#i really strongly dislike angel lol

[hellyeahomeland]

Do you know someone like Nicholas Brody and Carrie Mathison? They were soulmates. What she had with Peter Quinn (and/or Yevgeny Gromov) was not even remotely close to what she had with Brody. Reminded me of the Buffy Angel Buffy Spike situation. Mathison & Nicholas... Were they soulmates?

To the extent that I believe in soulmates (I don't), Carrie and Brody were soulmates.

[softgrungeprophet]

Radiant Black Rundown

(aka: Nadia is going to make a rec post for something that isn't Spider-Man or Spider-Man adjacent for once)

(aka "Please read Radiant Black")

(Radiant Black #10)

This is all subjective, obviously, but for me...

Positives:

All the characters are adults, ranging from their 20s (Eva), to 30s (Nathan, Marshall, Satomi), to 50s or 60s (Wendell)

The characters are specific. They have specific personalities, backgrounds, priorities and expertise. They are people with emotions and flaws and lives.

The main characters (Nathan and Marshall) are codependent vaguely homoerotic best friends with a slightly imbalanced dedication to one another (unrequited love?), plus some jealousy (drama!)

Despite occasional clunkiness, does a decent job at mixing humor and seriousness, angst, drama, etc. "Are you an angel?" "No, ma'am, I'm a millennial" did make me laugh.

Diverse characters and creators: Some co-writers include (but are not limited to) Cherish Chen, Melissa Flores, streamer Meghan Camarena, and Chicago local Laurence Holmes, and they're all very skilled at collaborating with each other and with Kyle to breathe life into the characters and their motivations.

And all of the Radiants are brunettes! (lol)

Not a lot of crossovers (basically none) despite being part of a larger universe (the Massive-verse), and not a ton of issue hopscotch (still some).

The stakes are often very personal (most of the time). These characters may have to save the world but they're also all kind of fuck-ups in some way, and are still mostly dealing with their personal and private lives and loved ones, which grounds it.

"Officially," only Eva is queer (afaik) but to me, Marshall also reads as pretty strongly gay or bi-coded, and Satomi gives off some kind of gender thing (to me). With a mix of actual queer WLW/lesbian romance in Radiant Pink and some interesting subtext in the main Radiant Black comics, plus whatever Radiant Red's got going on, I think there's a lot to sink your teeth into in that regard, or at least to go "AUGH" about LOL

Also there's real cool art—

(Radiant Black #17)

(Radiant Black #10)

(RB #10 again — issue 10 whips ass, okay? I have the UV-reactive fluorescent ink printing of this issue... and I don't own a blacklight, unfortunately 😂)

(Costa is the main artist for all of the above panels, with colors by Triona Farrell (#17) and Igor Monti (#10), but I'm a big fan of Ferigato's pencils on the Marshall-focused issues too, plus Lafuente and Muerto's work in Radiant Red is killerrrrrr)

Neutrals:

All the Radiants' eye markings are animated/emotive (except Yellow). Personally, I'm mixed on expressive masks and helmets. (Big shock, I know 😂) I don't dislike the animated eyes, and I get why they're useful, but I prefer the less animated helmet "faces" so far.

Cosmic world-saving stuff — If you know me, you know I tend to prefer street-level superhero stuff, but I think the high-stakes action works in Radiant Black because it's still grounded in the personal and still has that street-level element, so I'm not too bothered by this. (I also like sci-fi, which helps)

Negatives:

Some people over-emphasize just how groundbreaking and different Radiant Black actually is. Like I get it, hype it up, but sometimes it is a little funny to be like "this has never been done before!" and it's like, idk about that 😂

Occasionally it does lean a little into referential humor and quips, but it's got plenty of actually funny jokes, and the dialogue flows naturally most of the time and isn't just a vessel for snappy one-liners, thank God. But if you're like me, sometimes you may roll your eyes.

It takes some time to find its feet (imo), but even then it's still generally engaging. To me, issues 9 and 10 are where it really hits its stride and not long after that is where it takes off running.

There is some issue/series hopping — While there's not a ton of issue hopping, there are some minor details that make more sense if you have read some of the auxiliary issues/miniseries. Luckily, it's not a huge amount of reading.

Prison is where you go to atone 🤡 I didn't like it in Spider-Man: Redemption and I don't like it here lol but Eva seemed unimpressed in volume 4, so I'm hoping it'll have some nuance as I catch up.

Wonky numbering. It's not too bad (and if you read the trade paperbacks, it's a non-issue) but there is a plot thing that happens that means all the issues after #24 (until #30 and #30.5, afaik) have special numbering

(Radiant Black #11)

Radiant Reading List:

Note: here is a really great, in-depth, incredibly precise Massive-verse reading list put together by a fan — It has issue-by-issue and page-by-page instructions for the real chronology sickos out there, and is just a generally fantastic resource/timeline reference.

But here is my personal (way less precise) reading list for Radiant Black plus its auxiliaries, minus all the other stuff:

Radiant Black v. 1 (#1-6)

Radiant Black v. 2 (#7-12)*

Shift #1-4 (not #5)*

Radiant Red (#1-5)*

Supermassive (2022)**

Radiant Black v. 3 (#13-18)

Radiant Black v. 4 (#19-24)

Radiant Pink (#1-5)***

Supermassive (2023)

Radiant Black v. 5 (#25-27.5)

Radiant Black v. 6 (#28-30.5) (issues #30 and #30.5 will be out in October 2024, so volume 6 tpb probably not until the holidays if I had to guess... unfortunately for me 😂)

Shift #5****

Supermassive (2024)****

Notes:

*Okay, so.... parts of Shift and Radiant Red technically occur simultaneously w/ each other and also overlap some w/ Radiant Black #9 and #10, so you probably actually want to stop at Radiant Black #9, then do Shift and Radiant Red, and then return to Radiant Black at #10, but in my opinion, all that really matters is you read Shift before Radiant Red, whether you slot them between Radiant Black issues 9 and 10, or just read whole trades at a time, whichever you find more practical or convenient. I... did both lol

That being said: don't read Shift #5 until… later, as it was a very recent addition for the Shift collected edition and takes place significantly later in the main plot.

**Supermassive 2022 is a pretty simple single issue crossover mini-event/annual with Inferno Girl Red and Rogue Sun, and doesn't really require reading the others' stories nor does it really affect any real plot, but it does offer a tiny bit of context to Radiant Black's main storyline that I found kind of crucial lol — like is it Necessary? No. Does it clarify one (1) little detail? Yes.

***Radiant Pink can probably be read at any point after Radiant Black issue #12, but I happen to be reading it in this order lol

****The in-depth Massive-verse reading guide I linked earlier says to read Shift #5 in the middle of Radiant Black #28.5 and Supermassive 2024 between Radiant Black #29.5 and #30, so ideally... during volume 6, but since 30 and 30.5 aren't even out yet... well. Good luck!

After 30.5 is out I believe the Radiant Black team will be taking a hiatus iirc, which is reasonable.

There is not yet a Radiant Yellow mini, and idk when one will be released. There have been a couple of delays in the Massive-verse over the past year or so, for a variety of reasons (it's massive!), and I'm guessing Yellow's solo got pushed back. Hopefully it will be out sooner rather than later but we'll see! Obviously the teams creating all of this have been working their asses off so, you know, it happens LOL

Personally I'm subscribed to Kyle's newsletter, which is probably one of the best ways to get updates. It can and often does contain spoilers, but you can do what I do and just scroll really fast past them lol

In practice you can just mainline Radiant Black and ignore everything else and be fine, but I think the other Radiants, Shift and Supermassive offer useful context as far as character motivation and juicy stuff like that goes— Especially since Shift deals with the origins of multiple antagonists, and Radiant Red has some main plot implications for Satomi. Useful to know, etc.

Anyway. That got long, but hopefully not too long to be useful.

Stay Radiant ⦵

(Radiant Red #3)

[misc-obeyme]

random angel, aware that mc strongly dislikes god/the runnings of the celestial realm and (correctly) assuming the 'jod' bit is a direct slight towards their Father: but michael, how can we allow the human to so blatantly insult Father?

michael: oh relax! is just one of those human mee-mees they wanted to share with us :)

Michael is a grandpa, confirmed.

Because that is absolutely something a senior citizen would say. It must be a thing with seraphs/former seraphs. I mean, look at Lucifer and Simeon. Raphael is the only one who can escape such a label, I'm afraid. I dunno he gives me more insane uncle vibes than grandpa.

Anyway, my image of Michael used to be more on the side of strict but with a soft spot for his siblings. However, the game has recently led me to believe that he's far more of a goofball than I previously considered. So now I think he would just find it funny rather than be offended. All the other angels are like uhhh that human just insulted our dad, c'mon Mike, get with the program.

Michael, meanwhile, is like haha but isn't it funny??

The other angels are just like... no.

If he's really like that, then it's no wonder Michael couldn't handle Mammon lol.

[rius-cave]

About the topic of Luci giving Eve the apple (I'm the same anon who wrote that they didn't like each other back then btw)

I kinda feel it was mostly Lilith's doing tbh. Just think about it. The apple itself doesn't "give" free will. It's the apple of knowledge. It most likely just made Eve aware of the situation she was in. Which can both mean the whole concept of the garden (as many like to compare it to a "prison" where humans live mindlessly, provided with everything) AND Adam's controlling nature. And the fact that they only gave the apple to Eve makes me strongly believe that it's mostly the latter option. My personal hc kinda goes like this: Lilith ran away from Eden because she thought Adam was controlling and she had a strong enough will to go after her own head and ideals (this is why I think she herself never ate the apple, she already "gained awareness and free will" in a way by not wanting to submit). Lilith obviously disliked Adam so when she heard about Eve she wanted to give her a chance to get away from that guy too whom she believed to be controlling and just simply a dick lol. She wanted to "free" Eve from Adam because she experienced his nature (or at least, how she saw him in her own perspective, mind that we only know her story, we don't know what Adam exactly did aside of being "controlling", perhaps he was really an asshole, but maybe it's more complex). So, she asked Lucifer to help Eve and give the apple to her. Lucifer, being the idealistic dreamer he was, agreed to it, with the pure intention of helping humanity, showing them what they can be capable of and freeing them. Eve accepted and we all know how it ended. However, I love to hc that Lucifer would've included, or at least tried to include Adam too if he had the chance. Yes, perhaps they didn't like each other, but I see angel Lucifer kinda like Charlie is now, not giving up on people and trying to convince them, help them, forgive them and all. I believe he would've put up with Adam for the sake of it, but he couldn't since everything went south when Eve received the apple.

At this point it feels so much like I'm villainizing Lilith lmao but that's not my purpose actually.

It's okay anon we love villainizing Lilith in this house

Jokes aside I think that's really interesting. If I recall correctly, the little Eden flashback depicts both of them offering the apple to Eve, yes? But I think we should all agree that that story is unreliable at best and just a plain lie at worst.

It's interesting to think that Lilith was the mastermind of it all, really. If we're real, Lucifer definitely got the shortest end of that stick right? After Lilith became a demon, the story says that she just gained a lot of power while Lucifer lost his will to dream and all that, which is interesting.

To be honest I'm confused about what exactly the apple did. Bible tradition says it gave them them the knowledge of good and evil, some people think it made them aware of their nature and all that, and then Hazbin says it was how evil came into the world. I think it's kind of open to interpretation but I really want the show to tell us what the deal is in its canon.

However, I do think Lilith has a bigger hand on it than we think, I know this is just me, but GOD I WANT HER TO BE MANIPULATIVE, not even necessarily in an evil sense, I just want her to do some morally questionable things to reach the goals that she thinks are the best! In the case of the apple, it doesn't matter whether or not that was the right call, the important part is that Eve *knew* she shouldn't eat it, she SAID she wasn't allowed to eat it (at least in the biblical tradition), and Lilith, or Lucifer, or both, manipulated her and then manipulated the truth to suit their cause, even if they didn't realize what consequences that would bring.

It's a bit murky because we don't have a lot of details and I think this is something that could change depending on context. Really hope we get more info on this in the next season

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2024: #21

21. AUSTRALIA Electric Fields - "One Milkali" 27th place

Decade Ranking: 74/153 [Above wrs, below TBA]

We're on a gravitron as it tangles through them billions, illions of arseholes and angels. 💋 -- Michael Ross.

I'll open by pointing out that Zach's dress reminds me of those sail-backed tetrapods all mammals have descended from:

BorisBubbles.tumblr.com satisfying your autism AND paleontology fixes since 2017.

On other news, I'm happy to report I've never bought into the "Electric Fields Are Shock Qualifiers" hype. They had a song nobody cared about upon release, to represent a country nobody particularly wants in Eurovision. I'm AMAZED they almost floated into the semi over Serbia.

My personal feelings on the song are quite mixed, mostly because I always recognised "One Milkali" as both a televote flop and a missed opportunity. I always love when countries inject their music traditions into the entries they send to Eurovision, but in "Australia's "One Milkali'"'s case it was a fairly sloppy fusion. The soundtrack opens via Nokia ringtone before it explodes into a digital fart and segues into a generic, catchy EDM track that is in a constant state of competition with it's own background didgeridoo.

On top of that comes a libretto that, using a lot of confusing metaphors and dated pop culture references that border on nonsense, express a utopian vision of Universal Kinship that most people know to be factually untrue. None of us value life equally. I know SOME people find that offensive because they delude themselves into thinking they're good people, so allow me to demonstrate;

IMAGINE your least favourite famous person in the world; a politician or businessman or musician or actor, or writer of certain wizarding novels. Someone you strongly dislike and don't necessarily want dead, but say you'd would be very pleased if this person had chosen to be an accountant over their actual profession, obsessing over NUMBERS rather than their current trade. Now compare THAT person to your favourite people in the world: your parents,siblings, other halves, friends, pets, children (lol this is tumblr - exactly three of you will spawn offspring, the rest of you will grow old with two cats named after fictional characters such as "Khaleesi" and "Deban Aderemi".) You cannot put this person on the same level as them. You will not value this person's life AS much as you value your loved-one's lives, and that's perfectly normal human behaviour. We hold different standards for different people. Anyone who does not is a walking red flag.

With this in mind, you just know that One Milkali would be a hard sell because not many people connect with its intentions, especially now that Eurovision has made a shift towards Tory-ness (💀). It's naive, utopean and out of touch for those that get it and very confusing to those who do not.

I'm making it sound like I dislike Australia, but I actually really like the studio cut (it's better when you don't look). The studio version... well doesn't slap but at least swats? It was a sanitised, tranquilized version of "2000 and Whatever", which I LOVED, and I gave 1M(1B) a few loopings. I, like many people that remembered Electric Fields fondly, and was hoping they would die for Raiven for a live outsell.

Unfortunately, the live of "One Milkali" was not an outsell. If anything it undersold? It was lowkey a tranwreck?

Like, when your top moment of the performance is THE COLOUR PROJECTION AT THE START

(this bit actually ate! pity it happens literally within the opening seconds.)

and the second best moment is a literal ijbol moment when the didgeridoo player (this man is a LIVING DEITY btw) PLAYS HIS INSTRUMENT LIVE RIGHT INTO ZACHARIAAHA'S MIC, DROWINING HIM OUT.

IT'S RAININ' LO- :didge noises:

AND THEN HE HITS HIM WITH IT ON THE HEAD 😂😂😂

Yeah, a few choices were made which were a tad off. The worst one is allowing Michael Ross to vocalize because the man does NOT HAVE A GOOD VOICE. You have three backs, let them sing his bits. Not doing that is the second worst decision. The third worst is poorly mixing those backs in with a very strained Zachariaaha? Also, why are they strutting on the stage like models on a catwalk? Did Aisel have a few on sale from her X My Heart era?

The staging did a few things right - it was colourful, used the space well and had good camerawork. It got the basics right, at least.

It was a sloppy execusion of a clumsily composed song, but, I still enjoyed it overall. "One Milkali" is naive and utopean as fuck, and embraced that vibe and I appreciate that. The Yankunytjatjara bits are great and synergize well with the English. The song was an adequate representation of aborigine culture, hampered mostly by the fact that it didn't go hard enough when it needed to.

It ranks this high because putting it lower makes no sense to me. Unlike Poland, the vocals were acceptable, and the staging was linear and clear. Unlike Moldova, they had a song and a vision and displayed creativity? Unlike Azer and Iceland, Australia managed to fill the stage with some semblance of life and momentum. It still had flaws, but they were easy enough to accept. It makes sense that Aus were the highest NQ in the first semi, as they are on this ranking.

But lmao @ allowing any SF1 NQ to enter my top 20.

THE RANKING.

[reccyls]

akuneko chapter 2.5 (part 2)

some more summarizing. i was actually taking notes as i went this time so this one is a lot longer than the first part.

we get our official introduction to hanamaru, voiced by eguchi takuya

Forgot that Teddy doesn't know that the master is from another world. Master comments that Hanamaru's full name (Kawakami Hanamaru) sounds like a Japanese person's name. Teddy went like "Japanese? What's that?" and the Master is like "Uh… Over here you'd call it the Eastern Country, I guess?" and Teddy was like, "What do you mean, 'over here'???"

Hanamaru actually refused to become a butler before. He said that he wanted to wait for 5 years first. He used to visit the mansion a lot 5 years ago but hasn't been by in a few years. All of the other butlers are acquainted with him.

He gets along well with Lamli too, who usually doesn't take to other people very quickly.

According to Boschi himself, Hanamaru is even less disciplined than he is haha. Haures says that he'll be taking naps all the time, has a massive sweet tooth and he steals sweets from the kitchen… (Muu went like, "Oh Boschi, that's you!" lmao). Personality-wise, he's described as lazy and bluntly honest and probably wouldn't use honorifics while speaking to the Master.

He fights with a sword, but isn't formally trained to be a soldier like Teddy. But he is very skilled. He apparently fought an angel one on one and lived (remember he isn't a butler and doesn't have their powers). Haures describes him as having a once-in-a-generation talent, and Teddy is immediately like "I want to fight him" lol

Hanamaru lives in an old church in the middle of the forest. Including Hanamaru, there are 5 people living at the church- the other four are orphans that Hanamaru is taking care of, as the church doubles as an orphanage. There was a nun who took care of the children, but around the time Hanamaru arrived at the church, she fell ill and died. So Hanamaru began looking after the kids in her place. That was about 10 years ago.

The kids are 2 girls and 2 boys, they look around 15 years old now. The kids also know all the butlers, who had visited in the past. One of the boys asks about Lono and is disappointed when Berrien tells him that Lono has to work at the mansion today; he missed eating Lono's cake. But Berrien has brought along sweets that Lono has made, and also brought some tea along.

Probably safe the assume that Hanamaru refused to become a butler five years ago because he still had to look after the kids. His dialogue at the end of the first part strongly implied that he didn't want to leave them alone while they were still too young to live on their own.

The church has tatami flooring inside because Hanamaru said it reminded him of his hometown. Master is surprised that they have tatami in this world as well. Apparently the church was destroyed a number of years ago and while they were rebuilding/remodeling, Hanamaru had the tatami added.

It's been a number of years since the kids had Berrien's black tea. At the church they only have green tea. Hanamaru keeps a lot of traditional sweets/snacks (wagashi) and is like "Green tea pairs better with wagashi than black tea" so he only buys green tea.

The kids get along really well with Berrien, they like him a lot. The kids came to the mansion along with Hanamaru back in the day. Miyaji would teach them, Haures would train them how to fight with swords, Berrien would teach them table manners.

The kids corner Berrien for a lesson on how to brew tea, so the Master decides to take a walk around while he's busy. Berrien first says it's too dangerous to go alone, but Muu volunteers to go with them. He says, "It's okay, if anything happens I'll scream for help really loudly so you know something's wrong!" 🤣

We finally meet Hanamaru! Hanamaru is 36 years old, he likes wagashi and udon, he dislikes kids getting hurt and self-righteous people. His hobbies are poetry and gambling.

Hanamaru wants to go do something important nearby, so he asks the Master to accompany him. They walk and talk a bit on the way, and he offers some advice about not to trust people too easily because there are tons of people with wicked eharts in the world. He knows the butlers have recently gotten into a conflict with the Sardeis family but assures them that despite him also being from the Eastern Country, he has no relation to the Sardeis family. All he wants is to be able to build a peaceful world for his kids to grow up in.

They arrive at the place where Hanamaru wants to go: it's a hill at the edge of the forest, and it's covered with graves. Hanamaru says that the graves are for all of his kids--even though they're not related to him by blood, he considers the children of the orphanage to be his anyway.

5 years ago, the church was attacked by angels. He was away from the church at that time, and when he returned, all he saw was angels flying away from the ruined church. The graves are for all the children who were killed during that attack. Only four kids survived, the four that are living with him now.

He swore vengeance against the angels that day. He would never forgive the angels for taking away the children he swore to protect, but also he would never forvive himself for failing his kids. So now he's ready to become a devil butler to eradicate the angels.

Hanamaru leaves to go get his stuff ready to move into the mansion. While he's gone, the Master and Berrien talk a bit more about Hanamaru. Berrien reveals that Hanamaru has likely gone through even more terrible things in his past, even before the angel attack.

Hanamaru arrived at the church 10 years ago. At the time, the nun who was in charge of it found him collapsed in the forest, and she saved him. He was in very bad shape, especially his feet in particular. His feet had suffered a lot of damage because he had been walking or running non-stop-he basically walked the entire distance from the East to Central. Berrien doesn't know the reason, whether he was fleeing from his home or if something else drove him to leave. Berrien asked him about the situation, of course, but Hanamaru was very good at avoiding the topic and just didn't want to answer him.

During the attack 5 years ago, Hanamaru had a breakdown. He was saying things like "I still couldn't protect them" or "I swear I'll keep them safe next time". He was prostrating himself, kneeling and pressing his head against the ground.

So it's likely that the angel attack 5 years ago was not the first time he lost people who were important to him. Berrien thinks that the 4 kids that survived were all that kept Hanamaru here. Because they still needed him, he stuck around. If they weren't there… Berrien doesn't know what would have happened to Hanamaru.

The kids spring a surprise on Hanamaru: they've sorted out work and a place to live on their own, so they're going to move out of the church. They knew that if they stayed there on their own, Hanamaru would just be worrying nonstop over them, so they've figured out a way to support themselves and be independent so he won't have to worry.

At first it looks like Hanamaru is about to start crying about how they've grown up and how he'll miss them-- but then he reveals he was just kidding, did they really think this was going to make him start crying?

This is his face then btw 🤣

But he does admit that he's going to feel a little lonely without them, and starts a group hug for the kids before they all go their separate ways. The kids do start crying too, even though they're trying to remind each other that they decided they'd see Hanamaru off with a smile. They thank him for raising them and tell him that he better not die, and that they'll see each other again.

Back at the mansion, Miyaji, Lucas, and Teddy are there to welcome them back. Teddy and Hanamaru will be sharing a room, and Miyaji goes to give them a tour of the mansion and introduce the other butlers. Meanwhile, Berrien and Lucas stay behind to talk about their next move. They have 2 butlers, and so who's the last one that Berrien had his eye on?

Well, about that… Berrien says that this recruiment might be a little difficult. The third potential butler candidate is actually imprisoned, and scheduled to be executed in a few days. As Lucas and the Master are shocked at this news and wondering who it is, Berrien says that actually, this third candidate is someone they know already… Shinonome Yuuhan.

[ashtraythief]

I love when you talk about Sam and Dean! Your thoughts on them are so interesting, and you really get the characters. I haven’t watched the season post 11 because I couldn’t take all the manufactured drama between the two boys, so I’m guessing I need to pick it up? You talking about them being settled and domestic and choosing each other over and over again is SO sweet. I’ve always been curious to see how their dynamic would change in later seasons, but I was worried there would be more manufactured drama. Like the writers kept making them fight and it felt so forced (can’t even think of what season I’m talking about right now..). Does that stop? Do you even know what I’m talking about? I can’t take the manufactured drama to make a more interesting show, I just want those babies to be happy and loving and catch bad guys together

Oh, thank you nonnie! That’s so kind of you to say <3 I know I'm not usually part of the tumblr meta crowd, so this makes me go all mushy inside ;)

Yeah, I think I know what you mean. Seasons 6-11 have their good stuff, but the soulless split, the Amy thing, the Gadreel thing, the Amelia thing, the darkness thing, the MoC thing, there’s just lots of drama and conflict. That definitely dies down later. Which I guess makes things better, but I am personally not a big fan of the later seasons, despite brother domesticity. (For reference, I love seasons one to five, I do enjoy six and seven, I find the Amelia thing atrocious, but I like the back half of season eight. Nine and ten are ups and down and mostly wasted potential. Eleven is both better and worse. I think it has many good motw and some outstanding brother eps like Red Meat and Safe House, but I absolutely loathe that they brought Lucifer back for many reasons and I’m not a fan of how they did the Darkness. Season twelve could have been good, but too many things rubbed me the wrong way. I really dislike thirteen and fourteen. Fifteen is probably the worst, Carry On excluded, even though I think is isn’t a good episode as a whole, it just has outstanding scenes.) For your question of whether you should pick it up: there are people who enjoy the later seasons for precisely the brother harmony reasons. I’m not one of them. For me the bad outweighs the good and I only rewatch very few episodes. I’ll put the rest under the cut because it’s basically late season negativity though I will try to point out things that I think worked.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the domestic moments, I love SamandDean being a unit and together and killing bad guys, but the bad myth arcs, the inconsistent characters, the endless angel mess, the endless regurgitation of Lucifer and the frankly lazy writing and incompetent show running make most of it unwatchable for me. Initially, I quit the show halfway through season 12, because a lot of the motw eps were just not great (a lot of the lazy writing included dumbing down Sam and Dean for danger and peril, when you know they’ll survive anyway and you know they’re competent hunters, but the writers weren’t smart enough to pull off good suspenseful plots most of the time), and I found the return of Mary both utterly unnecessary and I also didn’t think her character was written well. I have very petty reasons for disliking some elements of the Men of Letters strongly, so yeah. And then I was staying with a friend when the wire fight finale aired and that sealed the deal for me for a while lol.

Eventually, when they announced the last season, I went back and forced myself through an entire rewatch and it was painful. I really don’t care at all about 13 and 14. I stopped giving any fucks about the angels after season 7 tbh. I really liked Cas and to some degree the angels until season 7, after that Cas’s characterization and powers were inconsistent and all over the place and no other angel stuck around long enough that you’d care about them and their power struggle (Hannah being the only exception). I know they needed to give J2 more time off and needed to give other characters more screen time, but that wasn’t it. I also didn’t care about the apocalypse hunters and the whole AU Michael thing. Never mind Lucifer. The addition of Jack could have been really good (though why they had to cast another white boy at that point in the show really is beyond me. No shade on Alex C, I think he did a decent job for the character and was downright delightful when possessed by a demon, but like, my dudes, at least try with the diversity when it comes to your most recurring regulars), and they actually could have used his struggle with his identity and his parentage and his relationship with Cas as a counterweight to Sam and Dean and give J2 time off. Instead the writers couldn’t decide whether Jack should be Cas or Sam and Dean’s foster son, and developed neither of these relationships as fully as they could have. There were great moments with all three of them and Jack, how their own history made them related to or raise the boy, but they couldn’t do it all in the time they had, so a more focused storytelling with Cas and Jack would have done wonders I think both for Cas as a character and a compelling side-plot to Sam and Dean’s adventures when J2 needed time off. Rowena and Charlie are bright spots in the later seasons, but Charlie was criminally killed off and Rowena could have gotten a little more screen time I think. 

What I like about the brothers and their conflict is that they both back each other’s plays, but also listen to each other. Their reunion after Dean’s Michael possession is beautiful, there are lovely brother bond moments (we see Poughkeepsie in action!), and there’s heart wrenching grief when Dean thinks Sam has died. Good stuff, really. There are occasionally decent motw eps, but overall to me 13 and 14 were a real chore, mostly because of the AU hunters I couldn’t really care about, but the show also didn’t make a good effort to make us care about them, and the whole Michael thing was just… like, Jensen tried, and later did a decent job, but also like…. why? Why the endless angel parade? There are good brother moments due to the whole Michael possession and there’s a mideason arc that has good moments and works, but again, I think there were better choices to move the plot forward than to recycle the angel idea over and over again. And of course Lucifer and Chuck and just… no. BuckLemming’s hard on for Mark P became increasingly unbearable and the return of Gabriel and the whole Princes of hell was also… idk. Cheap. Uninspired. Crowley’s reform of hell into a bureaucratic hellscape in season 6 was great, later on it became a boring corporate demon in suits kind of thing that lacked any kind of horror factor. I never was in the show for the horror aspect, but they watered down the concepts so much, took away any previous stakes and consequences that it all felt meaningless and inconsequential. Hell used to be scary. Going to hell used to be scary and this huge thing. Breaking out of hell used to be a huge thing that needed devil’s gates or heavenly armies. And later it’s just medieval-esque dungeons with stunt demons fifty to fifty-six standing around and everyone coming and going as they please. Hell turned into a joke, honestly and since it was seen so often in the later seasons it really grated on me.

Season 15 is an absolute dumpster fire with only very few good moments. Cannot recommend. Like they had one job of wrapping up the show, instead they managed to put out some of the most cringey visuals (ghosts running in daylight. Ghosts. Running. In Daylight. Running! In daylight!), ruin OG evil guys (see season one ghosts running in daylight), ruin canon in staggering uncaring ways, bring back other old characters with no real impact, have “fun episodes” that aren’t really funny. There are fun moments, like the fancy!chesters, and of course the three different AU glimpses with Samifer, BoyKing!Sam and demon!Dean, but you can just watch those snippets on youtube. And then they wrap up the big bad of the last few seasons without Sam and Dean actually doing much to contribute to that and only manage to go out on a high because covid impacted the filming of the last ep and Dabb’s kind of mediocre and weirdly paced script with an unfinished case that leaves more questions than closure is only saved by Jared and Jensen putting everything they had into the barn scene, the montages and the bridge scene, which are absolute shining beacons of two actors caring about their characters and saving the legacy of a show in the process. Like, no matter what happened post spn, they gave their all for Carry On, put so much thought in the dialogue, the costumes and the accessories, and they made it their own in a way that made it work. And I will be forever grateful for that.

I would apologize for this dump of negativity, but you asked 😅

So, I guess, if you want, you can do a selective rewatch and get the highlights and avoid the pitfalls? It’s what I do nowadays when I rewatch. I watch 1-5 mostly completely, and then every season, the number of eps I watch decreases. So I personally cannot recommend watching it all even though I know opinions differ wildly and you might miss out on cute brother moments if you skip some of the worse eps. I guess the development of the domesticity, of the security in each other is also something you miss out on if you only rewatch electively. So I guess if you can stomach the rest of it, it might be worth it. There are some people here on tumblr who draw out excellent meta of the later seasons and write excellent fic about it. I can’t remember specifics, but zmediaoutlet has really good thoughts on late season Sam and Dean. So if you want the brothers, try it, I think you’ll realize quickly if you can stomach the quality of the eps. Hope that helps 💜

[kpopwinemom]

1. What ship were you completely obsessed with when you were a teenager, but now you don't care anymore?

Kuro/Fai, OH MY GOD. I was so feral for Tsubasa and Holic, and now I simply don't care at all.

2. Which ship would you consider your first one?

I guess Kuro/Fai was the first for me to have opinions about, but honestly I'm not sure.

3. Your first fanfic belonged to which couple?

I have NO idea. I didn't write shipfic for a long time. The first one I posted on my first AO3 was Vriska/Kanaya, but I don't know that that was my first shipfic?

4. Do you remember the first couple you saw a fanart over?

NO idea. For real. None.

5. Did you ever get into ship discourse?

No, I am so shy.

6. Did you used to have any no-otp or have it currently?

YES. Bucky/Steve. Fuck that ship. Fuck it.

7. Who were the couple in the last fanfic you read?

Husk/Angel Dust for the fic I have been reading, Lucifer/Alastor for the fic I last finished reading.

8. Currently, do you have any OTPs?

Steve/Tony is really my only TRUE OTP. I don't think I've had any ships that I feel as strongly about before or since.

9. Is there any couple that, to this day, you are extremely mad about not getting together?

I simply do not care about what canon does, but I am livid about how MCU handled...everything.

10. Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they are kind of interesting?

I can be sold on everything except Steve/Bucky. FUCK that ship.

11. Do you have any ship that, in the past, was considered normal but now you would be cancelled over?

LOL. Yeah, probably. I'll write anything. I'll ship anything. I shipped things that would have gotten me cancelled at the time, like Snarry and Roy/Ed. I do not care.

12. What was your favorite crack ship?

I guess RoyEd. That has some good fic.

13. Who is the couple you read more fanfics of?

Steve/Tony. That was my OTP for a long, long time. I don't read it as much as I used to though.

14. What most of your ships usually have in common?

They tend to be the more obscure option LOL. I imprint on something no one likes and DEVOUR it.

15. What do you absolutely hate in a ship?

When Steve is shipped with anyone who isn't Tony Stark. I am so for real on this. You can sell me just about anything but those two are so married. I'll die mad about this.

(They can have exes before they get together but they are ENDGAME.)

[albaitross]

Reminder to self to flesh out and organize my girl's Persona/SMT verse at some point lmao lmao

(also possible verse notes below bc im still trying to figure it out but also might as well put what i have down in writing Somewhere before i forget again lol)

.

general stuff:

20+ lady, aroace - black hair and black eyes that turn red when she drops the human act, east-asian features

usually dressed in either the scruffiest of scruffy pajamas or looks like an elegant hostess. there is no in-between in her dress sense.

works either as a journalist or an editor for a publishing company, depending

is a half-angel, half-human existence i.e. Nephilim

thusly chased across the cosmos by both Law and Chaos - the former because she contrives divine Order by existing at all and the latter because her existence technically opposes the forces of Law, their nemesis, and thus they want her on their side

personally, she thinks this is all bullshit and would just like to live peacefully but noooooooooo the universal forces at play are Fucking Idiots

primarily lives on Earth, and is both fond of and skeptical of humanity's values - she likes how they can do true good and uplift their fellows, and yet, knows all too well that every human has the potential to commit despicable acts, if they don't outright succumb to such "temptation" quickly; this endeavor of moral grappling is prevalent no matter where and when she is, as she simply cannot understand why someone would want to do something 'bad' (though whether this is from her Law heritage or just simple human uncertainty is unclear).

despite the above, her personality is that of a cheerful yet coy person, used to acting in subtle and indirect ways - she is a generally nice and helpful person, but obtaining her assistance absolutely requires one to decipher a lot of cryptic speech and roundabout manipulations. and of course, convincing her at all to help; she wants no part in the power plays of Law and Chaos, preferring to remain a neutral bystander to practically everything unless it directly concerns her.

and due to all of the above, she has a weird view of herself - of what being half-human but also half-inhuman. at times, she's quite happy to be human, as she dislikes the blue-orange morality of Law and Chaos, but at other times, she dislikes humanity, due to their avarice and cruelty, and quite strongly thinks of herself as 'apart' from most ordinary humans, with extreme cases having her tilt firmly into a "not human and thus different compared to all these disgusting humans" headspace. overall and usually though, she sees that she's just another creature/existence in the vast universe, capable of all the same things, and as such doesn't think too hard about her own moralities (for her own mental wellbeing lol)

another thing she might like talking extensively about, aside from her philosophical psychoanalysis of humans, is the nature of truth - or rather, the fact that humans seem to not like the truth, and that the ones who do embrace it or at least willing to be open-minded are "worthy". this stems from past experiences trying to get people to believe her when it comes to supernatural things but constantly being brushed off until it's likely too late - she deeply sees herself as a modern Cassandra, as such.

game-specific details:

all games:

being half-human, she's capable of manifesting a persona despite kinda being half-persona already. if her persona is capable of evolving, she starts off with Satan and evolves into Lucifer and then to Helel - otherwise, her only persona would be Helel.

she can also see and visit the Velvet Room, but she would be treated more like a passing visitor who isn't really allowed to access the room's services (though she's welcome to just chat amicably with the assistants).

regarding roaming mob shadows - there's a truly random 50-50 chance that they will or will not attack her on sight. most are generally confused about her existence, sensing the human but also not-human part of her. that said, some factors do affect this: more "intelligent" shadows will likely not attack her, while shadows that be considered under the Law alignment are more likely to be aggressive with her. regardless, she is able to communicate with all shadows.

generally, she is associated with Light/Bless, Dark/Curse, Psy and Almighty elements. more lowkey, she is also associated with Fire.

P3:

capable of walking around in the Dark Hour with or without an awakened persona. she likely will not intervene with SEES, as she doesn't particularly care if humanity dooms themselves, but is still curious to see how things will unfold regarding Nyx - if they will give up in the face of their stupidity, or be able to fight what's to come.

post-P3, she's quite impressed with the protagonist for giving themselves up to become the Seal, and sees them as one of the rare examples of humanity's truest potential and worth.

P4:

lowkey on Izanami's side tbh, but still not actively intervening bc again, it doesn't really concern her, also she's curious to see what the Humans(TM) will do. she is absolutely able to enter the Midnight Channel and clearly navigate the fog with or without an awakened persona - but because she's still partly human, she can also manifest a shadow of her own while in there.

her shadow will likely be rather misanthropic of humans, but also all kinds of people and existences, wondering how everyone can force their own views and powers over others - but simultaneously, thinking that since she understands all this, she's undoubtedly better than everyone, as a person with "better moral mores", and that if anyone should decide the Order of the universe, it ought to be her and her insight.

P5:

honestly not a fan of Mr. Igor Impersonator, and is steering extremely clear of the Velvet Room throughout the plot. this also means that she utterly avoids entering the Metaverse unless she absolutely must, and generally tries to avoid directly being in the wardens' line of sight if so - which is to say, she can directly enter the deeper levels, but this requires a lot of effort on her part + she's more astral projecting her spirit into the other side, rather taking her full, actual self there, which can be far more dangerous to herself in addition to leaving her body vulnerable in the meantime.

(if she meets Jose, she will be very fond of him, because he's so innocently simple to her. she will give him all the stamps he wants sygyusgyusuy)

Also is not intervening in the Phantom Thieves matter, though she's still closely following the developments as she likes their rebellious spirit against the norms of society

she's most probably a journalist, so she will be quite informed of anything on the news.

when Maruki(TM) happens in the third semester, she will also be affected - her delusion is that she's a normal human living with a normal family. though, the whole time, she will feel "extremely off".

should she realise she's been put under a delusion, she will feel quite annoyed at Maruki, because she already knows that as much as she wants to be normal, she simply cannot, and the experiences she's had as a "not human" existence are deeply foundational to her own beliefs - putting her in a dream of otherwise is no better than enforcing control over others, even if it's for their own benefit. that said, she also highly empathizes with his ideals of making everyone happy. so overall, she's a little conflicted with him, and ultimately pities him as a human who is simply trying his best, however foolishly.

[petitprincess1]

You seem like a good person to ask this, why do antis keep saying that Hazbin Hotel is homophobic? And what is with "supporting Vivzie changing the voice actors makes you an absolutely horrible person who's cruelty is only second to Vivzie's?"

They're idiots. ....What more can I say? Lol x3

I really don't know where the idea of Vivzie being homophobic comes from. I know they often bring up Angel Dust because he's very open with being gay and makes sex jokes, but there are people that act that way. Hell, you don't even have to be gay to make sex jokes. Not to mention, Angel dying in the 40s, where people strongly disliked anyone on the LGBT+ spectrum ESPECIALLY the mafia, just adds onto why he's so carefree about it.

If a gay character or irl person isn't acting a specific way you want them to, that is a YOU problem. Not them. They ain't hurting you. At all. Nor are they "making fun of gay people". They're being themselves, deal with it.

As for the actor thing....get over it. Actors being switched out or changed are a thing. It doesn't even have to be a pilot thing. Could be a scheduling conflict or death or anything else. You're not cruel for supporting a show that has switched up actors, especially when said show hasn't even begun. Definitely when your show has only had a pilot and things are clearly being changed for the whole show.

[aroarachnid]

Teruhashi Kokomi from Saiki K for the character ask?

thank u for the ask!!!

first impression?

tbh I thought she was a little annoying at first. saiki was very uniterested and she still kept folllowing him around ://

impression now

i love her!!! i think shes such an interesting and likeable character not because of her "perfection" but because of her flaws, and the way that she genuinely tries to help other people and brighten their day in spite of them. she comes across as a little vain at times but at the root of her character she seriously just wants to make other people happy- shes not vain, she just knows how pretty she is. its a really intersing deconstruction of the "pretty girl who doesnt know it" trope. i also feel really bad for her given how much masking she has to do and the incredibly obsessive fans she has

favourite moment

"i wish saiki were here, even if he would just sit there with a blank expression the whole time" (or smth like that)

idk i just thought it was sweet and kinda funny

idea for a story

i think this has been done before, but one where teruhashi is an actual angel/ godess? shes definitely got smth supernatural going on- look at that glow!

unpopular opinion

i strongly dislike (romantic) terusai. no offense to the fans its just not my style. she comes across as too pushy in the show :/ idk how unpopular this is tho lol

favourite realtionship

aiura and teruhashi i feel would be so cool together, whether romantically or platonically

favourite headcanon

autistic teruhashi!!!!

[joshneku]

post-NTWEWY shipping chart, updated w/ commentary

JoshNeku: Post-TWEWY (before AND), I prefer JoshNeku from the original universe, only my own timeline, where Neku gets 3 years not FRIDGED in Shinjuku, but actually alive and gets to finish school before he chooses to stay by Josh’s side in the UG while alive, without sacrificing his RG friendships. So, kind of like Signal to Noise, but different in parts.

Sho/Rindo: I love the imagery of Sho chaotically waltzing Rindo off rooftops as he flies them around in elegant golden circles, maniacally laughing here and there about math. I like the idea that he dispelled of the bird noise on purpose so they wouldn’t over-accumulate on the last day, and that Sho is not pure selfishness and I wanted actual character development for him should he ever succeed the Composer. He will never be suitable if he remains selfish, imo. I want Rindo to have a theme a bit deeper than just dealing with responsibility, as well. But as Rin is in canon, they’re not very suitable for each other, hunh. Regrettable. Maybe if NTWEWY went deeper on themes of apathy and mere self-interest...? But that’s like... the opposite of his very “in-group before all the rest” theme lol...

EriShiki: NTWEWY robbed us. where tf is our confirmation that Gatto Nero is both Eri and Shiki’s brands, huh?! | EriShiki used to be my ideal relationship bc I used to be a fashion major and wanted a Shiki to my Eri :’) 

Eijiru: lol kimchi pizza shipping

Hane←Neku: Idol-crush, admiration, deep respect, and some leftover bitterness but ultimately forgiveness. I like things subtle and lovely, and very tactful on both ends. I like it w/ Neku still being most of all head-over-heels over Josh (regrettably for him). Doting Hanekoma would be lovely. I would love for them to have each other as a muse. I want Hanekoma to see Neku as a light of hope for the UG.

Hane/Hazuki: I just want Hazuki to learn how to give a shit like Neku and Rindo do, yo. imo he needs Hanekoma’s expertise if he’s to ever unfuck Shinjuku lmao lend him out for a deal with the Upper Plane xD

HazRin: I’m eeehh about the ship (not negative, just don’t care that much), but I like the art ppl draw for it. My gripe is that their character designs don’t match for me, that’s it, lol. I’ll only ship it in a specific instance, and maaaybe if a Swallow AU but don’t count on it. I don’t like that Hazuki’s interpretation is so limited/skewed to “he must be evil/weird/--it’s so biased. What, because we were against him at one point, he must be evil? We don’t know anything about him, and I’d rather people not make assumptions. I’d be fine if it didn’t seem like 90%+ of the content lol and some of the art is still nice for that interpretation but yeah, more open-minded takes on Hazuki would be appreciated, thanks. Like. Why is he a social pariah? Dude’s pretty normal? Lots of people don’t feel like they have something they feel that strongly for. It’s normal????? Sure, he scoured a city, but from the viewpoint of an angel...? For all we know the angels were right and Shinjuku really would have poisoned the other grounds. Dude was just following policy, no? If some angels have such a different view of the world, I don’t see the need to judge him for it rather than make him understand. imo people should be more willing to understand before judging others.

Cocogumi: Coco gives me that vibe, lol. and my dream relationship is w/ someone I can do couple cosplays with and go to South Italy in Matera (OTP related...) with for our honeymoon... if we can share hobbies, that’s extra cute. These two are visually appealing, but there isn’t much there either hunh, besides that Coco is doting. And shot Neku (partially) for her lmao...

Rindoka: Acceptable for a het ship for this kind of game, but that’s a low bar lol. Wow, Shouka has an actual personality!! But other than that, they’re a bit boring. Some of the art is cute. That’s it. I mostly dislike it because of ppl who ppl who act like the ship is more than it is, and people who go around bullying/ostracizing others for liking “problematic” ships.

Bret: They’re too similar tbh lol. two dumbasses in an idiot pod

Frin/do: pretty much every frin/do shipper I’ve met besides like 2 are antis. Turned me WAY off of it, but yeah, that Rindo doesn’t seem to care about him as much as like, Shouka for instance, doesn’t help. There just isn’t much there in canon imo, sorry. I don’t care for friends to lovers unless the pining is good personally

I don’t think HT Masuoka knows how old Neku is lol

Ayaka and Uzuki look good together visually, but haaaa.... nothing there obvi lol. You can tell I’m thirsty for good wlw. See, Saika/Ayaka in StN was good... yummy...

I really don’t like ships I find to be heterotypical lol... like if I wouldn’t ship it if they were mlm, I wouldn’t ship it as het, visa versa.

please give Rhyme a girlfriend i’m begging

[castielcommunism]

Hellooo I wanted to say I really love your angel tag! Which brings me to, what did you think of Heaven post S15 after Jack? I know we got so very little information about it, how it's run now, what angels are expected to do/be afterwards but like, the question of a "reformed Heaven" is really fascinating to me

Thank you!

I hate it completely lol. On a personal level it’s a horrific ending for Jack’s character - he was constantly horrified at the idea of not being useful, of not being able to justify his own existence, of defining himself entirely by his strategic value to the Winchesters (much like Cas). So making Jack god, THE most powerful and useful person in the universe is awful. He’s narratively being validated for a fear that plagued him for his entire short life. And that sucks and I hate that!

It is also bizarre on a broader level because the show has demonstrated over and over that the structure of Heaven itself is unjust. They correct this at the end in some small way by making it a communal space rather than a bunch of individual rooms, but the process by which people enter Heaven and are judged ostensibly remains the same. It’s assumed that jack makes more angels and probably resurrects some, so I have no idea if they operate the same, but we at least know Cas and the few other angels are still around. And a big thing throughout the show is the issue of having a bunch of angels who either stop following orders or have no orders to follow - giving them free range to make their own choices without giving them any tools to figure out how to MAKE choices is a bad idea! So like does Jack reinstate iron rule? Does he like. Run angel school to teach them how to be good. idk

The substance of the show’s critique of institutions mostly boils down to “the only moral unit of society is the individual”, so I’m not expecting supernatural to be nuanced or coherent in arguing why a punitive, panopticon-like organisation like Heaven (as depicted in the show at least) is fundamentally bad, but its solution to Heaven’s problem is to put a good guy in charge of the evil bad institution so he can change it from the inside and make it good.

There’s been a general ideological drift in spn over time, moving from being right-libertarian at the beginning to more nominally liberal and progressive (heavy emphasis on nominal here), and I think Jack becoming God is a very good example of that. spn originally sets up Heaven as an inherently antagonistic force that is infringing on the autonomy and liberty of the brothers by asking them to join a much greater cause (which is the apocalypse lol). by the end of the show that critique is gone or absent, replaced with “well the organisation ITSELF isn’t bad, we just need our guy inside the structure and he’ll fix it up”. And like it’s fine for a show to change its mind about itself or play with different angles on a problem, and I’m not necessarily mourning the show becoming less libertarian over time, but it makes for a politically incoherent story when you go from “heaven is bad bc big institutions are bad” to “institutions are good as long as the dude running them is good”

I’m a bit scatterbrained atm so apologies if this is rambly/incoherent but basically I strongly dislike the end state of heaven in the show. I don’t think it’s a satisfactory ending for Jack as a character, I don’t think it’s a narratively appropriate ending given all the criticisms of heaven that preceded it, and overall it just feels lazy and boring and bad.

[69420angrycrabs]

music themed questions: 4 14 24 34?

4. name 1-3 LEAST favorite songs off one of your favorite albums

fallen by evanescence: hello (i very rarely like slow songs lol) 14. is there any band/musician who you really strongly dislike? if so, why?

i hate kanye west because hes an asshole lmao

24. name a song that you associate with being angry

oh damn thats like half my playlist, lets see tho,,,,, blood // water by grandson

34. pick one of your favorite bands/artists and choose a song by them that you associate with each season

oh shit uhh lets pick hozier spring - work song

summer - angel of small death & the codeine scene

autumn - dinner & diatribes

winter - foreigners god

do i have any idea why i picked these? nope! it is simply The Vibe

questions from [here], if anyone wanted to send more! :)

[icy-hxt]

can you tell me what you think about the kids at 1a?

hi anon, I'm sorry that I took so long to answer this, when I saw your ask I felt really lazy, because there's too many people in the class lol

this is going to be a long post, since we have 20 characters to cover, so I'm putting it under the cut

okay, first of all I want to say that I don't hate any of the kids at 1a besides mineta, BUT, I do have a feeling of indifference towards at least half of them and do dislike some, I always thought that the story would been benefited if there were less people in the classes, since hori would've been able to develop them better, so don't expect me to talk a lot about everyone. also, don't take everything that I say too seriously, this is not a character analysis, I'm just doing it for fun.

anyway, the order that I'm using to list them is their seating arrangement in the class, so let's start

yuga aoyama: I already said this here before but I really like aoyama, he's ridiculous in the best way possible, he feels like a character that horikoshi took away from ouran high school club or something. since the chapter where he and deku became friends were released I felt like he deserved more screentime, because his backstory about him thinking of himself as different than the other kids in the class because of his quirk being "defective" is really interesting, I always wanted to see more of his friendship with deku and he overcoming his fears (since he was shown to be easily frightened)

mina ashido: I LOVE mina, I think that her design is so cool and her personality is really likable, when we had the kirishima flashback and we saw her protecting her friends from machia even though she was scared too was the moment that I decided that we deserved to see more of her in the story, I really liked to see she having a bigger role for a female character in a shonen, I wasn't too bad in the war but I still want more

tsuyu asui: okay, this is going to be controversial because I feel like everyone likes her, but I feel really indifferent towards her, maybe I was influenced by one of my friends that really doesn't like her but since that scene where she says that going to rescue bakugo is the same as acting like villains I started to not care about her all that much, and yes, I know that she admitted that she was wrong and everything but yeah, I don't really click with her personality (but I don't hate her, please don't be mad at me kdbdgsusj)

tenya iida: ah, what a respectable little man iida is, I really like him, I think that the way that he take everything so seriously is hilarious, like him acting super dramatically in their exams to be as similar as possible to his vision of what a villain is. I really like how he grew since the stain arc and how he decided to be a hero that prioritizes the safety of others in detriment to fighting the villains. I'm really happy that he became the focus of the story lately and that he was the one who could hold deku's hand, I want him to have a bigger role in the story for now, maybe even encountering with stain again and showing to him that he's now a great hero

ochaco uraraka: I love her personality, she's really cute, and her fight with bakugo at the beginning of the story was a highlight to me back then, but, I feel like her character became too much attached to deku after aoyama made her realize that she likes him, almost felt like her personality was gone and her only defining feature was having a crush on him, anyway, thank god that apparently she's going to have importance right now in the story because she's too much of a cool character to become just the romance interest for the male lead

mashirao ojiro: denki playing with his tail is cute, I think that is funny how horikoshi always describes him as the plain one, it was cool when he refused to participate in the sports festival because he didn't felt like he deserved

denki kaminari: oh this sweet dumbass, I love him, he's so funny and cute, I think that is that funniest thing how he just decided to call bakugo "kacchan" and is super overly friendly with him and bakugo just lets him, I actually don't think that he's "stupid" as part of the fandom seems to think, I strongly believe that people can be smart in their own ways, maybe he's not the brightest in math for example but he already showed to be able to come up with strategies, I feel like denki has a lot of anxiety inside of him because of his quirk, but i also feel like he's really genuine in trying to be a hero, overall I really like him, he's really sweet

eijiro kirishima: this swee- I mean, super manly man is amazing, I feel like kirishima is for bnha what rock lee was for naruto, I really really really like him, I love his personality and I love even more his backstory, he's really a great person and he deserves all the love that he get from the fandom, I hope that we're going to see even more of him in the future

koji koda: he's adorable, his voice is really adorable the japanese dub, his quirk is like a disney princess

rikido sato: he bakes, I like cakes and pies, we would've been best friends

mezo shoji: since I saw that hori said that he uses his mask because people are afraid of him I'm impatiently waiting for his face to be shown, and if he doesn't look like a junji ito monster or something I'm going to be pretty disappointed, anyway, I like his personality, he was really cool at the forest arc (I clearly don't remember the arcs names, I'm sorry lol), and I feel like he could have a bigger role in the story if hori finally decides to address the prejudice against people with mutant quirks

kyoka jiro: she kind of reminds me of a girl that used to bully me in middle school because of the way that she treats denki but I still like her lol I liked how she learned that is okay liking to sing and music in general and being a hero at the same time, because after all a lot of people were saved by music and/or their favorite artists, but since I find her quirk so cool I wanted to she her fighting more

hanta sero: he's funny, even funnier than denki, he has a really relatable sense of humor and I love him for that, his quirk is really cool, but I feel kind of bad for him because deku now has practically the same one and he's not the only spiderman in the story anymore (his quirk being similar to spiderman was actually what made me like him in the first place because peter is my favorite hero ever)

fumikage tokoyami: my 12yo emo self shakes inside of me every time that I see him, anyway, I really like him, how would I not? he has a bird head, he's nice without being overly friendly and dark shadow is really cute, I don't really remember everything that happened in the war but I remember him saying to hawks that he believes in him, so I really wanted to see him frustrated at his mentor because of what he did to twice please horikoshi address the consequences of twice's death, I'm tired of waiting

shoto todoroki: ah my angel, shoto was the reason why I started reading the manga back in 2015, I knew that he was going to be my favorite just by seeing his character design. I love shoto, I want him to become the happiest person in the world because he really deserves it, I know that everyone thinks that deku is what an ideal hero looks like but o me it is shoto, he's kind, sweet, forgiving, has a heart made of gold and is just genuinely a good person, I could talk about him for a whole week without pause and still find more things to compliment about him so let's move on before I write over 10000 words about how much I love him

tooru hagakure: she... exists...

katsuki bakugo: while shoto is my favorite, I have to admit that bakugo has the best character development in the hero side of the story, I used to hate him at the beginning of the series but now I love him, a lot, he shows that horikoshi knows how to write a compelling redemption arc if he planned it since the beginning, I love that he started only having "fight" points at the entrance exam for ua to now having his first priority at saving people, bakugo is other that I could talk about for hours so let's move on

izuku midoriya: I like deku when he's not putting his nose at the todofam business, he's a good kid who needs some self esteem urgently, the way that he never seemed to care about his own well being always made me nervous, even though I never felt like he was in real danger, he's the mc for a reason, to summarize: I like him personality wise but some of the narrative choices that hori made for him are not my favorites

minoru mineta: I don't care, I hope for him to vanish from existence

momo yaoyorozu: she's the stereotypical anime girl with glasses (but without glasses in this case), I like her personality, she's really cute, her quirk is neat and she's super smart but, everytime that she puts her hero costume on... I feel super uncomfortable... this is not her fault of course but I think that I would like her even more if she was less sexualized

I could write more if I take more time to think, but I'm not going to do that today, if you want to know my opinion about other characters or something more specific about the kids feel free to send me other ask

also, I'm sorry if there's any atrocious grammar mistakes on this, I didn't reviewed the text and wrote just what I had in my head in the moment at four am

[whitewolfofwinterfell]

hi, shannen. it's been a minute, but i was reliving some buffy nostalgia today and wondering if watching tvd for the first time at 28 is worth it lol. and by this i mean that i remember you saying a while back that tvd is one of those shows that might not hit for you the same way if you saw it for the first time now. i realized today that at the end of the day i'll always kind of be "meh" about btvs since all the platonic relationships (i.e. buffy and giles, dawn, faith, etc.) always grabbed me more than the love triangle. is it worth it starting tvd after liking but not necessarily loving btvs? is it worth it just to see what everyone on this site is talking about (i use the word is because of legacies lol)? some of it looks interesting but i'm not looking forward to the love triangle.

Hey Fatmia! It has been a while. I hope you’ve been well.

Tbh, there’s no simple answer to your question because there’s so many factors to take into consideration when deciding whether or not to watch TVD. So please bear with me whilst I break this down.

Reasons to watch TVD

TVD has a lot of great aspects to it:

A strong cast of characters

Well written character arcs

Interesting plots

A great setting

A distinct TVD aesthetc that I just love in terms of music, tone, setting and production

Lots of great relationships (platonic and romantic)

Intruiging lore and perspectives on the supernatural

If you’re a fan of the vampire genre, TVD is well worth a watch because it plays with the genre in a fun way and does some interesting stuff with it. Although it’s commonly perceived as a typical “teen” show, it goes beyond that. @sulietsexual​ watched TVD for the first time two years ago and it was interesting to see her views as someone going in to the show with a completely fresh perspective. She made a great video essay on this topic and spoke about how her perceptions of TVD changed after she watched the show. She also addresses the triangle and how she felt that it was written and handled well. Although I don’t necessarily agree with all her views, my history with the fandom and attachment to Stelena as a ship is so entrenched that this hugely impacts my perspective of the triangle so I’m really not the best person to ask. So if you don’t mind spoilers, I’d recommend watching the video to get an idea of the redeeming qualities of TVD.

Reasons not to watch TVD

But like any show, for all its good, there’s also bad:

The quality goes downhill from Season 4 onwards

A lot of the original cast (and best characters) leave

Some characters are done a huge injustice

Some poor relationship choices

If you are a big shipper and strongly dislike triangles, that in itself might be a reason not to watch. Although there’s a triangle on BTVS, it exists more within the fandom than on the show itself. When Buffy is with Angel, they’re exclusive and Spike is a supporting character. By the time Buffy and Spike become canon, Angel has moved to L.A and has his own show, so the two relationships exist separately from one another. In comparison, the triangle on TVD is established in Season 1 and continues until Season 4 and there’s a lot of emphasis on it, particularly in Seasons 3 and 4. The triangle is used as a way to provide the Salvatore brothers with character development and is very central to their relationship with each other. Whereas the BTVS triangle is never really part of the narrative or development of the characters in the same way.

However, I do feel that the triangle in TVD is handled well in a lot of ways. I just personally didn’t like the way it was handled from Season 4 onwards. And that’s not just because my ship wasn’t endgame but for a lot of other reasons. Putting that aside, it is an interesting, well-built triangle and the dynamics between Elena, Damon and Stefan are fascinating and believable. I actually really liked the triangle in some ways (and wrote a whole fanfiction about it!) but there were some choices were made that I disliked.

Comparing TVD and BTVS

In terms of comparing TVD and BTVS as a whole, they are very different shows and your feelings towards BTVS won’t necessarily have any impact on your enjoyment of TVD. I like both shows but for very different reasons. BTVS is an older show (it aired in 1997 and TVD in 2009) with a more comedic, young and simplistic tone and premise. TVD feels like a more mature, complex show to me. It also has a more developed lore and nuanced perspective on morality and vampires. Overall, if you’re looking at the two shows in their entirety I’d say BTVS is stronger because I really dislike the later seasons of TVD, but I think that Seasons 1-3 of TVD are better than the whole of BTVS. There’s genuinely not a single thing I dislike about the early seasons of TVD but with BTVS, I love a handful of episodes and the rest is just a middle of the ground “good” for me.

Conclusion

I still think TVD is worth the watch. The fandom soured a lot of things for me back in the day, but it has changed a lot over the years and is a generally positive fandom to be part of. Watching it now so many years after it ended and when the fandom is less active will all work in your favour. Although the triangle might be off-putting, it is one of the better triangle’s I’ve seen in terms of the perspective it brings to the characters and their relationships. There are also a lot of other things to love about the show. Despite not enjoying the later seasons, I’m glad I watched the show if only for the great characters like Katherine, Klaus, Rebekah and Stefan. There are also a lot of incredible platonic ships on the show, so if you’re a fan of platonic ships, there’s a lot of them for you to enjoy. If you dislike it or the triangle becomes too much, you can stop watching. But if you’re curious about the show I say give it a go and see what you think.