#i on the other hand have maybe watched. 5 adventure time episodes

[impostorsshow]

I wanted to draw a character in my new cool as hell pajamas and it escalated into snail comfort

And also doodles I did I'm NOT finishing the one titled comfort fuck that it's based off one of my time travel daydreams [not the MCC Time Warp. I am just a tad obsessed with time travel]

[originalwinnercheesecake]

Wish list for CBS ghosts season 4

Make Patience a recurring antagonist for at least 2-3 episodes before that story gets resolved and she gets regulated to a background character.

Patience character to be 50% good religious farm girl, 50% crazy witch. She also needs to have a wicked(ly cool) ghost power

More of Isaac loving dinosaurs

More solo development for Isaac

More of Isaac and Hetty's awesome friendship

No Nigel for a while. I do not like him. He did a lot of things in his and Isaac's relationship that are textbook abusive partner behavior.

I think it is about time for Jay's restaurant to start up, and I would like that to actually become pretty successful/profitable. Mostly because I would like Sam and Jay to have a bit more disposable income to do things around the manor, and I know the B&B is unlikely to become super busy next season (unless the show is ending , which I really do not want).

The difference in treatment between the above ground ghosts and basement ghosts to be addressed. I know after season 3 that they aren't going to move them all up stairs. But it would be nice if Sam and Jay could like furbish the basement , and then more Basement ghosts than just Nancy got invited to come upstairs for games or discussion.

Just to be clear I still want Nancy to keep making her frequent visits up stairs and hang out with the man 8. I just also would not mind seeing Stuart or another nameless basement ghost standing or walking by in the background on the occasion.

Explore Pete's power more. He does not need to hop on a plane and go across the country or anything, but let him keep going out into town and having adventures. Also let him keep going on dates with other random ghosts outside of the house.

I know that Pete&Alberta will probably happen at some point in season 4. The thing is though while that ship was cute in season 1, the way the ship was handled in season 2 soured it like milk to me. Both characters need a lot of development, and separate explorations of what they want out of a relationship, before I can ship them again.

H-Money is still a couple I kinda like. I do not expect them to get back together in season 4 (Please not another season that is fully devoted to coupling up all the character), but I would like them to start scheming together again. Let them figure out how to interact together as friends, and build a stronger foundation to eventually, in season 5 maybe, try again.

I have heard people suggest that Pete's power could maybe be extend to getting the other ghosts through the barrier if they are like holding onto Pete's hand. I want this. Now I know Sass will want to visit a Pizza Hut, and Issac a dinosaur museum, but I would say the most important thing to do with that would be to take Thor and Flower over to the Farnsby manor to visit Bjorn and his girlfriend Judy. It would also be cool if there was a lesbian ghost living there they could set up Nancy with. Since Nisaac is on a "respite" and queer representation (preferably healthy queer representation) is important.

Everyone remember in season 2 when we learned about Flower's super protective, formally MIA, army vet brother : Rob. You remember how the show's staff said they would love to have Rob come to the B&B for a visit, and were already considering actors who could play him? I want this episode. Also if you cannot directly tell Rob his sister is a ghost on the property, then can Trevor or Alberta use their powers to help Flower send a message to Rob. To say that she still loves him. I cannot deal that both siblings spent like 50 years thinking the other hated them when neither did. It is to sad.

It would be cool if we could also have Ira visit once too. I know Flower did not love him like she did Michael or does Thor, but he was still someone who was a big part of her life for a while, and knowing her cannonly had a large impact on his. Maybe we find that while he has done charities in her memory, trauma over watching her be killed by a bear has also lead him to sponsor bear hunts or poaching. Flower is horrified. Then Sam and Jay have to spend his visit looking for a way to convince him that is not what Flower would have wanted.

Four standard episodes for each season are a Halloween episode, an episode where Bela visits, one where Stephanie wakes up, and one where Crash appears and is slightly relevant. I have no idea what to do for an episode with Crash, but for the others

-Ghost animals on Halloween

-Home theater night for ghosts and guests on the night Stephanie wakes up, complete with all the drama of set up and shenanigans that going to the movies encores.

- Bela is broken up with Eric, she does not even like him. This time her and Jay's parents come with her for the visit. Bela wants all the latest gossip surrounding the ghosts, but they have to tip toe around the parents. Jay's dad does not fully support the B&B even without the knowledge that it is haunted, and Sam does not want to give her mother in law another reason to suspect that she might be crazy.

Owning back to the "Can Pete take the other ghosts off the property" theory, can Thomas Woodstone be a ghost who died visiting a neighbors property. We have no reason to see Elias again since he has decided to stay put in Hell. But Thomas reappearing could be interesting for both Hetty and Alberta. If he does show up though I want the twist to be that he is actually severally cognitively impaired (think Lenny from oMaM)... I mean the man was from an inbred family, played with lead based toys as a baby, had a cocaine addict mom, and a father who was a lot of things. He could not have been all there. Also address more on if Earl ever actually cared for any of the people he was two timing (again development that needs to happen to make Alberta want to go from dating an Earl to a Pete).

A Sasappis based episode that is not his death story. I feel like he needs at least one more episode exploring what his life alive was like, to be appropriately gutted when we learn about his secret death.

Actually maybe we can hold off on Sass's death and Hetty's ghost power until season 5. let's keep the element of mystery in the show for a little longer.

[savethevamps]

Reasons We Love Top Tanin

Earlier today I posted a breakdown of the scenes in which Top was SA, now I wanna give him some love because Top Tanin is a sweetheart damnit!

Also, what I said in my other post applies here too, we can discuss Top as a character, but blatant and random hate is unnecessary.

With that being said, here’s a list of Top’s best qualities:

1. His confidence! The first thing I loved about Top was how confident he was, you can tell just by the way he walks that he knows he’s the hottest guy in the room. Not to mention how sure he was in his pursuit of Mew, he never let himself get discouraged and always had an air of easy confidence no matter what.

2. How slow to anger he is, without being a pushover. We’ve seen Top get berated on more than one occasion, and he’s never been shown as angry in most of these confrontations. Besides looking slightly annoyed, he’s usually seen as being calm and sometimes even amused.

3. His quick remarks and comebacks. As I said, Top is no pushover! He’ll let people go on about whatever they feel, but not for too long, and he especially won’t ever let them think they have the upper hand. I love how he gets when people try and behave as though they’re above him, he always knocks them down a few pegs (as he should).

4. The pride he takes in looking his best. Top is well dressed, well groomed, and he just seems to take the best care of himself. He has a routine that he seems to do religiously, and he always dresses his best which adds to that air of confidence he carries around. Like I said before, he knows he’s the hottest in the room, and that comes from his own knowledge that he takes good care of himself. (I need a Top focused episode so I can watch his everyday routines in detail)

5. His general idgaf-ness. Top is not the type to get involved in drama, or care about what other people are doing. He’s not a gossip, and he stays in his own business until someone drags him into their own. We don’t see him pay attention to rumors spread by others, most likely because he knows how untrue they can be, but also because he doesn’t care enough to pay attention to it.

6. His willingness to grow and be better. Top is not resistant to change, he can evaluate his life, see what’s not working, and actually do something about it. If he’s wrong, he says he’s wrong without any excuses and holds himself accountable. When his boyfriend explained why he wasn’t comfortable with him doing drugs, he listened and decided to stop asap. He never went back on that, even if maybe he’s been tempted. That just shows that he’s always willing to hear genuine criticism and use it as a way to grow. Anyway I can talk for days about this so let’s move on!

7. How artistic he is! Top is a very creative guy it’s amazing, he’s constantly shown to be a talented artist. Every time we saw Top with Mew, he was drawing and being the artist boyfriend everyone begs for. I also love the fact that we were able to see him in his element at the hostel, the scenes were brief but they definitely showed how serious Top takes his artistry as far as his career is concerned.

8. How he cares for his significant other. We all know Top is #1 in the boyfriend department, and I don’t think that’s something that’s new! I’m pretty sure that although his past relationship(s) have been brief, he has taken care of them and met whatever needs they have. A good example of this is the fact he learned about how Mew gets his experiences from books and decided to take him on all these new, and creative adventures/dates to help him have real life experiences. He definitely will adjust to his partners needs in other to make sure they’re always fulfilled and happy.

9. How gentle he is. Top Tanin is a gentle guy okay? He’s definitely someone who would rather use soft touches than rough ones. He rarely raises his voice, he speaks softly but with enough assertiveness to make you listen, and he talks to his boyfriend so sweetly.

10. Him being a blatant sweetheart! I started this post just to talk about this, Top Tanin is the world’s sweetheart. He’s kind to people he doesn’t know without expecting anything in return. The way he would constantly reassure Mew? Sometimes he’d do it subtlety, other times it was obvious. When he gave Nick that advice about staying away from Boston, look he definitely had no reason for doing that, other than him just being a sweetheart. His active listening, he always gives his full attention even when he may not like what’s being said.

So what did we learn? Top Tanin is a Sweetheart, with some pretty likeable (cough loveable cough) qualities! These qualities should be appreciated more in my opinion! More people should see how good this guy is! I’m screaming this from the rooftops constantly, let’s all scream it together until Top hears us.

[xian1na]

buncha words bout some spring animes #5

Now that I'm a Serious and Employed Person I appreciate series like Skip and Loafer or SpyFam even more. There's nothing better than coming back home and relaxing with some cute and funny anime. It may well be that if I rewatched some older series which I'd dropped or skipped altogether because they seemed boring, I would actually like them much more now. Well, for now let's stick to spring shows. Enjoy!

The Witch from Mercury (season 2, ep. 1-3) - one more week and I'll finally catch up to GWitch. These first three episodes were a real rollercoaster - we started with a pretty chill one, just reestablishing the characters and plot for the second cour. AND THEN! Episode two was wild. I gotta say, what's really amazing about the writing in this series is how it keeps introducing asshole characters, only to make you feel sorry for them after just a couple of episodes. And it actually works, I really care about these guys. I want to believe they're going to be alright... I don't know how dark Gundam endings usually are, but I get a feeling it's better to expect the worst and get a nice surprise, instead of the other way around.

Oshi no Ko (ep. 6) - yeah, yeah, I've watched another one. I planned to give it one last chance before dropping it but then Oshi no Ko had the gall to drop the best episode since the prologue. I still have some issues with it but I think it did a great job characterising Akane (and Yuki, too), making her relatable and sympathetic. What helped a lot was that Aqua was barely present in this one. You know what guys, I don't think I like Aqua very much. Which is a shame, because acting and film stuff in this series interests me more than idol stuff. Methinks I should look for some anime/manga about acting.

Skip and Loafer (ep. 7) - The highlight of this episode was seeing the drama club pres guy actually doing something decent for a change. And of course we have a brand new character introduced in the last minutes of the episode. I guess she's either Shima's family or one of the people he met when he was an actor. I wonder how will this plot develop and how will this person be neutralised by Mitsumi. Or hey, maybe she won't be! There are some people with whom you just don't get along, and I don't see that a lot in anime, I don't think.

Heavenly Delusion (ep. 6-7) - We got less school and more Maru and Kiruko's adventures, I'm definitely fine with that. Episode 6 had some great jokes, faces and cuts of animation, and episode 7 on the other hand got really disturbing towards the end. I like how this series treats the characters' sexuality (so far) - I mean, they're kids, they're figuring things out, and it's presented with honesty you don't often see. These episodes were also a bit thinner on plot elements and mysteries, but I liked that. I guess it could be a breather before what comes next.

Hell's Paradise (ep. 7) - Last week I speculated, that something major was going to happen this episode. That... turned out to be wrong, more or less. We now know a little bit more about the island and the elixir of life, but the majority of the episode was devoted to lighter character moments. So now I don't even know what I should expect next week. To be honest Jigokuraku is also close to falling off my watchlist but I'll give it one more chance.

Insomniacs after school (ep. 4-6) - Aaaand I caught up to Insomniacs. I think it's growing on me - the side characters were nicely fleshed out in the recent episodes and the relationship between the two leads is cute (not my top ship of the season, but they're nice kids!). Am I really going to watch another romance series this season? I almost never watch them!

I skipped Yamada-kun this week, but I'm definitely coming back to it next time. And finally:

Spy x Family (ep. 10-12) - Ok, two things: 1) Bill Watkins (6) was even better than whatever I was picturing before watching the episode and the whole game of dodgeball was a riot. 2) And then episode 11 had some brilliant Anya Starlight Anya moments. I can't wait to see the pupper. Thankfully I don't have to wait three months, I can jump right in the second cour. Episode 12 was kind of a weak follow-up to the two preceding episodes and a weird finale to the whole season, but the penguins were cute. So really, it's impossible to say if it was good or bad.

And that's it from me! Thanks so much for reading, have a great week and see you next Saturday!

[howuart]

I posted 17,449 times in 2022

That's 17,449 more posts than 2021!

2,028 posts created (12%)

15,421 posts reblogged (88%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@legogeek33

@squib-2006

@kaideservedbetter

@tharkflark1

@chaotic-bumblebee-agenda

I tagged 3,814 of my posts in 2022

#ninjago - 1,724 posts

#kaity talks - 959 posts

#kaity answers - 701 posts

#ily <3333 - 558 posts

#lloyd garmadon - 527 posts

#lloyd montgomery garmadon - 504 posts

#ninjago lloyd - 444 posts

#lloyd - 427 posts

#liam! - 405 posts

#kai smith - 334 posts

Longest Tag: 131 characters

#like there was a first master of weather but it got too strong or smth and split it's elements into two (three?) and morro got wind

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

my entry for @peachyninjago 's diys!

In this au (cause I wanted to draw for it) Morro's taking care of Haurmi and Lloyd, and this is one of the times he's trying to teach lloyd how to use is elemental powers. (morro's a master and the only one with morals)

72 notes - Posted August 5, 2022

#4

Crystalized spoilers??

ok but what if the reason Lloyd's so willing to try and give Haru a second chance is because he sees himself in her, he seen his young naive self who just wanted someone to hate and be angry at. Lloyd looks at Harumi and sees a lost kid someone who's hurting and need a hand in the right direction and he want to help her wants to be what Kai was to him to her.

And the reason he's so not willing to hear Garmadon out is cause he sees someone he can become, he looks at his dad, and sees what will happened if he gives up if he let's himself be to angry if he hates. and he doesn't want that, so even if Garmadon gets better is better, lloyd can't except that because that means maybe just maybe he'll be bad one day and hurt those he loves.

that or this is just me rambling, I've only watched to episode 12 (13?) and none of the other stuff so technically I haven't seen how he interacts with Garm but here's some thoughts I had

73 notes - Posted September 30, 2022

#3

Do I come up with too many au's?

Probably, but a lass here's another it goes along with the 'let's beat density' au I have, kinda a backstory to that one, changed a few things and so forth.

So any way the base of this au is Morro gets out of the Cursed realm when Lloyd's a little 5 year old, and ends up taking him in, now you may ask 'why'd Morro take him in? Morro's not nice' and yes you are right, but when he meets Lloyd struggling to live on his own (just thrown out of darkly's) Morro can't help but be reminded of when he was alone and hungry and really needed someone, and maybe just maybe that small part of Morro that still wants to be a hero takes Lloyd in.

And so we start the miss adventures of a Ghost and his boy.

feel free to ask any questions on the au!

100 notes - Posted September 2, 2022

#2

See the full post

156 notes - Posted November 28, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Just thinking about how Kai can hold the weight of all the other ninja, like he's just causally holding Zane up by the arm, and Cole's just holing his arm and he just doesn't care..

He just holding them all!!

211 notes - Posted August 8, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[alolanroy]

2024 Watch Thread Part 5

part 4 https://www.tumblr.com/alolanroy/753737344319930369/2024-watch-thread-part-4?source=share

Berserk Boy: At a certain point I realized I hadn't played it in a month. I think the gameplay is alright, but that's about it. The sprite scaling looks weird and the character design doesn't gel with the Megaman ZX sensibilities. Terrible hoverbike section. 5/10

Warcraft: Putting the Mid in Middle Earth. Without the context of the series, I was never engaged by the movie. The humans were bland and the story felt less interested in a complete story than a beachhead for a franchise. 5/10

Half Life: Blue Shift: Glad I participated in the community event to boost this old game's all-time player count. As a game it didn't really wow me. I think it was overreliant on barrel pushing puzzles when barrel pushing doesn't work well in a few instances. Dispite a few baffling bugs that cost me maybe a combines 25 minutes, it was a quick and enjoyable romp. 6/10

Skyrim: Sirenroot: This may be the most atmospheric mod I've played thus far. This mod makes this one dungeon more gorgeous than anything in the base game by far, and the music sets a really spooky tome. I like that I didn't immediately catch what was going on with the multiple-character paths. While it doesn't equate to any kind of tangible reward, the characters are interesting enough that getting everyone to survive is intrinsically rewarding enough. 8/10

Skyrim: Wyrmstooth: It might be reductive to refer to it as just 'more skyrim' but that opinion congealed when I was stuck doing blackreach again. Some of the quests are fun, but some of the unmarked ones deserved to be marked quests. 6/10

DanDaDan (3 episode premier): I knew nothing about DanDaDan going into this since I was invited by a friend. PEAK. It's understandable how much hay the preroll interviews made about the direction and shot composition. 8/10

Iron Warrior: While I wouldn't say this film was altogether entertaining, the ethereal visuals and dream logic made it a unique watch. I'd like to watch a cut of this without any dialogue, since its story is mostly visuals until the lore-heavy last sprint. Honestly, we gotta put Trogar in a Star Wars, this guy is pure Sith. 6/5/10

Bleach Thousand Year Blood War S1-2: This all-killer-no-filler approach to a bleach adaptation is a real brisk shower after muscling through the Arancar arc. However, some of the fights feel a little too short. It betrays that some of them consist of a handful of attacks and prescribed reversals of fortune. Especially towards the end, I could feel the series sputter as characters the viewer aren't super invested in square off. Points for the great soundtrack. 7/10

Mars Daybreak: A great premise and fun initial hints at worldbuilding got me in, but the energy left my body as it went nowhere. We never really get to know the cast in any meaningful way and there's charitably one character arc. Nothing gets resolved only in the last two episodes to they rush to figure out what they're doing. The robots are sauceless. Theres enough endearing material, but I regret committing to finishing it 5.10

This is Spinal Tap: my watch group didn’t have context going in, so the first few minutes of trying to figure out of this was a mockumentary was a real treasure. While prone to dry spells, when it hits, it hits. 7/10

Adventures of Hercules: This movie really felt like a throwback to the old greek myth epics of golden age Hollywood. Great casting and no real pacing problems to speak of. On the funny side, collecting 7 thunderbolts that drop like a video game is pretty funny and Lou Ferrigno looks like how Bara artists draw men with tits. 7/10

Skyrim Mod: Katana, Journey in the Shadows: I picked up that these are supposed to be characters from some other fantasy series, but the 'Ow the Edge' readings are pretty high. Yeah, this is my OC. Her name is Katana, and she's a cool lesbian with a ninja sword and shes got a sick backstory and a secret shadow side she has to use a magic ring to control. Quest-wise, it felt like a couple of radiant bounties and an anticlimax ending. ambitious scripting for character interactions in the bars, however, there were some conflicts and I had to help it along. The companions themselves are pretty well realized, but to what end? 5/10

Transformers One: While it could never have really delivered on my sky-high expectations of adapting lore of pre-war Cybertron from the Aligned continuity or IDW, it succeeded on getting my partner hooked on Transformers yaoi. It was gorgeous, but maybe needed a teensy bit more sauce to get it over the edge into legendary territory. 8/10

The Wild Robot: My feelings on this are very raw as I'm writing this out. It felt like the golden age Pizar classics I've been missing. If the number of crying parents in my screening was any indication, this was a very heartfelt movie. Points for showing us a minimum of human civilization in this movie. We know exactly as much as we needed to. 9/10

Hard Rock Zombies: It satisfies the assignment of being a feature-length thriller video, but wasn't particularly gripping. The Italian feeling mood and editing was amusing, but my group got bored pretty quick. Bonus points for the best Hitler reveal in any movie yet. -6/10

Gundam Seed Freedom Re-watch: This movie still sucks.

Valor's Kids: A brief glimpse into the world where Niel Breen discovered Second Life. -4/10

Dual to the Death: Fun wuxia action and some really surprising twists and turns. I think this movie capitalizes how cool ninjas are more than most American or Japanese films. Any low points are worth it for the phenomenal final confrontation. 8/10

12 Angry Men: This film has more than earned its reputation. It balances subtlety and overt discussions on societal views on poverty, generational abuse, anti-black racism and xenophobia. It made me reconsider all my years of groaning at jury duty and think about the importance and power I have as a citizen. I can't really fault it for being a bunch of white dudes though, because their predisposed hegemony dictating the fate of an unseen black kid was part of the point. The presence of an unused women's restroom did call it into attention though. 9/10

Wallace and Gromit - A Grand Day Out: A real banger, though I find it interesting that a few parts I thought were scary as a really little kid. 8/10

Skyrim - Meridia's Order: Well executed, though I feel like it could have used a slightly wider scope. The side content to the main quest felt very limited, especially with how it draws comparison to dawngaurd. If it were a released expansion, I would say it lacks in scope, but has quest design above the usual Skyrim standard. 7/10

Skyrim - Hel Rising: I think it was a little rough around the edges and had a lot of character for a more complex dungeon. However, poorly signposted puzzles and gamebreaking bugs that nearly killed my game drop it down a few points. I also wonder how the version I played (TrueHel) stacks up against the old de-listed versions. 5/10

Megalopolis: Kinda like Zardoz, I watched this with a friend expecting a bizarre mess that twitter had promised me. Instead I was on the edge of my seat. I was enraptured by what was being cooked and had one of the most genuine bust-a-gut laughs at one of the jokes in recent memory. The joker posits that we live in a society. Cesar Megalopolis posits we live in a civilization. 9.5/10

Amityville in Space: Fuck this -4/10

Trump vs The Illuminati: The first movie made of default unreal engine assets and stock footage -2/10

Wizards of the Lost Kingdom: IDK if it was the reused footage, but I couldn't help but feel like I'd already seen it. -3/10

Attack on Titan (2022): This feels like if Serenity got like 23 direct to DVD sequels of diminishing returns. Incomprehensible/ -4/10

Ronin Mecha 4-Warrior of the Frontier: Not even good enough to finish. What a sad way to end this franchise. -31/0

Wallace and Gromit-The Wrong Trousers: Delightful. 7/10

Wallace and Gromit-A Close Shave: I think this one has gone up in my rankings. The childlike whimsey of the bike chase sequence and the plane sidecar put a real smile on my face. 7/10

First Blood: There's a really good anti-cop reading to the movie in the sense that its the text of the film, but I don't think the audience this series ended up with is ready to accept that. I wish they stopped here. 8/10

[sage-nikolai]

Man.

I'm watching Hazbin Hotel and I have thoughts.

Episode 5 and 6 spoilers, a little

1) i watched the pilot when it came out and it feels good to watch a project unfold, especially watching an indie hit it big.

2) helluva boss has been fun, even with the...er...writing woes. All the songs from HB has been great, or at least fun!

3) Jeremy Jordan has me by the throat right now and when I heard he was playing Lucifer, I had to watch it.

And. Uh.

Man, the show is suffering with the 8 episode season huh?

I can feel it trying so hard to do more than the mandatory "we can't skip this" plot and character beats, but it just doesn't have time for anything else.

No time for us to really get to know the characters (and there is such an influx of them). I feel like I need to do deep dives, find what Vivienne and her team has posted in the past for this show which...sucks. I want to just watch this, not do homework, not watch essayists on YouTube so I can be hand delivered the info im lacking...

I feel like I know the V's better than I know the Hotel...

And the shows story is...suffering from the pace. We go from six months to extermination to one month in five episodes. And we find that out in one line I didn't catch my first watch through.

Everything that happened in episodes 1-5 could've all happened roughly in the same month, imo. We are missing so much time.

Yes, in episode 5, Charlie mentions that the last time she called her dad was five months ago, and that was in the pilot, but... there's just no sense of time in the show. Her saying that flew over my head the first time I watched it. Legitimately, episode 5 feels like it could've happened a few days after 4, and, uh, when does episode 4 take place? Cause, again 1-4 feels like they all could've happened in the same month.

Yes, Charlie is stressed at the start of 5, but?? Eh?? She's been shown to be very emotional?? It didn't read as "we have like four weeks to execute a plan and I've got shit" to me. First watch, I thought she was just...still upset about messing up with Angel and drowning herself in her work, looking for solutions and hitting a wall... but we still time, she's just stressed and sleep deprived, not that we had...less than a month before the angels come back?

But... between 5 and 6, I feel its implied a few weeks pass, maybe? Like...unless Lucifer got Charlie a meeting immediately. Which...it kinda felt like from watching the episodes back-to-back...

There's just no time in-between.

So, the story feels very fast, way too fast. There's no time to breathe.

This show would've benefited from even 12 episodes for the season, or maybe longer episodes?

We need the characters to breathe. We need to feel time pass.

We need goofy side-adventure episodes in this show, where we see shenanigans at the Hotel. We need more of the hotel characters just...living with each other; Angel's slow but steady improvement. Charlie maybe having more ideas for rehab then summer camp activities. More of Vaggie finding who she is.

And, going back, we...we needed more of Carmilla and her daughters? Like, I dont know them? And her song, though nice... it would've been better if I knew who she was.

It just...there is so much love poured into this, I can feel it, but the audience gets...a compromise.

[glapplebloom]

Man, this year is so much different from the previous...

TIER - Actually Dislike

13 - Velma

I gave it a one shot and have not seen an episode since. But I have been following it via second hand sources and I do not like the direction it is going. Especially how crammed in the Scooby Doo references get. Basically, this is the bottom of the barrel of things I’ve seen this year.

TIER - Still only saw one episode

12 - Clone High

Eh, the Series didn’t really catch on with me. So I had no intention of seeing the rest of the original nor the continuation. Eh, just not for everyone.

11 - Shaggy and Scooby Get a Clue

With the Scooby/Courage episode, I really should have watched more of this series since it helped with that match. Sadly, I never got the drive to look at the rest like the others in the top tier.

10 - Kiff

I did enjoy what I saw. I enjoyed the clips I’ve seen of her and in Chibiverse. Sadly, never really saw a full episode again. Maybe one day in 2024.

TIER - Saw more than one episode

9 - Smurfs

You know how I said I was interested in seeing if Grouchy had a love interest. Well I saw the episode where that scene is from and it's basically your “we want to make a guy who does not smile smile and he totally did that one time but won’t again”. Not enough to put it below the Saw One Tier but DISAPPOINTED!!!

8 - Wacky Racers

Like the one above, I technically saw more than one episode. Granted, it was part of the One Shot review but it is still a technicality. Despite that, and seeing random clips and enjoying it, just never got around to see the rest.

7 - Fionna and Cake

Again, technically I saw more than one episode. But never got to see more of it outside clips. So I know what happens and I know Gary and Marshall are a thing and I’m so happy for them, but never got around to watching the rest.

6 - Hello Kitty Super Cute Adventures

The sad part is this was on the way to being in the Saw them all tier. The problem is new episodes came out and they were two partners. Them also coming out with Kuromi Solo Animations made it hard to follow the rest. Kind of sad when you think about it.

TIER - Saw them all at the time!

5 - Tiny Toons Looniversity

I enjoyed the reboot and saw all the episodes on the first day. It was definitely a fun experience and I do hope it gets the same treatment or better than the Animaniacs Reboot got. Looking forward to seeing my favorite Rabbit Twins in more action.

4 - Twisted Metal

Loved the game lore and I enjoyed what the TV Show producers did to make it their own thing. It seems to touch upon every aspect of the series including the terrible ones people don’t like and made them great. Rest in Peace Granny Dread.

3 - Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

Originally it was not supposed to be here. I thought “there’s nothing I’m going to watch this year that would trump this.” Then a show came out that I also thought would have no competition. So I quickly added it. Then another show proved there was. So sadly Moon Girl gets third place. But still, I highly recommend it. 

2 - Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

All this because of a song. While it took me a while to watch the rest, I did and thankfully I did before the next episode comes out in December. I doubt the series will continue after that, but still, it's definitely one I am so glad I gave it a shot.

1 - My Adventures with Superman

I did not want this to be in the only saw one episode tier. This needed to be in the Seen All Tier. So I did and I am so glad I have. This is the Superman we need and I look forward to seeing what the next season brings. As long as Warner Brothers keeps its ship together.

[howiwatchmooves]

The G A Y S H O W Sandman (2022)

???/10

This fucking thing confuses me so much. I honestly have no idea how to rate it because there were so many things I loved and so much stupid annoying stuff (and I'm not talking about G A Y S ) as well. And Idk what am I supposed to do with that situation ;-;. I just wish they'd try harder on this one, so there are only the good parts because the show had so much potential. But oh well, Netflix, am I right?

Disclaimer: I watched this show like 3 months ago and I didn't finish the review on time, so it's gonna be a bit of a mess, I just wanna post it and move on.

The plot. It is fucking shreded. We have 11 episodes in total. First 4 episodes is one story, then episode 5 that is connected to the previous events, but is quite independent on its own. Episode 6 is an another adventure of a Sandman. From episode 7 till the episode 10 we have something else going on (there are some connections to the first story, but they're too weak to make this whole show consistent). Episode 11 has nothing to do with the rest of the show. That was the reason why it was hard to perceive the show. Like, Idk what they've done it that way, maybe the original comic was like that. I really liked some of the plot lines and scenes (especially one episode stories, they were better than stories that lasted 4 episodes), the other ones were extremely boring and unnecessary for me. And that's the shame. There was so much good stuff, why couldn't all of the stuff be good. I just feel like there was so much potential and they could've try better.

The characters are very different. I absolutely loved some of them, like Death and The Corinthian for example. Perfectly portrayed , very capturing and magnetic. The Corinthian is my personal crush and the reason why I watched the show in the first place. I know, I know, he's a terrifying maniac, but I have daddy kink, okay? So no judgement please. The actor is great, the character is well played, maybe a bit weird motivation, but nobody's perfect, eh.

Other characters were neutral to me, like Dream himself. He... he has his moments, let's say that. Some were just played by unqualified actors, like this vortex girl and her widow friend (it was painful to look at them sometimes, like, no emotion 😐).

And yeah, there's a lot of gay characters. Not a problem for me tho, I was even happy to see so many pissed homophobes, who get offended by the harmless show.

Visuals were quite alright. Nothing remarkable though, nothing I can remember at least.

Same thing with the soundtrack

Atmosphere is on spot on the other hand. So many Neil Gaiman vibes, like all these realms with their rulers, Satan, Biblical stuff, Greek mythology. This show is basically R rated Good Omens, with blood and swears and I loved it. Otherwise the show would be way too boring.

[forevercloudnine]

Hey, I've been meaning to ask you some recs for Superman, just general reading and watching list if possible, I absolutely know about nothing of the character outside of some Mr. Mxyzptlk conflicts and some homoerotic stuff with Lex Luthor. Also I would be the most grateful if you could list some DC stuff with Clex(Superman x Lex Luthor)

💗💗💗 Sure! Here are a handful of my faves:

Legion of Super-Heroes (2006): Animated adaptation of a common plotpoint in Superman media, which is that a 31st century alliance of alien superheroes decide to take advantage of the invention of time travel and hang out with their favorite historical celebrity (guess who). If you were to watch one episode as a taste-test, I'd recommend S1:E3, "Legacy," where Alexis Luthor falls into the family habit of becoming obsessed with Superman. Lex also appears in-person during issue #13 of the tie-in comic, The Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century (short run, loooong title).

All-Star Superman: Maybe the most iconic Superman comic. An alternate universe story where Superman discovers he's dying and has to figure out what he wants to do with his limited remaining time. Deceptively heartwarming and a huge love letter to the Superman mythos. If you were to read one issue as a taste-test, I'd recommend #5, where reporter Clark Kent interviews death row inmate Lex Luthor. There’s also a pretty decent animated movie adaptation.

Superman Red & Blue: One of DC’s many attempts to cash in on the iconic and unexpected success of Batman Black & White, but this cash grab has been nominated for like three Eisner awards, which is pretty decent. Each issue is an anthology of short stories-- my favorite, “For The Man Who Has Nothing,” is in #4 (which also happens to have a Mr. Mxyzptlk focused story, if that appeals to you).

If you’re interested in a story about Conner (the Superboy Lex made from his and Superman’s DNA) and his relationship with his “fathers,” I’d recommend “The Boy of Steel” in Adventure Comics #1-3, #5 (second half), and #6.

Also, Reign of the Supermen (2019) is a fairly popular animated movie condensing the comics where Lex created Conner in reaction to Superman’s death. Superman’s death itself was adapted in the imaginatively named The Death of Superman (2018). The pair were created as an endeavor to create a more comics-accurate adaptation to replace Superman: Doomsday (2007), which tried to cram everything into one movie and ended up just excluding Conner entirely. On the other hand, Superman: Doomsday has a scene where Lex gets shirtless and beats up a clone he made from Superman’s corpse while screaming “WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME?” before climbing on top of its unconscious body and calling himself its daddy. So sometimes comic accuracy isn’t everything.

“Superman: Brainiac”: Action Comics #866-870. Maybe this should have been my first recommendation, since it’s a pretty good baseline for the typical Superman status quo, plus an explanation of the destruction of Krypton and one of the most prominent Superman baddies (the titular Brainiac, who pops up in a lot of these stories). But also the only reason I REALLY like this story is because of a few scenes centered around the difference between Clark being an orphan who never got to experience his birth culture, and his cousin Kara being an orphan who witnessed their birth culture being exterminated. There’s a scene where Clark says “Kara made me realize I know a lot of facts about Krypton, but I still don’t know what I’m missing,” which always makes me sad. He’s memorized everything he can about his birth culture, but that will never recreate Kara’s experience of actually living in it-- which is emotionally complicated because obviously he had a great childhood and never had to experience his home being destroyed, but also he’s completely disconnected from his heritage and never even got to meet the loved ones that Kara is mourning.

New 52/Rebirth: I mostly read Superman comics for Lex, and I stand by my belief that the most fun portrayal of Lex is his doomed attempt at a redemption arc and the subsequent cosmic fallout in the current continuity. I’m going to reduce it to like three flagship stories-- if you enjoy them and want to read more of the context surrounding them I can give you a more detailed reading list, but I think these get the point across.

REDEMPTION ARC, KIND OF: Action Comics feat. Lex Luthor #23.3 and Forever Evil #1-7. Superman and the Justice League disappear after being defeated by their evil mirrorverse counterparts, leaving it up to Lex to save the world. After he does, he realizes he enjoys playing the hero and attempts to become one full-time by joining the Justice League. Justice League (2011) #30-50 are just Lex being rejected, blackmailing his way in, and getting rejected again for twenty issues or so.

BREAKUP ARC: After a long series of shenanigans, Lex has started wearing the Superman symbol on his chest and Superman has been reluctantly working with him in Metropolis. But all the rejection eventually comes to a head in “Imperius Lex,” Superman (2016) #33-36, when Superman’s continued inability to trust Lex causes Lex to get frustrated and breaks off their alliance, giving up on the idea that Superman will ever accept him as a hero.

COSMIC MELTDOWN: Okay so the shenanigans surrounding this plot are complicated, but to make a long story short, Lex finds the secrets of the universe while trying to cheer himself up by destroying his abusive father’s favorite bar in Justice League (2018) #2. By Lex Luthor: Year of the Villain #1 this knowledge has led him into becoming a higher being, but he’s still an insecure mess so he just uses his new abilities to travel between dimensions and screw over other versions of himself that seem happier than him (including a Lex who seems to have successfully married his Superman??? I’m not joking). Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #1-4 is the story of how Lex ended up rejecting the new source of his power, but honestly you could just read #3, which is an interesting interaction between Lex and Joker where Joker gives Lex a very narratively-aware dressing down.

Obviously this is a narrow selection of Superman media, but I think it covers a lot of bases? This isn’t official content, but I’d also recommend Ookla The Monk’s song “Suprema Lex” (which is on Spotify, though I personally found it through this Clex edit on Youtube).

[testudoaubrei-blog]

Well, it’s not quite a master’s thesis, but this is (the first of) a series of posts on why Catra and Adora are the best love story in the history of kids TV animation and maybe the greatest love story in the history of TV. This may in some ways be faint praise - romance on TV is generally not very good compared with books or movies. Often it’s just some will they/won’t they sexual tension that is defused by getting characters together and re-heightened by breaking them up. TV is full of nearly shark jumping pointless dramas like Sam and Diane (Cheers, holy fuck am I dating myself, though that was technically before my time), Ross and Rachel (Friends, which was no Cheers) etc, but also some less annoying couples like Ben and Leslie (Parks and Rec) or Amy and Jake (Bk99) who are mostly just kind of cute and fun. Other shows, like the X-Files, teased viewers for years with unresolved sexual tension. In kids shows most romances are, appropriate for their target viewers, mild, sweet relationships based more on self-conscious flirting and blushing than on complex and conflicted feelings or deep passions - which is pretty realistic when the characters are young teens or even mid-teens. Some of these relationships are really well done - Finn and Flame Princess, Dipper and Pacifica (yeah I ship them), the early stages of Katara and Aang (before the showrunners imbued this childhood crush with cosmic significance), Steven and Connie, etc. Catra and Adora, though, are different. Their love story is not a side plot or a sub plot, it’s the heart of the show. It isn’t a childhood crush, it’s a very messy and passionate relationship between two young adults. She-Ra is an emotionally complex lesbian romance just as much as it is a thrilling action/adventure show. Everything about their relationship is baked into the show’s plot, its themes, hell even its musical score. The dramatic tension between Catra and Adora is not the result of stretching out a flirtation for ratings, but a coherent dramatic arc that runs through the entire show. As Noelle said, he made Catradora so central that execs couldn’t take it out without ruining the show. And the show is better for it. In this series of posts I’m going to try to show why, as well as showing why She-Ra is such a fantastic love story.

First off, let’s talk about how Catra and Adora’s character arcs are foils for each other, and how they come together and apart through the series. This is actually a post that I’ve been working on for a while but I keep summarizing the show rather than cutting to the chase, so I’m not going to recite many plot points so much as sketch out what’s going on with the dramatic structure at the time. But also, let’s talk about what each character’s arc is saying, and how they are commenting on each other. Spoiler alert: Catra’s arc is a subversion and critique of stories of empowerment through ruthless self-assertion and revenge, while Adora’s arc is a subversion and critique of chosen one narratives and stories of self-denial and self-transcendence.

When the show starts, Adora and Catra are shown as rivals and friends - their first scene starts the recurring motif of them reaching out for each other as one of them dangles above an abyss, as well as establishing their flirtatious banter and easy camaraderie. We quickly learn that these two young women plan to conquer the world together. These scenes and later flashbacks show Catra and Adora as deeply enmeshed in each others lives, to the point where neither of them (but especially Catra) have clear identities outside of one another. There is so much genuine love on both sides before Adora leaves, but also resentment, envy and fear, especially on Catra’s side, as well as a protectiveness on Adora’s side that deprives Catra of her autonomy. They are both being abused by Shadow Weaver - Catra physically  and emotionally, Adora emotionally. It wouldn’t be too much to say that Shadow Weaver holds Catra hostage to control Adora (this is why critiques that Adora abandoned Catra to be abused are actually kind of messed up, since they accept Shadow Weaver’s premise that Adora is responsible for what Shadow Weaver does to Catra). In addition, Catra and Adora actually see the world incredibly differently. Adora already sees the world in terms of right, wrong and her destiny to right wrongs - this is why it’s important for her  to accept the Horde’s obvious lies - she couldn’t keep living if she didn’t. Catra, on the other hand, sees the world solely in terms of survival and personal loyalty - everything for her is about preserving herself and the person she cares about - Adora.

Then, when Adora finds the sword, she leaves because it’s the right thing to do. Catra doesn’t even have a concept of ‘the right thing to do’ being something she should care about, or perhaps, something she can care about as an irredeemably evil, awful fuck-up. So at Thaymor neither one understands where the other is coming from, and Catra and Adora begin to part. This is the first turning point in their relationship. Adora chooses duty over what she desires, Catra chooses to protect herself (such as she sees it) and nurse her sense of betrayal and abandonment.

Their relationship until Promise is a kind of weird Frenemy thing that is fascinating to watch and sold me on the show. Neither one wants to fully admit to themselves that the other is now their enemy, neither one has given up on changing the other’s mind. Each is furious at the other, and desperate to see her again at the same time. There’s a lot of heartache and just as much sexual tension, especially at Princess Prom. Both of them come alive when they fight each other (more about that in a later post). But they’re already growing apart - Adora embracing her destiny as She-Ra, Catra rising in the ranks for the Horde. Adora now has the purpose she always wanted, plus other friends and a sense of being chosen to do something great, while Catra now has power - the means to protect herself from people like Shadow Weaver as well as the vindication she had always been denied, and even the opportunity to beat Shadow Weaver at her own game.

The next turning point is Promise. Holy fuck, this episode. It’s an episode that is even more heartbreaking after you’ve watched the show because you know just how much worse things are going to get, and yet, it’s a necessary part of both of their character arcs. Even through season 1 Catra and Adora had remained very much enmeshed in each others lives in an increasingly fucked up way as they grew apart but refused to turn away from each other. Even though they aren’t -exactly- a romantic couple (Adora doesn’t recognize and acknowledge her feelings until the last episode of Season 5), Season 1 of She-Ra is one of the worst breakups I have seen on TV. As I said in a couple of previous posts, this is the kind of shit that the Mountain Goats write songs about. Everything that was poisoning their love for each other even before episode 1 bubbles to the surface and combines with them fighting on opposite sides of the war to make a truly fucked up situation. In the end, it’s Catra that makes the choice to turn away from Adora. This isn’t a -good- decision. It’s spiteful, and destructive, and based on an outright deluded understanding of their relationship (inspired by Light Hope’s manipulations and her own issues), but it’s in some ways a necessary decision. Catra has been so wrapped up in Adora for so long that she isn’t going to be able to figure out who -she- is without cutting Adora out of her life. And the same is true of Adora.

But each of them do this in about the worst way possible. Catra embraces destruction, ambition, manipulation and outright cruelty, turning the tactics of her abusers against them and against everyone around her. She first triumphs over Shadow Weaver and manipulates Entrapta into trying to corrupt Etheria itself. Meanwhile Adora ‘lets go’ and commits herself to the self-denying mantle of She-Ra. Over the next several seasons, their respective paths will nearly lead both Catra and Adora to their deaths (in the Season 4 finale).

For the next season (counting season 2 and 3 as one) Catra and Adora are still closely linked, but as enemies. Still, there’s more than enough flirtation between them (that ‘Hey Catra’ in the first episode of Season 2 is something else), and especially on Adora’s side we see her hold back with Catra, and often take responsibility for the harm Catra inflicts, just like she had when they were kids. Yet they still drift apart - after facing off every other episode in Season 1, they spend less and less time on screen together through season 2 and 3. Catra continues her ascent to power and descent into villainy while Adora becomes more of a stressed out mess as she takes the fate of the world and the wellbeing of everyone she cares about on her admittedly broad shoulders. Catra’s one moment of vulnerability is rewarded by Shadow Weaver’s betrayal and her exile, then Catra triumphs in ruthless badass fashion through sheer desperation and aggression. In the Crimson Wastes, we see Catra at her most independent, and she almost seems happy. But once Adora shows up and Catra hears about Shadow Weaver, she’s sucked back into the worst of her resentments, and she makes very clear that being happy is less important to her than making sure Adora is miserable.

This changes everything. Catra completely breaks with reality and tries to kill Adora, herself and the world rather than lose to Adora and Shadow Weaver (I do think it’s important to remember that she does that after Shadow Weaver nearly kills her). Catra betrays everyone around her when she exiles Entrapta, threatens Scopria and lies to Hordak. Then she flips the switch. When Adora tries to fix things, Catra fights to her own death to make sure that the world disintegrates with her. For her part, Adora fights first to understand what is wrong with the world and then to fix it. Finally she tells Catra that destroying the world is her choice and she has to live with it, decks her, and then sees her off with a death glare once the portal is closed. With this, Adora writes Catra off even if, as she says later, she never never hated her. By doing that, Adora casts off the guilt that had dogged her and takes responsibility for her own life rather than someone else’s - this is actually a huge step for her, and one that will become more important in Season 4.

Season 4 is in many ways the nadir of their relationship. They only see each other once during the entire season, in Fluterrina, when Adora tries to blast Catra, much to the latter’s shock. There’s a sense in that scene that Catra is trying to have the same flirtatious enmity she used to have with Adora, and Adora is having none of it. Catra almost seems hurt by this, which is an early hint at how isolated Catra is beginning to feel. Catra spends the rest of the season at her highest and lowest. On the one hand she spends most of 12 episodes winning by every standard she has ever claimed to care about, besting Hordak himself in single combat and making herself co-ruler of the Horde and coming within a day’s march of ending the Rebellion. In many ways it is the ultimate empowerment fantasy - the abused young woman has defeated her abusers, showed up everyone who doubted her and forced everyone to respect her. But I think it’s striking that the show starts with her and Adora dreaming of conquering the world together and in Season 4 Catra nearly succeeds in conquering it alone, almost like she was trying to live out her old shared fantasy while proving she didn’t need her former best friend. 

At the same time, Catra is clearly miserable. She’s always been unhappy, but in Season 4 we see her completely isolated and lying to herself and everyone who will listen in a desperate attempt to justify her actions. Turning the tactics of Hordak and Shadow Weaver against them to gain power and then against Scorpia and Entrapta to maintain it haven’t vindicated Catra, they’ve made her more and more alone as Entrapta is exiled and Scorpia drifts away. Meanwhile Catra reaches out to Double Trouble, and her interactions with them reek of a kind of desperate desire to have someone in her life (the feeling of their interaction is of an unhealthy casual relationship where one partner becomes emotionally invested and the other takes advantage of that while denying the other the closeness they desire). As people leave her, one after the other, it becomes clearer and clearer that Catra doesn’t want power at all - she wants connection, friendship, love, and power is a very poor replacement. As I said in my long Catra rant, Season 4 is both her ‘Walter White as a Catgirl’ season and the beginning of her redemption. Everything comes to head when Sparkles destroys everything Catra has tried to achieve, Double Trouble delivers those harsh truths and Horde Prime shows up and makes it all irrelevant, just highlighting how futile all her struggles and sacrifices and crimes have been.

Meanwhile Adora spends Season 4 becoming her own her and her own woman. After telling off Catra, she grows more and more disillusioned with Light Hope and critical of Glimmer (though the latter has more than a shade of her old habit of taking responsibility for others - Adora’s development is not linear). She’s gained the courage and confidence to strike out her own path, not just follow a destiny. At the season’s end she once again breaks with her best friend to do what is right, and discards the destiny that she was being prepared for. But in this case she isn’t chasing one packaged destiny for another, instead she’s making her own choice and literally shattering the thing that she thought gave her life purpose. It’s badass, and heartbreaking, and along with decking Catra and jumping after Catra into the abyss (see below) it’s the perfect Adora moment.

In many ways Season 5 starts with Catra and Adora farther apart than they have ever been. They aren’t even enemies anymore, they’re completely out of each other’s lives. And both Catra and Adora are lost at the beginning of Season 5 - Catra is useless and alone on Prime’s ship, completely defeated despite ostensibly being on the winning side, and she goes through the motions of her normal plotting without any particular conviction and none of her normal flair. Meanwhile Adora is even more miserable and self-destructive than usual, throwing herself at Horde Bots and working herself until she drops of exhaustion. In a very real way they both stay lost until they have a chance to help the other. Catra takes responsibility for what she’s done and what she can do, saves Glimmer (at least partly for Adora’s sake), apologizes to Adora, and sacrifices herself. Adora only seems to come alive when she decides to turn around, face Prime, and save the cat. And when she does, Catra and Adora’s arcs, which had separated so completely in season 4, come crashing back together to end the series.

Adora during Save the Cat is such a contrast with the uncertain, hesitant and self-destructive wreck we’ve seen so far in Season 5. This is possibly her craziest plan in 3 years of mostly cazy plans, but she never wavers or questions herself. Even when Chipped Catra appears and we see Adora’s heart break while we watch, Adora doesn’t back down or relent. She keeps at it even as the tears stream down her face. She fights better trying to save Catra without She-Ra’s powers than she fought at the Battle of Bright Moon with them. Catra’s just about as desperate - we see her cry and plead, and now is probably as good a time to any to point out how amazing a job both VAs did throughout the show, but especially in this episode, and how good a job the board artists did. 

Seeing each other for the first time in a year, and only the second time since Catra blew everything up, Catra and Adora are probably the rawest and least restrained we’ve ever seen them. There’s barely any banter, no bravado, and no pretense that they are anything other than two women who desperately need each other (Prime doesn’t help with ‘You broke my heart’.) Then Catra is flung to her death, Adora jumps after her, breaks both her legs in the fall (we see her crawl to Catra, as though she couldn’t walk) and becomes the real She-Ra. It’s such a triumphant and deeply queer moment seeing a woman transformed into a warrior goddess to protect the woman she loves, and it’s the reason that, as dark as it is, Save the Cat is my Comfort Food episode.

Let’s not sleep on Taking Control, though. This episode is like a microcosm of what this show does best, especially the A plot with Catra and Adora. Catra’s reversion to lashing out at everyone and her refusal to be open to Adora shows just how much of a struggle this whole ‘being good and trying to connect to people’ thing is. Catra’s outburst gives Adora a chance to stand up for herself and refuse to be Catra’s punching bag, while also not trying to control her. Adora’s ultimatum gives Catra a chance to reach out to Adora (quite literally), and allow herself to be vulnerable. In this episode, we see just how far Catra and Adora have come since the messed up stew of their relationship in Season 1. Adora lets Catra be responsible for her own actions; Catra lets herself be vulnerable to Adora and takes responsibility for her actions. They’re both better people and better friends and better partners than they were, and the show has shown this in a strikingly nuanced and realistic way. 

The important thing to note in the next few episodes of Season 5 isn’t just how much closer Catra and Adora get to each other and how much they flirt (So much. So much, y’all) but just how -happy- they are. We see both of them transformed in the other’s presence. Basically, since they’ve parted, both Catra and Adora have been defined in no small part by how miserable they often are. They have both had their triumphs and their lighter moments, but there’s been a sense of melancholy dogging both Catra and Adora since episode 1. And now that they’re together again, that lifts, somewhat. Catra’s verbal barbs have lost their venom, and she can openly show how much she cares for Adora and even Bow and Glimmer. She’s still herself - snarky, cynical, somewhat devious - but she’s not engaged in a self-destructive zero-sum struggle with everyone around her. Meanwhile Adora has spent 4 seasons being a neurotic and sometimes nearly joyless mess who takes responsibility for everything and often doesn’t let herself enjoy anything other than the odd BFS group hug (exceptions include trying to uh...impress Huntara and reveling with the butterfly ladies of Elberron in Flutterina).  Around Catra, though, she’s a cocky, swaggering jock who gives as good as she gets. It’s a side of Adora we’ve only seen hints of before, and one that’s so much more confident and joyful even as the world is ending around her. Apart, Catra had tried to protect and vindicate herself with power and conquest, while Adora had tried to forget herself in duty and sacrifice. Together, they can be themselves again. This dynamic is crucial to the show’s portrayal of Catra and Adora’s romance because it doesn’t just show how much they love each other, but how they’re -good- for each other now that they’ve grown as people, and that they are so much better than they were when they were apart.

Until Shadow Weaver shows up. Their old abuser reintroduces tensions but even then things are different than they were. Now Catra isn’t just resentful of how Shadow Weaver prefers Adora - she’s  protective of Adora, which is clearest in Failsafe when she calls Shadow Weaver out for being willing to sacrifice Adora. And while Adora takes the Failsafe, it isn’t to follow her destiny or because she has a death wish - it’s because she loves her friends, and she is the only one who has any hope of doing this and living (though Catra’s suggestion that Shadow Weaver take it is a good one). And finally, when Catra leaves Adora, it isn’t because she hates Adora, nor, despite what she says, is it because she really thinks that Adora chose Shadow Weaver. At least, not exactly. It’s because Catra loves Adora, and can admit that to herself, and can’t stay around and watch the woman she loves sacrifice herself rather than choosing Catra. Before Catra leaves, she asks Adora ‘What do you want?” It’s a question that echoes Shadow Weaver’s speech in Episode 1: ‘isn’t this what you always wanted since you could want anything?’ As much as Adora has grown as a person, and defined herself and stood up for what she thinks is right, she still has never answered that question - it’s never been ‘what do I want’ but ‘what do I have to do?’ and that’s how Adora answers Catra’s question. This is Adora’s last gasp as a self-transcending hero, letting go of what she wants (not that she ever dared articulate what that was) in order to do what must be done. And it nearly kills her and dooms the universe, because Adora can’t be the hero that she needs to be by being anyone less than herself.

But it’s losing Catra that inspires Adora to tell off Shadow Weaver for good (not that she’d ever really warmed to her after season 1). And it’s love for Adora that inspires Catra to stand up to Shadow Weaver and demand that she do the right thing. In both cases, Catra and Adora aren’t just standing up to their abuser, but holding her to account for the harm she’s caused, and it’s the love that they have for each other that inspires them to do this. In Catra’s case in particular her refusal to let Shadow Weaver weasel out of finding Adora is a much greater triumph over Shadow Weaver than beating her up and breaking her mask in Season 1 - it’s proof not so much to Shadow Weaver but to Catra herself that Catra really is better than this and that she deserves better than this. It’s not turning her abuser’s tactics against her, but truly holding her to a moral standard and demanding that she do the right thing.

And then there’s Catra and Adora together at the heart. Catra has already come back for Adora and stayed to the end, choosing to die with her even if she can’t share a life together (not out of some death wish, but because Adora needs her). And Adora, who’s been avoiding answering the question for three fucking years, finally let’s herself want Catra when Catra finally confesses her love (breaking the last of her self-protective shields) and asks Adora to stay -for her-. And by admitting what she wants, Adora can truly be at peace with herself and be the hero she needs to be, lesbianism saves the universe, The End.

So anyway, that’s how Catra and Adora’s stories are woven together and how they compliment and comment on each other. Narrativiely, Adora and Catra start together, come apart, find something of themselves, and truly find themselves and each other when they are reunited. Thematically, they are critiquing seemingly opposing narrative tropes - empowerment narratives and narratives of self sacrifice. But by showing the flaws in both types of story and showing how neither self-seeking empowerment nor self-negating self sacrifice can actually make us happy, She-Ra asks and answers more profound questions than most prestige dramas for adults do. I’ll get into how the show sells the idea that the power of love can bring us happiness (and save the world) in a future post. But next up, I’m going to celebrate just how much Catra and Adora’s relationship revels in ambiguity, complexity and contradiction and so tells a grown up love story in a kid’s show.

[evanthefunky]

1k on Marc and Layla's relationship, all gathered from the first two episodes of Moon Knight, on Disney+!

(Unedited, really. I'm not not in the mood to make this neat.)

We don't have a lot about Layla and Marc yet. But we do know a few things.

1. They worked together as mercs

2. They were looking together for the scarab that points to Ammit's tomb

3. Layla probably saw him die

4. Before Marc left Layla, Layla was comfortable with "the suit", which means she probably saw resurrected Marc

5. They went on a, guessing, handful of other "adventures", before or after this.

6. They were married

7. We don't know why Marc left Layla, beside wanting to protect her from Khonshu and everything else

8. One of their last conversations, if not the last one, was about getting divorced (a way for Marc to distance himself from the person/people he cares about.)

Something we don't know is how long Marc didn't contact Layla. I'm gonna guess it was about year, maybe two. She called him a TON after he disappeared. Potentially leaving lots of voicemails. She cares about him. Divorce seemed like it came out if nowhere for her. She probably was never told about Khonshu, and if she was, she probably doesn't understand it all, but I believe she would believe it.

But she goes months, possibly (a) year(s) without seeing her husband, someone she loves and cares about, and was worried and concerned about. Whatever she was doing, she never gave up trying to contact him, and she definitely looked for him, and she dropped whatever she was doing to come find him when Steven called her. Dropped everything. We don't see a single belonging of hers, but we can probably assume she's staying somewhere.

And when she sees Steven, she doesn't know to give grace and understanding to him, because, hell, last time she checked, thats Marc! We don't know when Steven became an alter, but its clear they hadnt met before. She doesn't believe him when he says he's not Marc (understandable!). And I think this point is really imporant!!! Because of course she doesnt!!! Even if somehow it wasn't DID, she's been looking for *Marc*, and when she finally finds the man who called her, he says he's not who she's looking for?? Crazy! Frustrating! Fucking WEIRD! And hes a COMPLETELY different person to Marc. He knows French poetry- has the same favorite poet!- and ancient egyptian. And he doesnt know Layla at *all*. He's a complete stranger in the shape of Marc. Fucking wild. But she wants Marc, so she sticks around. She follows him, then distracts the enemy from him. She kicks ass and deals with it, putting situation first and circumstance later. She asks him to summon the suit- something she feels very comfortable doing. (I have a feeling Marc wasn't a fan of it at first by their dynamic of her asking Steven for it and also the way Marc waited for her to say something, and she gave him an order, and he obeyed instantly. But I'll get back to that.) And when this Steven character says he can't, she asks again and again. But she finally, in a second, understands, at least a little, that... maybe this isn't Marc. So she calls the man by the name he gave her, and I think she asks again, but hes certain he can't do it. Only then does she nod and say "ok, we'll figure something else out. Alright." And she does! She starts finding a solution. She seems bewildered at Steven being able to see the jackal and she can't, so maybe this isn't something she ever faced with Marc. Anyway, she watches as it yeets him out the window. The next time she sees Steven, he's in a suit, but not the one she's familiar with. It's a business, three-piece suit. She watches Steven fight in this costume for the first time, watches him get the Jackal away, watches him taunt the creature she can't see. She sees, once again,, a completely different person to the one she's familiar with. And then, by the bus, she finally sees the man she's used to. Well, the suit she's used to.

He stares at her across the road. *he* knows her. She knows its Marc.

But there's still a Jackal, even if she can't see it, so she tells him to get it away. And he obeys, immediately.

And she watches him go. We don't see her again in the episode.

But she tells us so much (well, potentially. I'm theorizing here) about their dynamic. Marc is certainly sure of himself. Confident, suave (i guess, according to fanon, at least), and good at his job. Job as a merc, job as... moon knight. But he took the time to constantly tell Steven to keep Layla out of this- *keep her safe*. He later expresses that its hard to "even be a fly on the wall" and, maybe its because its Layla and he cares about her, but hes there almost the entire time she is. Hes fighting against himself (himself, not Steven) to get back to her. Even though he's concerned for her safety, even though he wants to stay away from her, even though he wants to keep Khonshu away from her. He needs to get back to her. He needed to see her, with his own eyes, not behind Steven's or through a reflection. I mean, it makes sense.

(I also kinda think he may have had a loyalty thing to her problem but thats for another day. Re her saying "do you have someone else staying here?" Unless that's just- understandably so- Layla making something bigger than it is.) (But back to Layla)

... anyway. They want to get back to each other. And I think when Marc sees her again, he's gonna be thrilled. I know Steven is the one in a spot or trailer to say "I cant wait to show you what I've learned!!" So maybe Marc retreats as soon as she's around because he's not ready to talk to her, or he's not sure what he'd do if he had to talk to her.

Theyre mostly equals, they're comfortable with each other, they know each other. And I think Layla is the one in charge, to a degree. Theyre very independent! But I think Layla is in charge.

[otakween]

Digimon Adventure 02 (Blind Watch)- Episode 5

Okay, I feel like this episode was a return to form because it was character-focused, specifically on Iori this time. The episode's arc was basically about him gaining confidence to stand up for himself and building his relationship with his digimon partner.

Digimon introduced: Ebidramon

Notes:

-I somehow only just realized that the cast-size is different this season. In Adventure 01 it was 7 kids but now we're down to 5 and 2 of them are repeats so it does feel kinda dinky in comparison. On the other hand, smaller casts are sometimes better for development because you can give each person more screen time. We'll see how they use it.

-They were kind of hinting at the parallels between Joe and Iori the whole episode and I was like "nah, he's definitely a Koushiro." Then Joe was like "he's both" and I felt vindicated lol

-I'm gonna need them to be more consistent with the "you can't evolve when there's a dark tower around!" thing. Like...armor evolutions don't count? Why? Is it a difference between the new and old digivices? -big shrug-

-I've always found Gomamon and Joe kinda awkward together, like they never fully bonded. They're more like business partners than friends lol.

-Daisuke continues to exist just to be dumb and annoying. It's not like I hate him or anything, he's just kind of there.

-Joe's hair has kind of a 1970s Hardy Boys vibe to it. Kinda feathered and flouncy. I think it suits his dorkiness.

-I wonder what the inspiration was behind Iori's Digi-world outfit. It has a traditional, almost Indigenous look to it...

-The girls have been so sidelined. They could have been cut out of this episode and it wouldn't have made a difference. Waiting for a Miyako episode. She's appeared so little I keep forgetting her name! (Maybe she's the Sora of the season)

-Kendo is really cool and I'd love to see it IRL someday. I was surprised when Iori said he was going to the "police dojo." Police have dojos in Japan? Wha?

[timelxrd-victorious]

Some thoughts on RTD vs Moffat vs Chibnall’s eras as I’m making my way through series 4 in my NuWho rewatch (probably gonna skip Moffat’s whole era, though).

From what I do remember of watching Moffat's era + what little I have learned about Chibnall's era so far... wow I have never seen a showrunner have as much contempt and disrespect for the showrunner that came before them that Moffat has for RTD (except for maybe the three showrunners of the Charmed reboot)

Even during the episodes Moffat wrote during Nine and Ten's eras, they feel so disjointed from the rest of the series they're in:

“The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances” introduces Jack Harkness, true, but he was a RTD character to begin with; there’s not much going on in this episode that connects to the larger arc of the season, other than Jack meeting and joining Team TARDIS

“The Girl in the Fireplace” completely disregards Rose being uncomfortable with the idea of Mickey traveling in the TARDIS with her and the Doctor, and it completely ditches the whole undercurrent of Ten and Rose’s growing relationship into a romance, recasting Rose as the nagging wife to Reinette’s shiny new mistress (thanks, I hate it)

“Blink” literally cuts the Doctor and Martha out for most of the story, and when they do finally show up, the Doctor gets most of the screentime whereas Martha gets only a handful of speaking lines (if that; Martha is usually either out-of-focus when the Doctor is onscreen, or she’s off-screen entirely)

"Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead" focuses far more on Moffat’s OC River and her future adventures with Moffat's Doctor than it does Ten and Donna.

Moffat erased everything RTD put into the show's mythos from his version of canon, via the Cracks in Time (series 5), rebooting the universe (series 5) and completely retconning Gallifrey’s destruction during the LGTW (”The Day of the Doctor”) all while focusing on an entirely new incarnation of the Doctor who fought in the war--ignoring that Eight was perfectly capable of fighting in a time war and doing what was necessary to save the universe through developments in the comics, Big Finish audio plays, and novels (the Tenth Doctor in that episode was also incredibly OOC even for Ten in his phase between Waters of Mars and The End of Time).

Even when Moffat did make references back to RTD’s era, it was only to episodes he’d written and characters he himself had introduced to canon (the sister ship to the SS Madame de Pompadour, the Weeping Angels, River Song, etc.) The few times Moffat has brought back or referenced RTD characters, it’s to have his own characters put them down and make his creations look better by comparison 

Clara: “What chapter are you on?” her charge: “Ten.” Clara: “Eleven’s the best. You’ll cry your eyes out.”

everything regarding Simm!Master and Gomez!Master interacting

literally having Clara one-up Rose, Martha, and Donna combined by splintering echoes of herself along the Doctor’s timestream and having a Gallifreyan echo of herself encourage One to steal the TARDIS, not to mention Clara becoming one-half of the Hybrid with the other half being the Doctor

Eleven on Ten’s refusal to regenerate in Journey’s End: “I had vanity issues.”

Ten in the 50th: “I don’t want to go.” Eleven: “He always says that.” 

In contrast, Chibnall has brought back Jack Harkness, the Judoon, a new male incarnation of the Master (that isn’t white, to boot), and actually made Moffat’s retcon of bringing back Gallifrey work within the narrative. He’s also drawn upon ideas that were seeded back in the Second and Seventh Doctor’s runs of the Doctor being far more than an ordinary Gallifreyan Time Lord and pretty much canonized both the Cartmel Masterplan and the Dr Nyarlathotep subtheory/expanded universe canon that the Doctor is a being from before the universe reborn into a Gallifreyan body.

[sakura-83]

Things from Anne with an e that I feel like writing down

Season 1 Episode 6: Remorse Is the Poison of Life

1. Diana having to run through the dark with nothing but a lantern and quite reasonably tripping. I never really thought about how dark it would actually be out because there’s always light.., somewhere in a modern city. It’s dark but you can usually still see

2. Every time Anne and Diana are separated they end up reunited during some great tragedy and are like “I missed you so much!!” Like yeah that’s great but. Please focus

3. It’s terrifying how easily children could die before modern medicine. They still can die very easily and that’s still terrifying but back then there was no quick fixes or easily accessible help

4. “It’s an old wives tale.” “I might be one but not the other. Evidently one doesn’t have to be either thing to know it.”

5. Anne knowing how to treat croup because all of Mrs. Hammond’s sets of twins had it

6. “I was supposed to be a boy but when I wasn’t, they decided to keep and raise me.” “How extraordinary!”

7. Minnie May almost choking to death on her own phlegm and Anne ultimately saving her because there’s no way the doctor would’ve made it all the way from Soencervale in time

8. “I believe I need a brandy.”

9. It’s really interesting how much of the script comes straight from the book

10. “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are white frosts, aren’t you?”

11. John Blythe’s love for adventure and how Gilbert undoubtedly sees it in Anne

12. Eliza apologizing for how she misjudged Anne

13. “My darling Diana”

14. “I can’t tie myself down to anything so unromantic as dishes at this thrilling moment!”

15. “Even aunt Josephine said she’d like to see you again, and she doesn’t like anyone.”

16. “Shes disinclined to stay home alone since her companion passed away.” “Her companion?” “Her best friend forever and ever.”

17. “Aunt Josephine never married. Neither of them did, they lived with each other their whole lives.” “I’d live with you forever if I could. But I know you’ll leave me the date you get married to some wealthy and handsome gentleman. I hate him already.” “How’s Gilbert?”

18. “It’s very likely Gilbert’s father isn’t going to get well, so it’s more than possible that when Gilbert finally comes back to school… he’ll be an orphan.”

19. The cut from that conversation to John Blythe’s funeral

20. Matthew grabbing Marilla’s arm because he knows how much john meant to her

21. Gilbert watching the snowflakes melt in his hand

22. Marilla’s flashback

23. Young Marilla teasing john

24. Him giving her the same hair ribbon she later gifts to Anne

25. Anne and Gilbert being just like their parents, mirroring their romance and yet achieving the love Marilla and John could never have

26. Anne trying to make Gilbert feel better but making it seem like it’s about her. I often find it hard to articulate my relation to others in a way that does sound like I’m relating and not like I’m making it about me

27. Aunt Josephine on a stroll in the woods

28. Anne’s ranting about her “extensive knowledge of being an orphan”

29. Her calling Gilbert a dumb boy and refusing to think about him

30. “Romance is a pesky business. No sense to be made of it.”

31. “May I enter your humble abode.” About Anne’s run down little shed

32. “I couldn’t be less interested in Gil- that boy!”

33. “Let your ambitions and your aspirations be your guide.” “But I have so many!”

34. “I’ve always wanted to be a bride, but I don’t really expect to be a wife.” “Interesting!” “So you see the conundrum.” “I do. I have the following thoughts to offer. First, you can get married any time in your life, if you choose to do so.” “That’s true-“ “And two, if you choose a career, you can buy a white dress yourself, have it made to order and wear it whenever you want.” “Why didn’t I think of that!? I love that idea! I’m going to be my own woman!” “I’m a proponent for making ones own way in the world.”

35. “If you become a doctor, perhaps you can discover a cure for old age.”

36. Anne calling aunt Josephine her new role model, as well as Marilla and Matthew

37. “I’m going to be the heroine of my own story.”

38. Marilla finding an old letter from John

39. The theme Unrequited Love playing during this scene

40. It’s fascinating when you come to recognize the instrumentals by name, the names actually have a lot of double meanings in relation to the show. Fire in The Town not only plays when there’s an actual fire, but also when Anne’s rumors about prissy set the town ablaze

41. “If the key to a mans heart is through his stomach-“ “Which it is!” “Then, we have to make sure that this is the best shepherds pie that Gilbert has ever had.”

42. Anne wanting a boy to loved for her brain and personality rather than her abilities to keep a home

43. “Don’t you think Gilbert looks even more handsome now that he’s sad?” “I didn’t notice.”

44. I just noticed aunt Josephines mourning clothes, I know she was grieving but I didn’t put two and two together

45. “Take the boy the godforsaken pie before I suffer a mental collapse.”

46. Anne rambling excitedly about Jane Eyre.

47. Anne almost spoiling the book, just like Gertrude used to do

48. Anne suddenly breaking down over death. I’ve done that before, far more frequently in middle school when I realized that we all die someday

49. “It must be awful beyond measure to lose someone that you love deeply. In a split second, a heartbeat, they’re gone forever… and there is nothing you can do to change it or bring them back…”

50. “Anne? You’re crying on the potatoes.”

51. “There’s nothing wrong with saying ‘I’m sorry for your loss’, Ruby. And I’m going to say it because I am.” “You’re just going to make it worse if you say that. His father!! Just died!!!” “That’s what people say when someone dies.” “I don’t want you to upset him.” “He’s already upset because his father just died!”

52. “We hope you like shepherds pie.” “Everyone LIKES shepherds pie 😡. We hope it’s a comfort to you, Gilbert.🥰”

53. Anne telling “but I would make a terrible wife!” And running out.

54. Matthew offering to help Gilbert get his farm back in order

55. Gilbert not wanting to be a farmer but having an entire farm shoved off on him when his only family does, despite being… 14 at most? 15 maybe?

56. Matthew losing all his crops when the Dal Marie sank

57. Billy wanting Gilbert back to control the “ugly orphan” and Gilbert defending Anne

58. “She’s smart, deal with it.”

59. Gilbert telling billy to read a book for once

60. “I’ll give you a tip, okay? I’m not your bud. And if you ever hassle Anne again, you’ll regret it.”

61. “What’s your problem?” “Ask me that again. No, seriously. Go ahead.” “Why you gotta be like that?” “Ask me!” “…what’s your problem?”

62. Gilbert throwing his stuff at billy to preoccupy his hands and THEN punching him straight in his stupid face

63. The boys are fighting!!!! And rolling around in the snow too that’s kind of funny looking

64. Gilbert beating billy in that fight

65. Marilla telling Gilbert about his father

66. All of Gilbert’s siblings died

67. Gilbert’s father taking him to Alberta before he died, where Gilbert was born

68. “You resemble him in many ways.”

69. “He asked you to go?” I’ll always be grateful to him for thinking I’d be brave enough. Obligation… can be a prison.”

70. Anne trying to write a letter to Gilbert apologizing for what she said

71. Anne visiting aunt Josephine for advice and accidentally interrupting her grieving

72. “Emotion is rarely convenient and often intolerable, but I find at the moment that I don’t mind it.”

73. “Grief is the price you pay for live, you see. So it’s alright.”

74. “You and I are not the marrying kind.” “Ah, but I was, in my way. And we had a full and wonderful life together, and I gave no regrets. That’s all you really have to decide Anne, to live a life without regrets.”

75. Anne kissing aunt Josephine on the cheek and running off to live said life

76. No Matthew don’t make that loan deal!!!

77. Anne sprinting to Gilbert’s house bit for the first time of many to come, being too late to reach him.