#given reboot stuff everywhere

[termitesisagrandslam]

wild to me that teen wolf the show started off as a reboot of teen wolf the movie, eclipsed it in popularity, and now there's gonna be a movie based off the show called teen wolf: the movie

[woodlandscab1n]

Guys... guys lets go back in time. Guys guys guys please.e..

I can't wait 'till I can get all the other RE games that I haven't played, get hyperfixiated on the whole franchise and literally never stop talking about dumb small details that I saw in a game and talk about that small detail a lot also go on a rampage of finding all the info I can of certain character.

[alexanderwales]

A small addendum to the post on art under communism/capitalism, which had been queued for a bit: I occasionally see people complain about the "everything is a reboot, sequel, prequel, or tie-in" nature of modern mass market pop culture film, and then also complain that this is a capitalism problem, and if you're a person who cares about empiricism (like me!) you immediately go out to see whether this is true.

Which immediately led me to the character of Stierlitz, who I had never heard of before. But you can't just say "well, this was a 14 novel series with six adaptations, written and produced under communism", because this was also a series that was being pushed by the KGB, and maybe that doesn't fit in with your idea of "communism", and says more about the particular time and place it was written/made than the economic system it was made under. But my suspicion is that popularity and risk-aversion are what cause the sequel/reboot phenomenon, and that this is only substantially different under other economic models if there are deliberate efforts to avoid it. There's another example, the Soviet Union's most popular film of 1965, Operation Y, which was followed by a semi-sequel, Kidnapping, Caucasian Style, and actors reprising their roles across multiple films, and ... does this count? How many more of these examples could I dredge up if I had more than a passing familiarity with Soviet film? How many from other regions?

Possibly coordination between communist film organizations would help this problem. It's unclear to me, but I don't think that we can say that this is clearly a problem that capitalism created, not unless we're just talking in terms of pure theory.

Certainly we can say that it wasn't an endemic problem in any communist country, but I don't think that by most measures it was an endemic problem during the same time period in the United States either. In the 60s and 70s Hollywood was mostly making original films, a pattern that didn't begin to shift until later. The emergence of television created reduced demand for cinema basically everywhere, so that might explain some of the risk aversion, and funding for Soviet film declined pretty rapidly going into the 80s with much fewer standout films (the movie "Come and See" is a notable counterexample).

There's also an argument that whereas in the Hollywood system there was a great deal of risk aversion, that aversion was financial in nature: a film is a bet, and a studio can only make a limited number of bets at any given time, with a string of bad ones leading to bankruptcy. But in the Soviet system, the primary risk was ideological risk, which wouldn't give the same incentive structure that led to sequel culture. I'm not sure how much I buy this, more study is needed.

I guess I want to immediately compare sequel culture to oral traditions and the way that Arthurian legend (for example) ballooned with new knights and new quests over time, becoming confused. Or the way that fanfic, absent any market forces, results in many of "the same" fics being written and consumed, similar beats getting hit over and over, formula that we can only (at best) blame on attention economy. Writers and creators often want to capture the largest number of readers/viewers, and so pitch to the lowest common denominator, using the tropes and characters that people are most familiar with.

The writers that are writing specifically for their weird friends are obviously just doing their own thing, but it's going to be harder to interest people in funding a movie with a niche story, even if it's well-told, and it's going to be difficult to get theaters to show it unless those theaters are specifically committed to showing weird stuff.

[herrscherofmagic]

you know what? screw it. I give up on HI3rd lore.

no more thinking and theories. just pure vibes.

(mild out-of-context spoilers for HI3rd Chapter 5 [CN server story release] below the cut vvv)

nothing makes any sense anymore.

okay great, so we had Honkai on Earth, that got wrapped up. But we still have the Sky People so we'll learn about that, right?

Oh but then we go to Mars, okay so that's cool because we learn about Mars' past and get to focus on that.

but now we're back on the moon. so now it's both earth and mars simultaneously. because mars stuff is actually a computer simulation!

and now Sparkle and a Memokeeper just casually show up out of nowhere in the main story, and Vita's talking about Aeons, while Mihoyo simultaneously announces a hi3rd x hsr collab.

so now we have a confusing mix of meme content and fundamental story revelations filling the discussion space about this story.

i'm so tired of this.

mihoyo.

please.

why can't you tell a straightforward story with Honkai Impact 3rd like you used to??

why can't we go from A to B to C without swerving to hit LMNOP and XYZ on the way there?

maybe it wouldn't be so bad if we (as in the global community) weren't constantly given story spoilers 4 weeks in advance thanks to the server desync.

maybe if we actually got to experience the story as the devs intended, then it wouldn't feel so messy and incoherent...

i'm just tired of this.

I'm going back to focusing on my silly little AUs where I can think about HI3rd x HSR stuff in self-contained and consistent storylines that don't jump around everywhere and get comically confusing.

also shout-out to Genshin for staying completely comprehensible after 5 years of story updates. honkai 3rd could never.

mihoyo really should just reboot the entire f'in Honkai 3rd story and tell it properly from the beginning.

They're trying to do the complicated and intertwinned lore that Genshin and HSR (and ZZZ?) have, but without any of the actual foundational work that these other dev teams put into making sure the story had a consistent and logical base with a clear line of progression.

[iwasforcedtomakethisbytum]

Help me ahhh i can't stop thinking about what I'd do if i were in charge of a reboot of 6teen

For starters it would be more serialized, the original already had some of that and i don't wanna it to be so serialized you can't watch episodes out of order but we have streaming now so why not just have more mentions of previous episodes or foreshadowing future episodes

I'm mainly just thinking about Jonesy and how i could to not be the most hateable character, but i still want him to be a bit of a jerk to be honest but dear Lord I'm gonna give him a little chill pill like maybe he shouldn't be a literal criminal in multiple episodes, i wanna keep him being a selfish dick but maybe instead of flirting with literally all the women it's mostly just with his friends i kinda like the idea of him being demisexual idk i just like it, i also gave him more necklaces, mostly they mean nothing and he'd be happy letting another wear them, but one of his necklaces is his cremation necklace and is just really uncomfortable with the idea of others wearing it

i made jude trans, again i don't remember why i hc it but it's fun, so my design for him shows his binder under his tank top, i feel it would be mentioned but not a lot outside of a joke or two, i give him the more girly hands the women are given as a way to hint it and maybe older photos could show him with long hair or a dress. I also gave him a scarf which one thing i did add was maybe he'd like crochet/knitting and made the scarf himself (i also like to think nikki carries an opossum around that Jude made) he rollerstates everywhere even when he bumps into everything! I don't know what to headcanon his family like, they almost seem neglectful in the series as they're usually mentioned leaving jude alone at the house i feel but does that mean they're bad

Jen i feel she'd roughly stay the same, but maybe she'd be complaining a bit more about shit, i imagine she puts up with her job and school and stuff she hates because she knows it'll help her get what she wants but she doesn't care for it in private. Her parents are divorced like the original but i feel her dad isn't really explained in the original because jen remembers him as a good dad and some lines may reference him having died (omg what if he died by suicide, no I'm sorry not today) but it's never said that he's dead explicitly so it would make me wonder why in the original jen only lives with her mom, did he flee the area, was jen an unreliable narrator and he truly did something awful that warranted him not having custody, did her parents both choose to let Jen's mom have full custody for some reason? I don't know but in my version i like the idea of it being mention that she has to move between the houses (wait would she even have too, i know 16 is a bigger deal in Canada so would that give her the right to decide to not live with one of them?) but in my version of the show jens parents would have split costody of her and that would be mentioned

Nikki is a bit more nerdy i feel i made her, i like the idea of Chinese being her home language, and maybe she can also speak other languages outside of English and Chinese, i feel she'd speak Quebec French, Spanish and ASL to varying degrees of proficiency i could see her maybe considering being an interpreter as a career, she'd still be into protesting the same stuff she has before, she now has a half shaven head, one thing i don't necessarily care for with redesigns is just making her really emo but she's not really that in the original i mean sure it's alt but i don't see it as really emo. I feel like her and Wyatt talk about anime a lot. I feel she'd be fairly distant from her friends at the beginning of the series, like she's there with them they've known her most of their lives but it's not like she opens up to them about things and might seem unemphatic to them but overtime she tries to care about them and open up more maybe starting with them saying they're bi, which one is just like "wait you hadn't told us this before?"

Wyatt is also just nerdier, he draws, he sucks at it but he does draw, he obviously in a band, and so is jude, he just gets to do everything wyatt gets really obsessed with things he likes and will be upset if you don't like them, he also wears his headphones almost all the time, usually they're no music on though, i feel the music his band makes is just stuff that stimulates the ears it's just "hehe brain go brrrr" he's really into written art as well like fanfiction and poetry, i feel it would also be mentioned he takes care of younger siblings a lot as it's mentioned he's part of a big family in the series, i see him on the younger end of the family but still, idk maybe he could also have nieces and nephews

Caitlin also is into art, i feel she'd really be into the idea of fashion design but doesn't know how to make/modify clothing, she is the best drawer of the group, you can still very easily tell she's an only child, i liked the headcanon of her being homeschooled before joining the same school as the rest of the group, you could make an argument the first episode could imply it by saying "she didn't start until grade 10" but that also could mean she just went somewhere else, but i do think it would be fun if she didn't stop being friends with trisha despit being a bitch and the others keep trying to tell her to not hang with her but she "sees the good in her" i think it would be interesting to see it play out

I feel their parents would be mentioned more in the series, they might not show up but they are teenagers/young adults living under their parents roof so i feel it would make sense for it to be brought up more, like maybe the mention of a curfew or them complaining about something they're parents are doing or complain about rules they don't understand

It would be kinda cool to have a moment where both jen and jonesy bitch about their home lives and maybe complain that the marriage shouldn't even happen

Well that's it, i could probably say more but my brain has been satisfied

[andromediae]

Almost done binging the Chibnall era of Doctor Who and honestly? It's the first time I've felt safe watching Doctor Who since the RTD era... Only even more so. I know 2 out of 3 new characters will always be either a woman or a POC and they will all have meaningful arcs and most will survive the trials they are put thru. I know it will be kind to the stories and people in its care. I know it will critique colonialism and institutional violence so often that the critique never feels like a "special episode." I know it will draw extensively from the well of classic (pre-reboot) doctor who in so many subtle and clever ways. I know that the toxic masculinity pervading previous series (tho not I think from the actors themselves) will be muzzled and harnessed for the good of the story. I know that the cringe will be rare and the crying will be earned. I know the production design will be thoughtful and creative and transcend the commercial. I know I'll get some proper sci fi concepts given time to unfold. I know I'll actually be able to follow the dialogue. I know the show will always prioritize relationships and conversations over plot twists. And ultimately there's romantic Thasmin sprinkled thru and friendship Thasmin everywhere. The companions are lovely and non-toxic. And there's a reason she calls the og trio her fam and consistently refers to the flat power structure of the group. That's what it feels like. They even built the TARDIS with multiple steps and mini levels so that anyone can be shot above or below anyone else. There's very little doctor who "worship" here. They swapped it for a team ideal (that the doctor is constantly struggling to achieve despite dealing with ancient origin trauma for several seasons). Her journey is to trust her companions with the big stuff, even if it is beyond their understanding. It's about mutualism and teamwork and letting every individual part of the team get a chance to get messy and make mistakes and save the world. And the stories are consistently better for it.

[popculturebuffet]

Breaking Cat News Retrospective: Year 3: Bea-ginnings and Endings (Patreon Review for Emma Fici

Hello all you happy newscats to part 3 of my look at Breaking Cat News, one of the best comic strips running. Parts 1 and 2 are HERE and HERE respectively.

Last time we saw a huge wave of change for the strip after a pretty steady first year: The Station met their also in the union Spanish Equilvent, welcomed another baby into the family , got an av cat, met Tommy's distant roomate, found that there's a ghost in their home but it's bette than being alone, and dealt with a mice hostage situation, caused a mice hostage situation and learned the meaning of christmas. IT's also the year where the characters started to Crystalize, the family grew, and the strip really came into it's own. Year 3 rides this momentium and plants it's flag as both one of the strips most ambitious years and one of it's most important. There's only two major storylines this year.. but both leave an impact and are fan faviorites to this day: The first introduces a major addition to the main cats and their family in Beatrix, the second introduces the strips' first and so far only out and out villian, who brings in a LOT of lore with him. Both really up the stakes of the strip, deepn it's world, and change the status quo.

They also serve as an end of an era as 2016 is BCN"s last year as an independent project, with Andrew McMeel aka Uversal Uclick, aka jimmy the reach signed the strip to run on GoComics, a site if you haven't checked out you should as theire's veritable mountain of comics and the strip's dedicated community and wide appeal got it picked up for a newspaper run, joining similar stories like Phoebe and Her Unicorn before it and Crabgrass after it. As such the format changes after this going from fairly big strips to the standard format: 6 daily four or so panel strips, and one sunday. This isn't a bad thing as the new format allowed the strip to both do big stories on the week.. and do the relatable slice of life stuff based out of real life on sundays. We still get plenty of the later in the weekly's too, but it provides a nice ballance and allows her to flesh out some incidents or give the bigger story arcs time to breathe.

It just also means that in order to properly let new readres both print and web into this world.. she had to start the strip over from the top: While this isn't a full continuity reboot as previous storylines NOT covered in the newspaper run (the ghost arc discussed last time and the wicket arc discussed this time), the first few years take their time reintroducing everyone, adding in new storylines, so most of the cast was left on hold until ti was there turn to be reintroduced. It's not a bad thing as we'll get into next time, but it means that with the end of the Wicket arc our heroes stories take a breather for a while and it serves as a bit of a finale. A way to say goodbye so we could say hello again. So let's make the end of this era precious under the cut as we cover two fo the strips finest hours and prepare for a brave new big pink house.

The year starts off breifly with some buisness as usual. The boy is speaking now and has given the cats names

Naturally i'll be using Dad Cat and Mom Cat liberally, though Puck is obviously taken. I can't blame the kid though I got Elvis and LUpin confused name wise a LOT early on and sometimes my brain still screws it up despite being FULLY aquanted with both. We also get some more of our IX Lives, and Elvis gets into some butter with delightful results

So far so normal> But as is tradition at this point, and you don't fuck with tradition, it takes a newcomer to really shake things up. Everything's Coming Up Beatrix It's a standard winter for our heroes: the humans are all cozied up and the cats.. are reporting everything's gone outside because the windows are fogged up and it snowed everywhere. Standard news day… until

Naturally The Man and Woman figure out there's a cat outside via the usual method

The man is able to rescue the little lady whose not doing great, but thankfully Tommy's Woman is more than willing to brave the void to come help, and being an experienced animal rescue, helps get bea back to health.. but since it's really not a good idea to take her back into the cold cruel world, someone's going ot need to foster her and it's not a huge shock the lady with three cats she all fostered first gladly takes her in. Spoilers, this will not be the last time she does this. We soon get one of the sweetest moments in the entire strip: As Puck plans to stand guard and worries about their new charge..

This is possibly my faviorite panel in the whole strip. We've seen Elvis nurture before with the girl .. but it was always tempered by his overprotective shouty side and natural hatred of her actual father. Here we just see him be kind, calm and nurtring. We also see a big change in his character: While Elvis will still puff out at the unknown plenty, after Bea he's a lot quicker to accept new additions to the crew. His experinces with Tommy, Fig, and Burt have had him realize his hair trigger attitude just isn't necessary any more. Will he still freak out like a drama queen at some new arrivals? Yes. He woudln't be elvis if he didn't respond to most new people and things with melodramatic outrage. That's what makes him elvis. But we now see an elvis who instead of taking months to accept someone takes maybe a few hours and who will calmly sit with his newly adopted daughter simply because she's alone in the world.

It opens up a new side to elvis and helps recontecutalize him a bit: while before his age was mostly a tool to explain how crotchety he is and why he hates the Man (being the only one adopted before they moved in together in both real life and the strip), here we see the other side: we get the real sense this isn't the first kitten he's raised (and spoilers once again, won't be the last), as he raised the other two boys. And given PUck turned out a wonderful soft boy angel and Lupin turned out mostly fine, he's good at it. He may be their older brother.. but he's the kind who raised their sibling. It lets him be more than just shouty hilarious angry man… whcih is great, but he became one of my faviorite comic strip characters becaues he got more dimensions to him. He can be old man yelling at cloud one minute, the straight man to lupin's antics the next, and a nurtrting if overprotective daddy guy the next and these are all the same guy.

It's what makes the best comics: Calvin wouldn't have been as entertaining if he weren't both extremley smart and observant… btu still weighed down by the short sightedness and priorities of a six year old. Opus wouldn't have been as great if his inherent kindness and naivety weren't paired with some slight selfishness and histornics, and Snoopy wouldn't be nearly as loveable if he was just a grandstanding weirdo in his own world, but instead also a good friend when needed who gladly tells his best friend his heart is priceless.

It's the humanity in a character that can make them truly amazing and it's what makes these characters so fantastic.

Soon in addition to a Dad Cat the little Kitty also gets a name, Beatrix, after the boy sees a cat on a collection of beatrix potters stories that looks similar. And now she has a name… it's time to tell the story of how we got here here. See…. most of Bea's story is true to life: Georgia found and fostered a kitten who had big old paws and extra didgets, was curious and kind…. but there was one part that didn't match up. Her real life counterpart.. died of pneumonia despite everything.

So you can imagine when given the chance to do this all again.. this Beatrix gets to live. She gets to have a full life, a family and everything she deserved. Georgia has a habit of using this strip as wish fufillment: not in an endulgent way, but as a way to keep pets from her past near and dear to her. As mentiond Baba was based on Georgia's longtime cat who passed. She and Bea are the first and sadly aren't the last: as of this writing Figaro, Lupin and Tommy have all passed, and it pains my heart to know that. And as you can imagine there is not even a remote chance of any of them dying anytime in the strip: the strip became among the many other wonderful thigns it is, a way to keep these good boys and girls with Georgia forever. A piece of them etched in amber. Now i'm done tearing up as I write that, eventually Bea needs to meet the neighbors, and does so at a climbing contest with all the cats in the house.. except Elvis whose reporting it and the legendary puck

He prefers the journey. Okay so it's just lupin… till a familiar face pops in and Bea handles it with style, classs and the giant paws cat gave her

Thankfully Tabitha took it with pride and while Bea beams in her victory, winning again even with tabitha joining, and while she goes to tell puck the bigger cats have a realization if they don't hire her tabhitha will.. and since Elvis can't have that BCN gets it's first intern, bounding Beatrix who immdietly takes to it with her usual enthuasim, she makes her mistakes sure

And while making her coffee rounds, this time for Tommy and Burt, Bea also introduces us to another new face… and one the rest of our heroes handle with grace and dignity

TBF Burt it'd probably be easier to you know.. educate them instead of judge them for being accidental dog racists. Either way the two are fast friends. Turns out Burt is the bookstore dog for the local lady who runs the bookstore… and bea's future owner. Yes while our little bundle has been a loved addition to the house… she can't stay. The apartment only allows two cats and while they were able to get special permission for Lupin, The Woman dosen't want to push it. And given Bea's knowledge of plants (which the bookstore also sales explaining where the Woman gets all her victims) and warm personality she's a natural fit. While the Bookstore lady resists at first, in part because she's not sure Trevor will accept a new friend given he's a shy soft boy. But while her dickering gives Bea time to get the crew on twitter despite Elvis' strong objections to telling the birds their business….. she eventually folds and Bea has a new job, a new home.. and Elvis.. well

Clearly our heroes aren't going to get out of this emotoinally in tact and needing advice they have Tommy seek out Baba , who having had lots and lots of kittens, may know what their going thorugh if only he can find her

This arc once again shows off her wise side: she tells the cats that some cats need to go, she misses all her kids but you can't keep them forever. You have to let them go and trust you raised them best you can. They'll see her again. She also cuts Elvis drama queenery short

Hr leaving does impact Trevor, whose sad he may never see her again… though in a nice touch we get his name reveal right here…. and thus find out they'll be together again in no time.

We end the arc with bea easily taking to her new home and her dads entirely proud, having realized she's better off here and happy for her...

…. Maybe not her new friend but Elvis eventually settles into it. Also love those proud parent of a bookstore cat shirts… wish that was real merch

Elvis goes through a wee bitt of a clingy phase out of empty nest syndrome...

But otherwise life returns to normal after. We get a brief check in with Sophie dealing with some critcisim I can't really show as the strip, while utterly gorgeous, is spaced out in a way I can't put it here, but shows the secret insecurity beneath her distant shell… something that will be important way later when we dig more into her character. And while we wait for that the Toddler learns a valuable lesson in personal space and stickers

But while the slice of life stuff is as usually, totally awesome… the peace eventualyl breaks in the night with a screech

The Wicked

Said screeching naturally wakes everyone the heck up and the culprit turns out to the worst thing you could possibly have show up screeching on your doorstep at 1 in the morning: an ex

Baba rebuffs his every advance,claming he left her with a turkey, and outright abandoned her… and then backstory's up her claim as we learn her origins: Turns out Baba was one of the many cats at Quinn Animal Shelter, one of Freddie's faviorites. She met Wicket one day when he came in with a broken wing and feel hard and fast for him. The internet in it's early age soon fell hard and fast for them, and they were a sensation, even becoming a children's book that in the newspaper run is read to the boy as a baby.

The reality though.. was much less cute: Winnie soon suspected that Wicket was no good, with him stalking the smaller animals and not trusting him near Baba. Baba being young, stupid and in love fled in the night with him… and not long after she was abandoned on the beach with a turkey while Wicket wasn't heard of again till now. She returned, but sadly too late to reconcile with Freddie who'd died, something that clearly still haunts Baba and one of the few times we see her expression change. She thankfully found a new way in life at least, one I highly supsect winnie would approve of

Turns out she's COMPLETELY right as while Wicket was likely trying to score some time with an ex and got shot down as he should when you abandon your ex with a turkey, as he quickly scoops up Natasha and Alice while their out one night planning some snack crimes. Natasha uses her needles to escpe at Alice's begging… and is forced to leave her closest friend behind and warn the others…

Turns out Wicket CAN somehow sink lower than conning a young lady into leaving home and then dumping her with a turkey as we find out the Mice have been carrying his story around like a legend: Alice and Natasha aren't from these fields (the other two are), but even they knew the story every mice has told to them.. and unlike the cat and the owl it's less a cute bedtime story and mor ea dire legend of an ancient evil to come back.

Wicket was once the terror of these lands, attacking the mice until one brave mouse, the Golden Mouse, stood up to him. She managed to get the bastards wing wedged in a bird cage. As it turns out Wicket's stay at Quinn Farms was simply to keep the mice from finishing the job while he was still weak. They kept informed thanks to Clover, one of the animals that Wicket was said to have harassed, but wicket eventually escaped, taking baba with him and using her to keep him safe till he was better. His return is simply some petty revenge. The Golden Mouse is long gone, but he refuses to let the mice get one over on him The Golden Mouse however was once again one step ahead and thus spread this legend through the generations so when he did return tehy'd be ready with a plan…. and Alice kicks off that plan, escaping and giving Wicket one simple sentence to bait the trap:

Their plan.. is not a very well thoguht out one past that. It's basically "fight an owl and hope we surivive" which even Elvis can see is more like 30% of a plan. Bea meanwhile plans to go interview the arch villian himself but thankfully Baba steps in to scoot her away before Wicket gets ANOTHER hostage. As Alice taunts wicket for a strip, revealing she knows the Golden Mouse's real name.. Agatha. She's a descident, as is Agnes. We also get a nice moment with Agnes and Puck and am I shippping a cat with a mouse?

eh not even in the top 10 weirdest thing's i've shippped. Pucky and Aggie for life. We also get a sweet moment as the plan draws nearer, with Baba more than confident in the mice, even nicer sine the two are reguarly at odds every day, but hey they both have a common enemy. If you can't team up with the robbers you sho away to against their satanic figure who happens your ex when CAN you?

So the fight approaches, on the Big Pink House's lawn no less (broadcast saftely since Wicket dosen't watch the news), but Puck is worried for his friends, and figures they need an extra distraction… and to get the rodent's perspective, the cats gift Agnes a little something something

The fight approaches.. and puck has a revelation of how they can turn the tide so Wicket dosen't tear those meeses to pieces

And with that the plan begins.. and is just… one of the most awesome manuverse i've seen in a comic. Yes including the giant bubbling vat of super hero comics i've read

And with that Bea has the time she needs to unscrew the lid blinding wicket as he chases after our heroines.. and with a small assist from the july bug being his annoying self.. wicket is defeated (old man And thus peace is restored. Baba suprisingly takes what Bea did well, figuring she did the right thing and that she can make up the near heart attack by helping her with some light chores, something Bea happily agrees to.. and with that our heroes bid goodbye to the july bug.. and for some time.. to us.

The Wicket Arc.. is probably the series best so far. Goldie's intro comes close and there's PLENTY of good material, but this arc is one of a kind, taking us from the usual slice of life afairs with the cosional danger to an out and out epic. It's still kept in reality despite the mice spreadin git as a legend, but it's the one time our heroes face an out an dout villian, and it ties into just about everything so far: the robber mice arc, baba, bea's intro last arc. Every character gets to show up , almost all of them get something great or small to do (Tabitha made a cameo grumbling about not being able to just go out and fight Wicket), it's one giant pile of payoffs you didn't know had setups and a grand way to close out this run. My only regret is that it gets left out of the newspaper run and while they made a new story to make up for the ghost story gettting ommitied, this one didn't mak eit. It's likely for similar reasons to said ghost arc: the various newspaper clippings, murals and other stuff just coudln't be condensed into 4 panels well enough and unlike the ghosts, Wicket hasn't needed to be reintroduced yet. As of this writing he's still at the animal shelter and has only been mentioned in a characters in character blog. Still it's one of the series best and highlyw orth your time. And while it is an ending of sorts there's still a few littl ebits sprinkled around the rest of 2016 and the start of 2017 to adress before we tune out for a day.

Oddds and Ends:

The first is a 2 week arc that feels like a tryout, done in a newspaper style (four panels for dailes, sunday every 6 days, you know the deal). It's a fun enough one as the people have a party, Elvis guards the coats, Puck searches for missing ham and Lupin gets his heart broken

It's a fun arc, nothing too heavy but after the fairly detailed and epic Wicket Arc, we needed a bit of a break. We get our final arc on the site later this year with an our IX lives christmas special. Our IX Lives is an in universe soap opera, following Kit Chase as he romances Angora, an uptown kitty whose dad is determined to marry her to local jackass brad and will fake as many illnesses as he has to to make it happen.. but suprise brad sucks even worse, a car chase insues… it's a whole thing. I'm not recapping this arc as it's not really something to analize, it's really funny and uses the kinds of sets cats would use to film a soap well: there's laundry mountains, the sets are all card board and the bad guys guns are sprayer bottles, foiled by the long lost cast member captain nimble, who naturally is a sea cat and immune to water. I highly recommend checking it out. It also dosen't have a ton of character to analyize: it's a great arc, it's just at it's heart an over the top soap opera parody. It's not the first, but the world building, the fact that unlike our main cats actions nothing about how it functions is explained and the over the top nature of it, such as Angora being about ot faint at any moment and her sister grumbling at her helplesness, makes it a treasure. It even gets Elvis into the show.

But otherwise for most of the year the site went on a station break while Georgia prepared for the newspaper run. Elvis naturally is drug into it. The only real big change that affects the future is an explination for Pucky's coloring changing from kind of grayish to full on black as intended. And so we transition to the next stage as Burt redits the old broadcasts and suprises our heroes; they'll be printedi n the newspaper, a sneaky way for georgia to have the reports be an actaual in universe thing, and with that.. our heroes celebrate the fine tradition their joining.

Year 3 is defined by it's arcs, but iwth two very strong arcs and some nice bonus stuff as the strip readies for it's next chapter, it's a good way to close things out, a satisfyign conclusion to an era… while leaving the door open for a brand new chapter. It's one of the strips best and a peak most of the strips best mateiral since aspires to.. and as we'll see many reach

For now though we bid adieu for this month. Next we take a look at said new chapter as our Cats reset the clock to reintroduce our world.. but sprinkle in a few new stories. I'll be taking a look at this era: what changed between versions, the new stories sprinkled in, the new running arcs, and the new format. It's going to be fantastic.. see you next month and thanks for reading.

[augory]

and here’s the mid/late act 2 update. As a warning, much discussion of actual plot stuff. Also long lol.

Lucanis’ fade quest was so bad. I’m such a sucker for “entering the mind of a person” type of fantasy plots because they typically are filled with nuclear-level cathartic revelations. But this was so clumsy and had no emotion. Just a nothing burger of an otherwise good idea.

It bears repeating but the combat is fun and clearly so well balanced. The number of times I’ve been like “shit this is harder than I thought. I gotta focus.” or, in the last big moments of a boss fight, genuinely thought I wasn’t going to make it, only to rewardingly eek through. Clearly by design and well done.

The number of 3 minute davrin “quests” are killing me. I wouldn’t mind if everyone had an equal number of low-key quests, but it seems like davrin is always hitting me up to feed apples to his horse for 5 minutes on our veilguard lunch break

The romances…. Where to begin. This game is chaste beyond belief. I’m not asking, or even want (given BioWare’s history of kinda jank romance animation) anything elaborate. But this feels bizarrely sanitized compared to contemporary titles or even its franchise predecessors.

I romanced Emmrich as a mourn watcher and have found it overall narratively fun. I can’t get enough the haunted mansion “spooky fun” shit, I admit. I will say, it’s not very… dragon age… in tone. But I am having fun so who cares.

The emmrich plotline is good. I need to sleep on it, but overall I think it’s the best in the game because the end decision is hard and has impact. I still don’t know if I made the right choice, and it’s killing me. I think that’s the hallmark of a good, tough BioWare decision.

Lich emmrich is sooooo dos2 Fane. Absolutely no way BioWare didn’t have fane’s picture pinned to their vision board. Anyway, as a fane fan, I’m not complaining.

I will say, I don’t think making emmrich a lich is the best for the romance arc. I’m doing it, but I think it’s not going to be super narratively fulfilling. I guess we’ll see but.. yeah.

The reason the emmrich arc is good because it’s probably the best “grey morality” decision BioWare has done in a bit. Putting manfred aside, the lich path is basically a cop out for emmrich and his fear of death, even if he does technically “die” in the ritual. But then again… he does die, and is much better for it. I think the game does a good job making this a toughie.

Also lmao emmrich lich does look sick as hell.

I love neve, but her plotline villain is so unmemorable. they all deserve a Johanna-level villain counterpart. Illario is also kind of boring I’m sorry

Bellara… more than ever I feel you are Merrill reboot. I like you so much, but I cannot disentangle my bitterness that Merrill is not in the game as a cameo. (It’s because Merrill would unfuck so many plot points…. )

I like all the titan and Harding plotlines. Good and interesting, no notes

I have a lot of opinions on taash, which are basically impossible to articulate. Their identity, and relationship with their mother hits very close to home. I don’t like hearing people say their dialogue/arc is hamfisted, because I’ve lived those conversations word for word. I think it’s really great that my exact lived experienced now exists, immortalized in a fantasy video game. But it’s also really weird to watch and not… fun. For me personally.

I’m not really sure if maybe this is a first playthrough thing, but it seems like companion bond is really uneven. Like I barely take Harding anywhere because her bond is always so high comparatively, but it feels like I’m always dragging taash everywhere for approval

here’s a big long read more of all my veilguard thoughts that I’m just going to update periodically. spoilers ahead 🫡

20 hours:

It’s a good game! I’m having tons of fun with the combat especially and love I can respec for free. I’m seeing so much negativity on here and I’m not sure I get it. Obviously not everything is perfect, but overall a perfectly good time

It’s extremely funny they made solas have way more chemistry with rook than lavellan. sometimes things that are a little antagonistic are hotter!

Locking me out of side quests on the Treviso/minrathous decision without warning pissed me off soooo bad. I was racing to get all the companions and was going to go back and do companion quests and now I missed out. Biggest complaint so far

Some of the abilities are just loud and bright and don’t have the dramatic weight of some spells in prior games. So far nothing feels as good as like conjuring a blizzard or fist of the maker, etc

Taash I was unfamiliar with your game…. Unexpectedly one of my fave companions

I feel like I spend 80% of my time obsessively breaking crates and I wish I wasnt… but it’s objectively not a waste of time technically so I can’t stop. I wish they hadn’t implemented this loot mechanic tbh

I don’t think the dialogue is bad but I get why people aren’t enjoying it. It’s very very polished and can sometimes feel a little inorganic. This is why I really like taash I think

Laughed out loud when I realized the gift giving cutscenes were literally just the companion saying “thanks” and then done

I can’t believe I can’t dye armor in this game. Crazy oversight

I like bellara but like. We have Merrill at home… (this was not my first impression but as time went on there are so many eerie narrative similarities she feels like a soft reboot of my girl)

Mae looked so good, and Dorian was fine. Isabela….. no comment

The heavy incorporation of your background into so many interactions is powerful! Really good stuff there

25 hours

The characterization on assan and davrin is so funny. Like, they really gave the grey warden a narrative you’d find in a horse girl movie lmao

I feel like these maps are more confusing and overwhelming than any open world map could ever hope to be

That said, I am enjoying doing the side quests and whatnot more than expected. Usually just the right size and length to be fun without overstaying their welcome

I also think the exploration puzzles are generally well done. Not hard enough to be frustrating (usually) but enough to make you feel a small sense of accomplishment for completing them. They are fairly repetitive though

I really like that you can increase your bond with companions just by taking them on missions. That feels very natural to me

Am I supposed to care about any of these recurring faction NPCs lol

I got my specialization and those spells seem to have more of the “heft” I was looking for in terms of feeling cool/powerful to cast

[emileesaurus]

MORE AMC RAMBLING some positive, mostly negative, I'd cut this for length but I'm on mobile and I don't know how to do that 🤡

I have to admit to being charmed by the cast in interviews almost entirely against my will, and particularly the enthusiasm with which they talk about the books. I still think all three of them are way too old for the parts, but their passion for the roles absolutely shows through. I think they'll do a great job with whatever they're given.

I'll be really interested to see them talk about the changes to Louis's character in particular, because the Louis in the leaks I've seen couldn't be more different from the Louis in the book, like, all the way down to his motivation for becoming a vampire (grief and religious despair vs the desire to escape the restrictions of life as a Black man in the '20s, apparently). There's the scene of him in the confessional in the trailer, and that's sort of on the right track, but that's the closest I've seen to canon Louis, and it's a wholly made up scenario... idk! I mostly get the sense that they didn't like his character in the books, and wanted him to be less sensitive/philosophical/sad and more assertive/confident/combative (the "more of a spine" comment pisses me off, lol). We'll see when there's actual clips out whether or not they kept any of his book personality intact -- I hope so! I'd like to see Jacob's take on Louis's gentler more sensitive side, if it makes it into the show.

I'm skeptical about the approach they're taking to the relationship, even if it is explicitly queer, because I think taking too much of Lestat's word for how the relationship happened plays into real life patterns of taking the abuser's side and downplaying the victim's. Again, we'll see. They've said some cute/promising stuff, though, and I'd love to believe that it'll look like the relationship I enjoy, but I'm worried they've changed the setup and personalities and backstories (oof, 100+ year old Lestat) too much for me to see it as the ship instead of just a ship.

I just wish I got any sense of the same reverence for the books from the showrunners! The cast seems so sincerely passionate, but RJ and MJ are talking up the show like it'll replace the movie and maybe even the original book, lol. I feel like I'm being gaslit every time I see them say it'll be more accurate to the books than the movie was, because so far we've seen literally nothing from the books whatsoever. I'd honestly be more confident if they went into what they changed and why, and how they expect it to effect the story... but all I'm hearing right now is "it's no big deal, just trust me bro." And I don't, because I've seen Rolin's last reboot, and it was exactly the same as this one looks so far, but less gay.

Anyway every time I see one of the actors saying something, I'm like "maybe it will be good???" But then I remember how little control actors have over the finished product, and I look at the sweeping structural and narrative changes and how nothing about Louis's life or personality is the same and how Claudia is eternally mid puberty and how Lestat apparently spent the entire 19th century just fucking around by himself and how they meet 120 years after the book is supposed to be set and how the setup for Louis and Lestat meeting is wildly different and how they can be awake during the day and how they have retractable fangs and get blood everywhere when they eat and how Daniel fucked up the first interview so bad he never became a vampire and has to do a second interview in 2022 in Louis's Dubai penthouse while he's dying of cancer or something and how the showrunner says this is more accurate than the movie script Anne wrote even though there's nothing from the books actually in it as far as we've seen and I just don't know, man.

I also desperately wish there were uhhhhh literally any women on the writing/directing/producing team 💀💀💀 my dudes it is 2022 and you've chosen to set this in a Storyville brothel and make one of your characters a teenage girl experiencing forever-puberty and also the book was written by a woman and idk, it just makes me feel reeeeeally really skeptical, all things considered.

[decepti-thots]

Hey you said that some of the transformers comics were jumping in price bc of paper shortages and limited prints due to poor sales. Is that true basically across the board, and they might go down if IDW prints more of them? I'm trying to collect the phase two hardcover collections and for some reason I can find all of them at retail price or lower, but there's like 3 copies of volume 5 online at any given time and they're 3-4x the retail price, and it's driving me crazy. (and the fact that it looks like phase 3 doesn't include the last 2-3 volumes-worth or so, and I can't tell if they just haven't published it yet, or it's going from limbo straight to never-published hell thanks to the reboot and IP sale...)

Ohhh this is about my SotW TPB post I take it?

So all the below is 100% conjecture for the record, and it is perfectly likely that I am wrong in every regard, but this is just what I've seen discussed these past few years in both fandom and publishing generally. Grain of salt, etc. Sorry to go into wayyy more detail than you asked for anon, but I figure while we're here and since I've seen people ask similar questions, may as well give all the advice I have to offer!

So yes, the reason they have jumped in price is they're out of print, period, and it is indeed more or less across the board bar brand new releases (which are likely getting 1-2 printings tops) as far as anyone can tell. We think this has been the case for a while, actually. A lot of stuff just didn't fully sell out everywhere so the last few copies in stock made it seem "in print" for a lot of titles, but then when IDW lost the license and people ran to buy up copies, well. Turns out those were just leftovers, mostly? So the prices started going way up.

The hypothesis in fandom is that IDW has almost certainly been running on a 'reprint only if needed' policy for at least some of their books for quite some time now, putting off doing new print runs for trades to avoid slapping a lot of cash down for a run that might take years to sell out and fully make a profit. Because again, publishing right now is expensive and risky for various reasons, so the threshold gets higher and higher before you want to go for it, especially for something as high-cost as full colour comics, especially for smaller print runs period.

So the stuff that the original print runs of haven't sold out yet are going for RRP, and that includes a lot of the more recent books, plus just some random older ones. Once they sell out, the price skyrockets. This leads to weird, random stuff being way more expensive, like volume 5 of the IDW phase 2 collection as you said, or volume 8 of MTMTE (saw one of those go for £110 not long ago).

(Also, stuff that came out before this was likely to be quite so big an issue isn't as badly hit even once out of print. LSotW is much cheaper than SotW despite both being out of print and both being in high demand. Why? LSotW probably got more and/or larger print runs. Not just because it's been out longer, but because when it was out, IDW may not have been as shy about when they reprinted stuff. See also: AHM is cheap as hell still, it's not as in demand and they probably just... printed way more copies total before the problem struck.)

For most of the TF stuff that's just sort of. It, really. They're not re-printing when the license is going next year, why would you. Buy whatever you can now tbh, if it's worth it to you; there's already MTMTE volumes on UK ebay not only being offered for £100+ but bought for £100, which means it's not people trying their luck and failing.

For the hardback collection volumes, though, there is the caveat people have speculated whether it's remotely possible IDW have retained the rights to finish publishing the rest of those comics in that specific collection past 2022. That is PURE speculation to be clear and not backed up by anything solid. The sole reason a few people think this is that they are, as you say, going ahead with the next phase three omnibus release as late as September 2022, which neither brings them remotely close to finishing the series nor makes a lot of sense if they are hoping to get them all out before losing the license January 2023. So we're wondering if they're not scrapping it because the transfer of rights allowed them to keep those in print, in which case maaaaybe reprints of earlier volumes will happen... but on the other hand maybe they're just. Gonna release a random last volume and let it end uncompleted. WHO KNOWS.

All of this may be eased somewhat if the new rights holder chooses to re-print IDW1 comics to make some cash off them, of course! The caveat being, there's a lot of IDW1 comics that just aren't... well remembered or beloved the way stuff like e.g. Wreckers is, so unless they specifically pick up the hardback omnibus series that covers the entire run, it's unlikely we'll see every comic physically reprinted even then. Some of this stuff is probably never going to see a physical re-release. Alas. They're a lot more likely to do a fancy MTMTE/LL omnibus release than like. Any of the random IDW1 crossover comics. (Which, sure, they're not worth it or anything half the time, but on principle it makes me sad, haha.)

tl;dr: it's not likely to get better for these versions, and we won't know til it's too late if the new comic publisher will make new versions. sorry. :(

[atopfourthwall]

Ive only recently gotten into classic Star Trek so I don't think I can properly answer but what is it specifically about Discovery and recent Star Trek that classic Trek fans hate?

Putting this behind a cut because... it's a lot.

Well, first of all a big rejection of it is just on an aesthetic level. Up until the 2009 movie (which was considered a reboot, even with time travel elements), Star Trek tried to treat the original series and how it was portrayed as pretty sacrosanct. Sure, they might occasionally make jokes about goofier aspects of it and discard some of the stupider stuff (like how in the final episode, penned by Gene Roddenberry himself, that women weren't allowed to Captain starships), but how TOS looked? That's how the 23rd century looked. Buttons and multi-colored outfits and boxy computers and smooth, undetailed ships WAS what was appropriate for the time. When Scotty came back in TNG, they had him on the holodeck and it was the TOS bridge. When DS9 traveled back in time to that era for an episode? They went onto the Enterprise and visited it. When in an Enterprise 2-parter we had a TOS-era ship? It looked like a TOS ship. They even did a 2-parter on Enterprise to explain why Klingons had smooth foreheads when later (and earlier) they didn't. Star Trek up until then cared about maintaining that continuity of appearance. But Discovery is set in the TOS era... but nothing looks like TOS. Even when we got the Enterprise and those uniforms and we saw inside the ship, it was an upgraded form. The only logic I've seen people try to argue about WHY it doesn't look like it actually did was "Well, audiences won't accept something as cheap as TOS being futuristic." Well, then you've got a few responses there: -Don't set in TOS era, then. -That's horseshit, because audiences from the 90s through the 2000s accepted it just fine. Even a piece of dialogue from DS9 explained it perfectly: "I LOVE 23rd century design." It LOOKS cheap, but it was just the aesthetics of the period. And the Enterprise 2-parter it still looked good in HD. Hell, arguably it looked BETTER in HD because they knew how to light it and create mood and its own unique flavor. -It's even more horseshit because people are STILL going back and watching it even today, as indicated by you saying you've started watching it, so clearly it's not that much of a barrier. But what's even more egregious is the TECHNOLOGY. You might be able to accept updated aesthetics if at least matches what was present during the period... and it doesn't. Holographic displays and communication (holodeck technology AT ALL, frankly - it's possible it was there, but TNG seemed pretty adamant that the holodecks were fairly new, very impressive technology), weapons not looking or acting like they traditionally did, Enterprise and Discovery having R2D2-style repair droids that certainly did not exist in TOS, the wrong sound effects being frequently employed, replicator technology for good-looking food instead of food dispensers that gave out marshmallows and cubes, and honestly the tech level shown in Discovery looks just as advanced - if not MORE advanced than seen on TNG 100 years later. And this is a minor thing, but despite the attempt to make the future LOOK futuristic, from a cultural perspective, the future looks... way too damn similar to now. The excessive swearing (it was said in particular in Star Trek 4 that while they certainly did cuss, it was less common and they sure as hell weren't dropping F-bombs), a party on Discovery that looked like a rave (when previously it seemed like the most popular music and culture of the 23rd/24th century was considered fairly high-brow entertainment [classical music, Shakespeare, great works of literature and plays, etc.] - and while you could certainly argue that that snootiness and love of that stuff is a problem with Star Trek and a sign of how sterile and homogenized it is, THAT is the future they presented and a character in Voyager loving some of the goofier parts of 20th century culture like jukeboxes and old sci-fi serials was considered unusual), and just the general way people talk betrays the idea that the writers aren't thinking about how society changes in the future. It's just the modern day, but with cooler technology. But hey, let's set aside the general aesthetics - some people aren't going to mind that and find

ways to handwave away a lot of stuff (even Discovery season 2 TRIED to handwave away stuff like the holographic communications, but did a piss-poor job of it). This brings us to the problem of the WRITING. And the problem with the writing is a big Michael Burnham-shaped indentation. To be clear, I don't mind Michael as a character or her actress - there are interesting aspects to her, centering a Star Trek show around the science officer is a neat idea (though that means you should probably NAME IT AFTER HER and not around the ship, because it suggests this is a standard ensemble group and not JUST her)... but the actual execution is that it feels like the entire universe bends over backwards for HER. She has a unique relationship with a beloved longtime character that is retconned in. She has unique relationships with several important characters to the point where the fate of billions of people hinges on her and the decisions she makes. She is presented as almost always correct about everything, and those that oppose her are often wrong, naïve, or active enemies. Now, this is less of an issue in the third season - but that has its own unique problems - but in the first season, the resolution of two major storylines (mirror universe and the Klingon war) revolves around her and her relationship to the Terran Emperor and Lorca. In season 2, her mother trying to help or save her is the basis of the ENTIRE friggin' plot with time travel and the like, with special knowledge and history having to do with her and everyone ready to abandon their lives for her so she won't be alone when she has to go to the future when arguably they barely know her (the timeline of the show is debatable). Season 3 has a few different problems with her - the first is that she keeps being involved in things that don't concern her (why is she going down to Trill?) and she keeps violating orders. Now, her violating orders is a problem throughout the entirety of Discovery - in fact, it's kind of the instigating factor OF the series. And arguably, other Star Trek characters are guilty of that and they face no consequences, just as she faces none... and yet it's the brazenness with which it happens, and in those other series it's arguable because the series tries to avoid excessive continuity changes for its episodic nature, so the status quo MUST return to normal... but Discovery is pivoted as one of MAJOR continuity, so her lack of consequences (and indeed eventual PROMOTION) is baffling to the point of frustration. Now again, let me be clear here - she is not a bad character in and of herself. Honestly what it shows is that being the science officer on a starship is not where her talents lie. She should be in a position where she has a lot more freedom to act and not in a major command structure... but being in that command structure, what we see in season 3 is that she lacks the discipline, emotional maturity, responsibility, leadership qualities, and general other traits necessary to be a Captain. Only once during season 3 did she display such a quality - putting the safety of the Federation above a friend and colleague... but other times she will happily disobey orders and put herself and others in harm's way, creating potential new problems. Now, again, Star Trek is rife with characters doing that... but usually not the Captains. And, in fact, when this happened once on DS9 with one officer disobeying orders and putting their own personal feelings above the greater responsibility, it was made VERY clear that the incident would mean that they would never be able to command a starship because of the unofficial reprimand. What's even more frustrating about her is that the character is ALWAYS shoved to the forefront so much to the point where we just get sick of her. SHE is the one giving log entries (usually pretty piss-poor ones, at that - very flowery and nonsensical and kind of dumb) and not the Captain. SHE is the one given so much focus and how the plot of the episode affects her. Barely anyone else gets any focus episodes - I STILL can't

remember the names of some of the secondary characters because they're so rarely said, and a PTSD-related plotline in season 3 for one of the secondary characters basically gets resolved OFF-SCREEN. Michael would be fine if we actually had a chance to miss her... but we never do. Arguably one of the best episodes of the show is in season 2, when it focuses on Saru and his people because Michael DOES take a back seat. It's his story and his development and problems relating to him and his people. And even if, again, we forgave the idea of so much focus on her even in plots that aren't about her... she never seems to really change that much. She'll TALK about how she's changed, but I see no real difference in the way she acts (MAYBE season 1 to 2, where in season 1 she was stiffer and more Vulcan-like, but that's it). But hey, let's assume that's not a problem for you - you really, REALLY like Michael and are fine with so much focus on her. Simply put, the writing of the rest of the show... is just kind of dumb. The ship is powered by magic mushrooms that let it teleport everywhere because the universe has super fungus capillaries throughout it that nobody can see and also it's magic and can resurrect the dead. The time travel plot of season 2 doesn't make any sense when you sit down and diagram it. Well-established Trek lore is just kind of sprinkled in, but now in ways that doesn't match what it was before or at least in ways that completely recolor how it's supposed to work, because it needs to serve THIS plot. Everyone remembering a murdererous monster fondly after she leaves because "Hey, she was coooool." The explanation for the big mystery in season 3 is just fricking stupid and one of the two big reasons why I've finally given up on Discovery, because it's just so absurd, doesn't match how anything works, and just feels like the writers giving the middle finger to the audience because they care more about "YOU MUST FEEEEEEL THINGS!" instead of it making sense. And indeed, there is certainly a balance to be made of plot vs. emotion-driven storytelling - some stories are dumb, but are forgivable because the character writing and emotion are so strong that they override how goofy the plot is... but sometimes a plot is just so dumb it overrides anything I'm SUPPOSED to feel. And it would help if I already liked the show, already gave it some benefit of the doubt... but I don't and it hasn't done enough to impress me. A little thing that's a problem with ALL of current modern Trek shows is that whole sprinkling lore thing - I don't think a single episode goes by in ANY current modern Trek series that doesn't have a random reference to classic Trek lore. A name, a line of dialogue, etc. It comes across like the creators don't trust you to enjoy it on its own merits, but want you to like it because "Hey, remember thing? We know about thing! Like us because we mentioned thing!" But hey, I recognize that these are things that other people may not have any problem with or just disagree in general. But for me and my family, these are the big ones that keep us from enjoying it. Hell, my brother and dad still watch it for hatewatching purposes, but I was done after season 3. I gave it plenty of chances to impress me, and while each season MARGINALLY got better as it went along, I'm tired of waiting to actually like it and to stop feeling like it thinks I'm a fucking idiot. If other people still like it, great - it clearly appeals to them in a way that it doesn't appeal to me and they are free to enjoy it. Other people probably have their own issues, but this long, rambly bit is the major stuff for me.

[centaurianthropology]

The Babylon 5 reboot, what I would change (and keep)

So apparently there are talks to reboot B5 (thanks for the heads-up @ncfan-1), and now I’m thinking about rebooting B5.  We’re going to set aside the fact that it’s going to be on the CW, of all places, and I really don’t see how an old-school space opera is going to fly with their core demographic of teens.  It’s just an odd fit.  

Instead, I’m going to focus on things that I would love to see change, and things they better keep if they’re not cowards.

To Keep (You Cowards):

- Centauri hair.  It’s one of the most distinctive silhouettes in sci-fi.  In fact, lean into it.  Really get into the sense of fading opulence in their dress and mannerisms.  Outrageous hair and fashion, hell yeah.

-Accents.  Lean into this one, actually.  Everyone is speaking English without a translator, so accents should be everywhere.  I love the Minbari being Balkan.  I want the Centauri to be Eurotrash as hell.  The Narn ... who knows?  I just really love the sense that people had to work to communicate in the original series, and it really fed into the themes of the show.

-Grand, Shakespearean tragedy.  One of the things I love most about B5 is that it’s large.  It’s expansive in its tragedy and its gestures.  Things are heightened, a bit melodrama but a lot of Shakespeare.  Give me plenty of that.

-The Cartagia Arc.  Holy shit, everything about that arc was perfection.  I get that most of my Keep-It stuff is Centauri-related, but hey, that’s my jam.  

-Lockley.  I know she wasn’t the most popular, but if you’re still going to take John Sheridan on his whole messiah thing, I want someone from the other side to be given a sympathetic and interesting voice.

To Change (Sure, why not?)

-Gay it up.  There was a ton of subtext and hinting text in the original.  Some of it didn’t work out because of actor changes, some because the network wasn’t going to go for it.  Now that we’re in the 2020s, give us a proper relationship between Ivanova and Talia.  Give us Londo and G’Kar doing the proper enemies-to-star-crossed-lovers thing (and if we want to throw in Vir and Lennier, I personally would be over the moon).  

-Cultural differences and relativism.  I would love to see a space opera really explore cultural differences in a respectful and interesting way, where each species has different cultures and politics.  I know it would be complex, but I would love each faction to be fractious, with different religions, cultures, etc.  B5 sort of explored this, but I want to see way more.

-Give the denouement of the Shadow War proper room to breathe.  I get that they thought they were being canceled, so they had to rush through the end of the Shadow War so they could get into the Earth War, but after two seasons of killer build-up, it sort of felt anticlimactic.  So, a full season of end-of-Shadow-War stuff, with the Cartagia arc dovetailing into it, and then a full season of Earth War to wrap things up (we’re keeping a few things about season 5, but that season needs heavy revisions beyond what I can discuss here.  Just ... so many).

-Complicate John Sheridan.  His whole messiah arc always stuck me as off.  I was honestly on Garibaldi’s side for a lot of it, thinking there was something seriously wrong with it, and I would like to see that explored in way more depth.  Have him be flawed.  Have him not be messianic, but someone struggling and failing with expectations and ‘destiny’.  

-Complicate all the things even more.  The best thing about B5 was the muddiness of ethics and politics and the hard decisions and terrible consequences everyone faces.  So lean into that.  Make things even more complicated.  There are people trying to be good, but they will fail.  There are people who make terrible decisions and have to find some way back to salvation.  Londo’s redemption arc is pitch-perfect in the original, and I would love to see more of the characters get these sorts of arcs and these sorts of falls and slow crawls back to the light.

I’d love to hear other thoughts and ideas about things to change and things to absolutely keep.  Feel free to add your own!  As we all wait with mixed feelings to see if this reboot even gets off the ground, we can at least have a little fun.

[fizzingwizard]

So I’m sure you’re ALL on tenterhooks to find out what I thought of episode 36... the answer is.... LOVED IT!!!! No I really did. If you like Taishiro friendship, this is an essential episode to watch. Doesn’t blow me out of the water, but still just good.

Although Taichi has a big something to do as usual, it’s still very much a Koushirou episode. FREAKING YAY. I have a dozen thoughts about it, and what bugs me the most, of course, is how we needed this episode AGES ago ugh. But we’ve now had two or three episodes in a row that have actually felt like Digimon Adventure, so perhaps all that finger-crossing is working?

They could unravel all that good work in a minute by never addressing it again... or not letting Koushirou show his personality unless it’s his “turn” for an episode from here on... but you know, I will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Pic of the day:

“I don’t like people. But they are occasionally useful.” - 2020 Izumi Koushirou’s life lesson, lmao

*The red strip at the top is about the big earthquake that hit Eastern Japan yesterday. It’s annoying to have it there for the entire episode - usually they only stick around for a couple minutes - but this WAS a large earthquake. It caused many people to lose power. So making sure everyone knows what’s going takes precedence over Sunday morning cartoons. (I’m in Osaka and didn’t even feel it, but my friends in Tokyo prefecture very much did.)

Lots and LOTS of ranting from a rabid Taishiro fan under the cut!

(also I didn’t check for typos so. yeah)

The episode starts right off by assuring us this is a Koushirou episode. We get the trademark Izumi Koushirou floating in the void of space sequence, which is excellent and very encouraging framing.

Koushirou Kenobi: “Use the force, Taichi.”

Taichi: “Use it yourself.”

(the episode in a nutshell)

The initial thing that bugged me - okay, so the kids got separated for the umpteenth time many episodes ago, and since then we’ve stuck to Taichi like barnacles. The only glimpses we’d get of the other kids showed: Yamato running towards something, Koushirou flying towards something while researching the satellite malfunction, Jou in the hot springs, and Mimi at the crystal caves. For Jou and Mimi, I don’t care, because they never tried to move, but Yamato and Koushirou were constantly moving. Yet, in the end, it’s Taichi’s group that catches up with Koushirou, rather than the other way around. It DOES make sense - it seems like Koushirou told them to “meet at the giant gold pillar” because that’s where they needed to be to save the world, so it became the rendezvous point. But it just bugs me because, once again, all the activity is on Taichi’s side. But that’s a minor quibble. The end result is still THIS:

More of the team is together!!! Taichi and Koushirou are together!!! Yaaayy!!!

... the betting pool for how long it will be till the next separation is now open >.>

Poor Komodomon’s long mop dog fur is so dirty. “Fizz his fur always looks like that.” He’s tracking mud everywhere. “Fizz look at his ears his fur is supposed to look that way.” Next episode - everyone gives Komondomon a bath.

So the start of this episode is just a bunch of talking about how dire things are with the satellite situation. I’m not gonna bother translating. Watch the sub when it’s out if you really want to know :P The important thing is, the gold pillar is directly causing the malfunction, no one on Earth can stop the satellite from plummeting to Tokyo, the city is being evacuated, and there are only 20 minutes till impact.

Koushirou has an elaborate plan which Sora adorably sums up as “So, we’re gonna shoot it out of the sky *makes punching motion*”

The crux of Koushirou’s plan hinges on a repeat of how Omegamon saved Tokyo from the missile way back in like, episode 2 or 3. Taichi says, “Yeah, but I barely remember how we did that.” Which is hilarious because I don’t remember either because it was 30 EPISODES AGO. Once again this episode feels like it was meant to happen WAY EARLIER THAN IT DID. It’s just weird to be referencing something that happened 30 episodes ago after everything else that’s happened, AND on top of that, there are many references in this episode and none from later than like, episode 10 or 12. Making this all seem very oddly timed.

I’m not quite sure if, within the story itself, it matters that Taichi “doesn’t remember well.” He also doesn’t remember the Devimon battle where he and Agumon were infected with dark energy. That one makes sense for him not to remember. If that hadn’t happened, I would just take his “I don’t remember how we stopped the missile” to just mean it was so long ago. But together, it’s making me wonder if something else is going on.

Or maybe Taichi’s just been hit on the head one too many times (okay, that seems the most likely of all, haha)

People of Tokyo: Is it Godzilla again? I heard he’s itching to fight King Kong. You know, given how often our city is attacked by kaiju, some might wonder why we haven’t moved away by now. But home is home, ya know?

The group sets up to fly to the peak of the gold pillar. Obviously, without Yamato, there’s no Omegamon. No one points this out, but Koushirou seems very stressed with his plan, and it seems that he contacted Taichi in the first place because he thought “Taichi’s the one who can pull this off.”

After hearing the plan, Taichi shoots him through the heart with another “Koushirou, you’re so awesome!” and YAY I MISSED THIS SO MUCH!!!!!! *sobs*

Then he does his best to reassure Koushirou by remaining positive and determined that they can and will do this no matter how much Koushirou waves. The majority of the episode is them flying up the pillar while being assaulted by enemies trying to stop them, so it’s not like they get to talk about their feelings (lol). But at least we get a bunch of close ups of Koushirou’s and Taichi’s expressions, and that’s how we see this dynamic in play. Yes, Koushirou is the brainy one who made the plan, but he doesn’t have the confidence to take the lead, so he handed the reins to Taichi. As for Taichi - yes he has the confidence, yes he can do it... but he also has absolute faith in Koushirou. So that’s why this episode makes my little Koushirou fanatic heart skip a beat.

First of the enemies is this guy, aptly named BladeKuwagamon.

They’re actually pretty scary! They do real damage. (Blood in Digimon word is glowy unicorn-like stuff haha). Birdramon gets stabbed, but before Sora can get too upset, she just yanks the blade out of her chest...

... and then crushes it into dust with her beak.

Sora: Holy crap, my partner is metal AF.

Forgot to mention earlier but 5 whole minutes of the 20 minute countdown are used up just by digivolving apparently xD Taichi keeps asking Koushirou “how much time is left” and Koushirou’s panic grows more visible with each passing second...

MetaLiffeKuwagemon looks cooler than he is. Supposedly he’s there to bring out the big guns, but to be honest...

... the BladeKuwagamon don’t seem to need the help :P The enemy’s strategy is obvious: isolate each member of the team to prevent anyone from getting to the top. This is why Koushirou’s so stressed: he’s got a plan that is totally reliant on there being a leader strong enough to pull it off AND there being enough backup to protect that leader from the large number of enemies. And Koushirou doesn’t like these odds.

Garudamon gets stabbed AGAIN

Sora: Go on, we’ll be fine.

Taichi: Are you sure??

Garudamon: *DESTROYS EVERYTHING WITH FIRE*

I MEAN HONESTLY! Garudamon is not only my favorite of Piyomon’s evolutions, it’s pretty much my favorite Adventure evolution. Always has been since I was 11 years old. And she (and Sora) NEVER get that credit. Like. Growing up, with US dub Adventure, I interpreted Sora as more of a straight up tomboy than she is in the original. That’s okay, that’s whatever, but what was most important to me was that I saw her as the third “strong” member along with Taichi and Yamato. Those two were clearly in a class above her, but I saw her as being in the same “Taiorato” league. Garudamon seemed to prove that: she was so cool, so powerful, and... yeah, I just always thought she had so much potential to be awesome and never got why it wasn’t used. That’s also why I was disappointed in Tri - like, I liked Soushitsu, but I just wanted more from Sora’s arc. Same thing in Kizuna: I understand Sora’s arc, I don’t hate it or anything - I think it makes sense for her. But since I wanted something different for her all those years ago, it just left me feeling a bit flat.

but enough about other Digimon series :P Garudamon gets to be super cool here and I only hope we get to see more of it in this reboot. I’ll forgive it some of its other mistakes if we do :D

With Takeru/Hikari and Sora isolated by the BladeKuwagamon, it’s up to Taichi and Koushirou alone to race against the clock! Their teeth are clenched, sweat runs in rivulets down their skin, their hearts are pounding in desperation...

Koushirou: Taichi-san! If we don’t get to the top soon it’ll be too late!

Taichi: Just don’t call me late for dinner!

Koushirou: ASDFGHJKL;’ DAD JOKES NOW?? REALLY????????

MetaLiffeKuwagamon makes life that much harder by knocking them against the pillar. However, this is a pillar of data, which enabled the BladeKuwagamon to evolve into MetaLiffeKuwagamon in the first place. Bugs aren’t that bright.

Taichi and MetalGreymon are nearly submerged inside the pillar as a result, and then we get this sequence of red and black. The pillar had been emitting dark lightning, so I started to think... omg... is MetalGreymon gonna get a Dark Evolution???????

.... Nah. That would have made sense, but.... nah :P

Overall I’m glad though, because that would really have turned this into a Taichi episode instead of a Koushirou one.

I’m not personally certain what the point of bringing BlitzGreymon out was. I had figured he would be like, a super fast evolution that would enable them to make it to the top. That would also have turned this into a Taichi episode. But...

... Taichi tells Koushirou that he will have to go divert the satellite because Taichi has to deal with MetaLiffeKuwagamon.

I was both really pleased and really surprised. Because, again, now what’s the point of BlitzGreymon...? Why did we need a new Agumon evolution? There’s no particular reason why they couldn’t have just isolated Taichi with the enemy the same way the others were and had him tell Koushirou to keep going on his own then. They did do that, but first they gave him a new evolution. Why? Just because it’s cool?? I assume that must be the reason but we don’t even see BlitzGreymon fight xD It’s... it’s weird. But whatever.

Taichi: Go, Koushirou!!!!! You can do it!!!!!

Fiz: *dies a thousand brilliant deaths*

So, Koushirou tells Taichi that he can’t do it - he can support Taichi, but he can’t take the lead. Taichi’s just like that’s wack, dude, of course you can do it. What I LOVE about Taichi and Koushirou’s dynamic is just that: Taichi never sees Koushirou as a weakling. The fact that he’s small, or that he’s brains over brawn, or even that he’s kinda antisocial - those are all reasons an energetic, extroverted kid like Taichi might bully, or at least think poorly, of Koushirou.

But Taichi values Koushirou. He knows how hard he works and is impressed both by that hard work and his talent. What’s more, he doesn’t see Koushirou’s brains as his support system. The whole time Koushirou’s thinking he’s there to support Taichi with his plan, Taichi was thinking, “I’m here to support Koushirou’s plan.” That is SO, SO important. And that’s why I LOVE this episode. The one thing the reboot seemed to really understand, that hooked me from the start, was the way it just GOT Taichi and Koushirou. They each support and follow each other, while each feeling like the other is better than them. Ugh I could like, cry over Taishiro now... omg....

Taichi is successful in pushing Koushirou to go on, but of course Koushirou himself is still plagued with doubts. He reflects on how he’s always been fine being alone. He hasn’t particularly wanted friends and didn’t mind not having them, even though adults worried.

(Side note: this is a normal, if kinda rare, personality trait. I have it too. I always score Koushirou on “what Digimon character are you?” tests too lmao. Just like some people feel the need to be surrounded by others at all times, there are those whose social needs are very very low. I’m one of them. There’s nothing wrong with it except that even those people can get lonely and it’s easy to misunderstand them as shy or snobby. So what I love about Koushirou is, yes he learns to value his relationships more, but also learns to value himself. He is Koushirou: a brainy kid who’s happy on his own, but also happy with friends. While some people, like Mimi, struggle with that aspect of his personality, others, like Taichi, just accept it. To me that’s the best life lesson there is: there are always people who can and will be friends with you. Yes, I’ve lost friends because I just wasn’t social enough for them. But I have other friends who I’ve known for literal decades now. And I REALLY love those friends.)

Koushirou feels grateful that he has AlturKabuterimon, and also that he has Taichi. So... here he is, reflecting on the last time he had meaningful interaction with that great friend Taichi... back in episode three. -____________-

Seriously, this would mean a lot more if this dynamic had been built on continually until this episode...

Koushirou then briefly reflects on each of the other Chosen. Notably, every single solo image of them is from an episode that Koushirou either wasn’t in or wasn’t with them at the moment. Then we get this group image. It’s from EPISODE 12. (I’m actually not sure of the episode number but the point is, it’s from A LONG LONG TIME AGO. I think it’s the swamp episode??) That drives me NUTS. We shouldn’t have to reach soooo far back to find meaningful moments!!! Urk.

Koushirou makes it to the peak of the pillar and AlturKabuterimon attacks the satellite to drive it off course. We see the impression of what looks to be HerculesKabuterimon and I really thought we’d get an evolution - it seemed way more appropriate than freaking BlitzGreymon - but nope.

Oh well. Koushirou still saves the day. The people at home get to see the Crest of Knowledge take over their screens, hopefully giving rise to the idea that a nerd superhero is protecting them. Koushirou is the hero we deserve.

The satellite falls into the water. I was like, shouldn’t that cause a tsunami lol?

... be careful what you wish for >_>;

fortunately people were evacuated soooo things will be okay.

He did it!! He’s so happy! AlturKabuterimon’s triumphant holler is adorable.

Taichi and BlitzGreymon fought hard OFF SCREEN!! OFF SCREEN!! HIP HIP HOORAY! And then we get to see him leaning on Sora T_T could this episode give me any more perfect moments?? Looooove it

So yeah, if you can’t tell, I’m thrilled with this episode. There are just a couple things I would have liked to improve: better animation, at least one palpable heart to heart between Taichi and Koushirou, or just a bit more time spent explictly in Koushirou’s head - but honestly we got something that is pretty darn good, especially for this reboot. I hope we do get more like this, both for Koushirou and for the others. I hope the growth here isn’t forgotten moving forward. I really, REALLY want to see more of that “I lead, you support me - you lead, I support you” mutually beneficial relationship that is the foundation of Taishiro <3

So next week! Mimi’s back and the heads are gonna roll!

Lmao!

My theory that she’s finding crystals to make Crests seems unlikely to be the case now that we know the rocks constract the rock Digimon. But... hey, we’ll find out next week.

Also Taichi’s gonna make this face after talking with Mimi bahahahaha. I can’t wait.

[amanda-teaches]

Almost Paradise

Summary: Dean finds himself looking at pictures of old loves. Will he ever be able to find that paradise again?

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Square filled: Feelings Accidentally Revealed for @spnfluffbingo​, Kissed to Keep Quiet for @spndeanbingo​ and “I’m sorry, did I step on your moment?” for @spnquotebingo​

Word Count: 1558

Warnings: A little angst and Dean beating up on himself, one swear word, the rest is fluffy confessions and stuff with just a hint of smut

A/N: This is for the incomparable @atc74​‘s Duets Reboot Challenge. I got Almost Paradise by Mike Reno and Ann Wilson, so you’re getting some romance today. I hope y’all enjoy!

He hadn’t meant to pull out the photos, didn’t even know why he still had them. Lisa was on top, of course, pictures of her and Ben, and the three of them together, but, underneath, there were others. Cassie, his first love, Robin, his first kiss, Jo...so many abandoned chances, lost futures. Futures lost because of him.

“Hey, Dean, you okay in there?”

He swallowed hard, shoving the pictures back into the box, which he hastily threw under the bed just as the door opened, silhouetting Y/N standing in the dim, hallway light.

He glanced down at the floor, quickly standing from where he was perched on the edge of the bed. “Uh, Y/N, yeah...what’s up?”

She studied him carefully for a second, eyebrows furrowing with unspoken questions. “Nothing. I just wanted to check on you. You seemed a little weird earlier.”

He cleared his throat, his eyes landing everywhere but hers. “I’m fine. Long day is all.”

She hesitated for a second, and he could tell without even looking that she didn’t believe him. “Okay. I’ll, uh, see you in the morning?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled, not even bothering to wait for a response before turning his back on her. It wasn’t until he heard the door close behind him that he let out his breath, bending back down to pick up the box. He lifted the lid one last time, his hand falling on the one picture he hadn’t looked at yet, the one that had long-since become crinkled and worn from years of handling. 

Y/N.

Falling in love with her hadn’t been instantaneous. It wasn’t the lightning striking, all-incomposing realization he’d expected. It was a series of soft smiles, late nights, deep laughs, and tender hugs. It was bonding over shared interests and fighting over food preferences. It was a friendship that had grown into so much more, more than anything he’d ever experienced with any of the others.

He fingered the tears on the edges of the picture and let his finger roam, tracing her smile. It was from that day at the beach five years ago, her eyes squinting into the sunlight, her hair windswept all around her. He was pretty sure she’d never looked more radiant.

His smile at the memory quickly faded as it turned to sadness. Placing the picture back in the box, he pursed his lips, steeling himself once again. It was a fool’s dream to think he could ever have anything with Y/N. Whatever chance he’d had was long gone after everything they’d been through, everything he’d done. Friendship was all he could ever expect from her, and, if he really loved her, he’d have to accept that.

He sighed, and placed the cover back on the box, not noticing how the picture of Y/N fluttered out and landed on the floor as he stood up. Walking quickly to the chest of drawers, he put the box back in its place, in the past, where it belonged. He didn’t have any right to dream anything different.

I thought that dreams belonged to other men

'Cause each time I got close

They'd fall apart again

I feared my heart would beat in secrecy

I faced the nights alone

Oh, how could I have known

That all my life I only needed you?

When Y/N had volunteered to go pick up the laundry from his room the next morning, Dean hadn’t thought much of it. They often traded off the chores they did around the bunker, and he was pretty sure she’d do anything to get him on cooking duty. He knew she’d been angling for a full-on breakfast buffet for days. But, when she didn’t return to the library after 20 minutes, he started to get worried.

Putting down his coffee, he made his way towards the laundry room first, finding it empty. He backtracked to her room, but it was the same result there. A little ripple of fear ran through him, and he picked up the pace, practically running down the hallway to his room. When he got there, he threw open the door, his chest falling in relief when he found her sitting there, at the foot of his bed.

But, then he noticed what she was holding in her hand. The picture.

“Uh, hey, Y/N,” he started, clearing his throat when he felt the shakiness in his voice. “I thought you were grabbing the laundry.”

She looked up at him, uncertainty written all over her face. “Why do you have this? Isn’t this from years ago, that day at the…”

“The beach, yeah,” he confirmed, nodding his head, but, again, refusing to make eye contact. 

She wouldn’t let him. Standing up, she crossed the room in just a few steps, stopping right in front of him. “Dean, why do you have this crumpled up picture of me laying on the floor of your room?”

His mind went straight to any number of excuses, but then he looked into her eyes, her beautiful, vulnerable eyes, and he knew he could never lie to her. “It’s on the floor because I must’ve dropped it earlier. It’s crumpled, because…” He took a deep breath. No going back now. “Because, that’s how a picture gets when you look at it all the time.”

“You look at a picture of me all the time?” She looked back down at it, and he could see her brain working overtime to process the reality of what he’d just said.

Well, shit, may as well jump into the deep end now. “Yeah, I keep it in a box in my dresser with pictures of all of the women I’ve...loved.”

Her eyes shot up to his.

He just kept going. “But, I guess love isn’t really the right word, because I was never really in love with any of the others. I mean, I thought I was at the time or maybe I thought I could be, but I never really was, at least not the real thing, not like I feel for you.” He kept plunging ahead, unable to stop now that he’d finally gotten started. “And, I know you don’t feel the same way about me, but I'm in love with you, Y/N. Have been for years. I mean, obviously, this wasn’t how I wanted you to find out, not that I wanted you to at all, but, now that you know, I…”

His words were cut off by the touch of her lips to his, hesitant at first, but the second he began to respond, she leaned in, weaving her hands into his hair, her tongue sweeping into his mouth. He groaned and pulled her closer, his mind going blank in her arms. When she broke the kiss and leaned back, all he could do was stare at her, dumbfounded. “Was that? Wait, what just happened?”

She grinned. “Sorry, you were talking too much.”

“Talking too much…” he echoed, trailing off, still completely confused. She must’ve read it on his face, because she reached up and brushed her knuckles down the side of his face, leaning in for another kiss.

“I love you too, Dean.”

It seems like perfect love's so hard to find

I'd almost given up

You must have read my mind

And all these dreams I saved for a rainy day

They're finally coming true

I'll share them all with you

'Cause now we hold the future in our hand

And in your arms salvation's not so far away

It's getting closer

Closer every day

Dean tightened his arms around Y/N’s sleeping body, feeling her begin to stir. He inhaled, breathing her in, and dropped his lips to her neck, relishing the small moan that fell from her lips. “Mmm...mornin’, baby.”

“Good morning,” she said with a smile, turning lazily in his arms until they were face to face. “I like waking up in your arms.”

“And, I like you waking up in my arms,” he agreed, grinning as he leaned in to steal another kiss. “Damn, why haven’t we been doing this the whole time?”

She laughed. “Hm, I don’t know, maybe because you kept a picture of me in your underwear drawer for five years instead of just telling me how you felt?”

“Hey!” he shot back, feigning offense. “You never said anything either. Besides, I think I deserve some props for saying something now. You know, I had this whole dramatic speech thing going on.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I step on your moment? My poor baby.” She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, softening the tease with a kiss to his chin that quickly turned passionate as it found its way to his mouth. His hands began to roam down her body, drawing a whine from deep within her. “Dean, please…”

“What’s the rush?” he drawled, slowing the movement of his hands as he maneuvered her until she was laying flat on her back, his weight propped up by his knee so that he was hovering above her. “We’ve got plenty of time, baby. In fact, I think we’ve pretty much got forever.” 

Almost paradise

We're knockin' on heaven's door

Almost paradise

How could we ask for more?

I swear that I can see forever in your eyes

Paradise

Forevers- @hamartiamacguffin​ @mrsdeanfuckingwinchester​ @katymacsupernatural​ @impandagrl​ @cyrilconnelly​ @impala-dreamer​ @castielhasthetardis​ @jarpadandjensenaremyheroes​ @be-amaziing​ @jalove-wecallhimdean​ @there-must-be-a-lock​ @mysterious-398​ @hannahindie​ @emoryhemsworth​ @ohmychuckitssamanddean​ @wi-deangirl77​ @carryonmywaywardcaptain​ @ericaprice2008​ @masksandtruths​ @roxyspearing​ @squirrel-moose-winchester​ @sweetpeamoose​ @babypieandwhiskey​ @deans-dirty-writer​ @roxy-davenport​ @heyitscam99​ @starry-chaos @spnbaby-67​ @mogaruke​ @atc74​ @dolphincliffs​ @closetspngirl​ @maddiepants​ @pinknerdpanda​ @focusonspn​ @deanwanddamons​

Dean Tags- @akshi8278​ @whimsicalrobots​ @dean-winchesters-bacon​ @adoptdontshoppets​ @alexwinchester23​

[detshin]

I'd love heijis first case with Conan as well for a reboot! Maybe we could get a little of heiji background before he decided to find Shinichi.

OOOOOOOOOOHHH man I would absolutely love that. 

When did Heiji first hear about Shinichi? How did he react? was it like the time at the ski lodge where he was ready to fight? or was he more curious and the competitive side of him started to grow as time went by and kept seeing Shinichi fucking everywhere? I want to see Kazuha’s process from “who is this Kudo person?” to “THIS KUDO WHOEVER IS STEALING MY HEIJI” I want to see more little scenes of their everyday lives....

And given that it’s one of the big possibilities... WE COULD SEE THIS STUFF? I don’t know what route they would take, but I’ll take all the crumbs we get beech-

[thattimdrakeguy]

Tim also redefined Robin. Dick and Jason never thought of themselves as helping Bruce through his grief. Dick became Robin for revenge, Jason to improve Gotham's slums. But Tim? Tim was afraid of Batman, even though he now knows Batman has a soft spot for kids. Tim saw a bit of what Batman's like when overcome by emotions after Jason died. Funny thing? Tim's idea of Robin is now how we think of Robin.

Well, I think most people nowadays just think of Robin as that kid that hangs with Batman for whatever reason, and may or may not be his son, because for some reason some people can’t process adoption being legitimate, and as well as Damian being a blood son, or maybe they genuinely don’t know because they don’t care about Robin.

Like personally, I don’t think that many people put thought into it, or care.

Mainstream audience just looks at Robin as “that kid”. And fans of which ever Robin they like are just going to view Robin as being meaningful in whatever way helps their favorite look better, because in my experience that’s how Robin works.

But canon wise, Robin’s meant for Bruce to remember what he used to be before his parents death, and keep him level-headed. 

As far as redefining Robin goes, I don’t feel like that’s being completely accurate, because Tim was the one to define Robin more clearly. He was still saying what he was saying before, going off of what he could tell watching Batman.

Robin slows Batman down.

Bruce Wayne is Batman

Robin leaves

Batman is extra angry. No ones slowing him down.

Maybe Batman needs someone to remember who he was?

Which seems to be accurate, given how Batman doesn’t complete say no to any of that. How the heck a little kid was able to figure that out from camera footage I have no freaking idea. Especially when the same little kid also has an inability to realize how he comes off during his whole origin. But I also don’t know how Batman figures off half the crap he does without any actual clues laying around. So I guess it’s just some suspension of disbelief stuff.

But basically, I think it’s more accurate to say, Tim outwardly defined what Robin is, and what a Robin’s for.

Don’t know if it’s accurate to say Dick was Robin out of revenge. Because, while that was some motivation. I don’t see him continuing to be Robin after he got one guy. He wanted revenge, but he learned what he really wanted is that he really wanted justice in the world. So he joined Batman’s crusade against injustice everywhere.

Jason too, but he has a much angrier version of justice. That sort of acted as borderline revenge for another person’s sake, but that was still in his heart a way of justice even if it was violent. At least post-crisis. I don’t know anything about pre-crisis Jason given he’s so different besides love of education, even then never read much of him besides a few scripts of him that apparently were released after post-crisis, even if they were written before the reboot (which is where people get those panels of a notably cuter smaller Jason from post-crisis from, because it’s not actually post-crisis Jason).

Tim’s motivation for being Robin was a lot more for Batman’s sake than any other. He didn’t really do it for himself. He was very much doing it to make sure Gotham City’s greatest protector was okay. Tim had a very strong sense of justice in him, and strong morals, but his motivation for being Robin wasn’t really for him. He wasn’t even planning on being Robin. It just sort of happened.

I sort of lost my point there, but in the end, I guess I’m trying to say that Tim was the Robin that helped define Robin, he himself didn’t define it except in words, but he helped define it out loud for comic book readers. So they understood the purpose of a Robin, in the time where fans weren’t caring about Robin. Tim helped a lot with people caring about Robin again.