#end of separation arc literally makes me cry every time

[teruthecreator]

spent all of work watching season 2 of mp100 and livetexting it to hartley and yeahhhh. season 2 is still my favorite season out of all three despite the back-to-back agony of the mogami and separation arcs

[whoistrash]

Why change matters and how Amphibia did it better than The Owl House.

"Watching and Dreaming" made me cry a lot during its premiere. I was amazed and, I'd say, dazed by it. Then I forgot about it for a while. Now I finished re-watching Amphibia for the first time since TOH ended. My hype died down, and I have some thoughts. A lot, actually.

Amphibia's ending was incredibly painful and made me sob like a baby for two whole weeks the first time I watched it. That's because it was not only beautiful and heartbreaking, but truly GOOD. Brilliant, actually. I absolutely agree with a statement that any other ending would literally be a contradiction to the whole main plot, especially Anne's arc. The girls had to learn to let go in order to grow as individuals - the thing they had the biggest problem with. Saying goodbye was the only logical option, plot-wise. It still hurt like hell, though. Separating the multidimensional, against-all-odds relationships (especially my beloved spranne. Ouch, ouch, ouch). The Owl House does no such thing - everybody stays together. They live happily ever after.

Paradoxically, I think that it's the main reason why I'd choose "The Hardest Thing" over "Watching and Dreaming" every single time. I know we shouldn't really compare them in EVERY aspect, since TOH had way more things to deal with in the final episode, but the fact that Luz got to not only stay, but to freely travel between worlds as she pleases really took the whole "growing up and finding your true self no matter what the other people do/say about you" thing out the door. Luz from season one, episode one, and Luz from the finale are not really that different. Well, she certainly became more traumatised and depressed than before, but in terms of personal growth? Nope. Luz - from the very beginning - was cheerful, open, caring and very selfless, willing to literally help every stranger she met no matter how it would affect her. She had little to no boundaries, but, well, you can't argue that she was A GOOD, SELFLESS PERSON. Now, we could say that her arc here would be learning that sometimes you should put yourself before others, that you can't save everyone, that you can't trust every person you meet. And she learns it! She fucking does! She helps Philip not knowing who he will become, and then suffers from the consequences, because she helped the wrong person. And then it's all erased, when she saves Collector's life and meets Papa Titan (or whatever we call them).

I have so much to say about this. All of TOH's "villains" (Amity, Lilith, Hunter, The Collector) that were given a redemption arc literally get turned into lifeless, edgy trauma dumpsters, that suddenly loose all of their previous character, quirks and sass (well, maybe except for Lilith, she just started to express them differently, I think, but still, it was WAY too big of a change). I won't dwell on it (since many, many fans called it out already - as they should), and will focus on something different. The only one marked as irredeemable is Belos. Good. Okay. He's irredeemable, because he's a white, christian puritan who won't listen to anyone but himself. Also a genocidal maniac. That's the lesson for Luz here. "You can't save everyone. Some people are just straight up evil". And it's very, very true. But.

From all of the "villains" I mentioned before, Belos is the one that had the most reasons to, let's say, take a dark turn. Those reasons are what makes him irredeemable - he's just too convinced he's right, because, in his mind, he has evidence to prove it. But how do we learn about this? Maybe by seeing his part of the story? Maybe by learning about his brother and Evelyn, about their relationship? It couldn't be straight up awful, since Philip literally brought his brother back to life over and over again, he wanted his brother, or at least the picture of Caleb that satisfied him the most. There was more to it than only "you betrayed me and now I will hate you forever". Do we get to see any of that? No. Instead we get an all-knowing, all-doing being that literally choose Luz as "the one" for being kind and trusting, that convinces her that Belos is, indeed, a lost cause. Do you see where I'm going with this?

Luz, the person that on the literal episode two was told that there is no such thing as a "chosen one" and that she can't always hop into action to save everybody, because, it's, well, not always possible, DOES EXACTLY THAT in the finale by taking a bullet for The Collector, the, you know, very freshly redeemed and suddenly cute and funky villain, whom Luz trusts immediately. AND SHE IS REWARDED FOR IT BY BEING MADE THE CHOSEN ONE. BY A GOD-LIKE BEING THAT CLAIMS TO BE ALL-KNOWING AND CAN DECIDE WHO IS RIGHT AND WHO IS WRONG, BECAUSE OF PERSONAL (King) REASONS. Just like, you know... Belos? The irredeemable villain? And then Luz lets go of the moral dilemmas that's been keeping her up at night for the past months, makes up her mind, defeats the bad guy, learns nothing, and gets to stay in the Boiling Isles and on Earth. With her beautifully redeemed girlfriend and friends whom she kept secrets from and lied to out of fear of being ostracised (you see the pattern here, right?) for, again, months.

I love Amphibia. I love The Owl House. But Amphibia handles it's "villains", generally wronged characters and the whole change/no change thing way better. Well, maybe besides the Core - they got a bit wasted in my opinion. But still. Sasha. Grime. Marcy. Andrias. Anne herself. They learn and change. And more importantly, they face consequences and come to understand and accept them. There's no "chosen one" here. Anne gets the proposition because she's the first one to use the music box for good in literal millenia. A fact, plain and simple (not an opinion based on personal motivations), that makes sense plot-wise, and adds so, so much to Anne's arc. Because Anne from season one, episode one wouldn't care. The one from the finale cares very damn much. And that's the biggest difference.

Saying goodbye makes the message way stronger. The more I think about it, however, the more I'm starting to be afraid that there's no The Message in The Owl House to begin with. Luz learns very little, yet ends up with everything she ever wanted. There's no power behind it. The "find the right people and choose to trust them, not everyone will be your friend" and "some things are out of your control, some people are just bad" aspect is even weaker, as proven by basically the whole season 3. I will end it by my favorite quote from Amphibia, that I think about on daily basis. Have a good day, y'all.

"Change can be difficult, but it's how we grow. It can be the hardest thing to realize you can't hold on to something forever. Sometimes, you have to let it go; but, of the things you let go, you'd be surprised what makes its way back to you."

[quicktimeeventfull]

wanders into your inbox holding a cocktail. hey is it time for Death Note and Queerness Socratic Seminar on ur blog again? because im SO here to talk about light's use of heterosexuality as a protective performance and the degree to which this might represent intentional queercoding. unstructured ramblings incoming.

i think a point in favor of light's queercoding being intentional is that, during the yotsuba arc, he still is not attracted to misa. it's made clear that his lack of attraction to her is not a function of his "eeeeeevil" but is just. a thing about him. he's not into her. and yes, that could just mean misa isn't his type or something, straight men are allowed to not be into a given women, but as a choice made in a fictional work of art it feels significant that light does not exhibit any attraction to women even when he is not kira. his evaluation of women is purely intellectualized, a part of his edifice, a way for him to build the character of "Light Yagami"—a character that keeps him safe. his association with misa gets him almost caught, but his performance of heterosexuality with her gives him a degree of plausible deniability. misa and takada both become essential to his plans, but they are also threats to him, and things he has to manage...heterosexuality is a weapon and armor he uses, but it is also very clearly a harrowing and restraining thing for him to perform in the logic of the text.

in terms of his manipulation of takada, i think his gendered manipulation actually goes both ways here. yes, hes using his Understanding of Women to reel her in, but he's also using his Understanding of Men to lean on certain gendered assumptions and "bro culture" to kinda. trust that the task force will go along with it, if that makes sense. like, we've talked before about the task force being shitty about light basically cheating on his fiancee as far as they knew, but light didn't even consider the possibility that it would be an issue, and he was right.

the thing about light is that he is subject to constant invasions of his privacy and bodily autonomy. between ryuk and the task force, there is pretty much no point at which he is not subject to scrutiny and observation, and he just. accepts that, in order to either prove his innocence or keep up the ruse, he may have to give up his freedom of movement at any moment. there are literally no circumstances, not even in his most private moments, that he would ever permit himself to drop the facade of heterosexuality, because he knows he is constantly being watched. light yagami is a mask that cannot be allowed to slip. there are three moments post-timeskip that i think he shows actual emotional vulnerability: crying over his father, a conversation he has with matsuda about whether kira is evil, and the warehouse scene after he's revealed he's kira. i think it's very fair to say this is intentional on ohba's part.

[the bouncers start to eye me from the edge of the room]

anyway. it's remarkable that, despite this, light is actually able to keep his physical body intact and unharmed. at no point until the ending does he actually face physical consequences for the actions of kira (the fake execution is an exception but hes not kira at that point), allowing himself to keep those two personas separate, partially using the performance of heterosexuality. it's the gunshots in the ending that shatter that facade.

so you could in fact say that matsuda ruins his heterosexuality by shooting hot loads into him—

[THE BOUNCERS DRAG ME AWAY]

hi i don't have anything intelligent to say about this but you are SO incredibly correct about literally all of this. highlighting and quadruple underlining every single word. i am ESPECIALLY highlighting and quadruple underlining your point about takada -- like i honestly think a lot of light's dismissal of woman is intertwined inextricably from his understanding of how dangerous men can be. he's very well-versed in the World of Men, and he sees it imo that a lot of men don't, because the World of Men is inherently easier for straight men than gay men to navigate. like you have to learn the networks of power if you know there's a high chance they will be used against you. ANYWAY all just to say. consigning all of this. also i'm chasing those bouncers away bc you are literally correct about matsuda and his loads too.

[deceitful-darlings]

TW: suicide

Can i get yandere childe, ei and scaramouche (not wanderer. It was when he was still a fatui) where reader kills himself because he can no longer handle all the pressure? So like one day they just came and saw his dead body.

If there’s one thing Childe would struggle with, it’s losing his darling. His loyalty to those he cares for is unmatched by anyone, he is completely self sacrificing for them, and of course you’re among those people. I don’t think he would know how to feel, but his denial period would only be brief, Childe isn’t stupid, and I don’t think he would be delusional over your fate. He would fall more into dissociation, he would zone out more, he wouldn’t be as happy and chipper, and he would keep as much of what was ‘yours’ to remind himself of you, and he has your body taken back to Snezhnaya to be honoured with his family’s tradition, after all, family is what you were, what you still are. Your death has no stripped you of that, in his eyes you will always be his even after death. He will tell his remaining family stories of you and your relationship through rose tinted glasses. While he is well aware of the reality of what your relationship was, he was certain you would come to a point of acceptance, and his younger siblings don’t need to know the reality of it. He wants them to remember you as he enivisioned your future together. Of course, he throws himself into his tasks and battles, completely reckless, dancing with death at every point he can. He knows he can’t die, he needs to be there for his family and the Tsaritsa, but a part of his passion died with you.

Now, Ei would be surprised, and most definitely hurt. Her whole arc is specifically around how badly she deals with loss. But unfortunately for you, you chose the wrong woman to end your life with. Separate souls and bodies are nothing new to her, her own body is a puppet now, remember? In fact, in some ways she prefers it this way. She’s an archon, and your soul could never move to the next plane of existence fast enough, your being still exists but simply has no shell to exist within, which is what would corrode you. But she has done this before, she knows what she’s doing. She could quite literally trap you inside the Plane of Euthymia with her for an eternity, making her inescapable for you. In fact it’s the reason I placed as one of the most dangerous, she goes beyond physical harm, she could quite literally kill you and keep your spirit. Even if, for some reason, your soul was incompatible with the Plane of Euthymia or began to have issues from it, she could literally just build you another body, she has already done so once before. It would only need to have the lowest form of function to store your soul, a puppet chained to the dark, a face void of all features, trapping you in a lonely, silent, void, unable to feel touch, move, speak. It could drive you to the point of insanity. But then there is a glimpse in the darkness, the sound of a breeze, and if you could cry, you would.

“Do you see now what you did to me? Finding you as I did? This is how I felt, how I have felt for centuries before you came. Could you bear it as I have? Do you truly wish to plunge me back into that abyss?”

But you can’t respond, you can do nothing but hear. Over time she gives your body its senses, she gives you eyes and a nose and a mouth, and finally even limbs, so well crafted, so human that if you weren’t aware of your own death you could probably convince yourself that it had never happened. But don’t be mistaken, this body is far from organic, and she suspects you of drifting from her again, abandoning her, she will push you back into that void to remind you that she is your only salvation from it.

Scaramouche...oh my lord, Scaramouche. He’s lost so many people already, he’s been betrayed and abandoned in every way, this feels like well and truly the final blow. He’s would go berserk upon finding your body, this wasn’t natural, you ended your own life to leave him behind. You’re not ‘just like the others’, you’re worse for what you’ve done to him. I could genuinely see how Scaramouche’s twisted love could devolve into hatred for you, because it’s just too painful for him to think about how you betrayed him. He would completely desecrate your body, it would be utterly destroyed in his rage, you would get no grave, he wants to forget about you just as he has all the others. But your memory infects everything, his anger towards you leaks into other faucets of his life, he becomes even worse to work for, he’s more dangerous and on edge, and you become a bigger driving force behind his ascension to godhood. Would his godhood be able to bring you back? Probably not, but it becomes one of his goals - he wants you back? To love? Not for a long time. He wants revenge, he wants to destroy you until you’re less than he ever was, lower than his lowest ever point, until you’re begging for his forgiveness. That is his long term goal.

[aotopmha]

What are your thoughts on the whole Mikasa's new family thing? As a normal person with some romantic experience, I think it makes sense for her to have a family and not be stuck single on a dead guy for life. As an AoT fan who can basically not separate her from her 'Eren' rhetoric, it feels like a twist... or dare I say, betrayal? I wish we had a bit more padding to the ending, because it seems these things were wrapped up very quickly, and besides the literal deaths, I feel like my girl Historia and Levi got such bitter endings...

This is quite a few questions so I'm answering them in a list:

1) I really like Mikasa moving on because from the framing of her final moments in the story and the passing time in the extra pages and credits, I feel like she had a mourning period and then was able to move on and start a new family, something she always wanted. And I think earning that ending is at least some (and an appropriate one) reward after what she went through.

2) She has always loved Eren, but she has also punched him in the face when she thought he was doing stupid shit and being hot-headed. She threw him in chapter 1, punched him in the face in episode 2, is perfectly capable of making her own decisions without him, which was the point of the first half of episode 6. As much as she loves him, her attachment has actually comparatively little to do with him and everything to do with the death of her parent(s) figure(s) twice in a row in the span of a year when she was a child.

(Episode 6 in the anime, chapter 5 in the manga.)

Her attachment to Eren has caused a bunch of issues and is her biggest "flaw", but she has never been a *doormat*, which is what so many people read her as and I disagree with.

The decision to kill Eren was made by her when she saw families and children suffer because of him, something she can deeply relate to and works to prevent.

(Chapter 48)

Mikasa isn't a crying damsel, she's a warrior who went through some pretty tough shit and is reacting accordingly.

She will fight when she needs to fight and do the right thing when she needs to do the right thing.

3) Pacing was actually probably the biggest issue I personally had with the manga's ending, but the anime pretty much fixed all of it in my eyes. Mikasa's feelings for Eren, though, and vice versa was one of the most obvious things about the entire story from start to finish, so you've got a disagreement there as well. From the moment you see the subtle blush from Eren in the flashback, the trope became really clear to me and nothing onward from there really convinced me otherwise because Eren never had any other relationship like that in the story, no other love interest characters or characters framed in relation to his character in the same way.

4) Likewise, I think Levi probably had the best ending out of every single character in the story. As much of a pyrrhic victory as defeating Eren was, he got his revenge and kept his life. He got the most strongly defined closure he could get in context of the story.

5) What I agree with you on is how Historia was treated, though I'm not sure if for the same reasons or in the same way. The final arc basically destroyed her character and the anime equally did not even mention or even have a nod towards any of her defining moments as a character or her important relationships (because I suspect Isayama just could not figure out how to write her in this context in any other way).

In my eyes, she went through one of the best, most strongly defined character arcs in the entire story, but all we got from it was a metaphor for the birth of a new world... through a clearly gay-coded character. It's pretty awful and contradicts the theme of freedom her character is about and embodies by the end of the Uprising arc AND the general ideas of freedom the story is about, but I choose to put it in its own awful box and reluctantly close my eyes to it.

I think her arc was about her finding out what she wants and no longer living in a role and I think the entirety of the final arc went against that.

I've gone into why Historia's arc is awful in many other asks and posts, so I don't feel like reiterating it all right now (I have a tag for her character and pretty much all characters, so if anyone is interested, you'll probably find my detailed thoughts looking around there, but, yeah I think it's pretty awful even if you don't see her as gay-coded.)

Thank you for the ask!

[wandering-koyote]

Im using this chance to scream about my mortal kombat hot take that turned into a rlly long ramble (only loosely related bc its about two normal humans lol):

Everyone says Cassie and Jacqui shouldn't have been in MK11, since Cas has had the main character spotlight in MKX and Jacqui has the personality of cardboard, while Takeda/Jin are more interesting. HOWEVER I actually think they deserved to be in the game 500% more, but that Netherrealm completely fumbled them. Jacqui more than Cassie, like horribly so.

Both really need something 'unique' about them, and MK11 was that chance, but instead Jacqui is just. A plot device really. She only exists to support other character arcs and be a borderline macguffin for Jax to have motivation- her own damn tower ending is her dying to further someone else's life. MK11 should've given Jacqui something to define herself a bit more in the story! Some kind of plot!! Cassie's story is sorta interesting, but Sonya coming back kinda dulls the impact of Sonya, yknow, dying. Hanzo's death is more impactful since his character arc was just wiped, Sonya doesn't get that. The whole "you're my mom who just died but not yet because you're from the past and im really conflicted about this" angle was, as my dad who watched me play said, "really fucked up" (in a good way imo), but they really only confined that to one scene. If you're gonna go at that angle, put ur whole pussy into it babe!!!

Takeda/Jin have more than enough to separate themselves from their parents, so yeah Cassie and Jacqui really needed an extra game to grow. Unfortunately they didn't, they're just kinda static. So im delving into personal story ideas!

Cassie would've really benefitted from gifted kid syndrome- girl just killed a god and saved the world, mk11 shouldve rlly leaned into the idea that shes pulling herself apart to try and keep being the main character. Kid of Johnny and Sonya, god killer?? Make that shit keep her up at night. Make her take charge in every situation where the older characters aren't there, make her self sacrificial, make her want to be the hero not because she wants that fame again, but because earthrealm is notorious for crumbling without someone to protect it and she cant bear to have anyone else shoulder that weight. She did it once, she can take it again. Then make Sonya die doing exactly what Cassie's doing, sacrificing herself for the mission and for Earthrealm.

Then she comes back, younger and a little less hardened. I think it's infinitely better if we flip the whole "ur my mother" thing- make Sonya conflicted that this is her child who is writhing in agony over her mother's death and Sonya isn't sure what shes meant to do. Everything screams to go and comfort her- its her DAUGHTER for crying out loud, but how would Cassie react? Would it only make things worse? What the HELL did her future self do to make Cassie look at her with such mixed emotions? It's mentioned a few times that present Sonya valued work heavily over her family, and that it got worse and worse over time, so i think it should culminate in a scene where Sonya from the past tells Cassie that her future self was wrong- the mission isnt everything, and she has family she needs to look out for. I think it'd mirror the Johnny's well too, since old Johnny literally beat the shit out of younger Johnny because he refused to take his (future) family seriously.

Jacqui on the other hand? She just needs her own damn arc. Keep Jax becoming a bad guy, thats fine imo, but touch on the mother's death and Jacqui's feelings about it. Her damn MOTHER died and the story is completely "ohhh jax became a bAD GUY ABOUT THIS" and I don't even think Jacqui gets to like, I dont even think her death is mentioned around Jacqui at all. I think just adding a few scenes between present Jax and Jacqui would fix a lot. Have the two not talk since her death; Jacqui really wants to talk about it, acknowledge what happened and try and heal, while Jax is ignoring her attempts and distancing himself (depression) and simultaneously trying to protect Jacqui. Replace the Kronika and Jax scene with a scene of the two in a fight, Jax trying to tell Jacqui to leave the military and dodging any conversation about how badly theyre both hurting, while Jacqui is pissed that he's shutting himself off and is basically regressing her into a child as a way to cope. Jacqui leaves in a huff, and Jax alone going "please, i just want to protect my little girl", queue the clicking of the grandfather clock stopping the tears freezing midair. Dont even show us the conversation, just hard cut away- the fight tells us everything we need to know about why Jax is doing what hes doing. I think that ALONE would help with Jacqui a lot (we've acknowledged she has feelings about her mom's death and that she has a conflict with her dad going on now), but going further you might be able to replace the cassie/raiden scene with JACQUI instead. Have Jacqui be upset that Jax is so deep in grief that hes joined the bad guys, and that she cant even tell what type of person her father is anymore. Is he the father that pushed her on the swing when she squeeled 'higher!', who hugged her so gently with his metal arms, or is he the man he is now, joining with criminals and thieves and murderers in the name of her 'protection'? Is that who he's always been? Have Raiden tell her that it doesnt matter who her father is, but who SHE is. Is she the type of person who give up on her dad? Or will she look him in the eye and tell him "I love you despite everything" and fight to save him?

Jax and Jacqui should reconcile before the boat scene entirely so they can get a plot beat to just talk. Too much action for a pause in the boat scene. My timeline of events is iffy but maybe this can happen at the Tiara scene- iirc Cetrion LITERALLY threatens to kill Jacqui and Jax is STILL on Team Kronika after this. CMON. Have Jax switch sides and attack Cetrion when she tries killing Jacqui- Past Jax is a bit iffy to me as an addition to the scene, he doesnt rlly add anything. Have Jax snap out of everything at the realization that its not the military putting Jacqui in danger, its HIMSELF. Have him admit hes wrong, and the two finally get a moment to grief (even if briefly bc the world is dying again). Have Cetrion note this interaction too. Whens the last time her mother ever hugged her like that? When was the last time they grieved the loss of Father? Even MENTIONED Father? Is Kronika even her mother beyond just the name? Hot take but have Cetrion try and betray Kronika at the end of the plot because of this moment, and Kronika goes "lmao no" and absorbs her essence anyway.

VERY LONG ASK I KNOW BUT I NEED TO GET THIS IDEA OUT!!! It also adds a layer of theming around family and love, something thats vaguely there in MKX and MK11 but its like. Hidden and an afterthought. Jax protect Jacqui bc shes family. Cassie is grieving the death of a family member. The villian is the mother of two other villians and kills one and discards the other. Cassie and Jacqui deserve better thats my message im here all night folks

Yesss! The family themes need to hit hard! This is why I’m sad they rebooted when we could’ve had more familial growth, but maybe we’ll get it in the next few games 😭

I don’t have much input because I agree with so much (if only I could ring up NRS and get you hired)! BUT IM POSTING CUZ YOU COOKED FR FR AND NEED RECOGNITION 🔥🔥🔥

[bells-of-black-sunday]

Fair warning, I'm about to bitch and whine about A.rcane below, because I have finally watched all of it even though I basically knew everything about it:

Tl;dr: A.rcane works best as it's own universe separate from L.eague and should be treated that way. Kind of like how the m.arvel movies are a part of m.arvel cannon, but are their own timeline. I personally think R.iot is showing how money hungry they are again by trying to force A.rcane to be this big reboot of L.eague's cannon, because even within it's own universe it makes no sense and works best as a fun fantasy narrative that you don't think too hard about.

Honestly, the second season is so much worse than the first and I imagine once the hype wears off people are going to come to that conclusion as well. The pacing was so bad to the point that the story became near impossible to follow at times, a lot of character motivations utterly fell apart towards the end especially. Going to go through it by what I had issues with:

A.mbessa who honestly became kind of an idiot and only served as a plot device to get V.iktor from point A to point B. Yeah she wanted weapons, but my god you have to treat her like an actual child to act like she wouldn't know that V.iktor was just going to rapture everyone.

E.cho was severely under utilized all season until literally the final 3 eps and I'm honestly pissed we'll never get to see any of the mjaor plotlines he's involved in in l.eague that are honestly very fleshed out and extremely heartbreaking.

N.oxus had all it's teeth removed as a faction, they only brought out one big boy once and literally 0 N.oxian mages or anything and kept acting like N.oxus is about honor hen that's directly a D.emacian thing. N.oxus is the dark shadow that fights with tooth and claw using every advantage they can get, but are utterly toothless. They don't even try to kill C.ait when A.mbessa knows her grip on her is slipping they just let it happen.

The B.lack R.ose absolutely did not need to be there, M.el's arc makes literally no god damn sense. Why the fuck do they care about her? Oh guess shes some powerful mage I guess, but why are they so concerned about her. The B.lack R.ose is supposed to be a secret society, why would they just randomly invite this girl they've never met, but knew existed? Beats me. Also beats me as to why M.el would let L.eblanc kill her mother if she didn't want her to actually die, but go off I guess M.el. I'm just happy she got some actual characterization this season.

Where the fuck is R.enata? She was teased in the A.rcane L.eague event after season 1. Where the fuck is she? That's why I do not buy the "uwu we had season 2s script cemented after the first", because they literally made V.iktor Jesus which basically took the place of what they hinted at for her. It's so disappointing, I would've killed for R.enata "any competition means a new target" G.lasc and A.mbessa to do a homoerotic dance of manipulation for your own gain.

S.inged is fun, but again underutilized.

H.eimer got vaporized and no one gave a fuck and was also severely underutilized becoming the S.ky of the season to just show up and die. That was his only purpose. No character arc, just "well I failed 1 student, let me vaporize myself for this one." which would've had more impact if they let it breathe, but they didn't.

C.ait's arc was insanely rushed, they did not give her grief any room to breathe and cement her motivations. It's happy go lucky one day and then become a f.acist d.ictator the next, which I understand the motivation, I understand what they were doing, but my god was it rushed. Which as again, due to the insane pacing issues this season.

and my biggest unpopular opinion: I honestly hate what they did to W.arwick as a character. I was expecting them to at least keep his horror elements, but nah he had all his teeth removed too. He showed up to cry about his family and then got killed. I wanted him to sit there and have this real internal struggle about why he knows V.i and J.inx, have an actual internal battle between wanting to kill them, but knowing it'd hurt him and not knowing why. Not being able to remember why. And I know V.iktor fucking zaps his memories later, but that doesn't change my disappointment. I also hate his design. Sorry, it's like bootleg U.niversal monster. He doesn't look like a werewolf, he looks more like a cat.

This season is really missing that, it feels so much more toned down than the first. The first had themes of: d.omestic terrorism, a.bleism, f.acism, grief, fighting o.pression, men being victims of grooming, having to deal with responsibility you don't want, etc. etc. This season had uhh... d.omestic terrorism that was solved in 15 mins, f.acism that was solved in 2 episodes, and g.rief plots that were never given the room to breathe like they should have. Even J.inx's is so rushed, she surrenders herself, gets locked up and is out to go fight N.oxus in 15 mins. It also does not open as strong as the first season.

And to top it all off, I don't even get the d.ivorce arc I wanted. They're gay as hell, but man... I wanted the kicking and screaming. I wanted them yelling at each other and throwing things. I wanted them to fucking hate each other and then slowly rekindle things. And that's never happening now, because I guess they became one with the universe? I don't know, I did not care for the ending all that much.

I do enjoy it as it's own narrative, I enjoy it as like a dumb m.arvel movie. A fun little, it's own timeline of events and they're basically separate characters, but if that is the new L.eague cannon? I honestly hate it.

[goldiipond]

watched the promised neverland

what is s2 and why does everyone hate it

OHHHHHH OH YOU WATCHED IT??? LETS FUCKING GOOOOO IHOPE YOU LIKED IT!!!!!!

also thats a quastion with sooooooo many answers i'll try to be brief but. there is so much and i am very passionate abt it <3 heres a general summary of everything i can think of that sucks ass by your best friend skye:

-the biggest one is easily the amount of manga content that is changed/just outright cut altogether. s1 was a wonderful, faithful adaptation of the first 37 chapters of the manga. this manga has 181 chapters and had been finished for a while by the time of s2's release. essentially they tried to squeeze the framework of the remaining 144 chapters into one 11 episode season and it went about as well as you'd expect

-the decision to cut what is easily at least 80% of characters introduced after the escape arc. this includes a character who is, in my opinion, one of the funniest and most well-written characters in the series and a huge fan favorite in general

-the decision to cut literally the entire goldy pond arc, which is widely considered to be the best arc in the manga. every character that comes with it also gets the axe. haha goldy pond reference

-several major plot points and entire chunks of other arcs are also cut out, leaving a messy and frankly sad skeleton of a plot that they try to salvage with original plot points that only serve to make an even bigger mess of this story or to make a setup to what could be a really cool new plot direction and immediately disappoint you. i watched s2 before reading the manga and can count at least 3 separate instances where i went oh youre fucking joking

-i cannot stress how bad this gets. the final episode ends with what is quite literally a glorified powerpoint presentation in an attempt to wrap up an obscene amount of plot before they hit the episode length limit. i said 'this is bullshit' aloud to my sister on my first watch and coming back after reading the manga it was frankly insulting. a character fucking meets god and makes a deal that changes the laws of the world itself and in the anime this is told through a singular still frame that is onscreen for about 8 seconds. it is so bad

-this season fucking gutted pretty much every female character (and every character in general tbh) and turned a series with an amazing emphasis on freedom of expression and defying gender roles into another generic shonen misogyny fest. the significance of emma refusing to wear a skirt after escaping gracefield's oppressive environment is thrown out by putting her back into a skirt by the 3rd or 4th episode, literally every post-escape female character besides 2 are cut, including but not limited to an androgynous girl who kicks ass and is never treated like a joke and a girl who shoots a rich scumbag point-blank in the face to avenge her sister

-i dont see much talk about the racism but god its soo racist. every post-escape character of color is cut with the exception of one, a black guy who is given a 'ooooh hes secretly a villain' cliffhanger at the end of an episode that is entirely non-existent in the manga. they dont even commit to it and he's revealed to Still Be A Good Guy Actually at the start of the next episode, they literally had no reason to do this. at one point they have don tell a terrified 5 year-old not to cry because 'boys don't cry'. don cries more than literally any other guy in the manga and most of the girls as well, and he is never ashamed of this. i am greatly downplaying the amount of rage that line makes me feel

-they cut 4 canonically disabled characters, 2 of which are disabled by the time they're introduced and 2 of which end up disabled after events in the story, all of which are treated with nothing but respect in the manga

i could probably go on but im running out of brain juice so. heres the gist of it <3 in short, season one was for the most part a beautiful adaptation of the first arc and in a lot of aspects i even like it better than the manga, with my only major complaint being the addition of that weird doll krone talks to and the amount of times she's drawn as a caricature even after being toned down compared to the manga. s1 was made with so much love by people who clearly cared abt the story they were adapting, and s2 is a frankly heinous attempt at finishing it up in a very short amount of time. it is so impressively bad that literally no one, from the entire team that worked on the last 2 episodes to THE GODDAMN CREATORS OF THE SERIES wanted to take any credit for those 2 episodes. thank you <3

[miabebe]

Friend! I am caught up once again. Let me tell you, I needed chapter 8. I had watched a really sad documentary before bed, and, honestly, I just needed a little joy, so I read I Am What I Am (I suppose maybe that's not the number one story to derive joy from, but you wrote it, so I'm guaranteed to <3).

NGL, I have no idea who Jihoon is irl (assuming he's based on a real person), but he sucks here lol. What an asshat. Na bi clearly doesn't need an enforcer because she knows how to handle her shit, but I was still trying to insert myself into the moment so I could make that bro cry.

The moment betweeen Na bi and Kyun in the basement was bittersweet. I mean, it was def a little hot, too, but as much as I enjoyed that, his story was THE WORST. I must tell you my favorite part because it's something that writers never seem to do in any medium in moments like these, and it always chaps my ass so badly--the hug. Irl, in these kinds of moments with people, after they purge themselves of such hurt, I HAVE to offer a hug. That human connection is so critical, and I DESPISE when so many stories don't offer it. I know it doesn't fit every character or relationship every time, but I am a *firm* believer that a well-timed hug fixes just about everything, so thank you for putting it there. If you hadn't, again, I would have inserted myself and done so. :-P

Na bi reached for the phone Mingyu had given her, safely slipping it into her pocket, muttering a thanks.

Woman! THROW IT IN THE TRASH THIS INSTANT. >.> SUSPICIOUS PHONE IS STILL SUSPICIOUS.

Now for the cleansing part of this chapter. Sisters. <3 I've already screamed at you separately about my Hendery, but idc I'm going to scream again. THANK YOU FOR PUTTING HIM HERE FOR ME. It was the surprise of all surprises, and my Grinch heart was overinflated ten sizes. It really shook me out of my docuseries funk. <3 <3 <3

But I loved the sisters' reconnection, understanding, and revelations. It was a mature moment that was open and honest and could have gone many ways, but the way you took it was my favorite.

And then realizing who brought them back together was so lovely and soft, but I really loved the most how it just galvanized Na bi's feelings.

“It wasn’t an offer. I wasn’t asking.” 

GO ON, GIRL. Man, was I cheering from my bed. I love this energy. It's always reserved in fics for the male characters, but a boss woman is my favorite kind. Always makes my head a lil swimmy.

Side note: so cute how Bit na never had a formal wedding because she couldn't have her sister there. :') My heart!

Love that she took care of her own problem at the club, but also, I'm always a sucker for a jealous man, especially when he's pretending to keep his distance (and his heart) safe. UGH, what a vibe.

"My woman"

(*＿∇＿)

But then OOF the implications at the end!

I will confess that this is a reference no one will really get since it's related, I have to share. Back when I was in high school, I used to watch this soap opera every day after school. I'd watched it for years (it was one of my mother's favorites), but I wasn't really *invested* in it per se until they created this story that literally became the reason I started writing fanfic waaaay back in the late 90s.

It had never really been done on a soap at the time, but summed up, this young, accomplished woman with her whole future ahead of her gets embroiled with this mafioso. Through a series of events, he has to marry her to save her from his vindictive mother because "you don't kill family." She resents him and keeps looking for a way out, but he's fallen in love, and by the time her feelings have caught up with him, she's betrayed him thinking it was her only way out of something she never thought she wanted. The fallout from that, for me, was the finest acting/writing anyone had ever done on that soap in my time watching, and to this day, I go back once a year and rewatch their story arc because it was something so special. I've honestly thought a half-dozen times about adapting their story for MX, but you've really captured a lot of what hooked me from their story in your story. I feel both nostalgic and enamored every time I read this piece.

In short: you're killing it, babe. <3

You read chapter 8 omg ❤️🫂

I'm not sure how I Am What I Am gave you joy hahaha this was a particular hard chapter moreover but I'm glad it helped you 💕

Jihoon omg hahaha is Seventeen's genius producer and vocalist Woozi 😂 did I make him too much of a prick? Well he'll have his character arc hahaha

Oh yeah Kyun had to have a painful past, what's a good villain without a tragic story right? 🥲 and though the whole scene started off with sexy time, that kind of story deserved a hug, it's important to have someone to hold you right?

Hahahhaa I'm glad you loved Hendery's cameo, I loved writing him ❤️ The sisters reuniting was so important to me because the plot is heavily based on familial love, in a way its what drives Kyun and Na bi towards each other emotionally, the fact that family is their first love?

I find it so morally conflicting to write about falling in love with a bad man cause I'm not the 'I love bad boys' kinda person so god knows why I chose to do 6 mafia series 😭 but that was why Changkyun being the one who found Bit Na was important - while Na bi seemingly needed someone to share the weight of what plagued her, Changkyun eradicated it completely, that's a win for him in my book ahahha

Na bi has always been a strong character, she's good at looking after herself but I just needed a splash of that protective male energy for both her and my sake ahahaha 🤭

The ending though, that's gotten me screamed at hahaha I'm sorry to throw that in the last minute when things were finally going somewhere but what's a good chapter without a cliffhanger eh?

Ooooh what is this show, that sounds so interesting! I can see the parallels with Changkyun's story, I love that you feel nostalgic reading it, that's so heart-warming ❤️

Thank you my love, you know you're a big reason this series continues to be in the works, I know I wouldn't have done it without you 🫂💕

[ambeauty]

Titans Final Thots & Feelings

Hi Family! We’ve come to that time where I have final processed my journey with Titans. I started Titans in 2020! Thanks to you folks on here giffing the gorgeous Brenton & Anna smiling next to the Jeep at the end of s1! I was trying to figure out what the hell that show was for probably a year and it was finally available on a streamer I had access to! And s1 sucked me in immediately! I watched TTG a bit but other than that I was completely unaware of the depth and beauty of the stories the Titans had. And of course I was deeply smitten with the romantic story blossoming between Dick & Kory. But I also loved the group dynamics of everyone and that continued in s2! I honestly was okay with Kory having her own journey to go on separate from Dick, because that was what they decided to do before “trying it again sometime.” And I loved Slade as the villain! I truly believed he was going to fuck the Titans up and tear them apart. Now the ending with Donna was a mess but otherwise the villain arc was so well done! And then we come to 3! And I had been watching Titans virtually alone up until that point and then I discovered there was a whole community of Titans fans on Tumblr/Twitter and we all got to commiserate together about how bad Jason/Crane were, DickBabs unnecessary romance, and Dick being a total loser! A fun time was had by all. And then after much anticipation we get to s4!

Season 4 opening was damn near perfect! I literally had no notes! Opening scene Kory! Next scene the fam goofing off and Dick and Kory on their own private mini date. Dick was TALKING! FLIRTING! DOING ALL THE THINGS WE EVER WANTED HIM TO DO! He and Kory displayed the perfect balance between co-leaders and tiptoeing around their budding romance. And then Jinx entered the picture and I just wanted to ask why. Not as a character but as Dick’s ex? I reiterate again that it was just another opportunity for DK antis to find another person to ship Dick with. Now it was very obvious how annoyed he was by her but still a completely unnecessary plot and I feel like the tone and momentum shifted in 3&4 that I just did not like in terms of DK’s development.

My main issue with Dick is that he did not allow for Kory to be vulnerable with him in regards to her fears about the prophecy. He stopped being a partner and regressed back into old Dicholas out of fear! I wanted him to listen to her, even if he didn’t believe it or didn’t want to. That would’ve shown growth in his character. That he didn’t have to always be right and that he was emotionally strong enough to be Kory’s strength. It was a complete missed opportunity to have their vulnerability end with the end of 406. That being said 405 was the best episode of the season! THAT WAS A MOMENT I WILL NEVER FORGET! Even though it was a vision, seeing Dick, Kory and Mar’i and the entire family celebrating their baby’s birthday was perfect and what we deserved after everything.

They set part 2 up to be something that was going to be important and the fact of the matter was it just wasn’t. Brother Blood was still crying and throwing up over Mayhem. And he didn’t get his suit or real powers until the literal end. Gar’s episode was really special and I enjoyed it a lot! But it seems like all of his progress in the red went unused after the episode ended. Like they just did not care that he gained so much power after he and Kory got out of the red. And that just fell by the wayside. There was no reason why he didn’t shift to pull those cords or turn into multiple animals in that hallway fight in the finale. Make it make sense.

And then we get to my main gripe! Who was doing the actual writing in the room? Because Dick had the same lines every episode. “Kory” “It won’t happen.” “I thought I lost you.” As much as I love him calling out her name, he had so much more to say to her. Talk about how he wanted the future in the vision. How he was scared to lose her. How he couldn’t say goodbye to her because he didn’t want to do life without her. HOW HE LOVED HER! Y’all they never got to say that but he did get to insinuate he was ready to have that baby (which I loved) but also like where’s my love confession! They deserved that moment at the very least.

At first I was underwhelmed by the kiss but further investigation with gifs and stills it was really sweet. Their entire arc was sweet. Wholesome, but it wasn’t as intense as I personally expected it and need it to be. Chemistry was wasted on frankly elementary writing. Thank God for Brenton & Anna’s acting skills which allowed us to be able to read between the literally lines, but at this point, I have been so tired of having to interpret every damn glance and brush of the fingers against the face. LIKE GIVE THEM THINGS TO SAY! You could tell that imo the show runner did not want to do a romance between them and literally just did the bare minimum in order to shut the fans up. He says as much in the featurette. And in doing so, he destroyed his favorite characters ability to grow beyond just the muscle and man with the plan of the team. Kory deserved a partner who she could lean on. And Dick wasn’t always that, even when it was literally his only plot point of substance.

Also nobody expects this show to be a romcom or a DK porn. And it abhors me every time I see someone using that as an insult to DK Stans. What we did want to see them do is grow together authentically at a pace that matched what had been shown to us to the prior 3 seasons. We knew that Dick had feelings for Kory in s2. He was so upset that she left him in a vulnerable spot, he sent himself to jail! And in s3 he could barely keep his eyes off of her. Stalking her from high vantage points, completely sabotaging his date with Babs, and visualizing their daughter as a reason to come back to life. So WHY was there a need for them to literally snail drag to the finish line? My only reason is because the show runner wasn’t into it.

And I can say objectively that I enjoyed the fact that Kory was the center of the season. It literally started and ended (Conner scene aside) with her. She was the key to it all and the Titans got to help her, albeit frustratingly so along the way. I wish that Rachel, Gar and Kory all had equal time with a formidable villain like Brother Blood. It really would’ve ratcheted up the stakes for a Dick who remained completely delusional (although he was the manifestation warrior) the entire season. This season had no stakes whatsoever. Our family did the best the could with what they had but they could’ve been given so much more.

I don’t think we’ll see Titans at least in this form, in a very long time. Unfortunately DC is sitting on a goldmine with these characters and if they are done well could probably turn the profits for the company. I think if they touch them again.. they’ll be younger and probably not as diverse, but that’s me being pessimistic. My hope is that the impact our actors made on these characters is a lasting effect and if they choose to reboot the team that it is done by someone who has passion for the actual Titans. Let Batfam be batfam but let the Titans have their own thing. Our show put in the work to build a special fanbase and I want it to continue, but those people in charge, I don’t trust them.

It’s been hella fun with you all for the most part. I definitely got to see the ugly side of fandom, but what I love and take with me in this experience is the beauty. I have met so many wonderful and genuine people and I never thought at my big age that I would be making new friends who I genuinely love and respect. It takes a special type of person to be a titans fan and it’s clear that we all have way more in common than we think and that is the most beautiful thing of all. Never in my life did I think creative writing would come back to me in this way. That I would have supporters and partnership in this way. Just from a little DC show! I am still blown away and thank you all for making this hobby something so worthwhile and fulfilling in my busy life!

I have stories to finish and ideas flowing out of my pores so you guys got me for a long time to come!!!💜💙💜💙💜💙🖤💚🖤💚🖤💚

[suffarustuffaru]

Heinkel Astrea himself >:D

YALL REALLY WENT FOR ME WITH THIS ONE.... OKAY. LETS GO.

Sexuality Headcanon: i think it could be one of several possibilities. he could be straight... he could be on the aroace spectrum... he could be bi and not even know... but we do know what he is for certain..... hes louannasexual................................................

A ship I have with said character: heinkel/louanna PLS THEYRE MARRIED OKAY......... louanna really looked at the astrea family Baggage and still went "im still gonna marry this man <3".... and like the way heinkel speaks about louanna T^TT "reinhard is me and louannas treasure..." "dont take away louannas way home"... LIKE FUCK MAN..... heinkel may be a piece of shit now but he took like those marriage vows of like in sickness and in health SERIOUSLY. its been like twenty years and hes been searching for a cure for louanna all this time. it drives me BONKERS...

A BROTP I have with said character: ......................im pretty sure you know what im gonna say LMAO. YEAH. YEAH. ROWAN AND HEINKEL?? ROWAN IS THE BEST POSSIBLE BROTP THAT COULDVE EVER HAPPENED FOR HEINKEL. deadbeat alcoholic dads of extremely powerful teenage sons club??? theyre literally insane. i love how they first meet because its the most pathetic thing ever. like rowan just seeing heinkel half-dead in some ditch and just deciding to help this random ass guy??? rowan dragging heinkel away like when you grab a cat by its scruff??? heinkel going "this guy is smiling at me but its not mocking... i dont know what the fuck it means" because heinkel doesnt know what fucking FRIENDLINESS is anymore...... theyre insane. im excited for the development thats gonna come out of them meeting. they foil so much T^T

A NOTP I have with said character: anyone other than louanna :((((((((((((((( pls..... pls dont separate them shes already in a coma :((((((((((((((((((((((((( ......except ill make an exception for rowan and heinkel because. they have 95 mental illnesses and theyre ALWAYS making it everyone elses problem... theyd be so horrible together and i can only see it happening if theyre drunk and the world is literally gonna end. they are Terrible. but they Would be entertaining...

A random headcanon: heinkel gets sober in all the timelines where wilhelm is erased <33 because its like. wilihelm gets erased, heinkel and reinhards relationship is better, so its like.... things are a little better for heinkel now. obviously his whole complex feelings on reinhard are either lessened or erased entirely, but i also feel like heinkel got at least Some of his insecurities because of how wilhelm probably was as a dad. and bc wilhelms gone - WELP nice going heinkel half of your insecurities are gone!! so, well, maybe heinkel wants to be fully sober and present for reinhard now. he wants to be in reinhards life as his dad...

General Opinion over said character:

if i met him irl i would immediately pull a pridebaru and poison heinkel's drink. HOWEVER, i am also screaming and crying over heinkel's heartbreaking tragic corruption arc where he goes from a very earnest and hardworking person whos trying his best with all the shitty cards handed to him. and then he turns into *GESTURES TO PRESENT DAY HEINKEL*

i need him to get his shit together and have the most GRUELING, PAINFUL, NAIL BITING redemption arc of all time. he's just so fucking pathetic 24/7 it's like... like im sitting here and reading every scene hes in and im going, god hes like one of those sad dirty exhausted stray dogs you see backed into a corner and theyre just like growling and snapping at everything that comes close. like we vaguely know that its Possible for him to get his shit together at least a little bit (see: pride if), and we Know that heinkel used to be a very affectionate person to louanna and reinhard, and the fact that tappei said he'd make heinkel the mc if subaru didnt exist indicates that heinkels Probably gonna have some insane development, especially given the debut of the rowan-heinkel dynamic... i cant wait for it T^TT i just like how hes Terrible... but hes also clearly very human. what a well-written character. i hope he goes for anime onlys kneecaps in season three.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

zane for the character ask thing?

YESSSS

favorite thing about them: waaahhhh so much. god i love zane. his character arc is so so good. His dub voice is I think my single favorite dub voice so far ( a high honor; I love a lot of the dub voices!!), I love how he can go from mumbling to a snarling roar in an instant. I love his Hell Kaiser design, I love the way the show storytells through his deck and how he plays it. He's also in my Single Favorite GX Duel so I think that counts as a Favorite Thing.

least favorite thing about them: genuinely trying to think about. what my least favorite thing about him is. hm. I do adore dub zane but it's a shame a lot of his relationship with respect re: dueling and himself and others got cut in order to play up a little bit of a "edgy mid-2000's tough guy bully older brother" characterization with him in the dub; the respect thing is such an important part of his character and it sucks to lose that!!

favorite line: sorry theyre all dub lines but "CYBER END DRAGON.... IT'S BEEN REAL" *EXPLOSION* still makes me go absolutely insane and "he's got one" re: jaden desperately telling him that he cant go, that syrus needs a big brother, literally makes me start crying. Also special shoutout to the fact that the dub specifically had zane tell syrus he loves him on two separate occasions!!!! That's so dear to me. Sub wise I do also love "I don't need an assistant" re: yubel being like 'i'll help you down on your way to hell.' he just goes hard.

brOTP: his bond with syrus is my single favorite yugioh siblings dynamic and every time i think about them im just like ;__; aauuaaghhhwwaahhhh......could talk about them. for ages. I also love his friendship with Jaden and Alexis!!! Zane Truesdale has Three Whole Little Siblings!!!!!!!!! I know and see the truth!!!!!

OTP: you know i gotta be on that idolship babeeeyyy!!! I did not expect a gx ship to weasel into my brain but he and Atticus just make me so soft. Why don't you come with me into the light and maybe you'll fucking calm down. love CAN bloom between a NIN fan and a Jimmy Buffett fan.

nOTP: never could vibe much with zane/jaden as a ship????? idk. thats his little brother to me. also again if you ship him with syrus im biting you. and im biting you. and im biting you. and im killing you.

random headcanon: zane alan truesdale my autistic aromantic gay nonbinary competitive pokemon player........... he is transneutral to me. his ideal gender is a 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 floating steel cube with the hell kaiser jacket on it. He listens to Tool. He'd go to raves and stand again the wall with his arms crossed. His special interest as a small child was printers. He loves old computers. His favorite Pokemon is Dialga. i could go on.

unpopular opinion: HE'S NOT. EVIL?!?!?! PEOPLE ALWAYS ARE LIKE "my sexy evil husbando >:3" WITH HELL KAISER AND IT'S LIKE. HES NOT EVEN EVIL!!!! HES JUST MENTALLY ILL!!!! HES HAVING A MANIC EPISODE SOMEONE HELP HIM. also. his 'death' is better in the dub than in the sub imo (it's the telling sy he loves him. for me.) <3

song i associate with them: Heel Turn 2 by tmg is the Zane Song Ever for me but also Bleed Out off their latest album.... "I will go down punching, but I will go down/ and my corner men won't bring me back around...."

favorite picture of them: sorry it's not an in-show screenshot but it's always going to be this pic from tag force

i cannot fucking believe this is a real picture of ryozane marufujitruesdale from a Real PSP Game that Really came out and that you can play but it IS. emulate Tag Force 3. my final message.

[violet-prism-creatively]

good omens s2 episode reactions: 6

i just finished good omens season 2.

you know how people say "screaming crying throwing up" jokingly? i'm literally at least one of those (screamed into a pillow) and kinda close to another (partly unrelated life reasons making me feel like crying but it counts)

it's not supposed to end like that!!!! crowley and aziraphale going their separate ways!! they kissed but not at all in the way most people imagined it would be!!!!

okay i will attempt to give a summary of my thoughts for the whole episode the way i have for the rest of the season. (see other posts: e1, e2, e3, e4, e5.)

shax is surprisingly good at hitting people with their deepest insecurities. it's a little inconsistent with other parts of her character, like not understanding sarcasm, but it works well for her being the main antagonist of this season. good on maggie for standing up to her!! bad on maggie for accidentally letting her into the bookshop.

it's a nice touch that aziraphale has battery-powered candles and lots of fire extinguishers to make sure the bookshop fire never happens again. also quite a reasonable justification for having multiple fire extinguishers for nina and maggie to use as weapons. lesbians fighting demons!

interesting revelations as crowley in heaven reads/experiences gabriel's file. i was confused at the time about why gabriel would say no to armageddon 2, but it makes sense after the beezlebub montage.

the gabriel/beezlebub shippers were right!?!!?! massive win for them. they really speedran aziraphale and crowley's whole arc, with making an agreement out of convenience, spending more time together enjoying human things, falling in love, realizing their own sides weren't as good as they seemed, ultimately running away together. the use of the song "every day" was sweet. it seemed kind of out-of-character for s1 gabriel and beezlebub but i suppose people change.

the "war" aziraphale started was over fairly quickly. bit anticlimactic.

the metatron was a plot twist. he seems very similar to aziraphale in a lot of ways. if aziraphale had had him as a mentor-figure from the beginning, things would have turned out very differently.

nina and maggie are so real for calling out crowley and aziraphale on meddling in their love life. they recognize how similar the two pairs are! probably a good choice that nina and maggie aren't going to immediately date since nina just got broken up with, but it's made clear that they care for each other and will probably date once nina is ready.

oh gosh we have to talk about the conversation between crowley and aziraphale. crowley has finally gotten up the courage to confess his feelings after six millennia!! only aziraphale is intending a completely different conversation about the metatron's offer. oh aziraphale can't you see why being an angel again and being your second in command isn't crowley's dream scenario??! it would mean crowley giving up his whole identity. when aziraphale was talking about how heaven is good and right, i could practically hear crowley thinking "you still believe that?!" it feels like aziraphale is taking a step backward. from his perspective though, it must sound like the perfect offer, and you can see how excited he is to tell crowley, and how devastated when crowley doesn't like it. and they revert back to their millennia-old dynamic of crowley wheedling aziraphale to go off and choose their own side, and aziraphale retreating to the safety of his moral high ground. bravo to david tennant and micheal sheen for their acting, but also they broke my heart.

the kiss. i'm screaming and internally sobbing. i had it spoiled for me that there was a kiss in this season (unfortunately, it's one of the first suggestions when you type good omens into youtube), but i wasn't expecting it like this.

bentley, now is not the time to play "a nightingale sang in berkley square."

to be clear, i'm not exactly mad at neil gaiman and the writers. they're obviously setting up a season 3 (which amazon better give them) and hopefully have a happy ending in mind for aziraphale and crowley. but that will take years and in the meantime i'm shaking with frustration!

i'm off to write a post-s2 fic maybe? or just unblock all the good omens spoiler tags and reblog a flood of posts. or cry.

[motherofmabari]

Thank you @gvnseylike for the tag! I enjoy doing these 🥰

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I use a wallpaper changer lol. Currently there's 271 in rotation, some are my own art, some are from various fandoms, some are my pets, stuff like that. It's biphobic to make me choose 😘

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😅 Take Me Away from the Lindsay Lohan/Jamie Lee Curtis Freaky Friday movie, actually. Best fictional song imo

Currently reading:

Bookclub with my dad - All About Love by bell hooks

Book buddies with my best friend- Shadow and Bone/working our way through the Grishaverse by Leigh Bardugo

I also listen to a fuckload of audiobooks at work, just finished The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn. Now I'm revisiting Arc 8 of Unprepared Casters, will prolly finish that by Friday and idk what's after that. Reccs literally ALWAYS welcome I have headphones on a solid 6 hours a day minimum

Last Movie:

I think it was Glass Onion? Been on more of a TV kick lately

Craving:

It is so close to strawberry season and I am *dying* for some good strawberries. There's a strawberry farm 2 minutes from work and every day I look to see if their sign is up cause the second it is I'm buying a pallet

What are you wearing right now?

Black bandeau and comfy shorts, basically my jammies

How tall are you:

5'4. I am short and squishy.

Piercings:

I had my ears pierced as a kid, suffered for years trying all the different earring materials until I finally gave up and accepted that my body doesn't like being pierced and will die mad about it

Tattoos:

One on my back right hip, of my late pet rat Mungojerrie. I've had a total of 12 rats in my life (usually 4-5 at once) and adored them all, but Mungo's pattern was most suited to a tattoo so she represents my lil mischief. I want more tattoos but those cost money I don't have rn, so someday

Glasses? Contacts?

Either! Depending on the outfit. Wearing glasses a lot lately because I got some really cute glasses chains

Last drink:

Currently have two on my end table, water for hydration and Dr pepper cause it's tasty

Last show:

Bob's Burgers, the episode where Teddy pretends to be into hurling and Louise attempts to turn herself into an Avatar of the Buried by sacrificing Tina to a watery grave for a gd rusty ball jfc that was stressful my anxiety was through the ROOF

Last thing you ate:

McDonald's chicken nuggets. Is a lazy kind of night

Favorite color:

Green

Current obsession:

Mild hyperfixation on the grishaverse after season 2 of the entflix adaptation prompted a series reread

Unrelated obsession:

Dragon Age, specifically Dragon Age 2. It's my never ending hyperfixation lol

Any pets:

Two dogs, two cats, and a leopard gecko. The dogs are Ruby, a Doberman mix from a local rescue with separation anxiety that the rescue was not up front about, love my boy but I am *mad* at that rescue, and Angel, a byb min pin adopted from a friend's grandpa when he had to go into assisted living. The cats are Boris, an orange tabby adopted as a kitten from our vet, and Rangi, a calico adopted as an adolescent from the same vet a year later, after our first cat Natasha passed away. Last there's Heihei, the leopard gecko I adopted from the petsmart where I worked at the time after he was blinded by an eye infection and they couldn't sell him. He's a cool little dude.

Do you have a crush on anyone?

I am in a happy long term relationship lol

Favorite fictional character:

See answer one and don't be biphobic 😇, you get two - Fenris from Dragon Age 2 and Keladry of Mindelan from Protector of the Small. I adore them both and honestly for very similar reasons despite their vastly different backgrounds and personalities.

The last place you traveled:

Day trip, I went about an hour and a half away to ~nearby largeish city~ to see Hadestown and it was *incredible*. Overnight, I honestly have no idea, it's been like 7 years at least but it'd probably have been the last time I visited my Florida grandparents instead of the other way around, they've been spending half the year in our state lately and I can't afford to travel to visit them there. Yay adulthood.

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The last song you listened to:

Currently reading:

Last Movie:

Craving:

What are you wearing right now?

How tall are you:

Piercings:

Tattoos:

Glasses? Contacts?

Last drink:

Last show:

Last thing you ate:

Favorite color:

Current obsession:

Unrelated obsession:

Any pets:

Do you have a crush on anyone?

Favorite fictional character:

The last place you traveled:

Tagging @dragongeek1, @becauseanders, and @silly-goofy-mood no pressure or anything, just if y'all wanna! 🥰

[triceratopsgirlypop]

OHMYGODYOUASKEDMYOPINIONOKTYSM

First off, before I start incomprehensibly rambling, this art is SO cute AWWWWWW

Alright so this is kiraodo, it's canon, and kira's the same terrorist from my terrorist x worm lady ship. Kira is the first cisgender (debatable) woman to be in a lesbian relationship no matter who she's with. Anyways, the fandoms kinda split on this one from what I've seen but I LOVE them SO GODDAMN MUCH it starts off unrequited from Odo's end and his pining AAAAAA.

He's a changeling, and he's been separated from his species for his whole life. So he kinda has this whole kinda thing, yk, where he's like trying so hard to assimilate into "solid" life but it's physically painful for him to do that, so the symbolism is there. But even though he tries, hes kinda othered, and avoided, and this is not helped when the changelings start this war with the federation.

And then Kira is a kind of socially outcast from the crew because shes very violent and aggressive, especially toward the captain, and that drives her to be more aggressive, yk? But they have this bond because they lived on the station together before the events of the show. They're the only ones who are there for each other, especially in the earlier seasons.

But in the later seasons they are actively together and kissing and I love themb, and this war is going on with this group called the dominion. They are made up of a bunch of evil aliens, notably the changelings and the cardassians. The changelings are Odo's people, but they abandoned him at birth. Nonetheless, they are still his people. The only other non-solids he has. The cardassians are the group that Kira was fighting against in her freedom fighter days. She has a hatred of them all cuz of the genocide they did. Valid. So they have different views on how to approach the war, but it only brings them closer together because they are COMMUNICATING ABOUT IT

There is no miscommunication trope with Kiraodo. They talk. Because they love each other. In season 7, odo contracts a weaponized virus meant for the rest of the changelings from a rouge group of federation agents (it's a whole thing). Normally this is exactly the kind of thing Kira would endorse and she knows it. But she has been changed by Odo. She has let herself become attached for the first time since the loss of her mother (also a whole thing but this time from her childhood). She lets him have his remaining dignity by pretending she didn't notice his worsening state. Seeing them during that arc makes me cry every time.

ABD DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THEIR PERSONALITIES Odo has this really dry humor from growing up basically a lab experiment and Kira has this reflex to laugh and smile at literally everything whenever her guard goes down to like, catch up? She's also not the fastest with humor so they kinda bounce off each other it's so cuteeeee

They both have a lot of war and strategy experience so theyre so entertaining to watch together whenever they're on a mission together and they love each other so much and you know what happens in the end? ODO LEAVES. THEYRE SEPARATED. FOREVER. They're about to say goodbye for the last time and Odo is like "you always said I looked good in a suit" and shape shifts into a suit and goes "this is how I want you to remember me" AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

HE SHIFTS INTO LIGHT TO SHOW HER HOW HE LIVES

THEY FIRST KISS BECAUSE THEYRE FIGHTING ABOUT WHATEVRR BUT ITS NOT REALLY ABOUT THAT ITS ABOUT HIDDEN FEELINGS

UGHHHH I LIVE THEMB

Nvm he got better :333

Anyway my justifications for kiradax and quodo are like "I like it when gay people are besties but like what if MORE" and then i ship them harder lmaooo

wanted to draw something quick as a break from all the notquick stuff i'm working on :-)

this is my 1st publicly posted kiraodo so let the record show that they're lesbians to me

[dontcallmecarrie]

In Endgame it seemed like the producers wanted Tony dying to be the only way he could be at peace. Like Pepper literally tells him 'Rest now', as if sacrificing himself to destroy the enemy that's been haunting him since Avengers 1 is the only ending where he can be happy.

"Sorry meant to add this to my ask (about Tony's death in Endgame being portrayed as his only possible happy ending): The whole thing makes me want to cry. And scream. Your opinion on what was being portrayed there?"

.

Friend, I...think you're more invested in this than I am, at this point. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I have ranted at length about my feelings on everything related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. [Note: those are only some of the highlights. There's plenty more— I'm not even including the whole "in an interview, the writers flat-out said they didn't like the characters" thing, even.]

Beyond that, the main thing you should know about me is the fact that I have very, very limited time and energy, and prefer to focus on things I enjoy over dwelling on things I know I'll hate. Because I've seen this road before, and it never ends well, and life's got enough bs without me piling on even more.

Am I going to be forever bitter about what went down? Yes. Am I never going to let go of the fact that the writers prioritized ticket sales over the age-old art of telling a good story and threw years' worth of effort down the drain in the process? Also yes. But I refuse to let it get to me.

The MCU lived in my head rent-free for a good chunk of my childhood and teenage years, and— yeah, I mourn for the potential it once had, but if I cling to the anger I feel about how the writers butchered everyone's character arcs and consistency for *drama*, I will never know rest.

If I let myself, I know I'm capable of being incandescent with rage over how they fridged the only woman in the original Avengers' Initiative, of the way they somehow managed to make Steve "I don't like bullies, also FUCK Nazis" Rogers into someone completely unrecognizable in the span of three movies, and—

I'm tired.

Look: you probably found this blog because of my most famous fic, The War is Far From Over Now. I started writing it because I needed at least one (1) world where Tony Stark got a happy ending for all the bs the MCU kept throwing at him [and only him], and if that meant making it myself, then so be it.

When I first started, I wasn't old enough to legally drink. Originally, it was supposed to be something short and sweet, something funny— but spite made it longer, and the readers' reception meant more inspiration to go into even more detail, and then it turned into a stress relief valve for all the shit that kept going down in my life.

[I try to keep personal life bs separate from my writing, but.

Shit went down.]

So, long story short: TWiFFON started out a fun thought exercise, but ended up becoming my love letter to what the MCU used to be— and later, a eulogy for the same.

Because over a decade of being invested in the world that turned my casual interest in the comics into something more concrete, only to watch as the audience was robbed of just about every sort of resolution there possibly could have been.

This isn't my first disappointment of this type, sure: Harry Potter was the book series I learned to read English with and I'd once thought the epilogue was as bad as things could get in that regard [...boy was I wrong], and Naruto and Bleach both managed to be incredibly ??? in their finales, but.

Of all of the things that made up so much of my childhood, my favorite character was Tony Stark.

The man who tried so, very hard to do his best, and kept getting beaten down for it time and time again. Who, by all rights, should have been the villain— either as the rich white guy who apparently can do nothing right [see: Iron Man 1 onwards], or simply because it makes no sense for him to be on the same side as the heroes who lied to his face and stabbed him in the neck or back time and time again [see: Iron Man 2 onwards, special mention for Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War].

Who was both the Da Vinci and Cassandra of his generation, because for all his accomplishments, nobody ever took him seriously— and never even got an "I told you so", after shit hit the fan and everyone immediately turned to him for answers [see: Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Infinity War, Endgame and need I go on?]

...I could go on for hours. But I won't.

If the writers won't give it this much thought, I won't either, not anymore.

Same way I refuse to watch another Marvel movie or tv show. I'd only barely been sticking around and gritting my teeth at the writing before Endgame, but that's the movie that made me ragequit the MCU entirely.

I've moved on, trying my hand at other fandoms and hobbies to occupy my brain when I'm not working or studying. At most, I have been poking at old cartoons and comics when I feel up to retreading old ground, but...right now, the main thing I feel when I think about the movies is disappointment.