#either they hate each other (and she's always in the villain role even if he's more in the wrong hmmm we should unpack that)

[benadrylcandlewhack]

I bring a sort of "Optimus and Elita both get to live and least be on good terms with one another" vibe that the majority of Transformers canon doesn't like

[millidew]

its been almost 6 years since kaito and ouma have infested me. here's me talking out of my ass for over 2k words

to love the ouma-kaito dynamic is to love the themes of v3. to see one of them as 100% correct and the other as 100% wrong is to hate the themes of v3.

there must be balance. which is one of the themes!

at first, they each represent one end of their spectrums: lies, distrust, and logic VS truth, trust, and emotion. but it's not all black and white— they're far more similar than they think

to get the obvious visual foiling out of the way: short vs tall, scrawny vs muscular, pale vs tan (relatively...), round eyes vs sharp eyes, cool purple vs warm purple, black and white vs a colorful galaxy, and a tight "straitjacket" vs what's basically loose pjs

they're visual opposites, but they're also both purple, charismatic leaders, would rather die than their let go of their respective roles of hero and villain, and both want to end the killing game. they're also both SO dramatic. they cannot be separated.

all this is to say that they're the same, just taking different approaches (i mean, just compare their early FTEs. what are you two FUCKING talking about. your ass is NOT a pirate kaito shut up). ouma hides drops of truth within his lies and lives to poke holes in others' poorly concealed lies. kaito talks about being honest, but is also constantly lying to himself and others. and it's so fitting for them to essentially die with each other.

lying your way to the truth, and 10 other tricks to surviving a killing game:

v3 is a game that asks: who are you? why are you even alive? what parts of you are really "you"?

in other words: what is true and what is a lie? does it matter?

the flashback lights are all lies. tsumugi can literally rewrite their "truth" as she wishes. and of course, there's the fact that they're all fictional characters come to life.

and there's the big lie of ch1, brought back in ch6. although this is less relevant to me, personally, because kaede fully intended and did try her damnedest to kill so either way she's still at fault soo

the theme of the survivors is that they all have a reason to fight to live even if the world is hell, because they're pushed forward by the connections they made— kaede's encouragements, the training with kaito that led to shuichi and maki's happiness, and himiko's memories of tenko and angie. even though maki loses kaito, because she had those good times with him that led to her change in self-worth, she'll be okay in the end. she's not enforcing her own loneliness anymore.

basically, "maybe the real reason to live is the friends we made along the way"

shuichi explicitly says that his feelings are true, even if they're born of lies. to lie, there has to be a truth. to be truthful, you can't lie. yin yang and all that

it's even shown with the game mechanic of perjury. kaede and shuichi can literally lie for the sake of finding the truth

he rejects being forced to choose between "hope" and "despair," breaking the cycle. it's pretty easy to apply this to the other dichotomies in v3: truth vs lies, trust vs distrust, logic vs emotion. even heroes vs villains.

ultimately, i think v3 aligns more closely with kaito's ideology, because of course truth and trust is a good thing....!, but not without poking massive holes in it too. because kaito's a prideful hypocrite and the game does NOT let you forget it <3 more on that later

little white lies AKA ouma is sick of your shit part 1:

"is the truth worth it? aren't feel-good white lies ok? what even is a lie?" ouma asks with his little hater heart. (ch1 and ch4)

here, we see ouma questioning the individual nature of common sense ("gut instinct", if you will)— how can kaede decide if his talent is a lie? what is a lie? if ouma is 99% lies by weight, what is ouma??? an annoying grape??

we all want the truth, right? but the truth can be ugly. that's what ouma's always showing.

this is something shuichi also tackles with his feelings on his own talent. by exposing the truth, he causes pain to others. but this isn't about him, so you'll just have to keep that in mind

in the death road to despair in ch1, it's kaede's optimism that causes misery to the rest of her classmates. they're lying to themselves when they try to do it over and over. again, ouma calls her out on it, pissing off kaito who supports kaede 100%. the idea they can all get out and become friends is…also really unlikely. and even with kaede's murder "for the greater good", ouma disparages her for doing it in the first place: she lost the moment she seriously considered the thought, and played right into monokuma's bloodthirsty lil' paws.

right after the ch3 execution, himiko still refuses to let herself feel… until ouma calls her out on it. stop lying to yourself. and they all let it out, crying together. it's a good thing, and spurs on himiko's arc to be more true to herself. you did a good thing, ouma. now onto ch4! yay!

the "truth of the outside world", and ch4 as a whole, is probably the most in your face way of showing this. but more on that later.

the boys are back:

if you want a good relationship with someone, vulnerability is key, one that ouma unfortunately can't replace with a lockpick. you have to be honest. maki and shuichi were honest to kaito, which let him help them out.

ouma is definitely not vulnerable, up until the very end. ouma's distrust of everyone pushes them away, leaving him alone— without the "reason to fight to live" the others have— living out of spite and determination, until he dies for that too. like maki, he reinforces his own loneliness, but unlike her, he never makes those connections that make him change into a more well-rounded person.

kaito's better than him, which is a really low bar, but the game goes out of its way to tell you that he's still hiding secrets and adamantly refuses to let down his hero persona, harming both himself and those around him. you are COUGHING UP BLOOD, you are NOT okay. while his sidekicks still know something is wrong, he refuses to truly let them in, instead just brushing them off.

and that pisses ouma off. at the very least, ouma's honest about being a liar. kaito, in his eyes, is a coward. (not only that, people still like him despite being a liar..... but that's probably more to do with kaito being way less of a dick).

ouma, in kaito's eyes, is also a coward. he can call ouma a two-faced coward as much as he wants, but pot, meet kettle

chapter 4 AKA ouma is sick of your shit part 2:

ok. seriously onto ch4 this time. it's the perfect set up to the insanity of ch5. the tension is insane. also, ouma does not shut up about kaito having a crush on him. ok man.

from now on, it's the kaito & ouma show, the truth & trust & hope & emotion & hero VS lies & distrust & despair & logic & villain show.

and the game puts kaito, and all his themes, in the wrong. poor gonta and shuichi are just along for the ride

the stubborn belief that worked so well for maki in ch2 makes kaito refuse to believe, despite the evidence pointing to it, that gonta is the blackened, endangering everyone. and this is the cause of kaito and shuichi's rift which ouma takes great pleasure in. i'm sure this greatly validates his own distrust and loneliness, seeing it as the superior option

kaito's a liar, shuichi's a liar, and gonta is...not a liar but still technically wrong. YOU'RE ALL LIARS AND KAITO/SHUICHI STANS. YOUR FAVE IS PROBLEMATIC. OUMA'S FUCKING PISSED

it's the hypocrisy that gets to him the most imo

does he know?

anyways, it's a great showdown between their two ideologies. up until now, i'd say the score was roughly 3:1 in kaito's favor, but now it's definitely more even. it even features ouma punching kaito instead of the other way around like last time: something made possible imo because of kaito's sickness, which ouma forces him and everyone to acknowledge by doing this

this is a massive L for the hero side.... can the sidekicks clutch this victory and save the princess?

(interestingly enough, note that kaito doesn't even seem to hate ouma after all that. at the start of ch5, he puts ouma and gonta in the same category as having snapped under the pressure due to monokuma. his feelings, of course, change later on.)

...

are you sure about that

yeah, the truth sucks sometimes, huh?

what now?

chapter 5 AKA the boys are back 2 AKA voyage without passion or purpose AKA the sickest chapter name ever

ch5 combines ouma and kaito's ideologies through their swansong, their magnum opus, their collective theatre kid dream

the hangar man. THE HANGAR. no more cameras. no more prying eyes. no more heroes. no more villains. NO PASSION (KAITO). NO PURPOSE (OUMA). WHAT'S THE POINT. IT ALL BLURS (probably because of the blood loss)

think about it this way: kaito is literally dying, hypocritically refusing to let his friends in. ouma is metaphorically dying, because he lacks the "reason to fight to survive" everyone else has, because he has no trust, no friends, no bitches... anyways

(also the poison, which is. you know. is also literally killing him but shush)

the closest he had was, imo, miu for a little, then kaito in ch5. but in the end, it's all spite, not connection, that drives him. ouma kills himself to prove a point, and they both die as a middle finger to the mastermind— a hollow victory, in many ways.

think about kaito sitting alone in the exisal, hacking his lungs out in the metallic silence of the belly of the beast, having just learned one of the truths behind ouma's act, then killing him, then having to lie to all your friends for the hope that ouma's final, crazy plan works out. he's finally stooped to ouma's level. he's so used to the smell of blood by now. does ouma's blood on his hands look any different from his own?

even kaito's motto: "the impossible is possible! all you gotta do it make it so!" is pretty much an admittance. you can make a lie (impossible) the truth (possible).

also ouma bleeding out looking like shit laying in kaito's galactic coat like a cape. kaito squeezing his eyes shut before before pressing the buttons. these images changed lives.

the lying truthersssss...working together!!! to literally pretend to be each other!!! to blur into one being!! trusting each other to see it through for their shared goal!! at first glance, maki thinks it's her fault— that ouma manipulated kaito using her, but kaito disagrees, saying it was for the sake of ending the killing game.

this is all to hammer home the idea that we shouldn't see them as "hero" or "villain." the cast sees them as it first, but of course, we know that's not so simple by the time kaito steps out of the exisal.

in the end, they fail, but kaito puts his and ouma's dreams in their hands. they can do it better this time.

plus, kaito finally stops lying to himself and others about being a liar, the thing ouma gave him endless shit for. it only took him 5 chapters

is it wrong to call "that was a lie" ouma's catchphrase?

i still can't believe maki believed him. love makes you stupid i guess

extra thoughts:

you might be wondering why i call him "ouma" and not "kokichi." i do the same with some other characters: kirigiri, togami (though i switch between that and byakuya nowadays), and komaeda. it's because i don't know them like that. we are NOT friends. "kirigiri" is out of respect however

don't you think ouma has his own "sidekicks," his "villain lackeys," if you will, in DICE?

kaito's execution music should've had the "reach for the stars" line from sdr2 and i'm still mad about it

and they should've both in that exisal idc

kaito somehow exited that exisal with a new jacket. it's my headcanon that, in respect of a fellow theatre kid, ouma stole a second jacket from kaito's room and put it in the exisal

VR au post game low(high)key codependent oumota is everything and i'll happily read 1000 fics about it

also just outside of the Themes of it all, and tbh my main draw to this duo... they're so funny. they are SO. FUNNY. THEY'RE SO GOOFY TOGETHER. STOP TRYING TO ONE UP EACH OTHER

they should run around and beat each other with toy hammers. it's enrichment.

this isn't like thematically relevant but their love hotel events really show how well they could work together. they want a rival to pump them up and fight back so bad!! they'd have the craziest vigilante beef

WHY IS THIS 2.1K WORDS/???!> i am so weak to rivals man

tldr: look at this meme.

tldr 2.0: a true kaito fan is also a true ouma fan and vice versa. you may not like it, but they're two peas in a pod. don't worry though, they're not happy about it either.

[destinygoldenstar]

🌟Jake Is This Season's MVP And I Want To Strangle Him🌟 - Total Drama Viewer Reacts to Disventure Camp Season 3 Episode 10 “All's Fair In Love And Paintball”

I wanted to do Gabby angst.

But every goddamn time, my PC is like "Lol Nope".

I have an old PC, you guys have no idea. I haven't upgraded in like, seven years. I'm not somebody who upgrades my electronics until the ones I have are like, completely unusable and broken.

But I am all for this side of Gabby. She is taking the villain role so cartoonishly and I love it.

Makes sense it would be her that's like that too. Because she's NOT actually evil. She's just playing the role for herself and Ellie's sake.

I feel like Ellie would be so proud of her.

I hope Gabby like, contracts a scheme to blindside Yul when it's convenient. I would stan the hell out of that.

We're ALMOST HALFWAY actually.

So my guess is that the next episode is the merge. With nine people. Or the episode after that with eight. This is the last team episode.

Which in that case, the ONLY character I can see that is being eliminated this episode is Jake.

Like, his story is wrapping up. He's expressed wanting to be better. Tom is wanting to take accountability. Everyone hates him.

So I am 99% CERTAIN that this is the episode where we lose my boy.

I'm not ready. 😢

The merge is gonna be the Jello members, Tom, Aiden, Ashley, and Allyson. Which in that case either Gabby will flip back OR the non-villains find an idol.

"You know, except for Grett, who really needs better taste in men."

FACTS.

THANK YOU.

WHY IS YUL STILL HERE?!?!

HE HAS OFFICIALLY STAYED TWICE AS LONG AS HE DID LAST SESASON.

This is a hate crime directed at me.

I DON'T CARE IF IT MAKES SENSE BECAUSE HE'S IN A STRONG ALLIANCE. I STILL WANT HIM GONE EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO BULLSHIT IT.

"In the end, Ashley led Team Magenta to victory."

OH SHE GOT IT!

OKAY ALLYSON! SLAYING IT!

EXCUSE ME. THAT WASN'T ASHLEY.

ALLYSON WAS THE ONE WHO WON IT FOR THEM.

Krystal is a LIAR.

JUST BECAUSE I'VE BEEN OUT FOR DAYS DOESN'T MEAN I FORGOT THAT!!!

OH MY GOD IT IS MERGE!

HOLY SHIT, I THOUGHT IT WAS NEXT EPISODE.

Okay, uh... does that change my predictions at all???

No, I'm still going with Jake. These guys can just band together in mutual hatred towards Jake.

He would be a good one to keep around for the Jellos since he's his own drama source...

No. Jake. He's gone.

Good to know Oliver is alive though. Don't know how he survived getting shoved out of a plane though.

"I feel really awful for Tess."

Are they mocking Gabby? SHE IS RIGHT THERE.

They outcasted her to the other side of the firepit!

"She only came here to spend time with Ally and Hunter, yet she never got to be with either of them."

She got like, one conversation with each.

And Hunter is at the hotel with her. Or wherever they're staying. She's spending time with one of them right now.

"Hey, she messed with my Ellie! Sorry Tess, that's what happens when you remove my buddy."

Gabby really said "AND I'D DO IT AGAIN! BAP BAP! AND I'D DO IT AGAIN! BAP BAP BAP!!"

"So the grudge is still there with me and Tom."

"Yeah! No shit Sherlock!"

"You realize it's two against one? If we lose again, you're going home."

Who's gonna tell him?

"It just so happens this morning, I found an immunity totem!"

Oh wait, did you really?!

Damn, even Ellie's own girlfriend is better at this than her.

Riya helped her. That's my headcanon till proven wrong.

"Yeah I gave the newbie villain a few tips on this matter. My next showing is including her after all, and I want her to be at her A Game."

"Seriously? Again?"

OH YEAH SHE FOUND ONE IN SEASON ONE TOO.

No she doesn't need Riya's help. She can stand on her own.

SHE'S REALLY CAMPING IT UP.

I love this for her. I love how NOT seriously she's taking the 'evil' thing.

MORE OF THIS, PLEASE.

"Sorry, was that goofy? I want to be evil, but I need practice."

XD

You're doing amazing, sweetie.

"Y-you could've fooled me."

Tom ^

"Whenever I'm in a tight spot, I always think: What would Ellie do?"

NOT THIS. I would tell you that right now.

"I knew that if I lied that I have an immunity totem, Aiden and Tom would shit bricks!"

Oh she lied. Okay.

She's just fucking with them. Shitting bricks though XD

"Thanks Ellie! Miss you babe."

Awww ❤️

Ellie's like "Wow. My girlfriend is a lot better at this than me."

What berries are those?

Allyson I hope you know what you're doing.

These are either blueberries and they're hoarding them for herself, OR they're poisonous and she's giving them to Jake.

"I don't know about this, Ashley."

Oh no XD

"For the love of god man, you have to eat something. You didn't eat the apples two days ago. You didn't eat any fish yesterday. You're gonna eat these berries and you're gonna like them!"

"But I don't like blueberries-"

"SHUT IT AND EAT."

"Oh come on, you agreed to it."

Is this about apologizing to Allyson? I hope it is.

But also I made a joke about this in my April Fools post so I'm scared.

Allyson. Fingers crossed. Do not fuck this up. Take it and leave.

HE LOOKS SCARED.

"Jake has something to say. Go ahead, Jake."

I mean he AGREED to this, so that means he WANTS to do this.

He never came across as if he wanted to hurt Allyson. He was just not in the mood for her company.

"I hate blueberries so I don't care what you do for me. I'd rather starve. Thank you. That's all I had to say. Bye."

"I'm sorry."

😂

OH MY GOD ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! 😂

THAT WAS SO BAD! 😂

Jake being a terrible apologist. Kinda based though. I can see that being in character for him.

"Sowwy I don't like your food, Allyson. Can we be fwiends?" 👉👈

I think he means it, I just think he's really bad at it XD

"I'm sorry Ally. Okay? There."

Okay no he doesn't mean it. Nevermind.

She's like "Is this bitch for real?"

"But I'm SOWWY!"

"I'm sorry I've been difficult. I was jealous that you and Ashley were getting along, and it made me misbehave and say some rude things to you."

Does he mean this or no?

You know what, even if he doesn't mean it, at least he's TRYING to clear the air and clear up the drama. That's still a good step in fixing things.

At least he's making it clear he does NOT want this drama to keep going. Even if he's a shit apologist, that's still good maturity.

And he acknowledged HE'S the problem person here, too.

I'm proud, Jake. 👍

"Now, Ally, do you have anything to say to Jake?"

Oh god.

"Well fuck you! These blueberries weren't for you anyway! STARVE, BITCH!"

XD

Sorry, sorry, I had to.

MAKE OR BREAK MOMENT HERE.

ALLYSON, YOU CAN DO TWO THINGS HERE.

REJECT THIS, SCREAM AT HIM, KEEP UP THE DRAMA, AND RUIN YOUR GAME BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPID GRUDGE OVER THE IPAD.

OR, JUST TAKE IT RIGHT HERE AND WORK WITH HIM TO KEEP YOURSELF SAFE AND AVOID DANGER.

HELL YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO LIKE HIM OR BUY IT.

"I don't forgive you. BUT, for the sake of MY game, I will tolerate your existence and work with you. Deal?"

THIS IS A MASSIVE MAKE OR BREAK MOMENT FOR ALLYSON HERE.

WHAT WILL YOU CHOOSE???

"Guess it's better late than never."

"Really? I muster up the courage to admit my wrongs, and that's how you answer?"

AND IT'S BROKEN.

GODDAMMIT ALLY!!!

I don't... I DON'T UNDERSTAND.

WHY?!??!?!? WHY DO YOU WANT TO KEEP THIS UP?!?!?

THIS RUINS YOUR OWN GAME! IF YOU DON'T WORK WITH JAKE, YOU'RE FUCKED!! YOU GOT NO ONE ELSE!!!

THIS ISN'T ABOUT FORGIVING HIM OR LIKING HIM. YOU GOTTA THINK ABOUT YOUR GAME!!!

Some people suck. I know. But you have to work with shitty people to get your way sometimes. Anyone in the work industry knows this.

IF YOU PISS THEM OFF, YOU HURT YOURSELF MORE THAN YOU HURT THEM.

I can totally see Jake responding like this because he's Jake and it's been established multiple times he does NOT have this maturity to be the bigger person here.

"So Golden, you're just being sexist cause Allyson wasn't established to have this understanding either."

YES. SHE HAS. ACTUALLY.

Season Two Allyson would be very mature about this and be the bigger person, regardless of her feelings towards the person.

She worked with YUL. Just fine.

She was paranoid about Tess stealing her man. But she STILL put in the effort to work with her so they both didn't die in the woods.

THIS SEASON TOO. She was willing to work with FIORE. Who has done SO MUCH WORSE than Jake has! She didn't like Fiore, but she was willing to work with her because she knew it would benefit her game. And when Hunter refused, she was the bigger person in that situation and told him off.

SO YES. ALLYSON IS ABSOLUTELY CAPABLE OF BEING THE BIGGER PERSON HERE AND SUCKING IT UP. BY THE SHOW'S OWN CHARACTERIZATION.

SO WHY THE FUCK IS IT DIFFERENT NOW?!

HE BROKE AN IPAD AND HE DOESN'T WANT TO EAT. THAT'S IT. COMPARE THAT TO THE WORSE PEOPLE YOU'VE WORKED WITH JUST FINE!

I'm very pissed. I'm genuinely pissed.

I CALLED THIS OUT IN MY APRIL FOOLS POST TOO. CAUSE I THOUGHT THAT WOULDN'T HAPPEN.

"Nah bro I see right through your bullshit. You broke my iPad and you refuse to eat. Therefore, you are a completely irredeemable dipshit and nothing you ever do will ever make me work with you! What? Sucking up my feelings and working with you to better my own position in the game is the better option for me? Fuck that! I'm THAT petty!"

I don't hate Allyson. YET. VERY STRONG EMPHASIS ON YET.

But I'm really not liking her writing so far.

"You know what I'm trying to stay positive, but this bitch is getting on my nerves."

"Actions speak louder than words. I won't believe you changed till I see it."

She's right here. Okay? I'm giving her credit.

And FINE. IF YOU FEEL THAT WAY, FINE. THAT'S FINE.

BUT YOU BEING A PRICK IS GONNA FIX NOTHING.

"Well you being a prick isn't any help."

XD

YEAH. HE'S JUST SAYING FACTS. I AGREE.

"What did you call me?!"

WE COULD'VE HAD THIS GO SO SMOOTH AND YOU BLEW IT.

NOW YOU'RE OFFENDED?!

"Ally, what was that? We were doing so good!"

"Ashley, how do you expect me to forgive and forget if Jake has never shown any respect to me?"

RESPECT? THAT'S WHAT THIS IS ABOUT NOW?! RESPECT?!?!

HE RESPECTED YOU ENOUGH TO WORK WITH YOU DURING BOTH PREVIOUS CHALLENGES. EVEN WITH THE IPAD SETBACK.

JUST BECAUSE HE DOESN'T WANT A MEAL WITH YOU DOESN'T MEAN HE'S DISRESPECTFUL AND WANTS TO HURT YOU.

HE WANTED TO CONFIDE WITH SOMEONE HE TRUSTS OVER EATING WITH YOU FOR A FEW MOMENTS. HE DIDN'T BULLY YOU OR HURT YOU OR TRY TO KILL YOU.

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.

He's disrespectful towards Aiden. And has done worse to Aiden. He didn't even try to break up you and Ashley.

"All Jake does is talk about himself and his problems!"

YOU DO THE EXACT SAME GODDAMN THING.

She's right here though. Just... DAMN HYPOCRITE.

"Excuse me? You wouldn't shut up about Hunter when he got out. And you didn't see me complaining!"

Oh come on. That's a low blow.

Even if that is entirely correct.

"Cram it!"

THANK YOU ASHLEY.

I feel so bad for Ashley. She has to put up with BOTH of their BULLSHIT.

You know what? Ashley deserves to win JUST FOR THIS.

"I will burn our tent and make us all sleep in the goddamn mud!"

OH THE FOOT IS DOWN!

"I gotta say, I'm mighty disappointed."

Me too girl. Me too.

"Ha! Hear that Ally?"

NOPE. SHE MEANS BOTH OF YOU. DROP IT, JAKE.

"Shut up Jake!"

YEP. THERE IT IS.

You lost Ashley, Jake. This is your downfall.

"I thought we could be a civilized folk and hash things out like adults! But I guess we're just not ready for that! I GIVE UP!"

👏🔥

COOK THEM.

COOK THEM BOTH!!!

Also PROPS TO ASHLEY'S VA FOR THAT. GODDAMN. SHE KILLED IT.

I have to admit though, even though I fully understand Jake started this and he is FAR from being an 'innocent bean' and he has more to apologize for than Allyson, who really doesn't have much...

I'm kinda on his side here. Because you know what? Even if that apology was dogshit, AT LEAST HE TRIED TO FIX THINGS. HE TOOK THE STEP TO TRY. HE DID NOT WANT THIS BEEF TO KEEP GOING.

Allyson has nothing to apologize for, that's not what was asked here, but that does NOT give her the moral high ground to be just as bad and snap back at his face. Especially since SHE'S the one that suffers the most from this in this situation.

Like, come on, you cannot guarantee Ashley will flip since she's been close to Jake far longer than you, and you yourself saw that early on. You HAVE to work with Jake. There's no other choice unless you want to be voted out!

You have to work with shitty people sometimes!

I'm not saying Allyson can't hate Jake. She CAN. I have no problems with her hating Jake. If he hurt her, then he hurt her. It's pretty understandable to hate Jake. SHE OWES HIM NOTHING. SHE HAS EVERY SINGLE RIGHT TO DISLIKE JAKE IF THAT IS HER CHOICE.

The problem isn't that. The problem is HOW she's going about her hatred. Which is "Keep up the beef and fight with him and rile him up". Which solves absolutely nothing for either of them.

OVER AN IPAD MIND YOU!! STILL NOT OVER THAT!!!

I WOULD UNDERSTAND CONSISTENT HARRASSMENT AND BEING FRAMED FOR SOMETHING NASTY LIKE AIDEN, BUT AN IPAD. STUPID.

I hope both of them sleep in mud like Ashley suggested.

"Tess! Oh no..."

Okay now I feel bad for her. I admit.

That's pretty sad.

"It was my doing. I'm sorry."

Huh. Gabby straight up admits it and apologizes.

See? She's not a bad bean. She's just working with bad beans.

Riya just comes over and tells Gabby, "Hey uh, you're not supposed to apologize. You're evil. Take pride!"

"I don't have my lesbian flag on me right now."

"Not THAT kind of pride-"

"I did it for Ellie!!!"

"How's everyone feeling about their teams?"

Uh, let's see...

Yellow Team Dominating The Competition:

Cyan Team Feeling A Sense Of Dread Everywhere They Turn:

Magenta Team At The Waffle House:

Yeah. I think this is accurate to the state of this season.

"You guys have been together for nineteen days!"

JESUS CHRIST. HOW IS NO ONE DEAD?!

"Surely, the bonds have formed between all you lot!"

Two of the three teams are trying to kill each other. But sure.

"Ahahahahahahha oh my god good one!"

I hate that you laughed at my own point.

Do I look like I'm trying to be funny? /j

"Congratulations to our Top Ten All Stars!"

We got an evil queen.

Bad dad rivaling Peter Griffin.

The ghost cop.

Skunk haired punching bag.

Devoted Lesbian cosplaying as evil.

Pig.

Pig's girlfriend.

Drama King.

Drama sticker on her gaming chair.

And Ashley.

What a Top 10 Indeed.

"You'll start over at a new campground!"

Oh shit XD

"DAMMIT. WE HAVE TO LIVE TOGETHER?! I ALREADY LOST SOME FAB SLEEPING WITH YUL!"

"Are you fucking kidding me?!"

😂

NO RIYA ACTUALLY SWEARING THREW ME OFF GUARD! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

"For my next showing, cause my lost my beauty shower and I'm PISSED, I am going to test your producer's ability to use the profanity sensor!"

NO RIYA THIS IS ON YOUTUBE!

"Oh quit your whining people. Geez, you'd think a few weeks out here would grow some character."

Disventure Camp Haters Be Like ^

"I'll call you guys back for your immunity challenge tomorrow."

Everyone tomorrow:

I don't think they're gonna make it.

"The real worry is that I have to sleep next to nine other people!"

Sleep with one eye open too.

I guarantee at least half of them are gonna murder you.

"Just when our camp was starting to get comfortable..."

YOU DRAMA QUEEN, OH MY GOD.

"We need a fire before it gets dark."

That's the first thing you suggest?

"We need fire."

"So I can burn Jake's hair off?"

"No."

"Gabby, you wanna make yourself useful and come with us to get firewood?"

"Sure!"

Aw! Gabby making some friends!

Oh...

Oh this is gonna be hard for Jake.

He's staying for one day. But still.

"Despite everything, I can see you were trying, Jake."

Oh I thought she'd still be pissed.

Also the subtitle actually says "You ARE trying".

But I heard "You WERE trying."

So I don't know what to believe.

"Keep those emotions down."

"And your mouth shut."

Jake BREATHES at the campfire with everyone, and then either Aiden or Allyson smash their burned marshmallow in his face.

"Hey, look on the bright side. Sharing camps now means Tom can't avoid you."

Depending on what Tom does, that's a very questionable bright side.

I hope Tom at least takes accountability though. He wanted to last episode. I'd be upset if that didn't get followed up on.

"One can only hope. Thanks Ashley."

Awww

Curious why Ashley is still helping him out?

She was yelling at him like, two scenes ago.

"So you're with us one hundred percent?"

Oh the recruiting XD

"Sign the contract, please. So we can own your soul."

"I even thought of my villain name! Want to hear it?"

"The Forest Marauder!"

Oh my god I love her XD

Forest Marauder. Okay... I mean it suits her.

"I'm going to start sketching my mask and cape later."

OH SHE'S SO CUTE I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!❤️

YOUR HONOR, I LOVE GABBY. I WANT NOTHING BUT THE BEST FOR HER!!! ❤️

"So we're working with Tumblr Girl now?"

*PUNCHES DESK*

YOU FUCKING TAKE THAT BACK YOU SON OF A BITCH!😡

I DON'T CARE IF THAT WAS DIRECTED AT GABBY OR ME! YOU TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW!!😡

Yes, hitman? I have a target for you. I want this fire crop top man DEAD.🔫

There's no gun emoji. Only a water gun.

Sure, kill him with a water gun. I don't care how you do it. MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!

Anyway my punching ricochet my phone to the other side of the room-

It's fine. THE PHONE IS FINE.

NO PHONES WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS REACTION.

"Well Tom and Aiden kicked Ellie out. They should be our first targets."

It's not that bad of logic, actually. Tom IS the physically best one the other side's got.

"I don't trust Ashley or Jake either, so they can die next."

XD

She's actually planning murder.

What about Allyson? No Allyson? Why does she get off the hook?

"I beg your pardon, did you just say 'die'?"

IT'S EXAGGEATING GRETT. WE'RE NOT ACTUALLY GONNA KILL THEM.

I feel like I do not need to explain this to anyone. But you get some people who don't get that.

Gabby just like me fr.

Yeah, sorry if my formatting makes it hard to understand sometimes, that's just how typing reactions instead of making a video works so you can't hear my voice, but most of these overkill things I say are JOKES. Okay? I don't actually encourage murder. I don't think any of these characters should do it. I am simply invested in media and I exaggerate some things. I don't actually mean the literal thing I am saying in these.

Just because I stan some really problematic characters does not mean I want to endorse their poor behavior on anyone else.

Cool? Cool.

Okay moving on.

I use Tumblr instead of YouTube so A) I can swear. B) My voice is so high pitched and grating to the ears whenever I record it. So nobody would ever want to hear that.

I AM actually doing my voice impressions as I type them though. Those aren't just in my head. I have fun doing them.

"We need a plan or this will be a tie."

I don't think you need one.

Just leave Jake to his own devices.

"I've heard Aiden and Tom talk about problems they've had with Jake."

Too obvious.

The villains winning is going to be entirely Jake's fault.

"Well I think it's time to shake the beehive ahahahahahaha!"

Dude. Gabby just got in and she's better than you.

"Feels so early for the merge."

Not really.

We got what, twenty one episodes? This is episode 10?

*Doing math* We get rid of someone this episode, then the next episode it's eight, seven, six...

No you get to Episode Seventeen by the time you get to the Final Three.

So four episodes are just non-elimination I guess. Idk why.

Maybe it's a plot twist here that no one goes in this episode because it's merge.

"I'm worried about catching enough food for ten people."

Damn these bitches are HUNGRY.

I feel like I already made this joke.

*I did*

Don't worry about Jake. He's not eating anything.

He rejected what, three meals now? Yeah don't worry about him.

You guys have no idea how crazy this is driving me. I NEED TO SEE THE GUY EAT SOMETHING. FOR THE LOVE GOD I'M WORRIED ABOUT HIS HEALTH.

"At least there's one win, Jake hasn't started shit for an entire hour, that must be a world record."

XD

OH WE'RE ALREADY GOING STRAIGHT FOR IT.

'EVERYBODY DISS JAKE' NIGHT.

"Should I tell him?"

"About your fake boyfriend?"

YES.

TOM YOU WANTED TO DO THIS LAST EPISODE. JUST DO IT.

Jake is gonna be LIVID. But god, just do it.

"In hindsight I-I feel awful. I wish I just told him the truth and making this story up probably just made him feel worse."

Yeah. Yeah that wasn't your best move.

Props to Tom though for recognizing his mistakes and willing to take accountabity for them.

"You know I'm not the biggest fan of Jake, but even he doesn't deserve that."

Wow.

Aiden got much worse of an end of the stick from Jake than Allyson ever did. Getting shoved on the beach. Being sabotaged on the ship. Being falsely accused of cheating.

And the fact that Aiden, despite that, is somehow more open to understanding Jake's situation and helping him, even though he doesn't like him, IS GIVING ME SO MUCH RESPECT FOR AIDEN.

HOW DO YOU HAVE MORE MATURITY THAN ALLYSON DOES EVEN THOUGH YOU WERE CHARACTERIZED TO BE HOT HEADED? HOW?!?!

"I do not like this guy. At all. And I don't owe him anything and I don't forgive him for anything. But I acknowledge the why. He's hurting. And hurting him more will just make things worse. So I'm just gonna hold my own fort."

Allyson, seriously, this is not rocket science.

"Last season I learned that problems are best talked openly instead of festering."

Awww.

That's actually really sweet of a carry over from his arc in Season 2.

He has to help this other gay couple figure out their shit. More traumatic shit than he and James ever went though. (My opinion)

"Let's just hope this doesn't end badly."

This is gonna end badly.

Oh this looks awkward.

Everyone just sitting here in dead silence.

Also I SEE YOU YUL. GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!!

Op. Jake's out.

One look at Tom and he was like "NOPE".

Oh he's following him.

Oh boy, here we go...

"Jake?"

"Oh. Hey."

I already know this is gonna go bad.

But it needs to happen.

"Mind if we talk?"

"What's there to talk about? You're seeing someone."

Oh no...

"You gave me closure."

Oh no... 😢

"But what I did wasn't fair to you."

Oh god...

I mean, thank you Tom. Thank you for seeing the error of your ways and taking accountability.

You screwed up. But hey, that's all I can ask for.

"It's... it's okay Tom."

AW NO HE'S TEARING UP! NOOOOOOOO!

"You don't have to keep forcing yourself to be friends with me."

OH HE'S GONNA CRY!! NOOOO!!

I feel so unbelievably bad for both of them.

I feel like their relationship is so complicated. I wouldn't say a toxic relationship overall, but the Tom thing was a toxic thing to do. Like you're gonna tell me they're worse than Yul and Grett? Come on now.

They love each other. So much. They're the best things to ever happen to each other.

But they can't make a relationship work because they hate themselves. To an unfathomed degree. And it causes them to make mistakes where they feel they don't deserve the other.

You wanna love someone, you gotta love yourself. And these guys just don't. You can't blame either, but it's not an easy thing to overcome in a snap. Especially in this environment exploiting you.

So Tom taking the step forward to fully take accountability is a huge dub for them, regardless of how poorly Jake reacts to it. It's the best thing he can do now.

And Jake crying because he thinks everybody hates him and/or pretending to like him because of how much he hates himself and his own wrongdoings is... 😭💔

I hate how realistic this is for people like them. I want to give both of them a hug.

"I took some time to re-evaluate myself, and..."

And he realized he was the piece of shit all along.

He wasn't. It's not one sided.

"I've come to terms that you're in a relationship, and I don't want us to get any closer."

In another world where Tom didn't want to fix things, I would cheer for Jake character development. Cause I wanted this from the start before I understood it.

But now? This is just beyond sad.

"No, Jake, please, it's all my fault."

"I-I lied. I don't have a boyfriend. I'm not dating anyone."

There it is.

"So... you and Aiden are a thing?"

Cold. Freezing cold.

"Wait, then... why did you lie?"

"I just wanted to keep you away. I was scared."

"Scared of what?"

"That both of us would just end up getting hurt again!"

And there it is again.

Tom's scared of being hurt again. Like how he got his scars. He's scared of failure.

"Maybe we aren't meant to be."

"Maybe we aren't meant to be."

💔

AWWWW NOOOOOOOOOO

NO YOU CAN'T DO THAT TO MY HEART!!!

YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THAT!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

AM I GONNA CRY THIS EPISODE?!?!

"Do you know how much it hurt when you lied to me?"

Oh his voice is shaking.

"I-I know, I- I wanted to own up to it."

"Tom, I... I'm tired."

Oh...

I'm surprised he's not angry.

He's just tired.

Tired of everything.

"Is that all you had to say?"

He has much more to say, I think.

"Yeah."

"Then go. Please leave me alone."

💔

OH HE LOOKED BACK!

NO YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!

HE LOOKED BACK!!!

I can't blame Jake though. I'm surprised he's not angry. But he's just exhausted of the back and forth.

And I can't blame him. I've been there. Life gets lonely and you feel you deserve it.

💔The fact that these two didn't avoid each other because they hated each other. They did it because they loved each other but hated themselves so badly they felt like they weren't worthy.💔

"Why are we starting so early? I need my beauty sleep!"

"Okay, Yul forfeits and is out of the game!"

YES!!!

FUCKING YES!!!!!!!

YEEESSSS!!!! HE'S GONE!!!

OH MY GOD, THANK YOU! THANK YOU TOTAL DRAMA GODS!!!

"Relax, I was joking!"

NOOOOOOO!!! COME ON!

NO COME ON, WHY CAN'T YOU ACTUALLY BE LEGIT?!?!

Goddammit, stop playing with my head.

I WANT YUL GONE!! 😭

HE INSULTED ME!!

"A classic game of paintball."

Oh you better believe shots will be fired.

One of my YouTube playlists has Shots from LMFAO in another tab, actually. So uh... I might just use that.

"It'll be sudden death, which means everyone for themselves, and last person left who hasn't taken a bullet-"

🎵EVERYBODY IT'S ON!!!🎵

"We better have face protection."

I hope you don't so you get shot in the eye.

😂😂😂

👏👏👏

I HAVE TO HAVE A SUPERPOWER!!!!!

THERE AIN'T NO WAY!!!!

I JUST PREDICTED THAT JUST BEFORE IT HAPPENS!!!!

I CAN TORTURE YUL!!!!

Okay, counter of how many times this has happened so far.

Episode 6 was the first when the spotlight fell on him.

Episode 7, when they used Yul as a human shield for the yarn balls. I got that one.

Episode 8 I got the space trap.

Episode 9 I'm counting that cause I said "Punch him" and he got hit with the ball.

So yeah, five.

IN A ROW, TOO.

Predicting Yul's Torture Counter: 5

I don't like that you gave these guys guns.

You know half the people here are gonna slay with them.

"This challenge starts... now!"

Very surprised no one started firing right then and there.

"Let's go guys!"

"Gang gang!"

"Sounds good!"

Oh, so NOW all of a sudden they're good and cooperative again.

Something about respect, Allyson?

If Jake didn't respect you, he'd shoot you right then and there.

"I'm here to talk to you about your performance."

Oh yeah. You caught her.

"We checked the cameras, and have footage of you helping one of the participants among other rules you've broken."

So this really was illegal. Did Krystal not know about this when she hired her?

"Your contract clearly stated you cannot benefit the participants."

"And YUL of all people?! That's the nail in the coffin right there!"

"Yul didn't even want my help! That's not breaking the rules if he refused my help."

That's not how that works.

"I just told him his manager missed him."

That is very clearly a lie. They are partying over Yul's absense.

"You're fired."

Yep.

How CALMLY she said it too.

Totally deserved.

"I'm not trustworthy, but that crazy old man with his puppet is?"

Oh I forgot they were there.

Yeah. Fair. That puppet DID try to murder everyone.

"If we want to escalate the feud between Aiden and Jake, we can't let either of them win immunity."

Okay. That's a plan.

Yeah it really does not matter if a Jello wins immunity here or not. You can still vote off a member cause it's only one that you can't.

"You climb this tree and get ready to ambush."

The tree?

Dude, what if somebody shoots him while in the tree?

It would be a shame if he got shot off a tree is all I'm saying. That would hurt.

"I'll lead them here and when they're focused on me, you fire them all into oblivion!"

Won't they see right through that though if you're not firing yourself?

Why not a bush? Wouldn't that be safer and achieve the same thing?

"Guys, we need to put your beef aside. That villain's alliance is the enemy."

Ashley, they're not gonna listen to facts.

They WANT to lose. Apparently.

"Fine. If Jake agrees to stop being confrontational."

THANK YOU. WAS THAT HARD?!?!

Also 'confrontational'. He's been not wanting to hang out with you. That's the OPPOSITE of being confrontational.

If you said something like 'petty' or 'quick to anger' then that makes more sense.

"Are we going to have to work with Aiden and Tom?"

Yes.

"I don't think I'm ready to work with them."

I get it, but also, LISTEN TO REASON JAKE. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

I know you won't. But I'm still gonna yell at you for it.

This is the episode where Jake goes. The build up is all here.

He fucks up. Everyone hates him. Everyone votes him.

"Get your priorities in check!"

Ashley being the one reasonable person here!

OP-

🎵EVERYBODY IT'S ON!!!🎵

🎵SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS🎵

🎵SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS🎵

🎵SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS🎵

🎵EVERYBODY!!!🎵

RIP TO ALLYSON.

OKAY HOW DID RIYA AND ALEC MISS THE THER TWO THOUGH?!?!

DAMN YOU TWO ARE BAD AIMS!

"Remember when we lost the paintball challenge in Season 1, Grett?"

Yeah I remember that.

She couldn't stand you.

"Yeah I remember! I also remember we lost because you wouldn't stop talking."

XD

I mean I didn't expect Grett to be friendly anyway.

Finally! She's feeling like herself again.

"Sorry, haha, I'll shut up."

"Thank god."

XD

She's so disappointed it was Gabby that joined them.

"Goddammit I have to work with this girl AGAIN?! What is my luck?! I end up with a shit boyfriend! And now THIS!"

"How about we hide behind a bush and wait for someone to come over?"

Hey that's what I said!

"We can't hide in a bush! Not with Grett's bovine behind."

Shoot him.

"Did you want me to lie?"

You're beautiful, Yul. You're amazing and kind and precious and I want to give you the world.

"There's a difference between being honest and just being cruel."

Thank you.

"And was it cruel when I saved your ass from a life of embarrassment?"

You did no such thing.

"What's wrong with you?! How could you say that to your girlfriend?!"

YES GABBY! JUMP IN HERE!!

TELL HIM OFF!!

FACE THE WRATH OF GABBY!!!

"This is as good as it's gonna get for her!"

"You're disgusting!"

TELL HIM!!!!

"I would never say this to Ellie!"

"Well duh! Ellie doesn't look like Miss Piggy!"

SAYS MR PIG!

WE'RE SHOOTING YOUR ASS IF YOU'RE NOT CAREFUL!

"Say that again and I'll leave the alliance!"

OOF.

THE THREAT.

YEAH SHE HAS CONTROL NOW BITCH!

WHAT DO YOU GOTTA SAY ABOUT THAT?!

"Why is everybody so sensitive?"

It's a mystery /s

🎵SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS🎵

🎵SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS🎵

🎵SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS🎵

🎵EVERYBODY!!!🎵

THANK YOU! WHOEVER DID THAT!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Eh...? I won't count this. I said it too early. And I was talking to Grett and Gabby, who weren't the ones that shot him. So yeah this doesn't count for the counter.

"Why is it always the face?!"

😂👏

HEADSHOT! LET'S GO!!

Oh it was Tom. Cool.

GABBY LOOKS SO FERAL!! 😂

I LOVE HER

🎵SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS🎵

🎵SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS🎵

Oh wow the tree strategy actually worked. You took out all three.

Aiden, you're pretty good.

I mean I shouldn't be surprised, he choked a puppet to death by shooting a lemon.

"I got in trouble and now Krystal fired me."

"What? No!"

Why do you care? You're not friends.

Who actually cares for this red head? I don't.

"You're the only person who ever pretended to pay attention to me!"

Really? Derek doesn't count?

Oh whatever. I don't give a fuck about either of you.

"I didn't pretend. Trevor, you're a good guy."

I don't give a fuck.

"You're going to finally talk to Derek and tell him how you feel."

I don't give a fuck.

Thank you. Cut back to the action.

I really do not care about these interns and their sub plot. Every time they're on screen I'm just waiting for it to cut back to the campers.

🎵SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS🎵

🎵SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS🎵

FRIENDLY FIRE.

GODDAMMIT TOM. WHY?!

YOU'RE A COP, TOO. YOU FAILURE.

"I thought you were Riya."

"DO NOT ASSOCIATE ME WITH THAT COWGIRL! WE ARE NOTHING ALIKE! AND WE LOOK NOTHING ALIKE!"

"We're so screwed."

Yes. Yes you are.

Jake's gonna go, and you guys are gonna have to find an idol OR convince Gabby to flip.

"We need you, me, Aiden, Jake, and Ally voting together to even tie them in a vote."

And that's IF you even win that. You can be perfectly cooperative, and STILL lose.

"And I doubt either of them are changing their minds about Jake."

It's not about liking him. It's not about him liking them. It's about saving your own damn skin.

"Huh, well isn't Jake Mr Popular?"

Aww, the way he said that with a smile. 😊

"Awwww, I'm so happy Jake is making enemies and becoming a popular guy among the group! Truly nice to see my ex is doing horribly!" 😊

"Jake is a good guy!"

REALLY. You saying that despite everything.

"Tom, you haven't treated him fairly, but we can discuss that later."

Yeah he knows.

Yeah you can tell from his face.

HE KNOWS.

HE WANTS TO FIX IT.

"I'll try to get Ally and Jake to agree to a truce."

Which will not happen because they both suck and don't know what truce means.

🎵SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS🎵

🎵SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS🎵

NO NOT THE QUEEN!! GODDAMMIT!!!

"You DARE shoot a queen in the face?! OH YOU'RE IN FOR IT!!"

NO AIDEN DON'T SHOOT-!

🎵SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS🎵

🎵SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS🎵

WHY. THE FUCK. WOULD YOU SHOOT HIM?!

DO YOU WANT TO MAKE EVERYTHING WORSE?!?!

"Oops. Sorry."

YOU ARE IN A GODDAMN TREE!! YOU HAVE CLEAR VISION!!

"I'm not the enemy Aiden. Are you blind?!"

Apparently he is blind.

*rewinds*

YEAH HE SAW. HE AIMED AND FIRED.

There ain't no way he didn't see him. HE'S IN A TREE!!!

"I thought you were one of the bad guys. Relax."

Jake's a bad guy. Ashley lied. Fair enough.

I don't buy that this was an accident. But fine.

"Don't take it so personally."

"I only shot you in the heart. Right where you feel personal things."

And now Jake's heart is LITERALLY painted black with personal vendetta.

"Oho then don't take this personally either!"

🎵SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS🎵

🎵SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS🎵

What did I say?

WHAT DID I SAY?!

Dude, what if somebody shoots him while in the tree?

It would be a shame if he got shot off a tree is all I'm saying. That would hurt.

I FREAKING CALLED THIS!

I TOLD YOU THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!

Also can you shoot even if you've already been shot?

I mean they never said no, but... I feel like this shouldn't count. We didn't see anyone else take advantage of this if this is allowed.

I'm talking game rules of course. JAKE. YOU ASSHOLE! WHY?!?!

"Man that felt good!"

GODDAMMIT JAKE!

WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?!?!

"Seriously Jake, you've got major issues!"

No shit Sherlock.

"You know, Tom wants me to patch things up with you, but it's clear you're a lost cause!"

OOF.

Totally deserved, too.

And this is where Jake goes. He is a lost cause.

He can never EVER redeem himself. He's awful. End of story. Any sympathy the show has given him before does not matter.

This is how his story ends. He's just an asshole. And everyone who hates him are right to do so.

They are, actually. I'm not using sarcasm there.

"Oh you think you're so great, huh? That things just come easy to you? You're just Tom's useless sidekick."

Is-is Jake jealous that Aiden has a good life and he doesn't?

Where the hell did that come from?

"Dammit you two! Pull it together!"

🎵SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS🎵

🎵SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS🎵

Op and you lose.

I want to strangle everybody here that isn't Gabby Riya and Grett. And Ashley I guess, she didn't do anything wrong.

You all deserve to lose.

"And that's the game!"

Alec's like "Wow! So much for TRYING to break them up! They did that on their own! We don't have to do anything!"

The fact that the villains plotted to fuel the fire between Jake and Aiden, and then they didn't need to do anything because they did that by being left to their own devices XD

WOW.

This alliance is so powerful they don't need to try.

"I've given Jake so many chances to cool his jets. This guy is impossible to like!"

I don't exist...

Ah, so this is why everybody hates Jake.

I too want to strangle him. (Affectionate)

"I'm surprised he has any friends at all!"

He doesn't. He has a grandma. That's it.

He's gonna lose Ashley in a minute.

"Aiden is such a douchebag!"

YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!

"We need to band together to get Aiden on that bus of losers."

YOU. STUPID. FUCK.

YOU'RE LEAVING TONIGHT. IT'S ALREADY BEEN DECIDED.

"We can't let them take the majority in this game! We're all at their mercy!"

YES. LISTEN TO REASON.

"I don't care! I have no interest in working with Aiden. He can burn in hell!"

I have Markeplier's voice in my head right now.

"You shut the fuck up." "YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!" "YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!" "I HOPE YOU DIE IN A FIRE!" "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

"Jake, please, for once use your head and think about this."

OH NOW YOU CARE!

Whatever.

"I've made up my mind. I'm going to talk to Alec and get the villains to vote with us for Aiden."

Hey Ashley, something about how Jake is a good guy?

You might be wrong about that.

"Okay Jake, what will we do once Aiden's gone?"

"What else? STEAL THE IDOL!! I'M A MAD GENIUS!!"

"Win immunities, find totems, I don't know."

Yeah you have no plan.

"Eh I'll just wing it! That'll totally work in my favor!"

I'm going to be so here for it when Jake faces the consequences of his actions at this elimination.

"Why is it so difficult for Jake to use his head, not his heart?"

His heart sucks.

That's what you're implying.

It's perfectly in character for him. So I'm not mad about that. It makes sense for him to do this.

BUT ALSO I WANT TO STRANGLE HIM.

"No offense Tom, but your conversations with him haven't been working out."

You were the one that pushed him to talk to Jake. Just saying.

You do be right though.

Pain doesn't just go away, ya know? It's gonna make you lash out. That's normal. I KNOW.

"We have to take out Jake. It's him or us."

And it's gonna be him.

The only way an alliance will ever work is if Jake is not in it.

We hate Jake. That's the moral of the story.

"I didn't even have to try this time!"

XD

AYO I SAID THAT TOO!

"Our alliance can really choose anyone we want. Whoever goes tonight will set the tone for the rest of the eliminations moving forward."

That's true.

It's gonna be Jake.

MAYBE you could keep him because he's a drama source?

But I really don't think that will happen.

So what it's two votes on Riya, one vote on Aiden, and then AT LEAST six votes for Jake?

That's what it sounds like.

ALL my money is on Jake being the boot here.

THERE IS NO WAY IT'S ANYONE ELSE.

"You all are the very best of our show."

WHY IS THE CAMERA ON YUL?

YOU LIAR.

OH TOM NO!!

"You left me no choice. Sorry Jake."

AWW

I get it though. After what happened.

OH ASHLEY'S VOTING AIDEN TOO?!?!

WHAT?!

"I would prefer to vote Riya, but I have to support Jake."

REALLY?

Damn I thought she would turn on him after this. SHE REALLY STUCK BY HIM. SHE REALLY KEPT HER WORD.

Of course Allyson voted Jake.

"It wasn't necessary to mention Hunter when we were arguing."

WHAT IS IT WITH YOU? ONE SCENE YOU WANT TO TOLERATE HIM, THE NEXT YOU DON'T. WHICH IS IT?!?!

Gabby's just vibing.

Oh god here we go...

Jake is so gone.

'JAKE'

It's over. He's so gone.

Oh don't look shocked.

'JAKE'

Do not look shocked. You caused your own elimination.

'AIDEN'

'AIDEN'

That's the only Aiden votes.

'JAKE'

The rest of these are just Jake. You don't even need to read all of these.

"Next vote..."

Ugh... come on. Just get it over with.

Jake is so gone. There's no way it's anyone else.

My heart's sinking. Jake's gone.

'ASHLEY'

⁉️

WAIT WHAT?!?!?!

WHAT-?!

WHA-?!

'ASHLEY'

OH THE VILLAINS!!!

OH MY GOD CAUSE SHE'S THE MORAL ONE!!!

'ASHLEY'

OH NOOOOOO!!!

*head is down in grief*

NOOOOO!!!

"Oh my god..."

"Look what you did Jake!"

REALLY?!?!?

"T-this-t-t-this can't be happening!"

OH MY GOD JAKE. NO!!

'ASHLEY'

REALLY?!

JAKE FUCKS UP AND ASHLEY IS THE ONE WHO PAYS FOR IT?!?!

*head is down in grief again*

Oh my god...

MY HEART IS LIKE, RACING RIGHT NOW.

I genuinely did not see this coming. I thought she was for sure safe.

Oh my god... 😢

Well... I DID predict that Jake would lose his only friend here. AND IT WOULD BE HIS FAULT.

HE DID. BUT IT WAS NOT IN THE WAY I THOUGHT.

AND IT WAS HIS FAULT.

THIS IS ENTIRELY BECAUSE OF HIM!!

"A-a-Ashley! Oh no! I-I-I'm so sorry!"

OH NO AND HE'S GONNA BLAME HIMSELF!! 😭

"It's alright Jake. Don't feel guilty again. I'm alright."

It's not alright. But you know. You give him way too much slack.

"If you didn't vote for me, that means Tom and Ally did."

Yeah cause they hate you.

"I-I'm sorry Jake."

I know you are. You were put in a corner.

"I-I can't believe this! I- y-you should still be here! IT'S ALL MY FAULT! I-I SHOULD JUST QUIT, I-"

😭

OH MY GOD JAKE NOOOOOOO

HONEY NOOOOOOO

*eyes are watery*

I'M GONNA CRY.

I'M ACTUALLY GONNA CRY.

"You made your decision. Now stand by it. You have to learn to look forward without dwelling on the past Jake. If anything, I hope I've been able to teach you that."

Ooooohhh....

Oh my god this episode is gonna kill me.

Remember when I was pissed at Jake and wanted to strangle him just a few minutes ago?

I'm right back to having him as my favorite character. In a snap.

"Man that three million dollars would have been nice though. Guess I'll save my farm in another season."

OH YEAH SHE WAS GONNA SAVE HER FARM!

Jake, ACTUALLY, you have to win this now. You can win the money FOR HER! You can just give the money to her.

You can ACTUALLY become the hero of this story!

OH MY GOD I REALIZE WHAT THEY'RE DOING WITH JAKE NOW!

She didn't give any hug to Allyson. Damn.

Awwwww Ashley nooooo. Bye!

"Why do I keep doing this? Now Ashley's gone, and it's all my fault. The one person who was willing to be my friend out here..."

Everyone hates you now. The only person that didn't is gone.

Good FUCKING luck.

"Hmm... we're in trouble."

That's all Aiden's gotta say XD

"Yeah maybe voting for someone who isn't 'evil' just 'a douchebag' wasn't a good idea for our game after all."

HMMMMM, IT'S ALMOST LIKE I'VE BEEN SAYING THIS THE WHOLE GODDAMN TIME!!

"Yeah, it might have been fun to get rid of Aiden once and for all, but it's more fun to watch him continue squabbling with Jake."

Yeah cause he's drama to prevent them from working together.

QUEEN IS SMART. 👑

THIS WAS ACTUALLY THE SMARTER PLAY.

"Ashley was the glue that was holding the 'heroes' together."

True.

But I would NOT call them heroes.

With heroes like these guys, who needs villains?

Oh god what an episode...

That was an emotional roller coaster.

That might actually be one of my favorite Disventure Camp eliminations EVER.

Definately Top Three.

I REALLY like how that was executed.

Fuck Jake though. He caused this. Everyone hates him, and it is well deserved.

What. A. Dickhole.

...

Affectionate

Okay but actually, I love this.

I love this for his character.

Yes he's an asshole, but it makes sense as to why, it's very well explained why he's acting the way he is. We are shown multiple instances of sympathy you feel for him, because he is not entirely horrible.

He's not evil. But he's got major issues. It's such a strong line in between the two. I kinda feel like both instances of adoring him and glossing over his faults, and screaming hate on him and ignoring the POV, are a disservice to what this actually is.

AND HE ACTUALLY GETS CONSEQUENCES FOR HIS ACTIONS!

This was the best way he could've possibly gotten it too.

The dude is NOT motivated by money. His desire is LOVE. Companionship. Something he only ever received from his now dead grandma as a child. Everyone who claims to like him turns on him and uses him, and now he is in no interest of giving anyone a chance.

So eliminating him here would NOT be a consequence, actually. Because then he learns nothing. He would have gotten away with it.

So instead, you do something that stings more than that. You take away his only friend who gave him a chance despite everything. And now he is completely alone with everyone around him loathing him.

Despite everything, Ashley still saw his worth.

And because of said worth, she's gone.

I went into this season knowing Jake was going to be an asshole. It made sense after Season 1. So I'm not surprised. What I'm surprised with is how sympathetic they still made him.

But I also said, EVERY TIME, "Jake is going to be a Pre-Merge Boot/Early Merge Boot."

WELL THIS JUST PROVED THAT ENTIRELY WRONG.

He is not going anywhere.

This dude just became the main driving force of this entire season's story. Regardless if he wins or not. He has to redeem himself. That's the only way anyone else here stands a chance.

There's nowhere else for his character to go but up.

So then he has to be the 'hero' of this story. That's the only thing that makes sense with this setup.

He might actually win. I said there was no way. But NOW?! HE MIGHT ACTUALLY PULL OFF WINNING.

AND HE CAN DO IT FOR ASHLEY.

He just gives the money to Ashley.

Jake, worst player of the game. But story-wise? HE IS THE MVP FOR ME.

My favorite characters are the ones that are messy and flawed and acknowledged as such by the story, but still understandable and human. And Jake fits this near perfectly.

WE STAN JAKE IN THIS HOUSEOLD!👑

NOW WHO WANTS TO JOIN AIDEN AND ALLYSON IN THE JAKE HATE CLUB THEY GOT GOING ON? THAT SOUNDS FUN!

Yeah this episode was a roller coaster for me. This and the last episode? Yeah, things are starting to get interesting.

[yeehaw-fuckers]

man… i hate how people hate on vinny everyman cause he was complicit to habit’s various vile deeds through the show and decided to continue the investigation!

🎉SO I WROTE A WHOLE RANT/ESSAY DEFENDING HIM 🎉

IMPORTANT NOTE- words or paragraphs in red are important/key parts and bold or caps is just for emphasis also if my spelling is shit its because im excited lol

btw please don’t take this too seriously, these characters are fictional, and this whole thing is just an analysis on morally grey characters and the hate they get

comments are very appreciated and ill always try to comment back to yall

❗️❗️SPOILERS❗️❗️

(DONT READ UNLESS YOU FINISHED THE EVERYMAN HYBRID SERIES OR YOU DONT MIND SPOILERS)

first of all, are yall forgeting that they (the characters) are literally in a loop where they repeat the same roles over and over again! LIKE THEIR DECISIONS ARE MADE FOR THEM NOT BY THEM so keep that in mind

vinny has been a victim (like every other character) in all iterations/universes, throughout each-one he’s never learned how to defend himself or say no to peer pressure!

habit has made VARIOUS EXAMPLES (via murder and torture) of people who either didn’t listen to him or that he straight up didn’t like!

as the show goes on you see how habit now becomes dependent on vinny and how vinny becomes dependent on habit (cause all of vinny’s friends are dead and slender man is still out there)

it becomes a bully v.s victim situation where the victim has to stay with their bully to be safe, a situation that many people blatantly ignore for the sake of habit’s charisma and character,

he became adaptable to the situation, becoming complicit towards habit’s violent tendencies and even insulting or pushing habit cause he knows that habit cant get rid of him if they want to defeat slenderman!

for my other point, aka continuing the investigation,

DUDE! who tf wouldn’t follow the investigation on slenderman or habit, THEY ARE KILLING PEOPLE AND THE POLICE CANT DO SHIT ABOUT IT! and yes I acknowledge that vinny did remove incriminating evidence of himself that would make him look bad, WHICH IS A SHITTY THING TO DO btw

but other characters have also made shit decisions or mistakes in the series, ITS LITERALLY A REALISTIC THING TO DO!!

for example jeff gets stephanie sent to a fucking MENTAL INSTITUTION because he SUSPECTED that she was working with slenderman

(she wasnt, shes a victim of slenderman and also emo as fuck)

do i think it was a good idea to pressure others into the investigation, no! thats a terrible idea and he should have done it by himself or atleast warned gang about his knowledge of information!

do i think it was a good idea to summon habit, HELL NO, but if we are going to be honest habit is apart of this never ending loop too!

BUT in the end hes not necessarily a villain, hes a morally grey person like the rest of characters, except for habit and slenderman they are straight up evil,

it’s realistic storytelling!!! and some people throw it out the window so they can place blame on a character that they dislike cause people cant handle morally grey people without forcing them into a hero or villain arcs!!

-from your fella named, yeehaw-fuckers

[mortalityplays]

It's obviously kind of an oversimplification to say Gomorra is 'about' homosexuality. It's about a lot of things. But it's also completely true and I would even possibly argue that it is the load-bearing point of the show.

On a macro level, the whole thing is about the endlessly bloody and destructive struggle of a life in organised crime. But even in that sense it puts a very specific thematic point on the way love, relationships and blood relations are constant casualties of this way of life, and the effect of that relentless human loss on the players who keep choosing war over peace. Ciro blazing his trail by killing women, children and parents specifically is not a 'kick the cat' villain beat, it's the whole point of the material. Genny being perpetually struck down by his own nuclear family because he is competition to them is part of it. Being in the life means eventually sacrificing those you love on its altar. You murder your wife, you send your son to die in the jungle, you send your father-in-law to prison.

As we absorb that, we're presented with this succession of queer characters living in the periphery of the story. One by one they're introduced to us, they explicate themselves as divergent from heteronormative sex and gender roles, and then we watch them die or disappear. It's heavily implied that the 'lesbian' from the tower blocks may be a trans man, but she doesn't exist in a context where articulating that is an option, and she dies in a white wedding dress inherited from her father. Conte's relationship with a trans woman can only exist behind closed doors. He dates her sister in public, he puts off introducing her to his mother, he appeals to his catholicism to distance himself from his own sexuality. Gege panics and folds because he's afraid for his boyfriend and his daughter. What do I care about the guy fucking you in the ass? Genny sneers, before he beats Gege to death with the watch that signifies his connection to a mob family. Much like the harrowing shit the show delves into around race, the message is 'there is no mercy here'. There is no oxygen for the articulation of queerness. It can only survive unspoken, in negative space.

And there's no argument that the show is about the negative space between Genny and Ciro. Neither of them know how to articulate their relationship. They're best friends, they're worst enemies, they grew up together, Ciro raised Genny, they're brothers, they're father and son. They use the word love. They also use the word hate. They come as close as anyone ever gets to putting bullets in each other's brains. They keep taking turns to ask each other can we do this now? and the answer is always not yet. Even when they're on the same side, they can only discuss the nature of their relationship by proxy, through their mutual relationships with others. Pietro is one. And I could write a fucking essay on the Enzo situation.

The negative space is physical, too. They hover around each other. They talk nose to nose. In the first season they can't stay apart, they grab each other, they pepper each other with kisses. After the life erases all of their visible human connections and sets them at odds, they're shot like orbiting planets. Empty space takes up entire frames between them. Ciro is fucking constantly looking at Genny, to the point that shots are composed around his furtive glances. After they finally reveal themselves to Analisa, Ciro catches Genny by the arm to pull him away from the meeting. That's not a gesture we ever see between other characters, especially in a context like that. They are constantly either 1 inch or 12 feet apart.

But most of all, there's negative space in the title. Gomorra. Yeah it's a play on Camorra. Don't worry about it. Don't think too much about it. Just ignore the primary association with that word that floats into your head when you hear it. It's absent from the show, right? It's absent from the life. This is a mafia show about two straight friends.

[stargazingdustbunny]

Belladonna/Obsession Timeline

An explanation of my DC Ocs' lore and the relationship between Ashleigha/Obsession and Izabella/Belladonna.

Birth

Born in Bludhaven to middle class families.

5 years old

Families move into neighboring condos.

Childhood

Become best friends and grow up playing together. Their favorite game is super heroes.

Always plays either the hero or the captured love interest.

Always plays the villain.

Tween Years

Become fascinated with both real and fictional heroes and villains. Enjoy analyzing them and talking about how they would have done things better.

Has a massive celebrity crushes on Robin!Dick, Nightwing, and Dick Grayson (does not know they are the same person).

Thinks the villains could do better.

Enjoys growing plants.

Teen Years

Maintain contact despite living far away from each other. Still mostly talk about superheroes.

Family moves to a rural part of New York. Gets her first pet rabbits.

Her dad dies in a car accident and her mom becomes addicted to fentanyl. Moves to a poorer part of town. 

Begins experimenting with plants to try to find something that will help her mom.

College Years

Both attend Bludhaven community college and are roommates. Continue to be obsessed with the heroes and villains of Gotham and Bludhaven, and began to record observations and analyses. 

A mutual friend of theirs was killed in a Joker attack while he was visiting Gotham. Both of them hate the Joker.

Majors in IT and cybersecurity.

Her family doesn’t understand why she wants to live in the city, she just feels drawn to it and its people.

Her family pays for her college.

Majors in biology and chemistry.

Her mom continues to struggle with addiction and mostly ignores Izabella. Her mom dies of an overdose during senior year.

Works hard at a flower shop and also begins selling weed to pay for tuition. Does not let Ashleigha know how bad things are.

Young Adult

Are roommates in an apartment in Bludhaven.

Works as a programmer for a company that sells security cameras.

Fully obsessed with Nightwing now. Her entire bedroom is covered with pictures and newspaper clippings of him.

Works as a flower shop, and continues to sell weed as a side job. 

Her room is full of plants, and she has begun to experimentally breed new variations.

Entry into the world of villains and vigilantes

The two act out a fake rivalry, staging fights and escapes and stuff.

As a result of the fight, the two friends part ways. They both promise to never reveal each other’s true identity.

Ashleigha wants to get the attention of Nightwing. 

Creates the persona of Obsession, and uses what she knows about the city to stop minor crimes.

Gets hurt and realizes fighting actual criminals is dangerous. Creates the persona Belladonna to set up fake crime scenarios. Finally meets Nightwing.

Realizes playing both Obsession and Belladonna is hard, so she invites Izabella to join her.

Takes on the role of Belladonna as a -pretend- villain.

Realizes she enjoys being Belladonna, and begins using the persona to expand her drug network.

Learns Bella is doing actual crime, and is very mad about it. When she can’t convince Bella to stop, she tries to fight her.

Starts fighting actual crime again. Nightwing tries to discourage her; she tries to be even more impressive.

Becomes a full-time gang leader, and begins recruiting people and expanding her drug business.

As mature adults

The two have a rivalry that alternates between being almost friendly to being bloody.

Becomes an established vigilante and accepted into the Titans. Is friends with Nightwing and other vigilantes, though she is jealous of whomever Dick’s current partner is.

Becomes one of the most notable drug lords in Bludhaven, and has a presence in Gotham as well. Hires mostly females, and treats her workers well. Develops new plants, drugs, and chemical weapons. Occasionally messes with vigilantes, but mostly tries to go unnoticed by them.

Develops a rivalry with the Riddler that eventually becomes a romantic relationship.

[longitudinalwaveme]

2024 Flash Annual (and General Musings About Si Spurrier's Flash Run)

I bought the 2024 Flash annual today, and enjoyed....parts of it. Which is actually a reflection of my feelings about the run as a whole. Here are my thoughts about the storyline so far, starting with the stuff I'm not crazy about.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

The Bad

I'm not a huge fan of Wally's kids suddenly having been aged up into teenagers. I liked them as younger kids, and it's frustrating to have them be advanced so rapidly into the more standard teenaged sidekick role.

Linda has been somewhat out of focus in the most recent issues of the story. I appreciate the attempt at tackling postpartum depression, but it feels as though the plot thread has been mostly lost amidst all the craziness.

Barry swearing is weird. He's such a clean-cut guy, and even though he's supposed to be somewhat out-of-character due to all the reality warping shenanigans, it's still odd to have him swearing constantly.

Amanda Waller is back, and she hates superheroes. Again. She's not exactly out-of-character or anything, but she's not really adding all that much to the plot. She's just here because of a tie-in crossover.

The tone of the book is rather dour and depressing. While it's not as relentlessly awful as it probably could be, I have to admit that having the entire Flash family be either depressed or on edge and at each others' throats is a bit depressing.

The Speed Force-related technobabble makes my brain hurt. I know that the Speed Force is always weird and esoteric and doesn't make sense, but this arc has been taking that up to eleven. I neither understand nor particularly care about the Arc Angles or the weird dimensional space-time stuff, and it frustrates me that so much panel time is devoted to that over and above character interactions.

This one is really minor, but I don't care for Evan's new astronaut costume. The original Mirror Master look was better.

Good Stuff

While the dour tone is a bit off-putting, I do at least respect the attempt to portray depression and burnout. For the most part, the symptoms are shown quite realistically, and, at least in Wally's case, it is a continuation of long-running mental health struggles. (Wally also suffered from depression shortly after becoming the Flash, so it does make some sense that his depression might resurface at some point.)

It's good to see Gorilla Grodd again. Before this arc, he hadn't done much for a few years, so it's nice to have him return (even if I'm not sure how he managed to get control over Gorilla City again).

The interactions between Wally and his kids (when they happen) are really solid, at least for the most part. I also like that Irey is still friends with Maxine Baker and that plot point wasn't dropped when the new writer took over.

Abra Kadabra makes total sense as part of the evil scheme, and Spurrier has thus far written him very well. I think it's been a good while since he was a major antagonist in anything, so I appreciate having him back as a Flash villain. I'm also relieved to learn that he was the Piper and not Hartley (mind-controlled or otherwise).

This may be the most interesting and threatening the Folded Man has ever been. Not that that's a particularly high bar to clear, but it's a nice change of pace to have him as a major villain.

Bart Allen and Max Mercury have been written well, and I'm glad that they're a team again.

Hartley has gotten to play an important role in the events of the story and is playing the role of tech support for the Flashes, just like he used to do during Wally's run. I'm very glad to have him around, and I hope that we get to see him in costume before the end of the run (especially given the way that Kadabra's evil scheme has co-opted his theme).

Evan McCulloch is back! I've missed him, and he and his phonetically-written Scottish accent have been one of the highlights of the run for me. He fits in with the book's plot and tone really well, given his weird eldritch powers, and this story has been a good showcase of just how dangerous he can be. I also particularly liked the bit where the Folded Man sarcastically suggested that Evan McCulloch's reward for participating in the plan was a hug; that was a good joke.

Unanswered Questions

Is McCulloch still dealing that Speed Force drug? And how was that connected to the overall evil plot?

Who or what is promising the rewards to the villains? Is it a pre-established villain, or some unknown cosmic horror?

Is Eobard Thawne involved in this scheme? If not, is one of the other Thawnes? I have to assume that at least one of them must be, because otherwise the "Crown of Thawnes" makes little sense.

What exactly has Evan been promised as a reward for his participation in the evil scheme? He's the only one we don't have a definite answer for, and I'm really curious as to what might be motivating him. If I were writing it, I would probably have the reward be a promise to let him go back in time and stop himself from accidentally shooting his father, but I do somewhat doubt that that's what he's actually been promised. Maybe it has something to do with reuniting him with the Rogues?

Are the social problems in Central City going to be addressed outside of Irey's ill-fated attempt to solve them? Is this going to be the next story arc, or an ongoing subplot? If so, I hope Hartley gets involved.

Is Evan still addicted to cocaine? Okay, admittedly this doesn't have much to do with anything, but I am curious.

Regardless of what Evan's been promised, Len needs to find him and whack him upside the head. This scheme is much more dangerous than anything he's been involved with previously, and he seems to have completely gone off the deep end in terms of the behavior he's willing to engage in to get what he wants.

[chrkrose]

I know Team Green hates Daemon, and I agree there are 172838 reasons for him to be hated. But Nettles is one of the only things that make him somewhat likable because even though the green side keeps going on and on about the grooming, let’s be real: the public wouldn’t care as long as Matt Smith had chemistry with the other actress. People didn’t care even when his scenes with young rhaneyra were framed as grooming.

And I’m sorry, a lot of y’all takes is always framed through the lenses of “how can I make Daemon look even worse than the scumbag he is” which fair, but then don’t pretend Nettles is in the center of those thoughts because she’s not. If she was, the first point in any meta would be to determine that Rhaenyra is the true villain of Nettles story and just because Rhaenyra was a victim of Daemon, that doesn’t make her worthy of being “sisters in pain” with Nettles when 1) Rhaenyra was racist against her and 2) Daemon was the one to actually save nettles; if it was up to Rhaenyra, Nettles would be another head decorating the gates of the red keep. It’s hard to take any of those metas seriously when y’all weaponize Nettles arc against Daemon and use her just the same as Team Black does, just for a different purpose. It’s still all about victimizing Rhaenyra, and Nettles is just an means to an end. So in the end, are y’all that much different from Team Black or Rhaenyra stans when it comes to Nettles?

George loves daemon; he never wrote his arc with nettles as a commentary on his pedo tendencies. He wrote that arc in spite of his pedo tendencies. He wrote that arc as a way to show “look, Daemon killed a bunch of people, groomed a few others, did terrible things his entire life and is cheating on his queen with a way too young girl, but look how cool and badass she is and how much she suffered in her life, and this time around Daemon really likes this girl and is willing to do selfless acts for her and protect her, a lowborn girl nobody else cares about, so here, he’s light too, see how gray and complex he is?”. And the truth is that public would eat that up because even with Daemon choking Rhaenyra, killing his ex wife, laughing at his second wife’s funeral and ignoring his third wife screams while she gives birth to a demon baby, he still has tons of people who think he’s awesome. That’s just the reality of it. Now, we can argue about the problematics of the storyline, we can argue about how George wants Daemon to get away scot-free, all of this are valid points and tbh I agree with many. But it doesn’t change the story.

I can’t actually engage with team green discourse when it comes to Nettles because y’all don’t see her as a character of her own. If y’all did, y’all would see she’s way more interesting than Rhaenyra and Daemon combined. That her arc is so much more than her relationship with either of them. That she disrupts the status quo, she comes bringing with her a pletora of questions about what it means to be a dragon rider, what it means to have dragon blood. She brings the perspective of the small folk, of the ones forgotten and not cared about when the royals are destroying each other. She survives. She becomes a legend. She is sooo much more than all of this.

The reason why I want Nettles in the show has nothing to do with Daemon, Rhaenyra and whatever takes y’all have on that relationship when it comes to them both. Nettles is not the “new Rhaenyra”, she has nothing to with that character. She’s not a folder to her story, she’s doesn’t exist solely to prove a point or to be used as a weapon to help in her victimhood. Rhaenyra is not the “new Rhea Royce”. Rhaenyra is Rhaenyra, a victim of Daemon as much as a villain in Nettles story. Nettles character doesn’t exist solely to villainize or whitewash Daemon, or to play a role in his story as a folder of his previous relationships. She’s her own character, with her own arc, with her own importance, with her own role, with her own message. Her romance is her own. Her importance is her own. The sacrifices made in her name were made because she was worthy of them. Stop using her just to make your point when the point you want to make is not about her, you are not sounding any better than the ones who dismiss her as just Daemon’s bastard or want her cut off entirely from the show. Your noise is sounding very similar to theirs if I’m being honest.

[hevexns-realm]

Hello! I came here with another random question:

What type of games characters in your AU like: Video games, board games or sport games? And which ones? 👀

EEEE I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE-

Sonic, tails, and silver all love video games. Even if Sonic loves physical sports, he tends to make video game nights for everyone who wants to participate. While Sonic plays a few more edgier games like COD or even Diablo, silver and tails prefer cozier games like Minecraft or animal crossing!

Shadow is more of a board game type of guy, and the game of life is one of his favorites! Although he does play the occasional call of duty with Sonic. Sometimes he uses the voice changer Iris lets him borrow for his drag queen role and uses it to mess with little shits online who are being assholes. It’s funny as all hell, and when the villain group gets ahold of the shadow clips, they’ll be laughing about it for a few days-

Mephiles isn’t much of a gamer, he’s more into novels, audiobooks, the dark academia type stuff. HOWEVER, he does play horror games or mystery type games on occasion, when he has the time. (He refuses to admit this, as he doesn’t want anyone to associate him with his snapcube alternate counterpart. He hates the bastard with a passion, even more than I do-)

Blaze, Nazo, and seelkadoom are all similar to mephiles. They view most video games as a waste of time, or at least the violent/stressful ones. Although, they each have a comfort game of some kind. For blaze, it’s coffee talk (episodes one and two) while Nazo and seelka have a soft spot for cult of the lamb, as it’s a co-op game that they can play with either each other or can take turns playing with Iris when it’s a quiet night.

Adding onto Nazo, he really likes games where there’s always a little something at risk. The higher the risk, the more competitive he gets. This especially goes in gambling, when he knows that there’s a giant pot on the table. When it comes to physical activity, he prefers fencing, speed skating, and a little bit of the waltz on occasion!

Seelka is really into physical sports. His training is arguably the most vigorous, and is the most athletic of the three. It shows through his physique in his work attire, and Iris needs to restrain herself every time she sees him in that suit. (Every other day tbh- and nazo isn’t much better about it either.)

Iris doesn’t really know what games are, but she loves dancing and swimming! She’s actually participated in the Solaris festival as a dancer multiple times at this point, and she loves it even more throughout the years! ^^ outside of the physical stuff, she loves messing with people’s heads. Making them think she’s one thing when she isn’t. She does this with a lot of older rich men, and once she’s gotten larger spoils, she shares them with her friends! (Nazo and seelka get the largest amount before her-)

Iblis loves monopoly, the game of life, anything that relates to mortal life the way she wants everyone to live. She wants them to live their happily ever after, as long as it’s safe, she’ll be happy to support her subjects achieve their dreams!! ❤️❤️

Aeon is a valorant/league of legends player, but she plays a ton of other video games as well! (Non-toxic player, but she’s more than happy to match energy if needed-)

Rouge loves monopoly, but she and iblis have a serious rivalry with the game. Any other game they’re fine, but since both of them are good cheaters, they tend to try and expose the other! ^^

Amy loves card games! UNO, go fish, even some solitare, you name it, she’ll play it! Although, she really likes to play with nazo, as he’s literally a high-class gambler, he knows every trick in the book. She learns a lot of things from him!! ^^

Taglist:

@thebreadmeower @hunniegl4zed

Sorry it took so long, school was long, got some press on nails, and currently getting sick QvQ||

[brandongamesall]

Here's a short synopsis on why the walking dead season 2 was a great story, but barely places second place as one of the best telltale game sof all time.

1. Kenny was a beloved (half of the time) character that got to be relived for a role taking care of Clementine.

Even though he was a hard butt, everyone can agree this season made Kenny's chatacter come towards a brighter light of who he actually is, and clementine is the one person who can either let him do as he pleases, or puts him in his place.

2. We got to fall in love with more characters most of the time.

We got to feel the characters presence, personalities and traits. Though, they fell short on trying to grow a connection with clementine towards episode 3 and so on, you could tell episode 1 set the stage of what group you're going to be with.

3. They had the greatest villain that has ever lived in telltales the walking dead series!

Though short lived, Carver was actually one of the most evil hearted spirits to ever walk this universe. He felt like the governor from the tv show.

Now, here are the reasons why it fell short from being better than season 1:

1. Kenny was too hard headed and would butt heads with any character for any small disagreement.

The main prospect of this would be Luke and Jane. His hatred towards many people made everyone dislike him, especially at the end when he went on a rampage and even knocked clementine on her butt. He held too much anger and showed all of it.

2. The characters you grew to like from episodes 1 and 2 were starting to be dismantled from clementines story the next episode.

This goes with Luke being put into the background, Nick being killed off more and more ridiculously as each episode rolled by, Alvin Senior, Walter, and Matthew being the main people. And Becca. She had the biggest 180° change that I really hated and I always hated her as a character. The only people you can try to enjoy are Jane, Luke, and Mike.

3. Kenny was the main central person you kind of had to side with.

What I mean by this, Kenny never was agreeable in most situations, but other people always made him the better choice. The game kind of forces you to want to be around Kenny

Overall, I really love this season, but it never can stand above the first season. Though, I still think this is one of the better games I've ever played in my life

[davekat-sucks]

Feferi, Fefetasprite and ghost Nepfef (the ship) are the greatest proofs of wasted potential envolving a troll I've ever seen in hs.

It would be cool if the author remembered the relationship (by adoption) that Feferi has with the Egbert-Harley-Crocker-English and addressed Feferi as a "nice" aunt. I would like to see Feferi in the role of guardian of the Dream Bubbles and having relevance with the ghosts.

Fefetasprite interacting with Erisol and Arquius... it would be bittersweet, sad and emotional if given the opportunity to her (and not exploding).

And ghost Nepfef: They seemed to get along well in the dream bubbles, I would like to see some friendship, or maybe something more, appear there.

It's a shame that the author seems to hate Feferi and put that bootleg version of HIC in her place.

And yet, Andrew Hussie discarded Feferi. He says she is nothing more than a joke character like the rest of Blue Team, despite being tied to something bigger. And part of his excuse of not wanting her in is because he hates her typing quirk, thus would have other characters make an excuse to drop the )( thing. To continue pushing Feferi aside, people saw how the fandom was loving Aradia and uses her to replace Feferi as the one to guide the Dream Bubbles, despite the person with the best connections to Horrorterrors, especially to Gl'bgolyb. Aradia may be a Derse Dreamer like Feferi, but Gl'bgolyb had whispered prophecies about her future, likely with Sgrub and the events that come, to Feferi. Which is probably why she had trust and wanting to connect with the Beta Kids because her lusus told her what it is to come. The only other thing that would even come close to tying the horrorterrors with any other trolls would either be Gamzee or Eridan, due to the blood color of horrorterrors are a shade of purple or violet. It could have gone to either one due to them being villains. With Gamzee being part of Lord English that it becomes ironic that horrorterrors would share the same blood color as one of the components as their enemy or Eridan, the one that despite had helped Feferi to feed Gl'bgolyb, would also be the one to kill Feferi too in his despair and his action was needed to move the timeline along.

It would have been interesting for Nepeta and Feferi to have talked to each other either as their ghost selves or reflecting as they were as Fefpetasprite. Nepeta and Equius moirail relationship would be something that Feferi had thought she and Eridan were back then and would have wished it was back then. But then she hears about how Equius would try to make Nepeta keep distance from other lowbloods, it might get her to think twice about it. While in turn, Nepeta could sympathize that the people she had trusted or wanted to believe in, were not great or had left her for good. Cause at least for Nepeta, she can always fall back to Equius after death. But Feferi, she doesn't have anyone. It's not like she can go to Eridan if he is in an emotional mess for his actions that he feels guilty and believes distancing himself from her would be for the best. She can't go back to Sollux since he's back with Aradia, his real girlfriend. Her lusus died and the Dream Bubbles she and her other dead friends get to live in is her only evidence left that her lusus had cared for her. So who does Feferi have? Nobody. And that's sad. Feferi was brushed off as a joke character and Hussie created Meenah to apologize to Feferi fans. They couldn't have two fuchsiabloods because that would mean typing out similar quirks involving the )( thing. And Hussie prefers the femdom attitude that Meenah has over the sweet but passive aggressive Feferi. Because Meenah would be like Vriska. And we know how much Hussie likes Vriska. He loves her so much that we would have many other Vriska clones later on. That's why Meenah was even lesbians with Vriska. I really feel so sorry for Feferi fans.

[convenientalias]

Well, I finished My Journey to You

I can't say I'm a huge fan, but it was unique and enjoyable. More thoughts...

The Good

-Yun Weishan and Shangguan Qian have great chemistry, especially in the first half of the show. I only wish they had more scenes together in the second half instead of wandering off into the land of heterosexual romance.

-Pretty much everyone gets whumped.

-Gong Yuanzhi!!!!! I initially thought he would be the second male lead, before Gong Shangjue showed up, and I kind of wish he was, except I like his role fine as it is. Obsessively loyal didi!!!! Poison boy!!!!! And when I say everyone gets whumped, it's true, but Gong Yuanzhi probably plays whump the best out of all the guys lols, although he's hardly front and center.

-The aesthetic is unique. A lot of wuxia feels kind of similar in terms of costuming and effects. My Journey to You tries for a slightly darker, more mature vibe in terms of production. (See: Yun Weishan's drapey black robe, for example. Also, everyone's always whispering for some reason.) Sometimes this annoyed me actually (bc I don't quite think the plot stands up to the level of seriousness the production is playing at), but for the most part I think it's nice as a change of pace.

The Bad

-I really just. Could not care about Gong Ziyu or Gong Shangjue. Or their romances. Ziyu was a bit better than Shangjue in terms of romantic vibes by the end but they're both just so boring. I don't want either of them to be Sword Wielder I really don't care.

-The ending was so confusing??? Too many twists and reveals and most of them didn't even really matter. I love a "this is what was really going on all along" flashback but some of these reveals directly contradict what the show told us earlier in ways that really annoy me. Also the final villain... is he dumb? bc he could have achieved his goal much easier in other ways, just saying.

-Not that he's unique in that. Everyone in this show overschemes, and especially Wufeng. You could just have had the brides infiltrate WITHOUT revealing their infiltration just so they could prove they weren't fakes even though they were fakes etc etc. Like. WHY.

-I hated Gong Zishang and Jin Fan's relationship I'm sorry. Just. She harasses him constantly and makes that her whole personality, but it's okay bc it turns out he was in love with her all along?? One of my least favorite ship dynamics.

What Could/Should Have Been

-Gong Ziyu acting just a bit more seriously affected by the Wufeng!Yun Weishan reveal. Sooooo anticlimactic as it is. I wanted more drama!

-Shangguan Qian should have gotten to successfully betray Gong Shangjue and fuck him up. Like, I wanted to see her try to murder him or see him get captured by Wufeng or something. Him or Gong Yuanzhi or both. Ideal vision: Gong Shangjue kneeling in chains at Shangguan Qian's feet, staring at her in abject betrayal while she's like "I was only ever manipulating you all along" (while secretly she has feelings too. or doesn't. honestly I don't even care I just wanted her to destroy him).

-Alternatively/in addition I wanted to see Gong Yuanzhi eventually come to accept Shangguan Qian as his family member, and maybe become protective of her. They had such good banter but then they just stayed at odds forever :(

-More development in Yun Weishan and Shangguan Qian's relationship. I wanted to see them slowly grow to trust each other and become more sincerely allies, possibly at conflict due to only one of them turning away from Wufeng, but if so, they should have become archnemeses. WHAT DO YOU MEAN they don't even interact in the last three episodes???? What the fuck.

Overall

I had fun, but I think I just wanted more, you know. Not more as in more episodes (the show hints at a season 2--I don't know that I'd watch it), but more depth in some of the characters, more clarity in the plotting, more drama over the plot points that should have been genuinely dramatic, more badassery from our spy women. I probably got a little overhyped for this one or I wouldn't feel as disappointed--the gifsets on tumblr definitely showcase the aesthetic, which is delicious, but set my expectations a little too high for some other aspects.

Which leaves my favorite female-led wuxia of 2023.... Ye Cheng??? Damn. Now that's arguably a worse drama in terms of plot and depth of characterization, it just hit my id more squarely and was more melodramatic and fun.

If anyone has thoughts on what my next wuxia watch should be, I'd be happy to hear them! I have a couple options in mind already :D

[gamesception]

lets read rgu, chapter 26

So, yeah, the main story is complete with chapter 25.  Chapters 26 and 27 are in fact side stories incorporating some elements from the anime that didn’t make it into the manga before.  This chapter, we’re bringing in Ruka, a character who ime is often underrated.  People I’ve watched Utena with in real life often see him as a superfluous blue Touga who randomly shows up 3/4 of the way through the show and disappears without a trace or fanfare two episodes later.  Though my appreciation for him may also be tainted by misinterpretation - the first time I watched the show I thought Ruka was the guy who had come between Juri and Shiori in the first place - the guy who liked Juri but Shiori in her jealously had “stolen”.  That’s not the case, but Ruka was still a lot more than just an unnecessary extra Touga.

Unfortunately, the same difference from the anime that made Manga Juri’s own arc so much less compelling and work so much worse will likely hold back Ruka’s bonus chapter as well.  “The guy I like doesn’t like me” is just so much less compelling as an underlying motivation for manga Juri’s angst than “I can’t confess my feelings to the girl I like because those feelings are a love that ‘dare not speak its name’, so I will keep that love secret and obsess over it, while the girl I love misinterprets my increasingly guarded and withdrawn attitude towards her as condescension and contempt and reacts by trying to hurt me by “stealing” the boy she thinks I like, which none the less succeeds in hurting me by making me see the person I love with someone else, but because it’s all based on misunderstanding I’m still left with the thought that if by some miracle she learned my feelings for her she might return them, and so we spiral around each other in obsession and animosity forever.”

There are different ways to interpret anime Ruka, because the show is deliberately opaque about him, but I always read him as playing a villainous role as an affect hiding a princely motivation.  The dude finds out he's going to die, and his only regret is that the girl he liked was all heartbroken over some falling out between her and her best friend that led to them hating each other, but they’re both too proud to resolve the conflict directly.  So with his last few weeks of life he 1) deliberately becomes a villain, 2) torments both the girl and her former friend, hurting both of them worse than they hurt each other 3) defuses the hatred between them by redirecting it towards himself, and 4) literally takes that hatred with him to the grave, giving them the chance for a fresh start.

If you take all this as deliberate, as I do, then it’s a ridiculous xanatos roulette of a plan, but it succeeds.  By the end Juri’s locket shatters - representing either that she’s given up on Shiori returning her feelings or accepted that she can’t keep her feelings locked up if she hopes anything to come from them, and she publicly expresses her anguish by openly sobbing in front of everyone, the dueling arena metaphorically drenched in her tears.

All the duelists in the show - or at the very least all the student council members - highlight or comment on some aspect of the fairy-tale prince archetype, typically by failing to live up to it in some way.  If the core identity of the Prince is in their selfless, even self sacrificial devotion to the Princess, then Saionji is unfit because his devotion is possessive and cruel.  Likewise Miki's is conditional and idealized, Juri's obsessive and fearful, Nanami's jealous and immature, Touga's ambitious and insincere.  They all demonstrate potential tripping points by which Utena might have failed to live up to the Princely archetype.

Ruka, on the other hand, is more subversive and deconstructive, exposing a tragic aspect of the archetype that had previously gone unexamined: the Prince MUST save the Princess(es), even if they don't want to be saved, even if he will become hated as a result, even if he must die in the process.  Where the other duelists demonstrate ways Utena could have failed to become Anthy's Prince, Ruka foreshadows the dark fate waiting for her when she succeeds.

Though of course that’s all assuming that Ruka’s manipulative villain persona was an affect and he actually was there to help Juri & Shiori by drawing their hatred away from each other and towards himself.  You could just as easily argue that he was sincerely after the power of Dios to cure his illness and save himself, that that any benefit Juri and Shiori experienced in the aftermath of his two week rampage through their lives was purely down to their own growth in the face of the difficulties he selfishly subjected them to.

Manga Ruka is playing out a version of this, but it doesn’t work as well because manga Juri’s anguish - ‘My pride is hurt because Utena beat me in a duel and Touga likes her more than me’ - just isn’t as compelling and really shouldn’t require any sort of grand manipulation to save her from.

But Manga Ruka puts on a grand show of manipulation none the less, getting Juri out of her house by challenging her place in the fencing team, stoking her jealousy of Utena by spending time with the new girl, setting Juri up for an unexpected rematch against Utena in the fencing room which she loses, using the shame and disappointment of that to goad Juri into a match against himself where she wins, and from there getting her to challenge Utena to a proper rematch in the dueling arena.

But before the duel Juri overhears Ruka bragging to Touga about how easy it was to manipulate Juri, and this aggrieves her pride so badly that she refuses to duel Utena again after all.

Which, I mean, good for her.  Even if you accept my reading of Anime Ruka’s motivations, that still leaves this gaping criticism over how he goes about achieving his goals.  The condescension, manipulation, and frankly cruelty of it is anything but Princely, and that the anime /rewards/ his behavior with success, again if you’re assuming as I do that the eventual outcome is what he was aiming for in the first place, is pretty sketchy.  Manga Juri gets the opportunity to call out and reject that manipulation in a way that Anime Juri didn’t really get.

Also, I’m literally all for any of the characters in Utena being on the receiving end of a Dramatic Slap with the soul exception of Anthy.  Ruka’s face is exceptionally slap-worthy.

But there’s gotta be a duel, so Ruka duels Utena in Juri’s place, using imitating Juri’s attacks and style to show her that she could still beat Utena if she wished.

Ruka effectively wins the duel, but at the last moment his unnamed illness catches up to him and he collapses to the ground, forfeiting the match by removing his own rose in a nod to how Juri’s second duel ended in the anime.

And like in the anime Ruka leaves and dies without telling Juri.

On the one hand, a sacrifice to spare her pain, but on the other hand a patronizing kind of manipulative move, making the choice for her and denying her the chance to say goodbye.

The duality of Ruka in a nut shell.

Honestly, this bonus chapter was pretty good, probably the best it could have been given how much less Manga Juri’s character had to work with.

[ducknotinarow]

💭 for all Shredders: Technology, Flowers, Regret, Change, and Dreams

| send 💭 + topic for a head cannon on

"Look out for Shredder, I didn't spend use in this identity to not still carry terror."

| Technology |

"Even with how behind the earth and it beings are the tech available has proven of use."

Shredder being from a more advance species is often annoyed by how behind the earth tech can feel to him at times. Always aware that there is something better out in space that can more achieve what he needs and wants. Often Shredder finds himself seeking out those who are good with it and often it's why Stockmen had failed to live to his expectations with how often he fails. To Shredder he is all talk he ended up liking Chaplin because he held better results in the end and never once went around his back. If your someone skilled when it comes to technology? you will be on his radar. Like certain purple banded turtles.

Shredder himself dose understand it but he's not someone who can make it himself. It very much how we can understand our own modern tech but don't me we know how to manipulate it and such like those in engineering and such can. Why he tends to seek out more scientific uses he truly sees the potential in it.

| Flowers |

"Useless, they hardly last once in bloom and hold no value. Even the most beautiful blossom with soon wilt"

Flowers often represent life and it's cycles so for someone who well doesn't fully care about the lives of others of course he isn't going to care about the life of a plant either. But that one mention of one beautiful flower? I don't care what anyone wants to say Shredder had a soft spot for Karai. He didn't hold a reason to take in this orphan girl and raise her as his own. You can understand why he has people like Hun under his control and such. But Karai? sure she fills in a role to be his heir so he can in a way keep up his ruse through her but he trusted Karai a lot even with his secret of being an utrom. When She was kidnapped by Bishop? Shredder literally went ballistic for him about it? A guy who tries to act like he doesn't care about anyone? hell Hun was getting a chance to be back on his good side if he got her back and he was pretty pissed at him.

| Regret |

"Turtles"

Lets be honest Shredder maybe would have achieved a lot of his goals if them dang turtles never got involved but as the show went to show us many times over? that wouldn't be the case. Shredder and the Turtles are connected in a way. They created each other nearly you could even say if it wasn't for Shredder the turtles wouldn't be where they are now. Dude created his own fail safe u-u even after he is gone the turtles are still having to deal with any Shredder that comes back thats a connection that I feel none of them like to think about however u-u

| Change |

"Change comes and goes and sometimes we must embrace those changes for our goals."

I don't see shredder as someone who can change himself seeing how the show makes out the spirt of Shredder alone as someone who holds on to ambitions and obsessions after all. It's often his own down fall the only change he tends to take well is anything that can be of use to him. Be he's lived a long time and has learned to work with the changes of the world around him. From being in charge of a ninja clan to this big shot millionaire in New York who had the mayor in his pocket thanks to his wealth? A changing environment sure but personally no he can not. bloodthirsty, insane, selfish, wrathful, sadistic, and relentless. He hates anyone who challenges, impedes, or otherwise wrongs him holding grudges long after the fact

| Dreams |

"I only dream for my conquests!"

As shown he really is mostly in for his own gain here, Shredder someone who takes and demands control and has been easily able to get it. Through resources or pure respect even sometimes fear Shredder simply looks for control and I feel this is what lead him being the villain he is now. He was a criminal among his own race yes I know I should guess call him Ch'rell but dude went so far into making himself in Shredder I just XD look I aint dead naming him okay. He is embodiment of the stereotypical megalomaniac of course he's simply seeking anything that puts him in the position he feel fits him.

"Don't waste my time."

| Technology |

"It can have it's uses but doesn't often have much against transitional or hands on approaches"

Unlike the 03 version Oroku is very much someone still set in the ways he grew up. His clan didn't seem to take much of modern conveniences, and where He could see some use he tends to avoid resorting to tech to often least till Karai brought forward a kranng bot and he saw that they could be made of use for the clan. Even bringing in baxter to be his primary tech support so to speak. So he did learn to see how technology can benfit him even going so far as to make use of the mutagen from the kranng as well, seeing how he is willing to mutant himself later. He dose also see the benefits of more than just Tech seeing how he goes about securing resources for even bio level use.

| Flowers |

"She..loved Jasmine flowers."

Even Shredder head of the foot clan isn't immune to human emotions as much as he tries to be. My toxic trait is I do feel he truly loved Shen but like in many other times in this show? His hate for Yoshi was always stronger and even impacts later relationships like his kids. As twisted and wrong people may see it he did love and care about Karai. And I extend this to Casey and Angle for the Foot au as well. He dose care when Yoshi was thought long gone and dead and all he had to worry about was the future of his clan? I feel like their lives weren't as bad. Yeah they didn't get normal childhoods and were growing up in an environment full of love either. He very much raised weapons over children.

I feel he saw things in his kids and did try to parent them but it was alway in this mind set harsh parenting, he was strict, abuse would be there to. Karai was throw into a pit of snakes to overcome her fear and Casey with a fear of Rats? In his mind its all to make them strong to face this world that will try and take them down. I feel he was nicer when they were younger, considering Karai's memories.

But unfountetly he learned Yoshi was alive and I feel things got worse after that. And feel these once good memories I'd why it's hard for the kids to fully turn against shredder till given a good reason. In cannon it was karai learning Yoshi was her dad for example.

| Regret |

"Being to soft on my children."

To Shredder he was to soft on his kids and that's what allowed any chance for them to go against him. He turly felt he was setting them up for success well ignoring giving them some very basic needs none of them really had fulfilled. He just never met if he could let got of his obsession maybe he would have been better and then his son would been more enemies to lovers situation xD.

He only disappointed in Casey because he went against him and thier family. He turly dose think casey has potential and sees himself in his son not once had he ever seen casey as not his son. Even if he dose tend to put casey below Karai this is connected to his obsession however u_u. Knowing his son was broken down by something as simple as love? Pretty familiar isn't it?

| Change |

"Only the weak accept a need to change."

This man would literally let the world end then let go of his hate for Yoshi. So bi he isn't going to change no one is enough for him to change for not even his kids. He will always hate more than he loves he can't ever let go of that he's never fully let love in to change him re refuses to change u_u which is a shame I still think he'd be a decent dad and spoil his kids if he could but that's my toxic trait uwu.

| Dreams |

"Mostly I dream of the future of my clan."

Shredder man be old school but from stuff we get to see he had dipped into other avenues of bussniess running a company in Japan even that he sometimes has to go back and check in on. Shredder dreams for Karai to take over once he finally passes on. So je wants everything in order why he's so hard on her (and casey for the au, as stated he thinks casey would basically take on Tiger Claws role, being in charge if the ninja in the clans training and such. I can't personally say for Angle since she baby but he has trust funds and such for each kid set up as well.)

The foot Clan is one of his priorities and he wants it to contuine to succeed especially it it means stomping out the Hamato Clan.

[brick-a-doodle-do]

Vara has no idea just how much he influences Irza bc Irza is just so hard to read sometimes

He usually uses the tail or other small signs but sometimes those won't even tell him what Irza is thinking...and this guy can give a death stare from simply thinking and not noticing he's staring at someone lol

And I never really finished the idea of Vara having a sister....

Was wondering if maybe he doesn't even remember having a sister or that she doesn't remember them for some reason

I just

Really wanted to see his sister either be a hero he clashes with or a smaller villain than Irza that appears alongside the scientists that created Ezephr...

Was thinking that she might be hating Vara bc he was so weak that running made him cough blood if he went too long as a kid, and yet he kept shouting about how he'd be a hero and save everyone all the time...but that's a dangerous job. Wondered if maybe she supported it but maybe an accident happened and that changed it?

I had a dream about her when I first thought of giving him a sibling and all I really remember was that she had dark brown hair that had lighter brown patterns like a tabby cat...also her hair style and stuff but I don't remember if she had cat features or not

Remember, their parents are an anthropomorphic cat as a mom and a sprite, basically a forest spirit, as a dad...it's hard to tell what she'd entirely look like

honestlyeeeee that's such a powerful role that's insane that vara doesn't even recognize that !!!

LMAO i feel that. sometimes you just zone out....with a really accidentally-offensive face ASJVSJD

and MMGMDH MORE VARA SISTER CONTENT !!! YIPPEE

i, for one, think that is a GREAT idea. just. mmm to have her be one of the scientists is such a cool way to tie in eze to vara's life, because as far as i'm aware, (except for one thing you sent me), ezephr and vara definitely don't have as much of a relationship with each other as irza and eze does. so mmAMDBJV idk i think the eze scientist idea cool !!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO i like that. poor vara is trying thooo :(((( i gotta ask tho why is he coughing up blood ? what's wrong with our cat boy ? :c ,, that aside i think that some kind of confrontation between vara and his sister would be cool cause y'know. vara definitely isn't the best fighter or hero out there, but he did make it in some sense. that'd be pretty cool.

oo and another cool thing, (don't gotta add this at all, if you ever follow through with this cvncx), maybe since you want vara to not really remember having a sister, he's always subconsciously been really eager to prove himself and never really knew why until like maybe he sees his sister and unlocks some kind of memory from something she says., idk.

aha i love that you had a dream about her and that's where you got your inspo cxvxcn but OOO i like the tabby idea! i have such a soft spot for those guys <3

I LOVE WILD CHARACTER DESIGNS !! also wait do we have a dad for vara ?? i totally forget eueueu

[alitgblog]

s11 vol 5 thoughts

Anna switching suddenly to Tunde (bc MC is not interested in him) is so sudden writing wise after she was going after Callum so much at the sleepover. Vida went after Callum so much in the first volume she showed up in, leaving Tunde open to flirt with MC and put all his attention on her, so I would've liked if Anna put all her attention on Tunde during the sleepover, that way it shows MC is not safe either option (or if you were already convinced to pick one LI then give MC some nonchalant options here with less forced drama... after all theres enough drama with Ren around + one girl going after your LI + Tunde/Callum/MC love triangle, it doesnt make sense to add second girl going after Tunde and Callum as well)

And she basically is getting the Ava treatment, saying she finally realizes she's not wanted and moving on, but idk the progression of it feels unnatural. Like if she came to this conclusion after callum had told her or MC had a word with her or even if she was just less aggressive about it in the earlier episodes then sure but up until like 5 minutes ago it feels like she was all in on Callum.

Did not give a shit about the challenge I don't even remember what it was

fusebox stop ruining my headcanons about friendships in the villa, first you get rid of Zabrina, then you make Ren annoying, am I supposed to befriend Anna and Jace now?? 😭😭

Anyway yes I am the only person upset with "person coupled with Ruby" calling MC shifty for the reason of ruining his character. Like this happens in S6 too, and I hated it then (you deserve better Jamal/Roberto) and I hate it now. I just want more than one friendship in the villa, and I thought Ren would be a good choice because he does have good traits and backstory (though only demonstrated in the first volume when MC is deciding between the three OG LIs), but also does bad things while he struggles in his friendship couple with Ruby because she's so quick to dismiss him (imo a reasonable complaint from him though I don't agree with all his actions as a result of it), and I think that helps rounds out his character. Compare that to your LI (in my case Callum) who can do no wrong and only has bad things happen to him (like Vida trying to steal him away) but does nothing wrong himself, or to Vida who is our one note villain that comes out the gate swinging and does not stop. But no, he starts to take an antagonistic role against MC and is gonna become an unlikable character that makes the episodes difficult to get through, thus negating any possible good will I'd have towards the character

and in another note it's just confusing especially after he says otherwise when you talk to all the boys, and he had no problems telling MC that he wanted to vote her out then, but acts coy about it at the firepit when confronted? pick a lane, be a coward or don't??

also I was holding out hope when Ren initially said he was gonna vote for MC because he didn't know her that well (a conversation I liked, before he changed his mind voted for her anyway for being shifty 🙄) that picking the option "oh let's get to know each other better" could reopen his route as like a late game love interest, but it seems like they may be teasing Jace could be a slow burn route? and like.. no thank you 😬

anyway I'm suffering reading all about Ruby and Ren the way I couldn't care less about Finn and Kat's drama in S5. Like Ruby doesn't deserve his shit but gotta admit he's not always wrong like the game is trying to make us believe. Like personally, don't know why he thinks MC is shifty, but if he feels that way I don't think he really owes her an apology. And yeah I'm also sick of Ruby constantly complaining she's with Ren, like wait for a bombshell girl, I'm sorry.

and I know they did it to fit the three episode per volume format, but I wish it was just a recoupling and not a dumping and then a recoupling. Literally just at the end of it, Vida gets dumped as the only single islander. I guess you miss out on Ren being shady towards MC but he can just do that without the guise of a dumping.

and if Jace and Esme are dealing with shit this next volume anyway, i would've liked to shake up the couples this recoupling bc almost everyone stayed in their couples. Like lets have the Esme Jace argument happen first and in front of MC and not off screen 🙄🙄, so theyre going through a rough patch but Esme thinks they will work it out. Recoupling time: Callum picks MC first, so they're happy and can stay in the hideaway, sure. Then let Jace be defensive and shockingly choose Ruby as a friendship couple. This definitely devestates Esme, who cant believe he would do something so dramatic over their argument before its fully resolved. Ren is happy about it though and he chooses Anna next, who is upset because she wanted Tunde. Then Tunde chooses to save Esme over Vida.

we can even still have a cliffhanger ending bc surely after a shake up like this, there's going to be conflict.

oh also callum and mc in the hideaway sure whatever it means nothing. if I wanted to learn about his character (which I do but not enough) I would pay for the gem scene but out of anger the fact people need to pay for the story to feel good and it's disjointed from the rest of the season?? no don't care