#each of the episodes feel like they could have been a whole mini arc

[khathastrophe]

Midnight Museum should have been a cdrama cause this thing clearly needs like 50 episodes at least

[littlespoonevan]

What is the couch theory? 😅

oh anon, where do i start!!!!! this is possibly my favourite subject of all time so apologies in advance if this gets rambly askdjfh

okay so the couch theory goes all the way back to s5 of 911. at the start of 5B buck asks taylor to move in with him, right? and because she brings all her stuff with her it means they have double of everything, including two couches. so buck gets rid of his and they keep taylor's

however in 5x18 buck and taylor break up so she moves out and, of course, takes her couch with her

when we meet buck again in s6 a few months later he still hasn't found a replacement couch. over family dinner with eddie and christopher, chris makes a joke about it (like father, like son) and buck tells him and eddie that, "he doesn't want to choose the wrong couch again" heavily implying he means he doesn't want to choose the wrong romantic partner again (he also says his last two couches came with girlfriends since ali presumably helped him pick out the first one when he moved into the loft in s2).

the episode ends with buck moving his armchair to the place his couch used to sit and sitting down with a smile on his face, suggesting he's content on his own for now and thus, the couch theory was born:

buck's next couch/romantic partner will be the Right one

so we go through the whole of 6A with no couch developments and no real allusions to it be tHEN in 6B after the lightning strike buck's parents comment on his lack of couch and his mother decides she's going to buy him a couch (which is the adult equivalent of getting him a new bike when he hurts himself but that's a different post)

so margaret buys buck a couch but obviously, it's all wrong. because buck didn't choose it himself. it's not comfortable, he can't relax on it, can't fall asleep on it. and in an episode where buck is feeling smothered by everyone's attempts to check in on him it doesn't offer the comfort he needs so what does he do???

go to eddie's house of course!

and you'll never guess what happens, anon:

buck falls asleep on eddie's couch in about five seconds flat!!!!

to say 911 had me by the throat at that point would be an understatement lmao

bc that means eddie's the couch, right?????? what other implications could there possibly be when buck has been using his couch as a metaphor for a partner and he falls asleep on eddie's couch so quickly, suggesting he feels safe and comfortable there??? i said it that time but it would literally have been less suggestive to have him sleep in eddie's bed than it would've been to have him sleep on the couch at the point skdjhf

(and none of this is even getting into the fact that when buck wakes up eddie is the first person buck is honest with in the episode about how he's feeling after the accident, further cementing the idea of him being buck's safe space)

anyway by the end of s6 kameron gives birth on buck's couch and effectively ruins it meaning it's time for him to get a new couch again. now this is where everything falls to shit and i WILL be bitter about this for the rest of my life lmao but basically because of the fear of cancellation s6 sort of pivots in the last few eps and the finale makes an attempt to give each of the characters a mini happy ending in case it really is the overall series finale. and buck's 'happy ending' was to ask natalia (who he'd recently started dating) to help him pick out a new couch

now my personal opinion?? i Hated that. not even from a buddie perspective, just as someone who is very dedicated to buck's seasons long romantic arc and the couch theory, i thought it was really weak and far less satisfying than if he'd just ended the season single. especially bc the point was buck was supposed to pick the couch himself. but!!! some people are suggesting he still doesn't have a couch in s7 (though it's hard to tell since all the shots we've gotten have been in the kitchen) so i am privately holding onto the hope that the couch theory lives on aksjdfh

TL;DR the couch is eddie. eddie is the couch 🛋️❤️

[flameraven]

I'm enjoying Dead Boy Detectives, but Episode 6 really showed how the super-compressed schedule of streaming shows hurts show's overall narrative arc. There were just. SO many plot points all shoved together into a single episode, and as a result the emotional impact for all of them was a lot less than it could have been. Like. We got Crystal losing her powers AND the reveal of Monty's secret AND Esther releasing her giant mushroom monster AND Edwin trying to confess his feelings to Charles AND Niko facing the complicated realities of human relationships AND the Night Nurse showing up again. It's too much. In a better world where shows were allowed to still have 20-22 episodes per season, this could have been a whole mid-season arc, with an episode given to each of those plot points, and they could have actually gotten enough space to really examine them. Like, Crystal losing her powers and regaining them should have been a whole mini-arc on its own instead of a 5-minute sequence stuck in the middle of three other things happening. It's just such a shame that streaming has forced shows into ever tighter boxes, with less and less time and budget available. Shows feel rushed trying to get everything in, but don't want to stretch things out and hope for a second or third season they're unlikely to get. When I compare it to the shows from earlier eras, it just makes me sad at how much potential is lost in this shorter format. Shows aren't given a chance to breathe or find their feet. They have to go full-throttle from the start and the story does suffer for it.

[inkblackorchid]

So... about season 3 Aki.

Ok harsh contrast to my previous, excited post, but I did say I had more to yell about episode 75 and I need to get this off my chest anyway. Plus, I remember mentioning in a post that I need to talk about season 3 onward Aki anyhow, so might as well do that now! I am thinking Big Thoughts and I need to Scream.

Long, incoherent, unhinged rant incoming because I have 100 things to say and 100000 screenshots to post, but I am also tired and my brain is mush.

Can we please talk about all the jarringly unfulfilled setup the start of season 3 did for Aki? Because I'm starting to feel an urge to claw at the walls. I'm gonna go through this, piece by piece of damning evidence, because I need to vent my utter confusion and frustration somehow, I guess. Okay. So.

After giving us a bit of time to settle in after the timeskip into the pre-WRGP stretch of things, the itty-bitty portion of the story Aki occupies at this point starts off arguably strong. Yusei gets kidnapped, everyone's in a frenzy about it, but Aki's especially worried.

Then this. Funky new signer powers! Nobody's been able to do this before! I wonder if they're going to do something with that! (Spoiler: They're not.)

Then Aki "no sense of self-preservation" Izayoi gets herself in a bunch of danger trying to rescue Yusei and we get this:

Oh! Wow! Aki can control her powers now! (Which: how. Why did they never show us this. That alone could have made for a whole mini-arc. Why waste that????) That would give the writers so many cool opportunities to let her use them! I wonder if they're going to do something with that! (Spoiler: They're not.)

(Side note: I love this scene. I love it to death. They're both ride-or-die "who cares for my safety when yours is on the line" for each other and I love them.)

Of course, shenanigans then ensue, leading up to Sherry's marvellous introduction.

(Mwah. I blow her a little kiss.)

And it is at this point that Aki Has An Epiphany.

And to top it off, she gets some interesting interactions with Sherry, too!

So Aki resolves that she wants to become a turbo-duellist, too. And the thing is, this isn't a little one-off thing or something they never deliver on. They end up building this up for several episodes, bit by bit. First we get another mention of it at the pre-WRGP press thingy they all attend:

Then it's brought up again when Yusei accepts the first duel against Bruno/Antinomy:

(Also, side note again, but can I just mention that Aki also gets this moment the episode before:)

(Where she literally puts herself directly in harm's way in a public setting to protect people with her powers??? Like, I'm sorry, pinch me or something, but how does that not scream "badass good girl setup"???? HOW?)

So we get at least three episodes worth of buildup where Aki agonizes over becoming a turbo duellist to understand what her friends (but especially Yusei) are feeling when they duel like that, and then they finally deliver on it and episode 75 has her getting her license. And it's fantastic. Seriously. That episode is golden. Not just because it delivers on this promise, not just because it has a really cute moment between Aki and Yusei in it (regardless of how you read their relationship dynamic), and not just because it (as per my last post) showcases how much the rest of Team 5Ds cares about Aki (by literally building a runner for her and accompanying her to her exam and don't even get me started on Jack beating up those jerks trying to make her crash unprompted) but because it gives us just that smidgen more detail about Aki's character, too. Because the thing is, at first, she majorly sucks at driving.

And not only is this realistic to a degree (learning to drive is hard, regardless of what you're learning to drive), it's also great, because you know what Aki's response to it is?

She keeps going. She doesn't let it get her down, she gets back up and tries again. (And from a writing standpoint, this is lovely because that stubbornness is great in situations like this, but you could easily turn it into a weakness in a different scenario if you wanted to.)

And not only does Aki learn driving the hard way here, she also finds herself confronted with jerks who don't want her to succeed,

(Ruka, sweetie, I love you.)

and she makes an absolute rookie mistake during her exam by trying to play a speed spell when she doesn't have the necessary speed counters.

And feel free to disagree, but I think this is also great. Because honestly? While driving a really damned fast motorcycle that I'm not super used to yet, and being expected to make solid tactical judgements in an overcomplicated card game—the rules of which are slightly different when you're playing it on a motorcycle—at the same time, I would likely also mess up like that and accidentally try to make an illegal play. But the thing is, the episode rewards her for sticking it out anyway by letting her pull off a really complicated driving manoeuvre to save herself from her envious turbo-duelling-license colleagues' cheap tricks, and by letting her score a really nice win from a tight spot, much like any of the boys would have in her position.

(Take that, you jerks. Dumbasses only get blurry screenshots.)

So Aki gets her license and is welcomed by the team as a fresh turbo duellist. Hooray!

(I love them all so, so much, help me.)

And we also get this:

Wouldn't you know it! Sherry's been watching Aki get her license with interest! And she seems to be mighty pleased with the result!

So. After all that, I don't think you could blame anyone (it's me, I'm anyone) for getting really excited about what Aki's gonna get up to from this point outward. Aki can control her powers now! And she got her turbo duelling license! And we've got a new, enigmatic side character who seems like she could have super interesting interactions with and play off Aki! I wonder what they're gonna do with all that.

*deep breath*

Sigh.

Seeing as I already know this show like the palm of my hand, I kind of dreaded getting past this episode because I know exactly what happens to Aki from this point out: Nothing. A whole lot of nothing. Okay, well, no. See, I went back and checked all the episodes I have left, just to make sure, just in case I forgot something (very likely when you've already watched the show three times, I know).

From here on out, during the entire pre-WRGP, WRGP, and Ark Cradle arc, Aki gets exactly three things to do:

She uses her shiny new turbo duelling license to fill in for Crow at the Team Unicorn match because he got injured. Which, on paper, is a perfect way to let her have the spotlight for a moment. Except, the only thing she gets that spotlight for is to last a hot four turns in the duel before losing spectacularly to Andre and literally never turbo duelling again for the rest of the show. (Like, yes. The moment where she summons Stardust Dragon is chefs kiss and legendary. But in light of the surrounding circumstances, it feels like a consolation prize to make up for the ensuing character trainwreck.)

Since Crow is technically still injured when they're meant to go up against Team Catastrophe, Aki trains to fill in for him there again. Except! They intentionally make her crash right before the duel, putting her in a short-term coma! And as the icing on the cake, when she wakes up, it also turns out she lost the powers she was only just able to control for absolutely. no. reason. None. They never bother explaining it, they don't even try to hint at why they might have vanished. (I have my own theories for why they had to let her powers vanish and they all start and end with the words "we couldn't be bothered to figure out how to write this character".)

At the very end of the show, the very end, after temporarily fridging Sherry, too, they dig both girls back up in order to let them participate in a three-way final boss duel with Crow. (Which is a fantastic duel, I love it to pieces. Genuinely.) You could argue that they tried to cash in on all the intrigue they set up between Aki and Sherry here, but—come on. At the end of the show? Seriously? Oh, and did I mention that for some reason, Aki's powers mysteriously reappear after this duel? For no reason? Again?

I just. It does not compute. They went as far as doing all this setup, letting Aki get the hang of her powers, letting her get her license, making her part of Team 5Ds, even giving us a new character that seemed like the perfect fit to let her bounce off of—and then, like some sort of kafkaesque reverse-miracle, they somehow managed to take a sharp left into "whoops, don't care about this character" and nearly wasted the entirety of that setup in one fell swoop. If it weren't for that finale saving at least a smidgen of it, I'd be holding a torch and a pitchfork over here. (Hell, I might, even knowing that Aki's final duel in the show is kickass.)

Please tell me if this is just me (15 years after the show released, I know, leave me alone), but this feels like they were literally loading Chekov's gun directly within view of the audience, only to later procede to toss the damned thing into the sea instead of firing it.

Okay. Okay, I think I'm done. For anyone who actually bothered with the whole post, first of all, thank you for your attention, secondly, sorry, but this does, indeed, still bother me ten years after I first found this show, so I had to get it out or it would have eaten at me forever. God damn it.

Anyway, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to writing fics where Aki actually gets something to do right this second. If anyone's interested in giving a fic series where Aki gets a separate character arc that tries to stay mostly canon-compliant after the defeat of the dark signers a go, you can find my stuff here.

[heirtotheempire]

The Bad Batch S2 has honestly left much to be desired. I do not understand the people who claim filler does not exist, to me it does. There are absolutely episodes where a character arc (positive or negative) does not progress, where addition to a plot is absent. This may make sense in shows where each episode is a contained story such as in classic Saturday Morning Cartoons, but in a show that claims to be serialized such as TBB, it ends up looking lazy.

Episode 4 for example, titled Faster, is what I would call a good character arc episode. It does not include any overarching plot about the Empire or the Batch as a whole, but shines light onto Tech's attitude and pushes his character to do something he most likely wouldn't do otherwise. And, it even brings up possible issues with Cid, such as her rocky past and potential to hurt the team. The events aren't mentioned again, but it actually explores a handful of characters in a believable and fun way. The mini-arc Tech goes through will (hopefully) be retained. It matches the tone of the series without being too angsty or too wholesome.

Episode 3, The Solitary Clone, is a good story based episode. It dives into how the Empire is treating clones, and its shaky morals. The events that occur do impact future episodes and are mentioned again, because the plot adds to the overarching story about a post-Clone War world with Imperial rule crawling in.

Both these episodes are very very different, but actually contribute to the show and it's characters. While Faster could be labelled a filler episode since it doesn't include the same story themes The Solitary Clone does, I would argue that because of its character exploration, it is not filler.

What IS filler in my eyes, are episodes like number 6, Tribe. The Gungi appearance acts as a cameo, but does not do much other then give The Clone Wars (2008) fans a chance to point at him and go "LOOK ITS HIM" and be happy. A lot of Star Wars has become this, but is a lot more noticable in the live action series (did R5 really have to be the droid Mando picked up...). Cameos are not inherently bad, this is a story that spans many years after all. It only makes sense for characters from other shows to make an appearance. But what matters is how the cameo functions.

Star Wars Rebels has fantastic inclusions of The Clone Wars (2008) and Original Trilogy characters. They have Ahsoka present for a good chunk of the series, but not simply as a draw to get people to watch the show. It expands on her character, she has a duel with Vader, she functions as a teacher to Ezra, and most importantly we see her fight for the Rebellion, something that makes her appearance in Rebels make SENSE and add to her story in a thoughtful way. Similarly, Rex joins the cast as a disillusioned old man who needs to be convinced to join the Rebellion. But even after he does, he acts as a source of conflict for Kanan, which helps both characters with their own long-lasting emotions about Order 66. In short: their long-term roles within Rebels help progress the story and the character arcs the show wishes to portray without feeling invasive or like a gimmick.

Pivoting back to The Bad Batch, Gungi's cameo does none of this. We learn he's in trouble for being a Wookie, the team saves him, and then they fight some Imperial shenanigans on Kashyyyk. Gungi could have been any Wookie, hell he didnt even need to be a Jedi for the story to work. None of the characters other than Omega really 'connect' to the culture on Kashyyyk, theres no thoughtful arcs or progression in the overarching plot, the episode simply exists. Omega and Gungi's friendship is surface level and does not challenge or change anything about Omega, its purely there for the cute factor. And again, it did not even have to be Gungi for this to occur.

Ahsoka being the one to duel Anakin, the one to commit to the rebellion, thats something specific that actually means something for Ahsoka to be doing it. Gungi's story in Tribe is so generic it can be applied to any of the other Padawan children he was with in The Clone Wars if the writers felt like showcasing them instead. It does not mean much for Gungi to be the specific Padawan returning to his home. Perhaps, if the writers actually went into the effects it had on Gungi to return to a place that is theoretically his home, but is not where he grew up nor a place he has memories of... Then maybe it would actually matter that it was his story. He would not be interchangable anymore.

I don't think that enjoying the episode is a bad thing persay, but it is important to understand why some of us may be more critical about this season, or just about any Star Wars media in general. If I wanted to watch a show with no conflict, and everyone was happy and safe, then I would turn on some Cartoon Network show or whatever. Star Wars can be silly and goofy, and it absolutely fails when it takes itself too seriously, but there is a difference between that and just poor writing.

I really do love this show, but more for the potential it has to be great. Episodes such as The Clone Conspiracy, Truth and Consequences, and my personal favorite so far, The Outpost, showcase how fantastic the premise is, how interesting the material present can be. It's kind of a bummer watching thay go down the drain.

[the-power-of-stuff]

yes you GET it!!!!

i love the idea of live actions sokka’s blatant sexism being almost triggered. it comes out when he’s agitated and has been shown up which i think would translate better to live action than just straight up jokes like in the cartoon. i think we’re in an age where misogynistic remarks are made more out of anger than in old timey jokes

“the pride she feels about being a guardian for her village ends up damaging his pride” completely!!! not only do we get to see her as the badass warrior that she very obviously is, but her drive beliefs and motivations behind what she does and who she is are so clearly laid out.

my biggest gripe with the episode was definitely the lack of buildup for sure. and the kiss. not that sukka were ever really slow burn, but that constant distance where they would meet intermittently and have those intimate moments made it feel like they were

maybe that’s something that can be not so much rectified in the next season, but worked on? because if their first kiss came about so quickly, i feel like the conflict of them next time they’re together should be greater than sokka’s overprotectiveness. or maybe it should be played up more - which i guess it will be as their whole arc that episode was condensed to twenty minutes. idk!!!!

ooo i like your predictions!! i feel like if they go with a year or so time jump then maybe it’ll go more similarly for them in s2? sure, they kissed when they last saw each other, but there’s been some time since then.

sokka’s been involved with yue, and i’d like to think amidst her travels with the kyoshi warriors suki has had time for a fling or two herself. they were each others first kiss, their first encounter with someone from the opposite sex their age, and while it clearly meant something to them, they were younger.

idk though, that’s me trying to rationalise their first kiss being so early. i’ve been interpreting their kiss as yes, definitely a romantic one, but also as a thank you from suki for, like she said, showing her the world. for being that last big push towards her leaving.

i’m rambling now so sorry for another long ask!! but on a slightly different note, i’ve seen some float around the idea of the suki and the kyoshi warriors having their own sort of mini subplot in s2 to do with the dai li.

i’m not 100% sold on this idea yet, but i thought it would be an interesting angle to have two groups/organisations that kyoshi founded at conflict. if done right it could just alter where the kyoshi warriors find appa without changing much else.

here’s the link that i saw posted on the atlatv sub - https://knightedgemedia.com/2024/02/suki-deserves-her-own-original-subplot-in-netflixs-avatar-the-last-airbender-season-2/

anyway thank you for such a detailed response! i love your blog so much and always appreciate how much detail you go into even answering lil old asks like mine <3<3

and i’d definitely be interested in reading a reimagining of the ep from you👀👀 no pressure tho!!!

Ooh, thank you for sharing that Suki theory! I do love the potential for building out more of the Kyoshi Warriors' storyline and explaining what they got up to between leaving the ferry station and discovering Appa. In the episode where they're crossing the Serpent's Pass, Suki mentions that she's heard the Fire Nation is working on something on the other side of the lake that they don't want anyone to know about, so clearly she's privy to some gossip at her ferry job. I always thought it would be neat if she and the Warriors decided to leave the ferry station to investigate, and that's how they ended up in the forest where they found Appa. But the idea of tying the Kyoshi Warrior's adventures into the Dai Li's conspiracies could be a cool way to pull Suki more deeply into the main story.

I wrote into a fic a while ago that Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors got fed up with the bureaucracy of the ferry station and how trying to "maintain order" actually ends up being harmful to people (e.g., the lady in charge would rather force a pregnant woman to walk across a deadly pass than help her find her stolen property or otherwise get her onto the ferry), and it ends up being sort of eye-opening for them that the Fire Nation aren't the only ones doing harm in this war. (And in my story, that's ultimately why the Warriors end up leaving.) I think it could be interesting for the LA to delve more into this aspect of how the Earth Kingdom is dealing with the war, and it seems like the kind of thing that could fit with the darker tone they want the series to take. But however they end up doing it, I'd love to see them develop more of an explanation for why the Warriors are where they are when the find Appa!

Also I had a lot of fun thinking about a different take on the second episode of the LA. Got me through a dentist appointment lollll... Throwing my thoughts under the cut!

Okay, I’m totally stealing your idea about Sokka’s latent sexism coming out when he's provoked, cuz I just think 1) it makes sense as a defense mechanism for a guy who's feeling insecure in himself, and 2) it raises the stakes for him and Suki. XD

So! We keep “you’re trespassing on sacred ground!” and Suki being the one to tackle Sokka. I would’ve liked to have seen a little bit more of an action sequence during the ambush, so we (and Sokka) get a real taste of the Kyoshi Warriors’ skill. 

The Kyoshi statue glows, they have the village hall meeting. Sokka’s eyeing Suki the whole time with grudging interest. Suki notices and looks at him narrow-eyed, tilting her chin up at him and then looking away abruptly. She’s not sure how she feels about him yet.

Afterwards they walk, and Sokka does his whole, “I’m my village’s protector, too,” thing, to which Suki responds, “I don’t see how that could be true if you’re here.” Sokka stumbles, says something like, “Yeah, I mean, good point, it’s just…this was more important.” And then Suki gets heated (what could be more important than protecting your people??) and gives the Kyoshi Warrior spiel. 

That evening, Sokka rants to Katara and Aang about it. Katara’s like, “Sokka, it doesn’t matter, just let it go,” and Sokka’s all, “It does matter! Just because we’re here with Aang doesn’t mean our village isn’t safe! I worked hard to protect us all those years and— and anyway, helping Aang helps the village!” But inside he’s also thinking, “Have I let my people down? Or did they not need me that badly in the first place?”

The next day, Sokka storms over to the dojo, sees the Warriors practicing, and scoffs. “Fans? That’s your weapon?” and Suki’s like, “Excuse me?” Sokka goes, “At least I trained with real weapons—” “Real weapons, huh? Fine, let’s see it, then.” Sokka’s a little taken aback but he pulls out his club, they get into a stance, Sokka attacks, and Suki easily disarms him with her fans. “Well, Southern Water Tribe warriors are more known for hand-to-hand combat—” Suki immediately puts her fans away and gets into another stance. Sokka grits his teeth and attacks again, but Suki tackles him much like she did at the beginning of the episode. She’s hovering over him and he looks at her and his look of shock becomes a little sad. “I’m a bit out of practice,” he says, and Suki straightens, crosses her arms, and says snarkily, “Feel free to come back when you’re better prepared.”

Later, he comes back and Suki’s like, “Ready for a rematch?” but he gets on his knees and asks to be trained. Suki’s very surprised and just stares at him for a while. He apologizes. “Truthfully, there isn’t much need for warriors in my village…” And this strikes a chord with Suki because it’s not like there’s much need for warriors in her village, either (seeing as how they've kept themselves out of the war)… So she agrees to train him. But she says, “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it right,” and pulls out a spare uniform.

After Sokka gets dressed he looks at Suki and asks, “Face, too?” “Of course.” And he tells her—but sincerely; not bragging, this time—that he actually knows about putting on facepaint because of the SWT warrior paint. And this time when Suki asks him to demonstrate, she's also being sincere. He starts putting on the Kyoshi Warrior paint, and she helps him, and oops! romantic tension.

They train. Suki is strict but there’s still a lot of closeness and touching. We get to see Sokka use the fans. We get to see Sokka almost best Suki before she gets over her surprise thirst and overtakes him. But then she’s still all “oh shit he’s hot” so she gets up. Training’s over.

I loved the delivery of, “Thanks, um…you’re a great teacher.” “And you’re an excellent student.” So I’m keeping that. Suki acknowledges Sokka’s role as his village’s protector. Sokka, sadly, “Can’t protect them if I’m not there, can I?” And Suki looks at him earnestly. “I’m sure that you made sure they were safe before they left.” “Why are you sure of that?” “Because we’re warriors. And it’s what I would have done.” Enter “you’re the fiercest warrior I’ve ever seen” and “truth is I envy you” spiel. They share an intimate look, like maybe they’re about to kiss, and then the bell rings.

I also really, really loved the moment where Suki goes, “The bell,” and Sokka, all dreamy and lovestruck, says, “You hear it, too?” because OMG what an adorable sap. So I’m keeping that, too. 

They go kick ass together. Sokka jumps in front of Suki to save her from a fireball with his fans. And as much as I like the idea of Suki getting to see a manifestation of Avatar Kyoshi right before her very eyes, I would actually take that part out because for a lot of thematic reasons that I won’t get into here, I prefer Aang and Katara realizing they should retreat to draw fire away from the island, rather than being told they have to leave. And because of that, Sokka and Suki’s goodbye has to be hurried.

While they're ducking for cover, Sokka apologizes again. "Suki, I'm sorry... For treating you like a girl. I mean...you are a girl, but for treating you like just a girl. I mean, a girl who isn't a warrior. I'm sorry for treating you like girls can't be warriors—"

Suki smiles and shakes her head, then kisses his cheek.

"Thank you, Sokka. For showing me that there's more out there."

He gapes at her.

"Now get out of here! We'll hold them off.”

He escapes with Aang and Katara, and while they're flying away on Appa, Sokka pulls off the headdress and runs his thumb over it thoughtfully. Aang says “Nice dress, Sokka,” and Sokka looks up and says, “It's a warrior’s uniform.” 

~fin!~

(I, too, enjoy the sort of slow burn way their relationship develops in the animated show, so I definitely get how you feel about the lack of buildup, Anon. So if it were my rewrite, I would keep that aspect in. ;))

Thank you so, so much for your asks!! I'm having a blast answering them, and I'm so happy to hear you enjoy my blog! 💗💗💗Feel free to keep 'em coming if there's anything else you wanna talk about!

[rosemaryreality]

Sonic Prime article analysis

Hey guys guess what! there's an article on gizmodo with a new synopsis for sonic prime AND new screenshots! these screenshot's are apparently from episode 6 and 7 (and as you may know we are only getting 8 this year), and while i don't think they show too much, if you don't want any kind of spoilers i'd suggest to just block the tag.

Anyway personally i am SUPER excited about this SO i'm gonna go over this whole article if you don't mind

Alright so FIRST i want to go over the synopsis

While reading the first thing that caught my attention was this

Attitudes and abilities huh? First of about the attitudes, It's not really surprising per se, since we have seen sonic's friends acting kind of ...agressive in previous trailers (plus i'm sure we have all seen the grumpy/feral tails posts), but i do wonder how it will vary between the shatterverses. I feel it could get kind of repetitive if all of them acted more or less the same way. And now about the abilities, do they mean about how in the Rebel!verse people use guns and in the pirate one swords? or is there more to that? aside from cyborg amy having some crazy stuff idk if and how they would give anyone else some impressive new ability.

Something else caught my attention about this article though...

So it seems the core of the show will really be about Sonic learning to appreciate his friends, honestly I am both surprised and not. On one hand, many people, including me, thought this might be the case since the first time we saw that one synopsis that described this show as a journey of "self-discovery and redemption". But on the other hand, one of the first things Sonic says on the trailer is a compliment to his "crew" not really something that i feel someone that needs to learn the power of friendship would say.

Personally, i do not mind this, i know that there are people who hated this idea, but i do think it's a fun idea for the show. I know that this is supposed to be game sonic, but personally i always treat each iteration of sonic as his own little guy. You guys are welcome to disagree and voice your opinions about it (in your own post pls this is a Sonic Prime hype blog now). But i for one am curious (and as they say "cautiously optimistic") about what MoA's take on my favorite hedgehog may look like.

BUT ANYWAY BACK TO THE SYNOPSIS

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So, it seems that shadow really IS going to be helping sonic on his journey, I wonder about how much screetime he is gonna get.

Also i almost forgot lmao

It reads to me as saying that Sonic shattering the crystal CREATED this new worlds from Sonic's original one, instead of those been already pre-existing worlds that Sonic is just visiting. Which explain the name Shatterverses.

So anyway that is most of what i have to say on the synopsis, now the screenshots AND their descriptions.

First,

So it seems that things are getting kind of tense with these two, and i do wonder what it is about, but what makes this image the more interesting for me though is the fact that the article claims that this images are from episode 6 and 7. I've had the theory for a while that Sonic would come back at least to this dimension in particular, (based on this:

I don't know about you, but between the gloves and the way he is falling (in the trailer he looks like he is going to faceplant, meanwhile normal gloves!sonic fell on his knees), i feel like this are two different scenes) And it seems i was right. It makes me wonder, how many shatterverses is Sonic going to visit? will it be common for him to go back to world he left? are there going to be mini arcs for each dimention? I am genually so excited for this.

The second screenshot by itself isn't much, I'm pretty sure it's from a scene from a previous trailer (it shows big, rouge and knuckles from the Rebelverse, along with two background characters, staring with surprise at something we aren't shown, but am 100% sure it's Sonic. they also have weapons) But the description under DID caught my attention:

Hello?? Rebel Rouge? Also for some reason she's the only one with a nickname (unless Knucks is on purpose and not a typo, but if so why does rouge gets a whole additional word and then knuckles name is shortened)

And now in the third image, THIS:

Here we have another look at our pirate crew (minus Knuckles) and they...don't look very friendly, i mean they ARE pirates but damn i wouldn't wanna mess with this people (well at least not with Rouge, Amy and Tails kind of look like they are trying too hard to look tough). But anyway that's not important, THIS is:

LMAO SAILS TAILS SADASKJD PLEASE TELL ME THEY CALL HIM THAT IN THE EPISODE. I had to google what Batten meant, apparently there is a saying "batten down the hatches" that means either to "secure a ship's hatch-tarpaulins, especially when rough weather is expected." or to "prepare for a difficulty or crisis".Also now that i think about it, it's probably also a pun on "Bat". At least Amy got a cool, easy to understand name.

NOW FOR THE BEST IMAGE,

SONIC WITH A SWORD MY BELOVED!!!! He doesn't seem very happy about it tho, in fact he looks really unsure? It looks like he managed to convince the pirate crew to work with him (also this is the third time we see a scene with these 3 together without Knuckles), and they look like they are teaching him how to use a sword? maybe? they look either excited or encouraging, something like that. (Also amy you aren't fooling anyone with those heart eyes girl come on you just met the guy). Not sure how i feel about this shoes tbh, they don't look bad but it's definetly his weakest assemble so far.

BUT ANYWAY WHO CARES SONIC WITH A SWORD <3<3<3<3

So anyway now the last picture:

Here we have another shot of the pirate crew! Now with Big included! Still not Knuckles though, which is weird because we know from the trailers this ship is his. I'm starting to wonder if they stole it from him lmao. I wonder who that lank is for, it looks to me as if someone else was about to use it to go to Knuckles ship, Big and Sails (lmao) are waving and everything, and Sails (lol) looks kind of nervous, so I'm guessing that it's not someone friendly.

Anyway i think that is all, until i have more time to think about it, or we get that footage from the game awards

[gracethefoundfamilyfan]

Ok mini Miraculous rant coming right up

The thing that slightly annoys me about canon is that Adrienette, honestly, isn't healthy. They can be! I'm rooting for them! But if we think of them as a real relationship and not just kid's show romance, Marinette in that one episode was right! She really doesn't know Adrien that well! That's why in fanfics she learns more about him first! Like, his mom and how he feels about her 'disappearance'/death. Or how his dad treats him and how conflicted that makes him feel. Or how his schedule is oppressive, or he really doesn't like modeling all that much (which she does learn in the show! eventually! good job ML!), or how worried he is about Nathalie getting sick (I mean... she does hear about it once but she never follows up? Like, that whole arc kinda gets dropped? that would've been such a good opportunity for her to start reaching out!)

i guess it's possible that they got really close, because they act like they know each other inside and out in a couple scenes (could be the ladynoir magic showing through idk). and ofc there's that scene where they literally ft each other as soon as they wake up and he's making sure she doesn't fall and he's making her laugh and it's adorable and dorky and stupid and cute. so it's POSSIBLE they have a stronger relationship offscreen. but i wish the show didn't rely so much on the soulmate magic because except for the couple scenes where they really relied on each other it felt just a little bit... shallow? Like ok we made it! We're dating!... That's it! Idk

I love the show don't get me wrong and them dating is FREAKING ADORABLE I just wanted to see more of them being lowkey besties and goofing off before Adrien's traumatization arc started-- but that's what fanfics are for :)

also marinette not going after Adrien when his dad sent him to London broke my heart because that's what the Marinette Adrien fell in love with would do for sure (not to mention Ladybug)

and Chadrien would fly across the ocean for her in a heartbeat

but between Ephemeral and Chat Blanc and the other couple times her being Ladybug for personal gain she knows she can't risk going after him even though I'm sure she wants to and she must feel SO DANG HELPLESS because she's ALWAYS the one with the impossible plan and she's ALWAYS the one who makes it happen-- and if she was just Ladybug she could do it and if she was just Marinette she could do it too (although it would be a lot more complicated potentially, when has that ever stopped out disaster child) but she's BOTH and the CONFLICTING INTERESTS--

and then Chat Noir tells her he's gonna be gone for a while and she realizes she can't leave the city she's sworn to protect for anything, even Adrien, because she's a hero and that's what heroes do and if she's not a hero what is she???

whoooo anyway

TL;DR current Adrienette is breaking my heart and I'm scared for Season 6

[incompetentmedic]

So I finished watching the last episode of Demon Slayer last night, so here are my thoughts on the entire anime as a whole

[OBVIOUSLY MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD]

God that ending. Fuck. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a show successfully get me to fucking beg for a dumb bullshit plot armor deus ex machina before. I don’t care if it made no sense I don’t care if it’s bad writing I’m just happy Nezuko survived. And the sheer amount of skill it takes to make me care about a character that much is impressive.

I’m kind of sad that we didn’t get any filler in the latter seasons. I would’ve loved to see how the relationship between the main 4 changed during and after each major arc. Also I want more yaoi moments.

Jar guy’s final form is honestly kinda hot

I could write a whole essay on how effectively the writers utilized unreliable worldbuilding to show us that demons are all evil and Nezuko is the only exception, then slowly lead us to the conclusion that nonviolent demons have always existed and purposely make themselves as invisible as possible. I cannot stress enough how good the worldbuilding in this show is

I appreciate the lengths that the series goes through to humanize it’s villains and show us how the demons are pushed into lives of violence as symptoms of larger systemic issues

That being said, the “sudden backstory montage right before the monster of the week dies” starts to feel a bit lazy after the 10th time they do it. I understand that all these character backstories couldn’t succinctly fit in the first season, but it leaves us with a lot of deaths that could’ve been a lot more impactful if we had been introduced to these characters earlier. I’ll have to read the manga and see if it’s handled better

On the topic of lazy writing, I’m really not a fan of Zenitsu’s whole “sleep transformation” thing. It feels like a gimmicky way to get out of writing character growth

Back to the good stuff now. 52 episodes and the main character does not fall in love with a single person. Aros everywhere are celebrating

When I first heard the premise of the entertainment district arc, that the 3 male main characters disguise themselves as women to infiltrate a brothel, I was completely ready to drop the series. But if I’m being honest, they handled that arc just about perfectly. I obviously can’t speak for the transgender community and maybe I’m just ignorant, but the whole arc seemed pretty supportive of the concept of changing your gender. I’d argue that Zenitsu seemed a lot more happy and fulfilled as a girl than they did as a boy. The series also has one of the best depictions of sex workers I’ve seen on television

Everything in mugen train was literally perfect. I wouldn’t change a single thing about it. I hope whoever wrote that arc gets $750,000,000 in the mail and free gourmet meals forever.

I love Inosuke’s gay ass crush on Tanjiro. King shit

I complained about Zenitsu’s character arc earlier but I must admit his writing in the spider forest mini-arc was fucking phenomenal. We love it when comic relief characters experience personal growth and start to carry serious narrative weight

The way that Nezuko speaks at the very end. She speaks slowly and abruptly. She can only manage a word or two at a time, and even then only simple ones. It takes her 3 whole attempts to say her first word. Its so god damn impactful watching her stumble through speech after spending so long being physically incapable of speaking. I love that scene so much

I really hope we get a season 5. I want to know where tanjiro and Nezuko go from here. Do they stay in the corps? Do they settle down to a peaceful life, now that Nezuko is, in most respects, functionally human? Or is Nezuko not content with her current state, leading them to continue searching for a total cure? How will the more skeptical and conservative hashira react to knowing that Nezuko, who they already consider a liability, is now powerful enough to withstand direct sunlight? How will her relationships with Inosuke and Zenitsu change? All of these questions would be answered if I read the manga but I’m too lazy to do that so I’m gonna have to wait for the next season, if they make one.

Overall this was one of, if not The Best, shonen anime ever made

[cintakaz]

things that were great

bo's entire arc was so good

the action sequences

grogu getting more involved

return to sundari

elia is a great villain

they finally cut back on cameos

things that were not great

it was super weird how they didn't address the retcon of grogu being back and it completely undermined all the pathos and tension in their relationship

the dialogue the whole season was bad and unnatural to the point of distraction. people don't talk like that. highschool student written theatre level bad

it was a bad decision to "redeem" din immediately just to hurry the plot along, it destroyed any potential for him to actually grow or change or have any emotion and it was anticlimactic

jon doesn't seem to know anything about mandalorians at all. all the lore bits in the script were weird and off and they didn't act towards each other like they've acted in every other star wars

episode to episode the mini-plots were sloppy, poorly paced and badly written. felt like the first draft was the one they shot

the conclusion of the moff gideon stuff was rushed and unsatisfying

politically the show is very confused. every moment of meta-commentary they tried to have was scary bad and didn't make any sense

jon gave din nothing to do or feel. he's a dead character, he's completely static. he has no inner conflict and it makes him incredibly boring. it would have been so obvious and easy to give him a parallel redemption arc

very obviously a series where the plot drives the characters instead of the characters driving the plot. the only reason bo's arc worked out is because she is a pre-existing character who came with all that nuance and complexity loaded beforehand. jon could not write her from scratch

[luckycheesefoodie321]

Every day I live I walk around with One Piece spoilers for upcoming arcs rattling around in my head. As I still doggedly pursue watching every episode in the One Piece canon despite knowing many of what is going to occur. (SPOILERS)

Some spoilers are just by virtue of being on the internet in the same spaces. Like there was no hiding from Gear 5. Saw it when the manga hit and then the anime. So I just went and watched the first episode it was introduced in so I could witness the fun.

Other spoilers I actively seek out bc sometimes I like knowing what I have to look forward to. I basically skimmed through all of the major plot points up to the time skip when I was on specifically Luffy’s wiki page. And I do this periodically for vibes bc sometimes something happens in a recent episode that I didn’t watch but again knew about bc fandom spaces are no holds barred and I like to see how quickly the wiki gets updated.

And sometimes I’ll get a spoiler that I didn’t plan on seeing just bc I happen to go to a space intentionally to look for information I already know and accidentally see something I shouldn’t have. Like I’ll be looking up amvs about one piece just to feel the hype and had pretty much the core conflict of Whole Cake spoiled for me bc when I actively started watching One Piece in like 2014ish, that’s what was airing at the time so obvi edits were abundant in whole cake arc things.

This time around I was just checking up the arcs list to see what’s coming next and on the wiki there are mini overviews that also include key plot points that occur in each arc.

I’m having a fun time reminiscing about prior arcs and get to Wano and I’m like nothing here will surprise me bc I vaguely know the major plot points anyway. And any I don’t know will probably involve a character I don’t know about yet and so will mean nothing to me.

But THIS time around what do I see? Kanjuro is revealed to be an enemy spy and gets killed in battle??????

The audacity of this multicoloured bitch?!?!?

How aware was he that his shitty drawings were hindering the Straw Hats or was he just an idiot??

Also is he an enemy spy that’s secretly been evil the whole time and just excellent at acting OR does he turn out to be a nice enemy spy who regrets his actions, appreciates the friendships he’s made along the way, and sacrifices himself/welcomes the death as served by the heroes as retribution for his actions?

BECAUSE I CAN SEE EITHER HAPPENING???

Don’t tell me what he is. FYI. I’d like to see how it happens.

Anyway. Now I have this knowledge in my head and just gotta watch Kanjuro make his crappy lil drawings and know he’s an enemy spy. For like the next 300 episodes or so.

[theabhainnhotel]

A rewrite huh? These can be fun when they're from people with passion and not from spite. You can feel it seep through the work. This is all about Hazbin because I don't care about Helluva.

Complaints:

Pacing. I assume you're writing this as either a comic or a fanfic, so this should be easier to take than having limited episodes. But the sequence of events needs to slow down and breathe. Sir. Pentious being found as a traitor lasts about 3 minutes and it's never explained why he wants to join the Vees. Sera and Emily have their falling out tainted because we just met them. This show needs a beach episode.

Swearing. I'm not saying remove the swearing completely, but it would've been more impactful if some characters didn't swear. Also cut it back about 20 words per episode. It might be a personal thing but I think it's funnier to have one or two characters getting censored in a world of swearing. Cue my Alastor swearing post here.

I liked Alastor in the pilot more in general. Charismatic with a dark side seemed to fit him better than the more edgelord heavy side in the final show (the bit were he was casually eating a deer carcass like a fine steak was gold though).

Husk's past with Alastor was severely under utilized, which is a shame because it could be interesting. It could be used as a parallel between him and Angel Dust.

Similar issue with Vaggie. Interesting concept and backstory and they do little with it. I think an interesting path to go with her character is that because she's used to serving one cause so loyally, she becomes attached to Charlie and doesn't have a life outside of her. Also a mini arc where Vaggie renames herself Vagatha.

Not necessarily a writing issue but more a personal thing, I couldn't care less about the shipping in the show. I may reblog an occasional shipping post but it's no where near the first thing I think of when I think "Hazbin Hotel". The only writing issue I have is Sir. Pentious x Cherri Bomb because that ship is made up of two jokes and a confession.

Things done well:

The main cast has great chemistry and their strong personalities bounce off each other well. Charlie's optimism and bubbly nature, Vaggie's stoic and cynical attitude, Angel's flirtiness and charisma, Husk's grumpiness and "I don't want to be here" attitude, Alastor's charm and mysteriousness, Nifty . . . being Nifty, it leads to some fun interactions.

I thought the Angel and Valentino dynamic was handled well, particularly how Valentino is charming to his prey (including Angel) and more outwardly violent and bratty towards the other Vees. Angel hypersexualizing himself and doing excessive drugs to cope is something I don't see done a lot in media, especially for sexual abuse victims.

A lot of the visual gags and non-sex related jokes worked for me. My favorite being the characters all having custom mugs with funny quotes and another bit being when Sera tells Charlie no dictionary definitions and then the next four cards in her speech are dictionary definitions with cute drawings.

The music, both the OST and the musical numbers, need I explain more.

The concept of redemption is handled better than I see in a lot of other cartoons. It's not just can these demons be redeemed, it's do they want to. A common issue I see with redemption arcs is that the character genuinely wants to do the horrible things, but then the heroes discover they have a sad backstory and that equals redemption. It's also not "everyone can be redeemed' but rather "everyone should have a chance to be redeemed".

I like how the mysteries are set up too, just another to keep viewers guessing and on their toes. Basically everything about soul deals. Alastor making a deal with an unknown soul (even though everyone already knows it's Lilith), Charlie making a deal with Alastor that will likely bite her later, what Husk's history with Alastor is to make the soul deal. All of these are just Alastor I'm realizing.

Overall:

I think the whole Heaven/Hell war should be a season 2 thing and the Vees should be the villains of season 1.

I have a whole different set up idea for the show: Still about the hotel, but they meet the main cast along the show. It starts off with Vaggie and Charlie and the others are added on as the series progresses. Maybe more emphasis on Charlie needed to be taken seriously from the other sinners because Lucifer barely shows his face and Lilith has been missing for 7 years. The hotel must work.

Keep the way Charlie and Vaggie meet Angel the same and then throughout the series, they meet the rest of the characters to recruit them to the hotel. Something like finding Alastor in a fight with Vox and Alastor joining the hotel makes them a threat for Vox, Sir Pentious terrorizing a city with new technology he created, just throwing out ideas.

Give Velvette a personal enemy the way Vox has Alastor and Valentino has Angel (Cherri Bomb maybe? I'd say Carmilla but I can't see her at the hotel.).

Since you asked about Angel and Valentino specifically . . . hm, maybe make it take longer for him to get to the hotel because he's stuck living with Valentino. And/or force him to choose between "life of fame and riches but being sexually abused' or "living in a crappy hotel with weird demons but be free". Debating between what he knows and what he wants because he could've been there for decades if my math is right.

That's all I can think of right now.

Hope this helps!

HAZBIN AND HELLUVA BOSS FANS HELP!!

im working on rewriting both shows, i'm about halfway done with my helluva boss rewrite and i haven't gotten to start hazbin hotel because (as a fan) its sortaa a hot mess... SO!! can people comment as many errors/complaints/what the show did well and shouldnt be changed/whatever about either show? i want fan's opinions on the show's writing besides my own for this rewrite to actually cover spots that need work/restarts. also, any advice on specifically rewriting angel dust and valentino's would be incredibly helpful ( please to reblog this so i can get more answers/nf )

[eri-cheri]

Now that we have reached the last chapter of the year. It is time to do a 2020 roll call of what I like to call, “State of the Shippers”:

1. IzuOcha. Status: Placated.

-IzuOcha’s could celebrate several cute tidbits throughout the year. Mini moments as they say.

Anime Highlights: The OVA’s came in clutch with moments for shippers all around and IzuOcha is no exception. We got a cute tidbit where Izuku and Ochako bumped into each other and were flustered.

Manga Highlights: Christmas kept on giving to this fandom as the AM doll Izuku gave Ochako made many appearances. A cute fist bump between the two was also exchanged and Mina was right there bouncing with y’all.

Heroes Rising: Izuku super man carried Ochako to safety. And was Angy she was injured. Fans could enjoy the small Lois Lane moment.

Troubling Signs?: Ochako said “I would like to be excluded from this narrative” when it comes to her feelings for Deku. She’s a hero damnit! So if they are in for something, probably won’t be while they are still in school.

II. DabiHawks. Status: Yikes.

- Dabi and Hawk’s very public breakup set this fandom in disarray but also kind of disayay?

Anime Highlights: None yet. This fandom was cruelly cock blocked by Bones. Sorry DabiHawks stans.

Manga Highlights: Where to begin, my goodness. With these fans, I guess the good and the bad is a plus in this homoerotic double agent relationship. We have the notion that Dabi may have known Hawks when they were kids, which may be a positive? Hori sure loves his childhood friends. Other than that. The GIRLS WERE FIGHTIN’. Hawks is now permanently scarred by Dabi and I don’t think it was kinky folks. Tokoyami inserted himself in the middle to White Knight Hawks, Dabi broke up with him via YT expose and overall, shippers could anguish in the absolute MESS that this ship endured this year. But I’m sure that’s part of the appeal. So...yay?

Heroes Rising: They were both in it.

Troubling Signs?: The entire relationship is a troubling sign which again, is part of the appeal. Maybe Hawks will cuddle up with Dabi’s father after the war. That’s troubling! Speaking of...

III. EndHawks. Status: Yearning and Burning.

-If there’s one thing Endeavor couldn’t stop worrying about, it was his hot (in more ways than one) new side piece who probably should have looked at the fine print when signing a contract to be a recurring guest star on “Keeping up with the Todoroki’s”.

Anime Highlights: A fateful meeting finally in high definition for all our eyes to see! Hawks’s unwavering support of his biggest hero was endearing to watch and their shenanigans together spurred the anime onlies to finally jump on the biggest May-December ship in the series.

Manga Highlights: Endeavor’s admiration and concern for Hawks seeped through the pages as we entered our most exciting arc in the manga yet. Fate split these two up yet entwined their downfall together. And that Fate’s name was Dabi...or should I say ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️ or should I just say Touya!

Heroes Rising: “Don’t bite my head off, Endeavor.” Geez, can you flirt a little less loud Hawks?

Troubling Signs?: They say never meet your heroes and Hawks is in for a rude awakening. We shall see just how deep his admiration runs or if Endeavor’s past will split our dynamic duo up for good.

IV: TodoDeku. Status: “Precious”

-Shoto’s “Midoriya is in Danger” radar was highlighted in both manga and anime. 4th User’s quirk, who?

Anime Highlights: “Midoriya hasn’t returned yet.” “Where’s Midoriya?” “Midoriya! Grab my hand!” “Have some of my Soba Midoriya.” Shoto gets it. His emotional support friend is a danger magnet. TodoDeku’s also enjoyed tiny tidbits in the OVA such as a hand grabbing scene. Gotta hold tight to those crumbs.

Manga Highlights: Two Words. “Precious Friend.” Deku comes in w/o arms or legs fighting for Shoto and Shoto’s honor. These two spent the entire year worried sick about each other, and going against all odds to save each other. Precious Friends indeed. TDDK fans ate.

Heroes Rising: Shoto kicks some dog ass and then faints thinking of Deku (and Bakugo but shh. Let the shippers rejoice.) On the bright side, we have a 3rd movie coming featuring “The Three Musketeers” so shippers of TdDk can HOLD TIGHT to what’s to come.

Troubling Signs?: Shoto still doesn’t know about OFA and he’s gonna have LOTS of questions after this arc. Will Deku finally tell him? If not, it could make or break the ship.

V. TodoBaku. Status: “Shining through the city with a little funk and soul.”

-Who knew the greatest comedy duo we needed was Shoto and his hot headed “friend” or not friend? It still remains unclear to Shoto. Regardless, these two had a fun year.

Anime Highlights: “I wanna see your cute face”, disco dancing, and more fun in the provisional license training. Plus the OVA added some cute moments between the two such as Bakugo staying behind to save Todoroki during a dangerous excercise and his adorable plan neatly animated for us. I’d say TodoBaku’s really were resurgent and energized this year!

Manga Highlights: Shoto, that is not how you properly Catch a Kacchan, I’m sorry. But at least you did it you mad lad. As with Deku, Shoto spent the year worried sick about Bakugo. While the anime let us have our fun, these two were suffering in the manga.

Heroes Rising: Again, Shoto put a dog down and then fainted with Bakugo on his mind (and Deku but we ignore that. Shush.) TodoBaku’s have the 3rd movie to look forward to which is bound to have some amazing content!

Troubling Signs?: They have a lot of trauma to deal with. And a lot of Deku to worry about. I also imagine Shoto will be hurt about being left out of the OFA secret. We shall see what 2021 has to offer.

VI. KiriMina. Status: Unbreakable.

-Changing your hairstyle to match the gal who inspired you in middle school? Sorry y’all but if Mina were a guy, I’d say that’s gay af.

Anime Highlights: We got that backstory Bois. Red Riot’s origin might as well make him be called Pink Riot. Again with Hori and the childhood friends though I wouldn’t exactly call them friends. They just went to the same middle school but Kirishima was highly influenced by Mina’s Chivalrous spirit! A ship is born!

Manga Highlights: The influence is mutual! Mina creates a move based on Kirishima’s unbreakable and we all let out a collective “awwww”. Also in the war arc, we got Kirishima making sure Mina’s chivalrous spirit shines through right into Gigantomachia’s mouth! KiriMina may just be the unsung MVP’s of this arc.

Heroes Rising: They were in it.

Troubling Signs?: I can’t think of a single one. KiriMina’s can enjoy a peaceful sailing.

VII: KiriBaku. Status: Crumb Collectors.

-2020 was an uneventful year for KiriBaku but Bones made sure there were crumbs aplenty! Thank God for OVA’s!

Anime Highlights: KiriBaku’s did thrive in one episode! Kirishima reflects on the sludge incident and evolves his quirk based on inspiring words from Bakugo! Hooray! KiriBaku’s can thrive in their blossoming friendship. The OVA also has Kirishima (and Kaminari but shh) once again following Bakugo’s lead when it comes to the training excercise. How can you not? He’s so manly!

Manga Highlights: Not gonna lie. There is nothing much here this year. I did find a teeny tiny flake in Aizawa’s flashback. Kirishima and Bakugo are sitting next to each other. Oh! And at the hot pot gathering, Bakugo sits next to Kirishima! Eat your crumbs KiriBaku’s! There’s always next year!

Heroes Rising: Kirishima hangs with a lazy Bakugo and delivers the most hilarious line in the whole movie. “Silly Bakugo, there won’t be villains here!” Hahah... Silly Bakugo. Oh you~ KiriBaku’s can inhale the fact that those two sure love to hover around each other!

Troubling Signs?: With great crumbs come little responsiblity. No trouble if there’s no content! 🤔

VIII: KamiJirou. Status: Singing their hearts out 🎶

-If there’s any ship that’s coming close to canonization, I think this is it, folks! “Think of the person most important to you!” Can’t argue with Midnight!

Anime Highlights: Kaminari does non stop encouraging of Jirou and her hobbies! He works super hard to learn guitar for her sake! We love a king who can encourage his queen!

Manga Highlights: Kaminari thinks of the most important person to him and surprise! It’s Jirou! All of the feels can commence.

Heroes Rising: They were in it!

Troubling Signs?: Kaminari does love his women. And men. Kaminari overall is a huge flirt. But Jirou appears to have his heart strings. ❤️

IX: BakuDeku. Status: Rising. 👑

-Alternative Statuses include Winning, Thriving, Soaring. It’s just been non stop content this year. 2020 is truly the year for BakuDeku. The shippers can rejoice.

Anime Highlights: Three words. Be. My. Cane. The OVA’s helped fan the flames of the BkDk hearts with a surprise! Deku tops! Not only that, we got a lovely shoulder tap of encouragement in the canon material. While in season 4, Deku’s primary focus was Eri. Bakugo and Deku still had their moments to be hella gay.

Manga Highlights: Where do I even begin? I guess we’ll just cut to the chase with Bakugo Katsuki: Rising. We finally saw Bakugo’s true feelings manifest for Deku and if getting stabbed for him isn’t the ultimate showing of love, then idk what is. BakuDeku’s rounded out the year with the Volume 29 cover AND the volume 29 cover drafts to eat at our heart strings. Overall, their relationship got the spotlight in the manga this year. And we’re bound to start 2021 with a dramatic confrontation. Hand holding seems to be the key with these two and it didn’t stop with Heroes Rising...speaking of.

Heroes Rising: The entire movie. Like....yeah. That’s it. [OP, your bias is showing. You have to be SPECIFIC.] {But random criticizer in my head, if I lay out the entire plot of the movie, my post will be too long} [OP....] UGHHHH Okay okay. The POPSICLE MELTING. THE HAND HOLDING. THE CHARACTER DESIGNS OF WHAT MIGHT AS WELL BE THEIR LOVE CHILDREN. Did I mention? “It’s fine if it’s you?” CAUSE YEAH. Oh and All Might randomly officiating their wedding in their heads like idk. Isn’t it just simpler if I say the whole movie??!

Troubling Signs?: Well these two’s relationship is extremely delicate and while it has non stop soared this year, Deku might not take too kindly to Bakugo almost dying for him. Will they stop pushing each other away? Time will tell.

That’s all for this year folks! Happy Shipping and good luck to everyone next year!

[tetrakys]

Alternate Life Lysandre final review

I don’t even know how to approach this tbh, what I feel right now is so bittersweet, so I guess this is mostly going to be a stream of consciousness. 

I think I said it before, MCL is the first otome game I ever played, and Castiel my first crush, but I sucked sooo much at picking his choices. When Lys arrived, it was insta love for me, plus we got along splendidly, so he became my primary route. Losing him was horrible, and despite liking UL and LL for many reasons, I never got over him. When I found out he would be back I was ecstatic. Best news of the past 4 years!

Then I saw him... and he was beautiful 😳 even more beautiful than his HSL version. I mean... look 👏 at 👏 him 👏

Has there ever been anyone prettier?? All the LIs are beautiful of course in different ways, but adult Lys has this ethereal beauty, he really is a fae prince.

Plus he kept his style and even the countryside overall really suits him 💕

Now, about the game. 4 episodes, one for each year we lost him basically. These episodes have come and gone. I loved them, I loved Lys, his personality, still the same but with this adult more mature aura. The things I liked the most about this mini-series:

- Amount of time spent with friends compared with the crush. Seeing them was nice, and the perfect amount of time, and seeing Castiel and Lys together was a balm for my soul. I think that if we probably put together the time spent with the UL crushes in 20 episodes it may end up making around what we spent with Lys in 4. 

- The setting was wholesome. I’m not a country girl, I really prefer the city, but the backgrounds were so pretty, the animals, the atmosphere so quiet and relaxed, it was really soothing to play.

- The relationship between Candy and Lys, which was really solid and mature. Yes, depending on choices Candy could freak out a bit about the lack of intimacy, but it was fine for me, it’s acceptable and it makes sense to feel insecure when you haven’t been with your boyfriend for two years. And it was the cutest thing seeing Lys saying how horny he had been the whole time but was trying to be romantic.

Things that I didn’t like much:

- The duration, of course. 4 episodes are too little but also the duration of these episodes was really short, and while this also means that the game is cheaper, I’d rather have something longer and pay more. Generally, players are okay with investing in the games if they can have what they like, and AL is really worth it.

- The lack of a real plot. But I won’t complain about this because I think that 4 episodes are too short to have drama and an arc when the primary objective was to reconnect with Lys and have a happy ending. If this series had been 10 episodes we could’ve had all this and more, and it would’ve satisfied my dark soul that craves conflicts and confrontations (in game). But as things are, I’m happy we got something wholesome instead.

- The only thing I would’ve modified is the “bad” path. Meaning the choices where Candy mentions not liking living at the farm etc and then magically ignored in the end. I was sure we wouldn’t get a bad ending because UL is already the bad ending of his route, while AL is the happy one. So these choices make little sense, and while they help customise Candy in a way, I think they are unneeded. 

So in the end I give AL Lys 9/10, I’m really thankful for it and I wish we got more, at least a wedding episode.

Up next with Armin and Kentin? Fingers crossed for good news.

[emsylcatac]

(adrinette pre reveal anon here) I agree wholeheartedly tbh! And I just have been thinking about it for long now and I just wanted to share my speculation/brain rot dwowihshs

In kwami's choice, they are not ladybug and chat noir anymore for a the time being of two episodes - and with how Adrien has been (and has decided to be) persistent about asking marinette out on a date, I think there'll be some conflict with that? Maybe they conclude that episode either to date, or that it just doesn't work out with their identities

Or maybe there'll be a mini arc with this whole thing? I can't help thinking about how this is all somewhat leading upto the fact that at this point revealinh their identities might solve this whole complication? Maybe they try to go on a couple of dates but their identities/obligations do not allow them to? (So it wouldn't be them EXACTLY dating pre reveal? idk)

Also I JUST thought of something but what if this time line is supposed to be actually the chat blanc timeline but more...slower and complicated if that makes sense? (Actually it doesn't. I am sorry I don't know how to put it down😭 but Gabriel thinking CHAT NOIR has feelings for marinette seems like a ~very good~ start/s )

All I hope is that IF they do go for adrinette pre reveal (I hope not for most part), the reveal comes like an episode after or something? (Because the more I think about it the more I think it'd be SUPER HARD for them to keep their identities a secret because they are dumb and lose their single Braincell when with each other hsksjs) and maybe we could get ladrien?

But tbh all I can conclude with is that adrinette DATING pre reveal is not too unlikely, but them TRYING to? Especially since I just think that since Adrien and marinette are their *main* identities (like who they are and not alias like ladynoir) I think they would try to dissolve all of their feelings into one big mix that turns out to be romantic adrinette and then when they finally see each other BOOM! reveal

But that'd mean no prpr and it would me me super sad djsbhshs and especially like you said, I would like and much prefer adrinette closure and at least talking out everything before romance.

hi again!!

anon's talking about this ask

I don't know how much you've seen of the gloob trailers (or other channels' trailers, I'm honestly lost with how many things have been shared 💀), and because I don't know for sure if these were actual trailers or leaks in disguise, so I'll answer undercut in case you haven't seen them, and I'll try to refer to your paragraphs as numbers as I answer (1. being "In kwami's choice [...]", 6. being "But that'd mean no prpr [...]", I hope it makes sense haha)

So in one of the trailer for Kwami's choice, we see Adrien in Marinette's room finding her pictures of him in the trash. We also see him telling her he loves her for who she is, to which she replies that she doesn't love him anymore while seemingly crying on her bed. So yes, there'll be some conflicts with that: first because Marinette needs to grieve that she couldn't get in a relationship with Chat Noir, then because she's still running away from her feelings for Adrien because of the trauma associated with losing all the miraculous. That's why Tikki and Plagg according to the summaries & trailers or whatnot chose to remove them of their heroes duty, so they can be free to be in love. This of course won't work ultimately as they'll have no choice but be back as heroes (it's me speculating but also we all know there's no way they won't be back as heroes by the end of the episodes hahaha). That means that the conclusion of this episode will have to either include Marinette stopping to run away from her feelings for Adrien and be back to pursue him, or they'll reveal, or something else. I also firmly believe that the official confession will be made by Marinette and not Adrien, since it's been what she's struggled with since S1.

That's one of the thing I'm wondering if the writers chose to go down with the "adrinette dating first" scenario. Because we've explored the scenario of their civilian romantic relationships mixing up with their superheroes duty in S4, when they dated Luka and Kagami (sure, we can't say they were in love with them but the episodes showed the breakups as being more of a "we're secretly heroes" problem rather than a "we're not in love with you oopsiiie" problem). Which is one of the many reasons why I think them dating post-reveal would make more sense, but if they date pre-reveal then I expect they'll eventually meet problems with their heroes lives at some point. Including the not so small issue of Gabe wanting to use Marinette to get to Chat Noir and mostly Ladybug

Haha no I don't think it's gonna be a Chat Blanc 2.0, I think there's too few episodes left for them to pull out a fake reveal etc etc and they've explored these scenarii twice already. Not that I would mind seeing it again 😛

I feel like if they reveal one episode or two after they start dating, then why would the writers chose to have them date pre-reveal if it's gonna be this short? So probably not haha but if they go down this road (which again, they might not and I'd be very glad), I do want to see the conflict with the heroes life/feelings etc stretch out a bit👀 As for Ladrien, I feel like a Ladrien-centered episode would be relevant if it's to help Marinette move past her trauma of having lost the miraculous with Adrien. Apart from that, I'm afraid there's not a lot of ""use"" plot-wise to have an episode centered on them :/ BUT one can hope and you will NOT see me complain if we get plot irrelevance stupid Ladrien ���

I would say that Adrinette is their civilian/day-to-day identities but I get what you mean, yes. And see, this is why once again Adrinette closure but no dating would be great, so they get to see each other before fully being together. Oh well, maybe I'm scared for no reason and they'll date post-reveal hahahaha, again it'll depend on how Kwami's choice goes.

yeah :( prpr is such a good concept and I was so convinced that's how things were gonna turn out (or at least, reveal + dating almost same time) that it's hard to accept it might not happen 😅 we'll see..!! Adrinette dating pre-reveal while clowning as Ladynoir is a fun concept, but it's one I prefer see in fanfics rather than canon hahaha

I think this is all! I'm excited to see how things will turn out anyway though 👀

[scrapyardboyfriends]

Chloe and Mack make zero sense. There’s been so little effort put into showing why either of them would even like each other beyond maybe physical attraction. It just feels like Mack wants access to his son and doesn’t know how to get that without dating the mother. That and he doesn’t want to be alone after he messed things up with Charity. But none of these things make for a compelling story, especially when that’s all just me reading into it and they’re not even showing that internal struggle on screen. Also...Chloe is the worst. And they’ve already had them go back and forth a million times because Chloe keeps changing her damn mind at the drop of a hat. That’s not a story. That’s just something they can put in the spoiler headlines. 

Belle and Tom are....I don’t even know what that was. They bring him back, instantly throw them together despite not seeing each other for a decade. And they dated for about five minutes when he was there in 2013. All of a sudden they’re just madly in love except every time a storyline from the past ten years comes up and Tom has a whole freak out about it and they break up for five seconds. I just saw an article that said “Tom and Belle reunite after Lachlan tensions” and I was like ?!?!? Lachlan tensions that were entirely unnecessary to even be brought up for one episode’s worth of “tension” if you can even call it that and now they’re back together yet again until the next five second break up. I don’t know why they think this is interesting to watch? Imagine if you had Tom come to that retreat not knowing he’d see Belle and hoping no one from the village would be there and then getting to see on screen him having to confront the idea of seeing Belle again and them actually getting to know each other again before plunging into a relationship. Imagine Belle being cautious about getting into something because things were really intense when they were 14 and she’s thrown herself into all sorts of bad relationships in the past and she wants to take her time. And Tom learns about all of her history from the last decade and then there’s some kind of actual mini crisis and he ends up being the one to help her through it, showing her that he can handle it and that he is a good guy. That’s actual tension and an actual story. 

And then there’s Arthur and Marshall who were cute at the very start and then they did all that stuff with Marshall but basically left Arthur out of it aside from when he was whining about not being in the loop. Imagine if Arthur had been more involved with Marshall getting comfortable with the idea of coming out. What if he agreed to just be friends and then was actually his friend through it all. What if he was the one who was there for him when he was upset about his mum because hey guess what, Arthur, who lost his father, has really relevant experience to help with that. With all of that, I feel like it would have been a lot more impactful when Marshall did finally decide he was ready for a relationship with Arthur and I might have believed that they could call each other boyfriends so soon instead of Arthur being MIA for half of it and then all of a sudden they’re boyfriends. And now the first time we see them on screen again, they’re bickering over absolutely nothing because the terrible trio don’t know how to write couple being together without unnecessary problems every five seconds that are instantaneously resolved. 

Their idea of a relationship story seems to be just smush two people together with little actual build up or reason to root for them and then give them unnecessary tension every time they’re on screen that gets immediately solved instead of actually giving them any kind of arc or development. Angst is valid but only when it actually matters and allows your characters to grow in ways that makes sense. 

Or you get a Paddy and Mandy where they have a whole lot of unnecessary will they/won’t they bullshit without really putting in the work and then we end up with the above method after we’re already kind of sick of it. 

Sigh....when will they be replaced with competent people

Wow they really just have zero idea how to write a relationship story…