#i liked the siblings this season though i think we got to see them mature a good bit both in-season and compared to the first 3

[yo9urt]

finished umbrella academy ... !

[littlelambscandyland]

Four Versus One (Part One)

Platonic Yandere Rise Brothers x Fem!Reader

Warnings- Tv Self Awareness, Panic Attacks, Reader has siblings and a niece, Stalking (if you count watching someone thru a screen without their knowledge as stalking)

You lounged gingerly on the couch. Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles droning on as your niece starred in wonderment at the screen. You'd introduced her to the show as means to get her to stop making you watch (insert stupid show here). You told your sibling you'd watch over them the next few days as the birth of their second child happened. Today felt like it went on a bit longer. Tonight was the last night that your niece would be here.

 You couldn't say you didn't have fun. The show you stopped watching years ago was now, apparently, coming out with new episodes and you and your niece hyper fixated on it hard. With all that said, however, you were glad to get your space back. Glad to have your own little bubble of childishness without the responsibility of another human.

Deciding it was a calm enough scene not to be missed, you got up to get a well needed snack. 

Calling into your niece. "You want anything from the kitchen, chicken pop?"

She giggles at the odd, but well deserved nickname, and asks you for orange juice.

After pouring drinks and grabbing popcorn you made your way back to the living room. The scene had switched to Donatello's lab. They were making some sort of gun. Words like "portal" and "interdimensional travel" were being thrown around.

You wondered slightly as you laid the snacks out what this weapon had to do with anything. The episode didn't seem to call for it, but maybe you missed a more vital scene than you thought?

You thought a bit more as you watched the show how different it was from what you remembered. There were more fourth wall breaks and sometimes one of the turtles would randomly throw out compliments to the watcher.

Not that you minded the change. It was just different. Nice, but different.

~~~Time skip brought to you buy me writing this in my therapy waiting room~~~

You had successfully made the trade off of your niece, delivering her back into the hands of one of her parents. You'd cleaned up the house, and finally felt yourself relax.

You had turned the tv off for a little while. A part of your agreement with your niece to wait to watch the show again together. Obviously, that was a lie. You had turned the tv back on after cleaning. Ordering a pizza and deciding to have a "me night". 

There was something you noticed when you turned it back on though. The fourth wall breaks and the compliments happen more often. The plot seemed thrown out the window and everything seemed almost more mature than before. 

Because of all of this you made the executive decision to Google it. It'd been a while since you'd been a part of the fandom so you figured it'd be quicker just to get straight to the point.

You felt your heart drop from what you read. Confusion and honest panic grew in its place. There were only two seasons. That was impossible. There were obviously more. What had you been watching? 

"Uh ohhhhhh," You heard Leonardo's voice drone. "Hey guys, I thinks she's figured it out!" He calls his brothers.

Your eyes wide as the character seems to stare into your soul. The others gather into the screen. A mixture of smiles and anxiety are what stared back with animated eyes.

"I see. So she did... Ahem. Greetings, Darling!" Donatello says, clearly staving off his own anxiety.

"Hi..." You answer. You hoped this was a dream. Fear wrapped up into a ball in your gut. A feeling telling you to cut off the tv, to run far away and not look back ever again.

"Awww! She's so cute! Look at her eyes, they're so pretty!" Michaelangelo exclaims happily.

"We know dude. You're so cute doll. Really you are." Raphael addresses you with a nervous smile.

You look down in panic. The only logical thought is you had lost your mind. This is a dream, or you've snapped and this was a hallucination.

"What is happening?" You pant out. "This isn't happening. This cannot be happening..." Your breath ragged, and your voice hoarse. Tears gathering in your eyes.

They're faces shift in remorse and panic. Four animated eyes looking guiltily at you with frowns. Grimaces held by all as your body flies into a panic attack.

"Oh no, no. Don't cry, it's ok cariño. You're ok..." Leonardo coos at you in an attempt to calm you. 

The others gather in on the "comfort". They're words prove worthless as you spiral further. 

Finally gathering the courage you throw your phone at the tv in a frenzy. Perhaps not the best choice as the momentum and pressure crack your tv. Fizzles heard from inside the machine can be heard as the broken screen cuts off.

Sad for you, your nightmare doesn't end there.

[luckykittysshowerthoughts]

Micheal's character is so depressing and so relatable at the same time. Also I wonder what your take is on his and luci's relationship, since they seem pretty close in celestial realm then in nb we see Michael highkey struggling which i don't blame bc he essentially lost 7 siblings at once (including lilith) then in og micheal is still very attached even though he isn't as bad as in nb. I just want your thoughts (you're the only one of 3 including my friend that I trust on Michael analysis/characterization)

First off, thank you so much for listening to my ramblings and praising them so. It's making this hyperfixating little freak very happy

Now, into the analysis. Though, this one is less an analysis and more me compiling everything canon has told us so far, because there's actually a lot there. It's just so spread apart over the course of the story that a lot of people miss the forest for the trees (which I think is another reason Michael as a whole is so misunderstood by the fandom), so it's nice to have a little overview.

Michael and Lucifer's Relationship

It was very nice to see the brotherly tones of Lucifer and Michael's relationship before the war. They seemed to have a typical friendly rivalry, and it was really cute to hear of the two messing with each other in very sibling-like ways.

One example I can think of off the top of my head was angel Lucifer camping out at the site of Michael's new observatory on the night before its grand opening, just to stick it to Michael that he got to his much-anticipated event first. That felt very much like a "little shit sibling" moment.

There was also Michael teasing Lucifer about his wings:

There was also the two of them attempting to pin Father's assignments onto each other, as Lucifer explains here:

They seemed to have a healthy dose of sibling rivalry to their relationship, and it was honestly really adorable.

It's also very clear that the two respected each other greatly. In Season 3, Mammon goes into detail about how much Michael loved Lucifer:

And in Nightbringer, angel Lucifer clearly held Michael in high regard- he seemed to believe Michael was more worthy mentor of Mammon, that he could give Mammon a better shot than he could.

However... I also think their relationship was always a bit dysfunctional. In Nightbringer we see a lot more of how obsessive Michael is- not even just in the wake of his grief after the fall, but even before that. Like this anecdote of Michael constantly sneaking into Lucifer's room:

Now, that's a clear violation of boundaries if I ever did see one. While the two were close, I think it's pretty clear Michael was a little too attached to Lucifer, and that likely caused problems in their relationship even before war broke out. We did get an explanation for this behavior in Season 3 of the OG, though that only paints an even more dysfunctional picture:

Michael idolizing Lucifer to this degree, and projecting himself onto him, is clearly not healthy. And I think Lucifer very well understood that, considering Satan is speaking from his memories of Lucifer's perspective here.

Another remark in Season 3 from angel Lucifer himself indicates that Lucifer didn't exactly see Michael as someone he could confide in:

All in all, I think their relationship was very complicated- as most relationships in Obey Me are. I think they both loved each other deeply, but Michael is the type of person to love a little too hard and that created problems.

Going into speculation territory now, I also think their relationship was tainted by their status in the Celestial Realm and the expectations that were placed upon them. I elaborated on this a little more in this post, but to summarize, I believe Michael is the eldest brother who had a rough time living up to the title while watching Lucifer become everything an eldest sibling "should" be. I think Michael was under a lot of pressure that he wasn't quite mature enough to handle properly, and he knew it. Meanwhile, Lucifer was also pushed to be a perfect, flawless Seraph, the pride and joy of the Celestial Realm- and the perfectionism instilled in him by their father only promoted Michael's idolization of him. We have one brother incredibly insecure with the way he presents himself, leaning on the image of perfection created by an equally insecure brother. It's a self-perpetuating cycle.

I also suspect that Father may have played favorites between the two. I don't have any real concrete evidence of this, but something I've been thinking about lately are the Ring of Light and the Ring of Wisdom, which were created for Lucifer and Michael respectively. In official merch (and possibly in-story as well I don't remember), the Ring of Light is shown to be gold, while the Ring of Wisdom is described to be made of brass and iron. Yeah... if this was intentional I think it's pretty clear who the favorite was here. Come on, at least give Michael silver. I don't think Michael is petty enough to be upset about this specifically, he's not Barb, but it might be indicative of a larger problem in the family dynamic. If Father favored Lucifer, that could also be an explanation for Michael's strange idolization of him.

[universaln0b0dy]

Alya Cesaire (mlb rewrite)

[Note] Hey, hey! I wanted to start rewriting and designing miraculous for the fun of it. Please note that this is just for fun and giggles! I will try to keep the rewrite as close to the show as possible, at the same time I want to put as much of my ideas into it as I can. Also this is probably an angst au, because of my 3 am brainrot.

Alya Cesaire

Honestly I love her as a character, though she is a bit too supportive of the plans Marinette has and she still believes Lila? Like tf- But she is still cool in my book. I have to say, Marinette butted Aly into her love life herself, so I don't get why people think of Alya as annoying for being involved in Adrinette? Well enough of me yappin, let's get into the rewrite!

Backstory:

Look, I at first wasn't sure what to do with her. So I thought of her personality first! So uhh, Alya has a complicated relationship with Celebrities and rich people in my au. So I decided, why not make her grow up in a mega city? We had that in geography! In case you don't get what I mean, Mega cities are giant city's, which are known to grow hastily. Occasionally you can also have harsh disparities, like a bunch of rich people houses, but right around the corner you have the slums. (A bit exaggerated)

So I decided to choose Lagos as the city Alya grew up in? Idk still not sure, so that may change. But important ist, that Alya already learned early on life that life is unfair and that even if the rich see the poor every day, they'd rather spit on them than help. (Also a bit exaggerated)

So I decided that one of the reasons that Alya wants to become a journalist is to find all the dirt on the rich and shine light on things truthfully, regardless of what she mind find.

She is half french, half Nigerian and moved to France when she was 10, back then she didn't live in Paris.

She and her siblings enjoy the life on the country side, until their parents get a better job in Paris. She gets into a new class and meets Marinette who gets bullied by Chloe, but Alya wouldn't let that slide.

Personality (season 1-3):

Courios and nosy. She is intrested in everything around her and no information is safe from her. Fun fact, that becomes a problem when she meets lady bug, unlike in the original mlb, Alya views Lady Bug as a celebrity not worthy of privacy, under the eyes of "the people have right of knowing who you are."

Kind, nurturing and helpful. When Alya isn't in journalism mode, she is caring. She is Marinettes very first friend and views her as a younger sister. She is in general a good older sister, while she isn't the oldest she never once backed out of baby sitting the twins.

Confident and protective. She believes she needs to protect the weaker people. Which also the first reason why she protects Marinette from Chloe and even from Adrien, who she like Marinette dislikes at first. She comes to accept after a while, becoming one of his most trusted friends.

The voice of reason, but supportive. You might go like: "Do you seriously plan on using Alya just as a person to give advice to Marinette. " No, I do not. While yes Alya is the more mature person, she is also just a teenager. So Alya will still support a few of Marinettes ideas, but will call her out when she is batshit crazy. But another intresting thing, despite Alya hating rich people she will be the first to help Chloe! Why? You will see, you will see.

Alya as Rena Rouge

Unlike Marinette, Adrien and Chloe she is handed the miraculous. That means she is the only one who must return it after fighting, so her superhero persona can't really develop as much as it could.

But there are still some small changes.

Secretive, after realising what being behind the mask is like, she realises that her identity needs to be a secret. That means Rena rouge is the most secretive about her identity.

She is cunning. You need to professionally trick a villain? Don't worry, Rena's got your back. She is surprisingly creative with her ideas and occasionally even helps lady Bug with planning.

Personality (season 4-5)

Everyone has character development and Alya gets some too. She still wishes to become a journalist and expose secrets, but she is a bit more understanding of the people behind the mask for example.

Like everyone she too starts acting more like an adult during the end of the series, but that is just a part being a hero I'd say.

A lil treat, she will also become more distrusting. That means at the start of the series she is very social and all, until something happens that kinda destroys her world view on a few things.

I sadly can't really say more about my plans with her otherwise I'd spoil a lot of the ideas I have :(

Drawing

I am really unsure about her hero design and her hair, but I really like her every day outfit for the sole reason she looks her age! She actually really likes fashion, kinda like Marinette does in a way of self expression, which doesn't stop her from grabbing the most comfortable thing she has in her stomach.

Well this ends out drawting session!

[kandyzee]

What do you think fionas childhood was like 💓

I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY thanks for asking :pp.

I used to be a reallly big fiona fan, so I've thought about this a lot.

I imagine fionas upbringing was similar to Debbie's in alot of ways. They both find themselves in problematic relationships, forced to look after their siblings.

Fiona is mentioned to have a LONG sexual history as early as s1, where she's only 21. Given the lack of attention and validation she was getting, I think fiona has been having sex since she was a child. She probably fell into the "mature for her age" group. Her parents were neglecting her, possibly physically abusing her (we've seen Frank hit his kids in the show), and she wasn't able to get academic validation because she had to drop out. It wouldn't surprise me that this led her into having older bfs and stuff like that.

This makes even more sense to me given how she reacts to her siblins minor /adult relationships. Fiona didn't have anyone to tell her that her relationships were wrong, so when she saw her siblings going through the same thing, she saw nothing wrong with it. Like when she says that ned and Ian is "just sex"

We also see that she , like Debbie and a lot of the other female characters, is scared of abandonment. She tells Jimmy Steve that everybody leaves and keeps going back to Jimmy even though she knows he's bad for her because she's desperate for someone to stay. She rushes into relationships, remember when she married someone after like a week of daiting ?? Fiona has a hard time accepting love even though she craves it. She cheats and ruins one of her most stable relationships. I think that all comes from the way she was treated in her romantic relationships as a child. Of course, a lot of her abandonment fear comes from Monica, too.

Okay moving away from guys.

We know fiona ran track in school and that she was really fucking good at it. This was probably one of the most stable things in her life, an activity away from her siblings and the stress of home. Running is a good way to feel in control. I think fiona developed problems around running ? I'm not sure what exactly you would call it. Fiona would push herself too hard on the track so that she was responsible for the aches she felt instead of them being stressed. I can also imagine having an ED around this time. Her siblings are young, so they're struggling even more with money than normal. She starts to skip meals, and eventually, she finds control in what she eats when she's forced away from track.

I imagine fiona to be relatively popular in school, mainly with guys, but she struggles to keep real outside of school friendships. This changes when she meets Kev and V. I think they probably met after she dropped out of school. V is like 23, I think, in the first season and Kevin 25 ish ? I'm not really that sure, but we know fiona didn't go to school with them. Kevin and V helped fiona a lot, and she definitely needed them. They started to help her with the kids, and for once, she had people on her side. Things get better for her when she meets them.

Baby fiona (5-12) was definitely the in ur face demanding respect, kinda kid. She was sassy and always trying to seem as strong as possible. She will haggle prices for anything and isn't afraid to scam and cheat to get what she needs for her family. But I also imagine her being good at acting sweet. She's a great sweet talker. This is a prominent trait Ian has, and I think he got it from his big sister.

Teens, she's all about drama. Boy drama petty teen girl drama, watching reality TV when she can and stealing gossip magazines. I think she latches onto the typical teen girl image hard. She definitely has a short phase of always getting dress coded. I don't think this lasts that look tho.

Same as in the show, she's always got a new job, sometimes working 2 or 3. She's stressed ofc but learns a lot. She has little hacks and tricks for almost any job. She's resistant in the way she will do anything. Nothing is too dirty or hard for her.

Her relationship with Frank is complex. Fionas Frank's favourite, but she's also the oldest and likely the one he takes his anger out on most. When ur someone's favourite, it hurts them even more when they feel you messed up. I don't think Frank was consistent with his abuse, but it was definitely there. Frank was a 'good' dad sometimes. Fiona gets to know Frank when his alcoholism and drug use wasn't at its peak (He gradually gets worse with age) So fiona got more good dad moments but also felt the disappointment harder as she watched him get worse.

Fiona tells lip (pretty sure it's him) that he's always been Monica's favourite in s1, and I think she has always thought that. Later on in the show, u obviously see Ian and debbie are monicas favourites, tho. I don't see Monica and fiona ever being particularly close. Fiona was hit hard when Monica leaves for the first time, Frank's a mess, and now she has the unfortunate job of explaining that she's gone to her siblings. Unlike her younger siblings, who are probably too young to fully understand what's going on, fiona feels the abandonment full force.

Fiona is 4 / 5 yrs older than lip, right? (Their ages confuse me so bad) so she I'm guessing she was always in a different school than him. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if he's in elementary school, she's in high school. Fiona has to miss school to run all over the place and collect her siblings from different places. She might have to be the one to unroll her siblings in school, too, a couple times.

Finally just some random things

She has a purple flip phone at one point that she's super protective of

She loves family movie nights and would try to do as many as possible.

She cried when Debbie was born cause she was so excited to have a sister.

Similarly she cried when Ian was born cause he was a boy and she wanted a sister.

She really wanted a pet when she was young

She has 100s of diary's from yrs and yrs of writing in them (we see Carl read one)

Would always struggle with her hair cause it's curly and v helps her learn how to style it even tho she hardly does

She's the kind of person who finds comfort in sitting on the floor, in the bathroom, bath tub

Had a pink hating phase

Had a collection of different fake IDs by the time she was 16

Definitely got in at least 1 fight in school cause of boy drama

Hated cooking

ANYWAY I love fiona

[nothoughts-onlywomen]

random duos wishlist for s5

obvs elmax, rovickie, stobin, and lumax go without saying. those are REQUIREMENTS for s5

madwheeler - truthfully it would be cool to see their friendship kind of come full circle. or at the very least mike should do/say something that signifies that he truly cares for her now.

madwise - honestly the most underutilized dynamic. both targeted by vecna, both the quieter ones of the group, both sensitive (though i think max refuses to admit this about herself).

el/lucas - by some of the leaks' accounts (taken with a grain of salt), el and lucas should have some good scenes together this season. and that would be a poetic full circle moment since he started off hating her and thinking she was a freak, to her then becoming one of the most important people in his life. and they bond over almost losing max, and fighting to get her back.

nancy/lucas - i think this has been underexplored. they could relate over having a loved one who's been attacked by vecna.

robin/will - i mean they're the only two gay characters. there has to be at least ONE scene between them (though if the leaks i've read are right it looks like that may happen).

steve/jonathan - by all accounts it looks like we might be getting some of this duo in s5. i'll be very interested to see how they handle it, especially since both of them love nancy.

ronance - OBVS. don't know if the duffers will go there but i'd love at least a spontaneous kiss in a death scene or something. if not that then there should be SOMETHING that signifies that their friendship has grown.

erica/lucas - now that erica is a bigger player in this game, i would love to see some sibling bonding. it would be cool if it was over max, especially. like erica says something snippy to comfort lucas over max being in her coma.

dustin/lucas - i know we're going to get scenes of the OG four boys but i think this would be a nice callback to s1/s2.

nancy/mike - another nice callback to s1. she mentioned that her vecna visions involved mike getting hurt and she was understandably distressed by this. it would be lovely to develop their sibling relationship to something more mature.

karen/literally any of the kids - i'm thrilled to hear karen wheeler is getting a bigger role this season. i've always really liked her, so i hope whatever they do with her gives her an opportunity to interact with some of our faves.

hopper/el - another obvious one, but i think their found father/daughter relationship is one of the sweetest things in the show and i don't want it to get lost amid all the chaos.

joyce/jonathan - another essential callback to s1. their dynamic's been shelved for a minute so it would be great to bring it back.

dustin/steve - we have ALWAYS got to have this duo in some capacity, it's too damn fun. bonus if we get a scoops troop callback.

also max/consciousness would be nice too

[akkrosu]

Thank you, @recentadultburnout, for tagging me and asking for my nine favorite TV shows! I might have gone a little overboard because I haven’t been tagged a lot before, but please indulge me.

This is going to be limited to QLs, if only because I couldn’t think of a single piece of Western (or straight) media I love and/or remember well enough to be able to put on this list. The ones I have chosen are below, in no particular order.

1. The Untamed

This one belongs here both for being a fantastic story and for being the reason I even discovered any of the other series on this list. My entire “obsessed with Asian queer media” thing started all because a friend once told me, “Let me show you what I’ve been watching recently.” What can I say, drunk Lan Zhan got to me.

2. Moonlight Chicken

One of the most beautiful, thought-provoking and mature series I’ve ever seen, QL or otherwise. P’Aof is a genius and I would have to hide in shame if I didn’t have at least one of his works on this list. He created a narrative of six real people trying to figure out life and how to be happy and there is so much strength in every single one of them.

3. Not Me

With at least three watchthroughs one of my most-watched BLs. I mean, OffGun and the social commentary and political action and the queerness of it all and the characters. Ugh, I love this show. Plus, the music and musical editing were phenomenal.

4. Where Your Eyes Linger

Probably my favorite Korean BL ever? Also the KBL to really get me into KBLs, so it already deserves a medal for that (I was missing out on so much). I’m a sucker for good yearning and forbidden relationships, and this series gave me everything I wanted. And, again, the soundtrack. The instrumental of See U playing as Kang Gook storms Tae Joo’s dad’s house lives rent-free in my mind.

5. HIStory 3: Make Our Days Count

Yes, it’s the other HIStory 3, the one everyone ignores because ‘he went out to buy salt’. Look, don’t judge me, I own up to my love for this series. It’s not the show’s fault all anyone ever remembers is the tragic ending. It’s also such a beautiful story about a total dork falling in love with a lonely nerd and defying all odds to be with him. Plus, the best sibling relationship ever. And (spoiler) said dork dying doesn’t invalidate everything else the series tells us. Yes, it was sad, but I can deal with the sadness. And sometimes, the sadness is as much part of a show as it is of life.

6. The Eclipse

This series haunts me to this day. I was obsessed with it, and I still am. Akk is one of my favorite characters ever written, and First portrayed him beautifully. So did Khaotung with Ayan. The sheer existence of P’Golf baffles my mind to this day. These 12 episodes gave me everything I’ve ever wanted.

7. The Eighth Sense

I take back what I said about Where Your Eyes Linger. This is my favorite KBL. I’m not even sure I can explain why. It’s just so honest. And so, so queer. It made me cry so many times, and the storytelling was magnificent. Plus, it’s one of the few full-length KBLs we have.

8. We Best Love

The cups in my profile picture are the ones Yu Zhenxuan and Pei Shouyi drink out of in the flashbacks of the second season, so... yeah.

This was my very first QL that wasn’t a bromance, and so I’m very biased. I’m almost mad at myself for making this my first one, because sometimes it feels like nothing else could ever live up to it. I admit to having a special love for season 1, even though season 2 seems to be the one people talk about a lot more. It’s just perfect, everything about it. Especially Gao Shide’s mom.

9. My School President

What a phenomenal show. I remember how much I was looking forward to Fridays during the time this was airing, and each week it gave me everything I wanted. Gemini and Fourth are fantastic actors, the friend groups made me cry all the time, it’s one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen, and there are some absolute bangers in there, musically speaking. Gun and Tinn will always have a special place in my heart.

Some honorable mentions because it’s really hard to pin down exactly nine:

Never Let Me Go – I spent a lot of time debating whether to put this or MSP in this list because I love them both equally. And because they aired around the same time, they are sort of irrevocably tied together in my mind.

Big Dragon – I loved this significantly more than I ever expected to, and I can’t be impartial about Yai to this day, because I love him with all my heart. This was such a messy, weird, chaotic show, and yet it somehow gave us such beauty and sappy people in love.

Step by Step – It doesn’t get to be on the list because it hasn’t finished airing yet, and so it could still fuck up, but if it keeps going like this, it is definitely going to become one of my favorites. (Same with Be My Favorite, honestly.)

I don’t know many people around here, and certainly not many I wouldn’t feel awkward tagging, but I’ll just be awkward anyway and kindly ask @ellaspore and @biochemjess if they feel up for it. I wanna know! (No pressure, though.)

[kitkatt0430]

1, 4, 12, 18 and 23 for the salty ask game?

1.) What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

Harry/Barry

Harry and Barry's relationship just lacks any kind of non-platonic chemistry to me. I kind of feel like Harry becomes the mentor to Barry that Eobard pretended to be? I dunno, they just don't click in my brain in any manner other than platonic, so I can't see them being QPPs or romantic partners.

4.) Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?

Caitlin/Cisco & Frost/Cisco

Killervibe - specifically the Caitlin/Cisco flavor of it - is a fairly popular OTP. And while I can get it as Caitlin ~ Cisco QPPs... I just really don't like them as a romantic ship. I attempted to get in the ship and while there were a couple of fics that were good, I just... got less and less interested in the ship until I reached a point where that ship showing up is often enough for me to close the tab if an otherwise interesting sounding req list fic I click on includes the ship.

Frost/Mark

WTF were the show runners thinking. I avoid this ship like the plague.

12.) Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Maybe? I think I tend to like the Nora 1.0 story line in S5 more than average. Yeah there was a looot in that season that was not handled well, but I think for the most part Nora was pretty well done. She definitely should have been younger - college aged maybe? - though I get that there was a comparison was being made between Nora and what S1 Barry was like, as well as a look at how far S5 Barry had come in maturing as a person yet still had to go before becoming a father.

Iris' side of the the story line deserved better, but that's basically a repeated refrain for every season.

18.) Does not shipping something ‘popular’ mean you’re in denial and/or biased?

Not inherently, no. But it is important to be able to interrogate yourself a bit to determine why you don't like something.

Take the Barry Allen/Iris West ship. There are a lot of reasons people don't ship the tv show version of these characters. Some people prefer Iris with Eddie because he treated her better in S1 than Barry did. Some people don't like the psuedo incest vibes that come from Barry and Iris being foster siblings - foster sibling romance is understandably a bit squicky for some people regardless of who is involved. It could be that Iris' lack of agency in the relationship is too uncomfortable for some people to enjoy the ship. But if the reason someone doesn't like Barry/Iris is solely because they only ship Barry with Caitlin or Patty or Linda - two of whom are white women and one who is a very light skinned asian woman - and no other reason than that (or the only other reason is they dislike Iris for reasons that boil down to misogynoir) then that person may want to consider that they've got some internalized racial biases or colorism to unpack.

Not shipping Barry/Iris isn't an automatic sign of biases that need unlearning, but it's important to understand why you don't like something because sometimes we internalize things like 'stuff that squick us out are morally bad' or racial biases. Learning to recognize those parts of ourselves in every day life - including social arenas like fandoms we're active parts of - is important in order to unlearn them.

As for being in denial, that tends to be more about non canon ships. There is a lot of amatonormativity wrapped up in that particular assertion. "of course I ship these two, friends don't act like that" :/

I really just can't be bothered to give people who argue that people are 'in denial' for not shipping a popular ship the time of day as a result.

23.) Unpopular character you love?

Ralph Dibny. He does start off as a misogynist asshole and he definitely deserved to get fired from the CCPD in his backstory, but his character growth is really impressive and... honestly? I think we need more stories where someone is an unlikable asshole but grows out of it. Complex characters who, when given support and kindness, realize they don't like who they are and take active steps to correct that. Stories that remind us it's not to late to turn your life around, if you're willing to take responsibility for yourself and unlearn the bad habits that weigh you down. And that if you're already in a good place yourself, supporting people trying to change, even when they stumble along the way, is an important thing to do to make the world itself a better place.

I mean... that's what the show the Good Place was all about and I loved it so very, very much. So it's really not any wonder that Ralph - who is kind of a male version of Eleanor Shellstrop in many ways - is a character I enjoyed as he learned to grow as a person.

[roobylavender]

Ok now I don’t remember what I was saying but I guess as an older sibling I felt more for Jeremiah like a lot of the things he felt like to me felt a lot more like the older sibling burden in season 2. The finances and having to take care of mom and being with her everyday while she had cancer. I feel like that’s huge thing in that Jeremiah had to see her everyday and lost her a little more everyday. Like he lost a lot in a matter of moments. Belly’s friendship once she started dating Conrad, his mother who he was losing a little more everyday (and who he he felt like he had while Conrad had their dad), and even a brother who he had been losing for sometime.

I do think that the sibling brother dynamic and how each handles things differently is the most compelling thing about the show. I kind of think none of them should end up with each other. It not fair to any of them and like Conrad doesn’t deserve Belly but Belly doesn’t deserve Jeremiah. Idk just my thoughts.

the interesting thing about the brothers' individual burdens is that they're emblematic of double-edged swords. on one hand jeremy had to be the one witness to his mother dying a little at a time all the while growing further apart from belly and conrad. but on the other hand he was the one who got to actually be with his mother until her dying days in a way no one else was allowed. on one hand conrad was miserable in trying to focus on school or things that pertained to his own life because they felt unimportant in the face of susannah's cancer and his inability to do anything to keep her from dying. but on the other hand he had belly and he was the one who got to be away from home and not watch susannah wither away in front of his eyes. ultimately you have this dynamic wherein jeremy is under the impression that conrad doesn't care enough and is absorbed in the miseries of his own world because he doesn't realize that susannah is the one who asked conrad to make himself a priority; and conrad is constantly hyperaware of his own failings and the impact that it has on others for it to look like he's self-absorbed even though the only thing on his mind is how everything is falling apart. it's those barriers to understanding each other that really create this conflict between the brothers. and it's why i tend to sympathize with conrad a little more because i think his perspective on things is a lot.. wider. jeremy sort of has the liberty of confronting what he's directly faced with because conrad shields him from a lot as an older brother. i do think we can talk about whether jeremy perceives that as entirely fair to himself (and he obv doesn't). but at least on the face of things conrad tends to deal with situations in a more holistic manner because he convinces himself it's okay if he's the one who has to bear the weight of everything. he doesn't mind suffering for the sake of others and he doesn't mind bearing their anger because the way he's worked it out in his head is that at least they can be happy without him if he suffers for them. it's a totally unhealthy mindset. he absolutely needs therapy. but i find it very fascinating and emblematic of an older sibling's approach to life!

as to whether any of them deserve each other i don't think one can really say. at the end of the day they're kids. even conrad is barely a college freshman. each of them has to work out their individual emotional issues and failings and considering how much the show has diverged from the books already (at least to my understanding. i haven't read them but i did watch a detailed review video comparing the two) i do think the end goal is for all of them to mature into healthier people who can actually handle the baggage they share among themselves. i don't know that it's intentional per se and obv the promotion focuses mostly on the love triangle but i do think the show is unironically great as an exploration of teenage immaturity and its repercussions among people who consider themselves family. you have this group of kids clearly unequipped to handle really big daunting life events and you get to see them work through the ugliness of all of it. i really enjoy that

[mousathe14]

So I enjoyed Netflix’s One Piece adaptation. It’s got a lot of structural problems that are a result of an 8 episode series that should’ve been 10. Especially incorporating so much of Garp, Koby, and Helmeppo.

The flashbacks are misplaced in how scattered they are, and by that I mean Luffy and Zoro’s. Zoro’s backstory interrupting what should’ve been Usopp’s episode is especially egregious. And if this show had 2 extra episodes that flashback could’ve been pushed into a Shells Town 2-parter.

And that would free up space for Django, who I didn’t think I’d miss but we kinda needed him to help Usopp prove himself. I find it so strange that they decided to elevate the Nyanban siblings. Like, they elevated the Nyanbans really well, I liked them more here than I ever did in the manga, but that shouldn’t have come at the cost of Django.

But the adaptationsl changes mostly do a disservice to Sanji and Usopp whose stories and characters aren’t fully realized and they aren’t as incorporated into the crew.

Everyone’s doing a stellar performance. Except Nami, but that’s not a fault of the actor. I know that her personality changes are writing and direction based. Her personality is so toned down it’s almost non-existent, and she isn’t having fun. Nami, like the rest of the crew, is supposed to be weird and annoying. She’s bratty, self serving, and steals from you with a wink and a smile. Yeah her money grubbing is a trauma response but it’s one she’s embraced and even she doesn’t take it seriously half the time, it’s just a way to mess around with her friends.

But Live Action Nami is too subdued and I feel like that’s a result of a belief that certain character archetypes don’t translate well. Which I disagree with. I think they went the easy way out with something conventional mainstream audiences are more comfortable with, which is a shame.

And going to be trouble if they can even get to a season 2 and have to establish some sort of contrast between her and Nico Robin who is the actual subdued and mature woman character of the crew. Being darkly understated is kind of her thing that makes her stand out in this cast of bigger personalities.

But whatever, that’s the future unknown and possibly never known. Let’s talk Usopp and Sanji, who felt like bystanders in their own stories, Usopp mostly. But both he and Sanji joining the crew doesn’t quite hit fully and I know it’s because they didn’t get enough material, and that’s a shame.

But we know they don’t have enough time and material because of the focus on the KobyMeppo diary adventures which are great but we get too much of it. And I like Garp, I understand wanting to use him as much as possible, especially when casted so perfectly. And I never knew I needed to see him talking with Chef Zeff but I did and I was glad to have it. But every minute added is another minute taken away, and I feel like structurally they misallocated some of that time.

Fun show though, so glad they didn’t muck it up. The bar was low and expectations were exceeded. As far as western live action adaptations of manga are concerned, we’ve come a very long way.

[dollwrites]

OH MY GOD this is the best day of my life you like my #1 most favorite boy, the love of my life 😭 I’ve been waiting for the day I could talk about aemond with you, I just KNEW that you would like him 🥲 I’m completely not normal about how obsessed I am with him lol like I’m mostly joking when I say this but I tell all my friends that it was like my entire world shifted when we were first introduced to him. Also I don’t want to spoil anything for you but I’ll just say that aemond is one of the only men in this show that doesn’t fuck minors so he gets points for that 😅 also I just want to say that there’s a lot of things in the second season that imo are out of character for him and I just choose to ignore them lol. But you are so real for watching it in one night, I’ve literally watched the first season like 6 times. Please let me know if you have any questions especially about lore or anything 🙏 I would really love to know your thoughts about season 1 like who do you like, who don’t you like, what did you think about the ending (especially since it involves aemond) like tell me everything 👀 for me I literally don’t care what aemond does I will literally support him through anything, a lot of people hate aemond and act like you can’t like him or you’re a bad person 🙄 some people act like you’re hitler himself if you like aemond or aegon, but I love villains and I know you do too lol.

AGHH HI BABE I WAS LIKE OMG I HOPE HOTD NONNIE IS STILL AROUND BECAUSE I FINALLY GOT TO IT !!

OMG I LOVE WHEN A CHARACTER SWOOPS IN AND ALTERS YOUR BRAIN CHEMISTRY like it’s truly magical to find The One ™️!!

So I actually started preparing myself to like aemond when I saw they were going ivar the boneless ( my fave character in Vikings obviously ) route with making him the younger, picked on, maimed sibling bc in my brain I was like ok so because of this he’s going to grow up and be crazy ruthless !!!

HEHEEH hes so unsettling too the way he stares at everyone he’s always CALCULATING

ALSO I DID ALREADY SEE THAT HES INTO MORE MATURE WOMEN ?? And lowkey thick I fw with that heavy 🫶🏻 I ALSO SAW THAT HE HAS A PP SCENNEEE I’m going to start the second season in about 30 minutes I just wanted to be able to roll a blunt and settle down with my DP and my snacks to get ready for it SKSKSK

OKAY SO AS FOR WHO I LIKE it’s literally just Alicent and Aemond tbh SSKSKKSK I ALSO LIKE HELAENA ( I hope I spelled her name right ) and Rhaenys, but Aegon is such a twerp to me and so are Rhaenyra’s brats

Can I also say that the dragons are my favorite characters too I like vhagar and the big big one that daemon sang to ?? I’ve always loved media with dragons I used to have this big ass textbook looking thing that was written like dragons really existed and explained their anatomy and history DRAGONS ARE NEVER NOT COOL TO ME

I really dislike Rhaenyra !!! When she was a kid I could forgive her for doing shitty things but she actually got worse as she grew up 💀 and I hate Daemon I’m sorry I know he’s got a lot of fangirls but like he’s been kinda hyped up and all I’ve seen so far is that he’s an abusive pedophile SKSKKS

CAN I BE REAL I DID SEE THE ENDING COMING FROM LIKE A MILE AWAY especially once he had to fly in the rain I was like oh well aemond is definitely about to kill this child 💀 it was interesting how it happened though !! It’s like a stark ( lol ) reminder that the dragons have free will and the rider doesn’t have full control which I thought was really cool and I DO like that it seemed to weigh a bit on aemond, and that it wasn’t just cold hearted like he literally had that oh fuck oh shit look and I hope they’ll expand a little bit on his emotional state after literally murdering a child 😭 in the next season.

IT DOES MAKE ME WORRIED THOUGH for Aemond 🥺🥺 pls pookie stay safe because I know he’s going to have a massive target on his back now

I THINK LORE WISE IM FOLLOWING PRETTY WELL I know they probably reference got more than what I catch on to like I’m sure references go over my head since I’ve only seen the first season like way back when it first came out but I think the MEAT of the lore I’m getting !!

I’m excited but also scared to finish it SKSKSK IF AEMOND DIES I WILL HAVE TO STOP…

[backjustforberena]

So speaking of favorites and known favorites, I get the feeling that Rhaenyra was not the mother that showed favoritism. We see her all the time fawning over all of her children, and even her step-daughters. The smile she gives them, little touches, you can catch her holding onto them in different scenes it's really cute.

Daemon I can't figure out beyond his obviously favoring Baela before his sons were born, but we haven't seen him with his sons enough to know if he favors them.

Rhaena, however, seems like the child that is no one's favorite and that bothers me just a little. I mean, she's Aegon III's favorite but that's a bit different than being favored by a parent.

Hi! Thanks for sending this in and continuing the conversation. Rhaenyra as a mother is cool and was very nicely explored - I'm sticking it to the show, just for ease, I know you mention Rhaena's future relationship with Aegon III, but I'm just going to go off of the show as things are pretty different between both and the show doesn't yet contradict the idea that Rhaena could end up as Aegon's favourite, despite these.

I don't know if Rhaenyra has a favourite. I think it would be easy to say that it's Lucerys - because she has the most to do with him and the impact of his death and so forth. But, as you say, we have her interact with her children in a very similar manner across the episodes. We've got a wealth of footage and we can see how her behaviour changes as the children get older; particularly with Jace, who starts to act more mature and is trusted by his mother a lot more, to look after his siblings and his cousins. Rhaenyra seems to be more physically demonstrative with Lucerys when he's older than she is with Jace, even though the age difference is not too much. But that could be because, again, of centralising Lucerys's problems and also his personality being more sensitive and him being more receptive to his mother's affections in a way Jace would not be. It doesn't have to mean favouritism.

I think I've said it before that I don't really rate the relationship between Baela, Rhaena and Rhaenyra in the show. And that's not me thinking she's not a good stepmother or that there is no possibility of them being close or whatever, I completely give way to the opportunity that she views them as her own... it's just that I don't see the evidence for it yet - especially in comparison with her own children. It's something they can build on in Series 2, no doubt.

For me, her interactions with her stepdaughters are perfectly respectful and nice... but she doesn't have much to do with them or prioritise them for who they are or what they want. Not that that responsibility is on her at all, it is just what it is in the show.

I think every interaction she has had, thus far, with them is easily argued either way (loves them or likes them), especially given the political issues she has to face in the latter half of the series. Rhaenyra has to, ultimately, use those girls to satisfy the Velaryons. Baela is ward to Driftmark to (in Rhaenyra's mind) satisfy Rhaenys. She brings Rhaena to see Rhaenys before their discussion to "soften [her] resolve", which is basically Rhaenyra bringing Rhaena to see her grandmother as a form of emotional manipulation. She suggests the girls marry her sons to facilitate Lucerys's position as Corlys's heir. She never speaks to either of them, except to thank Rhaena for wine at the Painted Table or to bid Rhaena to leave her and Rhaenys alone. So you can argue either way when it comes to her stepdaughters: I'm happy with either perspective, whatever floats your boat, I respect it.

When it comes to Rhaena and Baela and their father, I'm interested to see how that might be explored in the show in Season 2, if it is. It may not be directly, as Daemon has to hop it to Harrenhal and we don't really have any direct or indirect interaction between Daemon and his daughters for the rest of the Dance. But there could be something, even anecdotally. We've got a little bit of a paradox in that Baela is arguably his favourite daughter, and yet Rhaena is the one he has more closely raised, potentially: Baela being on Driftmark. We don't have any real indicator of how he feels about them in isolation or in comparison to one another as teenagers yet, or, as you say, in comparison to their brothers.

[dorothydalmati1]

Obscure Animation Subject #18: The Chicken Squad

Originally posted on Twitter on January 18, 2023.

Loosely based on the book of the same name by Doreen Cronin, the show is developed by Tom Rogers. It premiered on Disney Junior on May 14, 2021, and 29 half-hours have aired, though its rumored to be cancelled.

The latest episode aired on April 22, 2022, and follows the adventures of Coop, Little Boo and Sweetie, three chicken siblings with their mentor Tully, a retired rescue dog who has heterochromia. The series is a problem solving show with critical thinking and teamwork.

That sounds innocent at first, but looking deeper into it there’s actually a lot more, and its not good I will tell yea. Every character in this show are stereotypical assholes! The main protagonists we follow, the chicks, we got a nerd, a strong Mary Sue and an egotist!

Their mentor, Tully, is a filler character whose wasted potential all around. She could’ve been great representation of a retired rescue dog, especially due to her unique condition, heterochromia iridium (two different colored eyes), but the show did absolutely NOTHING to her!

We also have other characters like Frazz, Dr. Dirt, Dinah and Lt. Scruffy, but their nothing but plot devices, with some of them having stereotypical traits. Also, except the Blue Booted Baddie, the show can’t decide on making villains since the show has them redeemed by the end.

The pacing is awful with scenes lasting way too long (surprising for an 11-minute show), or too short and can’t gasp you attention. The "humor" is horrid for its target audience, just mostly gross or dumb jokes. Some of the jokes are also unsuitable for a preschool show.

I haven’t read the book, but I’ve also heard that its unfaithful to it, with this show being a lot different from it. The show also has an identity crisis because it doesn’t know what it wants to appeal its audience to. Sometimes it gets mature, but sometimes really childish.

Most episodes follow the same formula, with the cliche "the group has a problem, they do it the wrong way, but they do it right the 2nd time" story. As a result, many episodes range from mediocre and bland to just mean-spirited and atrocious. No wonder why its rumored cancelled.

But that’s not all! At times there are bad morals like in the worst episode Honey Bee Boogie Woogie, where it teaches kids that going around bees is fine, but in reality its very dangerous as bees can sting you. The tone is also very childish and treats the audience like idiots.

And now the animation, its awful and terribly rendered. It looks dated for 2021 standards and is even by the same animation service as Kamp Koral. The show has good qualities like passable voice-acting and an interesting premise, but its not gonna save the show at all!

I recommend to watch it if you want to see how unexpectedly bad a preschool show could be. The first season ended on a random episode and it may not get its second season anytime soon. Good riddance, wait most of the crew moved on to a Star Wars preschool show oh god!

(NOTE FROM COMMENTER JusJarBro: The original book’s author, Doreen Cronin served as a consultant on the show, and did mention about Andrew Beaty, the author of Ada Twist, Scientist! (which got adapted to a Netflix series and which she executive produced) where she said: “The book and animation worlds diverge a bit. But the heart is the same.” While yes original creators can have involvement, it doesn’t automatically mean its good. I haven’t seen Ada Twist but from looking at some clips I thought was cute and harmless unlike TCS. Bro also wants to know why TCS show ended up as is, and I said that no one probably didn’t care. I even assumed Disney themselves hating the show, and I can officially confirm that it is cancelled and no second season is planned, with the company even removing the show on their streaming service, but is still available to purchase on other digital outlets.)

[stitched-mouth]

SEX EDUCATION SEASON 4 EPISODE 8 SPOILERS

Don’t read if you haven’t finished the fourth and finale season.

Wow, um. This hurts, saying goodbye to Sex Education.

When the show first came out in 2019 I was still in school and in my third year. I was all over it when it came out, something sex related based in a British secondary school really spoke to me. I loved Otis immediately and Eric (wasn’t so fond of Maeve) they made me keep watching.

And I’m happy I’ve ended the show and still love Otis and Eric and now even like Maeve a little.

Sex Education is a big reason for why I’m so comfortable writing smut now. And the main reason why I’m… studying to be a sex therapist. Well maybe not a therapist, but I do want to do something with sex education career wise. For those that don’t now, I am doing an apprenticeship at a sex clinic in London. It mainly focuses on testing for and treating STIs but it also offers sex therapy services (which thanks to NHS, you have to jump through hoops to get).

I think I didn’t like Maeve in the beginning because she reminded me too much of myself, I was the snarky punky mean girl when I started the show and I hated seeing someone with my shitty personality on screen. I was mean because I was scared to be nice and I think I realised Maeve was the same by the end of season 2 and started to like her. I liked her even more because we started maturing together, at the same pace I feel.

Anyway, I’m really happy with the way the show has ended.

Maeve and Otis are soulmates but a lot of times in life, soulmates don’t end up together. Usually because they are too different or going different places and I felt like Maeve and Otis were too different way back in S2. I’m sad they didn’t end up together but also happy they didn’t. They would both have to change themselves completely to be together and I think if they did that they would start hating each other. So it’s better to end things when they are good so they can always look back and smile.

I’m sad my favourites didn’t return. I wonder if the actors had other projects or just decided it was time to leave, maybe it was both. No way Netflix didn’t want them back.

It’s sad though because those arcs were never finished.

I was happy with the new characters though. Abbi, Roman, Aisha just to name a few. I love how diverse they are and how Netflix is always trying to be inclusive and this is one of the rare cases where Netflix didn’t make it feel so forced.

The Covent felt like real people (maybe a little old to be teens though - they all felt like early to mid 20s and college graduates) and Cavendish felt like a real college. I’m sure I’ve come around a few Cavendish like colleges in the UK.

It was nice to meet Joanna and have some sibling rivalry in the show since I felt like it was somewhat needed. Sadly I don’t have much to say about Joanna, maybe they could of gone more into her.

Ruby got the send of I wasn’t really expected but am ok with. I was hoping she’s get back with Otis but by the time I felt like Otis and Maeve broke up, it was clear Ruby had moved on. Which might be good for her, honestly. But I wasn’t too happy to see her go back into the popular crowd in the end. Feels a little like Gretchen Weiner’s style ending, which was worse but, Ruby needs to learn how to survive outside of clique. But she did get over Otis so baby steps.

Eric deciding to be a pastor felt very random but ok. He has always been very religious but still running a Church felt like a U turn. I think they were saying Eric wants to make some very much needed to Christianity which I kind of understand. But the scenes with him and ‘God’ were weird af and I hated them. Felt like they were really pushing to us watchers that Eric loves God which we already know. Maybe I didn’t get it?

He knows he needs to go celibate to be a pastor right? Or is that one of things he’s going to change?

Cal, loved them so much this season. I didn’t really feel them in S3 but I did this time and I love them. The way they were written was perfect. I’m not non-binary and yet I still felt like I could relate A LOT to them.

Was Carl’s Mum in The Sandman???

Jackson finding more about his ‘sperm donor’ was great. I don’t know for sure so feel free to debate this with me, but I think a lot of kids who were adopted or made with a donor could relate, even if that wasn’t the real case for Jackson. And I also feel like kids who were lied to about where they came from could also relate. As well as kids who were abandoned as a kid. I know a few people who never met their fathers because their fathers never wanted anything to do with them and I feel like they’d love Jackson’s arc this season.

Adam… I’ll always love Adam. I don’t know what else to say, Adam is the best.

And I’m really happy that Micheal is clearly growing and showing so much progress. Don’t know how I feel about him getting back with Maureen though, they both seemed to thrive when apart. It’s sweet they still care for each other and having the odd fling is fine but getting back together feels like a big no no to me. And even if the fling is sweet, Micheal really needs to lose his romantic feelings for her, which is probably going to be next to impossible for him if they keep hooking up.

But the show made it clear they are getting back together… so.

Maureen… we needed more of her this seasons. It felt like she was just Adam’s Mum and Micheal’s ex this season and I hated it.

Loved the guest appearance of Miss Sands and Mr Hendricks, but I really wish we got more than that from them. However I understand that the show is supposed to focus on the teens and it should but still.

Aimee is still cute af. Loved her photography arc this season. Her and Issac grew on me and I’m glad they got together. And I’m happy Aimee really wanted to be sensible and sensitive about getting with Issac, I mean getting with your friend’s ex is a huge thing and a major red flag, but they handled it really well.

I can’t believe we didn’t even get an update on Ola and Jakob this season, what the fuck?

And still… fuck O… just a little though. I felt A LITTLE something the last episode for her but still. If only there was another season, I might of like her after some character development.

And technically she won the election but tbh by the time it happened, I stopped caring. Connor winning and then refusing it because “y’all problems are too much for me” was funny af. But it was obvious he wasn’t really interested in sex therapy from the beginning though. I thought he was doing it to try to get with Ruby but was also not so surprised when it was revealed it was Jean.

Also, why tf would Ruby even pick Connor in the first place to compete against O and Otis???

Anyway, goodbye Sex Education. I’m really gonna miss this show. I’m feeling so melancholy. Thanks for everything, Sex Ed.

SEX EDUCATION SEASON 4 SPOILERS EPISODE 5

If you’ve not watched up to 25 minutes of episode 5 and don’t want spoiler, don’t continue. I don’t cover everything here but still.

Still watching Sex Education, on episode 5, and O just came out and I hate her even more.

I really hope no one says Otis outed her. And her asexuality doesn’t explain what she did to Ruby.

Fuck O, there’s no hope for me liking her now. I’m literally red in the face and getting a headache from anger.

If she’s supposed to make me punch my TV then the actress is doing a great job.

Also where the fuck is Lily and Ola? And are they trying to set up Joanna with Joy’s possible father? Is there going to be a big reveal? I’m scared about Joy’s father…

Also poor Yacob(?).

[ladyofglencairn]

Bridgerton S2

Overall, I enjoyed it. But there was a lot that could have been done better, imo.

What I liked:

• Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashely have OFF THE CHARTS CHEMISTRY and I was here for all of it.

• The Bridgerton family moments. I love the dynamics, the sibling ribbing, the teasing and banter. Special mention of the Anthony/Gregory moment. 🥺

• Like the Bridgerton's the Sharma's were a great example of a loving family. The sisterly bond and postive representation of a step mother/step daughter relationship was so great!

• Anthony's scenes with his mother. Some of them were really emotional. I also loved that they spent some time on his backstory and fleshed it out. Made understanding his character and motivations so much easier.

• Anthony and Daphne. I was wondering how the show would use her character and I really feel like it worked. She came across as so mature, settled and wise. Loved it!

• Eloise and Penelope. I think it makes sense that Eloise finds out about Pen's secret - especially considering how hard she's worked to try and uncover who LW is. I'm excited to see how S3 develops that particular subplot.

• I appreciated seeing Marina and Sir Phillip and I'm really curious about how the show will eventually flesh out this storyline.

• Seeing Benedict as an artist. He's our next hero and I enjoyed getting to see where his passions lie.

What I didn't like as much:

• Where was Kate's backstory? The explanation of her character motivations? There was just....nothing? She's the female lead and we got more random subplot than any time spent understanding her better.

• Too much filler subplot. Like who cared about all that Featherington drama?? There was so much more the writers could have focused on.

• There was not enough Kate and Anthony getting to know one another scenes. Yes, amazing chemistry, a lot of mutual pining, tons of longing looks. But where was the CONVERSATION? They deserved so much more screen time. We need to know WHY they fall in love instead of just knowing they think the other person is hot. Honestly, they could have cut down more than 1 episode of filler nonsense and dedicated that time to exploring Kate and Anthony's attraction to one another.

• It took a whole 8 episodes (aka the whole season literally) for Kate and Anthony to get together. Then we have one married scene before it's over. Like damn, we just watched the SLOWEST SLOW BURN KNOWN TO MANKIND and we get no good fluff at the end? No actual wedding?? No real couple-in-love on-screen time?? I love a good slow burn, but damn, snails could swim across the Atlantic faster than it took these two to get to their first kiss.

• Too much Queen. Surely she had better things to do than pop in at every ball??

• The way the show handled Edwina's feelings for Anthony. They leaned heavily into her infatuation with him when in reality he wasn't quite what she was even looking for. I also disliked that it took FOREVER for Edwina to decide if she wanted to marry Anthony or not. Seriously, it felt like for an entire episode nothing happened! Everyone was just waiting for her to decide. AND... Anthony would have married her if she agreed! Even though he couldn't keep his eyes off her sister, he would have married her regardless!! WTF. I hated that it felt like Kate and Anthony only had a chance to be together because Edwina called off the wedding and not because either of them realised following through with the farce wasn't the right thing to do.

• Pining Pen. PLEASE have Pen do something other than stare longingly at Colin all of S3. I get it, they're a future couple, but its all so one-sided and I'm not here for that.

• I thought there would be a better set-up for Benedict's story next season? I mean, we kinda saw more Pen/Colin than actual Benedict insight and he's next.

In conclusion: I liked S1 more as a cohesive story. I think the focus was on the main couple with decent side plot sprinkled in. S2 was about a lot of side plot with Kate and Anthony lusting after one another with a significant lack of screen time to show the journey from attraction to love. Plus we needed the types of fluff for Kanthony that S1 fed us in spades. I will say S2 takes the award for notching the sexual tension up to 10000%. The chemistry was explosive!

[ifbrd]

Gravity Falls Dipper and Stan's Relationship Throughout the Series

Happy ten year anniversary to Gravity Falls!

Years ago when season one was airing, I started an analysis titled "Dipper looks up to Stan and wants his approval" that I, of course, never finished. So I decided on the ten year anniversary of Gravity Falls that I would type it up and finish it, now with the context of the entire series. I wanted to give the series a rewatch and watch the episode commentary...but I waited until the last minute and then had a family emergency sooooo I'm doing this from memory and some fast forwarding through episodes that I needed a refresher for! I thank the people who gave me their list of Stan and Dipper focused moments for me to rewatch! Anyway.... Stan and Dipper’s dynamic has three major points throughout the series, separated by season one, season 2A, and season 2B, with a bit of "transition time" between each of them. I will talk about each of these, the specific relevant episodes, and how they all connect.

Season 1: Dipper Looks up to Stan and Wants his Approval

Going off my original idea from when we only had season 1 to go off of, Dipper and Stan's dynamic starts with Dipper looking up to Stan and wanting his approval. Now you might be tempted to argue, siting that Dipper never approved of Stan's crimes, seemed suspicious of him, and generally at this point in the series saw Stan as a weird relative he and Mabel were forced to stay with rather than any kind of role model. There is some truth to that, however there's one thing about Stan that Dipper often wishes he was: a "manly man." It's not secret that Dipper is self conscious about his masculinity. Heck there's an entire episode dedicated to it which I'll talk about in a minute. Dipper's definition of masculinity is to be strong, tough, muscular etc. Dipper is not any of these things, hence his insecurities. Stan, on the hand, is exactly all those things. Stan is Dipper's exact definition of a man, so while Dipper might not approve of a lot of Stan's actions or many of this other qualities, he does respect Stan's "masculine" traits. So if this old geezer sees Dipper has a man, then Dipper must be one, right?

Episode 106, Dipper vs Manliness

This episode starts with Stan and Mabel making fun of Dipper because he's not particularly manly. He's yet to hit puberty, his music tastes lean more to the feminine side, and he fails the "manliness tester" in the diner. Dipper runs off, upset, into the woods and meets one of the manataurs (totally guessing on spelling there...) who encourages him to talk about his "emotional issues." The first thing out of Dipper's mouth is "My own uncle called me a wimp--" He doesn't vent about Mabel, who was also teasing him (though you could chalk this up to them being siblings and him therefore not caring about her teasing, or even the fact that a 12 year old girl probably isn't going to have a great understanding of what it means to be a man.) When Dipper refuses to kill the multi-bear and gives a big speech to the manataurs about how he basically thinks they're all full of BS, he says it was extreme confidence. He knows he's in the right. However a scene later he's seen walking through town looking sad. This sad feeling doesn't go away for Dipper until he talks to Stan. Stan says "You were your own man and you stood up for yourself...you did what was right even though no one agreed with you. Sounds pretty manly to me." And Dipper's mood immediately shifts to being happy.

Episode 110 Fight Fighters

Robbie, being the totally mature teenage he is, picks a fight with Dipper. Since Dipper is 12, half Robbie's size and has "noodle arms," he's understandable scared. During his panic attack, Stan tells him "Look kid, you got yourself a choice here. You can either go face him like a man, or hide indoors like a wimp? What'll it be?" and of course we know that Dipper chose to hide like a wimp, however, it always struck me as odd where he choose to hide--The arcade. A public place. (A public place Robbie has seen him hanging out, but that's besides the point here, just really dumb thinking on Dipper's part) There's not much reason for Dipper to have left the Mystery Shack. He could have stayed in his room. Sure Robbie would know exactly where to find him, but Robbie can't legally trespass into the house. Maybe there's an argument to be made about how Stan would have handled a teenager waiting outside, wanting to come in to fight his nephew, but I think more so what's going on here is that Dipper is avoiding Stan. He's not just hiding from Robbie, he's hiding from his uncle too. He doesn't want Stan to know he chose to be a wimp. This is supported later, when Dipper brings Rumble into the Shack, hears a door open and tells Rumble "uh oh, I think I hear my uncle, stay perfectly still." implying that he doesn't want Stan to know that he brought to life a body guard for his fight.

Episode 114 Bottomless Pit!

I just want to bring up one little moment from Dipper's story, Voice Over. After Dipper gets his voiced changed by one of Mcgucket's concoctions, Mabel and Soos both hate his new voice. Dipper angerly storms off saying "I'll find Stan! He'll like my new voice! You'll see!" Fairly self explanatory.

Episode 116 Carpet Diem

This episode is sort of the inciting incident that will eventually lead to Dipper and Stan's first dynamic shift. Dipper and Mabel accidentally switch bodies while in a competition to butter up Stan to give them a newly discovered room in the Mystery Shack. At one point, Stan pulls "Dipper" aside for "the talk" (a moment of silence for Mabel's innocence.) Afterwards Stan tells "Dipper" that he found him "more likeable than usual." Stan throws in that he might change his mind and give the room to Dipper instead of Mabel. Mabel panics when she hears this and decides to tell him off in hopes of making him mad at Dipper and giving her the room instead. Once she's done, Stan says "Finally standing up to me huh? HA! I love it! I've made my decision! The room is yours, Dipper!" We find out a few episodes later that Stan is hard on Dipper because he's trying to "toughen him up." This entire scene is a reflection of that, "Dipper" stood up to him, which made Stan proud so he decided to reward Dipper for it. The thing is, that wasn't Dipper, it was Mabel. And Mabel didn't tell Dipper why Stan gave him the room, there wasn't really a reason to. So now we are in an interesting position where Stan has just rewarded Dipper for standing up to him in hopes of encouraging that behavior further, meanwhile Dipper has no idea that that's what Stan wants from him and therefore has no reason to change his behavior. I believe that this is what lead to the events in Dreamscaperers. Stan, now believing that Dipper can stand up for himself, was trying to get Dipper to man up again, but we'll cover that more when we get to it.

Episode 117 Boyz Crazy

So there's not much to offer here in terms of Dipper looking up to Stan and wanting his approval. There are moments we could dissect in that regard, but I think this episode is more important for Dipper and Stan's relationship in that it shows us what their relationship could be when they are on equal footing. They are a great team that get along great when they are in a position where they understand each other. It also works really well to show the audience that Stan really does care about Dipper, despite his gruff exterior. This narratively is helpful for Dreamscaperers, because Dipper spends the episode believing that Stan hates him, and has his suspicions "confirmed" by one of Stan's memories, but the audience, on some level, knows that despite that memory, it can't be true. Stan wouldn't have been as supportive of Dipper in Boyz Crazy if he didn't care. He wouldn't have offered Dipper to go bowling with him if he hated Dipper. Stan is not the kind of person to pretend to like another person, no matter who it is.

Episode 119 Dreamscaperers

Remember in Carpet Diem when Stan rewarded "Dipper" for standing up for himself and telling Stan off? And how Dipper wouldn't have known to change his behavior because it wasn't actually him? Well this is where all of that builds up. Stan has been expecting Dipper to stand up for himself and tell him off more, but he hasn't done it. He's acting just as wimpy as before, like it was a fluke, like it didn't even happen. Stan now believes he's seen Dipper not be a wimp, so he knows he can do it, he's just choosing not to. So Stan's best bet to bring that back out of Dipper is to be harder on him, make him mad, make him want to tell him off. This leads to the conflict of the episode, because Dipper doesn't understand why Stan is doing this, he simply thinks Stan hates him. While walking through Stan's mind, looking for a memory that tells Dipper what Stan thinks about him, Dipper finds a memory of Stan telling Soos "I just wanna get rid of him." Dipper hangs his head, and shuts the door, and stands there for a second. The shot stays just long enough for you to know just how much this hurt Dipper. (Thirty bucks says he cried) Thankfully Dipper later stumbles on the memory again and watches the whole memory and learns that Stan doesn't hate him, simply wants him to "fight back" and is hard on him to teach him that. Now that Dipper knows, he changes his behavior and starts fighting back. Yes with Bill and later with a choke hold on Stan in this episode, but also in the following two episodes

Season 1 Finale and Season 2 Premiere: First Transition Time

Now that Dipper understands that Stan wants him to fight back, he starts doing so, but in the two episodes that follow, Dipper is fighting back in a way Stan doesn't necessarily want him to. This is more so the case with Scary-oke but let's look at Gideon Rises real quick first

Episode 120 Gideon Rises

This episode has Dipper and Stan's roles somewhat switched. Stan is quitting (like a wimp but also in a "responsible adult" kind of way) and Dipper is ready to fight back. I've also seen people point out that how Stan and Dipper solve their problems in this episode are switched, Stan uses his brains like Dipper normally would have, and Dipper uses his brawn like Stan normally would have. Dipper's actions are likely being subconsciously influenced by Stan throughout this episode. After Gideon discovers that Dipper has had journal 3 all along, and states that Dipper only won all those times because of the journal, Dipper practically gives up, believing Gideon to be right. Dipper is giving up trying to stop Gideon much like Stan gave up trying to stop the pint-sized brat. Stan's current actions are likely aiding in Dipper's mindset here, but on the other hand, Stan's influence throughout the series up to this point is likely part of the reason Dipper was so determined to stop Gideon right after Stan had given up, and why Dipper worked up enough bravery to attack the Gideon bot to save Mabel.

Episode 201 Scary-oke

This is when Stan's "toughening up" of Dipper bites him in the butt. We didn't at the time the episode aired, but we know now how much Stan cared for Ford, how he saw his brother get lost, literally and metaphorically, to the supernatural, and how alike Dipper and Ford are. We also learn in this episode that Stan had been lying to the kids about the supernatural in an attempt to keep them away from it. Stan doesn't want Dipper and Mabel going out seeking all the weirdness in the town. He doesn't want to lose them like he lost Ford. He probably doesn't have to worry too much about Mabel in this regard, but Dipper is as stubborn as Stan and as curious as Ford. Dipper is an easy target to get lost in the mysteries. So Stan continues to deny the magic. But now Dipper has learned to fight back, and there's been too much obvious stuff that's happened for him to simply brush off Stan's ignorance. Now Dipper is actively fighting against Stan's wishes. Consider their argument in Stan's room after he catches Dipper calling the government agents. If that conversation had been about anything else, Stan probably would have found the entire interaction funny because Dipper was all worked up, and would have left the conversation with a sense of pride because Dipper isn't taking any BS. However because of what the argument was about, Stan's now in a situation where Dipper is fighting to go after the very thing Stan doesn't want him anywhere near, not to mention risking Stan's entire mission to get Ford back. So the argument escalates into Dipper getting grounded, Dipper leaving annoyed, and Stan letting out a frustrated sigh. The episode ends with Stan admitting to knowing about the towns supernatural happenings, and Stan wanting the kids, mostly Dipper, to promise not to go seeking out the weirdness. Dipper makes Stan swear that he doesn't have anymore secrets, and they agree with their fingers each crossed. Personally, I'm a little bummed that this scene never came back in the form of another argument between them, but I think it does a little something to show where their relationship goes after this.

Season 2A Dipper and Stan on Equal Footing

Dipper is no longer trying to impress Stan or is seeking his approval, more often than not Dipper simply speaks his mind to Stan in a blunt manner, just like how Stan has always talked to...well everyone, but Dipper for the purpose of this analysis. They still care about each other, but they have a new respect for each other now and it shows off in them being able to say whatever they want with each other. Scary-oke somewhat symbolized this by having them both confidently lie. One isn't lying while the other is telling the truth, one isn't feeling more guilty about their lie than the other. Not the healthiest symbolism, but I think it works. Most of the moments that support this are just that: mere moments. But they are mere moments that say a lot about where their relationship is at.

Episode 203 The Golf War

When Stan offers some "Stan-cakes" for breakfast and describes what Stan-cakes are, Dipper says, without hesitation or remorse, "Pass!" When Pacifica shows up at the mini golf course and goes all Regina George on the Pines family, Stan talks about punching her, but Dipper tells him he'll handle the situation, and Stan let's him without a second thought.

Episode 206 Little Gift Shop of Horrors

Believe it or not, but this "not canon" episode actually has a lot to help us see where Dipper and Stan's relationship is at. More specifically, this episode shows us how Stan's sees Dipper at this point in the series. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but my interpretation of this episode being "not canon" was that the stories Stan told were completely made up, but the idea of Stan telling a customer those stories to get the customer to buy stuff was canon. That interpretation is key to this analysis. One of my English teachers always told us "The key to a great story is that same as a key to a great lie: It needs to be 95% true. If the story is mostly true, it'll make that last 5% believable." Gravity Falls itself is a great example of this. Gravity Falls itself doesn't exist, but it was based off of real locations, the characters in the show were based off of real people, embarrassing moments for said characters were inspired by real life embarrassing events from the cast, etc. And we all know that Stan is a great liar, so likely his story telling has a bit of truth to it that we can dissect. Since Dipper is in the stories, we can assume that this is how Stan expects Dipper to act in theses types of scenarios.

Hands Off!

Dipper puts on some glasses and exclaims "Professor glasses! They make me look like a genius!" and it shows that Stan knows how much Dipper values his intelligence, or even perceived intelligence, and implies that Stan sees Ford in Dipper given that the glasses Dipper tries on look somewhat similar to Ford's. After Stan steals the watch from the hand witch, Dipper scolds him, showing us that Stan expects Dipper to speak his mind, particularly regarding things that Dipper doesn't approve of or thinks is a stupid idea. It's also interesting when you consider that since Stan is the one telling this story, he likely had some mental idea of where the story was headed, that in the story, he'd be in the wrong and Dipper would have been right. This implies that Stan also thinks Dipper is smarter than he is and/or respects his perspectives (neither of those are worded right to describe what I'm thinking but I think you can decipher what I meant). This continues when after the kids discover Stan's hands are gone, Dipper is the one in the story to tell Stan what he needs to do. Dipper tells Stan what to do much like a parent would tell a child what to do in this situation to make things right and get his hands back. When the hands attack in the Hand-Witch's cave (these sentences are slowly sounding more and more crazy), Stan and Mabel run away from the hands, but Dipper's instinct is to fight back. Dipper is now at a point where Stan assumes that he'll fight back when in trouble, even when Stan doesn't, which sort of calls back to Gideon Rises.

Abaconings

Again we see Dipper striving to prove his smarts, and getting insulted at the notion that he might not be smart enough to solve his new puzzle. I feel like this one, even more so than Dipper wearing "professor glasses" shows that Stan sees Ford in Dipper. We also note that Dipper quickly gets carried away with Waddles and their now shared pursuit of knowledge, implying that Stan believes Dipper will keep pursuing knowledge until he can't anymore (like his pig partner deciding to be dumb again), even if it means upsetting others in the process (like say, failing to notice that he's getting in the way of Mabel being able to spend time with Waddles). There's also a brief moment when Mabel tells Waddles how sad she is that he's not hanging out with her anymore, where Dipper looks sad/sympathetic that Mabel is upset, which shows us that Stan knows how much Dipper does care about Mabel. Which we see even more of in Clay Day.

Clay Day

Not a whole lot here IMO, mostly Dipper being a caring brother, so likely this is Stan projecting his relationship with Ford onto the kids.

Episode 211 Not What He Seems

Much like how Carpet Diem was the inciting incident for Dipper and Stan's first dynamic switch, Not What He Seems is the inciting incident for the next shift. The past few episodes Stan and Dipper's relationship is the best it's been, they can get along and poke fun at each other and over all just be themselves around one another. Moments before getting arrested, Stan attempts to explain to the kids what's been going on, and decides to put it off because he knows it's going to change things. When Stan gets arrested, he claims he was restocking the gift shop as his alibi. Both Dipper and Mabel believe him, no questions asked. They immediately put a plan in place to prove Stan's innocents when Trigger says something that makes Dipper question his uncle for a brief moment, "I've seen it all before, false names, double lives, one minute they're playing with water balloons, the next, they're building doomsday devises. Your uncle scammed the whole world, you gonna let him scam you too?" This comment shakes Dipper up a bit, but he brushes it off and tells Trigger he doesn't know what he's talking about. Dipper's trust in Stan has been questioned, but it's not gone yet. Stan and Dipper specifically have come too far for that to be true, right? No way the man who was hard on him to toughen up, and who he now can get along with easily, is some kind of super villain right? Dipper can still trust him right? Until Dipper sees the other two journals in the secret lab. Dipper has now seen Stan's fake IDs, the newspaper clipping that Stan Pines is dead, this mysterious lab under the house, and now it's clear that Stan has had the other two journals. The prequels to the very journal that Stan claimed was fantasy in Gideon Rises, the prequels to the journals that Stan made Dipper promise to only use for self defense and not to go looking for trouble. "Was anything he said to us real?!" Now Dipper has lost pretty much all his trust in Stan, he suggests that Stan stole the journals, that Stan is a master criminal and he's trying to destroy the world. However, you can tell that there's still the tiniest bit of trust left in Dipper, as when Stan bursts in and tells Dipper to back away from the machine, Dipper doesn't, but he also still does not press the button. If Dipper really 100% didn't trust Stan right now, then he would have pressed the button and stopped the machine right then and there. Dipper knows there's no logical reason to trust Stan, he says it himself "I should trust you why? After you stole radio active waste? After you lied to us all summer?" but he still doesn't immediately press the button. He still waits just long enough that Stan could have started to explain himself (which like maybe you should have done that Stan!). In many ways the portal scene calls back to Scary-oke, Dipper is fighting back, just like Stan originally wanted for him, but he's fighting against Stan's goals.

Start of Season 2B: Second Transition Time

This transition time exists because the introduction of Ford changes Stan and Dipper’s dynamic, but said change hasn’t fully come into play yet. Stan and Dipper are still on equal footing but changes are coming soon.

Episode 212 A Tale of Two Stans

On Dipper's side of things, once he learns why Stan did all that he did, he apologizes to him for not believing him. There are absolutely no hard feelings on Dipper's end towards Stan. Dipper also later tells Mabel that he doesn't know if having "the author" back is good or bad, showing Dipper acknowledges that things are going to change. Meanwhile for Stan, he's not upset that Dipper didn't believe him, he even says that he wouldn't have believed himself either. He later tells Ford to stay away from Dipper and Mabel because "I don't want them in any danger, because as far as I'm concerned, they're the only family I have left!" A statement that takes us nicely into Stan's mindset in the next episode

Episode 213 Dungeons Dungeons and More Dungeons

This episode starts with Dipper being awestruck by Ford and Stan telling Dipper that Ford is dangerous and to stay away from him. Stan doesn’t want to loose either of the kids to Ford, so he’s taking precautions to keep them, specifically Dipper who’s been unknowingly idolizing him all summer, away from his brother. Stan then pretty much continues as normal, including in how he behaves around Dipper. When Dipper wants to play dd&md and Stan doesn’t see the appeal, he teases Dipper, or more specifically the game, like he normally would. The episode ends, however, with Stan apologizing (which lets face it is strange for Stan. It’s not strange for Stan to be sorry, but usually he says sorry with actions not words) and telling Dipper the game is too nerdy for him, but if Dipper wants to play it with Ford that’s okay. It’s not fair for Stan to keep Dipper from Ford, who shares his interests, just because Stan and Ford aren’t getting along. Stan and Mabel don’t share Dipper’s interests, and there’s not much to suggest that Dipper is in any danger by spending time with Ford. So, Stan let’s Dipper hang out with Ford, but this changes things at least on Stan's end. Everyone has always liked Ford better than Stan, and now Dipper, who his relationship with has come a long way, is gravitating towards Ford as well.

Season 2B: Stan Wants Dipper’s Approval

For this final shift in their dynamic, I don't think the shift is on Dipper's end at all. I think Dipper feels the relationship he has with his grunkle Stan is exactly the same, it's just that now he also has a good relationship with his grunkle Ford as well. But for Stan, things are different. Bonding with Dipper has never been easy for Stan, but of course Ford can bond with Dipper easily. Between Stan's inferiority complex when compared to Ford, Stan's need to not lose his connection with the kids, and Dipper's growing bond with Ford, Stan starts trying to be an impressive uncle to both kids, but especially to Dipper.

Episode 214 Stanchurian Candidate

I’ve been trying to avoid episodes and moments that focus on Stan’s relationship with both of the kids, because their dynamic as a family is different than their dynamics individually. So I wanted focus solely on Stan and Dipper moments/ episodes. However I have to make and exception for this episode. This episode is focused on Stan's relationship with both of the kids, but I'm going to use it as a Dipper and Stan focused example for a few reasons: 1. What happens in this episode just works too well with the thesis I have going here 2. Of the few episodes left in the series, Stan is only playing a significant role in like half of them, and one of those is the finale, and other is Dipper and Mabel Vs The Future where he's spending more time with Mabel than Dipper, 3. the arc of Stan and Dipper's relationship is pretty much wrapped up in Roadside Attraction anyway, to make room for other awesome things in the finale. With that said, let's look at this episode in terms of Stan and Dipper's dynamic. Stan's inferiority when compared to Ford is very apparent in this episode, and is made worse by his family, including Soos, being very impressed with Ford, who is clearly not trying to out stage Stan in any way. Stan spends the episode trying to impress everybody, but especially Dipper and Mabel, and other reason I want to use this episode to focus on Stan and Dipper's relationship is because the consequences of Stan not being an impressive relative are bigger, in Stan's mind, with Dipper than they are with Mabel. At the end of the day, Mabel is Mabel, she loves everyone. You have to really screw up for Mabel to not like you, there is little Stan could do at this point to emotionally lose Mabel. Dipper, however, will hold grudges and gravitate towards people he feels more comfortable with, has a better connection with, or is impressed by. Mabel has been easy to bond with, Dipper has not. While this episode focuses on both Dipper and Mabel, it's Dipper who makes most of the comments that set Stan off: "It's too bad Ford isn't here, he'd run, and win too!" "We'd respect you if you took things more seriously" and letting it slip that they've been mind controlling him (although that one there's some other obvious reason Stan should be upset that the episode just kinda glosses over so I will too I guess...) Stan is so focused on trying to impress the kids, to be their hero, that he refuses to accept their help. Wouldn't it be more impressive if he could do this on his own with ease? And you can see how much it means to him when he gets upset that they don't show him "respect" (more like adoration) like the rest of the town. Like I said above, I don't think Dipper changes his behavior at all for this part in their relationship. Since Dipper has learned to "fight back," he's been very blunt with Stan when he doesn't agree with him, and we can see that shining through here. When Mabel tries to nicely state that their reluctance to have Stan run isn't because they don't think they can do it, Dipper interrupts her, tells her it's okay and bluntly says to Stan "We don't think you can do it." When Stan saves the kids and is pulling them up, Stan apologizes, Mabel apologizes and says they should have supported him, win or lose, and Dipper simply chimes in "Probably lose" while he's still dangling over a cliff and, as Stan points out, could still be dropped by Stan. Another interesting detail on Dipper's end, when it's announced that Stan didn't win, Stan and Mabel look shocked, but Dipper looks angry.

Episode 216 Roadside Attraction

This episode’s placements always struck everyone as odd. There is no acknowledgement of all the craziness that went down last episode, or the craziness that’s about to go down next episode. There’s no mention of the rift, the force field they just built around the Shack and no sightings or mention of Ford. It’s like a season 2A episode that got plopped in a very strange point in season 2B. Because of this, I’ve been many write this episode off as pointless, and I have to respectfully disagree. Sure, it doesn’t do much for our main plot and all the crap that’s about to go down, but it’s a very important episode for Stan and Dipper’s relationship. This episode wraps up their arc. They do have a bit of conflict in the finale, but the root of that conflict has more to do with Stan and Ford than Stan and Dipper. As much as having Ford in more episodes would have been nice, it’s actually very important that he’s not in this episode, or at least not playing active role in the episode. Stan has spent this half of season 2 feeling overshadowed by his brother, and having Dipper choose to spend more time with Ford than Stan. Ford was able to get a closer relationship to Dipper in one afternoon than Stan could over the course of the summer. Not having Ford in the episode is important because it gives Dipper and Stan an opportunity to bond without Ford’s influence. It gives these two a chance to bond like they could in season 2A. Upon seeing Dipper struggle with girls, Stan decides to give him some advice. Stan reveals later that he's by no means an expert when it comes to getting girls, however, it's probably safe to say he's better at it than Ford, who isn't even there. This is the perfect opportunity for Stan to be an impressive grunkle to Dipper, he can give him girl advice. When Dipper vents that he messed up his chances with Wendy, Stan makes a very casual comment "Yeah...chances..." which is important because he's holding back. Normally he would have made a comment like that with confidence and laughed, but he holds, back, looking like he doesn't want to hurt Dipper's feelings with that comment. It's a huge difference from season 1 Stan, because this Stan isn't trying to toughen Dipper up, he's desperately trying to keep his connection with him. Much like in Boyz Crazy, this episode shows us what Stan and Dipper's relationship can be when they are on the same side, when they are supporting the other with their problems ... I guess the best way for these two to bond is with girls because that's the common factor in these two episodes XD At the end, after Dipper has hurt Candy's feelings and Stan has barely escaped being eaten, Stan confesses to Dipper that he's not an expert on women, and gives him a warning about being a pick up artist. He states that when it comes to women he's a failure. Dipper smiles, points to his arms where he's rubbed off the girls' contact info and says sympathetically "Hey, we're both failures." The smile Stan gives Dipper back is the sweetest damn thing. This was one area where Stan thought he could help Dipper, Dipper will go to Ford for any other topic, but this was something Stan had a chance to help Dipper with and failed--and Dipper doesn't care. He's upset about what happened, but doesn't blame Stan, he still sees Stan as an equal, they are both failures. If Dipper won't hold a grudge at Stan over this, Stan probably doesn't have to worry about losing Dipper to Ford. Dipper then even acknowledges that Stan's advice did help with his confidence.

Conclusion

Dipper and Stan don't connect with each other very easily. They have very different interests, personalities, perspectives and sometimes even values. It's much harder for these two to bond with each other than it is for Stan to bond with Mabel or for Dipper to bond with Ford. But they still care about and respect each other. They look up to each other, want the other's respect, and have no problems being blunt with each other. Stan has helped Dipper be tougher and more confident and Dipper has helped Stan feel less alone in the world. Dipper certainly has a strong bond with Ford, and Mabel has a strong bond with Stan, but because of Stan and Dipper's very different personalities, they have a bond they had to work to create, and it's one that I don't think either of them could have with the rest of their family.

Feel free to add more moments or thoughts and I thank everyone who made it to the end of this!!!