#but this is how i'd do season 1 of a dance focused show

[navree]

I saw your post from a while ago were you rewrote hotd using the vague outline of the show can i ask what your ideal hotd season 1 would be like keeping the same episode count but ignoring everything else???

So, I'm gonna assume that by HOTD you do still mean the vaguest "it's about the Dance of Dragons" plot because honestly my ideal HOTD show would have been a Conquest show because those are my babies and I have a LOT of thoughts and it's a crying shame that HBO did not hire me for it (which I can get into in how I'd make that show if you want, lol). But, assuming we're doing the Dance, then I'll explain how season 1 would go from my perspective.

(also apologies, I just got back from a sushi restaurant with my mother and I'm two cocktails deep so there may be some grammatical errors)

Episode One - I'll just link back to what I wrote in this response, because that's still the same. I actually really like the bones of the show, especially changing the Rhaenicent relationship to make it what it is, I think that is more interesting for a longform narrative like a TV show. But basically, the pilot is entirely the same except for the fact that 1) Daemon and Mysaria get an introduction that's just them observing one of Mysaria's customers behind a curtain, being voyeuristic and conniving but not engaging themselves and 2) there is no prophecy. Verbatim from my first response: "I'm not against the idea that Aegon might have had ulterior motives beyond simple Conquest, and we know that Targaryens are capable of having prophetic abilities, but no this should not have been a secret passed down through generations for some fucking reason because that's stupid. And most importantly, considering that HOTD needed to succeed in spite of Game of Thrones, not because of it, because of how awful the last season was and how immediately it faded from the public consciousness and stopped being relevant as a result, the show should honestly not be so frequently be calling back to a disappointing aspect of the show. "A Targaryen must be seated on the Iron Throne" ok but she wasn't and the Long Night ended because some rando had a good ten yard jump according to D&D cuz they wanted to "subvert expectations" stop reminding me of that if I want to be enjoying this new show." Not to mention that it doesn't make sense because the succession was shot to Hell almost immediately for the Targaryens, Aenys likely would have passed that secret down to Aegon the Uncrowned, who died before he could tell anyone anything, Jaehaerys was an unlikely heir, he didn't know about any prophecy, God this was dumb. Also, again, Rhaenys would get her own introduction, I imagine maybe visiting her cousin Aemma as she nears labor when Viserys comes in, ranting about something that happened at the Small Council, where Rhaenys gets an opportunity to show better political acumen and make it clear that Viserys was the wrong choice for the crown.

Episode Two - This is the first episode where we hear Otto talk to Alicent about going to the king for comfort, that would be nixed from the first episode. As with the show, we see that Alicent is deeply uncomfortable with this, and there's gonna be a lot more emphasis on Viserys's own manipulation and how it parallels modern ways men groom young girls, talking about not telling anyone cuz they wouldn't understand, pointing out Alicent's maturity especially when compared to Rhaenyra (who is her age), etc. Meanwhile, the plot on Dragonstone is one that Daemon and Mysaria hatch together, albeit for different reasons (Daemon to get Viserys's attention, Mysaria because she can see that tensions might be starting to boil over and wants to protect herself as best she can). The pregnancy is a fake, but the only one who really starts to think that is the Velaryons, particularly Rhaenys. She would get a scene at Driftmark with Corlys, to showcase again that she's really in touch with politics, where she believes that this is both a ploy to shore up power and get Viserys's attention, while both Corlys and her children listen in (this will be important later). Rhaenyra, meanwhile, is clearly struggling with her role as heir, and we'd get scenes showcasing that no one really takes her seriously and even Viserys still just sees her as a cupbearer rather than an heir. The only person, ironically, who really seems to want to help her and who she leans on for support in learning how to do things, like appointing Kingsguard knights (which happens same as the show), is Otto. She really leans on Otto, as not just the Hand of the King but her friend's father, who she believes has her best interests at heart. The episode still ends the same though, with Viserys announcing in Council, in front of Rhaenyra (though he's never consulted her this time) that he will marry Alicent, to her shock and horror.

Episode Three - Not to be self-indulgent, but the bulk of this episode is going to be like my fic Spring's End, because I was correct in everything I wrote here so go read that also because I wrote it in like two days and it somehow turned out semi-coherent. That's the main crux of the episode, focusing on Alicent's reaction and really hammering home things like Viserys's inappropriate behavior, Otto's love in conflict with his ambition, and the tension between her increasingly important but isolated status at court, as well as starting the sort of Lancelot and Guinevere relationship she will have with Criston. Meanwhile, Rhaenyra is spiraling, hard, about the fact that her father is marrying her friend and still not taking her seriously, along with feeling like she was duped by Otto in that he allowed her to depend on him while seemingly scheming to get someone else on the throne in her place. And it's in this mindset that Rhaenyra decides to go to Dragonstone to confront Daemon herself, without any backup. The two have a heated verbal confrontation about Daemon's antics, and Viserys naming Rhaenyra heir, and even the fact that it doesn't matter, because he's marrying Alicent Hightower, and Rhaenyra has a moment where she tells him that Alicent will likely have sons, and Daemon will never be heir. This clearly cuts to Daemon, and he just decides to give up the dragon eggs and turns away. Rhaenyra has scored a victory, and she feels triumphant, but also hollow (foreshadowing). Daemon meanwhile decides to send Mysaria away, and it's left debatable how much is just because his plan failed and also because he does feel he's put her in danger for nothing, and decides to go to Driftmark. Back at King's Landing, Viserys learns of what Rhaenyra has done during dinner, and summons her to lambast her about it, before Alicent cuts in and points out that Rhaenyra diffusing the situation, while careless, did avoid a conflict that could hurt innocent civilians (this would precipitate the semi-reconciliation that shows up later). Viserys here is clearly torn between a sort of pride in his daughter, but also feeling that she behaved badly, and Rhaenyra is still angry at him but wants his approval. On Driftmark, Daemon and Corlys disparage Viserys and make plans to at least go deal with the Triarchy, which, while not hyped up nearly as much in the show, has at least been mentioned. Daemon also has a moment with Laena Velaryon, who here is the same age as Alicent and Rhaenyra. They notice Vhagar in the distance, talk about dragons and freedom, and Laena makes plain that she intends to claim a dragon for herself, as her mother's daughter, even dropping names like the Cannibal, which certainly piques Daemon's interest. The wedding between Viserys and Alicent goes off, though we are getting that deleted scene where Rhaenyra helps Alicent get ready, because I really wish we could have seen that or at least been told it happened before I wrote Spring's End.

Episode Four - Queen Alicent is pregnant, near term, and the court is alight with speculation as to whether it will be a princess or a prince. Rhaenyra is unsure of how to feel about it, and is trying to navigate the friendship, uncertain though it is, with the fact that Alicent is now the queen. She's gotten closer to Criston Cole, who seems to be primarily on bodyguard duty for the queen or the princess depending on the day, as well as Laena Velaryon, who is at court with her mother, who has informally taken Corlys's place on the Small Council now that he's in the Stepstones with Daemon; this is another way to show that Rhaenys is better at this than Viserys, and there are even moments where the Council is more in agreement with her than him. Meanwhile, the Stepstones aren't gonna be touched on much beyond maybe the final battle and some occasional references, except to show Daemon's military prowess and also Corlys's brilliance in strategy, as well as Corlys's frequent correspondences with Rhaenys, to highlight their cohesion. Meanwhile, in King's Landing, the Strongs have also arrived at the capital. Rhaenyra sees Harwin doing, idk, horse stuff or something medieval and masculine, and is quite taken with him, and they strike up some conversations. Larys, with his disability, finds himself interacting with the ladies of court most, especially Alicent, and the two form a sort of friendship surrounding engaging each other's minds, and they both enjoy that they're the only ones who seem to treat the other as an actual person, rather than the pregnant wife or the disabled second son. Rhaenyra's frank and open conversations with Harwin, on the other hand, embolden her, and we get that scene where she seduces Criston, and there's a lot more play with the fact that Criston is interested and does want it, but is held back by vows before giving in to desire (also, we're just going to put a lot more emphasis on Criston's religious convictions in this version of the show, especially during his convocation in episode two when he joins the Kingsguard). Towards the end of the episode, Alicent goes into labor. Viserys and Rhaenyra share a bonding moment about their worries for Alicent's safety and the reminders of Aemma and what happened to her, and for a moment it looks as though Viserys is goign to tell Rhaenyra what he did to her mother. Rhaenyra also gets a moment where she holds Alicent's hand during labor, and we see her simultaneous love for Alicent in that as well as her clear discomfort with the concept of this being her own fate. And then Alicent delivers a son, a direct challenge to Rhaenyra's claim.

Episode Five - A big thing that's going to happen in this episode is that this is where Laena claims Vhagar. She's at Driftmark for it (foreshadowing) and, given that we've seen her in episodes three and four, it becomes clear that Vhagar is following Laena specifically. So we get to see the claiming, and Laena's own power in that. That's something that, as Daemon returns to Driftmark with Corlys, he's going to learn about, and he's going to be very intrigued by that, and taken with Laena. Another thing we're going to see is Corlys's negotiations with allies he made in Essos during his time away, arranging a betrothal between Laena and the son of the Sealord of Braavos. Rhaenyra's plotline, on the other hand, is going to be about her asserting her own power, especially now that her father has a trueborn son named Aegon Targaryen, which is a direct threat. She has a moment with her father where she directly tells him that, as his heir, she's not just going to be his cupbearer, but deserves a seat at his Small Council. He acquiesces, and Rhaenyra butts heads with Otto a lot, and pushes hard for Harwin Strong to be made captain of the Gold Cloaks, and succeeds. This is coincides with Otto hearing rumors that Rhaenyra has been behaving inappropriately with men, especially Harwin and Criston Cole. He discusses these with Alicent, who refuses to believe that of both Criston and Rhaenyra, given that Criston is spending more time with her as her bodyguard as he struggles with his "sin". She does have that scene in the godswood with Rhaenyra, but instead of issues with Daemon, it's just saying that there are rumors spreading about her behavior and that Rhaenyra must have care with her reputation. Rhaenyra figures out it's Otto who's informing Alicent, and the mood here is complex; Alicent does want to look out for Rhaenyra but also wants to ascertain the truth, and Rhaenyra both sees and feels emotional about Alicent's care but also isn't sure if she can trust Alicent. Rhaenyra keeps that moment where she swears on the memory of her mother that nothing untoward happened, but this time it's an out and out lie, to showcase the way she handles issues that might harm her and her position, lie and deny (foreshadowing). There's also gonna be a scene, before the godswood, where Rhaenyra and Alicent talk about motherhood, and we see more of Rhaenyra's complex feelings on the topic, and she does admit she was worried Alicent would die in childbirth like Aemma.

Episode Six - It's Aegon's name day, and we can clearly see that Alicent is pregnant again, not as far along as she is in the show during episode three but at least starting to have a bump. And it's here that Daemon decides to make his return to court, and dramatically offer Viserys his crown and say that any title about the Narrow Sea means nothing to him, because Viserys is his true king. I'd add a lot more scenes of Viserys and Daemon in this episode, because remember, we haven't seen them interact since the first episode, and also to really highlight how there is a genuine affection here, especially on Daemon's part. Daemon and Rhaenyra also reconnect, and have a lot of conversations in the vein we see in the original episode 4, talking about how they can do whatever they want because they're Targaryens. It's heavily flirtatious, and we do get that scene of Daemon taking Rhaenyra into the city. Here, there is more an emphasis on Daemon really just wanting Rhaenyra to enjoy herself, since we'd have another scene between him and Laena at court, though more stilted because her intended, the son of the Sealord, is here too. But after that scene where the commons show more enthusiasm for baby Aegon than her, Rhaenyra and Daemon return, and Rhaenyra has a blunt moment about her struggles to be taken seriously. It gets pretty hot and heavy, and it's not in a private room, but one of the corridors. And lo and behold, who hears about it, but Otto. And this time, he takes his issues to the king, who does summon Rhaenyra to discuss it. Rhaenyra turns it around on Viserys, accusing him of abandoning her now that he has a son, and mentions that Otto has been spreading rumors not just about her and Daemon, but her and Harwin and her and Criston, and that she feels that Otto is no friend to the crown if he's going to impugn her own honor this way. Viserys discusses these allegations with Alicent as she's taking care of him, in earshot of Criston, who is horrified about being found out. But we get that moment from the show, where Alicent goes to bat for Rhaenyra, and points out that maybe Daemon was spreading some rumors himself. An emotionally exhausted Rhaenyra also gets a scene with Rhaenys, and they discuss the concept of being allowed to inherit, of inhabiting a man's position even though they are not men and cannot act like it, and the nature of Targaryens vs other Westerosi. Also there's a scene this ep in reference to a deleted scene from the original show where Rhaenyra is playing with toddler Aegon and getting him to say her name, a sweet moment between a brother and sister.

Episode Seven - Helaena has been born and is a few months old, and Rhaenyra and Otto are butting heads on the Small Council more and more, and as Daemon and Rhaenyra continue to spend time together, Otto continues to bring his concerns to the king. Eventually, Viserys fires Otto as the Hand, at Rhaenyra's insistence, and we do get that scene from the show between Otto and Alicent where he stresses that he doesn't think Rhaenyra could ever ascend, and that whole bit Rhys Ifans was talking about with how Otto wants to say "I love you and I'm scared for you" but doesn't know how. Alicent, feeling vexed that there are rumors about Daemon's behavior but nothing is happening, strongly urges Viserys to also send Daemon back to the Vale with Rhea Royce, saying that his habits endanger the Targaryens by engendering enmity in the smallfolk who feel that he's just allowed to act with impunity. Viserys also agrees to this, which Rhaenyra is not happy about, since it feels like Alicent removed an ally to her for no reason. Criston, meanwhile, we see continue to spiral about his tryst to Rhaenyra and the fallout of the lies involved, and goes to Alicent to ask if he can be in her service, and not have to spend time with Rhaenyra anymore. Alicent, who can see that he's upset about something, readily agrees, which drives a further wedge between her and Alicent. Rhaenyra turns to Laena Velaryon, who isn't particularly enthused about her betrothal to the son of the Sealord, and also to Harwin Strong just as a companion. After dinner with Laena and Rhaenys, Rhaenyra decides that she needs to take a husband to solidify her claim, especially with gossip at court that the king still summons the queen to his bedchamber in spite of having two children, which Rhaenyra does remain disgusted by. She goes to Viserys with the proposal that she tour the realm to find a suitable husband for the heir to the Iron Throne, and Viserys says nothing about her using that title, but agrees.

Episode Eight - Rhaenyra has been touring the Kingdoms, trying to find a husband, and it's not going well. She does go to the Vale, under the auspices of looking for a husband from that area, but mostly still to talk with Daemon. Laena also frequents the Vale, and the three of them tend to race their dragons, and Rhaenyra does notice that there's a simmering attraction between Laena and Daemon, which she calls Daemon out on, saying that, as Princess, she has no interest in playing second fiddle before she eventually departs the Vale. This leaves Daemon to confront what he does actually want out of a potential alliance with the Velaryons and the longstanding attraction with Laena (and maybe this leads him to killing Rhea? i'm conflicted on that one honestly but she does die in this episode, either accidentally like in the book or in a murkier version of what Daemon did in the show, maybe him just spooking her horse without bashing her head in with a rock). In King's Landing, Viserys grows increasingly infirm due to his various Iron Throne issues (yes I'm keeping that), and as such, Alicent has started accompanying him to Small Council meetings, which a lot of people are conflicted about. At first, we see her not doing much, but she eventually starts speaking out more and more. And at one point in the episode, Viserys is going to have an amputation, one that lays him up in bed for a bit, and Alicent still attends the Small Council in his place to speak for him. When someone points out that it is the Hand who speaks for the king, Alicent retorts that who knows the king better, and can thus speak for him best, than his own wife and, crucially (and the first time she ever flexes like this) the mother of his only son. At Driftmark, Rhaenys is back to ruling there, given that Corlys is back on the Small Council, and is definitely bitter about it. That's when Rhaenyra arrives, and offers a proposal: that she marry Laenor, and their first son be a Targaryen heir, while the others would stand to inherit Driftmark and other Velaryon properties as Velaryons. Rhaenys agrees to this, only writing a letter of the proposal to Corlys after she's done so to inform him that it's happening. Rhaenyra also gets more moments with Harwin in this episode, to build up to their relationship, and an important moment comes when she confides her issues with childbirth and childrearing after watching what it did to her mother.

Episode Nine - Rhaenyra arrives and is a bit weirded out to learn that Alicent is now on the Small Council too. The first meeting they have, where Rhaenyra discusses her marriage to Laenor, is a bit tense between them, and definitely awkward, but there's still an attempt at politeness. Rhaenyra has her talk with Laenor about different tastes, but she does also stress the importance that she does need an heir, so there will need to be duties performed on occasion to create one. Laena, meanwhile, is very not happy about Laenor's marriage and the bargain it includes, talking to her mother about how, if Rhaenyra can be the heir to the Iron Throne regardless of gender, then she, as Laenor's older sister, should be the one to inherit Driftmark and be the Lady of the Tides, and so should her own children. Rhaenys says that it's not going to happen, that Rhaenyra is only a solitary exception due to Targaryen nature, and Laena bluntly puts that it's a ridiculous thing to have it only be Rhaenyra, and that what would be the point of it at all if it didn't lead to larger change, otherwise the entire enterprise is doomed to failure (foreshadowing). Back in King's Landing, Criston Cole, whose arc this season has been about his religious convictions and how it feels to have betrayed those and seen the fallout, eventually cracks and confesses to Alicent, doing that whole "it's my sin but as a clement queen give me a quick death" moment. And Alicent is again betrayed at the fact that Rhaenyra lied, and the fallout from that lie for her and what that means about Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra, meanwhile, has a late night talk with Harwin about having to choose a husband when there wouldn't be an expectation of her to choose a wife if she were a man, and Harwin is genuinely sympathetic, leading to a spontaneous kiss. When the rehearsal dinner happens later, Rhaenyra is dressed in her house colors, dramatic Targaryen red and black, but Alicent arrives in a dazzling green dress, the colors of Oldtown at war. She gives a smile to Hightower relatives, yes, but the conversation about how she's grown into queenship is actually had with Tyland Lannister, who we'd have seen her interact with on occasion at the Small Council. Rhaenyra clocks Alicent's coolness towards her, and the two have a private moment when left alone on the dais while Viserys does, idk, something, and Alicent makes a cold callback to Rhaenyra swearing on Aemma's memory, letting her know that she knows of the lies and she's angry.

Episode Ten - It is the wedding day of Rhaenyra and Laenor, and everyone is here, the Velaryons and the son of the Sealord and all the Strongs and all the retinues of the Houses and even Otto is here as a guest, given that he is the father of the queen. Before a tourney to celebrate the impending nuptials, Rhaenyra and Harwin have a talk about their feelings, and Rhaenyra does stress that she wants him but it has to be discreet because of her position, but she does have an understanding with Laenor, and the two share another kiss. Meanwhile, Alicent, just to be petty, tells Viserys she feels that she's pregnant again, and that it's another boy, and Viserys, because he's a moron, actually announces this before the tourney. This is the tourney where, in the mélee, Criston Cole kills Laenor's lover Joffrey, to Laenor's shock and horror. Laenor and Rhaenyra are both immediately calling for consequences, but Alicent comes in for Criston, saying that it's an armed mélee and thus there's a natural acceptance of risk, which Joffrey knew, and Viserys lets the whole thing slide. This casts a pall over the wedding ceremony, and during the feast that night, Laenor is still dejected, which is why Rhaenyra goes to dance with others, like Harwin, and Daemon, who has been invited, and the two have another sexually charged moment. Daemon also dances with Laena, and bluntly asks her whether she wants to be married to the son of the Sealord, and she says no, and makes a comment about wanting Vhagar to eat him. The Sealord gets a bit uppity about someone else dancing with his bride to be, words are exchanged between him and Daemon, and it eventually breaks out into an actual fight. Alicent impulsively calls out for Rhaenyra, and Harwin does go to remove her, and Rhaenyra does have a moment where the first thing she does is check if Alicent herself is unharmed, showing that even with the worsening relationship that we've seen crack apart, there's still love there. Daemon eventually kills the son of the Sealord as Viserys, who again has been having those health problems all season like in the original show, passes out. This allows both Daemon and Criston Cole to sneak out unnoticed, and Criston, like in the show, is going to kill himself. Again, we've seen him kinda spiral all season, and after now killing someone too, not in combat but in a game, he feels at his lowest. And like in the show, Alicent stops him, though we do seem her kneel in the grass and take the knife from his hands. Alicent and Rhaenyra both then go to stay by Viserys, and we see them arrive at the same time before they sit on opposite sides of his bed. And here I will ape myself and my original answer again: "Episode ends with Daemon saddling Caraxes, ready to ride away before someone thinks "hey maybe we should imprison the guy who killed a foreign ally's leader", and then suddenly a great shadow blocks out the sun. Suddenly Vhagar lands in front of him, Laena atop her, and Daemon thinks, oh shit is she gonna try and fight me for killing her betrothed? He's still on the ground, and suddenly Laena climbs down from Vhagar to join him there. She doesn't say anything, but she smiles at him, and Daemon bends to kiss her hand." Meanwhile, at Viserys's sickbed, you have Rhaenyra, the Velaryons (minus Laena), and Harwin on one side, and Alicent, Larys, Otto, the Lannisters, Criston, and two attendants holding Aegon and Helaena on another. It's interspersed with a shot of Caraxes and Vhagar taking flight, almost dancing in the air, and their calls intermingle with baby Aegon beginning to cry. The dragons are dancing, the Targaryens are choosing side, and children are already weeping; th war may not have started yet, but it is already here. As Vhagar's wing eclipses the camera as she flies away, episode ends.

So this is uhhhhh not my best work as I'm making it up on the fly as I write this, but here ya go, HOTD season 1 if I were allowed to be showrunner. I'm not sure how coherent this all is, or if I got across all I wanted to. TL;DR here is that I would put a lot more focus on Alicent and Rhaenyra's relationship and its slow, gradual disintegration, as well as establishing the burgeoning sides that are going to be taken, along with adding more complexity to characters that were left by the wayside in the original show. But hope you liked it!

[iris-sistibly]

The Targ Talk: House of the Dragon S2

I'm late for the party because I took a break from writing QOT fanfics, but here I am.

Episode 1 commentary:

I do appreciate the whole tapestry thing that tells the history of the Targaryen dynasty (mostly focusing on the dance, duh), but I still prefer the opening in season 1.

Rhaenys refusing to follow Daemon's order is badass ngl. Like I said, Daemon is my favorite bitch but if I have to choose between him and Rhaenys, I'd take the latter's side. Daemon is the "strike the iron while it's hot" kind of person, but the moment the Greens learned about Lucerys' demise they have been on high alert in case of any attacks from the Blacks so...it was a bad idea to attack King's Landing just like that.

I think we can all agree that Emma D' Arcy did an amazing job at showing Rhaenyra's grief. The unkempt hair, the dirt on her face and body, basically being not being able to care for herself (and she doesn't care), very image of a mother who just lost another child was nailed to perfection. The scene where the queen found the remains of Luke and Arrax was just heartbreaking.

Speaking of nailing a scene, I am also impressed at Phia Saban. I know a lot of people were confused at how Helaena decided to give up her son after her failed attempt to bribe Blood and Cheese. Actually it was much worse in the book, but it still ended up with Jaehaerys' death. I do agree with what others said that Helaena had to choose or all of them will die. If she sacrificed herself, they would still have killed both kids, if she chose to give up Jaehaera, the result would STILL be the same. The fear, desperation, confusion and trauma of Helaena was delivered so well by Phia.

I also read some comments saying that Helaena foresaw her son's death, and whatever she does she couldn't stop it hence she did what she did.

However, I do agree that the Blood and Cheese scene which was supposedly the highlight of the episode felt a bit...underwhelming. I mean, if you really think about it, it's horrible but I was expecting it to be at the same level or at least close to the book kind of horrifying. Though idk why they excluded Maelor's character, and I don't even know if Daeron is going to exist in the show either.

I have a confession to make, I kinda like Aegon in this episode. I was expecting him to be a lazy bastard or a Joffrey Baratheon kind of "king" but at least he's trying. But as I'm writing this, I realized that he's just another pawn of Otto's (just like his mother). Having Aegon as king would give him control over the kingdom, he cannot be king and being the hand of Viserys, and now Aegon II is the closest he could get to the iron throne, that's why the greedy bitch did everything he can--use his daughter and have her marry to Viserys despite her young age and trying to convince Vizzy to marry Aegon to Rhaenyra. Dude has been planning it for years. When Alicent voiced out her concern about being undermined by her father at the small council I was like, babes you're a pawn in this game, that's all you are and I hate that the showrunners made her this way. Again, she was a player in the book and I prefer that version of her.

Criston Cole bitching about Rhaenyra choosing the crown over oranges, and refusing to be her whore but still ended up being a boy toy of another queen will never not be funny.

Oh, and after spending some time reading Helaegon fanfics, I kinda ship them now too 🤣🤣

[btr-rewatch]

Big Time Rush Season 1, Episode 1: "Big Time Audition" PART 1

Well, here we go! I'm super excited to be revisiting this show after so many years. I was so deep in the fandom back when the show was on, but it feels like going into it with a blank slate at this point. I have no idea what the fandom is like anymore and also forgot so many of the episodes. Ugh, I wish I could remember what my BTR blog from like 2011 used to be called (and if it even still exists; I might have deleted it). It'd be so cool to take a look at it.

I'm gonna try to just jump right in here. A few things first: I'll be pausing the episodes perodically as I watch in order to write up my posts on here, so it'll be a very "real-time" depiction of my experience, lol. Posts will also always be put under a "read more" on account of length.

Y'all the smile on my face at just the beginning few seconds of the episode. It brings me right back to 2009, watching the premiere with my sister. And I love how there's really no time wasted in making it loud and clear what each of the boys' roles are in the group and what their personalities are like.

Kendall's first line is literally a little motivational pep talk. He's trying to motivate them to do something that's going to get them into trouble, but still...it's in character. (btw, I will absolutely be focusing in on Kendall's character development—and my criticisms of it—as I move through the series)

Anyway, continuing on down the line: Logan counters Kendall's words with math, thus promptly labeling him as The Nerd of the group. Carlos jumps at the chance to cause some chaos (very Carlos. he was my favorite, btw) and James is just not paying attention to any of it. He's just standing there preening.

James is another one who changes a good deal from this first episode, I think. I mean, if I'm remembering correctly, he stays sort of self-absorbed and concerned with his looks, but not quite to THIS degree.

Also, the guys all work well together and fit, but I can't help but wonder how this group came together. It's such an oddball mixture of extreme personalities that you'd be hard-pressed to find in real life. In fact, if it were real life, they probably wouldn't be able to tolerate each other at all, let alone be friends. But that's the beauty of the show.

They do all eventually help Carlos turn the sprinklers on.

Troublemakers. Oh! And I spy plaid on Kendall. He wears plaid in like every episode, doesn't he? I remember that being a thing.

Logan's hair looks very dark. Was it dyed for this episode? I don't remember it being that dark.

I'm only ONE MINUTE into this episode. Yikes; these are going to be long posts, aren't they?

Yes, Carlos gives James the helmet right before they get pummeled by the mob of angry girls! Kendall knows James has to protect his face! Just a little over a minute in, and we have a leader of the group firmly established.

GUSTAVO AND KELLY!!!

I love him.

Meanwhile, the guys are nursing their injuries back at Kendall's house. It's so funny to me the way that Kendall seems to have the rest of them (mainly Carlos?) "trained" in a way? He tells Carlos to give James the helmet, and Carlos does do without hesitation. Then, when James starts dancing on the couch, all he has to do is say Carlos's name, and Carlos tackles James to the floor.

But when you've got a group of buddies like that, someone has to step up and take the reins, and that someone is Kendall Knight.

Look at these goofballs smiling as Carlos and James beat each other up.

The FLIP PHONES

Amazing. This show already kind of feels like a fun little time capsule.

I'd be remiss to not talk about this specific moment (when James and Carlos are throwing hands again) that I recall the fandom latching onto back in the day. As things start spiraling and glass starts flying, Logan simply calls Kendall's name, and Kendall immediately runs to Logan's side.

This is the point in which I probably start overanalyzing, but. Well, that's half the fun of this project, isn't it?

It speaks volumes about who Kendall is, what his role is in the group, and how the other three (especially Logan) look at him. Things are getting out of hand, and Logan is overwhelmed. So what does he do? Simply call for Kendall to take control and fix it. Because that's who Kendall is, right? He's Mr. Hold Everyone Together, Fix Everything All the Time, Carry the World on His Shoulders Guy.

I'll be delving more in that in future posts, I'm sure. Many thoughts.

Also, can we talk about how James and Carlos are just. Destroying Mrs. Knight's home?? Throwing things and about to hit each other with a lamp and a...whisk?? Is that what Carlos has? As a kid, I was like, "ahahaha, funny," but now I'm like, "I hope Mama Knight made those boys pay for every item they ever broke while in her house."

I was originally going to break this up into just 2 parts, but it's already pretty long, and I don't even know if anyone will read it, so I'm going to wrap it up right here for now. I'm sure once I get into the actual series, the posts will be shorter, but there's a lot of ground being laid in this episode, and I'm also still finding my footing on this blog.

Thanks to anyone who checks this out!

[self-indulgent-paw-patrol]

Y'all want my hot take on why we didn't have a Marshall movie for the second movie, but this time not focusing my answer on Skye?

THEY WERE AFRAID OF AUDIENCE REACTION.

No, really.

Marshall is a fan favorite, NOT ONLY AMONG KIDS - they gotta please the kids parents and relatives too, it's the parents and relatives who will spend their fortunes on buying Paw Patrol merchandise for their kids and throwing birthday parties with custom "I'm the Paw Patrol kid's dad/mom" matching shirts.

THEY KNOW IT'S NOT ONLY KIDS WATCHING THEIR SHOW AND MOVIES, heck they're all adults working there and you need TO LOVE kids stuff to create and/or work on GOOD kids animations. And EVEN MORE NOW after the Mighty Movie, they KNOW two things:

1- The younger kids might not care MUCH, but the older ones will and the percentage of adults that follow the show will as well: Everyone who loves Marshall will NOT be satisfied with just anything.

Usually the people who work on movies are not all the same from the show, so both things can run and get produced without interfering with each other. The people working in the movies are bound to know how the audience is reacting to the show in order to get things done okay in the movies as well, or at least do whatever they can do under what orders they receive.

They know people have been unhappy about Marshall being put more in the sidelines, they know people are unhappy with how they're following orders to give Skye more spotlight in the show which means she's been doing rescues that usually would be more suited for Marshall. It's like she's pushing Marshall to the sidelines. I don't even remember when was the last time I saw Marshall work as EMT and I don't remember last time I even saw his Ambulance in the show (I'm currently at the beginning of 7th season). They might even know how people miss Marshall's interactions with other pups, especially with Chase, as in the beginning they were portrayed as best friends, playing together, doing things together, and now it's like they're all just coworkers. My guess on that is because they're avoiding situations that can be used for shipping characters XD Given the whole issue with ideologies and whatnot now, I wouldn't be surprised they're avoiding anything remotely close to that.

They know people are unhappy and wish for Marshall to get his spotlight back.

2- THEY KNOW WE'RE UNHAPPY WITH HOW MARSHALL HAS BEEN PORTRAYED IN BOTH MOVIES SO FAR. Especially the whole issue about his clumsiness, which is barely hinted at in the movies, even if we see a lot about it in the show. Not to mention how it's treated mostly as "natural clumsiness", things that could have happened to literally ANY of the other pups, not because of his "clumsy condition". I mean, tripping while dancing, yeah, that's normal. Getting startled when a hologram shows up in your face? Any of them could have gotten startled outta their fur at that. Chase literally spawning by his side when you had just seen him all the way across the room not even half a second ago? I'D HAVE SCREAMED AND THROWN THAT FIREBALL OUT AND AWAY DUE TO SUCH JUMPSCARE TOO.

He didn't do MUCH in the movies at all, maybe just taking over the matters when Chase had his panic attacks in the first movie. Which also makes sense, we gotta admit that: Police AND FIREFIGHTERS are usually the ones who are more suited to do crowd control and deal with people. I'm not even going about how Marshall would take over, it's just that he's the more suited to go substitute Chase in ANY CASE. It's not just because they're close friends.

But aside from that? The main focus were Chase for the first movie, and Skye for the second. Marshall was along for the ride, as well as all other pups, but fans are ESPECIALLY UPSET literally because they felt Marshall was supposed to have the spotlight for the Mighty Movie and it turned out it just wasn't going to be about him XD He didn't do muuuuuch, he barely had not even a fraction of his signature clumsy moments.

And after how people complained after the first movie, they weren't going to do anything about Marshall just yet anyway. Now fans are even more pissed and I'm here holding my bucket of popcorn watching this circus catch on fire and waiting for our beloved firepup to come for the rescue.

Sort of literally XD

At least we know we're gonna get a third movie by 2026. Now it's a game of wait and see what it'll be like.

[the5n00k]

Scratch in Scratch the Surface vs I Wanna Dance With Some-Ollie

[[[spoilers for season 2]]]

Long post sorry

I've been comparing these two episodes a lot, especially after the song Ghosts Aren't the Enemy from Book Marks the Sprite reminding me SO much of Lose-Lose from season 1. The conflicts are pretty similar, Molly has to keep someone from finding out about Scratch because of real and disastrous consequences, although instead of the flow of failed phantoms, this season it's the ghost chaser Chens. They aren't directly comparable since the contexts are different (Libby is a close friend and Ollie is a romantic interest) ((I'M SPEAKING CANONICALLY DON'T KILL ME SHIPPERS)) and the plot of Some-Ollie isn't really "hide Scratch" it's more focused on Molly and Ollie's relationship and how Scratch is reacting to it. Speaking of which:

Scratch's reaction to Molly's concerns about Libby is very dismissive. He doesn't really care about her and he's not super invested in Molly's personal problems either. The only times he's helped her out (at this point in the series) is when it personally affects him or he feels familiar pity for her. (First Day Frights and The Best Concert Ever are good examples of this) He's not completely won over by her antics yet. And while he is concerned for her wellbeing at this point, it's more like the sort of concern and worry you feel when you see somebody who's clearly not gonna be able to make the entire 5k run. Like you're worried but it's better if you just don't get involved. Baseline empathy, really

He does start cracking when Molly asks if she can tell Libby because she's misinterpreting the situation. Even during this, Molly doesn't break Scratch's trust and doesn't outright tell her without asking first. Knowing what we know about Scratch now, I think he's always had a soft spot for friendships and hates seeing them end, even subconsciously. He smiles as Molly runs away to catch up with Libby but he's still not happy about it. Yeah he warms up to Libby but telling anyone about him is a potential danger, especially if they feel the need to tell anyone else.

And in Friend-Off, he didn't really have a justifiable reason to be a jerk to Libby other than Molly's scavenger hunt they were both forced to do. Everything he said (both of them said really) was out of a place of pure jealousy. He even admits that at the end of the episode.

What's important to point out is this entire episode he's only thinking about himself (not an uncommon trend for this character) and is only willing to sacrifice when pushed to do so. Not saying he's necessarily written badly in this episode, far from it, but it is quite a contrast between that and his actions in the season 2 episode 5a segment I Wanna Dance With Some-Ollie.

I'd like to preface this with one of the scrapped titles for this ep was "Molly's Choice" and I think that will haunt me till I die that's such an evil title

I Wanna Dance With Some-Ollie is a VERY compelling episode. While the set up for it and Scratch the Surface is similar, this one feels like it has more stakes involved. Molly has a crush on Oliver Chen, a ghost hunter, and you can see how that could immediately cause issues. Scratch is even more dismissive towards Molly at points because of this, even colder and snappier than some of season 1a in my opinion. (For good reason obviously) and while Scratch's concerns here are mostly fear for his own safety, it's also jealousy. If he was so worried about Ollie catching him, he wouldn't be around him at all, let alone trying to sabotage the dance.

Molly doesn't take the threat the Chens pose very seriously and dismisses most of Scratch's concerns. (Not that she's a bad friend for this, she just thinks they're silly YouTubers and wants to enjoy a middle school dance) Scratch eventually blows up on her and they get into a rather brutal argument for an episode 5 of a DTVA show. It's presented in the usual silly way but they both say some rather insensitive things to each other in the heat of the moment.

We've NEVER seen them disagree this hard on anything. They've had differing opinions before but neither of them is budging on this one. They split off and you can see what Molly said to him hurt. She seemingly chose what was more important to her. He seemed to look back as if he was debating on going back in to apologize to her for what he said and did too because she just wants to have a good time and he was trying to ruin that. But he decides he's the last thing she needs right now and starts to go home, only to get caught in a spectral snare.

Here's the REALLY important part I need y'all to listen closely:

He had every right to an "I told you so". He had every right to tell her never to see Ollie again and to even consider moving just to save his metaphorical skin. But he doesn't. She apologizes first and he interjects with his own apology for trying to ruin her night. Her happiness is what's most important to him now. That priority shift happened since Out of House and Home, maybe arguably even sooner. He doesn't tell her never to see him again, in fact he IMPLIES that she should be able to do what she wants and he wouldn't interfere anymore. It was Molly's choice to cut it off with Ollie after seeing Scratch in that much danger.

He's still a self centered jerk with possessive tendencies and separation anxiety but it's important to point out that he recognizes Molly as her own person and he shouldn't interfere with her happiness. I think season 1a Scratch wouldn't have even LET her go to the dance with a ghost hunter as her co-chair to begin with. I know I don't need to defend Scratch's actions since most people are on his side in this episode (a weird change of pace) but I needed to get my thoughts out about him and his development so far. My boy has come so far, they feel like good, real friends. Also I'm just gonna reiterate Molly wasn't completely at fault here because she just wanted to enjoy the dance and both her and Scratch had equal fault in this scenario, that's called ✨good writing✨, you don't have to pick a side. THE WORLD ISN'T BLACK AND WHITE, OLLIE

I hope they address Scratch's jealous nature in a future episode, especially since they're hinting towards an Ollie redemption. After the ghost hunting fear is gone, that jealousy is gonna still be there, I'm kind of hoping after that talk outside of the school where Scratch resigned himself to whatever Molly wanted to do, he wouldn't be too jealous of him and we won't have a Friend-Off 2 or something. (Although if he decides to be a little petty and messes with Ollie a little, I welcome that. That sounds really funny honestly)

I feel like halfway through this I just started rambling, I hope my point made it across clearly LOL tldr; scratch is a well written character and he means so much to me and if I see any Molly/Ollie/Mollie slander on my account I will be throwing hands <3

[jonfucius]

Great Star Trek Rewatch - The Original Series S2

Originally posted on Twitter 26 October 2020 - 2 December 2020

Star Trek: The Original Series Season 2 is up next in my Great Star Trek Rewatch. As with ENT, DSC, STX, and TOS Season 1, mini-reviews will document my progress.

Amok Time: After 29 episodes and some contradictory continuity, we finally get the first concrete details on Mr. Spock and the Vulcan species. A classic fight scene rounds out a strong start to Season 2. 8/10

Who Mourns for Adonais?: A decent early Season 2 entry. The giant green space hand is iconic, but the meat of the story rises above. Thanks to this episode, it became tradition that chief engineers on the starships Enterprise can't catch a break in the romance department. 7/10

The Changeling: A dry run of sorts for the superior Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The second time Kirk talks a computer to death, and it's a slow burn to the climax. 6/10

Mirror, Mirror: One of the most enduring concepts across Trek's 50+ year history is the Mirror Universe. This is still one of the best Mirror Universe tales, simply for its originality and focus. 9/10

The Apple: A Prime Directive debate and some red shirt massacres forms the crux of this otherwise forgettable episode. Definitely not one I'd revist on a whim. Not terrible, just mediocre. 5/10

The Doomsday Machine: This one and "Balance of Terror" jockey back and forth for #1 on my list of the best TOS episodes. William Windom's performance is superb, the titular device is scary (I hid behind the sofa when I watched this one as a kid), and the score is iconic. 10/10

Catspaw: Star Trek and Halloween don't go very well together. Even though this has an ostensibly scientific explanation, it still reeks of magic and sorcery. It is goofy, that's why it gets 4/10.

I, Mudd: This one starts slow but turns into a classic comedy by the end. Carmel is back as Mudd, though the portrayal of his wife is problematic at best. 7/10

Metamorphosis: This poignant love story with a solid sci-fi hook just clicks for me. It’s not the best but it just works. 9/10

Journey to Babel: Season 2 is definitely Spock-focused, and those episodes have not disappointed. This is a classic for good reason: action, pathos, humor, world-building. 10/10

Friday’s Child: Tonal problems keep this one from joining the ranks of the true classics. It’s serviceable but dreadfully slow in the middle. The Capellans are a fascinating race, it’s too bad we don’t see them again. 6/10

The Deadly Years: Impressive 60s aging makeup aside, this one doesn’t do much for me. The old age jokes are stereotypes, though the use of elderly actors in the first act is ingenious. And a rare bit of serialization with a callback to “The Corbomjte Maneuver” is welcome. 6/10

Obsession: Kirk gets some backstory and dimension in a tight, tense script. This is a well-paced acting showcase for Shatner. 9/10

Wolf in the Fold: This would have made for an excellent Halloween episode. A gaseous/energy being is easier to believe than the “Catspaw” transmuter, oddly enough. The line about women being easier to scare, and the Kara dance, are typical ugly 60s sexism, unfortunately. 7/10

The Trouble with Tribbles: A fuzzy thing happens on the way to Sherman’s Planet. A classic that thoroughly earns the title, it’s endlessly rewatchable and filled to the brim with classic gags, one-liners, and scenes for the entire cast. 10/10

The Gamesters of Triskelion: Angelique Pettyjohn’s look is iconic, but not much else about this episode is. A huge letdown after the preceding episode. 5/10

A Piece of the Action: An excellent palate cleanser after the preceding dud. Really wish we could follow up on the Iotians some day. I forgot how funny this episode is. 9/10

The Immunity Syndrome: Season 2 giveth, and Season 2 taketh away. The concept of a spaceborne lifeform is compelling, but this is otherwise a dog of a show. 4/10

A Private Little War: when the show tackles the Vietnam allegory, it sings. When it focuses on Nona, it falters under the weight of 60s’ sexism and bigotry. 7/10

Return to Tomorrow: A different take on the non-corporeal beings trope that hangs around TOS like an albatross, this one is more nuanced and subtle than most. Come for Nimoy’s delightful villain performance, stay for the poignant denouement. 8/10

Patterns of Force: An examination of how easy it is for a society to fall in love with fascism misses the mark by claiming power and not racism was the animus of Nazism, much like Confederate apologists claim the Civil War was about rights and not slavery. 0/10

By Any Other Name: The Kelvans’ powers are frightening, but it’s an episode I just can’t get excited about, except for Scotty drinking one under the table. 6/10

The Omega Glory: Gene, your über-patriotism is showing. Another late Season 2 letdown. 3/10

The Ultimate Computer: TOS has a serious distrust of powerful computers/AI that fades somewhat in the later series. Daystrom is a tragic figure, and the horror of the murder of the Excalibur’s crew is effectively conveyed. 8/10

Bread and Circuses: The social commentary is on point, but two parallel Earth stories in three weeks is somewhat tiresome. Still, an entertaining yarn. 7/10

Assignment: Earth: I’m ambivalent on this back door pilot. I like the Gary Seven character, and I normally enjoy time travel stories, but it just doesn’t do a whole lot for me. It’s not excellent, it’s not bad, it just is. 6/10

And with that, Season 2 of TOS comes to an end in my Great Star Trek Rewatch. Final score: 6.77/10. Highest score(s): "The Doomsday Machine," "Journey to Babel," "The Trouble with Tribbles." Lowest score(s): "Patterns of Force"

[kimiehashobbies]

👋🏾 ladybugs,

All hobby updates:

Im not going to put any short stories on here anytime soon. I'm writing something right now and I need to put all my energy into that for now. It's not saying I never will, just for now I have other goals. I already have my next 6 writing projects lined up. I'm going to see those to completion before anything else.

My banjo practice has been heavy on the music theory studying. I'm going to be learning some songs. I'd love to do some covers. I have some original song ideas as well. I wrote like a verse for a song idea and a chorus for a different song idea. That's musically what I have in the works. I'm prioritizing banjo and writing. These are things im doing daily, they make me the happiest right now.

I also have not been working on my comic strip. I still firmly have 4 ideas for different comics. I want to share my first one because I've been working on it since January but it's not ready. I'm not going to set a date with this because it's a passion project that I value it being made to my standards more than validation now. (Honestly even this tumblr is a passion project no one has found me or like me enough yet, but I know the right ppl will, thank you to the few ppl that have engaged with me!) I hope this year I can get it to my standards. We will see!

My comic book idea is still firm, I'm actually writing on that but haven't been practicing the drawing portion. I still haven't decided if I'm going to figure out how to do a Kickstarter to hire an illustrator. Right now I'm loving the idea of me writing and drawing my own comic hero. She's so cool I can't wait to share her. My art in general is mainly just focused on the strips and book but I am going to expand eventually when i am confident in my skill. Art is going to be an ongoing thing and playing with different mediums as well. I am doing colored pencils and watercolor pencils for the time being.

My casual hobbies are taking a backseat. I'm still going to be making felt dolls and crocheting it's just going to be a whenever im between other more pressing hobbies.

I've written 2 poems so far. I had a few more written but I didn't like them enough to count it toward a book. So its 2 poems I am proud to potentially share. I need to look up how many poems in a standard poetry book. That's something I'll try to work towards. A poem a week. It will be mainly sonnets. This will definitely be self published. It's going to be deeply personal.

My fitness is ongoing and I always update about that seperately. When I actually become a Barre Fitness Instructor I probably will switch to vlogging. I love barre and I really hope that more ppl try it. It has a lot in common with pilates if you enjoy that. It just adds more dance and stretch. I finally checked out pilates to see what it's about. I still like barre more.

It's hockey season my fav team (NY Rangers) is number 1 in the league right now so I'm also watching the games if you want to talk about hockey. I'm not like too much into sports but I'm looking forward to that Mike Tyson and Jake Paul fight coming up. Watching movies and some TV shows is going to give me more things to talk about than sports admittedly. I'll be blogging about "The Bear" when that's back on for sure.

Let me know what hobbies you have or what you are passionate about. I loved the anonymous question I recieved. Realized I consume a lot of dairy in the winter..... I love to bake so I'm going to look up a potato pasties recipe and see if I can create it. Can't find a place that has them where I live! Thanks again whoever asked me this question. I hope you make an account or engage again.

I hope your day was great and your evening even better to all ladybugs and non ladybugs.

🫶🏾🐞 Kimie

[hopepaigeturner]

"Bridgerton doesn't run on logistics, just vibes"

No truer words spoken 😂😂

Ok ok, at first I was a little non-plussed at this whole thing. But...as always my mind has not rested and here's a potential way to incorporate it.

I have this recurring 'motif' that Sophie always hides her true smile or laugh. And the viewer eventually learns that this is because her father always looked pained and Araminta would become furious if she showed her natural smile. For, Sophie’s true smile is the mirror image of her father's. (there are other little indications in Sophie’s mannerisms concerning her past, but that’s for another post if anyone's interested).

But if we must have a royal spin on this then...Sophie could be the illegitimate offspring of Princess Sophia and the Earl of Penwood (a good friend of the King's) who had an affair. And instead of Sophie’s laughter/smile reflecting her father, let her smile be the exact mirror of her mother.

Sophie (and the viewer) all are kept in the dark about the identity of Sophie’s mother throughout the season. This enables that the stakes of the book, (the divide in class and its consequences) to be fully felt.

So, all the viewer sees is that Araminta hates Sophie because she is another woman’s daughter, and a symbolic representation of the heir Araminta could never provide.

It is only until the final ball of the season in Ep.7, when Sophie is presented to the Queen, that we get a little nudge towards this theory.

 Sophie is presented by Araminta, and while Araminta tries to shade Sophie, Sophie manages to shade right back earning a look of approval from the Queen/King. (I know Q Charlotte should have died, but let’s be real, the way Shonda loves her I don’t think she’s going anywhere anytime soon). Then Benedict comes to take her in a dance (I’ve got this whole ball scene planned out already 😉). It’s cute, adorable and Sophie is there laughing and in love. Camera cuts to Brimsley who turns to the Queen with a raised eyebrow. “Your majesty, does Miss Beckett not remind you of someone?” The camera focuses on Sophie’s smile. Then to Queen Charlotte who turns to Brimsley with a look of disdain. “I have found that it is not useful to have the past dogging one’s heels when entering a new season, no matter how much we wish to indulge in the memory of the ones we have lost.” She says. Queen Charlotte looks back to Benophie with a soft, knowing smile…

I’d like the writers to leave this a little ambiguous if they do it, to allow viewers to speculate. (Perhaps there is a fleeting scene early in the season where the Queen comments about Princess Sophia to link it in). But it would mean the season, and Sophie, is suddenly held in a new light…

The Earl looks pained because Sophie’s true smile is a reminder of the love he lost, not of his own mistake.

Araminta is always triggered/furious, for Sophie's smile reminds her of how she is someone else's daughter--a royal. This would infuriate Araminta whose entire character is one who strives for status and power.

Sophie’s comment in AOFAG of "my blood is more blue then yours will ever be" when Araminta confronts her about the ball is at first Sophie’s little dig to Araminta that she is the Earl’s daughter but, unbeknownst to Sophie, also a true statement of her royal heritage—this is the reason Araminta spirals into such a destructive rage that leads to chucking Sophie out.

In my version of the Sofa scene (part 1, part 2) I had a lovely love declaration from Benedict: “I do not care whether you are descended from a maid or the King of England himself” which would be very ironic if Sophie was actually descended from royalty.

Overall I’m not 100% sold on this idea. It’s fun but unnecessary. I'd rather have more screen time for Benophie than a random little hook in for QC but that's me 🤷‍♀️ I’ve explained before that the true stakes of Benophie’s love story are the external factors they face through the class divide. Having Sophie be royalty lessens these stakes, especially if they hammer home about this connection. But…it would be a fun little finesse for fans.  

I think I'm going to jump on the "Sophie is Queen Charlotte's illegitimate granddaughter" train. Looks like fun, though I'm unsure of the logistics.

Bridgerton doesn't run on logistics, just vibes. Napoleon was resurrected in one of the books lol

Oddly, Princess Sophia had an illegitimate child, believed to be fathered by an affair or even darker, her brother Prince Ernest. The child was given away...

[fauxretrofunk]

Is your Sim stuck in a rut? Is your legacy feeling stale? Do you look at some of the worlds, pull a Confused Travolta, and think ‘have I even played here before?’ Well, now there’s this! It might not be an answer to any of those questions, but it’s something.

The "See-SimNation" Road Trip Challenge

(under construction as I add more worlds/goals)

This challenge is about exploring what each world has to offer. It can be done over one generation or several, maybe give your legacy's heir a very goal-focused vacation, and your Sim(s) can either live in the same house throughout or not. Option A is to have your ‘home base’ and live in rentals during each world-visit, or (B) create a trailer home and move it around to different empty lots.

You can start with however many Sims you want, and whatever funds. It’s really just about hitting the goals, and moving on to the next town.

I play this on the long life-span setting, but, if you don’t, feel free to tweak anything that’s time-sensitive (IE owning a store/selling items in Magnolia Promenade for four weeks).

These do not have to be done in any particular order. In fact, I suggest random-rolling. Also, the skill-maxing is an option. As I made this for myself, I just needed more targets to hit.

Mods I use to make it a bit more immersive, but they’re definitely not necessary

⤐Frankk’s Language Barrier mod

⤐Adeepindigo’s SimNation Travel

Rules under the cut. If there's another challenge like this, I'd love to see it! And I'd definitely appreciate any feedback or suggestions. This is very much a work in progress, so if you decide to try it out remember to @ me with progress/pics!

@maxismatchccworld @sims4challenges

1 - Willow Creek  

Engage in that “salt-of-the-earth” hospitality!

⤐throw 5 gold-level social gatherings of your choice. Must invite at least 5 friends to each.

⤐take 5-10 pictures of various happenings, activities, or friends your Sim makes

⤐bonus points for captures of the ferryboat, the willow trees, and THE Bob Pancakes

⤐catch a treefish

⤐max the cooking skill. It takes a lot of charcoal know-how to throw the perfect BBQ. 

2 - Oasis Springs

Dig that ‘eclectic culture!’

⤐join the local entertainment scene by busking 5,000 Simoleons through either comedy routines or a musical instrument.

⤐take 5-10 pictures of various happenings, activities, or friends your Sim makes

⤐catch a batfish

⤐max the bowling skill (if you have Bowling Night)

3 - Magnolia Promenade

Show those big-city proprietors that you can make Simoleons with the best of them!

⤐own a store, or sell items from a sales table, for four weeks to fund the next leg of your journey. 

⤐take 5-10 pictures of various happenings, activities, or friends your Sim makes.

⤐max the violin skill. because you’re going to be playing the world’s smallest violin over also having to max the mischief skill! for some reason!

4 - Windenburg

Get together with the friends you make and party down!

⤐join or create a club of like-minded individuals, and spend a night-out with everyone at every single community lot. obviously this should happen over the course of several nights.

⤐if your Sim is invited out by anyone, for any reason, they have to go. unless your Sim is washing their hair, obviously.

⤐take 5-10 pictures of various happenings, activities, or friends your Sim makes

⤐max dancing and/or DJ skill

5 - Granite Falls

Experience the wonders of nature!

⤐go camping for (at least) a season.

⤐meet the Hermit and gain their power (or just their friendship).

⤐max out herbalism. catch a mountain lionfish.

⤐take 5-10 pictures of various happenings, activities, or friends your Sim makes

6 - San Myshuno

Time to see the big-city sights!

⤐hit-up each of the 5 festivals. that’s right, you’re in the city for a while, folks.

⤐join a protest.

⤐collect as many unique snow globes as possible.

⤐take 5-10 pictures of various happenings, activities, or friends your Sim makes.

⤐max the singing skill.

7 - Forgotten Hollow

I vant to suck your vlad. I mean blood!

⤐turn into a vampire… and cure yourself. or don’t cure yourself. either way, it’s fang-gang time.

⤐take 5-10 pictures of various happenings, activities, or friends your Sim makes.

⤐max the vampire lore and pipe-organ skills

8 - Brindleton Bay

It’s raining cats and dogs! Also a lot of rain. You’re on the coast, after all.

⤐rescue/horde 5+ stray cats or dogs. whether you keep them or give them up for adoption to better-suited homes is up to you.

⤐just smell that sea-side air! max the fishing skill and collect 3-5 rare fish.

⤐take 5-10 pictures of various happenings, activities, or friends your Sim makes

⤐max the pet-training skill. 

9 - Selvadorada

Dig that jungle soil.

⤐remember, there’s a difference between ‘traveler’ and ‘tourist’! max the Selvadoradian culture skill. and the archaeology skill, if you’d like.

⤐collect 3-5 rare relics. and give them to a museum, damnit.

⤐take 5-10 pictures of various happenings, activities, or friends your Sim makes.

10 - Del Sol Valley

Will you see your name in lights? Probably not.

⤐join the acting career, do a few commercials, and realize it’s not for you.

⤐or don’t! max out acting skill and become a big-time actor, if you want! 

⤐take 5-10 pictures of various happenings, activities, or friends your Sim makes.

⤐bonus point for every celebrity you take a selfie with.

11 - StrangerVille

“The only thing stranger than the people are the visitors!”

⤐solve StrangeVille’s problems once and for all, or become a follower of the Mother Plant (ie meet, become infected, but don’t kill)

⤐take 5-10 pictures of various happenings, activities, or friends your Sim makes.

⤐max the gardening and logic skills. 

12 - Sulani

Time to hit the beach.

⤐turn into a mermaid… and cure yourself. or not! either way, fins are happenin’!

⤐take 5-10 pictures of various happenings, activities, or friends that your Sim makes.

⤐max the wellness skill.

13  - Glimmerbrook

The witching hour.

⤐turn into a spellcaster… and cure yourself. or not! either way, sparkle sparkle!

⤐take 5-10 pictures of various happenings, activities, or friends your Sim makes.

⤐max baking skill. baking is like magic… but with sugar.

14 - Brightchester

Hit-up a college town and learn something new.

⤐there are some things that even the road can’t teach you. enroll in university and get a degree. or don’t! either way, spend four weeks hanging out in Brightchester, attending/throwing parties, making friends, and appreciating a Sim’s lack of hangover.

⤐throw 5 gold-star keg-parties.

⤐take 5-10 pictures of various happenings, activities, or friends your Sim makes.

⤐max research and debate skill. and robotics, if you want.

15 - Evergreen Harbor

Will you wrought chaos or bring peace? Both is good.

⤐influence the town for either good or bad, and then keep moving. choose a neighborhood, change its carbon footprint to any other state, as well as change the community space.

⤐max fabrication and/or juice-fizzing skill.

⤐take 5-10 pictures of various happenings, activities, or friends your Sim makes.

16 - Henford-On-Bagley

Fancy a cuppa?

⤐win 1st place at any of the Fenwick Fairs.

⤐max cross-stitch. and knitting.

⤐take 5-10 pictures of various happenings, activities, or friends your Sim makes.

17  - Moonwood Mill

Is that a full moon I see? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

⤐turn into a werewolf... and cure yourself. or not! either way… nibble nibble?

⤐take 5-10 pictures of various happenings, activities, or friends your Sim makes.

⤐max fitness skill.

18 - Tartosa

Put a ring on it!

⤐you're not escaping Tartosa without experiencing a whirlwind romance. meet a local, get engaged to a long-time sweetheart, or maybe someone you've met on the road, but, either way, you're getting hitched. it's up to you if your Sim stays that way. after all, married and divorced in Tartosa has a nice 'ring' to it… doesn't it?'

(thanks to @anvilesi for the suggestion!)

⤐take 5-10 pictures of various happenings, activities, or friends your Sim makes.

[raayllum]

I've seen a few people say the time jump is lazy or just an excuse to skip over two years and "start fresh". I personally disagree (maybe I'm biased and or desperate) but how do you feel about the time skip?

Oh I always assumed TDP would have one since... S2, I think? The fact that the show hadn't laid down a firm timeline of "Plot thing must be resolved by [X Date]" (think defeating the Firelord by the end of summer for ATLA, which we learn eight episodes into the series) meant that it had a lot of room to maneuver, time wise. Here's an older post detailing why (aka April 2019, woof). I thought we'd get like a 6 months to 1 year timeskip now and a 3 year timeskip post-end of Arc 2 (which used to be S5 but is now S6, bless)

RN not much as happened over the past two years that couldn't have also happened in six months (aka Janai and Amaya are still trying to help Lux Aurea, Claudia has resurrected Viren, the broyals are in Katolis and Callum is missing Rayla) except to age the characters up and give the world more room to breathe, since s1-s3 was just about a month. It also shows that the world is more complicated politically, since issues are still here and it's been as long a time period as it has been

The main complaint I've seen has been about the relationships happening off screen, mainly Claudia/Terry and Janai/Amaya. I expect we'll get flashbacks or references to how Claudia and Terry met and developed their dynamic (possibly 4x02, as I think it'll possibly help us play catch up in general and TDP typically has 2ish flashback focused eps a season, so one could be here and another could be for Aaravos). For Janai and Amaya, as soon as I saw the timeskip had been that long, I wasn't surprised at all they were getting engaged, as they're adults and were already flirting by the end of season three. I could buy them dancing around it for six months maybe, but probably not longer. Again, I'd love to see flashbacks, but I'm not bothered!

Like hell I spent the last two years dreaming up scenarios of Rayla coming back, Callum being in denial, too, but mostly of Callum following Rayla into Xadia right away, and you don't see me bitching about it, because I can recognize when the show hasn't actually promised me anything. It's all just speculation and expectations and until a show is breaking its lore or themes (which TDP is not) you'll be hard pressed to find me butt-hurt about it

But if people wanted to see a week by week play through with little plot and watching Callum learn two new sky spells every season on screen, and nitty-gritty political meetings, and long hours of Janai learning ASL, that's their prerogative. It's just not mine, and clearly not the actual Plot's, either

Basically as always:

[ashleycatchemm]

1-15: I Hate Myself For Loving You

Part 15 of ??

Pairings: Reggie x Reader, Luke x Julie, Alex x Willie

Summary: (Y/n) (L/n) has been able to see and feel ghosts ever since she was little, which made it hard to tell the ghosts from the humans. Everyone has always thought she was a bit crazy, even her best friends, Julie and Flynn. But when three ghosts with a love for music appear in Julie's garage, suddenly (Y/n) doesn't seem so crazy anymore.

Song: I Hate Myself For Loving You (Joan Jett & the Blackhearts)

Season 1 Masterlist

Series Masterlist

Main Masterlist

♬♩♪♩♬♩♪♩♬♩👻 ♪♩♬♩♪♩♬♩♪♩

The four of us practiced the chords to the song Finally Free, I stayed quiet, only focusing on the chords I played. Julie sat behind the electric piano, playing her notes, Luke stood between me and Reggie as we played, I wanted to put as much space between me and Reggie as possible. Reggie was just as quiet as me, which was new considering the fact that he always seems to be talking. "One more time." Luke stated as we went through the same group of cords together again.

Once we hit the last note, Alex phased through the door. I took my guitar off and leaned it against the wall, as I walked over to the couch. "Oh hey Alex" Reggie stated as I flopped back on the couch. "Where've you been, man? We need to start practicing." Luke stated as Alex stood there confused, looking between the four of us he asked "Yeah? For what?" Alex eyes stopped on Julie expecting an answer.

The door to the studio suddenly opened, Flynn walked in doing a pose as she stated "Dance news!" With a smile on her face, she then walked over to Julie with a small frown "I don't have a date" I sat up as Flynn continued "But I don't care, because I'm so psyched to see you guys preform." Alex seemed annoyed as he stated "Oh man! We're playing a dance?" His eyes moved over to Luke, as Luke just sat back in the bean bag behind him. "Of course, dude. That's how we get a following nowadays." Julie chuckled as she stated "Yeah, get with the program, Alex." This cause a chuckle to escape past my lips. Luke sent Julie a smile as Flynn yelled "What? The guys are here?" She threw her arms at her sides before waving in the wrong direction.

"Hey guys!"

I raised a brow at her as I stated "Other way girl." Flynn let out an "Oh" and turned around to wave at them, Reggie responded with his usual smile and a wave. Alex waved bringing up his jacket with him, considering both hands were shoved in his pockets. "Okay, now that Alex has graced us with his presence, can we start working?" Julie said "Yes!" Before turning to look at Flynn "We're gonna rehears. You wanna stick around?" Flynn looked off to the side while saying "I'm supposed to blow up 500 balloons for the school dance" looking back at Julie she continued "But, this sounds way better." I stuck my hand up seeing as now was a good time to explain that I won't be at the dance.

"Hey so um, I feel like I should tell you that I'm not gonna be at the dance"

This seemed to grab everyone's attention, mostly the guys as they didn't already know this information. Reggie opened his mouth to say something only for Luke to beat him to it "Wh-Wh-What do you mean you aren't gonna be there?" He let out a small sarcastic laugh before continuing "You have to be there. We have a gig." His tone was serious, and as much as this meant to him, I couldn't just not show up at Calebs. "Listen Luke. I have work. And my boss is not someone you wanna piss off okay?" I stood up, giving him a frustrated look, I wasn't mad but I just hated this situation. If I had a choice I'd go to the gig in a heart beat, but I don't, as long as this stamp is on my wrist Caleb owns me and there is nothing I can do about it.

Luke was about to say something only for Reggie to quickly ask "Cant you just ask your boss for the night off or something? I'm sure he'll understand." I shook my head before sitting back down on the couch behind me "No Reggie. Just drop it." I stared at Reggie, as he stared back at me, having a look on his face, as if he was trying to figure me out. My (e/c) eyes were practically begging him to let things go, or at least wait to talk about it later like he normally does. A determined look crossed his face, which only meant one thing, that he wasn't going to let this go. 'Guess I've been acting to weird for him to just drop the subject.' I thought as Reggie opened his mouth to say something, only for Julies brother to come marching inside the studio.

"Hey, Julie."

This caused Reggie to close his mouth shut, I let out a small sigh of relief in response, not wanting to have this conversation with Reggie right at the moment. Carlos walked through Alex, a picture in hand as he stated "Remember those orbs in Dad's pictures? I...I think they're ghosts." This peaked my interest as Carlos placed the picture on top of the electric piano, Julie picked it up and looked at it. I got up and made my way over to the piano, looking over Julies shoulder to see the picture. "But don't worry. This room is...is..." I noticed the three glowing orbs in the picture, only to look over at Carlos, who spun around trying to get a read on the room.

"This room is clean. I'm not getting the ghost tinglies."

I raised my brows in amusement at Carlos' statement, Reggie spoke up "Wrong again, little dude." This caused a small giggle to leave my lips, my eyes met Reggies, only for him to send me a wink. I felt my face heat up and was quick to bring my attention back to Carlos who stated"Have no fear. If they come back, I will protect you. Because I am the man of the house." Julie smiled and crossed her arms across her chest "Isn't dad supposed to be the man of the house?" I smiled at their interaction.

It was now Carlos' turn to cross his arms across his chest as he stated "There can be two." Julie chuckled in response as Carlos continued "Dad needs all the help he can get, right?" Taking out a container of salt he continued "According to the internet, salt burns their souls out." I rolled my eyes at this 'ah the internet, still spitting out false information to people.' Carlos opened the container as the guys held panicked looks on their faces. "A little sprinkle will keep them from ever coming in here" I let out a laugh while shaking my head grabbing the container from Carlos hands.

"Okay, listen, that stuff online is just a bunch of hogwash they tell you, when none of its actually true."

Carlos narrowed his eyes as me as I shut the container of salt. The guys relaxed as I spoke, only for them to grow panicked again at my next words "Besides..." kneeling down to Carlos' height "If you really wanna get rid of them. Use sage. You burn that stuff and all the bad ghosts will be gone." I smiled at him, only for him to question my idea "oh yeah? And how do you know that will work?" I shrugged and answered with a question "How do you know the salt will work?" He went to say something only to shut his mouth while nodding his head.

"Good point."

A smirk graced my lips as an "mmhmm" left them, standing back up I handed him the salt while saying "Give the sage a try and if that fails, use the salt." Carlos nodded his head, tossing the container in his hands a little before sending me a smile "Yeah okay." Julie suddenly cleared her throat grabbing mine and Carlos attention, only for Flynn to say "Oh! Carlos! You know who's hungry? Me! Um, salt me a path to the kitchen." Carlos pointed out the door as he walked out, Flynn following close behind.

Alex was the first to speak up after they left "Great! Now we are gonna get saged off of earth!" I rolled my eyes at Alex's panic, taking a seat on the couch "Relax, Sage is for bad spirits. You really think I would tell him how to actually get rid of ghosts?" I raised a brow at him as I put my feet up on the table in front of me "Besides if I actually wanted to get rid of you guys, I would've done it already." I made a face as I waved my hands in front of me "It's this long annoying process anyway. No way I'm doing all that. Don't even have all the ingredients." I looked up for a second, thinking back to the ingredients in the box.

"...at least I think I don't."

Luke pointed a finger at me while saying "Ya know I always forget that you're a witch." This grabbed Alex and Julies attention, Alex was quick to ask Luke in astonishment "She's a witch?" Julie was looking at me as she asked at the same time as Alex "You're a witch?" I rolled my eyes before narrowing them at Luke 'Thanks a lot Luke.' I thought before letting out a sigh and shrugging my shoulders, I went to respond, only for Alex to speak up before I could "Yeah okay. Ghosts, alright believable. But witches?" Alex let out a small laugh as if saying that I don't exist would calm him down "No way." He stated with a shake of his head.

I shrugged while throwing my legs up on the other end of the couch "Believe what you want. But it's the truth." I closed my eyes as I leaned back on the couch, Julie being the next person to speak "But (Y/n), I've known you for years. How come you never told me?" Opening my eyes, I looked over at her "Did you believe me when I told you about ghosts?" Julie let out a nervous laugh while moving her head from side to side "Fair point." She stated.

I nodded my head to her while saying "Exactly." Shrugging my shoulders, I continued "Besides, I don't do that stuff anymore anyway. Not since..." I trailed off, thinking back to the accident, their screams and pain all being because of me. Because I lost control. Shaking my head, I brought myself back to the conversation at hand "Anyway, you guys should get rehearsing. The gig isn't gonna play itself." Sending them a smile, Luke excitedly got up while saying "Yes please." Alex got behind the drums as Luke turned to Julie "But remind us later. There is some Sunset Curve songs to show you two." He pointed between me and Julie at the end of his sentence. Julie pushed the mic away from her "Oooo! Show us now." She stated causing Luke to quickly kneel down to grab his journal excitedly while saying "Yeah okay." I suppressed a laugh, because of Luke's behavior.

Reggie got up off the chair he was currently sitting on as Luke paused, looking down at his journal. "Home is where my horse is. Reggie, stop putting your country songs in my journal." Luke took Reggie's song out of his journal as Reggie walked over to him. Luke put the piece of paper down on top of the amp as Reggie stated "That, was a gift." A smile graced my lips as I moved myself so my body now faced the boys, resting my elbow on the arm of the couch, the side of my face sitting in my hand. "Damn straight." I stated, causing Reggie to send me his infamous smirk, along with a wink. This caused a giggle to arise from me as Reggie stared at me with a goofy smile on his face. Only for Luke to grab Reggie's attention back as he hit him lightly in the arm with his journal "Thanks buddy" he stated as he walked over to Julie.

"You should maybe circle back, could be..."

Reggie trailed off as Luke walked away, realizing he wasn't even listening to him anymore. Reggie walked back over to his amp as Luke handed Julie the journal "I dog-eared the ones that I think you would slay." Julie started flipping through the journal, until she stopped and Asked "Who's Emily?" This peaked my interest as I sat up "Woah woah wait, let me see." I went to go look at the journal only for Luke to state "That ones not dog-eared." He tried to take it back, only for Julie to quickly stand up bringing the journal with her. I now stood next to Julie and looked over her shoulder as she read the lyrics "If you could only know that I never let you go" Julie let out a small chuckle.

"Wow, Luke, I didn't know you were such a romantic."

Julie stated and I let out a chuckle while asking "Yeah, got a girl back in 1995 we should know of?" Julie let out a small laugh at my statement only for Alex to walk over and step into the conversation for his friend "He doesn't. That ones actually about-" but got cut off by Luke who held out a hand to Alex as if to silence him as he said "No one." Turning to look at me and Julie "Uh, that's just something that I tried, and..." he tried to take the journal back again only for Julie to hold it close to her.

Giving up on getting his journal back, he decided to change the subject "But if you go to the next dog-eared page. I got a tune that's just... it's got a killer beat." Luke went over to his amp and started playing a tune on his guitar, that sounded all to familiar. Alex and Reggie seemed to have heard the tune before as smiles made their way onto their faces, I watched as Reggie's mouth moved along to the tune of the electric guitar. Julie sat back down while saying "So you wanna sample." Luke stopped playing once those words left her mouth.

A scoff left his lips almost as if he was offended "What do you mean 'sample' ?" I crossed my arms a little surprised that they even knew the song, considering it came out in 1997 "Sample someone else's music." I stated only for Julie to bounce off of what I said "Me and my mom used to sing that song at the top of our lungs in the car all the time. It's a classic Trevor Wilson song." Luke shook his head in response "Nope." He leaned over, lifting up the open journal to show her "It's a classic our song." Reggie then hopped into the conversation, a proud smile on his face.

"Pure Sunset Curve. Never even heard of Trevor Wilson."

Alex nodded his head in agreement as he stated "Yeah, maybe you're mixing it up, you know, with another song." I raised a brow as Julie and I looked at each other, only to look back at the boys in front of us. "We don't mix up songs." Julie stated and I bounced off her statement "Yeah, trust us. We used to be friends with his daughter. Hell, Julie was best friends with the bitch." Julie gave me an annoyed look before rolling her eyes, throwing her input out there "Well she wasn't always mean ya know. I used to hangout at their place all the time. I know that song." Alex moved back and fourth on his feet before saying an unsure "Okay" suddenly Julie grabbed her laptop, sitting it on top of the electric piano.

"Here, I'll prove it."

She stated as she started typing away on her laptop. Only to bring up a picture of Trevor Wilson, turning the laptop to face them. "His first album had a bunch of hits, but none of his latest stuff is as good." Reggie and Alex leaned in, eyes widening in shock as Alex hit Reggie in the chest in surprise. "That's Bobby." Luke stated almost bitterly. This caused my eyes to widen as I finally pieced together what is going on 'oh no.' I thought as Julie said "Seriously? I just told you his name is Trevor." Alex put a hand up as if to tell Julie to be quiet while the three of them try to process things. "Ok, great. Then... Then he changed it. Alright?" Alex stated as the three of them stared at the screen in front of them, he brought up a hand to point at the screen as he continued "That's definitely Bobby. He was our rhythm guitarist." Julie let out a small chortle of disbelief.

She was quick to ask "Trevor Wilson was in your band?" I shook my head while saying "That's not impossible, remember Julie this was all the way back in 1995, isn't that when Trevor started his career?" She nodded her head "Well yeah.." she stated still unable to believe it to be true. Reggie's face scrunched up "I can't get over how old he looks." Alex shook his head, bouncing off Reggie's statement "Oh... He looks like a substitute teacher." Luke was silent, his face holding a look of betrayal and hurt, his hand gripped the strap of his guitar tightly. "Girls..." Everyone's attention now turned to Luke as he stared Julie and I down "What were his other hits?" I stayed silent, not wanting to contribute to the fact that they could become vengeful spirits if they found out.

Julie shrugged before stating "Get lost" Luke's face shifted to anger as he responded with "Yeah. I wrote that." Before taking off his guitar and going to put it down. Seeing the look on his face caused me to speak up "Julie, I wouldn't-" but she spoke up anyway asking "Long weekend?" Luke stayed silent, so Reggie spoke up for him, an almost angry tone to his voice "Yeah, Luke wrote that one too." Julie went silent for a second, only to bring up "Crooked Teeth?" Alex nodded his head, having a much calmer tone than the other two upset band members "And that. It was about Reggie." Pointing his thumb over at Reggie.

Reggie quickly turned his head to look at Alex a surprised and almost hurt look on his face "What? I thought that was about you!" Luke Started grabbing the darts from off the dart board on the wall as Reggie continued in a grumpy tone "I don't like that song anymore." Stomping his foot he went over to the chair he was sitting in before and sat back down in it glumly. Julie was finally starting to wrap her brain around things as she said "Wait. This is...freaking me out. Trevor's songs are kind of big to me. He's the one who introduced me to rock." Alex pointed to Luke as he stated annoyedly "Yeah. Luke introduced you to rock." Luke stayed silent as he angrily threw the darts at the dart board.

Julie spoke again "So this whole time, I thought you were connected to my mom. But instead, you're connected to Carrie's dad?" Alex let out a sigh as he dejectedly sat down, leaning back against the drums. "Out of all people, it had to be the one girl who had it out for me." I scoffed as I glared down at the ground in front of me "If you think she has it out for you, try living a day in my life." This caught Julie's attention, as she looked over at me. I turned my head to look a her as I moved back over to the couch "Do you know how much shit I have to put up with a day because of her? Hell, I've learned to block things out but..." I leaned back and put my beanie on my face as if to cloud myself from my own anger and frustration.

All the things that Carrie has done to me hurts, I can't step one foot in the school without someone whispering about me. People actively try to avoid me because of her, and if it wasn't for Julie and Flynn, I wouldn't even have any living friends, the only person I'd have would be Willie. I let out a sigh and fixed my beanie "You know what? It doesn't matter. She's just a bitch." Julie nodded her head in agreement, as I caught the eyes of Reggie, I could tell he knew that I wanted to say more as he stared me down. I could see the hurt written across his face, but not from me, no. It was because of Trevor Wilson. I felt a weight settle itself on my chest, as I willed myself to look away.

Alex spoke up from the floor "Alright, well, add it to our list of questions" Julie responded bringing Carrie back up "Back when Carrie and I were friends...the three of us used to talk about music all the time." She shook her head before continuing "He never mentioned you guys." Luke threw the last of the darts before angrily shouting "And that's unbelievable!" I noticed Reggie jump a little at the loudness of Luke's voice, only for him to continue "Okay, he can take all the credit and he doesn't even mention us?" Alex and Reggie both gave a small shake of their heads, not even knowing what to say.

Julie suddenly spoke up "And he's rich." I widened my eyes and was quick to say "Julie. Don't." She looked back at me in confusion "What? They deserve to know." Luke was quick to bring his thoughts into the conversation "Yeah. We deserve to know, considering my songs made him rich!" I shook my head and stated "Well I'd rather not have three vengeful ghosts to deal with." I sent Luke a glare, him glaring right back at me. He went to say something, only for Reggie to yell "Julie!" Everyone now looked over at Reggie in surprise, he was up out of his seat and looked between me and Luke an almost panicked expression on his face.

I stared at him in confusion, not knowing why he was so jumpy. Taking a glance at Luke I noticed the anger leave his face, but an upset look still sat on his features. Looking back at Reggie, I watched as he cleared his throat, his eyes drifting over to Julie. "What else does he have?" Julie shrugged while saying "He has his own helicopter." Luke let out a groan in aggravation before throwing another dart at the dartboard.

The three musicians all gathered in front of the laptop on the piano, once again as Alex asked "He has...He has a... a helicopter?" A picture of his house now sat on her laptop to show the boys as she stated "With his face on it." Reggie was quick to comment on the house "And he parks it in front of that hotel?" He pointed at the screen, Julie shook her head as she stated "No. he gets to park it in front of his mansion." In a high pitched voice Reggie said "Mansion?" Alex was quick to comment to Luke "Dude, we live in a garage." The bassist and drummer now looked to their lead guitarist.

Luke, now angry once again, shouted "It's not about the money. It's about the music!" Reggie then countered "It's a little bit about the money though!" Arms thrown lightly at his sides in slight aggravation, Alex voiced his agreement in a small high pitched voice "A little bit about the money." he brought up his right hand and held his thumb and his pointer finger close together as if to signify how much the money means to them. Reggie then started to think about their families, and like the caring person he was, stated "He could've shared it with our families. Maybe then my parents, wouldn't have had their house turned into a bike shack." Reggie started leaning in to get in Luke's face, only for Alex to hit him in the chest causing Reggie to back up.

Luke started leaning over to get in Reggie's face as he stated "What he did is steal our legacy." The three ghosts went silent, Luke having a look I've grown all to familiar with ghosts having. His eyes drifted over to Julie as he asked the question I was dreading "Where does he live?" I shook my head, stepping in to stop things from going to far "Uh, uh. No way. Think about what you're gonna do before you do it Luke. Revenge isn't the answer." Luke ignored me and focused on Julie "Julie, please..." he practically begged her with his eyes, only for Julie to let out a sigh "Above the beach in Malibu." Luke bumped his shoulder into Alex before grabbing his jacket.

Reggie suddenly spoke in anger, causing surprise to grace my features at his words "Let's go teach him a lesson." My eyes stayed glued onto Reggie who's face held an angry expression, Julie shot up and out of her seat "Wait. What? Guys! We have to rehearse for the dance. This is our first gig!" Reggie didn't even look at me, but I wanted him too. It felt awful, seeing him this upset over something, makes me want to help him in anyway I can. I felt drawn to him, and there wasn't anything I could do to stop myself from taking a step towards him. Except for the three of them quickly disappearing.

Once they were gone, I stood still. My eyes still glued onto the place Reggie once was. Shaking my head, I ran a hand down the side of my face while saying "O deus meus." In aggravation. "Okay boys!" Julie and I turned our attention to Flynn who walked into the studio "Break times over, okay? Get to playin." A smirk graced Flynn's lips as she continued "Mama needs her eye candy." Julie was quick to tell Flynn of the latest news.

"They're  gone."

Flynn went quiet waiting for an explanation as I nodded my head "Your girl Jules here decided to not heed my warnings and now we are dealing with three angry poltergeist." Rubbing my forehead in annoyance Flynn stared at Julie with her arms crossed an almost aggravated look sat on her face. Julie gave an innocent smile as she slowly shrugged her shoulders "At least we know where they're going..." I nodded my head and let out a small sigh in annoyance.

"That we do."

Prev // Next

[twin-books]

Anon from earlier here: Thanks for being so civil and explaining your viewpoints. I definitely agree with Adrien coming across as heartless for e.g. with Kagami. To me it seems he often has blinds on about what effect his behaviour can have on others (in-universe i'd say because Gabriel doesn't react much to anything Adrien does and I think Adrien is very caught in his own worldview/emotions; out-universe I'd say the writers didn't think that far with him). He really hardly shows any remorse.

A good word for Adrien's character I have finally put my finger on is... Shallow. He's very shallow. There's not much there to explore. Everything there is at surface level. Most of what we know about Adrien is his talents and then his love for Ladybug. Nothing is presented as an interest for Adrien. I actually can't think of one interest Adrien has besides maybe gaming? Though it's not focused on too much and it feels less like an interest and more just like a way to wind down. I can tell you exactly what Adrien is talented at. That's absolutely easy but that doesn't mean he's interested in any of them. Modeling, gaming, dancing, piano playing, teaching, so forth and so on. I can tell you exactly what his outward appearing strengths are but that doesn't mean they have any real expansiveness to them. Kind, smart, patient, reckless, jokester, so on and so forth. But then these also don't get cemented down in place and he's shown to be mean, dumb, impatient, careful, serious, so forth and so on. None of these things do anything to support his character to share a narrative to his story. The only thing I can say for certain that lends to his character is the amount of grief he is going through. Whether that's all just for this mom or losing his connection with his father or both... I don't truly know. And I most certainly know he loves Ladybug, though that also feels very shallow. It's not explored much at all why he truly likes Ladybug, besides the fact she's heroic and nice to him. There's a passing comment in season 1 once that kind of hints that she partially reminds him of his mother but that isn't expanded upon in the slightest. Does she allow him to be more open than with anyone else in his life? Does her heroics inspire him to be a better hero? Is she possibly a distraction from the pain in his life? I just don't know. I don't know who Adrien Agreste is. And because he's so shallow he acts shallow. He handles almost everything at surface level. The only times I can think he doesn't do this is when he ends up giving Ladybug little inspiring speeches because, for once, he is focusing on something deeper than outward appearances and talents. Now I don't have a problem with a character being undefined like this, especially when the narrative seems to be pushing it in this direction because clearly the character doesn't have any idea who they are. But the issue is how long it's gone on and how the ball only just started rolling in season 4. That's a long time to be stuck with the same character with no direction in sight. That's a long time to finally just now attack the issue. Unfortunately it's been too long and I've run all out of patience. I just don't have the capacity to care about Adrien finally recognizing he doesn't have an identity. I'm exhausted. However, at the end of the day this is just poor writing and I prefer to just embrace my own direction for Adrien and reject canon. I want to be able to enjoy Adrien (as well as other miraculous characters) despite how the show has exhausted me. So I end up doing what most people do and grab a few things I like, patchwork a foundation, and build from there. Also, thank you, anon, for being so civil and fun to talk with. I do enjoy your perspective! It's rather a refreshing take and one that I want to think more on! I think you're an absolute joy! You also brought me back to reality and reminded me that fandom spaces aren't all just toxicity which I unfortunately have fallen victim to believing. Thanks for reminding me of that. Please stop by any time! <3

I hope you're having a lovely day, afternoon, evening, or whatever time it is where you are. <3

[sometipsygnostalgic]

Out of the animated shows you've watched, which do you consider having the best and the worst finales?

That's a difficult question. I haven't got a big list. For most of them I either haven't seen the finale, or it's far from the best episode.

Pokemon Sun and Moon had a really sweet finale, but it was a lot like the SU Future one, wherein you had Ash saying goodbye to everyone. Though I think it was far more emotional and hard earned than SU's version. But I think everyone agrees it was the best finale to a Pokemon series yet.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Season 1 had a phenomenal finale. 2nd gig also had an okay ending, the scene with the tachkoma will make you cry, but I liked it a lot less.

OK KO!'s finale was..... eh. In good spirits but not amazing. My favourite part was TKO's breakdown and KO playing the song, and them realising that... they were the same person. It is an important lesson to young viewers on processing your emotions!

Steven Universe had a terrible finale. Like, the only part of it I enjoy is when White is terrorizing them and Steven is split in two and dances back together. The entire finale, and the entire series, is built around that scene, but as a result, it's the only satisfying part.

Steven Universe Future had... um. I was not a fan of Kaiju Steven. And I think the episode that happened afterwards was the most vanilla milquetoast "leaving town" template ep I've ever seen. Sorry, I don't like Future. It did the characters I love dirty.

Star Vs. the Forces of Evil, which I assume is the show you're wondering about, had a finale that... wasn't the best. I don't think it's terrible, I enjoyed it, but the whole "magic getting destroyed" part is a bunch of nonsense. Return magic to the people, like in She-ra - don't annihilate it!

She-Ra had the best finale of the stuff on this list so far, but that's mostly because of the Catra/Adora/Shadow Weaver scenes. I also really loved the Entrapta and Hordak scenes, and the one Mara scene. All of these were satisfying and emotional!!! The rest of the finale is "eh", going through the motions, there's way too much of them stopping people with love, but it's a really good end to the show and these strong, focused moments - with lots of breathing room -more than make up for the worse parts.

Adventure Time had a wild finale, but compared to normal episodes of the show, it's middle of the road at best. Betty-tier, in my opinion. Far from AT's strongest. I do love some scenes but wish they'd been given more space.

Adventure Time: Distant Lands... I count "Together Again" as the finale. And jesus fucking christ. That has to be one of the most emotional things I've seen in my ding dang life. I'd say it annihilates nearly everything above. Though more for the start and ending scenes rather than the main content.

Gravity Falls is, well, I'll tell you once I finish rewatching it. I remember enjoying Weirdmageddon! But... I did not enjoy how quickly the “final problem” was resolved. I’d have preferred a more ambiguous, yet optimistic, ending here.  

Over the Garden Wall is simply a masterpiece.

Infinity Train doesn't really have a series finale, but I DO love the "Train to Nowhere" scene. The book 1 finale was also strong.

Samurai Jack had a random ep as the season 4 finale, then the adult swim season 5 came out over 10 years later. I was digging the AS version, until they started throwing in penis jokes and romance, and then I just.... got turned off, hardcore. The finale was dissatisfying for the obvious reasons of leaving the Future to get destroyed/erased, and Ashi's refridgerator death.

Dragonball, Dragonball Z, and Dragonball Super all have wonderful finales (yes, unfortunately, episode 131 of Super is probably the series finale). They're not clever, but they're good fun. In DB, Goku becomes the strongest in the world and cheerfully rides away with Chi-Chi. In DBZ, there's a far more emotional scene, with Goku using the power of the world to defeat Buu. And asks Kami to reincarnate him! Then in End of Z, well, he kind of fucks off with Uub, which I guess is less satisfying, but is VERY Goku. And in Dragonball Super, the final ep is the climactic, massively engaging finale of the Tournament of Power, which was a rocky road, but god damn, there's a reason these episodes basically destroyed Brazil.

Hell, even Dragonball GT has an OK finale. I think it's GT Goku saying Goodbye to everyone before he runs off with Shenron. Has the SU Future issue of ending a terrible series with a "generic goodbye", but like, it's more true to the characters.

Anyway, that's the end of my opinions. I can't think of any more right now.

[vavuska]

TINA AND HER LOVE FANTASIES

1 - Tina dated a ghost in Tina and the Real Ghost (Season 5, Episode 2)

The basement storage space of the restaurant has a bug infestation and Bob has an exterminator come to check it out. However, the exterminator claims the basement is haunted and refuses to treat the infestation, claiming they need to make contact with the spirit to get rid of it. Linda and the kids decide to use a Ouija board to communicate with the ghost and trap it in a shoebox to get rid of it. Using the board, they learn that the ghost is a 13-year-old boy named Jeff, which piques Tina's interest. After "trapping" Jeff in the box, Tina refuses to throw "him" out and brings him with her to school. Tammy, Jocelyn, Zeke, and Jimmy Jr. taunt Tina about the box, until Louise has them all use the Ouija board to communicate with Jeff. They become convinced Jeff is real, and through the board, learn that Jeff is cool and that he has a crush on Tina.

Tina and Jeff begin going out, earning her attention from her friends, though she has some doubts about whether Jeff is real. However, Tammy takes the box and claims that Jeff left a message written in steam on the girls' bathroom mirror that says he's breaking up with Tina and is now dating Tammy. Tina is heartbroken. The family tries to decide how to cheer Tina up and Louise reveals to the rest of the family that she controlled the Ouija board and made Jeff up, but did not anticipate that Tina would fall in love with him or that Tammy would one-up her by stealing Tina's popularity with a similar ruse.

Louise and Gene resolve to get back at Tammy by scaring her on Halloween night when the older kids plan to enter a mausoleum in the nearby cemetery. Tina surprises them by joining the group and they head into the mausoleum, which immediately shuts and traps them inside in complete darkness. Louise takes this opportunity to steal the box and fill it with bugs from the restaurant and gives it back to Tammy to open. The kids light a candle and are frightened to find a message written in blood on the mausoleum walls, allegedly from Jeff, condemning them all to Hell.

Scared, Tammy confesses that she wrote the fake breakup message and throws the box away, causing the bugs to swarm them all. Tina calms everyone down by revealing that she pretended the mausoleum door was locked and wrote the message before they arrived in ketchup to scare them, having realized long ago that Jeff was not real.

She explains that they all believed in Jeff because he was able to give them something they wanted: Tina wanted a boyfriend, Zeke wanted to believe in the afterlife, Jocelyn wanted another way to conform, and Tammy wanted Jeff as a status symbol. Tina states that they can get these things from themselves, though they all agree that Tammy is terrible. Louise is impressed that Tina pulled such a great Halloween prank on all of them.

2 - Tina dated a duck in Every Which Way but Goose (Season 9, Episode 14)

When Jimmy Jr. cancels their school dance plans, Tina, discouraged by not being asked to prom by Jimmy Jr., forms an unhealthy attachment to a goose from the nearby park.

Tina's story revolves around her theme "Dance of the Living Dead" being chosen for the school dance. She goes berserk when Jimmy Jr. won't ask her to the dance (which was due to an embarrassing injury) and ends up forming a bond with a goose - she named Bruce - at the local park. This leads to the goose disrupting the dance when it followed her to school.

This is one of the rare episodes where we see Jimmy Junior being bashful of his feelings towards Tina.

During the dance, Gene and Louise find out why Jimmy Junior didn't ask Tina. While dancing, he injured his buttocks. He felt embarrassed about what Tina would think of his injury and not being able to dance with her.

“I pulled my butt muscle doing a very difficult move from Save the Last Dance. There. I said it. (sighs) It feels good not to hide my butt stuff anymore. Anyway, I can't really dance, but I'd like to try. With you.”

He later sacrifices himself to save the trapped goose.

3 - Tina fell in love with a character from a Spanish audio course.

In Y Tu Tina También (Season 11, Episode 16) it’s school fair time again, and Gene and Louise are training hard on throwing skills to at last put Mr Frond smack in the dunk tank. Meanwhile, Tina is suffering crippling ennui, but is lifted out of it when she is forced to listen to Spanish audio lessons in the library to improve her grade and developed an infatuation with a spanish teenage boy – or rather, the voice of a 15 years-old boy named Rodrigo recorded on a 1980s Spanish language teaching cassette someone donated to the school.

Jokes about Tina obsession for love and boys:

Also producers made a joke about Tina's very developed ability to made up romantic stories with every single boy or object she saw.

In O.T.: The Outside Toilet (Season 3, Episode 15) Gene finds an expensive talking toilet out in the woods, he falls in love with it and he and his friends decide to protect it against an evil toilet hunter who calls himself Max Flush.

This is remarked in Just One of the Boyz 4 Now for Now (Season 9, Episode 1).

A news report on Boyz 4 Now shows that they're having auditions for a 4th member after a new album sells poorly. While Tina is taking napkins out of the car, she bumps into Damon, a boy going to the tryouts and says it's love at first sight. Convinced she's met the love of her life, Tina decides to disguise herself as a boy and sneak into the Boyz 4 Now auditions to find him, since girls aren't allowed to go to them. Tina struggles to keep focused due to other boys at the tryouts, so she understands that she doesn't love Damon because of all the boys she fantasized about.

Part 2

>>>>>

[rinisbowen]

What friendships do you expect to be explored in s3 of hsmtmts?

hi! thanks so much for the ask! this is hard because it's like- what i would personally want to see more of vs. what i think is likely... this is me trying to balance that haha. and also i think part of this hinges on casting choices made for frozen at the camp...

also i’m not including the like- romantic relationships, regardless of whether i expect them to be romantic at all this season, and regardless of how much of the relationship is based in friendship, because that would make this post a good bit longer than it already is.

PROJECTED:

nini and ashlyn:

if nini's at camp (and maybe even if she isn't) i'd expect to probably see more of her and ashlyn talking. they had a good number of scenes in season 1, and a few in season 2, and while part of the instigating factor of their positive relationship in season 1 is nini dating ej, ashlyn's cousin, my point stands. beyond ricky, ashlyn's the other like- songwriter in the group, and so nini in her focusing on her music, may likely spend time with ashlyn or talk to ashlyn a bit more.

nini and kourtney:

i think nini's biggest friendship will always be her and kourtney, so i'd be remiss not to mention them, but at the same time, i do also enjoy the fact kourtney's horizons are expanding beyond being nini's best friend. i think we'll definitely have kourtney out there supporting nini and nini supporting kourtney for her audition, like she did in early season 2 with her little team kourtney shirt. (that was really sweet ngl, big fan of that, especially after whatever that was in 1.09 when kourtney like- asked nini if it was okay for her to go on stage and perform for gina... that was weird...)

ricky and big red:

another best friend pair that we already know about, ricky and big red. imo there's no way he's not in the season in some kind of capacity, so if big red's not at camp, i'd anticipate us getting maybe a few facetimes with ricky and big red. (same for big red and ashlyn but that's a romantic relationship not a friendship, so that's another post). ricky and big red are best bros, there's no way we don't see them interact at least a few time. ricky supports big red a lot and big red does the same for ricky. depending on how they execute the lily storyline, i think big red may have a harder time supporting him in that particular endeavour, but they're still best friends, so i'd expect them to continue being supportive friends.

ricky and carlos:

ricky and carlos are probably going to have some more on screen friendship moments. this is ESPECIALLY if both big red and seb aren't at camp. they've gotten closer in 2.10 and well- i think i'd be a bit surprised if they did nothing with it. ricky's one of the main characters on this show, and his best friend is probably going to exist primarily through facetime, so he's going to need someone to confide in and it can't be nini this season. carlos will probably be glad to have a "bro" too, like it's clearly new for him, but i think this is a friendship we might get more of this season. whether it's background moments or real solid interactions, i think there will be something.

gina and carlos:

gina and carlos is one friendship i have to bring up, because these two are simply cut from the same cloth and i think that's great. they bond over dance, as well as over their more intense personalities. honestly i think they'll continue to butt heads a bit, but with val as the actual choreographer for frozen, there's less fuel for that. this friendship is important for both of them, because they see one another in a way that most people don't quite get.

gina and ashlyn:

gina is literally about to date ashlyn's cousin, and they've been living together for a semester. while gina's living situation for a potential season 4 is in flux, what isn't is the fact that these two have been getting closer. i don't know how frozen casting is going to shake out, but regardless, i'd expect to see some very nice supportive friendship going on here. especially now that gina's begun opening up to people more, ashlyn included, i think we'll get some good interactions. (if maybe less than last season due to the fact they may not be sharing space this time). the sisterhood theming of frozen might very well be used for them, regardless of casting, given ashlyn’s comment in 2.10 about gina being like her sister. 

ricky and ashlyn: 

this is a big maybe, but i mean they’re both heavily connected to big red who won’t be at camp most likely, so that on top of the friendship or like- camaraderie they seemed from the last few episodes to have formed being the leads together, i think they might use this more this season. it’s hard because ashlyn is so heavily tied to nini in a friendship sense. ashlyn adores nini even before nini dates her cousin, ej, and well- i think ashlyn’s first loyalty will probably go to nini. but it doesn’t have to be a sides thing, so i’m choosing to believe we’ll hopefully get a bit more of this friendship! 

ej and ashlyn: 

there will never be a season i don’t ask for the caswell cousins interacting. their interactions were VERY background this season, but their dynamic is very important for ej, even if not so much for ashlyn because the point for her is being her own person. i’m more hoping for than expecting this, but i think it’s not out of the question, especially with ej and gina getting together, and ashlyn being so close to both. that can go a few ways, but yeahhhh.

ej and nini:

this one’s more wishful thinking than anything else, but they could really use nini’s second attempt at pursuing her future to work off of ej’s considerations of his own. also they literally started dating at this summer camp the year prior, i want to see how far they’ve come as individuals and having one nice friendship moment would be nice. something better than that quick little thing in the hallway where he confesses that he didn’t get into duke. their arcs fit together better now, so i want them to use it! we know they’re civil, let them talk now, it could be great to watch them help each other in some small way with their new life changes. ej is the one who put nini in the position to get gabriella, though it was her own performance that did it of course. i only would consider this having a chance to happen if nini’s actively at camp, but for me, their individual character arcs could benefit from a conversation between them.

--

CASTING:

whoever gets elsa and anna i think will get a good deal closer this season, regardless of who it is in the roles. it'll be interesting... i'm genuinely so curious to see how casting for the main characters is going to shake out, because there's a bunch of ways they can play this. a lot of the time they try to use the songs to play into the narrative, though of course this can be accomplished in different ways. sisterhood is a very big part of frozen, and if these two characters don’t become close by the end of the season, regardless of who they are (and yes i do mean even if lily ends up being elsa), i’ll be shocked. they can also use the themes external to casting, so at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter a ton who gets the parts, but it’s unlikely they would just not take advantage of this.

if there’s a sven, and frankly i don’t see it as out of the question given the size of the main cast of frozen compared to our cast, i’d expect to see some kristoff and sven bonding moments. we got kourtney and seb bonding as chip and mrs. potts last season, i’d anticipate this being similar. as in it’s more background, but happening. 

lowkey depending on who plays the roles, i think we’ll probably get some hans and anna and/or kristoff and anna bonding at least in a friendship sense. i don’t know how much they’re going to do the like- rehearsal scenes this season, but i love them. the theatre kid aspect is one of my favorite parts of the show, and i want more. it’s such a good way to showcase these friendship dynamics too. i wouldn’t call this a friendship dynamic, just like- an example of how rehearsal helps bring out character stuff, but do we remember nini’s whole dramatic singing with ej in season 1 at rehearsal bc she’s mad at him? that kind of thing. was it unprofessional? yeah, but it’s fun because these are dumb theatre kids. 

--

SPECULATION:

ej and val. i'm putting this in this friendship post despite knowing very little about val in general, because frankly she's here for ej's arc in one way or another. i don't know exactly what the plan is to any real extent, but my guess is that they're childhood camp friends. i'd expect to see this friendship explored.

if nini's actively working with jamie, and they're able to get jordan fisher for another episode, i'd expect that to be used as a conduit for gina to explore the bond she has missed out on with her brother. that may lead to more of nini talking to gina and their friendship that frankly for me is based in proximity. they usually give these two a nice scene once per season towards the very end, i don't expect that to change unless nini's screentime is reduced a great deal, and likely even then. it's under speculation because of the fact it involves jamie, but i'd expect a good scene between these two regardless of him.

jet and maddox. i don’t know what this looks like, but i’m excited nonetheless. i just wanted to include them. 

[aros001]

Going in blind: Watching season 1 for the first time. Random thoughts.

This show is kind of nice because I have no memories of the original She-Ra show, or even any of He-Man, honestly. I'm not sure if I ever watched the original, so I have no frame of reference for how the series is "supposed" to be. I can just take it and judge it as is.

Of the bat, all I know is that supposedly She-Ra and Catra get together as a romantic couple later, but I'm also a huge My Hero Academia fan and the fandom around me ships every character with every other character, so for all I know that might just be shipper wishful thinking I've been seeing and hearing. Given fandoms for Gravity Falls, Thor, and Supernatural ship even siblings together, I've learned not to trust anything except for what I see in the series for myself.

By the way, this isn't a review, just random thoughts and comments I'm having as I'm going through season 1 for the first time.

Episodes 1 and 2: Right off, I really like Catra's "No duh" response to Adora about the truth of the horde. She knows they've been lying to them and have been doing terrible things, she just doesn't care. If she and Adora play their cards right they could end up being the ones in charge and then they'd have all that power. Not necessarily to make things better but enough to where they could do whatever and live however they want. That's a good build for an antagonist. Not ignorant to the fact what they're doing is wrong, just simply so selfish that they don't care.

Episode 3: It really feels like there was no good reason why Glimmer didn't just outright introduce Adora to her mother and every reason she should have known it was a bad idea to try and hide her for a surprise. Being a former horde soldier she'd probably get treated with hostility if Glimmer brought her to the front gate but you'd almost guarantee Adora would get arrested or outright killed if she got caught while no one else knew she was there.

On the other side, we have Hordak being pretty intelligent in promoting Catra. He probably knows Shadow Weaver already doesn't like him, so it's not like he's losing anything making her upset with him, and it's clear she favors Adora way more than Catra, so that little bit of advancement towards Catra probably goes a long way in earning her loyalty to him and a person on the inside with Shadow Weaver.

Also, I'm not the only one who saw Madam Razz and immediately thought Adora had found her Yoda, right?

Episode 4: I don't know how it was in the original She-Ra and He-Man series but I kind of like She-Ra being this title from legend. Adora is not the first She-Ra, given what Razz was talking about with a Mara, so instead of being something new, impressing everyone with abilities they've never seen before, and creating the legend, Adora is placed in a position WAY over her head where she's having to live up to what came before her.

Episode 5: Calling it now, as long as her personality is genuine I think Scorpia is going to be one of my favorite characters in this show. She's...endearing, I think is the best word. She's like a mix of Kronk and a nicer Shego.

For a little bit I thought Mermista was voiced by the same actress who played Poison Ivy in the Harley Quinn animated series. She's not but they do have the same kind of Daria-ish inflections, thus by confusion. Given the prom episode, Sea Hawk feels kind of like her Kite Man.

Episode 6: Okay, now it's between Scorpia and Entrapta who are likely to be my favorites by the end of this. She's fun and quirky.

Episode 7: Quite the lore drop. Shadow Weaver was once a Mystacor sorceress known as Light Spinner. I like to imagine we'll get more on that later. Her haunting Adora reminded me of the Teen Titans' episode where Robin was similarly haunted by Slade. This didn't go as far as that but that's probably for the best, since TT had two and a half seasons to build that dynamic up with Robin and Slade while we're only now halfway through the first season.

Episode 8: Well dang. Again, I don't know for sure if Adora and Catra do end up together but boy do I buy why they're shipped together after that dance. Also, good on Bow for standing up for himself. It's clear that he'll always be Glimmer's friend and this won't change that but that doesn't mean he has to just accommodate her. I understand where her issues stem from but I am still glad he gave her a reality check. It helps him feel a little more like his own character.

Also, another nice little bit of lore and worldbuilding. Scorpia's a princess, the horde landed where her people lived, and they seemed to join them willingly.

Episode 9: Surprisingly don't have a lot to say about this other than I don't buy for a second that Entrapta is dead (EDIT: She's not). This was mostly action.

Episode 10: Not going to lie, this one kind of annoyed me a little, at least the first half. The conversation between Glimmer and her mother saved it a bit. It was a bit of a trifecta. You have the alliance breaking apart, saying that the loss of Entrapta only happened because they were all together...even though Entrapta only "died" because of her own machine obsession that caused her to deliberately walk back into the purging chamber. You have Entrapta who might be turning to the horde's side because she feels abandoned by the other princesses...even though they thought she was dead, and again it was her fault they got separated. And you have Glimmer refusing to tell her mother that Shadow Weaver's dark magic has caused her powers to go on the fritz and is causing her great pain. It just feels like none of this would be an issue if most of these people would stop being self-absorbed for three seconds and talk like any normal person would. It feels very CW drama, like something I'd see in a bad season of Arrow or The Flash. The only person whose issues I buy is Adora, who is basically a soldier who was never properly raised to deal with emotion or loss and is already struggling with the burden of being She-Ra, the legendary savior. I get why she's beating down on herself for not being able to do more even if nothing that happened was her fault.

Episode 11: JEEEEEEEEEZZZZ, that was such a good episode! Focused entirely on Adora and Catra and their past together. Like, just showing someone this episode alone could probably get them to want to watch the series. That was everything you needed to know about their dynamic and history together.

Also, that moment when Catra and her past self are looking at each other, while obviously Catra takes the opposite lesson, it reminded me of this fanart I'd once seen of Jason Todd, the Red Hood, looking at his past self as Robin. The past says to the future "You ruined everything". Catra could be happy but, ironically for someone who hates Shadow Weaver, she's probably going to be a lot like her, sacrificing everything for power and ambition.

Given the way she looked, I'm guessing Shadow Weaver is either addicted to the power of the Black Garnet or she suffered some kind of past injury and its power is the only thing keeping her going. Or both.

Episode 12: I'll be honest, Swiftwind being able to talk kind of gobsmacked and I needed a moment to recover. What a great voice they chose for that character.

So She-Ra is kind of like the legendary heroes from Rising of the Shield Hero, coming from a long line of people chosen to wield the sword. I tend to dislike chosen one types of stories because I think prophecy takes a lot of weight out of the character's actions, so this and Avatar are more what I like. The MC is special but not the only one who's ever been special and they can still easily fail. Their destiny was only to be able to use the weapon, not that they would succeed in any specific purpose.

And dang, Catra's turn against Shadow Weaver happened faster than I thought it would but I'm not complaining. That great "This is what you've really been preparing me for" speech and Hordak, again, being an intelligent villain. "Oh, this experiment could net me a MASSIVE gain and all it could potentially cost me is this rock I already gave away to someone who lately hasn't been producing any results and has been consistently disobeying me. Yeah, I'm going to let this play out."

Episode 13: That was kind of a brutal fight between Adora and Catra. Not the worst I've ever seen even in other shows for this age range (Samurai Jack, for example) but those punches are connecting and those claws are leaving marks.

Also, maybe I'm just misunderstanding the exact situation but shouldn't the good guys' side be called the Resistance instead of the Rebellion? Being a rebellion would imply they are rebelling against an established power or rule over them, but the actual conflict we are shown is the established power and rule that is the kingdoms of Eternia resisting an outside force that wishes to establish a new order over them.

Season 1 verdict: I'm into it. I'm definitely more invested in the villains' side of things but that's not a fault of the series, that stuff is just way more geared towards me than the current princess stuff. I actively am at attention whenever the horde main characters are on screen. For the good guys it's mostly Adora and the She-Ra stuff I'm invested it. That isn't to say I have any real dislikes for that side. Bow especially I'm liking much more than I thought I might. He has kind of this gravitational pull around him. You will be his friend regardless of how much you might want to resist. He's definitely the rock for everyone else to hold onto.

Minor side note, kind of like Korra in Legend of Korra, I love how even when her powers aren't active Adora is shown to still be pretty strong physically with how easily she was lifting people up at the prom.

And I was right, Scorpia is my favorite side character.

On to season 2!

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/PrincessesOfPower/comments/nyll2e/going_in_blind_watching_season_1_for_the_first/