I am.."

-"what are you doing here ?"

Tony answered:

-"We were missing those orange walls. We had this little family trip to Israel and since someone is getting 7 in two days, we thought it would be a good idea to stop by D.C before getting back to Paris."

A few hours later. Ellie had introduced Nick to Tony. Tony said:

-"yeah I've heard that your first meeting with Ziva was pretty physical.."

Ellie said:

-"yeah! He keeps telling everyone that he kicked the ass of the legendary Ziva David"

Nick panicked and frowned at her:

-"no wait! It's not what I said, why are you telling them this..."

Ziva interrupt him:

-"Tell me when you are ready for a quick rematch ‘ass kicking demon’" She winked at him. He was a man who liked to be challenged but he was not sure this was really a good idea for his ego. Tony laughed and said to Ellie:

-"20 bucks on Ziva.."

-"you already won.." and she walked away.

Nick complained and shouted:

-"thanks for the support, you should be on my side!"

Mcgee came back with Tali. After taking her on a tour of the building.

He stopped by his desk and said:

-"and this Tali is uncle Tim's desk but it used to be your dad's desk. Go on, sit"

She rushed to the chair and sat. Tony and Ziva walked in with Ellie and stopped to look at their daughter. Tony felt so proud to see his daughter sitting at this particular desk.

Gibbs was also coming back to his desk. He looked at Tali sitting at her dad's former desk. He walked to her and said:

-"hey Tali, I have something for you. This is something special that only special people get to wear..." He placed an NCIS cap on Tali's head. She took it off to look at it and put her tiny finger through the hole in the peak. Gibbs continued:

-"this is not every cap.. This belonged to your father first, then he gave it to your mom.."

Tali asked:

-"why is there a hole in it ?"

Gibbs smiled and looked at Tony:

-"you will ask your dad about this"

Tony nervously smile since he was the one who missed the shot and holed the cap. Gibbs placed a kiss on Tali's forehead and walked to Ziva. He said:

-"you did it. You got your family back"

-"it is thanks to you"

-"your father would be proud"

Ziva smiled. This little sentence meant so much to her.

-"I wish he could have met her"

-"he would have loved her. She's a great kid"

Ziva touched her ring, Gibbs look at it and said:

-"you two came a long way since the first day you sat at these desks"

-"and we still have a long way ahead of us... will you do me the honor to be by my side when I will walk down the aisle ?"

He was the best person to walk her down the aisle. He has always been like a father to her. One of her biggest fear when she was an agent was to disappoint him. He taught her so maybe things about work, life and most of all about herself. He fought for her, he protected her, he saved her. Gibbs smiled and kissed her forehead:

-"it will be my honor"

Tali's birthday

Everyone was supposed to gathered at Gibbs' house. Tali was playing with John and Morgan in the garden. Tony was finishing to get the food ready along with Jack. He looked at his watch. Where were they ? They should be here by now. He took his phone and dialed Ziva's number:

-"hey! Where are you, everything is almost ready"

The door of the house opened and Ziva entered along with Nick, Ellie and Mcgee:

-"here!"

She hang up the phone. Nick was holding a towel on his face. Ziva smiled and asked to Jack:

-"do you know if there is some ice we could use for his face ?"

Jack asked worriedly:

-"what happened ?"

Ziva, Mcgee and Ellie smiled at each other but no one answered. Nick was clearly pissed, he said:

-"go one make fun of me if you want, you know what ? I don't care... I have been blinded by the sun"

Ellie laughed:

-"the sun...sure.."

Tony turned to Ziva:

-"I don't need to ask who won"

-"you don't .. but he had been a good sparring partner, he fought well"

Ellie was putting ice on Nick's face and she was fighting the urges to make fun of him, just like Mcgee. Ziva kissed Tony and walked upstairs to take a quick shower. Tony was looking at her as she walked away and stopped his look on her curves. He would have loved to drop everything he had to do to join her upstairs. Once she had disappeared he turned his attention back on Nick and Ellie:

-"I told you this was a bad idea.. a lot of people tried to defeat her"

Nick asked:

-"what about you ?"

-"me ?" He laughed "I am not suicidal, I have spent years following the only rules you should know about Ziva David" Tony and McGee looked at each other and answered at the same time: "don't make her angry"

The rest of the afternoon went on. Tali spent most of her time playing with Mcgee's children. The adults were all gathered around a large table full of food, talking about life and how Nick got his ass kicked again by Ziva.

At the end of the day, Tony was sat on the couch. McGee joined him with two beers. He held one out to him and asked.

-"so Anthony DiNozzo is finally gonna be a married man"

-"Can you believe that ? I have never been more nervous in my entire life. Next to that, being kidnapped by terrorists in the desert was a cakewalk"

-"you'll be fine! You are marrying your best friend..nothing can go wrong in that"

-"you're right" Tony raised his beer and said "To marrying our best friends"

McGee smiled, raised his beer and repeated:

-"To marrying our best friends"

Tony suddenly got more serious almost solemn and asked with a small smile:

-"Will you be standing next to me as my best man Probie ?"

It has been a while since McGee had heard this nickname. He was certainly not missing it:

-"if you promise that you'll never call me probie again.. it will be an honor"

Ziva suddenly appeared with Tali in the kitchen. Mcgee asked:

-"how is she doing ?"

-"ah you know.. she's the toughest woman I ever met. She's doing better but the first weeks had been pretty challenging. She had nightmares and panic attacks all the time, we tried our best to protect Tali from that. We talked a lot, even though I know she never told me everything about what happened to her. That's her way of protecting me I guess. And here we are, planning our wedding and trying to expand our family"

-"what ? Really ? That's wonderful"

-"yeah but keep that to yourself ok...I am not even sure I am supposed talk about it"

-"talk about what ?"

Ziva's voice made them startled.

-"nothing ! We were just here, talking about..wedding"

Mcgee nodded:

-"yeah... wedding"

They were clearly very nervous. Ziva threw them a suspicious look and smiled before walking out.

[sally-mun]

Ever met a celebrity or anybody famous? The most famous person I've met was a former pro boxer, by the name of Ray 'Boom-Boom' Mancini at a charity dinner at the banquet center I worked at 4 years ago. Nicest man you'd ever meet and he even sent me a signed autograph picture in the mail. I'm a Star Trek fan and I'd love to meet the cast of TNG, but autographs and conventions are so expensive. Of course there's the chance you could catch one of them on a bad day and get the brunt of it

If we’re including conventions, then yeah I’ve met several famous people before. I’ve met and gotten autographs and/or selfies from voice actors and screen actors, and I’ve occasionally met some artists too! Outside of that, though, I can’t really say I have. Even my best and most extensive meeting was still at a convention. You could even argue that Mario Marathon was kind of a convention in a sense, albeit a super limited one!

I wasn’t sure if I should include a list or not, so as a compromise I’m going to do so below a cut!

Voice Actors:

Sonny Strait (voice of Krillin) -- Got to spend basically an entire day with him! Unexpectedly encountered him at a convention waaaay way back in the day and he just kind of adopted me and the other handful of fans that were hanging around. He gave us all free DBZ CCG t-shirts, let us sit in the DBZ hummer, and signed anything we put in front of him!

Christopher Sabat (voice of Vegeta) -- I brought him a set of cookies made to look like dragon balls, and brought my favorite Vegeta card that I’d been saving for something like 17 years or so on the off-chance I could ever get it signed. He was so moved and impressed that he gave me two other autographs for free~

Todd Haberkorn (voice of Jaco) -- This was the same convention where I got to meet Chris Sabat, and I also brought him a box of cookies. He was so excited that he dug into them right then and there, and then when signing my card he even wrote “Thanks for the galactic cookies!”

Chuck Huber (voice of Android 17/Hiei) -- I’ve gotten autographs from him a couple of times for different characters. One of the items I got signed was one of the original Hiei action figures back when Yu Yu Hakusho first debuted in the US. He was impressed that I had it at all, let alone that it was in the box. (Amusingly, the only reason I did was because I had one previous to it that was out of the box on display and whose sword had broken. I got a new one intending to replace it, but just never opened it.)

Chris Rager (voice of Mr. Satan) -- SUCH a nice guy! We had a nice little chat and I offered him some dragon ball cookies I’d been handing out that day. He signed my trading card and took a selfie with me! I caught him at a panel where he told some absolutely amazing behind-the-scenes stories that I still tell to other people to this day.

Chris Cason (voice of Tien) -- Not much to say about this encounter, I didn’t get to say much more than a hello and thank you before he had to go. I’d missed the official signing session and just happened to catch him after a panel.

Team Four Star -- I catch these guys every opportunity I can manage, and every time I bring them some DBZ-themed treat. I refer to myself as “Snack Girl” when I come to get autographs, and at my last encounter Lanipator mentioned that I looked familiar when I came to the table, so I guess I’m making an impact! I have several stories concerning these guys, way too many to list here.

Little Kuriboh (YGOA voice of Merik, DBZA voice of Freeza) -- Amusingly I met him the time I was at a convention in my Piccolo costume, and that ended up being a whole conversation by itself. It then immediately turned into a conversation about Fallout because someone had brought him some New Vegas playing cards, lol. He was enamored with the trading card I had brought him to sign, and we had a discussion about a fund raiser he’d hosted to raise money for disaster relief where I’d won one of the auctions he’d held.

Kevin Conroy (voice of Batman) -- I found out very late that he was going to be in town, like maybe a week or two before, and dropped EVERYTHING to be able to meet him. When I was in line for an autograph I was so worked up that I kept getting light headed and having heart palpitations. By the time I actually made it to the table I was so starstruck that I could barely say anything. I’m pretty sure I said “I can’t believe you’re here” (??? wtf past-me) and something about him being so talented. He thanked me and didn’t really say much. I had also paid for a photo with him, and in the photo you can see my hand gripping the side of my leg REALLY tightly because I had a very strong instinct to hug him and I WAS NOT ABOUT TO BE THAT FANGIRL.

Charles Martinet (voice of most of the Mario cast) -- Holy shit, this man is playful! He was an absolute delight to talk to, and even just to watch with other people while I was in line. He was very open to whatever sorts of fan requests each person had and was just so warm and gracious with each person that came up. I mostly just wanted to shake his hand and tell him that Mario games basically set me up for the person I grew up to be today. The thing that amused me the most is that if you had him autograph one of the prints at the table, which had all the Mario characters on it, he’d do the voices of each character while doodling little word balloons for them~

Screen Actors:

John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who/Torchwood) -- This was one of the first times I’d gone to a convention specifically to meet an actor. He was a lot of fun and did his best to be chatty, but his handlers were kind of hurrying people along. He was especially tickled by my name (I guess he doesn’t sign too many autographs made out to “Leda”), and he even signed a second item that we happened to have for free!

Cary Elwes (Wesley in The Princess Bride, among other things) -- This was another one of those moments where the weight of just WHO I was meeting got to me and I completely lost my voice. I think I said something about having grown up watching Princess Bride ever since I was a little kid?? I honestly don’t remember what I said, it’s kind of a blur. All I know is that I was so struck by the moment that I didn’t even remember to say that I also love him in the Saw movies.

Billy Boyd (Pippin in Lord of the Rings) -- Not a lot I can say about this one because it was a very fast-paced, conveyor belt sort of affair. We exchanged greetings and he thanked us very much for coming out to see him, and we all agreed that Pippin is totes the best hobbit.

Robin Lord Taylor (Penguin in Gotham) -- One of my favorite interactions meeting a celebrity, for sure! He was actually really interested in knowing about -me-, which completely threw me off-guard. He wanted to know where I was from and what I did for a living, and when I said I was a manager at Spencer’s he got really excited and squeaked “I LOVE Spencer’s!” While he was signing my doll I explained that Penguin is by far my family’s favorite character in Gotham and that we had a joke where, anytime the show switches back to him, we say “Meanwhile, with the REAL main character...” He got a big kick out of that~

Khary Payton (King Ezekiel in The Walking Dead) -- So I don’t watch a huge amount of Walking Dead, but I watch enough that I wanted to come along when my mom went to go get an autograph from him for my brother. He’s definitely the friendliest celebrity I’ve encountered -- so much so that he wouldn’t stay behind the table! He spent the entire time in FRONT of the table so he could hug every single person that came to see him! It was a nice strong hug, too, and he was just so welcoming and pleasant. I told him that, if I had to choose one of the communities in The Walking Dead, I’d absolutely choose The Kingdom. He threw his hands up to his sides and said dramatically, “You will always have a place in my kingdom!”

Penn & Teller -- This year my mom took me on a surprise trip to Las Vegas, and while we were there we got to see Penn & Teller perform, which has always been a dream of mine! After the show they came out into the lobby and they did autographs and selfies with anyone that wanted one, and I got to meet them each. It was a little disarming hearing Teller talk, and Penn was as funny as ever because he’d loudly comment whenever someone’s phone wasn’t working. During this trip I also had my Boris plushie as my “traveling doll” and asked if they’d take pictures with him as well, which they both obliged. Teller seemed particularly amused by Boris.

James Rolfe (the Angry Video Game Nerd) -- So I actually have kind of a long history with him, which originated with me contacting the show to donate a fairly odd peripheral accessory. I given a green light and provided an address, and since I was going to be mailing him anyway, I basically just got a big box and threw in any video game related stuff that I didn’t want anymore and didn’t feel like putting the effort into selling. It ended up being a HUGE box, so much so that I included an inventory list to make sure he didn’t accidentally throw something away. To my surprise he actually mailed me back an autographed AVGN print thanking me for the donations! I thought that’d be the end of it, but he’s actually since featured that peripheral several times on the show, and even included an Easter egg that I asked for twice! This year I got to meet him at Too Many Games and introduced myself as the one that sent the item in. He mentioned that they had a lot of fun messing with it.

Mario Marathon team -- I’m known as one of the regulars since I’ve been around since the first year, and a couple of years ago I was actually invited to the marathon itself as a player! It’s definitely one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and I only wish I could do it all over again! Everyone was just... wonderful~ I was there for several days so there’s obviously way too many stories to tell, but at least in this case you can always go watch the videos on Twitch.

Artists:

Steven Butler -- This was particularly amusing because I was the one that caught him by surprise. I happened to be making my way through the Artist Alley when I realized he was there, and since no one was at the table at the time I went over to talk to him. We had an awesomely long chat about his work (I was going through a sample book on the table) and his time drawing for the Sonic comics. He tried to bring it up as a talking point, and I told him “I know, I own some of your pages!” which REALLY threw him for a loop! He showed me some art for a new Sonic-style story he’s been working on, and I completely fell in love with a character that was clearly inspired by Sally (and I’m not just assuming, he confirmed as much). I then started talking about @fini-mun and how it’s only a shame he couldn’t meet Deebs too, and was talking about Deebs’ history with art and almost getting recruited to be in the Archie art stable as well and how they now do art streams. He was particularly interested in the streams, and I was like “Oh yeah, that’s actually why they aren’t here now, they have a stream today!” so he gave me a free print to pass along to Deebs as a show of interest and support!

Veronica Vera (from the Not Enough Rings comic) -- This was another chance encounter in Artist Alley. I was just kind of poking around to see everyone’s work, and I realized I recognized the comic she was selling. I commented that I loved that comic, and she said she was selling hardcover copies of the entire series. I love the comic and I wanted to show my support, so I bought a book and she signed the inside cover! Unfortunately Oliver Bareham wasn’t there at the time, so no autograph from him. Maybe one day if I’m incredibly lucky, I suppose.

Rich Koslowski -- This was at one of my very first conventions ever. He was an inker of the Sonic comics at the time, and I was only.... 12, I think? I mostly was just excited to be meeting someone that works on Sonic stuff, and I can’t remember much about the encounter aside from just babbling about liking Sonic. I remember him being very kind.

And unfortunately... Ken Penders --  This was at the same convention I just mentioned with Koslowski. As stated above I was only 12, and I was just excited to meet someone who works on Sonic stuff. I believe I was there because of a post on Archie’s Sonic website. Anyway what strikes me as the most surprising about this encounter is how -normal- it all was, at least as far as I remember it. I’ve heard some horror stories of Penders being horrible to fans at conventions, but at least way back at this time (like 1997 or so), he was passing for a normal human. He didn’t say anything mean to me (that I noticed), and he actually gave me some free Sonic loot, which I can’t imagine him ever doing nowadays. I still have the comic book he signed, and I legit consider burning it on a regular basis.

OKAY this ended up way longer that I thought it would. I think even -I- forgot how many people I’ve met before. If I think of anyone else I’ll add it to the list later!

[akiyama-san]

I've noticed your comments about Love Live Sunshine and don't get me wrong, we all have our own opinions and I'm not telling you stop posting your negative thoughts about it, but why do you hate Love Live Sunshine so much? And if you hate it that much, why are you even watching it?

I suppose it comes off as hate doesn’t it? Well despite how it appears, it’s not entirely hate, it’s mostly disappointment, and while that might not sound much better i’ll try to explain what I mean, hopefully to a degree that it can be understood. 

Spose I should start at the top shouldn’t I? 

I think it goes without saying that this point that I didn’t like the original show at all, it had its moments, and 2 or 3 good characters, which isn’t saying much I realize but these casts are fucking bloated of course only a handful will be likeable. The concept seemed really fucking stupid from the outset, and it is, but I’ve seen worst, and as a first attempt by SunRise for an Idol show, to my knowledge, the idea to give it an actual plot to follow was in theory a noble one. It failed completely, but the thought was there. More to the point, almost everyone was completely flat, incredibly stupid, and beyond insufferable. 

I’ll be honest, I can put up with a lot, and if I had chosen to watch it of my own volition I’d probably have been more forgiving of the writers dancing on active fault lines, but at the time some years back, I had several people breathing down my neck to watch the fucking show so I went in pissed off. Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t change the fact that these characters say and do things that would make me want to hurt a small child, but I would still have been more kind to it in the long run. 

Then the movie happened, and well.... Lets just say the series needed the fucking soft reboot that was Sunshine after that abysmal travesty of a movie that completely deficated on a third of the casts character development. I’m still trying to work out the quantum fucking mechanics of how Honoka could receive her microphone from her future fucking self BTW. 

I openly admitted this at the time, and this is important because this is often overlooked by the crowd. I said that after the failure of the movie, and knowing that a new series was coming, if SunRise could learn from their mistakes, then I would gladly and open-mindedly go into Sunshine with a positive attitude and be kinder to it if the series was able to escape its charred charcoal burned roots. 

Needless to say I was absolutely blown away by how incredibly Sunshine could be at times, and how baffling disgusting and incompetent it could be as well. I stress that Sunshine is wholly the better property I was able to enjoy more than whole episodes and character arcs completely this time around, as opposed to the original where I enjoyed maybe 10 minutes of its total 700 minute run from episode 1 to movie credits. 

The series had incredible characters to start, those already good characters ACTUALLY GREW INTO EVEN BETTER CHARACTERS, THESE CHARACTERS ACTUALLY GROW AND MATURE AND THAT’S INCREDIBLE. I’ll say openly that the second years are some of the best characters I’ve seen in any anime in the past several years, and I would never hope to take away from that. Better was that we actually had rivals that we could see and understand, that weren’t placed on a pedestal for no discernable reason, one that stood on relatively even ground that could be combatted in real time, force growth and change upon both groups. 

At the same time, while the series had heights and feats that rivaled Everest, it also had lows that would put the Mariana Trench to shame. No, I don’t care what anyone says, I will never get over all the bullshit that happened between Mari and Kanan, and how absolutely disgusting Kanan is, even now, refusing to grow up or stop being a cunt or do anything of value to the group you so claim to love. I’ll be generous and say I was fucking disgusted by SunRise repeating what happened with Honoka and Kotori in the first season here with Mari and Kanan, almost beat for beat. It was terrible the first time, and suicidally bad the second time. 

To regain the focus, by then end of it while my opinions were of the mixed nuts variety with plenty of roasted salt, I still gave it a hearty recommendation because I thought it was genuinely pretty good, blue cuntveats notwithstanding. 

NOW

Where my problem overall with Season 2 lies. If it disappointment and wasted potential were a physical force this series could level mountains. 

From the beginning we’re told that we’re on an incredibly strict time crunch and that we need to focus all our efforts hardcore in the second round. 

Only for almost literally all of the first 6 or 7 episodes to be nothing but filler and padding to waste time, where no growth or progression of any kind took place at all, and such wonderful gems as 

Dia: Please call me Dia-Chan.

Chka: No!

and the omnipresent 

Chika: Teach how to do a backflip

Kanan: Not on your fucking life!

Kanan: Oh shit she learned how to do the backflip... 

Where it all came to a head however was with the reveal of just how many students the school actually had, because that was something that was never brought up. The total number of students is 68 when all are accounted for. And the is beyond miserable. 100 fucking students isn’t enough, to maintain the school you need at least 200, but closer to 300. With 68 students the school should’ve closed fucking years ago. The revelation of that number killed the entire fucking show, it made moot the efforts and development of every single fucking character, because no matter what, even if they had gotten 100 students, this same predicament would still inevitably rear its head once again next year or the year fuckin after. 

I want to make clear, more than anyone else on this site, I have authority to speak on this matter, and no one can refute this, hell I’d barely even listen to them if they did because I severely fucking doubt they ever dealt with this sort of thing, if they did they would totally agree with me.

I have come face to face with a school closure myself. 15 years ago the district announced that my Elementary school would be closing, this school with 700 students that churned out some of the best results in the city might I add. It was a hard and long fought battle, it lasted 3 years, but eventually the parents won that war, and it’s still open now. How did they do that? By actually getting involved, going to meetings, talking directly to superintendents and comptrollers, explaining things like how some of them go to work really early or work late, they can’t send their kids anywhere else because they’d never be able to make it to other schools in the morning on time or pick up on time because of how far away they are, how different schools offer different programs, and not all schools offer the same accommodations for special needs children as this one did, ETC. The point is, the parents got active in the fight, the people that might have been able to affect the outcome did, and while it was no easy task, they did it, they actually fucking one that battle. 

I don’t expect even a fraction of that to occur, but to at the same time tell me that the parents don’t know or care at all, much less any of the other fucking 59 students are powerless to help in any meaningful capacity is an absolute load of horse shit. 

Where it started to bring my blood to a boil, nay to a bursting point, was what happened in the last to episodes with Saint Snow. The best song the franchise ever gave us was Self Control, followed by Shocking Party. This is a fact. From a single interaction some of the most intriguing and likeable characters we got were also Saint Snow. For them to be all but ignored in season 2 until 8 fucking episodes in is ludicrous, but for their first appearance in over 10 episodes to be them failing a concert and us not even getting to hear any of the fucking song, is insulting, it’s infuriating, it’s domestic abuse. This isn’t a slap in the face, this is Studio SunRise forcefully shoving their cock in your mouth against your will and punching you in the eyes with brass knuckles for crying about the cock in your mouth. 

Honest to God, if I wasn’t committed to seeing this through, these last two episodes would be my first set my merchandise on fire moment, and that is saying a lot. It might sound like i’m being overdramatic, but honestly there are a lot of people that agree with me on this matter. 

I did a lot of thinking in writing this post and it took me the better part of an hour to write it. I still hold fast on my thoughts about the original, 2/10 garbage. 

I still hold to my opinions of season 1 Sunshine, 7/10 very good. 

But this season? Well let me put it this way, I score every episode and tally the scores at the end, if season one got a 70 percent

Season 2 probably wouldn’t even reach a combined 20/130 

I will still recommend newcomers to Sunshine season 1 absolutely, but I will also absolutely tell them to pretend season 2 never happened, do not watch it because it will make you commit homicide in the aftermath. 

Why do I hate Sunshine Season 2? 

Because SunRise finds new and exciting ways to fail at absolutely everything on every single level every week. I infamously gave the movie a 1/10, in the long run, I think I would sooner rewatch that movie on loop than ever rewatch this season of Sunshine ever again. 

[pseudoartsnlove]

These are the only films i finished watching last year, I may have watched more but i did not finish them. And I may have forced my self to watch on one of these.

1. SONGWRITER / An Ed Sheeran documentary

of course it's teddy! I watched this a couple of times and this was amaaazing! this is a documentary film made by ed's cousin murray (who is actually a good looking white man). This was mostly about how Ed made each track of his album Divide, the people behind each track, and couple other song's he's written and given to other artists as well. This made me realize how every track should be protected and be bought in a legal manner because a lot of people is involved, worked hard to deliver that certain piece for us to listen to.

favorite part: Ed and Cherry moments, and when Ed was writing Love Yourself, Ed cussing. Haha cute really (sorry!)

Made me cry part: Every word he has said to the kids of the school he went to, it was just so inspiring and so powerful and amazing how he ever come up with such thought. And that part when he made his dad listen to his song Supermarket Flowers. 😭😭😫

2. BABY DRIVER / Ansel Elgort & Lily James

One night I cudn't sleep and randomly lurked at my sisters laptop and happen to see Ansel on the picture display, so i watched it and wow. I genuinely loved it! probably bcos it played music from the start until the end and bcos they were really good songs, most I replayed for a month. The plot wasn't bad as well, I did not cry or nor did feel sad after watching but it was good i thought it was fast and i wanted more when it ended.

3. OUR TIMES / Taiwanese movie

This is another random movie we watched at work, halfway we had to stop bcos of work ofc so i finished it at home. This was romcom/sappy film. Super funny, in a Meteor Garden-ish setting. I actually love the most was the ending. There were 2 major cameo roles in the end and if your a fan Meteor Garden and Fated To Love You, you will surely love the ending too! (no spoiler yes!)

4. A Star Is Born / Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper

When I first saw the trailer of this film I quickly vowed I'd be watching this, so I did, in an actual cinema. I really highly anticipated this one and even thought the premiere date was way too far so while waiting I listened to the official soundtrack over and over again. I was the kind of warrior really fully geared for a war except i did not read the synopsis! Haha I was expecting this to be a sappy unrequited love romance film but it wasn't! This was about mental health, that not even the person you love can save you from yourself. The ending struck me so much it made me cry.

Shallow won in Golden Globes btw, congrats Gaga and Cooper! 😍

5. To All The Boys I've Loved Before / Netflix Film

This is the review i hate to do. This is full of resentment and disapproval. So if you loved this film, stop reading. I have warned you.

Let's start this off with the fact that I have read the book series To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han, in fact i have the three books and love them dearly. I was one of those who went euphoric when the news came about the film adaptation, i have actual friends who loved the book as well and can still remember how excited we were, talking about the good news. Well, until the trailer came in. It started then, that my favorite fiction characters died along with the film.

I vowed i will never watched this movie, until everyone on social media were talking about it so I man up and watched for the sake to be objective. And who knows maybe there'd be miracle! Haha (yep, i was that patient)

I was never wrong, it was awful!

What went wrong: The wrong choice of artists. Lara Jean was half Korean, and the artist they chose was Half Vietnamese (atleast Asian-American? That does not do well with the plot, the artist acted like she was half korean, which is wrong. We keep giving all the non-asian audiences the chance to misidentify asians like they are all the same).

The Song sisters were meeh, the only artist that sort of fit was Kitty's. Margo's was way too old (which made her character impossibly immature) and the three of them just literally don't look like each other. How the fuck did they not notice it? And let's get back to Lara Jean, Lara Jean was freaking warm, cute and pretty, the one on this film looked like Charice Pempengco I cringe the whole time I was watching.