#hate how he gets treated by the narrative in season 3

[emletish-fish]

I don't want Aang to kill Ozai, but I do want a satisfying ending, and deus ex-machinas are rarely satisfying.

The Lion Turtle was not in any way satisfying.

I think the point that a last minute, never properly foreshadowed magical solution, that has no connection to previous arcs, doesn't give Aang any kind of emotional victory at all.

It certainly does nothing to help anyone in the audience who struggles with a pacifist dilemma. None of us can rely on a magic lion turtle.

It gives no glory or acknowledgement to the air nomads either - which is a shame because that in itself would be a powerful point. Aang holding true to his core beliefs and finding strength in them could be a great message for pacifist audience members.

The thing is that this is the ultimate battle and it should have some foreshadowing leading up to it and some emotional catharsis.

I think a more powerful option would be to link it directly with the air nomads, have energy bending be a lost air bending art, so that when Aang uses it, it truly is a victory of the air benders, of love and peace over hate, of pacifism over violence.

Things I would have done -

I would have mentioned early, like Northern Air temple season 1 early, that a very few select airbenders could energy bend and give/take away bending.

@atlaculture has a whole post about how the air benders were the most spiritual and how the spirit character is part of theirs. I could see this as being a rare rare rare skill, and due to the nature and wisdom of the air nomads, it was one that they rarely used and certainly never on other nations - hence why there is little knowledge of it outside airbender temples.

I would treat it like lightning bending for fire. Jeong jeong is a master, but he can't do lightning etc. Aang is a master, but he never learned this technique. It takes decades of practice etc etc. I'd have in on a mural early, and have Teo point it out and then have Aang explain what it means. I'd have Teo make an interested face.

After Aang has had all the turmoil around his culture and come to accept that the temple now houses refugees and sees that Te'o has the spirit of an airbenders, I'd have Teo ask if Aang could use energy bending on him.

Poor Aang, having to face to that he doesn't know how. This bit of culture from his people and he's the last one and he doesn't know?! He doesn't know and now there is no one left to teach him. That would be an emotional gut punch, and really bring home the genocide and what it actually means. Sometimes incredible culture practises do get lost forever and it should be acknowledged and mourned.

The genocide is only directly acknowledged twice in the whole show, and I don't want to be a bummer, but it is a crucial part of Aang as a character and could have been explored a little more.

The next time I would mention it could be the library. Aang could mention it, and Wa Shi Tong would refuse. The knowledge of spirit bending is completely sacred, was granted to only a few of the oldest and wisest, who had earned the trust of the spirits, Aang is too young to have acquired the wisdom to use it, mankind cannot be trusted etc etc. i would make it a rant that's gearing up and then for a comedic beat have Aang cut him off and be like 'I'll just go help Sokka'

Then, in season 3, when Aang is having his spiritual crisis, I would have Yangchen be the one to show him, through cryptic advice obvs. Something about being pure of heart and pure of spirit will bring peace. I'd have her give a similar warning as the lion turtle - that it is not to be trifled with.

But what a treasure and what a theme. This lost cultural art can still be passed up through the generations when love and care and curiosity combine to make searching for and reviving a skill a goal for someone.

Nothings lost forever, it just changes shape etc.

Aang learning from Yangchen, realising the strength of his own wisdom (as the need for wisdom has been heavily emphasized in previous points) and saying, no I won't end all of this violence with more violence. I'm going to do it with love.

It acknowledges his spiritual position without having to denigrate his friends.

It gives him a previous but of his culture back and makes the ending an absolute victory for Air Nomad culture.

It sticks with the themes of the show and makes the ending more emotionally satisfying.

I think people who critize the ending and say Aang killing Ozai would have been a better narrative choice are just frustrated because ATLA is amazing, but Aang's ending is so anticlimactic and lacking in emotional resonance.

Not saying Aang should kill Ozai, but I am saying the Lion turtle was lazy story-telling and this same plot point could have been made in a more emotionally impactful way.

can't believe there are still people out here in the year 2023 that genuinely think aang should have killed ozai

[flower-boi16]

Helluva Boss Season 2: How to Assassinate Your Characters

Option 1: Force them into being out of character for the sake of a forced conflict or "joke"

Seeing Star assasinated Loona by making her far more aggressive compared to how she used to be in the first season, which was done as a way to force a conflict between her and Blitz. Western Energy then goes on to continue Loona's derailment by just straight up turning her into a wild animal with her attacking the doctor. The writers are forcing Loona into being out of character in order to create drama that doesn't feel organic at all.

The same could be said for Moxxie, who Unhappy Campers made out of character by turning him into an attention whore jelouse of Millie, despite him never displaying that trait in the first season and him having no reason to even give a shit about this since he was sent here for a job.

There's nothing indicating that he suffered from neglect from Crimson so there isn't an explanation here. Moxxie especially comes across as a massive hypocrit in his argument with Millie; where he asks why Millie cares so much about what the teenagers think when Moxxie has been jelouse of Millie through this whole episode, yet it is NEVER called out.

This is done as a way of trying to add forced and contrived drama between the two just so the episode can have a conflict, because the writers most likely coulden't find a way to create a conflict that was organic.

Option 2: Make past issues with the characters worse by adding in new ones or just refusing to address them

A big issue with Millie as a character is that she doesn't have much of any real depth beyond being Moxxie's wife. The show tried to add depth to her in Unhappy Campers but all that did was create a new issue where they constantly introduce new stuff for Millie as a character out of nowhere in a failed attempt to give her depth.

Moxxie meanwhile suffered through a issue in Season 1 where he went through the same arc twice in the same season, but hey that was only two times so it's nothing to sneeze at...except that Season 2 not only has Moxxie repeat that arc again, it slaps daddy issues onto him in a poor attempt to give him further depth which not only feels tacked onto him but also just creates more issues with Moxxie as a character due to him now having truama that never gets explored.

Season 2 continues the issues with the first season but makes them worse as well as adding in new ones, which is the exact opposite of what a second season should do.

Option 3: Destory and remove everything that made the characters interesting and replace it with something completely unreconizable compared to how they previously were.

Stolas in Season 1 was arguably the most interesting character in the entire show, there was a lot you could analyze from him and he had the most potiential out of any other character in the show for a compelling arc where he grows as a person...

...that Season 2 completely destoryed in favor of turning Stolas into an UwU soft boy who the narrative frequently coddles and goes through little actual character growth...at all. His bad actions are downplayed by the narrative and the people who get mad at him for those actions are all demonized by the narrative, treated as if they don't have a reason to hate him even though they do.

Season 1 Stolas was a flawed person that realized his mistakes and chose to become better, Season 2 Stolas is an UwU soft boy that just wanted to be loved. These do not feel like the same character.

Season 2 completely assassinates the characters and removes everything that made them good in the first place with the only exception being Blitzo, as although Season 2's handling of him has issues he still isn't nearly as ruined as the other characters.

[handofmidas-writes]

I didn't hate season 4. Or the love triangle. Let me explain.

Okay. Listen. Listenlistenlisten.

I know everyone is pissed about season 4. I hear you. I get it. I don’t think anyone is thinking that this was a well-executed season. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

But hear me out.

The bones of the thing are good in principle. The arc makes sense at the heart of it. Again, hear me out.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

The entire series is about saving the world by stopping the apocalypse. And as all the Fives in the deli have shown, the apocalypse is due to the Hargreeves siblings’ very existence. Reginald has fucked over every iteration of the kids to bring back his wife who died as a result of her own actions in creating marigold. He couldn’t give her up, and he was willing to rip universes apart to get her back. Five has tried time and time and time again to save his family, ad infinitum. He knows how to solve the problem, but he can’t bring himself to do it. Until this Five. They are, as we here on tumblr love to say, doomed by the narrative.

Five also says the universe loves balance. We saw this in season 3 with the kugelblitz. They were an impossibility in the universe and the kugelblitz formed to solve the problem by eliminating them. Impossibility for impossibility.

One of the Fives founded the Commission to solve the problem. It happens every time.

Abigail’s purpose through the whole season is to ensure the Cleanse, to reset the universe to the correct timeline. She shouldn’t be there. The kids shouldn’t be there. They are a direct result of Reginald releasing marigold into the world to enact his plan of resurrecting Abigail. The universe is trying to return to homeostasis, balance itself. And in every iteration, it needs to rid itself of the marigold, the substance that shouldn’t exist in the first place.

Ergo, the principle is sound, in my opinion.

The execution was shit, as I’m sure we all can agree.  I don’t like that they cease to exist, necessarily, and I think there were other avenues they could have taken to avoid that. But I can stomach it.

The shit storm is certainly in the characterizations. They did almost everyone dirty in some way or another. I think it could have been saved with a few more episodes, but we know that Netflix sucks like that and the season definitely suffered after the strike. I won’t be going into all of the characters just now since I’m apparently a loquacious bitch and don’t have the space. (And I know this is all being screamed into the void anyway. None of y’all will be reading any of this lol.)

Here’s where I’m going to ruffle feathers. I buy into the whole Diego/Lila/Five thing. And here’s why. (Cut here because this bitch got real long. Like 1.5k words long. Oops.)

The first episode is called “The Unbearable Tragedy of Getting What You Want.” Is it a slightly contrived Now That We’re Not Superheroes Our Normal Lives Kind Of Suck thing? Absolutely. Has it been overused in basically everything ever? You bet. Does it kind of work here? Yeah, actually.

These people legitimately don’t know what to do without powers. They’re coming fresh off the heels of trying and failing to save the world 3 different times. That takes adjustment. A lot of adjustment.

Lila and Diego fall into parenthood, which is a huge thing in and of itself. It’s not surprising that Diego turns into the stereotypical suburban dad, the breadwinner because that’s what he thinks his role should be. It doesn’t fully make sense that Lila turns into a housewife, but I can see her trying to throw Diego a bone and trying to make up for how she’s treated him in the past. Not to mention proving herself as a mother.

It makes sense for Lila to want to get out of the house and do her own thing, without her kids and her husband. It makes sense for Diego to resent his low level job when all he’s wanted to be is a badass and a hero.  Their frustration about their family life is understandable. Being a family is a lot of effort. There’s a loss of freedom when people become parents. And these are two headstrong people who have things to prove to themselves, to make sure they show up for their kids. Which leads to breakdowns in taking care of themselves and their relationship to each other.

Now, the sticky bit comes in with the whole love triangle. I know folks hate the subway subplot. Here’s the thing, despite how it was executed, it makes sense, too.

It’s an interesting way to portray the Many Worlds Theory and it’s plausible enough that Lila and Five connect in this way because of their shared knowledge of the Commission. It makes sense that they explore it together.

Which leads me to this: Five is incredibly lonely. He spent 40 years alone in an apocalypse and tried everything in his power to get back. He fell in love with a mannequin because she was the only thing keeping him tethered and sane-adjacent (sweet Dolores, we’ll never forget you, queen). He was desperate and alone and persisted because he had to.

He joined the Commission to try and stop said apocalypse and then inadvertently ended up in another. He’s tired of trying to save his family over and over and now he’s not sure there’s anything he can do to save them this time. And now here he is, stuck in the labyrinthine Subway of Fuckery with Lila and they can’t get out. Lila who has the same training as him, the same knowledge base, who went with him to the remnants of the Commission in season 3 and tried to save them all. Let’s call them frenemies, I guess.

And now here they are. Stuck together and feeling helpless. Enduring every fucking thing under the sun, watching each other’s backs, and they only have each other. And they’re tired. They’ve been searching for a way home for six fucking years. So, they decide to stop running and catch their breath. I won’t say it’s an inevitability, but Five is so lonely and scared. And Lila is lonely and scared and without her children. But they’re safe with each other, and they take comfort in each other, and it’s so easy to blur those lines.

So yeah, they end up together in the now infamous cottagecore greenhouse with the strawberries. And they try not to think about Diego. Is it right of them to do this? Well, no. But are people messy as hell? Yes. And are their actions understandable? Also yes.

So, to me, when Five finds the notebook and keeps it hidden from Lila, it tracks. Because he’s so fucking scared of what’s going to happen now. What if they still can’t make it back? What if they can’t save the world this time? What if it all comes down around his ears again? So he hides in easy domesticity and thinks about the solace they’ve found in each other.

And Lila, understandably, blows up when she realizes Five has hidden this from her. Because for her, this was a way to cope. To survive, as she says. She loves her children. And she loves Diego. She didn’t stop loving them. She couldn’t stop loving them. But she might just love Five, too. And isn’t that scary as hell?

People are many faceted, my friends. Does it make what she did morally right? Of course not. But does it make sense? I truly think it does.

The limited number of episodes is one of the largest contributors to the half-baked-ness of it all. There’s not enough time to flesh out a proper resolution to the whole thing. Which led to Diego’s hunch from episode 2 of Lila cheating with Greek guy/Five accidentally being correct foreshadowing. Which then resulted in a heavy confession from Lila in front of the entire family (which I was digging, just like the siblings, tbh). And then the boys started throwing punches and the whole love triangle thing went completely down the shitter (a dubious and debatable statement, I know).

So, that leaves us with Lila who is now in the middle of two brothers. Said brothers are now physically fighting out bad blood and pent up frustration. And only part of it is due to Lila.

Diego’s character is criminally underdeveloped. He was always halfway between the underdog and class clown and his characterization in this season falls spectacularly flat in all aspects. He’s a character who has fought to prove himself over and over again, and is still trying to do that here, but nothing really lands. Diego and Luther are comic relief mostly. And Diego’s role, unfortunately, ended up being a stick in the spokes of a sloppy love triangle and pretty much nothing else.

Five is obviously the favorite in Blackman’s eyes. Five is knowledgeable. Five always has an idea. Five is the one the family looks to for answers, more often than not. Five is the one who almost always opts to save his family in some way, shape, or form. And this has resulted in Five being sad and helpless, in a way. He has been building this emotional bomb for decades and across timelines without any real release or acknowledgement. So Blackman chose to have Five get his emotional release in the form of “a love story” with Lila. Doing it this way, with the limited number of episodes, left Diego’s part woefully inadequate.

No resolution really takes place here. Diego kind of “wins” insofar as he convinces Lila to take their family to the subway and she takes his hand first when they all say goodbye. Five gets the teary “I hate you for this,” after she ends up choosing self-sacrifice with the others, which we know means “I am so incredibly sad and I hate that you told us the truth because it means everything ends for real this time and I’ve had to let my family go.” Then she holds his hand, too, showing that all is forgiven, here at the end of all things.

There’s definitely not a resolution for Diego, and it can certainly be inferred that he still pretty much hates Five’s guts. I get the feeling that Five is just resigned to finally ending the cycle. He knows he’s hurt Diego badly and I think he does feel bad for it, but it’s not translated into the final scene, which leaves the whole situationship hollow and earned it the well deserved hate for hilariously poor execution.

So that’s it, friends. That’s my unpopular opinion and way too many words justifying it. I surprisingly have more I could blather on about, but I’ll spare y’all from including any more in this post. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

And for a final palate cleanser for those of you who do not care about any of this: I think we deserve a side plot of Five and Derek the Twink from the CIA. The true OTP. (Also Brisket Five, who is the real MVP.)

[watching-sam-and-dean-again]

Watching a reactor on YouTube who just got to Season 4: Lazarus Rising, and I’m so annoyed by the amount of comments with people saying things like, "this is when the series REALLY starts" and "Seasons 1-3 were the prologue, now The Story begins" and "I’ve been waiting for you to meet my favorite character!"

First, I will never be able to understand Castiel being someone's legitimate favorite character. I just don’t get it. He starts off as a massive dick, becomes an ally, uses and betrays both brothers a number of times, rarely takes full responsibility for his actions, and ends up as a totally different and neutered version of himself. But this guy is your favorite!? The only reason I think a large number of fans who love him do is because he comes in the gate treating Sam like crap and he becomes a simp for Dean (or they are shippers). Also, if someone is a more casual fan, I can see enjoying Cass because he’s quirky and he mostly stands up for the Winchesters, but if someone is a big fan of the brothers, Cass makes their lives harder a lot of the time. Also, I’m coming to really hate the fact that the dude is always in a trench coat. How am I supposed to take a character seriously who is essentially like an unchanging cartoon character come to life? Anyway, despite how it might sound from my ranting, I actually do think people are allowed to love whatever character they want, but it just doesn’t compute for me personally that it’s Cass as he is on screen (not in someone’s head).

Next, the idea of people calling the first three seasons "The Prologue" to supernatural is offensive to me personally (well, not offensive but it’s dumb as hell). A prologue is used to give some important background that should be known for you to better understand the main story, but it happened before, or doesn’t quite fit into, the main narrative. I’m sorry, but the first three seasons of Supernatural are the foundation that everything builds off of, and maybe I’m splitting hairs here, but it’s not just the set up to the Real Story. The Real Story of Supernatural has always been and will always be "the epic love story of Sam and Dean," not the angel crap. Calling the basis of the whole show the prologue has an implied message that it’s not as important as, or connected to the rest of the story. Again, people are allowed to have their own opinions about what they enjoy in media, but this idea that what came before Season 4 wasn’t as important as the rest of the show is actually bad media literacy, especially when you consider how much retconning and inconsistency later seasons have (*cough* John Winchester, for exapmle). The early seasons are Supernatural at its most pure, and if you don’t like or care about Sam and Dean's story, what are you doing here?

I was going to go on by listing all of the important things that we learn about Sam and Dean's characters and relationship in the first three seasons, but honesty, I’m tired. If you’re reading my post, I’m sure you already know. True fans of the show, even if seasons 1 to 3 aren’t their favorite, know how important these seasons are. Frankly, if someone claims that they don’t matter as much as the later season, then I’m going to assume that they are probably a heller (and I’m probably right), thus their opinions on the show don’t matter.

Speaking of Hellers, they are the Jehovah’s Witnesses of fandom. They descend on your doorstep (YouTube video, blog post, etc), uninvited and unwelcome, to make you uncomfortable by forcing their literature (head-canons and subtext) on you in a vain attempt to make you convert to their twisted version of a cult religion (Destiel). Some get indoctrinated into their cult, others consider them a joke, and yet others are driven to madness by the constant hounding of the hellers. I wish they would just stay in their lane and let people come to their own conclusions about the show and the characters, but they try to gatekeep the fandom experience by jumping on anyone new and telling them how they are the "most popular ship" and that supernatural queerbaits, but Dean and Cass are still totes husbands, and there is some other guy there, too but Sam is just some jerk who isn’t as important as Wuwu Dean and their Little Meow Meow Cass. If somone actually sees and enjoys Destiel on their own, great, good for them; they’ll find the blogs and groups who love it too. Hellers don’t need to try actively recruiting people. It’s all just a numbers gone to them. We have the most fanfic (um, yes, because the show doesn’t deliver what you want), we are the most popular ship (sure, because the other main ship is brothers which squicks some people out, and because you crucify anyone who admits to being a Wincest shipper), and they tell the stupidest lies (the show shifts away from being about the brothers, and focusses more on Dean and Cass' "relationship," and Sam isn’t as important to the story later). I wish they would just stay in their own sandbox and not come pee in everyone else's. Cult like behavior in action.

Okay, deep breaths. I’m grad I got that one off of my chest, but my blog is getting very ranty. I’m going to try make sure my next post is a positive one.

Happy weekend everyone!

[rightwheretheyleftme]

I just finished watching book 3 of The Legend of Korra. Here’s my top 5 things I hated the most about it:

caveat: I actually didn’t hate this season at all, I just wanted to continue this series

5. Poof! The genocide’s gone!

Let me preface this by saying that I thought that the storyline of Korra finding the airbenders was a nice change of pace and scenery and I enjoyed watching it. However, the bare-bones of this plotline are rotten for me.

ATLA treating the air nomad genocide with so much realism and severity is one of the greatest aspects of the show. Sure, this is a tv show for kids, but it’s still a fairly realistic portrayal of a victim of ethnic cleansing dealing with their trauma. We saw Aang searching for other air nomads, seeing his temples being destroyed, having to burn the last intact artifact made by his people (the staff), and the entire 4 part finale of the series revolves around Aang deciding that he is not willing to sacrifice his cultural and religious beliefs under any circumstances. On account of this, it truly shocked me that TLOK treats the air nomad genocide in the same way that Oprah approached her car giveaway:

The insistence that the air nomad genocide is something that the avatar could fix unintentionally conveys that Aang failed to fix it. Maybe if Aang had connected with Raava and meditated in the tree of time, he would’ve brought his people back- the narrative is saying. And I find that incredibly mean-spirited, regardless of whether it was intentional or not.

Aang died at 66 years of age, he never met any other airbenders after the genocide other than his own son; And TLOK killed Aang once again in season 2, so now he will never get to see the air nation’s rebirth. I know that this is a show about Korra, but I find this storyline to be not only an extremely immature way to treat a genocide (genocides can’t be “fixed”, bryke) but also a cruel insult to the protagonist of this universe.

4. Why the fuck is Varrick still here

Let me get this straight: Varrick took advantage of Unalaq’s colonialism to make himself rich. He bombed the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center in order to incite a war between the tribes. He stole all of the weaponry made by Asami’s company and delivered it to the Northern Water Tribe so that they could use it to wipe out the SWT. He incriminated Mako, a 19 year old, so that he would take the blame for Varrick’s transgressions and spend his life in prison as a result. He manipulated and took advantage of Asami, another 19 year old. And many more crimes that I’m too tired to list.

So why is he in this season as a lovable sidekick? He escaped justice, Suyin yielded him, and when Lin understandably gets angry about that, Suyin tells her that Varrick shouldn’t be punished for his entire life just for a mistake. This isn’t Suyin talking to Lin, it’s the writers talking to the audience- they want us to forgive Varrick and accept him as our new sweet funny guy.

That makes me nauseous.

This is the sequel of a show about the dangers of colonization and imperialism. Why, why, why, WHY is the guy who aided colonization efforts the character that you want the audience to love? In moments like this, you can tell that this show was made by 2 white American men.

3. Mary Sueyin (Thanks for the pun!)

This already has been discussed ad nauseam. Suyin yielded a war criminal from facing justice, she also sent out the one person the Red Lotus wanted to capture and kill after them for her own vengeful reasons. The narrative never addresses this and continues to paint her as a flawless hero. It’s disconcerting.

2. Zaheer the Master

Sorry, I refuse to believe that a man who got his airbending powers just a couple of weeks ago is suddenly the greatest airbender in a millennium because he read some books.

Bumi: How can he fly like that?

Tenzin: He's unlocked powers of airbending that haven't existed for thousands of years.

Fuck off, writers. Fuck all the way off.

1. The torture porn

We didn’t need to see Korra getting tortured for so long in such graphic detail. I don’t want to accuse anyone of sexism, but I’m certain that these writers would’ve never treated Aang this way.

Overall pretty good season, 8/10.

[choghetti]

Miguel's Lack Of Narrative Agency Is Sad

I love Miguel as he is my favorite character in Cobra Kai, but it's very concerning how he was treated as more of a plot device for Johnny's and Sam's stories than an actual character throughout the series. I get that Johnny is one of the two protagonists (alongside Daniel), the other characters are used to revolve around them, and Miguel is supposed to be a physical representation of Johnny's redemption, but his POV is rarely shown and it gets to a point where he becomes a plot device for Johnny's and Sam's stories and he has less agency than the other characters, so this is where Robby fanboys get the idea that Miguel never owns up to his actions.

It would be nice if there were explicit moments of him reflecting on and owning up to his actions while he was in Cobra Kai in Season 3. The writers could have shown that he was mad at Johnny for teaching him to embrace the toxic Cobra Kai philosophy. We could have had Miguel and Johnny's relationship strained until late Season 3. Sam could have distanced herself from Miguel because he attacked Robby while the latter was trying to protect her from Tory and Miguel's attack on Robby escalated to the point where Tory put Sam in the hospital (and keep in mind, this was similar to the bonfire party where Miguel tried to hit Robby but ended up hitting Sam). We could have shown scenes of him questioning whether or not he deserved the 2018 Champion title and whether or not he deserved Sam after their break-up in Season 2. Hell, we could have shown his POV more when he found out Robby is Johnny's son. We could have shown him thinking that Johnny is using him to make himself feel better about Robby which could build up to the "I love you too, Robby" in Season 4. At the same time, he could have hated Robby even more for his treatment of Johnny.

Thankfully, his character picked back up in Season 6 Part 2, but hopefully we get scenes of him and Robby having a heart-to-heart about their past mistakes in Part 3 now that the series is almost over.

Edit: If Miguel attacked Robby because he thought Robby was trying to get into Sam's good graces considering Robby lied about the medal and if Sam knew about it, then Sam wouldn't distance herself from Miguel because even though she would be upset with him, she would understand where she was coming from.

[lavendersugarplum]

I‘M JUST COMING ON HERE TO SAY THAT SEASON 4 WAS SO ASS!!

LIKE WHO WROTE THE SCRIPT?! FANFIC WRITERS?

I'm beyond relieved that I had already decided to rewrite this season to salvage Zero's character because there's no way I'm accepting this garbage as canon.

Let's be real - Seasons 1 and 2 were the peak of this show. Everything went downhill from Season 3, but I foolishly held out hope that they'd turn it around. Boy, was I wrong. This season was straight up ASS. To be honest, I might even do a season three rewrite as well.

No Sloane? No Umbrella Ben?  Don't even get me started on how they literally RUINED Five's character. Five would NEVER betray his brother like that. I can guarantee you that Zero would absolutely hate him this season. Honestly, she would've already checked out from the family as soon as they arrived in that new reality. Him falling in love with Lila was so out of character and almost disgusting to me, because you've known this dude ever since he was in a 13-year-old body. It's just weird to me. I just can't believe that this franchise would ruin probably the most loved character in the fandom. And then they went and made the last part all about his feelings.

Like mother like daughter, I guess. I've never liked Lila's character in the first place, but this season just solidified my stance. She was basically used as a shipping tool. She was already a Mary Sue before. I was just starting to warm up to her in season three because I already had predicted that we were basically stuck with her. They basically turned her into Y/N, and not the likeable kind. That love triangle was completely unnecessary and poorly executed. JUSTICE FOR DIEGO. He should've ended up with Eudora. They should've revived her somehow.

They completely abandoned plot threads from the end of Season 3. What happened to Allison's husband? What about Ben in the subway? And Luther's search for Sloane? It's like they forgot their own story.

The ending was so full with plot holes. They conveniently ignored the existence of other children born from the marigold, which was a crucial part of Lila's backstory. If the timelines are bleeding together, these other children should have caused major issues. The show's always had continuity problems, but ignoring a fundamental part of the story's premise is just inexcusable.

The Jennifer and Ben storyline was a complete waste of time. In previous seasons, they took care to develop new characters like Sloane, and the new Ben in Season 3. Jennifer's story was so rushed and disconnected that I couldn't bring myself to care about her at all. They ditched Sloane for THIS?! Ben's attachment to her made no sense either. It's a terrible way to create an end-of-timeline scenario with a character no one knows or cares about due to lack of screen time.

Killing off the entire cast in the finale is an enormously risky move that can backfire. You need a rock-solid narrative reason and the audience's complete buy-in to pull this off. The Umbrella Academy failed miserably. It felt rushed and lazy, like they couldn't be bothered to explore any other options. We've seen Victor extract the Marigold from Harlan before, so the alternatives DO EXIST.

Klaus's character was criminally underutilized. This dude ALWAYS came through for his family in the end. This time, his character was completely wasted. And don't even get me started on how Allison gets a free pass after all the horrible things she did after they treated Viktor like crap, for the whole third season.

This season was an insult to fans who have invested time and emotion into this show. It's clear the writers have lost their way and have no idea how to properly conclude this story. I'm beyond disappointed and frustrated with how they've ruined what was once a promising series. In Netflix, a series is either canceled or they F up the franchise. They should've just left this show at three seasons and ended it anonymously. Can't believe we waited two years for this?

[vergeltvng]

SPOILERS for The Boys Season 4

I'm still processing the final episode but here are some of my random thoughts, in no particular order. It was a wild ride and I enjoyed it for the most part. The season had its lows for sure and I'll never forgive the writers for how they treated Hughie. I'm still fucking mad about everything they did to him after episode 5. I also felt like they wasted a lot of potential with Annie's arc. She's been through a lot after season 3 and I loved the idea of her having an identity crisis but it was just so poorly executed. It all felt messy and as if the writers had no conclusion in mind for both her and Hughie's plotlines. Unfortunately I couldn't find myself caring a lot about Frenchie's and Kimiko's subplots which is sad because I love these two. I was hoping they get to kill that bitch Little Nina and Kimiko getting her revenge on the SLLA. Both could have happened this season before they got separated in the end. Instead we've been put on hold to wait if these plots get resolved at all. Firecracker and Sage were great additions, I loved to hate Firecracker and Sage gives off endboss vibes for me. I still feel like she's gonna betray Homelander in the end. Can't wait for "phase two". A-Train's arc was great, he truly redeemed himself and him showing up at the flat iron to save the others was proof enough for me how serious he was about doing the right thing. I liked all of his scenes with MM, too. I loved Ashley this season, I hope she gains some badass powers and kicks everyone's ass. I've seen some complaints about Homelander being nerfed - are we watching the same show? He is fucking unhinged and more terrifying than ever. He is basically god by the end of the season and can (and will) do whatever the fuck he wants with no one in his way. Someone telling me that's not scary?! He is and always will be one of the best villains in tv history. Poor kid Ryan, he deserved better. How is he ever supposed to feel safe around Homelander and Butcher phrasing it that way was downright evil and manipulative towards the boy because he knew it would make Ryan feel insecure and cornered. Him pushing and killing Grace was in self-defense. His reaction afterwards however is concerning and I guess ambiguous for interpretation on purpose. I still don't get how some people in the fandom could hate on a 12 year old child so much, leave the kid alone.

Where do I start when it comes to Butcher? I have many thoughts and this text is already long but I'll give it a shot anyway. Obviously I'm biased because I love this man and will defend him to the very end. I think his arc was one of the better aspects, he is still one of the best written characters on the show. What I always loved about him was him being truly morally grey and the ambiguity in his words and actions. He cannot be trusted. I don't know if it's me but Karl's performance makes him actually a lot more likeable than he deserves. He is a bad person and I don't think this is negotiable. I have thought about this so many times in made-up scenarios and I stick with my opinion that there's no fixing him and there never was. I have tried to stay away from fandom discourse as much as I could for my own well-being but I don't get how people act surprised and as a result hate over his behavior and decisions. I think most were true to his character and also him killing Neuman made perfect sense and was a well-deserved payoff narratively. Not that I'm not mad at him for doing so! I loved Vicky and she was such an interesting character. But his final words in season 3 were "that bitch has to go" and one of his main goals across the whole season was to get that virus to kill her. He was absolutely clear about it and worked towards this goal on his own terms, not even under the influence of Kessler. Certainly Kessler pushed him to commit some of his atrocities but it matched with what he wanted himself. He drew the line when it came to supe genocide and was conflicted about it initially but one of his core themes is doing whatever it takes and losing his humanity on his chosen path. Since he is highly intelligent he knows very well what's wrong with him what emphasises even more that he actively chooses to do bad things rather than being impulsive and regretful afterwards. I personally loved his turn at the end and I am eager to see his villain arc. What's not to love about evil daddy?! I could go on about some of the dynamics between him and Kessler but I'll do that in another post maybe.

[nalyra-dreaming]

As a big fan of Daniel I’ve mixed feelings about the finale. Absolutely it was fun to see Daniel serve c*nt, loved his glasses and leather jacket. Very fun - I also feel his very energetic vibe definitely affirms that journalism/writing/publishing books that have an impact is his drug (as a certain maker affirmed earlier). But, where is his story going to go now???

Like I feel SO cheated at not only not seeing him being turned, but not seeing him having to adjust at all or struggle/cope with being a vampire? Time skips freaking sucks. Like that is a big change, and I wouldn’t expect them to do it in as much detail as Louis (good TV writers wouldn’t repeat themselves like that, and it wouldn’t be good writing) but I expected something? Like I already was feeling a bit annoyed at how Daniel’s trauma in San Francisco basically just become all about Louis’ and Armand’s dynamic. I didn’t expect DM to happen there (and I loved the episode) but I thought the emotional fallout would be bigger. Like Daniel gets half-a-scene(!) of being upset and devastated, and then the writers very transparently just uses this to make Daniel aggressively suspicious of Armand and as a way to foreshadow the level of Armand’s deception. Like Daniel was obviously angry, but even that was basically only shown as it was useful. I hate when plot is done at the expense of character. Of course when plot and character go hand in hand that is the best, but this wasn’t it?! Like if Rollins meant that Daniel was one of the two who needed the second interview to happen it barely makes sense. There’s only closure in the most shallow sense that Daniel got to find out that he was traumatized and that this did have a negative impact on his life (by an event he couldn’t consciously remember but feel). I presume that is what Rollins meant? It feels really(!) underwritten. Nothing wrong with the idea, but again basically just stated in explanatory dialogue about his exes and kids. Happy to hear a better take on this if anyone has one though? I want to be convinced to be more positive! Of course Daniel isn’t the main character, but I don’t think it’s too much to ask that he’s still treated as a three dimensional character.

I don’t know, I just feel upset now at the thought that Daniel’s mainly been turned at this point to become a vampire-chronicler for plot reasons… Like if DM had happened I would expect them to leave us a substantial hint. I’m freaking begging any higher power that Armand’s revulsion at creating a fledgling means something (and is not a red herring like the “you should fear the other one”). And that we’ll revisit it. But I just don’t have faith anymore… Praying that I’m wrong, but if Daniel spends the next season as only a narrative device I’m out (I don’t mind him being a narrative device if he also gets to be a character outside of that - to be clear). Waiting four years for any kind of plot to be resolved after it’s been introduced is too long frankly….(if they aren’t addressing this until season 4). So if we aren’t finding out about the turning or worse - there’s nothing more to it and we’ll get an independent DM plot which begins in pure spite then, I’m freaking sad!

I’m really sorry for the downer post, I just feel I needed to express some of my worries and frustration. Would love to hear what you think, as I’ve often found some comfort reading your blog <3 A more positive take is warmly welcomed! There’s a lot to like about this season, but I just feel a bit lost now… I just wish there was something substantial to hang on to (and the Alice stuff ain’t it)

He is not only turned to be the chronicler. Reread the interviews with Eric re Raglan James, too 😈

There will be a LOT going on. And I just shared the link to the ATx festival, where they also talked DM. Might be worth a watch?^^

It‘ll be alright. I would bet real money on it. They just do it their way.

[hella-marshmella]

Which are your most hated ML characters?

Missed the salt posts eh? But anyways:

1. Gabriel - for obvious reasons. an utter buffoon and an abusive piece of shit excuse of a father. Should be rotting in a prison cell for his crimes with Adrien rightly disowning him. The fact he gets to be remembered as a good dad and hero - complete with a statue in his honor - is a slap in the face. Forever deserved worse.

2. Lila - every time she’s on screen the characters IQs dropped 50 points and her voice is just grating to me (in that respect the VA deserves a raise). Alya not believing Marinette over her should’ve died the moment Gang of Secrets aired, and the fact that that didn’t happen is a testament to how the plot bends over backwards to make Lila a larger threat than she should be. And don’t get me started on the different identities plot or her getting ahold of the butterfly.

3. Andre Glacier - I want to throw hands with this bitch-ass ice cream man and his “magical soul mate ice cream”. He’s so weirdly involved in the love lives of teenagers and gets so pissy when the ones he didn’t deem “made for each other” go on ‘date’. Quit being creepy and get a hobby. He also gets extra hate points for revealing Marinette’s crush on Adrien to him (as Chat Noir), 5 seasons of build up for that? Thanks, I Hate It.

4. Su-Han - unhelpful bitch

5. Bunnyx - everything about her and the rabbit miraculous was a mistake.

6. Andre and Audrey Bourgeois - shitty parents, one’s a weak enabler who spoiled his daughter rotten then chooses to keep his step-daughter over her. The other an emotionally neglectful bitch. They both ain’t shit.

Honorable mentions:

1. Adrien - with the amount of salt I have on this boy y’all knew he had to at least be mentioned. The writers kiss the ground he walks on and bend the universe to shield him from consequences for his negative behavior, instead of having him actually grow as a person. The senti!Adrien plot is maybe the worst thing they could have added to the show.

However, he’s not a bad kid. He’s not actively malicious in the ways that people like Lila or Gabriel are. But his negative behavior goes almost entirely unchecked or encouraged when the writers would absolutely punish other characters for doing the same (Marinette, Alya, Luka, Kagami, etc..) Most of my issues with him stem from narrative treatment, so I can’t, in good conscience, at this point put him above any one else previously mentioned.

2. Chloe - she was more fun as a typical bully with the potential to be better, but then she did shit like purposely almost cause a train crash to make herself look good as a hero when she’d “save it”, and later sided with the terrorist when Ladybug wouldn’t give her the bee back. And it continued down hill from there.

However, the fact that she gets disowned by her father with him choosing Zoe over her, (despite the fact that he is heavily responsible for the way she turned out for how he enabled her bad behavior) and gets sent to live away from all she knows with her emotionally neglectful mother, with the final shot we get of her crying and miserable? It still doesn’t sit right at all. The 14 year old girl being treated narratively worse than adult male terrorist will piss me off forever.

[nadekofannumber1]

I wonder how much the audience of each arc’s story (an implicit existence) affects how each story is told in monogatari. Mostly in regards to Koyomi as he’s the character who tends to tell these stories to specific people the most.

Ougi is a not insignificant recipient of Araragi’s second season and owari stories: mayoi jiangshi, shinobu time, shinobu mail, and yotsugi doll. Whilst being present for other arcs in other ways in a consistent manner. Though you could take Ougi formula as a more direct extrapolation of stories and traumas from Koyomi, just in arc form.

Regardless, while it’s hard to pick an audience for owari 1 or owari 3, but I could try and infer that zokuowari is told to senjougahara as it could line up with how monster season is told to her (especially with some internal monologue bits that would imply the recipient knows about zokuowari, like araragi making a comment about how “he’ll never cross dress again” in the novel version of shinobumonogatari, we all know how that went).

But also one could take the odd almost fanservicey moments directed at araragi in monster being for hitagi, like how at times Koyomi internally thinks about the kink sex he has with his GF occasionally when he’s talking with some women.

Of course some of this narration would be for himself, like kizu in most circumstances. Koyomimonogatari is a recount of information before Koyomi dies, so the audience while occasionally for another (like meme), is mainly himself as he dies.

After thinking a bit more on it I’d say that maybe tsubasa family and owari 1’s audience is Koyomi in the way Ougi exists. What I mean is that the narration of both is excessively negative in a self reflective manner, and Koyomi lying in the narrative is also much easier to see than usual as it’s pointed out directly. Though I could see an argument for Shinobu being the audience as a sort of mutuality of the story told by kizu. Or of course scroll to the idea at the end of the earlier Ougi section.

It’s hard to say who the audience of bake and nise are, if I gave a guess it could be senjougahara (as someone actively being told this info while Koyomi and her have study sessions), shinobu (in post as a form of personal recollection), or hanekawa (he talks to hanekawa a lot in bake, enough to get tsubasa cat to happen, however decides to do it less by nise, Koyomi likely told Hanekawa about the events of tsubasa cat after all so you could just say that hanekawa’s the blanket recipient of bakemono’s story).

I personally view musibimono as another one of those reflective stories, but it’s possible that after meeting up with Hitagi he told her after the engagement.

Ikusamono is of course a story told to Koyomi’s bosses.

Though Araragi is the master of his own actions I think it’s interesting some of Koyomi’s most controversial novels are told specifically to Ougi, I’d need to certainly read the novel versions more to see how I can extrapolate this info cohesively, if there’s something to extrapolate at all. Koyomi isn’t a good person obviously and literally does several questionable things but there’s a lot of white noise surrounding some discussion as some see every action he takes in said arcs as done with absolutely zero irony. This is legit where half of all monogatari discourse lies. People even try to pin intents on the guy that aren’t even his doing or his narrative intent, even scenes that don’t physically happen are treated as physical. This isn’t even a defense of why the character is secretly a good person I just think that people should hate Koyomi for what he’s actually done.

However because of the way the narrative is structured, it’s hard to extrapolate reality. I just think that a story told to Ougi by Koyomi, while likely fairly honest, would probably make him look bad. I say this especially with how owari 1 is especially reflective on Koyomi’s failures in the story.

I feel like I’ve lost the plot a bit but I’d love feedback about this idea or at least some discussion.

[soopertiddies]

I've been rewatching s3 and the early half of s3 was actually wild and it felt like almost unnecessarily cruel? especially to the gay poc characters..like the way they treated mercedes with the whole wss and troubletones storyline boils my blood to this day 😒

the sanatana storyline was especially awful and other people have already covered how bad it was way better than I could but the glee writers handled it was actually disgusting

you’re actually so right about them being wildly effeminophobic to kurt in s3 😑😑 like it felt extremely out of place and just nasty

also i think kurt and mercedes should have been allowed to kill sebastian and mr schuester with hammers for the effeminophobic and rascist bullshit they had to deal with

So, disclaimer, I haven't reached season 3 yet I had watched the scene of Bieste, Emma and Artie being horrible to Kurt because it popped up on youtube. But I did watch it when it came out and I DO remember that season 3 filled me with rage, and this is absolutely why.

I don't think Glee handled any storyline well, maybe Kurt getting bullied, but even then I think it was only because Chris (happy bday king) is genuinely good at acting.

And GOD they never gave Mercedes a genuine storyline they gave her one about tater tots and one about her being 'lazy'.

And not to get back on my 'I hate ryan murphy' narrative, but you could tell which cast members he didn't like by how they treated their characters (Chris, Dianna, Amber, and Naya) their characters were always dragged through the mud, they were always painted as doing something wrong even if they were completely justified

(i.e Santana slapping Finn because she was OUTTED and her getting in trouble for it, Kurt not getting into NYADA even though he did amazing, Schue yelling at Quinn even though she genuinely needed help, and Mercedes being called lazy and never getting what she rightfully deserved (like the Maria role)

You're absolutely right about everything, and my apologies for ranting once again those four are my favorite characters and I'm very passionate about how shitty they were treated.

(Also, they should be allowed to murder).

[fraudulent-cheese]

Do you think they made Dave a bit of a straw man near the end of Pahkitew? Like it always felt to me they needed someone to use as a hate buffer you know since they couldn't use any of the antagonists they had already made. And this is coming from someone who likes Dave. He was just a pathetic guy who had some charm to him if explored and used them correctly but in the end he was... Mauled by a robotic bear? The punish may fit the crime, the culprit sure doesn't.

-Pahkitew anon

Total Drama in general has a problem with over punishing it's antagonistic characters in general. I mean, Heather's head getting shaved off is fine imo? It's harsh, but also a punishment in line with her character; if her hair's the hottest thing about her, taking it is a fitting punishment (again. Really fucking harsh). Same with Justin's downfall, caused by him actually liking a girl instead of just charming one. I haven't watched the ending of Action so i can't say anything for how Courtney's elimination is treated.

However, as the series went on, the antagonist punishments started going... way too far. I think the writers just thought that making Ezekiel a weird creature was funny and the volcano erupting would've made for a dramatic finale, but making Alejandro both get burnt alive by it and then stuffing him in a robot suit for over a year is just overboard. Same thing with Scott in ROTI; the trauma chair's implications just get worse the more you think about it - at least Alejandro could speak in the machine at first!

I won't cover the Reboot in this context, but i will cover PI: mostly because this season seemingly has 2-3 antagonists, and most don't carry the plot. Scarlett's an actual antagonistic force for a single episode and doesn't get any punishment on screen outside of elimination (and being sent with Max). Sugar is who im pretty sure the writters wanted to treat as an antagonist? But she doesn't feel like an overarching vilain since she's mostly just doing her own thing all season and the show's just... really mean to her? The narrative repeatedly treats her as unattractive, annoying and dismisses her abilities (specifically in singing) when she's like. Fine. in those aspects. She's also not the smartest, but knows how to use the rules to her advantage (see Ella's elimination, probably the worst thing she does all season)

Getting to the actual topic of your ask now, Dave's heel turn to murder just... feels a little off. Oh sure if the writing insisted on the conditions on the island wearing him down and having Sky be the only positive connection he had (especially considering his attitude towards relationships), having it torn down like this could make it work? At least a little better? But by the episode he's eliminated in he seems to be doing ok.

In general the finale just seems to exacerbate Dave's worst traits for either comedy reasons or plot reasons (pre and post Sky-has-a-boyfriend reveal), but i could personally excuse it if his reaction was more akin to one he'd have before. He would not have reacted well to the reveal, hell him trying to stop Sky from winning could've worked but like??? Not like this man! Im not asking the Total Drama teenager to have a reasonnable reaction, im asking the Total Drama Writters to stick with the character they wrote, and frankly it would be funnier if he failed miserably in trying to get back at Sky or something. Out of all the seasons i feel like either TDAS or TDPI should've ended with the contestants fighting back against Chris instead of the actual endings we got.

Also, as a final clarification: Dave wasn't mauled by a bear (onscreen), Scuba bear was just standing behind him as the entire season ended. I guess my big problem is that he gets consequences for his actions during a single episode and not actions from over the course of the entire season; frankly Sky rejecting him is enough consequences, the dude's pathetic and didn't listen to her 'but', multiple times.

[inchidentally]

seeing some headloss on twt over oscar cropping out lando from his post-qualifying instagram post 💀

we haven’t gone through the trenches with this season and bounced back from it for people to discredit their partnership based off of a cropped photo.

anyway here’s a video from twt of where you can see osc clapping for lando as he goes for his f1tv interview, people should touch some grass honestly 🫵🏻😧

https://x.com/ln4norris/status/1865414347817693444?s=46

this is why I don't personally use twt at all - I feel like there's a whole alternate reality going on there that doesn't exist in any other part of fandom lasfgajlfglaf I feel for the decent ppl who use it bc damn, y'all are gods strongest soldiers! just today I've been told that ppl decided Lando was "distracted" by Carlos when he said he couldn't hear what Hinch was saying when it's clear he was referring to how loud the crowd was and the god awful reverb from the PA system. then apparently people said Lando looked "serious" with Oscar and "happy" with Carlos but when I watched it back he's smiling with Oscar but also clearly strategizing bc… teammates ?? fighting for a championship ?? and like, he shook Carlos' hand and they had a giggle ?? like yea if I wanted to go rpf and be stupid I could pretend that meant smth other than them being very good friends but in real life that's genuinely all it is ! and Lando does that with fully half the grid bc he just makes men love him like that!

and like, this is so so cute ;__; watching the guy he's fanboyed over for years and that little clap he's doing bc he just wants to and not bc he thinks anyone will even notice by zooming way in on it like we have <3

so how does it play out in the rpf competition !! when Lando wants to make Oscar laugh just the day before?? what about Lando’s maybe a lil bit pointed speech about team loyalty even when tempted with better offers while Carlos is sat right there ? ooh and Lola grabbed Lando and Oscar giggling and talking together while Carlos was answering questions - does that mean Lando betray Carlos oh jail for Lando for a hundred years ??!! like I need people to get a grip and realize that if rpf is stressing you out then a)you're taking it too seriously and b)you're stressed over an invented narrative that doesn't exist and will always be ruined by reality. it's why these people end up in fresh rages over Carlos so annoyingly proving that he not only loves Rebecca, he actively wants her with him even when he's doing normally Boys Only stuff. that even when Lando is around or available, Carlos has the audacity to for example, choose to spend a quiet dinner with her and Hulk and his wife rather than go out for Lando's win. that Carlos asks her to come to the Netflix Cup and keeps checking in on her while Lando third wheels a bit while they talk before leaving early to go hang out with his own friends. that Carlos ends up wrapped around Rebecca at a club after Singapore last year and Mexico and Melbourne this year even tho Lando is sometimes right there or didn't go out with them. how can carland0 be special and secretly gay if Rebecca not beard who Carlos hates and Ferrari/insert superpower here is paying and forcing to be with ????????? and don't even get started on the rages over Carlos daring to treat Charles special and express deep emotions over their relationship and all the time he says they spend together off of work talking about "every subject you can imagine" and doing things together with no PR or Ferrari benefit. that considering how often their own families are openly warring and taking sides unchecked by anyone, Carlos and Charles have defiantly chosen to truly like each other and stand by each other. but they'll never be carland0!!! they just caaaan't be !!

ITS SO WILD like I wanna shake these fans and remind them you rly can indulge in rpf and still maintain a full grasp and appreciation for real life friendships where no one is stuck in middle school and "competing" for which friend they like best lsafhglsafgjafg

and omg this whole social media stuff - yes, McLaren's socmed admins prefer Carlos and Daniel over Oscar and it's very clear even if it's for no deeper reason than Oscar doesn't do PR at all well and won't schmaltz up his friendship with Lando for fan service. which is fine bc honestly I don't mind being pandered to sometimes with certain ships (obviously) but I also do kinda wish they "got" Oscar better bc so many of us rly do adore his humor and his natural, unpolished personality. and they're clearly stumped when people enjoy landoscar content despite no queerbaiting and no memeable jokes. we just like watching them be cute and smile all crinkly eyed at each other :3

but yea, this whole season has been a PR festival of Emotions About Carlos for McLaren and Lando (and Netflix, if you've been watching how the boom follows these moments around) and when combined w their not unkind but definite ambivalence toward Oscar means there's times social media kind of forgets that Oscar's also there with just as much reason to celebrate him too. like I'm not at all moved by these millionaires moving team to team in itself but yes in certain cases it's very emotional for different reasons and therefore ofc going to fill up sm feeds! they were also like that about Lewis when it was carland0 at McLaren. we just wanna see more of Oscar even if he doesn't lend himself as well to popular narratives!

BUT reminder that Oscar outed himself twice in just the last two months as usually not being the one in charge of his social media content and that he isn't even for a second measuring his own personal presence or impact on social media ! Lily takes all their holiday pictures, Kim or one of the PR ladies takes the pictures at races and his new PR manager Sarah grabs any other content and uploads pretty much everything you see to Oscar's accs. if a post has a sarcastic caption like the driver's group dinner or is unusual like when he filled the top row of his instagram with photos/videos of him and Lando at Silverstone (for poignancy) then you know it's him. but that's probably about six to eight times in a year ngl. the rest of the time he's personally using social media to look at benign memes and sports updates while other people maintain his presence on his own accs.

also, as a charlos girlie I've got to say that ppl need to start calming down the emotional rollercoasters bc even when Lando and Oscar inevitably start to have issues that can be seen publicly, they'll blow over just as fast! the teammates who end up truly hating each other always have an existing past that makes them incapable of separating on track from off track in a healthy way. it's why Carlos immediately brought up the fact that he and Lando have never had their friendship tested by the kind of competition he has with Charles and to not compare the two relationships. and as I always say every time some idiot wants to banish Oscar and jam Carlos into his spot for the power of frandship or delusional rpf, Carlos and Lando's friendship is exactly the kind of foundation that leads to bitter rages and fall-outs that last years (sometimes longer). those gifs, bro - they weren't even teammates when that happened so do we rly want to watch that unfold every weekend by making them teammates locked in intense WDC battles??

whereas both Oscar and Lando and Carlos and Charles have formed their respective friendships alongside intense direct competition with each other. they negotiated how to cope with each other's temperaments and reactions at the same time as learning who they were as people. time and again that's proven to be the best way to preserve friendship with the guy you're battling with for wins and a WDC.

so there's no point flipping a table over the occasional fight in situations like Lando and Oscar battling each other sometimes. unlike like the cases of hideous erosion of affection into hatred that happens when long time besties suddenly fight for the same prize for almost the entire calendar year. that literally never ends well.

/rant

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

ALLURA (VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER)

1.) Okay so, they really wanted Allura to be a #girlpower icon, but the way that came about is that they basically stripped her from having emotions. She only cries once in the whole show, and it was in the first season (when the show was actually good.) After her one cry she basically becomes a leader figure who doesn’t get to bond much with the other characters. They then decided to pass her around as a romantic interest to three different men. The first one was only set up, but she ends up dating two of them within the show’s short run. The second character they set her up with turns out to have enslaved her people. The third character they set her up with has been shown to be interested in her through the shows run. Despite Allura’s consistent lack of interest, she ends up being pressured into going on a date with him. Despite it being a terrible date (in my opinion) they decide to peruse a relationship. The relationship is terrible and they really only spend time together to rant about their problems. At the end of the season, the very same one where this relationship started, Allura sacrifices herself to save the universe. This stupid fucking decision not only came out of nowhere in terms of in-universe logic, but also that her death is treated as sad because the guy lost his girlfriend. Most of the other characters don’t really morn her, and the guy she was dating just becomes sadly obsessed with the idea of her for the rest of his life. Not really the nice send-off for the #girlboss.

2.) She was given plenty character, but not a lot of things to do narratively speaking.

She wanted to free the Galaxy from tyranny. She's the leader even though she doesn't pilot the black lion. She's can talk to mice. She's kind, and she's among the the last of her kind. Her home planet was destroyed. She kept going even when things looked horrendous. She had to wait 10,000 in stasis sleep before she could fight to protect others. Because her father wanted to protect her and made the wrong decision in not fighting the Galra with Voltron. She had to destroy the AI of her father when he was corrupted in season 1. She had to deal with her Dad dying twice.

She had cool powers like shapeshifting but didn't get to use them often. She starts piloting the blue lion, at season 3. Her father worked with the big bad Zarkon and she is portrayed just to hate him. When it was more like she was completely betrayed by him.

She didn't get alot of interactions with the other cool female characters. Even Pidge who was on her team, which can only form Voltron through teamwork. 8 seasons and they never talk about how how much they miss their families. Pidge's main motivation is finding her father and brother. It would have been perfect. The only time they hangout is to get Allura ready for a date.

She was distrusting of all Galra since there empire wiped out her kingdom. But when she got an arc about learning to not distrust all Galra. It functionally ended with Prince Lotor of the Galra making people batteries out of the survivor's of her kingdom.

Then she was basically relegated to her relationship with Lance's interaction wise. She didn't get many interactions with anyone else she was close to in the season she died. Not even with Coran, the guy put in stasis with her.

For the finale she dies sacrificing herself to restore all realites. She had to give up her new family and her people. She would do that, I just don't think the writers had earned doing that. She deserved a happy ending. She never gets to see that her sacrifice even brought back her planet.

3.) season 8. Season 8. SEASON 8. Allura deserved so much better than an out of nowhere romance arc with Lance and then dying without being able to say goodbye to Coran (her royal advisor, closest friend, and last remaining member of her family and her planet). AND they had her give Altean marks to Lance right before dying, leaving him with a constant reminder of her for the rest of his life!! Why!!!!!!!!! AND THEN THE LIONS FLY BACK INTO SPACE TOWARDS A NEBULA SHAPED LIKE HER, LIKE THE WHOLE FINALE WAS SATISFYING AND NOT A MASTERCLASS IN UNSATISFYING CHARACTER ENDINGS!!!!!! Allura you will always be the confident princess and leader of the rebellion in my heart i am so so sorry season 8 happened to you

MIKAELA BANES (TRANSFORMERS)

1.) mikaela's case is so egregious that i struggle to really properly word any propaganda beyond 'just look at the movie. look at it.' but congrats to mikaela banes for getting in! was thinking of submitting her along with my arcee but couldn't even like. begin to describe it. agh.

best i can really say for her right now is 'open her tfwiki article, open sam's, look at the pictures, compare how they frame the two, you will see what i mean then and there.' but i might do a rewatch of the bayverse transformers movies just to be able to get all my more complex thoughts in order to actually submit a breakdown of her. which is not something i want to do, but if anyone deserves it it's mikaela. she deserved so much better.

2.) She was the female character played by Megan Fox, and Michael Bay wanted to make sure everyone watching knew this was a woman played by megan fox. She is the quintessential "not like other girls" (in fact, this is the second sentence of her wikipedia page - "She is differentiated from "typical" women in her age group, having inherited mechanical skills from her father") who has guy interests, but is still hot and wears crop tops and jean shorts. I remember two things from that movie, Bumblebee and the scene where she is working on the car ~sexily~, which today genuinely seems like a parody, but was included entirely earnestly (I wasn't going to add a picture from this scene, but it was literally the first and third pictures that showed up when i googled her)

3.) Mikaela is so sexualized it's unreal. Like, I feel I really just need to submit this screenshot:

Look at the way she's posed, the way she's dressed, the fact her head isn't in the shot. It's pure objectification, like the kind that should be in textbooks as easy examples. The way it emphasizes both her butt and her boobs but also shows her stomach is just astonishing. God it doesn't even show her FACE. This shot really amazes me, just good god.

And then there's also this famous shot:

It's so aggressively sexy, so much a pose and not at all a way a real human would position themselves. The way her ass is popped out, the way her hair is flipped, jesus christ. Someone needs to put Michael Bay in misogyny jail.

[canonically47]

evil version of that previous anon: and what were your LEAST favorite parts of each of those seasons?

sorry i got to this so late! buuut

total drama

season 1: leshawna's elimination. just... utter bullshit. closely followed by geoff's. also utter bullshit. in fact heather's whole plot armor was meh

season 2: sorry guys but courtney's entire arc. i can't stand her in TDA. she's meh to okay at best in TDI and fine until the gwuncan stuff in TDWT, after that i just can't even. she's so annoying sorry <//3

season 3: EZEKIEL'S MUTANT ARC COME ONNN MY MAN DESERVES BETTER LET HIM BE HAPPY FUCK YOU

season 4: the all-men finale. we should've gotten a zoey vs cameron finale. boo

season 5: the fact that it exists. i have so many problems with it, it's hard to narrow it down to just one single part i hated most, but there is one! i hated how every character was dumbed down. heather just telling alejandro she had the idol. alejandro just telling mal he had proof he was evil. many eliminations. the fact that the final five was... well, that. but most, i hated mal's arc and how mike was 'cured' of DID by pressing a button. i won't speak much on it since it's nowhere near my expertise nor business as a singlet but i would imagine that is. not how it fucking works. at all and just such a sad sterotyped thing to add an eViL alter to the poor guy just to give him more substance. plus i've discussed this with a mutual before but mal just feels like max taken seriously by the narrative. yeah i hate this season there's a reason it gets trampled in my fic

season 6: there was so much potential for max to be a hero and stand up to scarlett. like. so much. i love him he deserved better. that's not the worst tho and if you're new here let me tell you I FUCKING HATE DAVE. OKAY. i have a BIG issue with that guy which is half because he reminds me of some asshole i know irl and half because he just fucking sucks. i don't get any dave ship, any dave love, anything at all. there is nothing to like about him. he is genuinely one of the very few total drama characters that i can't even make up the substance he lacks. just. fuck dave

season 7 (RR): the daters and best friends fell so flat for me in different ways. the daters were just so annoying and i couldn't have been happier at their elimination. the best friends just felt so forced to me. i mean i'm also a romance-repulsed(-ish, not always, it's complicated) aromantic but oh my goddd... they dragged on for sooo loooongggggggg

season 8: the jurasic fart episode. also how chase treated emma. again fuck these allos /j

season 9: PRILEB. OKAY LISTEN. i fucking LOVE prileb BUT i also fucking HATEEE them. they could've been so good if priya was just eliminated earlier. caleb could've had more to him than priya's misunderstood boyfriend, he could've made alliances and friends, but noooo just give him an entire miscommunication arc FUCK YOU yeah prileb could've been so good if it was good (total drama catchphrase)

disventure camp

season 1: fiore's betrayal to alec felt like terrible writing to me and i'll still stand by that. a character like fiore needs more than one side and alec was that other, softer, caring side. and they threw it all away for shock value! <//3 i really hope these two make up :( i miss them so much. oh also the downfall of tomjake like what the fuck happened oh my

season 2: some challenges were... creepy and weird to say the least. spin the wheel to see who to kiss? my aro ass could never. and when kristal indirectly outed aiden during the dares challenge? like, this yo host? trevor would never <3

season 3: whatever the fuck riya and connor, as well as tom and jake, as well as ally and hunter, as well as- FUCK IT WHATEVER THE FUCK THE COUPLES HAVE GOING ON. YES ALL OF THEM EXcept gabellie. keep going my loves you're doing great