#i also might be completely wrong and he’s just on flashback stuff

[blueteller]

Do you have more character analysis on og!Cale and how his relationships are with the other characters? Before and after transmigrating

Well, I'd love to, but..... here's the thing. For all the hype about OG Cale – and I'm definitely a member of that crowd, don't get me wrong – there isn't actualy... much about him. That is actually canon, I mean.

In fact, despite being one of the most popular characters in the fandom, OG Cale is only present in the novel for less than three full chapters in total (655-657), and all of them are spent mostly discussing how the war in the TBOAH timeline went down, not OG Cale's personal relationships.

Everything we know is all told through KRS!Cale perspective, who mostly just makes guesses and some pretty inaccurate assumptions. Sure, there was some stuff on how OG Cale treated his family in the TBOAH novels; but because "Nelan Barrow" did not really know the actual reason behind OG Cale choosing to act like trash... It's all extremely vague.

Nelan Barrow goes like: "OG Cale yelled at his servants yet never actually hit any of them, respected his father but kept distance from his family, and the closest person to a father figure he had was Ron Molan whom he treated like a human being". And that was basically everything, without any context added.

Ron had all of one flashback about OG Cale comforting his father after Jour's funeral. No explanation about Deruth's second marriage, about Basen – not even that they're not biologically related! OG Cale himself stated that "no matter how hard he tried to act like trash, they wouldn't kick him out", so that means the whole Henituse family did love OG Cale unconditionally. And also Ron and Beacrox were visibly quite tired of his nonsense by the time Cale transmigrated. But beyond that...

Well, to be fair, there were some minor characters sprinkled here and there who had a connection to OG Cale, before KRS!Cale got to meet them. There was Hans the butler, who was kind of scared of OG Cale... before he loosened up completely around KRS!Cale. And also there was the Eric Wheelsman, Gilbert Chetter and Amiru Ubarr trio; who were OG Cale's childhood friends because of their connection as North Eastern nobles. There was also the unnamed niece/OG Cale's reincarnated mom, and some Korean characters came up in the extras. They're all great characters, but... all of their relationships with OG Cale were exactly as one might expect: they're confused by OG Cale, yet overall like him (because for all the "trash personna" he did, OG Cale was never actually a bad person).

...Not much left to be said here.

And regarding the 20 years of war in the TBOAH timeline... OG Cale could be a biased narrator like Cale himself, but it sounded like he wasn't really anyone super important. He saw the confrontation between Choi Han and the White Star from the sidelines, not as someone close to the "main hero". He was just a soldier in the background of the battlefield. I doubt he talked to Choi Han even once.

Look, overall, most of OG Cale's relationships can be deduced or estimated from context – like the fact that despite his terrible reputation, no one who knew him actually hated him all that much – but in true canon, there's nothing much going on regarding his bonds with anyone aside his family. Yes, we can headcanon all kinds of drama based on Choi Han's violent actions in the beginning of TBOAH, followed by him leaving with both Ron and Beacrox without them saying goodbye to OG Cale... But that's all fan theories. In the TCF novel, OG Cale is a complete mystery for over 600 chapters.

...Which is probably why fans are so obsessed with him. Fleshing out OG Cale's character is super fun. No wonder there are so many Twin AUs, hahaha!

[stromuprisahat]

Remind me again, why is ~he~ here?!

Siege and Storm- Chapter 9

It's not a team effort, Malyen. Army won't judge you as a couple.

Macho lowly otkazat'sya doesn't get to strike (again).

Please do!

This would work as much more powerful statement, if Mal were genuinely concerned for Alina's well-being and her OWN choice, instead of being pissed he's the one, who called dibs on her.

*whispers* That's exactly what's he gonna do...

For allowing you to keep breathing?!

Yeah, me too...

There's nothing more pathetic than an insecure man shouting.

Perhaps maybe insecure man deciding for "their" woman.

A minute of silence for an alternative universe, where Nikolai isn't so unreasonably accommodating, and has actual guards stationed at door, so they rush in after hearing shouting. They see a deserter attacking their Tsarevich, so they step in...

Is acting like a mindless animal supposed to make him look attractive?!

HoW DaRe You fLiRt WiTh My aCcEsSoRy?!

Because seriously- what's his problem here?!

Really?!

That's what's bothering you, Alina?!

I know Alina has some serious issues regarding self-worth, but I'd be more concerned about him acting as if she were his property, and anyone even suggesting she might have different role in the world deserves to be beaten by fists (because control is overrated and true men make a pub brawl out of anything)...

You're supposed to sit by hearth and warm my soup!

Sorry Malaria, but Alina IS THE Sun Summoner, want it or not. You can't just keep ignoring it and hoping she'll just slip into your shadow AGAIN. ... wait... *war flashbacks from Cofton* At least not as long as there are people capable of finding her and dragging her back into the story.

How can you be so SELFISH, Alina?! What about his soup?!

Just when the heroine moves to assume at least ~some~ responsibility (although for different reasons than you'd expect), she's promptly shamed for not thinking about Maaal for one (1) second... I love how he uses position of honour as an insult, because he's the one with full ownership of a public figure.

I know I'm apparently too demanding, but shouldn't he be overjoyed he didn't get shot on the spot yet? And no one seems too concerned about his desertion...

But hey- gf not discussing her decision to stop hiding from expectations placed upon her is obviously the more pressing matter.

Y'no. if his objection was that she completely forgot to negotiate change of his status in First Army with Nikolai (DESER*gunshot*), I'd cheer and fully support him, but his position in her love life and bedroom is apparently more pressing matter.

Also a huge fan of body language here.

What could crossed arms mean in body language? Rude, angry and insecure?! Sounds about right...

Ordinary deserter ORDERS a Prince and Major of the very same Army he fled...?

Yeah, Alina!

Mal wants his sickly housewife back!

Y'no, I wanted to note how quickly Malyen changed his mind about coming back, but then I re-read the end of previous book to be sure, and it's always been Alina. He wanted to get out, get rid of her amplifier and live his happy life in obscurity consequences be damned:

Shadow and Bone- After

His girl refuses to get rid of all of the stuff that makes her different, so he just has to settle for her fancy clothes...

Wow!

Supportive boyfriend here!

But hey- admitting she IS strong would mean giving up his dreams of watching her trudging after him.

He doesn't even have any idea what the Darkling can or cannot do! It's not some sort of professional opinion!

This one's kinda funny in a way- Alina had very similar thought about him and volcra a chapter earlier...

Siege and Storm- Chapter 8

... ashamed ... given up EVERYTHING to be WITH ME ... Don't tell me, Malyen's so blind he never notices what his (rather pointed) remarks do to Alina?!

I thought we both wanted to help Ravka.

No, Alina. He never did. We've been both wrong. He cares only about himself and his ownership of a small, inconsequential you.

This could offer an interesting view into a mind of a soldier so alienated from his country that offers him zero promises for the future, he cares for nothing... if he weren't such an inconsiderate dick to Alina...

Love this aspect of their relationship! SO empowering!

Like... He'd need to be extremely dull, if I wanted to interpret this as anything but clear fucking MANIPULATION. This is psychological blackmailing 101!

And he's supposed to be the supportive boyfriend SOMEHOW...

[thestargayzingetherian]

She-Ra In He-Man Revelations/Revolution

So it's been a few days and I wanted to put this post out there to basically publicly give my thoughts on some... recent developments concerning He-Man Revolution. Before I go into this, MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING FOR THE SHOW!

And also, and this is probably MORE important than the spoiler warning. Do not, and I repeat, do not take whatever speculation I put in this post as gospel or something that is GOING to happen. I may be a bit more knowledgeable than a lot of people about this stuff, but I don't wanna consider myself an expert. This is just me speculating and giving my thoughts and I don't want to get anyone's hopes up because there's a good chance, that what I'm saying turns out to be completely wrong and I don't wanna be responsible for that, so please, take all of this with the smallest grain of salt possible.

With that out of the way...

So the new season of He-Man ends with the reveal of this lady, Despara. For those who don't know... she is Adora. As in She-Ra Adora. In the DC He-man comics, Despara was the name Adora was known as when she was raised as Hordak's daughter. Her name is often used by Catradora fan artists and fic writers who really wanna just make Adora a hot evil lesbian, usually with a hot butch hairdo. It is likely that if/when another season of this show comes, Despara will be the main focus.

Now this raises the obvious question... how are they going to handle the She-Ra stuff. As I have made posts about before, the She-Ra rights and He-Man rights have been separate for a very long time and apparently, the last thing I heard, Mattel themselves can't use any of the She-Ra characters in animated form due to Dreamworks owning them now.

So naturally, you might be thinking that Despara here is just a placeholder because they can't use She-Ra. Except... there are a LOT of She-Ra references in this season that are way too numerous to be just references.

For example:

They recreate the exact scene from the 80s She-Ra movie where Adora is taken as a baby by Hordak in a flashback scene. They also mention Horde Prime existing as well and they EVEN imply that Shadow Weaver exists in this universe as well and Hordak's new robot second-in-command, Motherboard is a replacement for her.

So yeah, all signs SEEMINGLY point to some sort of She-Ra-inspired adaption being the next part of this show. Now, considering the very complex rights issues... I can see this going one of two ways.

Mattel and Dreamworks did a deal like the one Sony and Marvel did with Spiderman to temporarily get the She-Ra rights back for JUST this next season. Despara is revealed to be Adora and her arc will be her learning her true family AND eventually becoming She-Ra to fight Horde Prime with her brother and possibly all the other She-Ra cast are there too. This I feel like it would be the ideal solution to all of this.

2. Despara is revealed to be someone else OTHER than Adora under her helmet because her face is obviously not seen in her brief scene when she takes her helmet off. Technically, Mattel would own Despara outright and not Dreamworks and they could easily make Despara her own character. This was also how they planned to include her in the second season of CGI He-Man. HOWEVER, considering all the foreshadowing and knowing how many people working on these shows loved SPOP... I feel like it'd be really unsatisfying if it wasn't Adora under the mask, both as a fan and from a creative standpoint.

As for my personal theory of what Despara's whole deal is, I think she's ruling Etheria on the other side of the galaxy with Catra and serving personally under Horde Prime. Basically SPOP but a bad ending. The plot will be He-Man and his friends finding out about Etheria and going there to free the planet and Despara will redeem herself and she and Catra and whoever will join team good guy.

But that's just my personal theory. I really don't know what the hell is going to happen here or even IF more episodes will even be coming and I don't want to get people's hopes up. There's a reason I myself have been working on my own She-Ra and He-Man crossover extended universe stuff for the last while so, at the very least, there'd be a fanfic that would satisfy my hopes. I am prepared to be very wrong here.

But even if none of this speculation pans out, I still highly recommend this show to She-Ra fans. The second season definitely fixed the few issues I had with the first one and I hope more comes out of this version of He-Man... then again, it wouldn't be the first time a He-Man series was cancelled.

Hope you find this post informative!

[lottiesprophecy]

I wanna know what exactly was the deal with Charlie x Megan what’s their history???? Because it’s like sister Megan said they’re close friends but the diner scene started off awkward and then Charlie is rejecting her and then teasing her and then they end up fucking??? (Is that supposed to be their first time or have they done it before) And then after Megan got shot he’s all concerned and talked about their trips for wildflowers (how adorable and wholesome is that) and then they turn out to be partners in crime??? Were they partners after the diner talk? Because why else would you be theorising about the murders. Most of this taking place just between them btw and not Lois’s perspective. What. ((((Also I’m ignoring the twist/reveal the priest/nun verse is the real verse))))

HOLY CRAP! I’m so sorry for not answering this sooner! I’ve just noticed this… 🫣

So the whole thing with Megan and Charlie was completely fiction. A dream that Lois conjured up. Lois saw Megan as a nun because in her real life, the life outside of her coma, she saw Megan as a holier-than-thou person. Someone who was perfect and could do no wrong. Lois also saw Megan as the killer because Megan “usurped” Lois (Megan’s word not mine lol) in becoming Chief of Police, thus resulting in Lois retiring. I believe Lois saw it as a way of Megan killing her. Ending her life by ending her long career.

Lois saw Charlie as the killer because she heard what he said while she was in her coma. That whole speech he gave Lois’s husband about how it would be kinder to let her go, how death can be a tool for sweet emancipation. Which Lois was very clearly insulted by, that’s why she was always so cold towards him and immediately accused him trying to literally kill her.

Why she envisioned him as a priest… I’m kinda of confused on that part. I’m guessing since she had envisioned Megan as the nun it might have made sense for her to pair them up together in her dream state. Now how does that explain all the freaky stuff they were doing, especially the priest? My theory is that since Lois could hear Dr Charlie having orgies in her room and she heard the conversation about a doctor impregnating an unconscious patient that information influenced how she/we the viewers saw Father Charlie. As a doctor there’s a code of conduct they must follow, and as a Priest there are vows they have sworn to obey. We see both versions of Charlie going against what they’re both supposed to represent.

As much as I enjoyed the reveal about Megan being the freakin’ Chief of Police and watching her become a badass, I do miss Sister Megan! And I think that Father Charlie was waaay more interesting than Dr Charlie. I was hoping that there would be a relationship between Detective Megan and Dr Charlie, but unfortunately there was not.

I hope Grotesquerie gets a second season and I hope we get some Sister Megan and Father Charlie flashbacks 🤞🏼

[box953]

YES!!!!! it kills me to death that the entire decima plot and hilbert as a whole goes NOWHERE!!!!! hilbert gets one second of humanity in front of eiffel (+lovelace conversation) and then no one ever talks about it and nothing happens and then he dies! and then surprise decima was never even important and it was all about aliens the whole time! i just wanted his whole thing to lead up to anything at all!!!! it felt like they changed what way they wanted to go with the story half way through after they had already set up all the decima stuff😭😭😭 sidenote its super interesting how the people he has hurt the most are also the only people who give one fuck about him even a little that is insane every time i think about it i die he should have came back to haunt people a little more i think

anon we are frolicking in a field together. You get me. You understand.

Obviously I’m biased but it’s always kind of been nuts to me how much of hilberts character they just kind of walk back. Especially because so much of it seemed like gold from a character writing perspective. Guy who spends years pretending to be a completely fake guy after his last mission went horribly wrong, before he drops the charade and reverts back to his old self because he tried and failed to kill his entire crew and now everyone knows who he really is? Guy who dedicates basically his entire life to this one project he swears will work one day, dragging himself and everyone he works with down with him, only for it to be revealed that any semblance of progress was all fake and that the people funding him never even wanted it to work anyways? Like that’s crazy. He’s so fucking interesting.

But then the podcast itself decides to take a lot of that back, or just not even touch it. From trying to retcon an entire season’s worth of his fake personality in future flashbacks and mission mishap episodes by just having him be the same tired old man instead of the jolly and upsetting scientist schtick he was pulling in s1? And then killing him, which for all intents and purposes i don’t disagree with, but which really feels like they were just trying to get rid of him with how little anyone acknowledges him after he dies.

like I think you can feel how little hilbert’s death impacts the story when you compare it to maxwell and how she still very much has a presence in season 4. She’s everywhere, you don’t get to forget her. It’s really interesting! And also makes it incredibly weird that Hilbert doesn’t really? Get that? We don’t even get a proper reaction from Lovelace? Like yeah she was sort of out of commission before he died but also you’d think that would be a great prompt for a later realization when she comes back and all of a sudden he’s not there. She fucking hated him but he was also the very last member of her old crew. You’d think that would count? For something? That it would cause Some sort of reaction, whatever that reaction might be.

it feels weird because at the end of the day he is textually very fucking interesting, and I like him a lot, but I almost feel like the writing doesn’t want me to give a shit about him. Which is weird!!!

[stackslip]

Just wanted to say I love your fma 2003 posts. While I do think the original story is more cohesive and stuff, I think that the stuff they did with the 03 show is really interesting and provides a lot of cool angles on the character. It's a completely different story after a certain point with its own merit, and I think that it gives a lot of development to the characters in fascinating ways. I feel like seeing it added depth to my appreciation of the story. There's juicy bits in there that I wish were in the original and I'm just glad they were explored and that I'm not the only one who loves it. :))

sorry i took so late to respond lol

i think the og IS a lot more cohesive and planned out, and more consistent in quality! it's just that i don't think it's much to write home about either. it's a very solid fun shounen and as long as you don't think too deep about its implications, it's definitely a lot better written than 90% of mainstream shounen. and i can see the appeal in that, i genuinely do. i don't think 03 is to everyone's taste, even outside of people for whom og fma is comfort food, for whom even a slight deviation feels Wrong because that's their emotional support anime or whatever. like, i'm a fucking dbz fan always and forever you know? i don't have room to say "why do people enjoy mangahood better, it's so much less mature than 03" bc i still get pumped and emo from super saiyan transformations. i do wish these fans at least would understand WHY one might have frustrations with the themes of the story and what it does with very serious subjects lol

i do think that 03 is its own story but i don't think it's its own story "from a certain point". yes the early anime follows a lot of the manga's story, albeit rearranging it differently. but i'd argue that it's different in essence from the very start. its tone it starkly different from the manga, which is and remains a Cool Mystery Action Shounen. fma 03 from its very first episode leans more into brooding and psychological horror territory, even outside of the extra gore. even the subtle changes it makes early in the story aren't just to change/"improve" or adapt the manga's story, but to set up what they do when 03 REALLY departs from the manga's storyline. ed and al's characters are, i'd argue, leagues away from their og counterparts by ep 10--the flashback and making them go through all that trauma at age 12 really sets up that 15 year old ed isn't a confident shitlord like he is in the og, but a deeply insecure and guilt ridden teenager forced to grow up too fast and hiding his insecurities behind a mask of confidence. al is still kind and polite, but also a lot more ruthless and even more dependent on his brother than the og one is--the sensory deprivation and dysmorphia from the armour is cutting him off from other humans than his brother, and a lot of his own doubts and anguish at his situation begin eating at him to the point that when barry throws out the "you're an artificial person" accusation, al's brain immediately latches onto it because he's been wondering if he's even human for years.

i do think 03 has pits and valleys in terms of quality--but honestly i'm fine with it (bar a few genuinely infuriating decisions such as the transmisogynist serial killer trope in ep 8), it's a 2000s anime that was insanely ambitious and butting against the author and funding, some episodes visibly have a shoestring budget and while it remains thematically consistent you can very clearly see moments/places where the production committe threw in "hey uhhhhhh put in more kimblee he's popular" or "we're not giving you more episodes sorry. wrap it all up in three". do i wish a more consistent version of the show existed, meticulously planned out and with all the time and money in the world they needed existed? yes. would that version have been perfect? not necessarily tbh!

but really, 03 has a number of strong decisions and genuinely genius twists on the og that make it very hard for me to come back to the fma manga without feeling deeply underwhelmed. i like greedling so, so much--i just don't like him enough to not feel really bitter about how lust is treated in the manga. i genuinely love the scene where ed swears he'll get al's body's back at the gate, 10/10 shounen scene--but also, there's the scene ed happily tells al that after digging up their mom's body it turns out the transmutation they did had nothing to do with their mom, and every time i'm like "this is so stupid and i wish they'd kept the failed transmutation homonculi". the absolute heights of fma as a manga never ever manage to hit nearly as strongly to me as 03's does, because og fma will always feel just..... lacking in ambition and in depth, where imo in some aspects fma 03 still hasn't been outdone. where can i find something like the 03's homonculi? how many narratives are there that celebrate a character like scar instead of playing the trope of the Well Meaning Extremist Who Kicks A Puppy? this is a real question btw send them to me immediately i need them.

[angy-grrr]

welcome back to me being pity. I don’t mind Izu///ocha* in fanon, there’s lots of cute content out there and they are adorable after all. I can’t not love them! However, when it comes to canon, and believing they have to be canon… i have issues with that. and when the justification this being a shonen manga and not focusing on love? Oh. That pisses me off.

There’s lots of shonen manga who are romantic comedies, slice of life, and in general just are about friendships and learning about feelings —but even when talking about just the typical popular shonen, this isn’t a good excuse for me.

There is no need to add 10 chapters about love in order to make it with a natural flow —small details are there for a reason! And I’m making a list of ways izu///ocha could have been developed easily without spending energy on it, using what its already in canon.

The end of the togachako fight, Himiko gets the All Might keychain, a symbol they both have shared to symbolize their crushes on Izuku and their unity in it. Instead of drawing her covering completely with her hand, show her giving it to Ochako, or already in her hand, not completely covered; this would express Himiko’s blessing and wish for Ochako to get to confess her feelings too. An “it’s your turn now, good luck!” moment. Bittersweet, tragic, but also would make it less wrong for her to say her feelings and date Izuku in the end -after all, it would be implied Himiko wanted that! But this way, covered and in Toga’s hand, the message is not clear (is she going to confess still? Or cover her feelings as they “died” with Himiko? I don’t believe she’s dead but shhhhh)

Mutual symbols. During the Christmas present exchange, they get each other’s, an All Might keychain and a bag of mochis, two things they personally like but gifted to other people, like the rest of class A. As we establish this keychain means “Deku-kun” to her and holds onto it, why not making mochis reappear more for Izuku? They are food, so he could have said “sharing mochis” as things you do with a boyfriend. Wouldn’t it be adorable he just said that without noticing that’s Ochako’s favorite thing? If we go further, maybe add a simple scene, where he thinks about how he wishes to share some with her, maybe during one of those calm moments before the war happened.

Have Izuku struggle a little when complimenting her when he thought she was talking badly about herself. If this is your crush, or person you are developing feelings for, how could you just be this confident about such embarrassing things, specially when you are already shy about love as a whole? Even him would know that’s embarrassing no matter how clueless he is for other things, so it would be better to have him struggle to say those things —looking at the floor, playing with his fingers, blushing. Typical Deku stuff, nothing new for his character, but it would confirm there’s something going on his side too that persists clearly even after the first war.

the hand holding; ochako grabbed his hand when they were bringing him back to UA and civilians were against it. It’s a way to comfort him, and tell him everything is going to be okay, he’s not alone. Even during that context, wouldn’t that be a bigger thing between crushes? After all, Deku blushed a lot in the beginning of the final war, when he was grabbed from where he was supposed to be and people he cares for are in the most dangerous situation of them all, why wouldn’t he blush if the girl he likes grabs his hand to support him?

Thinking about Himiko; a reason he could have not reacted is “well, this is the moment they are actually developing serious feelings for each other beyond a crush”. If I was writing this, I would make Ochako have flashbacks of Izuku’s terrible state during her speech —emotions getting her, she just really needs them to let him in! With his hopelessness, isolation, dirtiness and hunger! Isn’t this reason enough to get desperate for? She is screaming with all she has to please let him stay, he is just like anyone else… but thinks about Himiko instead? And not just to stop some sadness, but about making her smile (spoilers for chapter 425; instead of turning negatives into zeros, she is talking about turning negatives into positives. Saving her, and making her happy too, because there’s a need for happiness for them all, not just neutrality and pretending nothing is wrong). This decision establishes her hero arc and ideals, which is amazing! But I don’t see how this is an izu///ocha moment in canon really —just because Izuku cries, doesn’t mean this is good romance. ill never forget the little parallels Ochako has with All Might, and idk how to just let it be when ppl limit them as “her being the love interest”. No, her ideals are so cool, and I’m really hoping she achieves what she wanted for Himiko, so we can also add more angst to Izuku’s character and show her as the hero she is

*i censor it just to avoid appearing in the tags; ppl who want to find content of their ship don’t need to see what other people think of it, specially when it’s critical.

[sageandred]

Ranking LS Disasters *by personal preference

(only doing the major ones that were big and/or filled an entire episode // I didn't include the GraceJudd car accident, because I wanted to do natural disasters, but I did include 4x09 because it takes the whole episode of Marjan trying to get to safety // maybe i'll do a gigantic post of every single event later down the line)

1) Ice Storm (3x01)-The fact that this was a 4 part event (A pregnant Grace stuck in the storm, Carlos waiting for TK to wake up from a coma, Paul..it was all very good)

2) Marjan runs for her life (4x09)-such a good solo episode (mainly focussing on 1 character the entire episode can usually be a miss, but Lone Star does good in all of their character-focussed ones)

3) Dust Storm (2x14)-speaking of solo character-focussed episodes...Mateo getting his time to shine(!), but also this was a well-constructed episode and every found family based show needs an episode where the characters are split up due to unforseen circumstances out of their control, like being reassigned to different work locations. (#3 and #4 were switched originally, but I just found this episode a little more entertaining all the way through)

4) Wildfire (2x03)-They took on a big task with such a packed episode, with this being the crossover event, and with [character] death being just 1 episode before it. I like the stakes and the team moments coming together, with their own and the LA force. (we also get the mention of Mateo's LA doppelganger cousin)

5) Volcanic Eruption (2x02)-for the shock factor (+ all of the graphic gore from the opening to the episode highlight), and we get great solo character moments + support for each other at the end

6) Arsonist Fire (2x12)-We get that great tarlos plot. It feels wrong to put this above #7, because the fire's such a small part/factor to the episode, but points since there were some episode shocks and the entire arc wasn't completely predictable the way that I thought at first]

7) Tornado (1x04)-There's a sense of togetherness and feeling like a family; the disasters got better with this being so early in the show. loses points for the car between the buildings, but the story of the man with his two kids was heartbreaking, even being as stupid as he was.

8) Solar Storm (1x10)-a pretty solid plot; as an episode it fell flat in some places.. but that radiation case from space on the phonecall with Grace 😭 (this episode and the plot was flawed, but this idea was promising and I was interested to keep going into season 2, so that's why it's higher than a couple)

9) Building Explosion (3x18)-(this previous episode end leading into the big finale is purely ranked on preference) not their best disaster, and not their worst...This moment was eventful and provided some good moments for Judd/Grace and even Wyatt due to Judd being trapped in danger. This might be higher if the Judd main plot wasn't so short, although a good fake-out with a new conflict of another one of their own going down, but that Owen hallucination arc was a miss for me. The explosion itself (at the start of 4x18/end of 4x17, especially) was epic, though!

10) Plane Engine (3x08)-I really liked the response to the emergency on the plane, the father-son stuff, and the help on Tommy via phone. Episode was great; the disaster itself falls last on my ranking. It was interesting, just not that intense; this being lowest on the list is solely because there are more mishaps that ended up being more intense. Though, it was a good emotional moment. (led to the great emotional tarlos reunion, too). The parallel of the flashback to present day that led to TK confessing to Owen was beautiful!

[skiiyoomin]

I was wondering if you could write a saiki & reader oneshot fic with a reader who has DID & C-PTSD and paranoid tendencies? I understand that that might be a bit too hard to write but just in case I got some recorces that might be handy, here is the link to DID listing from my own copy of the newest version of the DSM https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htaraej65e34tg9/AADBATmelRQFUBfTMxaJ3W6wa?dl=0 as well as this website that has a lot of good info on it https://did-research.org/ and this page I found that has a brief overview of C-PTSD https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24881-cptsd-complex-ptsd but I also recommend quickly reading thru the different types of flashbacks (shouldn't be that hard to find info on)

The main idea is that because of the mix dissociation,switching,paranoia, different types of flashbacks etc that the readers thoughts are very fucking confusing to saiki (feel free to use this premise for any kind of plot you want just try not to make it overly angsty is all I ask, well as un-angsty as you can get with C-PTSD anyways lol) I just wanna see more y/n / reader inserts that I can actually relate to but the saiki K fandom is so small

Can be platonic or romantic

Hi!! So sorry for the late reply, I researched as much as I could so if theres anything remotely wrong or different please tell me! Ngl, im not very sure i like how it turned out, nevertheless I hope you enjoy :))

Also i totally get that its hard finding stuff for saiki k which is the reason why i write for it in the first place, they totally deserve more recognition!! Feel free to send more requests in the future!!

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Content: somewhat angsty but not really, i tried to be as vague as possible so as not to trigger anyone, reader suffers from trauma, DID, CPTSD, swearing, fluffy ending? slightly oc saiki

Summary: Saiki was used to listening to many types of thoughts, and at one point, nothing he heard surprised him. However when you came around, he was beyond confused. What sparks as a little curiosity might turn into something more.

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ:

ღNo matter what

He was used to it, or at least that's what he used to tell himself. Throughout the years he had heard all sorts of thoughts, at one point, he learned to tune them out when need be, having listened in on weird enough ideas that now don't surprise him anymore.

When you came in the picture, he was...baffled, to say the least. Confusing wasn't even close of a word to express how he felt. Your thought process was anything but simple. At times it'd be a fuzzy mess almost as if you lost part of your memory, other times, you'd think as if you were a completely different person, contradicting many of your previous thoughts. But what disturbed him most was the series of traumatic thoughts that would cross your mind. Flashbacks he realized in that moment.

In the beginning he felt annoyed, as per usual. Often times, he'd find you in class with a dazed expression, which to be frank, he had seen enough times to not give it a second thought. But then his attention would be caught when your mind would wander and you'd start thinking in a very unusual way. They were so unlike the person you presented to be, so much so that Saiki was left perplexed and in need to understand exactly what was going on.

The more it happened the more worried he'd be. There were days where you acted a certain way, and other days where you acted completely different. He could tell you weren't being fake trying to act differently for attention, after all, your thoughts lined up with the you acted and the things you said. Rather, it was the abrupt changes in your behaviour that had him thinking for far longer than he normally would.

Along the way, he also picked up how you'd flinch if you were in sudden physical contact, the way your shoulders would tense and the way your heart beat would speed up. Saiki wasn't stupid of course, he was aware that all of this was caused by some form of trauma.

He knew not to pry, yet his heart strings pulled everytime he saw you having a bad moment. So he began to follow you, in disguise of course, and even if he seemed like a stalker, he couldn't help it. Eventually he began to connect the dots, your reactions, behaviors, everything. It made sense now.

Unconciously, his words began to soften around you, his touch became gentler, he looked out for you in ways he had never done so with others. You began to notice but in no way did you mind, if anything, Saiki was someone you took great comfort in. What started of small slowly grew into something neither of you expected.

Of course, that didn't make it any less hard for either of you. Like right now. You were laying in Saikis bed, your head resting on his shoulder as you watched a movie, when suddenly a specific scene had triggered an anxiety attack. Your mind was racing through flashbacks of the many disturbing events you had gone through. Saiki was up almost immediately, having read your mind and sensed your reaction.

His touch was soft, his hands cupping your face so gently you'd think he was scared to break you, which he was. He was in no way someone who could comfort others easily. Nevertheless he tried his best. He attempted to lower your heart rate, rubbing small circles against your back as his other hand held the back of your head. No words were needed, they never were. He had, in a way, been there for you, way before you two even became a thing, so none of this was a surprise for either of you.

That didn't ease the guilt in your heart any less. You always felt bad. You knew Saiki could read you, literally. And well, it wasn't pretty. Countless times you had attempted to push him away, yet he never budged.

"'m sorry" you mumbled against his shoulder as your rested your head on it.

He cupped your face in his hands, pulling you to look at him.

`I won't let you push me away. The things you went through won't make me see you any differently, because to me you'll still be someone I cherish'

Your eyes welled up as you looked him deep in the eyes, finding nothing but love for you. Still cupping your face, he ran his thumbs under your eyes, wiping the tears away. He leaned forward, pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead.

'I love you'

"No matter what?"

`No matter what'

[henrysglock]

I like byler but do you think Mike/Will shippers have set themselves up for disappointment? Many of them seem to be completely convinced that there is no other possible outcome for Stranger Things 5 than these two characters getting into a romantic relationship, refusing to even consider any other possible directions the story might take. I’ve often seen these fans say that if it doesn’t happen it would be homophobic and bad writing?? (I don’t entirely agree considering Will was still confirmed to be gay and might get a different love interest and Robin and Vickie are right there with their relationship being developed more in ST5 but idk.)

To be perfectly honest I think that if Mike/Will was going to happen then Mike/Eleven would have broken up for good in season four or even three. Considering how much needs to get resolved already in season five I’m not quite sure how they would also fit in a breakup, getting over the breakup, Mike exploring his sexuality, Mike realizing he’s interested in Will, confessing their feelings to one another and getting together, along with establishing how Eleven would feel about that and what she would do moving forward.

(On top of dealing with the mindflayer, the upside down, the military, the gates in Hawkins, rehashing elements of The First Shadow, everything surrounding Vecna/Henry/001, whatever will be happening with the Wheelers, the Holly/potential dream world stuff, the radio station stuff, what sounds like flashbacks that Mathew Modine was filming, Max’s whole situation, the mess that is Jancy vs Stancy, Dustin dealing with Eddie’s death, all of the character’s individual arcs etc.) I don’t know, it would be cute but I don’t really think it’s going to happen, you never know though. Do you think it has good odds of happening or has these fan’s staunch refusal to consider the possibility of Mike/Will not being canon set them up for disappointment?

I think Mike has done more of the legwork than people give him credit for. I think all it will take is a little nudge. Will's already confirmed gay, like you said.

I think anyone who gets overly attached to a specific theoretical plot point is setting themselves up for disappointment, though. That's why I always hold my theories at 50/50 or less. Most of them come in at about 10-20% certainty—meaning 80-90% chance it won't go exactly the way I think it will. Never higher than 50%, though.

They have a lot going on, but they also have ~13 hours to do it in, iirc? I think they can manage to sneak byIer in somewhere along the way. Do I think it's going to be the centerpiece/main plot? Not a chance. Like you said, they have way too much going on to make byIer the main focus.

I don't think byIer is going to be endgame in the way it sounds like you're thinking about it, though? I don't think they'll end the show as an established Couple. Jancy took two whole seasons to get there. I think ST5 will be the beginning of a new story for byIer, rather than an end point. I think they'll get things out in the open, and that will be that...which is more than doable, especially compared to a theoretical new partner. You'd have to explain Will getting over Mike, Mike abandoning his chances with Will, consider the rift between Will and Mike if Will got a new boyfriend...it would be a mess of a season. A non-byIer ending just doesn't really work.

Do I think byIers are wrong? No. Are they setting themselves up for disappointment by getting attached to a specific vision of byIer endgame? Absolutely.

[beanghostprincess]

I typed shuggy into tag and noticed you answering some stuff about them so I hope it’s alright to ask!!! I finished Netflix version like yesterday and I loved shuggy vibes and I told this on tw and some people came to me and told me it’s mid and there are better shanks ships, because he doesn’t really care about buggy I tried to look through wiki but it’s so many stuff there and it will take me ages to catch up Does he care about buggy?? I want someone to spoil me!! I actually really want to know this!

Some might prefer other ships and that is alright, but straight-up saying that Shanks doesn't care about Buggy is just... Not true at all. That being the main reason why some people seem to not ship them is just ridiculous. The short answer is: Yes, he does care about Buggy. Quite a lot, actually. The Netflix adaptation skipped their flashback for literally no reason (I am guessing we will see it... Someday?) but it shows Shanks cares a lot for him.

A lot of stuff happens between them but the missing flashback is more than enough to know, I think: They were on a pirate crew together and these two are shown to be always arguing about stupid things from a very young age. Like. Childhood best friends type of thing. And I find it funny how people say Shanks doesn't care about Buggy when he is shown to be the one approaching him all the time instead of Buggy doing so. Shanks actually seems more open to showing his care for Buggy than him. Constantly. Long story short, things™ happen and Buggy finds this map and this devil fruit and he wants to sail on his own to sell it and find the treasure on the map to form his own pirate crew. Again, things™ happen and Shanks appears out of nowhere, making Buggy eat the fruit suddenly and drop the map into the sea. And because Shuggy is desperate for a new life and to make a name for himself, he jumps into the sea to grab the map. Of course, he's drowning, and Shanks doesn't hesitate, not even for a damn second to save him. Idk about you, but that is peak romance to me.

That is one of the reasons why Buggy is resentful toward Shanks. Although I think the map and fruit thing is more of a metaphor/symbology than anything else for, like, the real reason why Buggy resents Shanks. But that's another story--

And, if you don't care about spoilers, I'll just tell you THE Shuggy moment for me that shows how much Shanks cares about Buggy: They were supposed to go to the last island together with their crew but Buggy suddenly got sick and was told not to go despite his begging to let him do so. And Shanks (WITHOUT ANYBODY TELLING HIM TO, BY THE WAY, THIS IS ALL HIM) stayed back with him instead of going with the rest of the crew. He took care of Buggy when he was sick. And stayed back because he clearly didn't want to achieve their dream if Buggy wasn't there too or at least he thought it was unfair to do so without him. He was heavily worried about him, too, like-- (Not to mention the parallelisms of this with the same thing happening between a canon romantic couple in the same episode... Oda you're not subtle about Shuggy).

Most people will say "but that's a thing from the PAST! He used to care about Buggy but not anymore" but they are wrong. You truly, genuinely think that SHANKS is going to stop caring for his old friend??? ??????? ????? SHANKS????????? That man values personal connections and friendships so fucking bad it is. One of the things he teaches Luffy???? Like- There is NO way he doesn't care about Buggy. Also the bubble speech theory... When they meet again at Marineford and he smiles at him so sweetly... Crying sobbing...

I hope this was enough to answer your question! People might like other ships and that is completely alright! But saying Shanks doesn't care about Buggy......................... I am side-eyeing them......

[late-to-the-party-81]

Power Play - Chapter 4

AN: Flashback time! Thank you all for the love on this series. And kisses to the folks behind @buckybarnesevents

I’ve chosen the prompt How did you meet… Undercover mission

Beta’d by @buckysbarne

Dividers by @firefly-graphics and banner by me

Master list | Hot Bucky Summer Master list | Chapter 3

Summary: Your thoughts return to the night of the Gala, when you met Bucky for the first time, before you knew how your life was about to change.

Relationship: Mob! Bucky x Undercover Agent! Reader

WC: 2.7k

CW: Soft!Dark! Bucky, Canon Typical Violence, Angst, Russian Pet names as mangled by Google translate, Walker being a creep, quite a bit of internal monologue, light alcohol consumption, physical altercations, drugging and kidnap.

You took a deep breath in, held it, and then let it out. 

You could do this.

Hopefully, if you told yourself that enough times, it would become true.

Because it had taken far too long for you to get here, just for it to all get thrown away by an attack of nerves.

You raised your eyes back to the mirror in front of you, turning this way and that to look over your outfit. Your hands nervously smoothed out non-existent wrinkles from the cool satin. This dress was obviously expensive - it had to be, to make you look the part - and that was enough to send your anxiety spiking again. What would happen if you ruined it? Would you be billed, or would the cost just get written off by the agency? You hoped it was the latter, as you couldn’t afford to be a whole paycheck down just to replace a dress.

Leaning over, you adjusted the straps on your shoes - they were probably just as expensive as the dress - then stood back up to pat over your hair and inspect your make-up. You barely recognised the woman looking back at you.

The door suddenly opening behind you had you whirling around, hand to your chest as you were caught off guard. Blue eyes, sparkling with amusement, looked back at you, and you couldn’t help but let your frustration show.

“What the hell, John. Ever heard of knocking? I might not have been ready yet.”

“You hadn’t locked the door, hot stuff. Seems to me that you liked the idea of getting caught changing.” 

He leaned his tall body back against the door, completely blocking your exit, and his eyes roamed over you, obvious in his lecherous appreciation.

“You should wear clothes like this more often. Makes your tits look awesome.”

“Pig!”

He took two steps across the small dressing room and tucked his finger, roughly tipping up your chin so you couldn’t look away from him. You suppressed a shudder.

“Careful, sweetheart. You don’t want to upset me. Now, as much as I’m enjoying the view and this scintillating conversation, it’s almost go-time. For your own sake, you’d best not fuck this up. If this op goes wrong, you’ll be lucky if you only get bumped down to the post room.”

You scowled up at him and then ducked out from under his arm.

“Thanks for the pep talk. Do you big up Hoskins like that when he goes on an op?”

“Of course not, baby. Lemarr knows what he’s doing.”

You turned your back, rolling your eyes, and picked up the small earwig from the tiny dresser top. Carefully, you placed it into your ear and then rearranged your hair to act as an extra shield against it being noticed. Looking across at the knife and thigh holster that were still waiting for you, you hesitated. Not because you were worried about carrying the weapon, but because John was still in the room, and you were certain he wasn’t planning on going anywhere, especially if you were going to have to expose a lot of skin to put the damn holster on. 

With a sigh, you angled yourself away from him as much as possible, sliding the black fabric up your leg as high as you could get it before pulling it tight and then sheathing the knife. As you raised your head, you caught sight of yourself in the mirror, and then, to your horror, also saw Walker’s reflected smirk.

Fuck.

He looked like the cat that had caught the cream, but there was nothing you could do about it now - it was time to head out for your first undercover mission. The one that would make or break your career.

You tried not to stare, reminding yourself that you’d been in places like this before. However, that snarky little part of you was happy to remind you that being in a ball room like this during the day, or as a member of staff was a vastly different experience to being in one as a guest, even if it was a front.

The whole place was overwhelming. The lights. The decorations. The music. The sheer number of people.

“Stop standing like a statue. Mingle. Find him. Do your job.”

Walker’s voice was harsh in your ear, but for once it gave you the push you needed. He was right - again, a rare thing in your opinion. You had a mission to do. You had to find your mark, the dangerous head of the Brooklyn mob, James ‘Bucky’ Barnes and you were to do your best to work your way into his inner circle. You’d done your research into his legitimate businesses and the shady ones he was almost certainly linked to. It was the latter where you came in - no-one had ever been able to make anything stick. 

The plan was to play the vapid, good-time party girl and flatter him. Lead him on and make him comfortable enough to talk about his business in front of you. Well, that was Walker’s plan, anyway. You weren’t sure if it would work, but you had your own ideas in reserve.

Shaken out of your stupor by John’s nagging, you made your way toward the bar. You skirted the dancefloor, watching out of the corner of your eye, and feeling a dart of jealousy as you watched women being whirled around the floor by competent men. You had no idea if you could actually dance, at least like that - you’d never had the opportunity.

Reaching the bar, which was just as impressive as the rest of the room, you ordered a lime and soda. You wanted to keep your wits about you, and you could easily pretend it had vodka or gin in it, if someone enquired. Drink in hand, you turned around, leaning against the bar and started your proper surveillance of the wide open space. It was a good place to watch and be watched, which unfortunately had its downsides. You were approached at least half a dozen times in the first thirty minutes, by mostly old men looking for either a good time for the night, or a new trophy girlfriend. Even if you had been here of your own volition, you’d have still been uninterested in the various offers.

When it finally happened, it was just like in the movies. Barnes appeared, and it was as though the throngs of people just split apart to let him through unimpeded. The light from the chandeliers in the ceiling seemed to highlight the tones of brown in his cropped hair, and his suit! Well, it was obviously well tailored, because he looked like he’d been poured into it.

He stopped at the bar a few feet along from you, a couple of other patrons in between.

Softly, softly, catchee monkey…

You didn’t move away from where you were, but turned your body slightly toward him. You sipped your drink, looking at him from over the rim of the glass. The photos you’d seen in the background file hadn’t done him justice. You’d thought him attractive enough, in that bad-boy style, when you’d looked through all the information, but here in the flesh? You had no idea how you’d even manage to talk to him if he were to turn his attention on you.

Get it together woman. He’s just a man. An extremely attractive one, but a man none-the-less.

Finishing your soda, you turned back to the bar, deciding that if you were going to have one alcoholic drink, now was the right time. You raised your hand to signal to the bartender, when there was movement in your peripheral vision, and a deep, melodious voice sounded in your ears.

“Whatever the lady wants, and a whiskey for me.”

Barnes proffered no card, that would be too gauche. No doubt the bill would be sent to his man of business tomorrow. You turned towards each other at the same time, but your words of introduction froze on your lips as you got swept up in his icy eyes.

“James Barnes, at your service. And you are?”

You realised he was holding out his hand to you and here you were, gaping like a fish. You giggled, trying to cover your faux pas, gave him your cover name and accepted his handshake.

Oh fuck!

The moment your skin met his it was as though a jolt of lightning shot through you.

You felt your eyes widen, and quickly turned your head, taking your hand back and paying attention to the bartender instead.

What the fuck was that?

It was like your whole body was alight, and one small, rational part of your brain was screaming ‘Abort! Abort!’ at you. But you couldn’t turn tail and run. You had too much to prove and everything to lose.

Having taken those few seconds to re-school your features you turned back to him, a smile plastered to your face.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Barnes. What brings you to this gathering, this evening.”

He smiled back, and you could have easily been fooled into thinking it was genuine.

“To see friends, old and new. To make connections and enjoy some stimulating conversation. And yourself?”

Inwardly you punched the air. You knew that playing the bimbo would be no good - Barnes was too intelligent a man to be happy with vacuous company. He would relish the push and pull of a real debate. It was a good thing you’d mentally prepared for this.

“The same really. I’m new to the city, and was lucky enough to get an invitation. I’m hoping to make some new friends, and if I’m lucky, some business connections. But there’s time for that. What business are you in?”

You could have sworn that you saw his eyes narrow for a second, but he was still smiling at you, sipping at his drink, before placing the glass back down on the bar. He plucked your vodka & tonic from your fingers and then took hold of your hand again.

“Dance with me.” Before you even had a chance to respond, he was pulling you out onto the dance floor. The small orchestra was playing something slow, which you were thankful for. That was until Barnes pulled you into his arms properly.

What you’d felt when he’d first shook your hand was nothing to the way your whole body was ablaze from being held so close by him. The way his left hand held yours so gently, and you couldn’t help but notice the tattoos that peeked out from under the cuff of his dress shirt. The way his right arm cradled you around your waist, holding your body flush against his. The way his face was now inches from yours and all you could do was shift your gaze back and forth between his pink lips and diamond blue eyes, while the scent of his cologne took over your olfactory senses.

You’d never thought yourself the type to have your head turned by pure masculinity, but currently, you were re-evaluating all of your previous life choices, whilst also willing your legs not to give out from underneath you. Although, if they did, you were also certain that Barnes would have no problems keeping you on your feet. And your previous thoughts about being whisked around the floor by a competent man? Well, now you knew how Cinderella had felt at the ball. You just had to remind yourself that you weren’t wearing glass slippers and the man holding you was definitely not a prince.

“You feel so good in my arms, milyy.”

“Umm, thank you. I haven’t really had that much opportunity to dance like this.”

He let out a deep chuckle, which reverberated through your body, settling in one spot, deep down in your abdomen.

“Well you dance wonderfully. I like the way you are letting me lead.” His head dipped even closer, his breath warm on your ear. “Good girl.”

You stumbled, tripping over your feet, but Barnes pulled you even closer, chuckling again as you tried to cover up what his words had done to you. He whirled you around again, and you couldn’t help your answering giggle. He smiled down at you, the skin around his eyes crinkling, and for a moment you really thought you were going to manage this. That you were going to worm your way into his good books and be able to pick up on some useful intel.

However, you weren’t paying attention, and when he swung you off the dancefloor, in the far corner, you were too confused to put up any resistance, and he effortlessly steered you into a side room.

“What on earth? Mr. Barnes!” Your outrage was real and tinged with fear.

With a push he had you up against the wall, arms over your head and wrists pinned by one of his large hands. You were about to call out your operations safe word, the word that would get the rest of your team running to your aid, when Barnes reached up, brushed your hair back from your face and plucked the earwig right from your ear and threw it across the room, directly into the wastebasket.

“There. That’s better. Don’t want anyone listening in, but nor do I want the device to go offline and alert your colleagues to your current… predicament.”

Fuck. 

You were made. You wondered what you’d done to give yourself away? Your lip trembled as you thought about how you were never going to live this down, but then your lizard brain kicked in, letting you know it was worse than that. It reminded you that you were currently alone, with a fearsome and dangerous mob boss, and you were an exposed undercover agent.

Keep your cool!

“And what predicament would that be?” You arched your brow, trying to give off an air of nonchalance. Unfortunately, Barnes just chuckled at you.

“So brave, lyubimyy, despite the danger. Impressive. You aren’t weeping or begging, which is what I’d usually expect in this scenario.”

“Yeah… I don’t normally go for those types of reactions.” As you finished your retort you jammed your heel down on the toe of his shoe. It took him off guard, loosening his grip on your wrists, and you managed to bring your hands down, and cupping them together, cuffing him up the side of the head.

You whirled around - there was no time for inspecting the damage you’d done - you needed to get back out into the main area and head for the exit. Unfortunately Barnes was fast and you’d barely taken a step when you were jerked to a halt, accompanied by a ripping sound. He’d grabbed hold of your dress and jerked on it again to pull you down to your knees next to him. He pinched your jaw in his hand and looked down into your eyes. You couldn’t tell whether he was frustrated or amused, but either way, it didn’t bode well for you.

“You are like a little bee, malen’kaya pchelka. Always busy. Always focused, but with a little sting to deploy when provoked. Unfortunately for you, I am a wolf. I am bigger, stronger and have a much worse bite.”

You weren’t going to go out like this. You let out a shout, hoping that maybe it would get picked up by the earwig, despite it being nestled amongst goodness knows what rubbish in the trash basket. At the same time you gave him a shove with all of your strength,  the sound of your dress being further destroyed ringing in your ears. 

It was pointless though. You hadn’t even got to your feet when you were barreled down to the floor, Barnes’ larger, heavier body pinning you there.

“I’d hoped this part of our conversation would go differently, but you seem determined to make it difficult, Pchelka. So, I apologise for stinging you, but it seems like it’s the only way."

A pinch on your neck and your vision began to swim. The weight of his body disappeared but you couldn’t seem to move.

“W-what?” Your eyelids were heavy, and it was taking all your willpower to keep them open. 

 You felt yourself moving through the air, and then becoming even dizzier as you went upside down, presumably over Barnes’ shoulder from the way fabric rubbed over your face, your arms and legs dangling loosely.

“Don’t fight it, lyubimaya.”

“L-let me…” Your slurred words were cut off as the whole world went black…

Chapter 5

Tag list: @jobean12-blog @sidepartskinnyjeans @flordeamatista @krissy25 @bodeckersdiamonddoll @goldylions @luxeavenger @wheezy-stucky @doasyoudesireandlive @chemtrails-club @seitmai @talia-rumlow @peaches1958 @pono-pura-vida @writing-for-marvel @kmc1989 @casa-boiardi

[monocle-teacup]

I have SOOOOO many gripes about the way Earthspark handled Optimus (and I’ll admit he’s my fav, so I might be a LITTLE bit biased) and your recent posts about the Prime Time ep. just made me think about how much better his character could have been if the writers had just shown him to be struggling. Like, OP in the show comes across as an idiot who doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing, and so he just says Robby and Mo have gotta be Primes and sees nothing wrong with that, but if they had instead written Optimus as someone who was struggling IMMENSELY with the “needing to work with humans but also protect his kind while acknowledging that his kind are much more powerful than humans and blew stuff up on their planet a lot so they don’t have a very good rep and haven’t earned one” and is constantly making mistakes and in Prime Time he just full on admitted that he was WAAAAY out of his depth in this scenario and that he felt like it was very important that they investigate the Cyber-sleeves ASAP and figure out how to help Robby and Mo harness and control their powers and be able to protect themselves (cause like, Swindle would have KILLED Dot and Robby if the shield hadn’t popped up) while also trying to find a way to protect them since Mandroid and other Cons are literally after Robby and Mo because of the sleeves and keep them more under the radar. Anyway, I’m losing my train of thought here, but the writers really missed out on what would’ve been a GREAT arc for Optimus, showing him at odds with the humans (when previously OP and humans have got along great) and out of his depth with Prime powers (as a contrast to how he usually knows this stuff) all around showing a flawed, caring, trying-to-be-a-perfect-leader-but-failing-especially-because-there’s-no-such-thing-as-one Optimus, and how even Optimus Prime needs his team, his FRIENDS by his side to help him out. But instead, we got inconsistent writing that made him out to be an idiot, no moments of vulnerability, and completely isolating him from all other Transformers and not taking the time to develop any meaningful relationships with anybody (SIC Elita-1? Nope, let’s throw that out, she never has any power or influence and only appears in a couple more episodes :)). I’m just…immensely frustrated with this show, because it had some incredibly solid ideas, original plots, and then poor writing/execution completely wrecked what might’ve been.

OP has definitely been handled terribly in ES so far. Some of the fandom think he's shady, but I honestly can't take him seriously because of how often the writers purposely make him into an idiot. Like, how did this Bot lead a whole faction for years in a war? Part of it is the writers usually use OP's dumbass moments to make Megatron look good because they clearly have a bias for Cons. If they want to make OP look bad, have a flashback about the Autobot friendly fire incident.

I was honestly expecting/hoping for an arc for OP like you described and the shame of it is that the show hints at it such as when Dot sees the shady side of GHOST and his line (at the end of the Age of Evolution arc) to Megatron about what the human/TF alliance should be.

I agree on how OP seems incredibly isolated from everyone else except Megatron. In general, the show seems to treat OP as "The Friend Nobody Likes" trope.

This is OP's entry in the show's Production Bible:

As much as it pains me to say it, wasted potential is a perfect way to describe ES. There's a chance that Season 2 might redeem the show, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

[most-canon-non-canon-ship-poll]

they are so cringe

Why Kataang is shit - a submission-based essay

Kataang - a canon het ship from the Avatar: the Last Airbender and Legend of Korra fandoms between Katara and Aang

Do you fancy your babysitter? Does she not like you back? Don't worry, if you kiss her without her consent enough times, eventually she'll come around! Throughout the show, Katara is cooks, cleans, does general chores on behalf of the group, including Aang. She is also primarily responsible for talking him down from fits of wrath (understandable fits of wrath: he's a traumatised 12 year old with godlike powers) and putting herself in harms way in order to calm him. He's also incredibly dismissive of her culture at times, and disregards her feelings when they don't align with his view of the world. SPEAKING OF WHICH he completely ignores her when she explicitely says that she does not want to talk about his feelings for her, and then kisses her without her consent (again). He not only never apologieses for this, but it is never brought up again! She just wanders over him after the battle is finished and kisses him and THAT'S THAT I GUESS?!?!?!!! THEN we get into post-canon stuff. The main cast are really out there doing the most: founding cities, ruling nations, etc... with the exception of Katara. What is Katara in the future? The Katara who was the first woman to be trained in combat-bending by the Masters of the North simply because she Would Not Shut Up until they trained her? The Katara who said she would never turn her back on people who need her? That Katara? She's a wife and mother now and that keeps her very busy. To be honest I haven't read most of the comics because they're famously awful and even Kataang fans don't like a lot of them. it's offensive when a female character exists only as a trophy for the main guy to win, but it's doubly insulting when that female character has so many layers and so much complexity, only to turn into the shiny trophy with no autonomy when she kisses the hero like some kind of awful reverse Princess and the Frog. FURTHERMORE if you look at Katara's utlisation (or lack thereof) in The Legend of Korra, she doesn't do anything!! Of the Gaang members who are still alive, she's the only one who never gets involved in the adventures, which considering that the plot of Season 1 hinges around a water-bender specific power that she has a personal connection to (and even the in the FLASHBACKS to 40 years previously she does not appear). It's very funny to me because a lot of Kataang fans will say "oh Katara did keep working as an adult, she got bloodbending banned!!" and this is brought out as that one thing she did, yet IN A WHOLE SEASON ABOUT BLOODBENDING she does absolutely nothing besides being unable to heal Korra, so that Aang's spirit has to turn up and do it for her. Then Season 2 is about the Water Tribes and involves the hostile takeover of the city in which she lives, but apparently she's not keen on getting involved in that either!! And look, I can't PROVE that this is directly linked to the ship, but it sure looks suspicious to me when taken with previous evidence. And don't even get me started on the fans holy hell. Like, it's perfectly fine to have ships with problematic elements (don't we all) but they truly will bend over BACKWARDS to say that there's nothing wrong with the ship OR the way it went down in canon and that they're the Pure and Wholesome ship, standing in opposition to the Evil Colonizing Zutaras. Even suggesting that hey, might it have been better if they'd taken some time apart to really grow as individuals and then gotten together in their twenties---instead of at 12 and 14 without ever fixing the mother/child dynamic or talking about the time he sexually assaulted her---will be met with outright hosility by certain members of the fandom.

[astrangerthingsblog]

i completely forgot to post about seeing the first shadow in london a few weeks ago!!

first off, i was completely blown away by just how good it was. they managed to translate the story so well into theatre (i had my doubts but i needn’t have). now im not the most observant bc adhd, so idk some of these might be obvious or completely wrong but i picked up on a few things i feel like change everything i thought i knew about the stranger things world??

- the other numbers in hawkins lab’s powers were created using the blood of Henry ?? i’ve been thinking they got them from drug experiments

- also: henry somehow had a connection to the upside down before moving to hawkins which is what made him “evil”? like is this evil inside of him he didn’t understand and couldn’t control actually the upside down? (unless i’ve misunderstood but this seemed to be what they were saying when showing a flashback to his like 6th birthday or something when he seemed like a totally normal kid w friends and all)

- unsure whether his powers came before or after his connection to the upside down. if the latter, which i think seems likely, that opens a whole lot of more questions. does that mean the powers made Henry bad? does it mean Eleven could be bad? (interesting to me considering her arc of believing she’s a monster) does it mean the upside down is what gives them both power? hmmm

sorry if this makes no sense. if anyone who has seen the show is better at understanding shit pls explain to me what you think. also i could be misremembering stuff bc i did see it like 2 weeks ago now and my memory is bad

[nosolaceofastraightanswer]

okay so i jsut finished s1 (i know im so behind 😭😭😭😭) and started thinking about reggie and i have some thoughts ( im going to yap) so!!!!! return of:

TUAMRE24 ALGAMATION POST (real ones remember these from the summer of ‘23) FOR S1

i feel like a large fanon reputation for him is him being this completely evil asshole of a dad. and this is mostly unrefined bcs of the lack of canon material for the hargreeves’ childhood (i am yet to read young blood but i do have it, ill make a post). but i think a different reading would be more accurate to canon

in a way he kind of haunts the narrative of s1 up until plus contacting him, and even then he is so vague it’s hard to grasp a motive from him.

s2 and s3 kind of only bring more questions, which are more frustrating because in s3 so many things are revealed -and s2 has the alien reveal too- but this reginald is not the one that raised them.

so that original reginald, no matter how similar, continues to haunt the narrative (i hope im using this term correctly 🙏). he’s not the one they’re talking to, collaborating with, getting murdered by (luther ☹️) but he’s the influence behind not only their perceptions of the sparrow reggie but also everything they encounter considering he raised them and all

this bring us back to my thesis, i think a better reading of reggie (that a lot of people have touched on b4 me don’t get me wrong) is where he genuinely cares for the umbrellas in his own sort of way.

i mean, going back to s1 he obviously says that shit to klaus in the barbershop about potential, which probably points more to the marigolds thing than anything- but what i found interesting is when viktor was given the violin and there’s the whole flashback with abigail (?) and he seems to genuinely have some fondness for viktor learning the violin outside of just fulfilling his dead wife’s (?) wishes. (how did aliens get a violin? we’re they introduced to the earth by aliens in the first place? is reginald from the future? these are all questions i worry will not be answered in six episodes)

i think it’s interesting to take into account how aliens might have a different way of viewing love and affection. their culture and even biology might be so wildly different that humans and aliens are incompatible for connections. of course this is more speculation that anything else, but i feel like reginald’s alien status should be utilized more in the text because genuinely what the fuck is going on

this turned into a lot of different thoughts about reggie so i’m gonna make some smaller posts abt other s1 stuff

if anyone reading this hiiiii ☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️