#dudes single handedly saved both these episodes

[dig-jules]

[whattraintracks]

My Time Has Come

In finishing TMNT 1987, I realised a few things, rewatched some episodes, realised a lot more things, and this is the product. As iztarshi mentioned, "Leonardo, the Renaissance Turtle" is another fabulous example of our Fearless Leader straight up scared, as is a personal favorite of mine, "Snakes Alive!" The moral seems to be do not leave your Leonardo alone. Until I remembered in both "Take Me to Your Leader" and "Leonardo Versus Tempestra," he's on his own for a large chunk of the action and seems fine. That's odd. Let's check the timeline.

S3 E15 - Take Me to Your Leader

S4 E35 - Leonardo Versus Tempestra

S4 E41 - Unidentified Flying Leonardo

S5 E17 - Leonardo, the Renaissance Turtle

S6 E13 - Snakes Alive!

Oh, snap. I know the numbers are different depending on where you look, but as far as I can tell, the order is always the same. That's unexpectedly consistent. Let's write that essay now, shall we?

In "Take Me to Your Leader," Leonardo leaves the team behind. He's having horrible nightmares about them all getting hurt because of his own failures. A combination of sleep deprivation, stress, and paranoia leaves him pretty out of sorts and clumsy, which only adds to his feelings of inadequacy, and he's caught in a feedback loop until he decides to leave the lair for good. Once he's out on his own, he's certainly dejected but truly seems to believe the team is better off without him. That is, he's not afraid for the guys or about being on his own. The reason he turns around is that the bridge he wants to take out of town collapses with the snow Shredder and Krang's latest scheme has generated, and some dude accidentally guilt trips into taking responsibility for stopping them. He returns to the team, they rally, make a plan, and save the day. Go Green Machine. When he saves Michelangelo and Raphael, he quips about knowing they'd get into trouble without him, which is not true but, okay, Leonardo, whatever you say. In the closing scene, he tells Master Splinter he learned that duty comes before his doubts. These are super important to remember as we move forward.

Again in "Leonardo Versus Tempestra," he leaves the team behind when he sneaks out to an arcade by himself. He's a little manic about beating Tempestra's Revenge, but he's not afraid. Yet. Even when Tempestra escapes the game, he's just confused. He doesn't get scared until he realises she's a threat. Cam Clarke uses this particular tone for Leonardo when he's scared, and it comes out pretty quickly in his fight with Tempestra once he realises, "Oh, I've screwed up. I'm about to die, the world is about to end, and I am alone." He frantically calls the others for help. Tempestra thwarts his efforts, and Leonardo watches as his teammates are trapped. At this point, you might expect to find him paralysed with fear, but he turns around to face her as cool as a cucumber. He calmly negotiates, taunts her, and makes jokes to the camera. You could argue that just talking to the other turtles was enough to settle him, but I'd think, given how poorly he perceives they handled themselves without him in TMtYL, he should be more freaked out now, not less. Now he's got to save them, himself, and the world! That's a lot for one turtle. But Leonardo holds Tempestra off single-handedly, makes a plan to save them all, and, with April's services as a taxi, jets off to take her down. Except for when April drives them off a cliff, his scared voice doesn't reappear. Pretty impressive for a turtle who, a handful of episodes later, will be shaking in his nonexistent boots in a cornfield.

So, clearly, something happens between LvT and UFL that exacerbates Leonardo's anxiety astronomically. What life-shattering, traumatising event occurs between these two episodes? "Splinter Vanishes." That's right, Leonardo and his team, his family, all still teenagers mind you, spend two weeks fending for themselves after their Sensei and guardian abandons them and tells them they must leave home and each other. It's significant that, once again, Leonardo leaves. He's the one who convinces everyone to listen to Splinter's last instructions. It's not the first time he's left knowing it might be permanent, but this situation is very different from TMtYL. After being separated from his support system and thrust into adult life with no warning or help, Leonardo gets attacked by Leatherhead and sent plummeting to his death. Given the events of this episode, I'm pretty sure his cool-as-a-cucumber Hero Leader attitude is a facade specifically crafted to fill the other turtles with confidence. He is so cocky when he unexpectedly shows up alive to save the other turtles. But just like in LvT, his teammates are in serious trouble and can't help him, so not only does he feel responsible for bringing the villain(s) of the week to justice, but he probably feels like he needs to be brave for them. It's those lessons he learned in TMtYL over and over again.

Splinter returns, and the mean, green team is back together. But Leonardo continues to break my heart when he asks, sounding oh so nervous and small and young, "Are we together? Master?" Because Leonardo still trusts him so much. Is still willing to obey even when it actively hurts him, actively hurts his brothers, because Splinter will always be their Sensei, right? Even if he doesn't want them, even if he leaves, Leonardo will remain loyal to his Master's instructions.

I get Splinter’s intentions, I do, and this was all pretty typical Splinter stuff. I'm definitely getting too emotionally invested in a children's cartoon, but gosh dang it, that episode has always made me so sad. Like, Splinter, they're kids. If you want to lure the Rat King and Leatherhead out into the open, let the boys in and tell them. It's not enough to say after that it was pretend and you were watching all along, they needed that reassurance and security two weeks ago. And Raphael voices this exact concern. But no, Splinter wanted to, what, let them experience what it was like to be apart? Appreciate how vital it is that they remain together? No. No! Do you know what you did, Master Splinter? You ruined a perfectly good ninja turtle, is what you did. Look at Leonardo, he's got separation anxiety! Splinter is not allowed to teach any more lessons in togetherness.

You guys, I went into this thinking there'd be some mildly interesting connections to make. I did not think I would be adding "Splinter Vanishes" to the list of reasons why Leonardo needs professional help, and all of these turtles are massively traumatised. Oh my gosh, you guys. I was over here thinking his fight with Tempestra must have been so traumatising it screwed him up for at least the next two seasons, which is still possible, but oh my gosh, immediately after that episode is "Splinter Vanishes"???? No wonder Leonardo freaks out on his own. TWO WEEKS. I'm going to sob.

Okay, alright, let's look at the next few episodes and see if this holds.

Given Leonardo's trust for Master Splinter remains intact, it makes sense that he accepts Splinter's directive to go after April on his own in "Unidentified Flying Leonardo," but it's also not surprising how quickly he breaks down. He's left the team behind plenty of times now, but this is the first time he's left them since SV. Some freaky stuff happens in the aforementioned cornfield, but unlike LvT, there aren’t any actual threats before he hits his breaking point. He generally seems okay until he gets lost, and this is where Clarke breaks out the scared voice. We can look back and see that a lot of Leonardo's confidence in LvT and SV does come from being on his home turf, but that still doesn’t seem like a serious enough threat to warrant how panicked he is. Unless we consider that in his mind, getting stranded and being unable to contact his family is most certainly a threat worthy of panic after the events of SV. So yeah, when he calls for help and discovers he’s out of range, everything goes downhill. He jumps to conclusions, his flight instincts overwhelm his discipline, he's off-balance, and he makes sloppy mistakes. As he's being chased by an entire town with vehicles, he doesn't think to take April's van and drive it away, instead he hoofs it across multiple fields. Like TMtYL, he's stuck in this loop of panic and paranoia and just wearing himself out. Thankfully, @snoftshell-snurtle is 100% correct. Billy Jim Bob McJames (the guy with a truck full of hay) saves Leonardo's life, feeds him some pizza, offers him information, and agrees to drive him wherever. With that, Leonardo is back to his Hero Leader cool-as-a-cucumber self. Once the other guys show up, he's even able to come up with a plan, and together they stop the bad guy.

Overall, the pattern I'm noticing is Leonardo is alone, he identifies a threat, he calls for help, and his call goes unanswered for some reason or another. Before SV, the unanswered call doesn't deter him, and he shoulders the burden himself. After SV, he falls apart until he gets the support he needs. That's not to say he does nothing. But unlike LvT, where his goal the whole time was to stop Tempestra and save the guys and all of his actions and planning were to support that goal, in UFL, he spent most of the episode just trying to survive until help arrived in the form of a compassionate stranger. Getting stuck in survival mode is very much a product of trauma he's experienced. Yes, the stuff with Tempestra but more significantly from being abandoned by Splinter and stranded from his team.

I really liked rewatching "Leonardo, the Renaissance Turtle" with all this in mind. With this new robocop LEX, the turtles are getting pushed out of the crime-fighting business. This freaks Leonardo out, who, since TMtYL, really relies on having this specific purpose in his life. The other turtles, however, are thrilled, and they leave him. Every time he's been alone before, it's been an active decision on his part, even in SV, he was reluctant, but it was his choice. Clarke doesn't quite break out the scared voice yet, but it's a close thing. Some time passes before we see Leonardo again. He's just barely avoided getting stuck in survival mode since he's stayed in familiar territory and thanks to April, as @iztarshi put it, playing turtle emotional support (feeding him, keeping him company). But he's clearly stressed, perhaps depressed, and certainly paranoid. He's reached the stage where he's accepted that his team is gone, and whatever happens, he'll have to handle it on his own. Leonardo's paranoia unfortunately pays off as LEX threatens him and April, and this is the point where he enters survival mode and, interestingly, restarts the pattern.

Unlike previous episodes, this particular pattern or sequence of behaviors from Leonardo is disrupted and repeated multiple times in this episode. In the first instance, Leonardo is metaphorically alone in his assessment of LEX as a threat to their work but really to his own perceived purpose and identity, and his call for help is him trying to get the others to agree, but they are dismissive and then leave. Compare this to LvT, where they initially dismiss his concerns but quickly come around, and Leonardo is reassured they're safe and would help him if they could. Compare also to UFL, where he thinks the others don't know where he is and that he's in danger. April provides as much support as she can, but the cycle is only ever complete once the team reunites and removes the threat together, and this doesn't happen. So, like the stages of grief, Leonardo bounces between them until he can reach a resolution. Now Leonardo is physically alone, LEX is a physical threat to his well-being, and when he calls for help, their comm system is down. He does get a hold of Raphael and Michelangelo, but again they're dismissive of his concerns, and he accidentally breaks the connection in his distress. Firmly in the survival stage, Leonardo is off-balance, clumsy, and unable to think straight. Now would be a really good time to get some support, but even that blows up in his face. So he calls for help again, but all he gets is Donatello's jarringly cheery voicemail greeting. Finally, Clarke breaks out the scared voice. Despite everything he's gone through, it took this long, which makes sense, given we’re in season 5 now. He's likely gained some coping mechanisms, but not enough to avoid the panic completely.

Leonardo's continued efforts to get help and protect himself are impeded, and his scared voice keeps getting worse as he descends further and further into panic, but he keeps going because he can't do anything else. At this point, the other turtles finally realise something is wrong and come back just in time to find . . . that Leonardo has actually resolved the threat on his own. This diverges entirely from previous episodes! It's so remarkable Donatello literally remarks on it. April has been his cheerleader all episode, but even she's surprised and impressed. We don't go completely off script, in the closing scene, Splinter and the guys reaffirm to Leonardo that he is skilled and capable beyond the niche he's created for himself in the team. His initial concerns and the perceived threat to his identity and usefulness and all that good stuff are resolved, as they always are, together. Still, this marks a turning point for Leonardo and segues nicely into the last episode I want to look at.

Unlike previous episodes, in "Snakes Alive!" the primary threat isn't the villain but Leonardo's snake phobia and his loneliness is a product of hiding his fear from the team. He's still hanging on to that lesson from TMtYL that the guys depend on him to lead, so he's not honest with them about his fear and instead tries to distract them and spends most of their time together dragging his feet. But it’s hard to hide that you're terrified when your scared voice creeps out every time someone mentions snakes, and you can't even say the word without a voice crack. The others aren't used to seeing Leonardo in survival mode like this and are understandably confused. He passes out, gets separated from the team, flings himself out a window, and rams into April's van in a panicked haze. When he comes across another threat with April and Vernon unrelated to snakes, we see the progress he made in LtRT, and he confidently handles it on his own. Checking back in with the guys, we find Michelangelo a little hopeful they'll be saved, but Donatello convinced Leonardo won't be able to. Interesting that here and in LtRT, Donatello seems to have the least faith in Leonardo's ability to resolve things on his own. But neither does Leonardo, who, even after speaking to Master Splinter, is despondent. The plot is thankfully saved by a bunch of kids who call him a chicken and later by the villain who claims snakes are superior to turtles in every way, which snaps him out of paralysis both times. Much like LtRT, he's too panicked to really come up with a plan, so he just brute forces his way to save the guys. Donatello is again quite shocked Leonardo did it by himself. The minute he's reunited with them, all is balanced and well with the universe, and he thinks up a plan to save the day. He doesn't seem to be afraid of the snakes anymore, but the closing scene makes it clear the fear is not totally gone, just assuaged when he's with his team. Leonardo is always going to do his best to be their Fearless Leader, even if he's not a fearless turtle.

tl;dr In the episodes examined above, Leonardo exhibits similar behavioral patterns whenever he is alone and threatened. This pattern is disrupted and reshaped by various traumatic experiences and thus makes an excellent marker for how he changes as a character throughout the series.

In the 1987 tv series Leonardo is a good leader and team player but "Unidentified Flying Leonardo" demonstrates that alone he is an on-fire trainwreck of a teenage mutant ninja turtle. In this essay I will

[mrs-bartowski]

My dudes. My guys. My pals.

I’m about 10 seconds away from going feral.

So, I’m the kind of unfortunate chump whose brain requires continuity. Meaning, when I started thirst watching Supergirl during its mid-season-2 hiatus and came across the realization that it had crossovers with all the other arrowverse shows, my brain tasked me with watching them all. I won’t put you through a recount of this arduous feat, but it does leave me with the certain advantage of having immediate and full-contextual access to any parallels between supercorp and canon CW DCEU couples.

Normally, this is a good thing, because it’s just another crumb to obsess over. But I just finished watching Legends 6x02 and...I. AM. FUMING.

I literally don’t even know where to start, but know that if you’ve made it this far you’re in for a long ride because my entire being is in Scream mode right now and I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop typing until it passes.

OKAY. So.

Meet Sara Lance (lol jk y’all thirsty gays know who she is I mean look at this flawless human)

Next, meet her ******* Ava Sharpe (who is literally the definition of white European beauty standards-based perfection because she’s a clone from the future)

And finally, meet Gary Green. He’s...well, he’s Gary.

Sara started out on Arrow and is now the captain of the Legends. Ava was the director of the Time Bureau and Gary was an agent, and now they are also members of the Legends. Sara has been there (and been the show’s effective lead) since season 1. Ava and Gary both came in at the beginning of season 3. 

Gary is (as pictured) an absolute fool, but he is also kind of regarded as the one the Legends Must Protecc. The whole team is considered a family, and, while they are not necessarily labeled as best friends, Gary has been Ava’s longest and most loyal companion, and Sara has a way of adopting him because she’s the best equipped to keep him out of trouble.

So, why is all of this relevant to why I want to go feral? Because it sounds a bit familiar, yes? Member of the team that is somewhat a black sheep, doesn’t get included fully or all the time but often comes in with save-the day type shit (even though with Gary it’s more of a distraction than a save because he’s a mess of a man). Close friend to one of our two main heroes and, subsequently, that hero’s closest companion puts them at the top of their Protecc list. Has little faith in his relationships with the team so he is constantly going out of his way to help in whatever way he can to prove his usefulness. And so on and so forth.

Well, 6x01 marks exactly 3 years since Gary’s first appearance, and what did we find out in that episode? That Gary is an alien. And not just any alien - an alien who was sent (by the woman he was traded to) to get close to Sara because she has been labeled as one of the world’s most dangerous creatures. Not to mention, his species of alien feeds on humans (not him of course, he’s reformed, but nonetheless not a friendly species). And we find out all of this because he and his master abduct her.

Sara finds out in person while Ava and the rest of the Legends solve the mystery on their own. Now, I’ve drawn a lot of comparisons between Lena and Gary to make a point about the time frame and nature of their relationships, but let’s take a look at Sara, shall we? For starters, she’s been “dead” either literally or supposedly about...what, 15 times now? If you think that’s an exaggeration, here’s the link to her fan wiki which says she’s been presumed dead 10 times and actually dead 5. The sg writers tried to sell season 5 as “the fight for Lena’s soul” but Sara LITERALLY LOST HER SOUL when she got resurrected in the Lazarus pit. 90% of Sara’s character development has been based on her certainty that she is too close to death and evil and destruction (getting possessed by a demon, perhaps, had something to do with this?). She was an actual literal assassin and she has left civilization out of anger and pain to go back to that life once before.

She has always believed that she is too dangerous to have real love or relationships or friends. And now she has found and built and led this family through time and space and she’s done so with this goofball by her side that is endearingly attached to the love of her life. So, how does she react when she finds out Gary is an alien? Well, clearly, she goes down a dark path, right? She cries and screams and talks about betrayal because she’s had such a hard time with feeling like she only ever puts the people she loves in danger and now here she is finding out there’s been a human-eating alien in her family for three years that was tasked with observing her and keeping her in check because she is exactly that dangerous?

Yeah...try again. This is how Sara reacts:

And then there's another scene that apparently no one even bothered to put on YouTube where you can see the pain in Sara's eyes when she asks him “why me?” You can see how hurt she is that after 3 years she’s just finding out that their friendships is based on lies and that she has trouble keeping her faith in it. But in both of these instances where are the “crocodile tears?” Where are the fearful, shaky confessions from Gary about his fear of losing the only people who have ever really loved or cared about him and desperate justifications about how he just wanted to protect them and keep them in the dark so his master didn’t come after them? Where is the outrage from Sara about how everything Gary has reassured her about over the past three years when she was scared to let the damaged-soul assassin inside of her out was a lie and he doesn’t get to tell her who or what she is again? Where is the determination from Ava to make Gary pay for not only lying for three years but for ABDUCTING THE LOVE OF HER LIFE TO HAND OVER TO A FLESH-EATING ALIEN??????

Nowhere. Those things...they’re nowhere. There’s anger. There’s pain. There’s doubt and heartbreak and fury. There’s betrayal and helplessness and desperation. But there is no scene with Sara standing on a balcony and Gary looking up at her longingly because he wants to talk to her about the secret and he knows it will change everything between them. There is no scene with Sara and Ava lamenting over what this means for Gary and the team and the world because he’s no longer the person they knew. There are no romantically-scored scenes of them looking teary-eyed at the pictures they took together or reassurances that the others’ intentions are good and trustworthy now that the truth is out in the open. There is nothing to imply that the last several years of friendship are now entirely suspect (damaged, frayed, clouded, maybe, but definitely not voided) because Gary kept this secret to protect them. And Gary isn’t made to feel obscenely guilty or shameful because his intentions were good and he only did what he felt he had to. But most of all, the world doesn’t feel like it’s going to end.

And I’m not talking about we’re now scared Gary will take his master’s side or Sara will suddenly decide that she never wants an alien to fool her or hurt her again so she’s going to make sure he doesn’t have the choice. I’m just talking about the way they address each other. There are no sobbing tears or laments over the biggest mistakes of their lives - even though it’s quite possible Gary could see this as his. There are no screaming matches over betrayal and mistrust and years of doubt and confusion. There will be no episode dedicated to going back and seeing what could have happened - what kind of danger they could have avoided from the alien(s) controlling Gary - had he told them the truth sooner because that’s the only way to save him and the world. There will be no episode where he has to single-handedly save them multiple times as some example of redemption. There will be no adamant looks and declarations about how the team knows his intentions were good and they forgive him. There won’t be any of that. Because Sara is not in love with Gary. And Ava is not in love with Gary. And Gary is not in love with either Sara or Ava. They’re just close friends. Family. Loved ones who mean a lot to each other but whose betrayal and seeds of doubt don’t bring on emotions whose force and ferocity could be acceptable for finding out the apocalypse is nigh.

I have many, many more feelings about this but right now I’m going to go write things that will make me feel better and not things that make me want to gather every writer from every CW show in a line and run down the line smacking them all in the face while the Legends writers watch and cheer. But I’m fuming. THIS is what it looks like when a years-long, heavily weighted lie is revealed between close friends/family. So, in conclusion, Supercorp endgame or die.

[rabbabey]

the umbrella academy and the sparrow academy acting as narrative foils

NUMBER ONE:

marcus and luther MIGHT both have powers relating to super strength

as a leader, marcus “keeps the family together” and is a “natural leader that oozes confidence” -- everything luther is not ( in the very first episode he walks in to see his siblings together for the first time in ten years and said “one of you guys killed dad”, so everyone leaves.... this is the OPPOSITE of marcus’s description my dude)

NUMBER TWO

ben and diego are now both the number two who is “determined to gain status as a leader”

ben is a “scheming tactician” and diego is the biggest himbo i’ve ever seen (thinking of you, olga foroga)

they are both “pretty boys” :)

NUMBER THREE

fei “will not stop until the job is done”... and neither will my girl allison -- miss thing got her throat slit, woke up the next day and thought “yes, i WILL single-handedly almost stop the apocalypse “

fei is “typically the smartest person in the room”,,,, y’all know the only person in the hargreeves family with ANY common sense is allison

NUMBER FOUR

alphonso and klaus both “bear their scars from years of fighting”... that just means that they’re both traumatised as HELL

alphonso is “armed with a caustic and biting sense of humour”... yeah so is my boy klaus lmao, there is a reason his addiction was just branded as ‘comic relief’ (even though he deserved so much better) and that is because he is canonically the funny sibling

alphonso likes “pizza” and “a six pack”.... klaus likes waffles and alcohol

NUMBER FIVE 

okay this one actually makes me sad

sloane is “eager to see the world and experience a life beyond her upbringing”.... so was FIVE omg why do you think he wanted to time travel and got stuck in the apocalypse in the first place?? 

sloane feels “tied down by her family” and has “lofty plans” but all five’s plans are to SAVE his family... that's literally his one goal 

she’s a “dreamer” and a “romantic”, five had to learn to become a realist and a survivor in a literal hellscape :(

NUMBER SIX

jayme is a “loner hidden under a hoodie”... lmao you're just describing season 1 ben, all that bitch did was read his books and wear a black hoodie (and i love him so much omg)

jayme has a “fear-inducing snarl” which makes me think her powers are animalistic and uncontrollable... much like the horrors :(

jayme is “smart and sharp as a knife” y’all already know ben was the MOST intelligent hargreeves sibling,,, say it’s five all you like but he’s just a STEM kid with a superiority complex, ben is the smartest hargreeves

NUMBER SEVEN

christopher, as an existential dread inducing psykronium cube is “treated as just another sibling”, whilst vanya was isolated and alone her ENTIRE life just because she didn’t have powers

christopher can “induce paralysing fear”,,, this bitch POWERFUL, just like my baby girl vanya. ALSO everyone is scared of vanya and her powers lmao

christopher is “loyal”... miss vanya may be my favourite character BUT she did write a tell-all about her sibling’s trauma, which isn't the most loyal move. to be fair, they did nothing to inspire her loyalty but STILL

christopher will mess vanya the hell up because he’s everything she wanted to be as a child and he’s a fucking CUBE

[ser-rctslcyer]

Sweet Home (2020)

First of all this is going to major major spoilers from the show, so don’t read if you are still trying to finish!!!

I’d like to start off by saying that this is my opinion, thoughts and feelings about the show(I watched all of it). I will be comparing events in both the Webtoon comic and the Netflix TV series. Also again it’s been awhile since I have read the Webtoon from beginning to end so sorry if there’s some misinformation (apologies if any of the names are spelled wrong or out of order too, I using the wiki page to write out the characters name from the show as they changed names a bit)  but here we go. 

(1) Pacing Issues

I’d like to start off and say the show has a lot of pacing issues. Throughout the show there are a lot of events that happen so quickly and sometimes bizarrely. From the transformations, to the introduction of characters, and the movement of the plot. One of the odd things that stood out was the bizarre news broadcast which was showcasing weird and scary visuals, as it explained the ‘rules of monsterization’ (you think that for global news that big, you wouldn’t want to cause global panic, but insist on showing the visuals that would put even more anxieties in the people at that time. Also why didn’t they cut it off when the dude first started having a nosebleed). 

Next I know Hyun was only supposed to be there for a week before everything started going down, but literally it just felt like a day. It didn’t seem to establish enough of his situation for the audience. I understand that adaptations like this are made for the niche audience of those who have either watched/read the original source material, however everyone should strive to have a story for anyone to view that they could understand and follow. It feels like immediately we get into the craziness that is thrusted upon all of the characters. 

Another thing that threw me for a loop was the way the ‘Blind Monster’ quickly transformed, it was just so fast. One moment he is the random human and then the next he’s standing up full monster. I think it would’ve been way cooler to see him transform fully, which I think would have been the first (full) transformation to see on screen. It’s one of the coolest monsters in the comic AND IT GETS PUNKED SO QUICKLY IN THE SHOW!!!

I get making the montage when Hyun met Du-sik, and how he went there to get his weapon made but it felt weird that they quickly figured out that they could use the phones to detect the monsters. It seemed so very rushed, and again one of the many things that probably would give the audience whiplash. Then when he meets up with Ji-su(Ji-soo) and Jay-hun did he teach them that the phones can work to detect monsters??? I mean they talked to each other all of two seconds before going back out to save the kids.

Hyun also went so quickly into his madness phases (his alter)? I swear they just really threw that in there so early by episode 2-3 . It seemed so random again as there wasn’t really much build up to show his ‘desires’ side. It was so abrupt especially because they hadn’t ‘laid out’ Hyun’s character yet, enough to introduce his alter ego fully like that. It didn’t really showcase Hyun’s struggle a lot to defy the his alter; mainly seemed like they used the alter to explain why Hyun is the way he is, which happens in the comic but again the show just kind of makes it feel like the alter is sorta just there to give us more exposition. 

There’s a lot more pacing issues which I could get into but I think that would make this entirely much longer than it has to be.

(2) Continuity Issues 

There’s also a ton of issues with continuity of the story too. The first glaring one that comes to mind is this both the power issue and the no internet service. In the show it establishes toward the end of episode one that there is no service, as the big group is on the first floor wondering why they are locked into the building. That’s at episode 1, which then in episode 2 opens up to Hyun still playing games on his computer, the group watching the news broadcast and Hyuk reading the initial first article about the outbreak being a ‘curse’. Now I’m not a tech savvy person, but when there’s no service, I’m pretty sure you aren’t able to do any of those things. Then when the Netflix original character, Seo Yi-Kyung, the ex firefighter/special forces decides to send a picture of the dead guy’s body to his family when there is no service; how is that possible? (Also was I the only one who found that to be completely odd and mean, as she saw a picture of his family? I understand it set us up for her story and how she’s trying to uncover secrets from her long lost fiance but it seems out of pocket as well as a dick move.) But that again loops back to the point that there is no service in this place, it’s been said many times so it just irks me more because that is such a big glaring issue, which should’ve been caught by someone reading the script.

Then there is when the power goes out. It shows Hyuk at the cameras when the powers go out and the cameras all shut off. But when he comes back to the camera with Seo Yi-Kyung, the camera’s are back on. Is it possible for them to be running on a separate generator, perhaps. However they showed the cameras going so then again, I can’t believe that there is a separate generator because again they showed them all shutting off; so again another continuity error. During that same scene I also could have sworn the lady also was looking at the cameras and saw the monster on screen, but apparently not because as she returns she punches Hyuk in the chest. I thought it was really weird because again he pointed and even showed which camera it was where she had to turn the power back on, yet she didn’t see the monster at all? Not only that too but I thought too she knew the risk she would be taking, as they were unaware of what other monsters could be in the building, however I guess not since she came back so defensively.

Another issue I have is the strength of Protein. Protein is first shown in episode 3 when Hyun has gone to rescue the kids and bring them back to Dusik’s room. Hyun begins to have a nosebleed and then his alter comes to him in his head and he tells the kids to go on without him. They run into Protein who if I remember correctly knocked Hyun through the door.  As Hyun is still dazed and the kids are dragging him away, Protein takes about 5+ hits… to break through a wall. This giant hulking mass of a monster, takes more than 5 hits to finally bust through a wall, does that seem right to you? The later when he fights [the lady who lost her baby] and when he pouches her, it almost feels like a push with how far she flies, even though he reared up for that punch. Anyway later on in episode 8 I believe, when Protein comes back, he quickly demolishes their armored car, so much that it looks nearly if not just like a pile of scrap. One could argue that yes, when he comes back and attacks the group, he’s supposed to be in his ‘rage mode’ of sorts, so that could be what makes him stronger. However he’s a towering hulking monster, seems to not do that much damage, to both the surroundings around him and then to the few people he smacked around. It just seems weird how he had different strengths each time he appeared. I know again that sometimes adaptations do tend to nerf characters, however I found it weird how they seemingly tried to do that in the show. I was sure that Jae Heon’s sword wasn’t able to slice Protein at all in the comic (or maybe he was in his rage mode at that point) either way though the nerfing of Protein’s character seemed to flip flop from whatever they seemed fit. 

(3) Monsters 

Which this can lead into the monsters. Now each monster in Sweet Home has different power sets and abilities than the other, however one consistent thing in the comic at least is that most of them are actually pretty sturdy and tough for the group to beat. A lot of the monsters, it takes time, effort, and a lot of learning for the group to figure out how to kill them. 

Let’s start off with the Tongue Monster. The Tongue monster is one of the first ones the group initially encounters; its terrifyingly tall stature is already unsettling enough, there’s the gaping hole of a mouth with a powerful tongue. Now the effects that for the opening of the mouth were a little wonky, but something I could look past. However my main problem was that this monster single handedly got the most kills in the show out of all the other monsters. In fact he was the only monster to get kills, which is very disappointing to see when you have all these cool monsters that could have different and interesting kills. (I’m not counting Mr. Kim and Jay hun’s death simply because that was a self sacrifice on Jay hun’s part. Nor am I counting any of Jung Wooi-myung kills because he was a half monster also he didn’t go full monster to kill anyone). In the comic, the Tongue monster had gotten 2 kills which one of those happened to be another monster (Mr. Kim).  

Eyeball monster was alright, and did what it needed to do. 

The Blind monster, who is for a doubt, one of the most terrifying and troublesome monsters in the comic. Like both in the show and the comic, he originally attacks Ji-su first, but then Jayhun comes and saves her by slicing off it’s head. The two leave think it was dead but that’s when the true terror starts as he was monsterized enough to survive it’s head being cut in half but unable to regenerate its head fully. Since it fully relies on sound, it makes it more deadly as it shoots out branch-like tendrils with great speed. This is deadly for the group as they have to make sure they travel quietly as possible to avoid being killed by the agonized creature. I did enjoy how the show included when Hyun first opened his door to it being right there, as that was a very suspenseful moment, and showed us another big threat that the people in this apartment building would face. The Blind monster is only around for 23 chapters in the comic which is roughly he’s in there for about  16.43% of the story (not including the flashback in the later chapters). While that number is small to you, the Blind monster is one of the iconic monsters as well as one that sets an even bigger tone for the dire situation the characters are in. He didn’t feel like much of a threat in the show, as I think also in episode 3 he gets killed by Protein after their ‘cheesy’ fight. In the comic, the Blind monster only killed one human (shown in a flashback as it was the slime monster’s mother) and was killed by Eun Lee. I will say he was one of the better looking monsters in the show and I give props for both the practical effects and special effects they used to create him.

The one I hate the absolute most is, Speed monster. His design was awful to me and sort of out of all the designs in the show he was the most out of place for me and just weird. He served his purpose though, the design they did for the show makes him comical rather than scary. In the comics, he does kill one in a flashback and then is killed by Hyun Cha. 

Reach monster is another one I think the show did really well, design wise. However the narration when reading the guys journal to figure out why he had become a monster was a good idea how the execution of it seemed so jarring as we were already moving back to the characters of that scene and ultimately doesn’t get the audience to really get invested into the thought that anyone could turn into a monster over seemingly any desire. 

Protein or the Steroid monster is another great and iconic monster from the comic, which in the show he seemed much less of a big deal than in the comic. The continuity with his strength seems to vary all throughout the show. He takes 5 hits to break one measly apartment wall, 1 attack to almost demolish a car (which I think he just smacked away because it didn’t seem like he rushed it), and he ended up getting crushed to death by on-fire debris. The strength and speed of Protein is what makes him another big problem for the group yet in the show, they sort of deal with him quickly. In the comic, Protein kills the Tongue monster in a fit of rage and also Seop Ahn (Seob An) who he crushes his skull with one singular punch. He’s later killed by the criminals that invade the apartment as they ram him with a bus and then eventually set him on fire. Protein was seemingly lack-luster in the show and honestly wasn’t as terrifying as I thought a 10 foot monster should be. 

Mr. Kim (Security Guard) is another monster that comes back out of nowhere in the show to kill Jae-heon (Jayhun). I found it weird that they didn’t show Mr. Kim, as in the comic he’s seen a couple times wandering before it comes to the other realization that he’s in fact a monster. Also in the comic, Mr. Kim is a strong and sturdy monster, his thirst for vengeance against the tenants whom some harassed him make him out to be a very tough monster for the group to beat. When he starts rampaging to kill the other survivors it is Jayhun who rushes to try to stop him by tackling him however he’s unable to move him. Mr. Kim threw him to the ground and then stomped on Hayhun’s head, crushing his skull. It takes the Tongue monster for Mr. Kim to finally be weakened enough for them to kill him. Jayhun’s death impacts the group but also mainly impacts Ji-su and Hyun both, however in the show they don’t really show it changing Hyun. I do appreciate the different take of this in the show, in fact I think that is one of the best scenes in the show. I also think Ji-su’s pain and anguish after was really well done.  I’m fine with the debuffing of Mr. Kim but I do kind of wish he played a bit of a bigger part. 

The live actions’ original creepy crawly monster I thought was a pretty decent design although some of the cgi for it is a bit of an eye twitch but again I can look past it. The monster itself resembled a spider, it uses webbing to capture and hold it’s victims.

The Slime monster I think was also another monster I like how the show did. It served its purpose well, and helped a bit show how some of the monsters aren’t necessarily as evil as the survivors may think. 

Seok Kim monsterization form was awful, he just looked like a giant walking talking hairball. At first I didn’t know who it was, and I found it stupid Sun Ahn (Seon Ahn) knew it was him; like how do you tell from underneath all that hair? I’m glad they kept it the same and had his wife kill him. Also wish they showed more of him losing his mind and talking to his alter, as in the show he really turned out of nowhere, kinda odd.

(4) Military Subplot 

I hate the military subplot, it’s such a stupid and overused trope especially with adaptions like this and honestly in never really works for it. The whole thing with the military knowing about this monsterization process before the initial outbreak and them trying to weaponize the ‘special infectees’ just really bogs down the story in my opinion. One of the reasons why I love and adore the comic is because it’s about a group of strangers, who don’t really know each other, trying to work together as a unit to survive. They have to learn how to use the materials around them and each other to fight off the monsters. Which they do in the show but when the show’s ‘criminals’ show up and they all have guns, it gets boring for me there (I’ll go into them later). The military subplot I know is setting the series up for a second season and probably will introduce other elements as well but ultimately it takes away what the comic had originally built; the suspenseful tension of being trapped in a building with people who could easily turn on you or turn into a monster and kill you. 

(5)Characters and Relationships

Now let’s talk about characters and relationships. Brace yourself, this is going to be a long ride. 

Hyun

Hyun was honestly I think is the worst adapted character in the show. The show felt like it dumbed down his character greatly. He’s the main character of the comics but the show treats him like a side character, especially at the beginning of it, as it tries to push some of the other character’s narratives first. From a creator’s standpoint I think it was a poor decision because I didn’t build up the same attachment to him when I had read the comic; most of the time he was on screen I completely didn’t care. The way the show portrays him is almost delicate since he’s pretty socially inept but the show makes him feel boring and plain by this fact. In no way am I saying he was a happier more confident person in the comic but the comic had clearly shown his character development and how his growing confidence pushed him to be a better person. The show however speeds past this process which again gives the audience no emotional attachment to the character. If there had been more scenes with him and his internal struggle, that were fleshed out it would have changed his character development immensely.

 Because of how the show did him, he also ends up not making friends with some of the group members as he did in the comic, Ji-su being another one of the things that irked me about the show. Hyun’s and Ji-su’s growing relationship in the comic is a big reason for his character development. Ji-su pushes Hyun socially but also Hyun finds strength to stay human as long as possible and help others. Not to mention Ji-su is one of the few that actually cared for him when everyone was against him. In the show they barely have any interaction and  Ji-su acts way more defensively around Hyun. I found it so awkward when Hyun lost control to kill the other half monster and Dusik, and she was talking about how she was glad Hyun wouldn’t have to remember all of that. I know the show was trying to show her caring side for him but ultimately it’s lost to me because they never built up a relationship between the two of them. Jayhun and Ji-su’s relationship completely overshadows anything they had tried to do with Ji-su and Hyun. Hyun and Eun’s relationship in the show is kind of mediocre and I don’t really care for it since Eun’s character is very annoying to me throughout most of the show. Hyun’s closest relationship in the show was with Du-sik and even still they didn’t really build up the relationship that much. They had a couple scenes here and there but they never really showed that connection that the two of them built in the comic. 

Hyun’s quick flip into madness or his alter happened relatively fast and also it didn’t seem like he was fighting internally with himself much; again something I wish they went more in depth with, showing how strong Hyun’s character really is. Even with the flashbacks to his past, that they only used for a couple of episodes, they didn’t still do much to grow his character. 

The show makes him a total blank slate and a completely flat character throughout the show. He never grows to really be much of a character  and is definitely a weak spot in the show. 

Ji-su

Ji-su gets a decent amount of focus and attention in the show but her character does seem to be different than her comic counterpart. I think they did a good job on showing the relationship between Jae-heon and Ji-su. I think they capitalized really well on showing that working relationship. I wished they showed more of the growing relationship rather than kinda taking Ji-su out of the game with both her having her first nosebleed and then having her bursting appendix problem. Which I  don’t understand why they didn’t have her get hurt in the garage raid like in the comic? They could’ve kept the reasons the same to have the group attempt to go outside but instead they took her out, just to get the group to go out? I get maybe they were trying to ground the show in a bit more of reality by trying to show how no matter what situation anything is truly possible. Still however it kinda suck not seeing Ji-su in action

Another part I didn’t understand is Ji-su’s reaction to people around her turning into a monster. When Jae-heon and her come to Hyun’s rescue and find out he’s becoming a monster, she becomes aggro and tells Hyun that she’ll kill him. However later with Im Myung Sook (the lady with the dead baby girl) who she goes to check on after she watched her attack Protein, she seems so worried. Then when she sees the claws, she goes back to being aggressive and defensive towards her becoming a monster. It seemed odd to me because why was she so harsh with Hyun but then acts worried for a lady she’s seen get tossed by a giant monster? Did she really not think that she wasn’t becoming a monster after that? Those small little character decisions really threw me for a loop because I couldn’t wrap my head around how any other person who acts these two distinct ways to both people they don’t really know. Again I wish they also tried to pursue that relationship with her and Hyun. Overall her character is done pretty well in the show, I still enjoyed her character. 

Jae-heon (Jayhun)

The show I think pretty much nails most of Jae-heon’s character. I think they honestly did a great job of adapting his character. Jae-heon’s character is definitely my second favorite, as I liked the way they built him up in the story. I did enjoy the way they killed him off the show, that noble sacrifice was very well suited for him.

Lee Eun-Hyeok(Hyuk) 

Hyuk is the most comic accurate character for me and definitely was my favorite from the show. I think they did a great job establishing the coldness of his character but also growing to show his true caring side. One thing I don’t understand was the fact he decided to stay behind. I understand he was going back to see first if he could convince Hyun to go with the group but also that he was turning into a monster.  The rest of the group knows Ji-su was becoming a monster, why did he not just go with them as well? I didn’t see the point of letting himself get crushed by rubble whenever the group is also escaping with another person who is turning. I know this is probably to set up Eun’s sort ‘redemption’ arc in the next season and also maybe he could potentially return if they decide to bring him back. Overall I think that they did his character justice for the most part of the show, he was really well done. 

Lee Eun-Yu(Eun) Eun is a completely different character than her comic counterpart. She’s a total asshole throughout most of the show up until the last 2-3 episodes though until she finally decides to show an ounce of human emotion. Honestly I have no clue why they changed her character, it seemed like such a weird thing to do for this adaptation. Her character also stays pretty flat too which is seemingly funny because when she tries to do nice things, like comfort Ji-su after Jae-heon’s death, and explain her story of how she’s trying to repay her brother, it all fails to make me want to care for her. She was so aggressive from the jump and insanely rude to everyone. Usually the ‘take no shit’ kind of characters I do tend to enjoy, if done right they can be both badass, hilarious, and one of the greatest characters in any series. In this case however I just wanted her to stop being an ass to everyone. In the last few episodes, I see how they were really trying to show the change that was going to happen to her character but at that moment I couldn’t bring myself to even try to care really for her character. She’s definitely one of the worst adapted characters in the show. 

Wook

Wook I feel is an entirely different mess than Eun. I get changing things to make certain, not as fleshed out characters who are prominent in series have more importance but honestly I found it interesting they made Wook one of those, because he has a perfectly fine backstory in the comic. In the show they call him a ‘gangster’ a lot (which happens in the comic) but unlike the comic they never state that he’s an ex-police officer. It seems that in the show he’s sort of like a private detective (if you wanna call it that). The show makes him seem like this cool and collected tough loner who kinda just takes everyone else’s orders. In the comic he’s more of a secondary leader for the group which would have been a good element to see in the show is him and Hyeok butting heads. His character seems almost pointless, as he’s really only there to also do the ‘heavy lifting’ (missions) with Hyun. His character was another sort of 180 from his comic counterpart. I found his character to mainly be comical because he was unbothered by everything; he just didn’t give a fuck. 

Seo Yi-Kyung

I’m probably going to be the only one that says this but I did not care nor like her character. It’s because I hate the military subplot to this story and since that’s mainly where her story lies, I can’t honestly bring myself to like her. She’s too plot convenient and honestly I’m still trying to figure out what she’s going to gain when she finds her fiancé she knows was turning into a monster and apparently ‘changed’. I understand it’s probably closure but to go as far to sell out a child who you barely even know, to people you barely even know in hopes of maybe finding your fiancé, to only be again sad when you discover you aren’t going to be able to save him as he’s already a monster, I just don’t get it. It’s a very weak plot line in my opinion and again wish they didn’t add the military subplot. Her character too is another flat character, as she doesn’t go through much change only in changing her mind about selling out Hyun to the military when she realizes that it’s essentially not worth it. 

Criminals The criminals are just basic, on their very copy pasted stereotypical villain shit that we must ‘kill all monsters’ but oops we accidentally invited a half monster into our group. They annoyed the shit out of me and angered me even more as they somehow collectively got more kills than the monsters in this show. 

Jung Wooi-myung (the other half monster)

So from what I could tell Jung Wooi-myung is like this leech monster that didn’t die when Hyun stabbed him with his arm wing. He also probably infected Wook’s body in the end. He plays the generic role of convincing Hyun to join his side since people won’t ever accept monsters which is true. Ultimately didn’t even care for him.

(6) Hyun’s Monster Transformation

This needed to be its own category for the simple fact that the whole scene sequence was utterly atrocious. For starters why did there need to be a mini eclipse for Hyun to transform ONE arm into this barbed spiked wing? That seemed to be thrown in for aesthetic purposes more so than having an actual reason behind it, as this was something that did not happen in the comics. Hyun’s arms transformation just seemed so bizarre. I would have been perfectly fine if the show black veins rushing through his body and him being stronger because of it, sort of like how the comic does it. However this one arm wing just seems completely dumb to me. Why would you make it a barbed wing? Why not at that point do a blade arm or like something that’s also better at bludgeoning monsters with?

(7) Final Consensus 

I had initially come into watching Sweet Home with low expectations as time has taught me before that things I want that get live action adaptations may not always be that good. I set the bar low in hopes that the show would do something ultimately to get me happy and excited for watching it. Sweet home never hit that spot for me though. As I was watching I began noticing how the pacing seemed to just go out of it’s way on some points and there were continuity errors staring me right in my face. The story didn’t captivate me like the comic did, not even in the slightest. I spent most of my time watching, laughing because of the absurdities and then pondering why certain events had gone down the way the show did them. I understand that with adaptations things may change but I feel like with the adaptation with Sweet Home it changed too many key elements of the main story that were important for making the story what it is. My rating for Sweet Home is a 1/10. This definitely is not something I would watch again.

[lesbianrobin]

takeaways from "the bathtub" + “the upside down” :

1. KAREN CALLED STEVE'S PARENTS LOOKING FOR NANCY

2. speaking of nancy, the kids literally do not trust her at all fjvkfmcmf lucas is like well nancy might betray us but the chief wouldn't!! and mike does not want to answer her on the radio at all he immediately assumes she's working with the government

3. the kids.... i adore them.... dustin is so fucking funny he interrupts clarke's date then IMMEDIATELY hangs up on him the second he has the information he needs

4. joyce and jonathan hold hands while el is looking for will and barb. i just think that's very sweet and soft.

5. nancy does not react that much to finding out that barb is dead gjvjfncm she's just like :0 and then she's fine. obviously she isn't actually fine but i think natalia took "pushing down her grief to focus" a little too far to the point where nancy just doesn't seem too affected

6. nancy and jonathan both look so good in this episode the fits are TOP NOTCH. however, much later on, they also just abandon the kids at the school without telling them, which is not sexy, but THEN they break into the police station and steal a bunch of weaponry, which is EXTREMELY sexy.

7. hopper just knocking out all of those dudes to get the kids off the bus ... sexy

8. hopper effortlessly tossing all those bags of salt to jonathan who's like struggling to catch them and lift them and keep up is so fucking funny

9. when tommy threatens steve steve literally rolls his eyes like okay king !! go off bitchy boy!!

10. millie is so talented she makes every other person around her look bad like all the time ingfjjcjfc

11. i’ll be honest this post sat in my drafts for like three days and now i can’t remember what else i was gong to say so. here’s all i recall about “the upside down”

12. steve is the love of my life. when he goes back into the byers house and saves nancy and jonathan, he really does SAVE them. he single-handedly fends off the demogorgon with the bat, and then nancy and jonathan STAND BEHIND HIM as he defends them... it honestly fucked me up, seeing steve stand right in front of them, protecting them, no hesitation, nothing but a bat in his hands against a monster from another dimension... 

13. the monster hunting trio really does steal the whole episode. the kids are pretty cute, too, and el is a badass and she kills like ten people which makes me very proud of her, but that fucking trio scene... fuck, dude.

14. dustin carries el around through the hallways when she exhausts herself killing the lab goons, and it’s the most precious shit i’ve ever seen.

15. the kids were really about to fucking DIE when el was passed out on the table in the school. they were fumbling around for ammo for lucas’s wrist rocket, and even though the demogorgon just presumably sustained gunfire from trained soldiers, they were just... standing there, confident that if they could just get the rocks out of their backpack they could fend it off with a slingshot. stupid kings <3

16. when hopper goes to put food in the dropbox in the woods for el, he puts like... a single small tupperware full of something and like two or three eggos. he gives her like a single meal’s worth of food. is he going out there two or three times a day? is he just feeding el like fucking nothing? why doesn’t he give her anything besides food? i get that for cinematic reasons they wanted to make sure we saw him very slowly placing eggos in the box, but like... bro. she’s a child living in the woods. stop holding out on her goddamn.

17. speaking of hopper the whole part where he and joyce trudge through the upside down was so boring and drawn out... maybe if the upside down had more going on it would have been engaging, but it was mostly just like ughhhh are they there yet???

18. one great part of that, though, is when joyce goes through the byers house and jonathan recognizes that it’s her. you can like see the colored lights reflecting off of the tears in jonathan’s eyes and it’s so good.

19. will was just puking up slugs at christmas dinner and i feel like they never. addressed that in s2. like he was literally vomiting slugs into the bathroom sink and they just forgot about it

20. STONATHAN STANATHANS LISTEN UP: we know steve bought jonathan the camera, but do we all recall that steve was IN THE HOUSE when nancy gave it to jonathan? they were both in the wheeler house. steve intentionally asked nancy to deliver the camera to jonathan and not mention him. they were in the same house. perhaps even the same room. yes these are scraps but this is what we thrive off of

21. okay that’s all i’ve got right now :) 

[empty-dream]

Just watched 13 Reasons Why S4

Ended up making a full blown commentary per episode because this is finally the last season and I’ve been enjoying this mess since S1. I even forgot that it was released until a friend brought it up to me. So in short,

Ep1

OKAY WHO DIES AGAIN HUH??

Clay, narrating: *I'm good at hiding shits so my parents don't notice at all." His parents: *concernedly looking at him pale and mushing food on the dining table*

The concequences of investigating murder cases and creating conspiracies instead of studying your ass off because it's a damn school really caught up huh.

Charlie holy shit I love you he's so chill and good.

It's been years I still can't believe Justin is really adopted by the Jensens. Funny that now the table is reversed, with Justin finally actually doing better and taking care of the increasingly-ill Clay.

SCOTT!! OH MY GOD! SCOTT REED!! OH MY FUCKING GOD!! AAAAAAAAAAAAA HOLY SHIIITTTTTTTTT AAAAAAAAA!!!

Wow my headcanon is approved, he already graduated by S3. No reason he didn't hang out with the gang after all the shits in S2 if he was no longer around in the first place.

He's still so nice even in Clay's trippy nightmare. Is that what Clay remembers about him? Well not really surprising, considering Scott actually was worried about him in S2.

Good god finally Clay meets a therapist- Wait a minute that's the guy from CSI:NY?!?! Isn't Clay just gonna get clobbered instead.

Okay I knew they are really close and I do adore their relationship so much but HOLY SHIT THEY ACTUALLY GO AT IT WITH ALEX AND ZACH???

Alex: *panicking over the kiss* Zach: Ayy don't worry let's just continue perhaps-suicidally hanging out on dangerous rooftops that you were almost fall to your death from. Alex: ????

Ep2

That narration of Clay ranting about college applications. I'll drink to that bruh.

Ya I too make my applications and other supposedly important matters at 3AM instead of any other more sensible time.

Oh my fucking god that is the creepiest smile I've ever see.

I feel like as Justin gets better and better with his life, Clay goes worse.

Justin is so excited about going to college! You deserve the future man. 

The old-time stoners and drunkards are rehabbed or dead. Enter Zach.

Winston: *eyes and ears up to your shit 24/7*

Nobody likes Tyler in S1 but now everybody likes him.

Okay. Cops doing shit jobs at protecting. This feels too real with this situation right now.

Clay's adventure to put the trash into the trash bin.

Omg they got the paint to the lab this is going real CSI.

Idk about u but at this point I don't exactly want to pay attention to Jessica/Justin problems anymore.

I know Zach and Clay don't get along and that's why I need their adventure together.

Clay drunk-puking on Justin. Well well well how the turntables.

The return of Monet!!

"I have 2.8. If I work hard, I'll get 2.9" Winston omg same.

Tht held gaze between Alex and Winston.. Is this slow burn fanfiction???????

Yes Mr. CSI it will definitely get worse.

I know writing about your feelings can make you feel better but probably not in your college essay form.

Ep3

I'm starting to think Clay is the one who dies in the end? Idk tho.

I guess the toll of busting ass trying to save everyone by yourself is catastrophically high, huh, Clay? Funny that he now goes from 100 in S3 to 0 in here and that's actually realistic.

Alex and Winston are really pining each other with Zach in the background lmao.

"You don't wanna go on the Valentine Dance with me? Even as friends?" Well sometimes there are moments when you just don't go back to being friends. It's an actual normal thing.

And besides the last time Alex goes with Jess for something she wanna do, he ends up murdering somebody. So.

"Hey Zach. Hey punch me. Hey you pussy now? Hey hey. Bitch." *poke* *poke* *poke*

No Zach he's trying to save all of your asses. You can't just say that.

Charlie is really just there trying to do his best in this shitshow and like Justin I wanna laugh but also am proud.

Everyone: *being paranoid and unto each other* Alex and Winston: *having the date of their life*

I wish everyone doesn't have this level of trust issues but then again we won't have a shitstorm drama like this.

When did this become "what is love?" philosophy class?

"You know love but you love so fiercely and sometimes it hurts."Wow Mr. CSI you hit the mark.

How many parties can the Liberty High hold in a year?

"You go with Charlie to get back to Justin, right?" Wow Diego you HIT the mark.

I still have problems with Ani as a character, but I do like her casual banters with Clay.

You know, with all these trust issues, I'm surprised nobody actually tries to peek on other's phone. Like, I know that's low. But, you know, faster solution. And better than having mass hallucinations.

Oh God the football team really is a bunch of jerks. Good fucking thing Scott is outta here.

Alex and Winston almost die like couples in a cheap slasher movie.

"Fuck Love." Clay Jensen, 2019 (according to the movie timeline)

Ep4

Why is Charlie talking? Why is he wearing the football jersey? Who on earth dies?? Is it Zach? Justin? Somebody else from the football team? But the content of your speech man...

Ah yeah. Clay did survive a great big deal of many ugly shits. Single-handedly thanks to adrenaline, mostly.

Jess got a point tho. Ani could have followed Clay to stop him, by herself or with the gang. What did she do? She spied on Winston and Alex, and then went back to the dance. So much for handling anything themselves.

Or maybe, the gang shouldn't have let Ani and Clay take care of it themselves.

Does anybody in this show ever figure out Clay has dead people hallucinations?

Domestic Jensen family is my everything.

Charlie really out there bribing Zach with his homemade cookies I-

Ah yeah, I kinda forgot that in reality Alex and Winston have a really difficult situation. With Bryce and Monty stuff.

"Looking back on your time at Liberty, do you have any regrets?" Really? Isn't that all they have?

"Who do you trust most in your life and why?" Everybody: *immediately side-eyeing each other*

Clay c'mon wtf Justin is really just worried sick and trying to help you. Aaand he's gone.

Jess you don't put your hands into something without checking it first...

Why would you only send 2 adults to supervise 30-50 kids on a camping wildlife trip? They wouldn't be able to do shit.

"I thought you were a football player!" "I AM a football player! And so are YOU!" Gold.

Dream!Monty and Dream!Clay really sit like that and I almost laugh were it not for the fact that I do that too. It's strange to see that for once, they talk normally, heart-to-heart, without the usual snickering, chiding, all that venom.

Oh shit they really make Monty and Clay mirror each other like that. They both protect people they love but have tendencies to snap, one way or another.

Zach, dude, I know you've been a real good friend. But Alex almost died. Twice. Because of your drunken ways. And you laughed. Didn't you spend an entire season trying hard to not let him die again? What's wrong with you?

When did this become a horror movie?

The Standalls :((

CHARLIE MY MAN WITH HIS COOKIES. And incidentally, a wild Zach appears.

"So are we gonna fall apart or trust each other now!" Justin my man.

Clay dude that would have been an amazing entrance were it not for the fact you looked insane.

I can't fucking believe they just go normally at campfire like that. Two people almost died. Several got beaten. What the fuck.

Does it come from the bottom of your heart or it doubles as a threat, Clay?

Alex you had us at the first half not gonna lie.

GR A NO LA CA MP C O OKIES? ??

Wait. So who has been fucking around with the football team? Who moved Clay?? Huh??

Ep5

GUYS THERE IS A THING CALLED GPS ON THE PHONE?? What are you? 3?

Justin finally breaking down after 5 episodes being the most decent and healthy person around. Well Charlie is too but he's new, so.

Finally an obligatory meeting at Monet.

CYRUS AND THE PUNK GANG!!! God I love you guys where have you been. And you guys are computer geeks?!?!?! Perfect.

My question exactly, Clay. Good replies tho, Cy.

I'm still thinking how for a nerd, Clay knows A LOT of people and knows who to ask what.

"How am I even friends with you?" Ya Alex that's my question too. How are you suddenly bff with Zach? I don't remember you two being close in S1?

Hm. If you aren't holding his family at stake, there is no way Tony would even think to rat out.

Mr. CSI starts going CSI on Clay.

I almost forgot Charlie's last name is St. George. The cast goes by Charlie mostly so.

Justin really shows up at the party with the angry mom pose and disappointed look at Clay. The turntable, people. Flynn's voice got raspy.

Oh no no Clay you don't go there. Please don't split my Jensen-Foley brothers like that. Meanwhile the punk gang be like just watching there.

C O O KI E S??? Goddamn Charlie do you bring cookies everywhere you go??

Charlie my boy you T_T I was kinda suprised that the cookie baking actually had a sad backstory.

Clay-Zach bonding that I fucking wish for oh yeah. I definitely didn't expect it with piano and drunk singing tho.

While Clay is having the time of his life, Tony is seeing life flashes in his eyes.

Yassss he winssss!!!!

Caleb's expression when the sherrif hugs him lmfao

Nice try Sherrif but Tony knows your tricks.

"What of any of this is okay?" Wow things you'd never hear Justin says in S1.

Meanwhile, Charlie and Alex are high on weed cookies as fuck. Their conversation is the most interesting thing I've seen beside the Scott cameo till now.

The look on Justin's face when Clay pushes him :((

MY DUDES HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN ABOUT JEFF'S DEATH? WHAT HE WAS ACCUSED FOR?! You do not, under any circumstances, drive drunk.

Ep6

Clay be spitting truth.

They really be discussing Clay's chronic hero syndrome huh.

Okay. Operation Clay-Zach failed.

Weren't Zach all fuck it all yeah! kinda guy? Guess when you are the one who faces death it's not that fun anymore huh.

"One Clay Jensen is enough" Jess truth.

Do Alex and Charlie really study Spanish in front of Tony who is not helping at all? That would be embarrassing lmao.

Clay: Fuck off. Hallucination!Monty: *sits next to him*

Gotta hand it to Timothy Granaderos. He could go venomous to puppy eyed in 1 second. Amazing.

Man. School shootings are fucked up. There are many things I wonder about mankind and one of them is why is school shooting even possible?

Hallucination!Bryce: Hi I’m sorry I’m late. I hear this is time for Clay’s dead people hallucination party.

"Are you a hero or a martyr?" Wow they really throw the question.

And here is Clay sitting under the desk between his two most hated dead people hallucinations whispering moral dilemmas to him.

Meanwhile Winston and Zach got high.

Charlie helping Alex to breath.

The talk with Estella and Tyler.

"No offense, you are cool, but I don't wanna die with you." Zach chill lmao.

Are.. Are you sure outing that to Winston is a good call, Zach? For a guy who was super paranoid that his gang would narc him, he sure is loose mouthed himself.

I like how everyone from Tyler to Zach to Winston, admits that Alex is a really kind guy.

Wow Tony did you really expect anyone could do anything in that situation, in fucking Evergreen situation, for that matter?

Charlie is a great friend wow.

Cl-CLAY DON'T GO OUT that is EXACTLY what you are NOT supposed to do!!!

Goddamnit Clay. Holy shit Clay. 

Dylan Minnette really worked hard in this scene.

.......... WAIT A MINUTE IT'S NOW ACTUALLY CHARLIE ALEX????? Tony be just walking in.

Ep7

Clay really got into a psych ward. Talk about darkest hour. And it’s only ep 6?

Wow Ty that's some brave lines.

Which hallucination-induced person is Clay talking to before Ani gets there?

Ok that therapy session made me tear up.

These kids are having college interviews at the worst time possible. They are all fucking breaking down one way or another.

And Charlie just, really never gives up on Alex huh.

What's most important to Clay is his friends. Real quick to answer that question huh.

God Justin lashing out at the Jensens. It's the first time he does it and it hurts.

Zach holy fuck. I appreciate you didn't out it but holy fuck you didn't have to do that are you trying to die

Clay-Tony combo is back baby I miss them so much. Although perhaps Tony you would mind a bit about Clay's health because clearly he was out of it.

This is so short. I too really don't like application essays and interviews and the inevitable revisit of the sadder parts of my life because of them.

Ep8

When did this become sci-fi apocalyptic story?

God I miss the time when Clay's dreams are just Inception-styled trippy shit with Scott randomly says hello and gets him water.

Okay. Everyone's got their own way to cope with existential and moral crisis huh.

You know what, I would like one movie out of this sci-fi dream.

I knew it Tyler was a bait to smoke out illegal gun dealers. Is that... An okay thing to do for a high schooler? Sounds fucked up, all things considered.

Yaaay Justin's got the college! I'm super happy!

Wow Estella good question.

Wow Tyler good statement. If they trust each other a bit more, everything would have been a bit better.

Ah shit. Justin relapses again.

Does Tony need to be pummelled first before he finally goes all off to finish his opponent or what?

Is this going Big Brother Is Watching

What the fuck. That locker fight scene is disgusting.

Jess and Clay might throw shades at each other but together they share one brain cell.

"I think it's a walkout, Sir" Tyler lmao

Wow Zach and Alex heart-to-heart.

Cyrus really steps on some pedestal to make his point.

Aaand Zach and Alex really go all out on "doing it right" huh.

They really have students vs cops riot at this time. Talk about timing.

It's nice to see the punk gang enjoying the fighting again.

Dude what happens if you don't have anything on your bag tho.

Aaaah the punk gang with Tyler again!!

"Why are you with me and not with Charlie?" Zach ouch that hurts.

Zach no no no Zach get out of there too Zach pls

Clay really becomes 2nd in command to Jess huh.

Charlie tries to save Clay but gets whacked on the head instead. 

Tony you came back!! Oh so that college scout was.. Oh.

Oh shit Clay. Oh. Shit. I should have realized that. Goddamn.

Ep9

"I like sleep." Charlie me too. 

God Alex and Charlie literally sleep together jaldjwaownaljewoalsj that some cute shit.

Wow Clay really takes Mr. CSI's advice to round up the gang and confesses. That's a step.

Charlie sometimes has a good idea, huh.

The Jensens meeting is probably the reason why the idea of parenthood scares me.

Also Clay and Justin really put the practice of "tell the parents the less-harsh-but-still-harsh truth, then ask them to get prom back" by the book. And it's awkward.

Aww Charlie coming out to his dad and the response he gets... When you put the rich fams like Dempseys, Walkers and Saint Georges together, the last one is really the only healthy one huh.

Way to go Jess!

Ah I forgot Alex has an older brother.

Aaaahhh Charlie has dinner with the Standalls! Their reaction is so sweet!

"Does he make you happy?" "Yeah. A lot." AHDKWJWOAKDUWLAOEL I mean after everything that has happened to Alex, man I am so happy he can say that with a fond smile.

WHAT THE FUCK HAHAHAHHA CHARLIE WHAT THE FUCK HOLY SHIT LMFAO I THOUGHT THIS WAS JUST AN TRIPPY ANIMATED IMAGINATION THING and Alex is so done with his extra shit.

Wow Ani you do karaoke good, asking Jess out even better.

OH MY GOD IT ESCALATED. Also Alex is right that one is creepy Charlie.

I thought by special doughnut Caleb means some diet-related stuff fit to Tony's menu for fighting. Why didn't I expect a literal Will You Go To Prom doughnuts?

CHARLIE PLEASE STOP AHAHAHAHA you dumb rich kid where did you get all those lamps and prop candles.

"Would you love me any less?" Aww Clay knows Justin loves him.

"You three all look adorable" Ya Jess, same.

Tony really out there doing the "I'm here because he's here" to Caleb.

Clay, Alex, and Charlie be like judging Zach hard.

Oh right that one kid from Cyrus's gang is gay and he brought his boyfriend!

Zach: You two sitting here like it's a funeral. Also Zach: *proceeds to continue sitting as well*

"We deserve to live." Finally something from Zach's mouth that I can agree for this season.

I love that Tony and Caleb are such good friends to Clay.

And now it's Winston turn for dead people hallucination.

..... The door to the other side again.. :'''((

CHARLIE AND ALEX WON THE PROM KINGS AAAAAAHHHHHH I mean with all those extra efforts, it'd be hard to not to. And there goes Alex finally giving in to dance.

I don't like Luke the football guy when he's the enemy but I like him when he's a friend. He's a hype man lmao.

Alex I'm so happy for you man. I'm glad you are finally happy. My heart was tight at the dance part .

Everyone: *dances* Clay: *sits there, monologuing philosophically*

I like that Clay and Ani finally being honest that they don't fit each other romantically. As romance goes there is not much romantic tension between them. And they have way too many flawed traits that when paired, would turn the relationship sour and possibly toxic in the end.

Justin do u like to show up and make everyone step aside for you or what.

I like that Clay was just watching from a distance. Then at last minute decided to join the crowd with his mother, whom he had a few trust issues with in all seasons.

Charlie: "Foundry's gay?!" Alex: "Mind's blown" Me: Same.

There has been nothing wrong going on in one episode, aside from the Zach one that's timely stopped by Charlie and Alex. I'm suspicious.

Ah. Yes. Of course.

Oh my god Justin's the one dead huh?

Ep10

Oh thank God he hasn't died. Yet.

Oh God Justin no. No no no.

Get your shit together Zach. Even Charlie tells you that.

No no no not like this not after everything oh god.

Somebody would you actually please run after Clay too.

Oh my god Clay.

Oh my god Alex you. Even when he admits it to Winston, he still covers for Jess. I- oh god.

It's been only 15 minutes and it hurts.

Charlie and Alex, the moms of the group.

You know, for a guy who says he doesn't love Justin, Alex gives a lot of shit about him. I guess you can still be around people you don't like?

I know the kiss is huge news Charlie but that's not the issue here lmao.

Zach: *hugs Clay* Clay: ????? Alex and Charlie: ?????? Zach: *pats Tyler's head* *leans on Clay*

The Padillas :''')

Clay Jensen. Class speaker. Wow.

Yeah Mr. CSI's voice is really calm, rather chilling, actually.

"You've looked at death too many times for a young person." Damn right Mr. Jensen.

Ah so that's the reason why Zach stole that letter. Makes sense, emotionally.

You know, I did say Idc anymore about Justin/Jessica problems but when it gets to this point, I can't not care.

So many people come to the hospital...

Clay and Justin's talk. I'm sorry I can't hold it in anymore. I'm fucking sobbing at this moment.

He's dead. He's dead. He's dead just like his mom. But he died not in the same way. He died holding his bro's hand. He died surrounded by his family. He died with people who loved him around.

"After everything, this is how it ends." Fucck

DID HE HAVE TO DIE??? DID JUSTIN FOLEY-JENSEN HAVE TO DIE?? Did you really have to put yet another sucker punch in the last episode of the season?? Yeah I know real kids and people do die from AIDS but really? After a whole season of Clay screaming kids wants to live to the point he lost his mind???

I spent the entire funeral screen crying. I couldn't even scream again when Scott is present in the funeral. I know he'd be there but god I can't right now.

Mr. CSI sure knows super effective ways to make Clay react.

"If Justin's dead, the none of the rest of it matters. " Clay..

He opens up.

Oh yeah I forgot Charlie is a junior.

AAAA COURTNEY AND RYAN ARE HERE!!! I MISS YOU GUYS!!!!!

SCOTTTTT!!!!!! And CHLOE TOO!! It’s nice that they come together. But they aren’t like, together, right? I mean if he is her boyfriend she would say his name right away to Zach instead of a mere ‘would you like to meet him? He’s outside.’

These 4 are such good friends to attend their friends’ graduation ceremony.

The punk guys in toga are so... Refreshing to look. Such hype men.

"It's easy to hate. It's easy to fear. It's goddamn hard to love. But it's not optional. It's essential." Jessica Davis, everybody.

Jeff, Hannah and Justin really died in the span of 2 years. Add to that is Bryce and Monty, whose deaths left uncountable traumas on top of existing traumas. Yeah. It was hellish time.

Scott’s proud small smile when Clay gives his speech. Im love.

"Choose to live. Even on the worst day, life is a pretty spectacular thing." Clay Jensen, everybody.

Ma boi Zach really teared up at Clay's speech. 

Luke and one of the punk kids talking about some geek thing I am not familiar with I-

“No offense Luke. You’ve got great arm but you haven’t been known for your brain.” PETER That BURNS LMAO

Poor Winston just being alone. OH HELLO RYAN YOU ARE FAST.

Zach is gonna study music! Nice foreshadowing since he plays a lot of music this season.

Clay having a gratitude moment with his parents and Scott be like munching cupcakes in the background.

Oh god Hannah ...

Wow the old tape gang is here!! The nostalgia hurts.

They bury the tapes on the same hill again asdfwosaiofai.

Kinda salty Sheri and Scott aren’t here. But then again I guess back then Scott was just helping Clay and co when he could and mostly minding his own business. HOWEVER isn’t Sheri like in the tape and pretty prominent too :(( Like she was really cool with Clay (despite the whole guilt over Jeff), tried to make amends and really helped with the polaroid cases.

Also you can't just insert Scott in Clay's dream and then not have them interact in the end. The dream was such a perfect bait. Like we know at least they apparently get along well.

Everything in Jessica’s final conversation with her Bryce hallucination. Everything in it.

Ryan: “Gordon Lightfoot?” Ha Ryan you miss a whole lot of drama.

Fuck I'm tearing up again at Justin's essay. He deadass makes an entire essay about Clay and how he is his savior I- 

Oh my god they end it exactly like S1 with Tony and Clay riding away. They are really each other’s ride or die.

That’s it. It’s over. It’s been a long trainwreck. So the 2019 class graduates, so does Justin, they are doing uni right now and keeping in touch with everyone. Bye.

[sweetmoons]

Stranger things season 3 review

Sorry about how long this is tumblr mobile doesn't allow me to put in a read more link. I want to preface this by saying that this is my opinion and if you don't agree with me that's totally cool and I'm open to discussion but if you're rude I'm not even going to reply. I also want to establish some things that could make me biased: I've been a will 'stan' since season 1 along with also shipping byler/byeler during season 1 so I will say that when it comes to relationships I'm quite biased but I'll try my best to support everything I think with facts. I'm gonna separate all my thoughts into parts sorry if it gets supper long.

Acting:

Okay I just wanted to get this one out of the way first. The acting was amazing this season as usual and Millie really did a great job on El's character. I have no issues with the actors so everything in this review is targeted towards story.

Main plot:

Before going into specifics about characters I want to address the actual main plot of the show. So how I would explain it is Russians are in Hawkins cause they've figured out about the other dimension and want to open the gate for military use (I think?????), while this is going on the mindflayer is possessing a shit load of people to create a huge monster to kill El cause as far as the mindflayer know shes the only one who can kill it. Alright that's the base of it but there are some issues I have with the plot. First off I feel like it's very all over the place, the past 2 stranger things seasons have had multiple factors going on at once but the common theme between them is that they all had one major focus season 1 was finding Will season 2 was figuring out what was wrong with Will then saving him, but I really can't pinpoint what the motivation is this season. Each character it seemed had a different driving factor that just happened to lead them all to the same place where they didn't know what the fuck to expect. [This is not necessary to read so if you want to skip go back to where its normal text but I just want to point out what I mean by them not having a common goal. Nancy and Jonathan's driving force was Nancy wanting to find answers for a news story she was doing. Joyce and Hopper's driving force was joyce thinking something fishy is going on and hopper tagging along with her. El, Max, Lucas, Mike, and Will's driving force is the fact that Will senses that the mindflayer is still alive. And lastly Steve, Dustin and Robin's motivation is pretty much "my job sucks let's see what this Russian radio frequency I found means" which sounds about right for them] That frankly gave me a vibe like I was being pulled in ten different directions while watching the show. I didn't really feel like there was any order and it felt all over the place like it didn't know what to do next. It almost feels like they had a beginning and an end and just shoved through the middle and filled it with random shit. My second issue with the plot is why are the Russians suddenly the only enemy and we're just cool with the American government that we are aware tested on people??? Why did our enemies just switch and why dont we get an explanation of how the Russians know about the gate? The last thing with the plot I'm gonna touch on is the mindflayer/big bad monster made of molten people. So I just wanna say uhh I'm full on confused when it comes to the mindflayer. So it's never established if they closed the gate and accidentally trapped the mindflayer in their world or if the Russians opened the gate and let it back in because if it's the first one I don't see the point in adding the whole Russian story line. Also what exactly is the mindflayer and what are its powers because it completely changed between season 2 to season 3. If the mindflayer can posses multiple people why was Will the only one possessed in season 2 and how come he was able to with stand and over come the mindflayer so much easier than everyone else in the show? That shit just threw me for a loop. Alright I think that's all my concerns with the main part now let's get to the fun stuff.

Relationships:

Hooooooo boy do I have opinions on relationships.

Mike and Eleven: What the FUCK was that???? It was literally painful to watch. I do think some of their moments were cute especially in the first episode but after like halfway through the first ep it just became painful to watch. This isn't just me saying this because I'm not into mileven I'm saying this because I genuinely think it's bad writing. I really do think Mike and Eleven should have discovered themselves and developed their characters more before putting them in a fully committed relationship. Also Mikes whole character was the fact he was dating el and it was really disappointing.

Lucas and Max: This might be an unpopular opinion but I feel the exact same about Lucas and Max I do about Mike and El which is really disappointing cause I really do love Lumax. Everything felt so awkward and I just wanted them to stop fighting over romance bull shit and just be friends.

Eleven and Max: Their relationship single handedly saved this season and made it enjoyable to watch (other than a couple others). Their friendship is exactly what they both need and I'm glad they confided in one another.

Will and Mike: Strap on boys cause I'm about to go off. WHAT IN THE LIVING FUCK WAS THIS SHIT. Mike was acting completely out of character. He went from loving and caring about Will to making him an after thought for the entire season. Will fucking followed him around like a puppy being ignored before he snapped and quiet frankly I'm glad he snapped because he doesn't deserve to be treated like that but right after he snaps Mike goes back doing the SAME THING DUDE. WILL IS STILL AN AFTERTHOUGHT. They have been friends since kindergarten, befriending will is apparently the best thing Mike has ever done, Mike would not leave will's side the entirety of season 2, but now he like doesn't pay attention to will half the time. This is lousy writing and I'm sorry to say it but the duffers cant seem to write relationships well, unless this is on purpose and this is planned for Will's future character arc because it definitely wasn't for Mike to progress as a person because he fucking DIDN'T. They just really fucked Mike's character this season because he was only concerned about El the whole season and it was soooooooo frustrating.

End:

I have more little things I think but I'm cutting this short before I piss myself off way too much. I did enjoy watching this season because I just adore seeing the characters and also the like 3 byler scenes we got had me living. Obviously this is just what I think and I want to hear what you all think too, please keep it friendly.

[blapisblogs]

With both battles won, it's been some day. For a moment Chris points out that if Eggman hadn't shown up in the Egg Fort and made them crash they wouldn't have known about the "dam" and thus wouldn't have been able to save it. That's also without going into how Eggman single-handedly destroyed all the progress the Russian dudes had made, or how he was what stopped them from setting the preservation on fire. Somehow Eggman became the stealth hero of this episode without knowing it. Oh my god.

Well, that was something. I'm glad they brought up Tails's past, I'm just not sure that this was the best way to bring that up. Also, yeah, it's an environmental episode, but... I dunno, it's odd. I do know one thing though.

Crikey, Eggman the crocodile fighter is a hilarious mental image.

[the-archetype-of-civilization]

THIS IS ALL OPINION, YOU DON’T HAVE TO LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT.

ALSO, SPOILERS FOR MANY THINGS AHEAD.  READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I think there are many reasons why people love villains so much.  Some because they identify their problems with themselves, or understand their motives to a reasonable extent.  Some because they just enjoy a good villain with evil intent to ruin the order set in a universe.  But one thing brings almost all of it together that solidifies both arguments for a villain that needs to be explored and understood more in order for villains to truly feel like villains and inspire the fear that they create: proof, a show of strength.

There are many different villains I could describe that fit the bill to each parts of what makes a good villain.  One that I believe many reasonably understand and agree with in terms of villainy is the MCU character Killmonger, a tragic character forced to live under the weight of being orphaned by the very people he was born into, and realizing the true extent of the racism bred all around the world.  Though, in my opinion, his actions were underwhelming in terms of the fear he wanted to create.  While he did display his strength in defeating T’Challa single-handedly and almost created a genocidal raid across the globe, there wasn’t enough screen time with him to truly show just how much of an imposing threat he was (killing civilians does not count, it’s an easy way out for them).  A menace requires fear instilled from consequence.  If you build up a villain to do something monumental and with tons of repercussions and stop it at the last minute where everything is peachy keen, his imposing-ness is null despite any of the speeches he (convincingly) makes.  Ultron is a villain I think that I think is in a similar vein, but very close to being a true villain in my eyes because the dude was literally about to destroy Earth with a hand-made meteor and that was a sight to behold.  But, despite having a charming(?) personality for a robot that’s supposed to display overblown (not subtle or underwhelming) cynical, nihilistic, and misanthropic tendencies (and yes, that is a very big gripe of mine as a fan of Ultron from the comics!), Ultron didn’t do much in his time to show how villainous he was aside from killing off Quicksilver (which wasn’t much of an impact considering that it was his first time appearing on the main screen and was killed off right then and there.  It’s more of a shock for the movie industry than it is in terms of story).  Also, that movie design was absolutely hideous!  His robot army design was perfect, but his main design completely goes against who he is!  He’s not supposed to look more human, he’s supposed to be a robot that hates humans!  He shouldn’t look like them with fucking teeth and pupils!

Those last two were hard to find at the top of my head, but for these villains it’s pretty easy to find.  There are plenty of villains that can create monumental and horrifying destruction, but still be underwhelming in terms of personality.  While they don’t have to necessarily be agreeable or even have understandable motives, personality is what drives the character across.  The standard “I’m evil because I’m evil” could work as long as they have the flair for it.  Darth Vader fits the mark as a terrifying villain with a “evil” personality but gets away with it by being a tragic character in his own right.  Exdeath from Final Fantasy V I believe fits this bill rather well considering the amount of destruction he causes in the world, but has an underwhelming personality of “I WANT TO DESTROY EVERYTHING BECAUSE I’M EVIL,” even thought he’s my personal favorite FF villain.  But sometimes it’s okay to have a standard villain of being evil for the sake of being evil if the actions that they do are monumental to the plot.  But, this is just a personal opinion of mine.  Kefka and Sephiroth can be argued to be great FF villains, creating mass chaos and killing important characters with evil intent and ruthless personalities.

And then, there are ones that do absolutely neither.  Snoke, having an underwhelming personality and no threats to show for it (the Starkiller base represents the First Order, not Snoke himself personally).  This, unfortunately, goes the same way for the Night King in Game of Thrones.  An interesting and fearsome character and exudes fear from his mere appearance, shows little to nothing about how fearsome he is.  Despite being the brains for the White Walkers, he himself doesn’t do anything monumental or show the personal fear that he himself could instill regardless of his army.  A villain is only imposing by himself when there’s no one to help him.  If he can get the job done himself, he’s sure to be feared.  The Night King hasn’t succeeded in that.  Despite him making an attack at Hardhome, killing one dragon and weaponizing it on the Wall and at Winterfell (briefly, I should say), he doesn’t show anything that he can personally do that would create fear when it’s just him and with no army.  Other than raising people from the dead, we haven’t even seen him fight anyone!  Nothing that shows how he can personally hold his own in a fight.  And I’m sure some can argue that maybe he doesn’t care or need it, but why focus on him at all then?  Why go through the effort to make us fear the White Walkers (a foe that EVERYONE fears) and find the leader that gets killed so quickly and so easily without even making people suffer the consequences of crossing him?  The Golden Company was something far worse, however!  A so-called “fearsome” sell-sword faction completely annihilated in one episode of their physical introduction?!  Bullshit!  There are plenty of villains here that I could mention that can’t achieve fear or motive here, but I’ll save it for these two examples considering that these two were the ones I was very frustrated with.

But, there are two villains that I can think of right now that fulfill motive and fear right off the bat.  The main one (that I’m sure many of you saw coming) is the MCU’s version of Thanos.  No doubt, someone that has an understandably flawed and warped sense of destiny and justice, believing genocide of an entire universe to be “merciful” and saving it from destruction.  It’s absolute brilliance, especially compared to Thanos in the comics, that really fulfills the role of “the Mad TItan” more than the MCU version.  And that’s not to count just how much chaos he has created over the course of 22 films.  Despite being seen in small cameos and brief snippets and mentions, Thanos was someone to be feared in the MCU that many people were eagerly awaiting to see finally revealed in Infinity War.  And he achieved it in spades.  A villain that is absolutely ruthless with his enemies, despite being understanding and honorable about their goals. Imagine beating up the Hulk in 1-on-1 combat so much that he’s not angry anymore and refuses to be.  That’s a feat in itself.  And even while utilizing the Infinity Gauntlet, he can hold his own in a battle against 7 of the greatest heroes in the universe that almost got it off of him!   He pulled a fucking moon down on a planet right after, too!  And the coup de grace of it all was of course the snap heard throughout the universe: the Decimation.  And he succeeded in his mission and rested, like he said he would.  He wasn’t evil because he wanted to be or was vengeful about what happened: he believed himself to be a savior, someone that was willing to do what others wouldn’t.  And even without the Infinity Gauntlet, the guy won’t quit and is still ridiculously strong in a fight with just a double bladed sword in Endgame!  A perfect movie villain rarely shows itself, and Thanos was definitely one of those and I hope we see more that follow in his footsteps.

The secondary villain that I think of (that not many would understand) is Ardyn Izunia, or Ardyn Lucis Caelum, from Final Fantasy XV.  Hajime Tabata aimed to make FFXV’s villain to be better than Kefka and Sephiroth combined.  Now, that’s a gamble.  Considering how memorable and iconic both villains are, it would be very hard to accomplish something like that.  But, in my eyes, I believe he did.  Ardyn is a very tragic character, a Christ-like figure that wanted to cure the people of the land from the Starscourge that plagued them.  He would absorb the disease and cure them, unlike his brother Somnus that would kill them mercilessly.  After his fiancee was killed by Somnus himself, branded as a traitor and demonized by the people that he cured, denied ascension to the throne by the Crystal, and abandoned by the Astrals that were by his side.  Fueled by hatred for his betrayal on almost all fronts (including his fiancee, he believes), he seeks to end the Lucis bloodline and destroy the world that the Astrals created out of vengeance.  Hey, if you found out that you were simply a tool used for the gods to fix the shit that THEY fucked up themselves, you’d be pissed too (*cough*Noctis*cough*).  And boy did he show them what for.  He becomes chief commander of Nifleheim’s military, including weaponizing people as daemons, using Magitek to ascend to military supremacy, and seizing all of the crystals in the world until all point to the last one located inside Insomnia.  Not only that, but he kills Noctis’ childhood sweetheart and he brings the entire world to ruin for years to come while Noctis was inside the Crystal.  Ardyn basically did what both Kefka and Sephiroth achieved individually: bring the world to ruin and kill a pivotal character/love interest, respectively.  And he can seriously hold his own in a fight, able to use the same powers that Noctis can easily.  He even used Ifrit (an infernal Astral!) as a puppet!  That level of hatred for a bloodline is something palpable.

That’s why it’s so important to show your intent just as much as it is to say it.  Both go hand in hand and it’s what creates arguments and discussions like these, so we are able to analyze and study villains as integral and important characters in entertainment.  And to discover the darker sides of humanity that lives and resides within all of us, so we can better learn ourselves and how to control the demons inside all of us.

Honorable mention: With the new Star Wars movie coming out soon, I’m super hyped to see the Knights of Ren making a return!  J.J. definitely did an awesome move by bringing them back, and there’s something so appealing about them.  Something about organized personal goons for the main baddie is a concept that I always love to compare and explore.  It’s why I loved the Praetorian Guard from The Last Jedi so much.  Same for the Nazgul from The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies, the Black Guard from Tron: Legacy, the K-Tron units from Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and the Heavensward from Final Fantasy XIV.  Despite them not having much screen time, or little to no dialogue whatsoever, the times they do appear, their main objective is to eliminate the threats before them with extreme prejudice.  Their main concept overall is action with little dialogue and achieving the simple goal that the viewer can already assume, and that’s something that I absolutely adore.  Costume designs are also a huge plus, because goddamn do they all look good!

[waveridden]

FIC: you’ll always be my happy ending

A love story, told through articles, transcripts, tweets, and a very popular song. Parker/Cib, celebrity AU, 1.8k.

AUcember || title lyric || Ao3

#

1. Article from Teen Vogue, Dec. 2017 issue

Fast Five: Things You Need to Know about Cib by R. Scully

Clayton James, better known as Cib, put out one of the biggest alt-pop records of the year with Songs From Every Coast. His meandering lyrics, smooth vocals, and surprising production have earned him fans around the world. He’s also notoriously private, but we here at Teen Vogue sat down with him to get five must-know facts.

Yes, he’s like that in real life. (Sort of.) It’s been a big debate between fans whether his stage persona - kind of a goof, an idiot but in a fun way - is an act or actually who he is. But he says the truth is somewhere in the middle. “I can do basic things,” Cib says, “but I think anyone who says they’re totally competent is either lying on purpose or just wrong. Like, haven’t we all microwaved silverware before? We all make mistakes, I just play them up on stage.”

His first guitar was named Sheila. “Not for any reason, I think I was going through an Australia phase. You know, the Australia phase that every kid goes through. I thought it’d be cool.” His current guitars? Annie, Melanie, Sally, and one that he says is a secret.

He hated riding bikes as a kid. “I do it all the time now,” he laughs, “but when I was a kid? Nah, dude, I fell off constantly. Crashed it more than once My balance was s***. I’m way more coordinated now. I think it’s all the choreography.”

The headband started as a joke. If you’ve seen more people wearing headbands lately, that’s no accident: that’s Cib’s brand. But he says the brand was a total accident. “My friend Steve bet me I wouldn’t,” he says, “and all it takes is one or two photoshoots, a couple of paparazzos, and bam, you have a brand.” Lucky for him, he didn’t mind leaning into it: “I think it’s a good look, don’t you?”

Mr. Mcghghy is real, and he’s not who you think he is. Easily the most popular song off Songs From Every Coast, “Dear Mr. Mcghghy” sparked waves of speculation in fans. The song is obviously a love song, written to someone who’s only ever called Mr. Mcghghy. And who is he? “Someone I was friends with as a kid,” Cib says. “We had nonsense nicknames for each other, and his was Mr. Mcghghy. He was definitely my first crush, looking back, but I don’t really know where he is these days.” And what was his childhood nonsense name? “Aw, dude, it was Cib. Of course.”

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2. Excerpt from Song Exploder, episode: Cib - Dear Mr. Mcghghy

“Okay, first of all, because I know everyone’s asking about it: yes, Mr. Mcghghy is real, but I don’t remember his real name. When I was younger, I used to spend my summers visiting family in North Carolina - it was actually a big inspiration for this album as a whole. When I say it’s from every coast, you know, I mean it’s from every coast. East, west, Canadian, American, it’s all in here.

“But I used to go down to North Carolina for a month every year, and there was this kid who lived down the street from my family. He was a couple years older than me, and I don’t remember a lot about him, because we were kids, and kids don’t know how to pay attention to shit that’s going to be important. But he was a little older, had curly hair, and was totally okay with bratty little me dragging him on adventures all over his city. He said he’d seen it all before, but I was seeing new things, and that was part of the song.

“The nicknames just came out of nowhere. We picked our own, although I think one of my cousins had already been calling me Cib. I don’t remember why he picked Mcghghy, but he was always really, really specific about how it was spelled. I made up a song to help me remember, and you can actually hear that melody in the background of the chorus…”

#

3. Interview with The Sami Jo Show on iHeartRadio (Dec. 8, 2017)

SJ: Okay, okay, so here’s the question on everyone’s mind.

C: You sure about that?

SJ: It’s on my mind, and I think it’s a thing a lot of people are curious about. What’s your favorite song off your album?

C: Oh, f***- wait, s***, I can’t say that on air, can I?

SJ: I mean, you can say it. The people won’t hear it.

C: Good to know. I mean, I can’t pick, right? They’re all my favorite. I put a lot of time into every one of them.

SJ: Top three?

C: God, that’s still so hard! Uh, Gold Rush, because it’s f***ing catchy as all hell. Does hell get bleeped out?

SJ: Nope. Don’t kids listen to your music?

C: I mean, I say f*** on their album. I think I’m single-handedly responsible for a lot of parents teaching their kids about swear words.

SJ: Like many great artists before you.

C: And some not-so-great ones too.

SJ: Of course. So, come on, top three.

C: S***! Um… I Don’t Mind? And then Dear Mr. Mcghghy.

SJ: Oh, I was hoping you’d bring that one up. Because, as a lot of people know, Mr. Mcghghy is a real person.

C: Yeah, he is.

SJ: And you don’t know who he is?

C: I don’t know! And a lot of people think that I’m lying when I say that, that I’m just trying to protect his privacy. A few people think we’re actually secretly married - we’re not, by the way. I legit don’t know where this guy is, or what he’s up to anymore.

SJ: Do you think he’s heard the song?

C: I think it’d be hard not to, it’s kind of popular. Ugh, humble brag, gross.

SJ: And do you think he knows it’s about him?

C: Maybe! Never say never. Mr. Mcghghy, if you’re out there, hit me up. We can get coffee.

SJ: [laughing] And you can tell Cib your real last name.

C: Please! Please, god, so many people spell it wrong, your last name has to be easier to spell than Mcghghy.

SJ: What if it’s not?

C: Don’t- don’t jinx it! [laughing] Don’t cast your last name magic, Siedband!

SJ: Whoa, hold on, let’s not bring my last name into this, I haven’t done anything wrong?

C: Haven’t you? [Sami Jo laughs] Haven’t you?

#

4. A tweet from Cib (@maybeCIB) on Twitter, with replies

Clayton James @maybeCIB kinda miss North Carolina but now I’m old enough to know better

Andrea Whatt @piecesofwhatt Replying to @maybeCIB :( but what if Mr. Mcghghy is waiting for you there?!

evan @evannumbers Replying to @maybeCIB never come back to this state

Tiara, throwing sparkles @theycallmera Replying to @maybeCIB Nooooo most of NC is fine, we swear!

Parker Coppins @pcoppins Replying to @maybeCIB Did you write a song about me?

#

5. Direct Messages between @maybeCIB and @pcoppins

@maybeCIB: Dude

@maybeCIB: I think I might’ve?

@pcoppins: I think you might’ve too

@maybeCIB: how can we confirm

@pcoppins: Uh

@pcoppins: Every year you insisted on eating a ton of saltwater taffy even though you thought it was gross because you thought it’d make it easier for you to open your eyes in saltwater

@maybeCIB: Oh my god

@maybeCIB: it’s you?

@pcoppins: It’s me

@maybeCIB: no way

@maybeCIB: how’ve you been dude

@pcoppins: You keep saying my hair is curly

@maybeCIB: is it not curly anymore??

@pcoppins: No it’s definitely curly I just want to know why that matters so much

@maybeCIB: I don’t think it does

@maybeCIB: it’s just sort of whimsical

@maybeCIB: kind of my brand

@pcoppins: It always was when we were kids too

@maybeCIB: okay so

@maybeCIB: Coppins?

@pcoppins: I can’t believe you actually forgot my last name

@maybeCIB: well what did you remember about me??

@pcoppins: Apparently more than you remembered about me

@maybeCIB: well yeah that’s not hard

@maybeCIB: also sorry for, like, writing a love song about you when I haven’t seen you since I was eleven

@pcoppins: no it’s okay

@pcoppins: it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize it was about me

@maybeCIB: don’t tell me you forgot about mcghghy?

@pcoppins: Oh I remembered it I just thought it was a coincidence

@maybeCIB: really

@pcoppins: Yeah

@pcoppins: And then I heard your Song Exploder

@maybeCIB: oh my god

@pcoppins: Also for the record

@pcoppins: I live in LA now

@maybeCIB: Iiiiinteresting

@pcoppins: so you don’t have to come to NC to see me

@maybeCIB: hey so can I get your number

@maybeCIB: we should do coffee sometime

@maybeCIB: but like, nowhere obvious, because I do have fans who will drag you into a spotlight if they think you’re Mr. Mcghghy

@pcoppins: but I am

@maybeCIB: dude trust me it’d be better to save that for later

#

6. Excerpt from Star Magazine’s gossip section

MEETING MR. MCGHGHY?: Self-proclaimed “weird pop” singer CIB was spotted in L.A. this past weekend in a coffee shop with a mystery man. He’s tall, curly-haired, and as the song to Cib’s hit “Dear Mr. Mcghghy” goes, he has a starlight smile. Could this be the man who stole America’s collective hearts?

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7. Cib’s acceptance speech for Favorite Breakout Artist, at the People’s Choice Awards

[Cib, standing in front of the podium, clears his throat and looks at a camera operator.]

“Whoa, oh my god, how much time do I have? ...ohhh, that’s not enough. Not enough. I want to say thanks to my family, to my parents, because when I said “Mom, Dad, I think I want to do music,” they both sort of went “yeah, sounds okay.” Thank you to Steve, who learned all sorts of weird music stuff and figured out how to explain it to me. Thank you to my label, thank you to my producers and co-writers and graphic designers. I don’t think most people realize what a team effort it is to make an album, but it involves so many people, and if I could name you all I would, but-”

[The orchestra begins to play, signifying time running out.]

“Ah! Ah, okay, last things, I want to thank the people, for voting for this, you did that on purpose and that’s so crazy. Thank you to all my fans, to every radio station who ever played one of my songs. And thank you to Parker, the best accidental muse I could ever have. Love you, man. Let’s go Broilers!”

[The orchestra music swells. Cib goes back to his seat, and a camera follows him. On the television broadcast, a voiceover announces what will be coming after the commercial break. Just before the feed fades out, Cib reaches his seat. A tall man with curly hair jumps out of his seat, smiling widely, and Cib reaches up, pulls his head in, and kisses him.]

[fadeoftheinternet]

Fall Out Boy Mania, 1 Listen Review

Guys, I’m not gonna lie, I was a little worried about Fall Out Boy after Champion came out last year. I didn’t think the album was sounding as good as it could be. When they announced it was being pushed back to make a better product, it was as though my heart could beat again. I’ve heard the singles and was a little bummed when the album was only 10 songs. That’s short and to the point without a lot of room for error. So how did they do? 

Below is my Mania 1 listen Review!

Young and Menace. I understand why it’s so divisive in the fanbase, but I freaking LOVE THIS SONG. It’s a jam. Patrick Stump definitely is beginning the album with the same opening pomp as the last two fall out boy offerings. As an opener, it makes total sense. The placement gives you the feeling that this album is going to be a journey. For a song that’s nearly a year old, it sounds fresh. It’s not dated even though it probably should be. The Patrifications during the last minute of the song sound even better with the context that this is a palette cleansing album while also giving you vintage fall out boy. Plus, I love Andy’s drums!

Next up is Champion. Now, those of you who heard my first reaction know that I wasn’t a really big fan of Champion when it first came out. I felt like it was an easy ESPN pick up. I understand it’s place. It sounds natural coming after YAM. It keeps the energy. I still love the champion for the people who don’t believe in champions line. I can’t listen to the song without imagining it being retroactively added to a Rocky montage. Sylvester Stallone, this is the Balboa anthem you’ve been waiting for. For all you gym junkies and those that are just trying to reach 30 steps without breaking into a sweat, Champion is for you

Third song and first non single. Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea. Now that’s a title. I was like, am I missing something? Is this like a Sugar Honey Iced Tea situation? I was like SFRMT doesn’t mean anything. Oh well, lemme listen to the song. WHOA!!! I wasn’t ready for that intro. Holy crap. Early favorite. The vocals sound like Brendon Urie was in the studio and Patrick was trying to show him who’s boss. ARE YOU SMELLIN THE ——. Okay this chorus meant to be screamed by fresh faced teenagers who still believe in emo. “ALL MY CHILDHOOD HEROES HAVE FALLEN OFF OR DIED!” GFD PETE YOU KILLT EM THAT’S A DISS TRACK. This nigga Pat is singing in French. oh shoot. This song feels like, OH SHOOT BREAKDOWN, it feels like what I imagine elevator music on Planet Cybertron sounds like. Man, don’t let Michael Bay hear this song or it’ll be in the next ill fated Transformers movie. Dang, freaking jam.

Hold Me Tight or Don’t. OK. By far my favorite of the music videos released. Oh wait, Wilson is dope AF though. I like the bounce to this album. Initial reactions are I was right about this album sounding like Infinity on High mixed with ABAP. OF YOUUUUUU OF YOUUUUU. Dang, thats a freaking chorus. I imagine white girls everywhere singing to their friends, heads bobbing side to side, “Hold me tight….or don’t.” Yeah this song feels like the one that made the label believe again. BUT WE ALWAYS BELIEVED BECAUSE BELIEVERS NEVER DIE! Dang I took too many hits off this memory is a bar. Pete you haven’t lost your pen game. Nigga out here penning Drake songs nowadays. This song is anthemic. These dudes just know how to craft a sing a long. PATRICK IS THERE NO NOTE OUTSIDE OF YOUR RANGE GFD DUDE. Andy, you are a star with the drums, but let me not sleep on Joe’s guitar work. This song has you singing the chorus before you’re even done with the first listen. Definition of an ear worm. I imagine this is going to be a bonus song on Pixar’s Coco

Halfway through and FOB drops my favorite of the pre album singles. This song makes me feel like I’m driving in Las Vegas with college friends and making memories we’ll look back on. Dang. Windows are definitely down. That bass. Pete’s not just a writer, he’s got the groove on this song. CAUSE YOU’RE THE LAST OF A DYING BREED I WONDER IF YOUR THERAPIST KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT ME. Oh man, is this a love song in the most FOB kind of way? Don’t let anyone tell them they don’t use real instruments anymore. I am a collapsing star with tunnel vision, but only for you. What does that even mean? No one knows what it means but it’s provocative. Patrick, you can’t expect to be singing all of these live right? Like your voice will be shot. That guitar riff has me like, “nananananaaaaa” The bridges on this album have me like, “ooh issa bop.” I can’t even sing a long to fall out boy songs anymore. I just gotta shut up and hear Pat wail.

Wilson. Okay, have ya’ll seen the video? It’s great. such a meme. now honestly, i hate the way that this song begins. I just hate the vocal melody. But after the second talkin about i’m all in. This song was meant to be put in a California Hot Topic, you know the kind where it’s all emo but everyone is West Coast beautiful? That darker color line is going to be some angsty teen’s senior quote. Do people still need to find someone to teach them how to Dougie? Because this song has that level of groove to it. It’s the same type of style as like an America’s Suitehearts, in the sense of a dense chorus with a great rock to it. Man, after this album, i gotta say, it might be time to bust out the black eyeliner again. Man, i gotta find my skiniest jeans and shrink them again. This album, upon the first 6 songs, is better than ABAP. Wow. HITS. And then the ending is gorgeous

Church. TAKE ME TO CHURCH MAKE ME CATCH THAT HOLY GHOST. They got the organs. Ooh is this a love song? WHOA OKAY PAT. Okay, this song is big but probably my least favorite of the ones so far, however that may be due to the familiarity i have with the previous 6. Just not a lot of lyrical change. But this is Patrick pushing his voice to it’s limits. Okay the second half isbetter OH MY FREAKING GOSH THE INSTURMENTS JUST WENT OUT AND PATRICK SNAPPED AND SINGLE HANDEDLY SAVED THIS SONG I WILL COME BACK TO THIS SONG WOW. PATRIFICATION CONFIRMED THE FALL OUT BOY MACHINE AIN’T BROKE IF YOU WERE CHURCH I’D GET ON MY KNEES CONFIRMED

Heaven’s Gate? Hmm….they must have ran into some of them LDS missionaries. Ooh we got ourselves a what a catch slow jams patrick soul song. have ya’ll seen the meme of the woman jammin? imagine Leslie Knope jamming at a black church. That describes how i feel about this song. This song could have been on the end of a SUPER strong episode of One Tree Hill. Like it’s a coda where a bunch of stuff happens. I like the guitar pan to the right ear. It’s good. I’m not really sure what pat is singing, but I am enjoying it. Patrick sings like a baptist confirmed. PATRICK WHAT DO YOU NEED LET ME GIVE YOU THE BOOST. Oh man, is this a choir coming??? Oh yes, ya’ll are going to be listening to Heaven’s Gate for a while. This is the one that is gonna get you through hard days in the future. This is a song to save someone’s life.

Sunshine Riptide (feat. Burna Boy). Rap feature? Maybe? Lol the opening line made me laugh. Nigga hit a missy elliot. you’ll get it. There’s a lot of things going on auditory wise. Okay, this song was made during the same time as Hold Me Tight or Don’t. Actually it also gives me the same vibes as Champion too? Whoa, it’s a rasta feature. Oh man, YA’LL NEED TO GET CHANCE THE RAPPER ON THE REMIX GOOD GOD THAT FEATURE JUST PUT ME IN THAT MOOD I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD SAY THAT OH SHOOT, THESE NIGGAS TRY BE FALL OUT THE BOYS. I’m a fan of this one. Ya’ll tryna get a nigga to find his XD emoticons and band tees for the last warped tour. Too bad all the singles have been released because this song feels like it’s begging to be put on a CW show like 90210 or Arrow trailer. HIT.

Bishops Knife Trick. Okay Fetzer, what you got for us? It’s the final song and I feel like I’ve been on a nonstop ride the whole time. Soulful pat? Wasn’t ready for it. It’s also the longest song on the album, clocking in at 4:23. This song sounds like, I can’t believe I’m gonna say what i’m gonna say, it sounds like the album that would have been made in between IOH and SRAR if the others didn’t exist. It’s like both. You won’t get it until you hear it. This is a thoughtful song. I need to listen to the album again with the lyrics so i can appreciate this song more. Patrick’s voice is an instrument. He’s not a singer in the conventional sense. Sometimes his words don’t sound like words. Dang, don’t let this album end. Don’t let it end. Don’t let it end. The last song flows into Young and Menace. Wow, ya’ll did you fast. Fall out boy, is the knife trick ya’ll revitalizing your sound and your fanbase? Because you most certainly have.

8/10 album. Church was the weakest song on the album, Heaven’s gate was the most meaningful and arguably the strongest

[justhereforthefanartbean-blog]

10 Questions Tag

Tagged by @ellipsesarefun heeeeey ^_^ I feel like we’re getting to know each other through tags, you’re my tag buddy! 

1. Ever danced in the rain before?

Have I? Dude if you haven’t danced in the rain you haven’t lived. Beginners level: umbrella and a streetlamp involved. Mid level: dancing down a street whilst going somewhere just to see people’s faces (I only had the confidence to do that the once but it was so fucking worth it, so many surprised smiles from strangers). Pro level: Drunkenly appropriating a wet lamppost and somehow not killing myself using it as a pole XD 

2. What do you like most in a character?

Ooooh, good one! If we’re talking about fictional characters, then the ability to change. It’s what brings the realism, and what differentiates fun characters from ones who actually touch you. rEDEMPTIONS ARCS, AMIRITE? If we’re talking about people, then kindness. I gotta lot to learn, so surrounding myself with kind people is step 1 to getting better at it. 

3. Coffee, Tea, Chocolate, others, or all around?

How is this even a question? I’m a Brit and I work in a speciality tea shop. I can explain the taste difference between first and second flush, and why the First Flush of Darjeeling is the best crop, whereas the Second Flush of Assam is preferable. I know who started afternoon tea, and why the actual blend Afternoon Tea contains both Green Tea and Black Tea Leaves, whereas Earl Grey is Black Tea with Bergamont. I am poised to explain the difference between red tea, black tea and Puerh. I’m a fucking tea dictionary at this point, choosing anything else would probably be considered treason. 

4. Opinions on Wonder Woman movie? If you haven’t watched it yet, would you?

FUCK YEAAAAAAAH it was 90% perfect.*spoiler alert* Shoehorned in a totally unnecessary and badly done romance, and the fact that the god of war was making the nazis be nazis and they were actually not doing it themselves, but apart from that... Diana being a BADASS and not GIVING A SHIT, but her own judgement also being LOGICAL and CONSIDERED (well, based on her available knowledge) and not just a straight up adverse reaction to the society she’s been thrust into, the “BABY!!!” moment, ripping the impractical dress (I want to know Diana’s opinion on the lack of pockets issue rn), the THIGH JIGGLE, the lack of male gaze (at no point did I do the thing that I regularly do in other superhero when there’s a gratuitous boob or butt scene and I call it), the BADASS AND FULLY CAPABLE WOMEN EVERYWHERE, the fucking SWORD IN THE DRESS (fuck I wish my ass did that), the joke about ‘no man’s land’ and Diana not being a man and it not occurring to her that it meant human, and A FULLY FUNCTIONING WARRIOR SOCIETY WHERE FEMALE FRIENDSHIP IS VALUED AND A WOMAN WHO IS A CAPABLE FUCKING HUMAN BEING AND A VULNERABLE FUCKING HUMAN BEING AND A REALISTIC CHARACTER ALL IN ONE INSTEAD OF JUST BEING FUCKING EYE-CANDY WITH A GUN. I WALKED OUT OF THAT CINEMA AND I WAS LIKE FUK IS THIS HOW GUYS USUALLY FEEL AFTER A MALE SUPERHERO FILM? BECAUSE FUCK I NEED MORE OF THIS. MORE FEMALE SUPERHEROES DONE PROPERLY. MORE EMPOWERMENT DONE PROPERLY. WHEN ARE WE GETTING NON-CIS SUPERHEROES???

Okay I think I’m done. 

5. Sweaters, leather jackets or both?

... is a sweater a jumper or a hoodie? I have both of those things but I do not own a leather jacket. So. 

6. If I were going to watch Game of Thrones, what should I be looking forward to? (i haven’t watched a single episode haha) If you haven’t watched Game of Thrones, would you watch?

Ugh, no, I have also not seen a single ep. I’d love to, because DRAGONS, but on the other hand, I’m hella squeamish and get nausea from having blood even talked about (first aid training was fun) so I cannot deal with the gore XD 

7. Favourite dessert!

I mean it’s probably churros. But like, proper churros, made off a food cart in a night market, with too much cinnamon sugar and so fresh they scold your fingers. Supermarket churros can go die in a hole. Or a Zanzibar pizza (it’s more like a pancake) with nutella and pineapple. 

8. Any book recommendations?

Fuck, SO MANY. The Help, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Handmaid’s Tale, Wyrd Sisters, The Reader on the 6.27, The Fair Fight, A Man Called Ove, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Book Thief, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Ella Enchanted, Pride and Prejudice, The Bedlam Stacks... I could go on. That was the most restrained I’ve been in a while :P

9. Fave author?

Terry Pratchett. Taught me that I can write however I want to as long as I enjoy it. Got me through my pessimistic and sceptical teenage years with a pinch of humour and satire, and pretty much single-handedly saved my optimism. I owe that man so much. I think he’s the only death outside of the family that I ever cried over. 

10. Favorite braiding style?

I don’t know if I know what this means. Plaiting? If so, I haven’t had long enough hair for this for years, but I love fishtail plaits on other people. They’re so simple but so neat and pretty and so easy to customise! Get some flowers up in that bitch, man. Kill it. 

QUESTION TIME! Tagging: @sound-alchemist @sofia-altin @pleasantlyuniquemeeple @q-not-qt @earlydeadlines @demony0hane @eclair @thisistuples and anyone else who wants to do it.

1. If you could recommend one song to every other human being on the planet, knowing that they would listen to it, what would it be and why? 

2. What is one thing that you do/are now that your ten year old self would think was REALLY COOL?

3. Do you believe in Aliens? What about Ghosts?

4. If you could choose your animagus and/or patroness what would you pick? Why?  

5. What’s your favourite flower? 

6. What pokemon would you be? Why?

7. What’s the number one item on your bucket list? 

8. If you could go back in time and meet anyone who is dead, who would it be? What would you say? 

9. If you could spend one day in any fictional world, which would you choose? What would you do? 

10. What’s your favourite thing about yourself? 

[tallskinnyvanillalatte]

Castle Episodes (Season 7)

Season 7 it is, I’m almost done. The previous posts can be found here.

7x01 Driven: Let’s be honest - the moment they arrive at the scene, seeing Castle’s car up in flames, could be way more intense. Beckett is freaking out, yes, but there could be more emotions as well. Also with Alexis and Martha. I mean, they think that their father/son is in that car, they should be freaking out more. I understand that they can only focus on so many people - but still, this didn’t even take a minute. Great, now Beckett’s pretty dress is ruined. .. just imagine if they had made the title card say “Beckett” instead of “Castle” omfg. The moment when Espo gives Beckett a cup of coffee and she thinks it’s Castle for a split second. “When Alexis was taken” like, we can mention that two years later but we can’t deal with it properly back then. Two months go by. And I wonder how Alexis and Martha dealt with that. If you just think about it.. they woke up every morning with Castle still not being home. Went on in their days. Went to bed not knowing if he was still alive or what was going on, hoping for news the next day. For TWO MONTHS. How did Castle react when he woke up? How did Alexis and Martha react? I have so many questions that aren’t answered and it’s frustrating. “To my amazing mother, my wonderful daughter, and the love of my life.” I’m frustrated by this storyline already because there’s so many unanswered questions and I know that this is stretched out over so long that it’s hard to keep up.

7x02 Montreal: I’d mention that Lanie and Esposito are back together but they’ve been on and off in the past that I wouldn’t bother to mention, so. Castle kissing Gates like that is not that cool - a kiss on the cheek would’ve been fine. “What just happened” yeah Gates, same. Martha mentions that she went to grief counseling while Castle was missing. Just let that sink in. “It’s Canada, how risky could it be” the way he says this and Alexis’ face is too priceless because it’s one Canadian saying this to another, both playing Americans on the show. While Castle was gone, he’d recorded videos for Alexis, Martha and Beckett saying goodbye, saying he loved them :( The scene with Castle and the guy, Hollander’s Woods, Castle in tears, oh boy.

7x03 Clear & Present Danger: Eight minutes in - the devil was the killer, case closed. “Clearly, our killer is the invisible man.” Martha walking into Castle’s .. trap was hilarious.

7x04 Child’s Play: Alexis’ behavior is weird but that is explained at the end of the episode. Twenty second graders? Only twenty children per class? Oh my God, that sounds like heaven. Castle at school is hilarious. “Mister Castle, we do not make faces in the classroom” “He started it!” :D Castle slurping out of the juice box and then coughing, hilarious. This little girl Emily is adorable, and Castle with her is so cute. And how perfect is that fairy tea party scene. At the end of the episode, Castle talks to Alexis about her weird behavior. She tells him that it’s because she thinks something terrible will happen again, that she’ll lose him again. And Castle tells her that he knows exactly how she feels, that he wouldn’t have let her out of his sight after Paris (why didn’t we see any of that though). <3

7x05 Meme is Murder: It’s funny how they pronounce ‘Fuchs’ (fyoux) because that name happens to be German for fox. “I’m German” ah, so the name isn’t random after all ;) Ryan has a blog called “The Ryan Report”. I wonder if someone made a tumblr with that name. Okay I just checked, yeah the blog exists but no one is using it. Someone just saved the url. The webcommercial at the end is gold. Hi, I’m Critchard Ratchel.

7x06 The Time of Our Lives: Matthias, a Swiss guy. Last episode Germany, this time Switzerland. It’s a “what if” episode. The intro has a different sound. Beckett is captain, Lanie is pregnant, Martha redecorated the loft, Alexis has black hair and lives in LA with her mother, Ryan isn’t with Jenny, Espo isn’t with Lanie. Martha’s huuuge self portrait in the office is hilarious. And the scene with Alexis and Castle with the hug is so adorable. The wedding is squeezed into the last 4.5 minutes. The wedding itself is beautiful. The vows are perfect, they dance to their song, Beckett looks gorgeous (and she’s wearing Martha’s ear rings), the venue is gorgeous (so cheesy but beautiful, with really crappy CGI). I just wish they had used a little more time for it. And I hate that Lanie, Ryan and Espo weren’t there.

7x07 Once Upon a Time in the West: Lanie, Ryan and Espo aren’t too amused about that, either. “You guys suck”. Five minutes later “You still suck”. The intro is super cool, Wild West style. Their outfits in style are hilarious.

7x08 Kill Switch: “You still remind me a little of Hooch” aww that sentence came up again <3 It’s the episode with Javi held hostage on a subway train. It’s funny how the “hidden message in the pizza carton” trick always works. Like, shouldn’t they be more careful now and check the box? That trick is so old. I don’t like how the drama is written. Like, it’s so anticlimactic. It’s about to get dramatic when Espo and the woman cop take down the guy but it happens so easily. Then “It’s not over, the guy was infected with a deadyl bacteria” - dramaaaaa. Until three minutes later, they’re all in the hospital, giving an antibiotic and they are safe. “Come on, let’s take the subway. .. too soon? [...] Am I on the wrong track here?” lol Castle

7x09 Last Action Hero: The sound of the intro is different again. I’m not too interested in the episode, I’m barely paying attention. The ear recognition thingy reminds me of that CSI New York episode where Aiden Burn was killed and left her earprint in the car for the others to find, so that they’d know it was her. Ah, I can’t wait to watch that show once I’m done with Castle. Awww how sweet of Beckett to carve my initials into her apartment <3 ;)

7x10 Bad Santa: Javi is about to meet Lanie’s parents who think that they are engaged. The title card in Christmas style is hilarious. Javi meets her parents and so do we, we haven’t seen them before. “When the time comes, I hope you call me”. We’ll see if Castle calls Dino. Is that... are Lanie and Espo breaking up with each other? “You are no longer permitted to work with the NYPD” Were these two scenes just a huge “fuck you” from the writers/producers to the fans? Like .. merry fucking christmas to you, too?

7x11 Castle P.I.: Castle is a private investigator now. “YOu can make this a lot easier for me, Perlmutter.” “Oh, because that’s what I live for.” Perlmutter is gold. Beckett and Castle trying to figure out what the other one knows is hilarious. “Oh, we’re definitely on top of [Castle]” omfg. Halfway through the season and I’m not too impressed, can you tell?

7x12 Private Eye Caramba: “So pleasant to see you. And not see Castle.” Bless Perlmutter. 

7x13 I, Witness: Castle witnesses a murder but when they get into the house the wife was murdered in, there’s no blood. It reminds me of that episode in season 5 I think where they staged that murder for Castle’s birthday. They later find Eva’s body, but Castle is convinced it’s not her and that she just staged her death. Turns out it’s actually Eva.

7x14 Resurrection: “Where are you off to?” “Oh, I signed up for an escort service and have to meet a client.” “What, a what?” “I just wanted to see if you’re listening. I’m going to the library to study.” “not cool.” The look on his face was priceless. Plot twist, 3XK isn’t dead after all (who would’ve guessed). “Mister Castle works on this case only” oh please, Gates, are you even listening to yourself. The ending is really creepy with Beckett answering a call and the creepy “we will meet again, one day” music and then she’s abducted.

7x15 Reckoning: Uuuh, Castle surprising Tyson and closing the door to talk to him alone. Reminds me of that season from .. wow exactly two seasons ago where he talked to that guy who had driven the van Alexis was in. Oh, Castle. “I get to kill you over and over again” - he kills Beckett, then takes Martha, kills her, then Alexis, kills her, like Castle would be so dead. “Castle, he’s calling from your house”. The angst when he gets home and asks for Alexis. The relieve when both Martha and Alexis are okay. He sends them both to Europe, so that they are safe. Oh, I wish he’d abducted Alexis, too. Jeez that moment Castle thought Beckett had been shot right in front of his eyes. “I need a new face and I’ve chosen yours.” It’s so disturbing and wrong and ugh. So, is 3XK dead for real this time? Beckett deals with Nieman all on her own, with a scalpel. Aaaand Castle is back at the precinct, working with Beckett.

7x16 The Wrong Stuff: Aww it’s laser tag at the Castle residence again. Wait a minute... Alexis is playing with some dude instead of Castle. I’m offended. And then Martha walks down the stairs with some other dude wearing Castle’s pjs. Like, what the fuck is going on - “The Wrong Stuff”, yeah big time. omfg the Mars themed intro is hilarious. Are you my mummy? How cool would it have been if Castle had made that reference. Why did Alexis open the door when neither of her friends left? Like, what was the point? And her “get a room” comment wasn’t too great. Tom Richwood. Torchwood. Close enough.

7x17 Hong Kong Hustle: Ah that badass lady, taking out Ryan and Esposito single-handedly, disarming both of them. “It’s a girl’s night out, there won’t be competition” and then we see Zhang and Beckett in that shooting area thingy that I have no idea what the official word for is,

7x18 At Close Range: Um... Ryan???? “Uh, Ryan, is it One Direction? You’d tell me if they are in town.” “No, they are in Hong Kong.” “Right.” Ah, Castle and Espo are little fans of One Direction? We meet Ryan’s sister Gwen.

7x19 Habeas Corpse: Alexis’ outfit is so cute. And I love that she studied with Beckett. Ryan and Esposito practicing their performance in the interrogation room is hilarious. How did Alexis’ exam go? Can we get an update, please? I would’ve loved to see both performances, though (the Caskett one dressed though).

7x20 Sleeper: Castle’s been having nightmares about his disappearance. He’s seeing Beckett’s therapist. “So you were in jungle combat? With Chuck Norris?” this whole thing is so bizarre already, like... “I was in Thailand, getting shot at, with Chuck Norris?” I’m not buying it? This storyline is so.. off and bizarre already, I’m not that interested in it anymore.

7x21 In Plane Sight: Ah, I love this episode. “Are you okay?” “Alexis is on this flight.” <3 Alexis helping and examining the body, so badass. “Because my daughter is on this plane and I’m not gonna let anything happen to her.” <3 Alexis was so badass, disarming the woman <3 There are so many great Castle/Alexis scenes in this episode, I really miss this aspect of the show, we’ve been getting less and less of it.

7x22 Dead in New York: “I don’t know if we should be flattered or offended.” Well, I just think it’s plain stupid. Carly Rae Japson has an appearance in this episode. And she performs “I really like you”. The performance feels so staged. Like, it is staged, but it shouldn’t feel that way if it was done well, you know? It just feels out of place.

7x23 Hollander’s Woods: Castle with the head puns though. I don’t know which one I’d go for. The serious one looks better but it’s a bit too serious. The smiling one just looks creepy. Something in between should be right. Aww Ryan and Esposito are celebrating ten years of marrriage working together. We find out about Castle’s past, about what happed in Hollander’s Woods when he was eleven years old. He had watched a murder and the killer had worn a creepy mask and had threatened him to never tell anyone about this. He had later called the police but they never found the body which made him wonder if that had actually happened. In this episode, the body has the exact same marks as the body he had seen and a witness described a man with a mask - exactly the same mask he had seen. What happened to Castle happened 30 years ago which would mean that he’s 41 now. Which... seems a couple years too young. “You are going to be amazing. [..] Because you already are.” <3 Awww there’s Hodges from CSI. Turns out he’s the killer :( Ah, it’s so creepy, I love it. “Mother, you will always be a star in my eyes. And Alexis, you amaze me every day. You two are my redheaded pillars of unconditional love.” <3 The ending with Castle’s speech and everyone together at the round table was beautiful. It could have been the series finale. If I’m not mistaken, by the time they had filmed this episode, they didn’t know whether or not we’d get an eight season. So, they probably did this ending on purpose.

[stillness-in-green]

Human Debris Masterpost (6/12)

So, before we start, yes, I’m as surprised as anyone that Chad made it out of this week’s episode alive.  You guys, I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself if Akihiro, Chad and Dante all manage to survive this.  Could I possibly get so lucky?

Ride, meanwhile, seems destined to coast gracefully out the end of the show on a tide of corpses. I’m like 80% sure that kid’s parents were the first victims of whatever fell powers they bargained with to avert any doom that ever came for their son.  

In any case, this will not be a hugely long post, as there’s not a lot of red-stripe activity in the finale, so lets get on to it, with...

EPISODE TWENTY ONE — To the Place of No Return

Wildly little to talk about with this one.  Akihiro is our only Human Debris character in the whole thing, so just to hit the highlights:

He’s briefly shown in a lookout position with Mikazuki as Gjallarhorn draws closer. 

He’s also having some trouble adjusting to in-atmosphere combat in Gusion.

Mikazuki speaks a language he understand though (it’s body language), and tells him to follow the sensations rather than trying to think about how to manually make the machine do what he wants—in essence to remember that he’s got an Alaya Vijnana system and doesn’t have to think to make the machine do what he wants.  It’s enough to get his shots on target, in any case.

He also gets this delightful little, “I’m allowed to shoot, right?” moment when Carta’s trying to do her speech—which is nice, since it’s typically Mikazuki that gets those moments, and he’s much more certain about it than Akihiro, who asks permission (after the fact, mind).  

The battle goes on as all the red flags around Biscuit foreshadowed it would, and we move on, to…

EPISODE 22 — Not Yet Home 

A random red-stripe appears!  There’s a Random Brunette—not, I don’t think, meant to be Akihiro—floating around the bay on the transport ship, so I guess there are at least a few around after all.   

Akihiro himself is here as well, but hanging around Gusion’s cockpit instead.

There’s also one standing in the rough circle around where Biscuit has been laid out—which makes sense, as we’ve always gotten the idea that Biscuit is a conscientious, sweet guy to everyone. 

Towards the end of the episode, meanwhile, we see a few in the crowd listening to Orga’s speech to rile up the group after Biscuit’s death. 

And that ls likewise it for this one!  Man, this write-up’s going way faster. 

EPISODE 23 — The Final Lie 

Only one observation on Akihiro here: when Carta issues (heh) her challenge to a 3-on-3 fight, Shino is of course all for it, but Akihiro is very ready to throw down as well.  

It’s easy to miss because Azee and Lafter break in to remind them (like good mafia members) that they don’t gotta do a deal with nobody, because they have the entire upper hand here.  But you can just see Akihiro going to crack his knuckles here.

There’s also three red-stripes in with Yukinojo (rather a first; I assume he’s pulling help from whoever’s available, since he doesn’t have his full usual crew) right as the ending credits start cueing up—one of either side of the screen, and one behind his shoulder.  Actually, looking back on it, this might be because they’re dealing more with mobile workers than mobile suits.  Mobile suits seems to take a bit of literacy to optimally handle, whereas mobile workers may not, and given the kind of work CGS seemed to do back in the day, I’m sure all the ex-Human Debris are extremely familiar with mobile workers.  

And I think Dante and Chad might be back next episode, maybe, so lets move right along. 

EPISODE 24 — A Future Reward 

We open after a time skip of three days, to find Tekkadan badly hurting but hanging in there.  When the mobile suits catch a break, Mikazuki comments about finally being able to eat something, to Shino and Akihiro’s disbelief.  I think it’s a little interesting that neither of them, but Akihiro in particular, hasn’t actually learned this tendency, of eating when you can.  But then, perhaps Akihiro’s gut instinct is more attuned to only getting food after a successful battle, not right in the middle of one.  Certainly food deprivation seems in line with e.g. how the Brewers treated their Human Debris.  

There are a number of group shots in Orga’s big speech in this episode, and I do not see a red stripe anywhere among the listeners, not a one.  There are likely some members of Tekkadan too injured to stand outside and listen to a lengthy morale-boosting speech, but I think it’s likely that any Human Debris brought to this encounter acted, as they often do, with such willful disregard for their lives that if any of them survived, they’re definitely in that too-banged-up-to-walk category.  

Finally, though, in the final push, as the Tekkadan group on the bridge is getting stomped, Eugene shows up with reinforcements, including Chad and Dante—the first time we’ve ever seen either of them actually hand-piloting anything this season, though of course we know from the very first episode (and certainly the Turbines arc) that Dante was capable of it, and could assume Chad was as well. 

Them, I remembered.  You know who I totally didn’t remember showed up here, though? 

It’s these two!  Aston and Derma, the two surviving Brewers kids, here to fight for their place/pay day.  Which is interesting in light of their earlier and later characterization—it’s a little reversed, perhaps, than what you might expect.  But then, I’ve always been of the opinion that Aston cares far more for his comrades than he was willing to accept he did, and Derma may be fronting somewhat, happy in the moment of playing Big Damn Heroes.  And hey, I’m sure the paycheck is an interesting novelty for him.  (I don’t buy it as his primary motivator, though.) 

Anyway, this reinforcement probably single-handedly saves Ride’s life, and that kid will be pulling like three times his weight next season, so good job, team!

Most of the rest of the episode is, of course, dedicated to Ein being an unholy terror-beast, so lets move on, to the final episode of season one. 

EPISODE 25 — Tekkadan 

I don’t often include the robot shots, but here, have this one, showcasing the results of Akihiro’s completely off-screen battle with no less than four Grazes, which he fought solo, and, well… 

I particularly like that he’s nicked someone else’s sword to hold, and may well have beaten a dude to death with their own arm. 

He’s gotten kind of nose-bleedy about it, which could be from an injury, but more likely means he had to wring a bit more than he was used to out of the Gusion himself.

The bridge group’s battle draws to a close with the sighting of a ceasefire signal flare; Chad calls Eugene’s attention to it, and we also get this shot of Dante cracking open his cockpit (very bravely, too).  I’m thinking that’s Aston in the background there, a bit too distant to see the scar.

And then we cut to the wrap-up material.  Akihiro we find hanging out with Eugene and Shino.

The two are talking about finally going home, and the ones they lost being able to rest in peace, which draws one of these rare non-fighty smiles out of Akihiro. 

After some wrap-up with our two main characters and their respective most significant side-character relationships, we come back to the Tekkadan group as a whole for Orga’s series-closing speech.  And throughout this, we get both our last shots of our named red-stripes, as well as, for the sharp-eyed, confirmation that some unnamed ones survived as well! 

The first one we can see was probably in my hypothesized ‘too injured to walk around’ group, as we can see by the huge full-limb cast on his leg and the cane he’s holding.  (Look just to the right of Barbatos, and down, to the left of the blond dude.) 

There’re also the two on the right here, looking much more intact.  So it seems we have a fair number of red-stripes after all, thankfully. Of course, we never got any distinct recurring character designs for any of them other than our named ones, so by the time next season and the new, unstriped uniforms roll around, we will lose any way to track them.  Ah, well. At least Dante and Chad will have more (far more) to do.

Speaking of, here’s our last shot of our main character red stripes, with Chad looking either slightly off-model or like he’s had a bit of a haircut while he was here.  And so serious, Dante!  Don’t worry; you’ll get plenty of time to grin (and lots of time to not) soon enough.  

And, as if to foreshadow people who will also be getting more to do next season, we get a shot of Aston and Derma as well. Aston’s solemn about it; Derma looks a bit like this is the first time he’s ever heard such a great inspirational speech.  

And at least as far as the Human Debris cast are concerned, that’s a wrap on season one! I hope everyone’s enjoyed this first half of the tour, and will continue on with me into the next season, which offers no shortage of opportunities to point and yell about the red-stripe cast, particularly as they start getting enough attention that those less-eagle-eyed viewers/reviewers are finally forced to start noticing them.  Bless.  

[julmar123]

The Umbrella Academy Season 2

“Since the second season of The Umbrella Academy is now on Netflix, I have decided to continue my fan fic. The reader is a member of the Umbrella Academy (#8) her powers allow her to become a human fire. Again this is a continuation of the 1st season’s fan fic. based on your perspective.

Season 2 Episode 6: “A Light Supper"

"Diego this is a set up”says Luther as he is reading the invitation they were given to meet up with dad. “Maybe, but er should go anyways”says Diego as he is buttoning his shirt. "says the guy who's already been stabbed once this week.”says Luther as you snicker to yourself. “oh don't worry me and him are going to have words.”says Diego. "Would you two tell him that he's nuts?” Luther asks rhetorically. “ I think we should go.” says Vanya as you simply shrug. "See?”says Diego. "Vanya, of all people, you should hate Dad the most.”says Luther. "Come, on can he really be that bad?”asks Vanya as she looks at you and Diego for answers. "yeah he is” you add. "Yeah, well let's see, he isolated you from the rest of the family.” adds Luther. "keep you hopped up on pills.” adds Luther. " And he brainwashed you into thinking you had no powers.” you add. "Jesus, this guy”says Vanya. Luther and you both nod at her reaction. “ I mean, come on, I have to meet him.”she adds excitedly. “You already know how this is gonna go. Dad is gunna play all his little mind games on us, get into our heads, and he's gonna turn us all against each other. You watch.” warns Luther pointing at you and Diego. "Luther, we're not 12 anymore. All right? We're grown ass men, and women” adds Diego however Luther simply sighs. “hey, hey, we can handle him. Wanna know what's different this time?" asks Diego. "What's that?" asks Luther sarcastically. "You got me, we go int here as a united front. No more "Number 1″or "Number 2″ "Number 8″ bullshit. From now on, it's “Team Zero” says Diego trying to lift our spirits. "Team Zero?”asks Luther confused. “Okay lets go” you say encouragingly. “All the way”Say Diego reaching out for a fist pump from Luther and Vanya, however they both look at him confused, so he decides to give up.

The time came for you all to meet with dad, you didn't really want to join the others. You hadn't seen Dad since you where a teenager, and although it was hard for you, leaving the academy and your father was the best decision you've ever made. You had tried for years to escape the emotional abuse your father had done to you, that resulted in self loathing and body dis-morphia, yet here you were walking up the stairs to the elevator to meet with your abuser. You all  individually run towards the elevator as Five gets inside. “Excuse me” says Luther as he squeezes into the elevator causing you to be pushed up against Diego's chest, he grabs your waist so you don't fall..”sorry”you say as you move away from him and near Klaus. As the elevator is going up the floors, Luther farts causing everyone in the elevator to gag from the stench. "Luther”whines Klaus as he is waving the air. "Sorry I'm nervous”says Luther defensive. "Gross dude”you say putting your shirt over your nose.  As soon as the doors open you all rush out gasping for air. You begin to look around the Tiki Lounge, "Alright, when dad gets here, I'll do all the talking, okay?”says Five trying to get us all to focus on his plan. “Fine by me”you says while taking a seat, you really didn't care to talk to him. “I've got a few questions for him myself.”says Diego “Hey, we don't wanna scare him off. he might be able to help us stop doomsday get us home.”says Five. “No, we need to figure out why he's planning to kill the president.” says Diego as you roll your eyes. “this is a matter of life and death, you imbecile.”says “okay, yeah, maybe we should take turns talking. Yeah? Here, whoever has this conch shell gets to talk.”says Vanya as she picks up the plastic shell off a near by table as you say sigh. “Vanya, we don't have time for a debate, okay?” says Five trying to calm down. “Maybe I should lead, we all know I'm a better public speaker than the rest of you”says Allison as she takes the shell away from Vanya. “Okay daddy's girl”says Diego. “oh jealous number 2?”she says sarcastically. “really? just listen to Five” you say but Diego interupts you. “Hey, no more numbers, no more bullshit, we're team zero, we are all team zero”he says. “Uh Diego, you don't have the conch.”says Luther being his boy scout self. Diego smiles at him and takes the conch away from Allison and tosses it across the room. "classic”says Allison sarcastically as the door opens revealing your worst nightmare. He makes his way towards the table with out a word. Once he sits down he begins “Not only have you burglarized my lab, set my chimp loose, conned your way into the Mexican consulate, repeatedly stalked and attacked me, but you have, on numerous occasions, called me..”he begins when he is interrupted by Klaus sitting on the table with a large drink in hand. "Hey pop, How's it hanging?”he asks "dad, my reconnaissance tells me you're not CIA, not KGB, certainly not MI5, so..who are you?” he asks. You all look around surprised. "we are your children,we're from the future. In 1989, you adopted us all and trained us to fight against the end of the world. You called us the Umbrella Academy.” explains Five. Dad looks at everyone confused, you decide to look at the table unable to look him in the eyes, your temperature began to increase, just being near him made you angry. “Why on earth would I adopt 7” he says but Allison interrupts him. "8 one of us isn't here". "dead, one of us is dead”adds Diego.Klaus begins to talk to someone behind him in gibberish. "Regardless, what would possess me to adopt 8 ill-mannered malcontents?” says Dad not believing us. “We all have special abilities” adds Five. "Special? In what sense?”asks Dad curious. “ In the super power sense” adds Luther. “Call me old fashioned, but i;m a stickler for a pesky little thing called evidence.... show me”he says while looking at every one on the table. “Every body wants to see powers all of a sudden” scoffs Allison while you take a sip of you drink trying to calm down. “We're not circus animals, okay? We're not gonna bounce balls on our noses and clap our hands like seals for your amusement.”says Luther as Diego throws a knife towards dad bending it to miss him slightly and land on the wall behind him. Dad looks at him and begins to take notes on a small notebook. "What are you writing?” asks Diego curiously. “You are zero for two, young man.”he says this causing Allison to laugh and Diego to lung at dad. “he meant to do that, we need you alive”you add as Five zaps towards Diego to stop him. “now that is interesting” says Dad interested in Five's power. “Okay quick run down, Luther, super strength, Klaus can commune with the dead. Y/N's a human volcano, Allison can rumor anyone to do anything." Five says pointing at each one of you as he walks back to his seat. “Except she never uses it.” adds Diego interrupting Five. “I heard a Rumor you punched yourself in the face.”says Allison using her power to get back at Diego. " Ah! Damn it!”whines Diego in pain once he punches himself like Allison had instructed. "And you?”Dad asks Vanya. "Ah maybe we don't take Vanya for a test run.”says Luther worried. “oh yeah that's probably not a good idea.”adds Klaus, you nod in agreement. “It's fine, I can handle it” she says trying to reassure us. “last time you handled it, you definitely blew up the moon”says Allison, however Vanya begins to power up. “No Vanya don't! “yells Five as you all prepare yourselves for your impending doom.  Vanya bands the fork on the glass and uses the sound ways to make the fruit bowl explode, causing fruit to go flying everywhere. “cool” you says proudly, mostly because the fruit hit dad in the face. “This is my favorite Shirt, wow” whines Klaus as he cleans himself up. “Oops”says Vanya giving you a smile. “ that was impressive”says Luther surprised by her control. “ Look we know you are involved in a plot to assassinate the president.”says Diego as you and Five look at each other equally frustrated. “You were recently hospitalized, isn't that correct? You still appear to be suffering from delusions of grandeur and acute paranoia.”says Dad. “Am I? Explain this... that's you that's two days from now on the grassy knoll, at the exact spot the president's gonna get shot.”says Diego showing him the picture from the Frankel footage. Dad takes the picture and looks at them looks at Diego and says, “well, I suppose you've solved it, you've single handedly unearth m y nefarious plot... Is that what you want to hear? You fancy yourself a do gooder? The last good man who will save us from our descent into corruption and conspiracy? This is a fantastic delusion. The sad reality is that you are desperate man, tragically unaware of his own insignificance, desperately clinging to his own ineffectual reasoning. More succinctly, a man in over his head.”says Dad belittling Diego, Your body begins to burn from anger at the sight of Diego being broken down by dad's awful words. “you're wr...wrong.”stammers Diego as a tear begins to run down his cheek, you simply get up and begin to walk towards the elevator, " Y/N! running way!”calls out Five as you walk into the elevator.

You knew this was going to happen, Luther was right dad would use his little games to manipulate us into feeling sorry for us. Diego was the last straw, you knew he wasn't going to help us, we were all stupid to think he would. A couple minutes later and everyone else come out of the building.  You wipe your tears as soon as you spot Diego and Vanya, however someone else takes his attention first. He ignore you and walks up to a black car. Vanya waves at you as she leaves with a women who you presume to be Sissy.  You spot Deigo leaving the car and you go after him. "Diego!”you call out but he doesn't answer you.  "Diego! wait!”you say as you catch up to him, you pull his arm. "Why are you even here, I thought you left?”he asks sarcastically, knowing exactly how to push your buttons. "yes okay I left but only because I was putting you all in danger” you say defensive. “ In danger? I could have used you back there, but I guess I don't matter unless I'm Klaus, oh and Five apparently, since when are you two besties ”he says angrily. “Diego come one that's not true, I was about to burn dad alive, I needed to cool off” you say irritated. “Then by all means cool off” he says before leaving you. You stood there unable to do anything, he was right. When things get tough you give up and run off.

You make your way back to Elliot's place. You walk in and make your way towards Luther and Diego, and you notice Elliot on a chair. "what the hell?”you ask then confused and scared. You notice the large puddle of blood on the floor. You begin to tear up, as you approach Elliot's lifeless body. "Holy shit”says Diego however you couldn't take your eyes off of Elliot. You felt terrible knowing he was tortured and killed.