#i soooo desperately want Gabriel to have just ONE OTHER CHARACTER. JUST ONE

[human-souls-buy-dopamine]

ABOUT TIME!!! BITCH CARES A LITTLE TOO MUCH FOR THE FERRYMEN HE'S FRUITY

@starheirxero PLEAse watch this im DYING

[miraculouscontent]

Lmao wanna share your thoughts on the episode

*SLAMS HAND ON DESK*

YES

(As with “Gamer 2.0″, I’m not going to talk about the fact that this episode is out-of-order because I don’t think that’s fair to the episode itself.)

“Party Crasher” is honestly one of those episodes and, in a way, feels like a few past episodes in its weirdness.

And it, unfortunately, has a lot of problems. Plot problems, characters problems, pacing problems… it’s like a multiple tier serving tray of issues.

Soooo, let’s get into them.

[Squandering Squads]

Honestly didn’t think I’d be talking about this again so soon, yet here we are.

I never liked the idea of the “girl squad.” Don’t like thinking about it, don’t like talking about it, and don’t like when it appears in episodes. It’s not that I can’t see Marinette, Alya, Rose, Juleka, Alix, and Mylene as good friends, but they just kind of “appeared” as a close-knit group with no explanation.

Alix in “Timebreaker”, for example. That banner could’ve been requested by anyone, and despite Alix describing Marinette as “one of the chicks I hang out with”, we never actually see why they’re friends or how they became friends. All we really know is that she’s part of the “girl squad” and that she’s in Marinette’s art club. This claim that Alix is presumably friends with Marinette is a line that’s easy to miss and that would make one go “wait, what? when?” when it’s heard. Marinette does go after Alix in “Timebreaker”, but she goes after everyone. She’s a caring person, so it’s in her nature.

Speaking of Marinette going after people to comfort them, there’s also Mylene in “Horrificator”, but Mylene doesn’t seem to have any sort of relationship to Marinette. She leaves Marinette alone when Marinette goes to find her, but that could just as easily be because Marinette showed care in looking for her, so Horrificator decided to leave her be (much like how she had a fondness for Ivan since he comforted her). “The Mime” also doesn’t explicitly say that they’re friends, as Mylene’s father needed an emergency fix on his hat and Mylene could’ve just rushed to Marinette because she’s the expert in this matter. It and “Timebreaker” just seemed like cases where most of the class were vague acquaintances but know that Marinette is the person to go to for certain issues.

Marinette and Juleka actually interact by the end of “Reflekta”, so her being friends with Rose and Juleka makes at least a little more sense (I’d imagine that a friend of Juleka’s is a friend of Rose’s), but even then, the whole girl squad just being able to get along and be friends because they’re girls and they’re friendly I guess just bores me. At the very least, maybe they could have some of the girls not get along with each other, but also not mind working together for Marinette (I could see Juleka and Alya not getting along, for example).

It’s too easy and far too convenient that all the girls (excluding Chloe and Sabrina) happen to get along perfectly without even a single boy added to the mix. I mean, both “Dark Cupid” and “Animan” had Marinette interacting with Kim (Kim even goes directly to Marinette’s house to hide in the latter episode), so why can’t they have a friendship?

The reason I bring this up is because we now have the “boy squad”, which may very well be even worse than the girl squad.

When have any of these boys (excluding Nino of course) interacted with Adrien in any meaningful way? Ivan, Kim, and Max have all had more interactions with Marinette than Adrien, and they haven’t interacted much with Nino either, excluding background details (like Nino being there for Kitty Section, which Ivan is a part of, in “Captain Hardrock”).

Not only that, but this episode seems to forget the fact that Kim bullied Ivan (or was at least messing with/mocking him) all the way back at the start of the series (”Origins”), yet we’re just expected to accept that they’re friends now and maybe patched that little detail up off-screen? I mean, I don’t consider Kim to be a bully, but I certainly don’t consider him to be friends with Ivan either.

And just to complete the boy squad, Nathaniel and Marc also make excuses and show up later because of course they do. Can’t miss that other boy in the class or it wouldn’t be a complete set, now would it?

I just… I hate this idea of separating the genders. It’s one thing if it’s a special occasion, like a “boys issue” that only the boys feel they should handle (or perhaps Ivan and/or Nino want to get something for their girlfriend and are desperate for another’s opinion, but are afraid to ask one of the girls because they’re afraid that the girl will accidentally blurt it out to the girlfriend in question), but all they’re doing is setting up a party for Adrien!

And speaking of which…

[Party Foolhardy]

I have so many questions about the set-up and logic behind this party.

So many.

Let’s start with the fact that the boys are blatantly and self-admittedly ditching the girls to do this party. The girls are out doing hard labor and the boys ditched them to set up a party for Adrien. Heck, Max even points out that the girls are 100% certain to be disappointed if they know they’re doing this, and Nino later stresses that their afternoon is going to be ruined if Marinette catches them!

He’s openly admitting to the fact that they’re doing something horrible to the girls! I’d expect that kind of bluntness from Chloe, not Nino!

Now, given that, I put most of the blame on Nino for this, because he’s the planner of this situation and even prepared excuses for why each boy couldn’t make it to the tree planting. Ivan also makes it clear that he wasn’t aware of the time frame they were doing it in (Kim backs this up too, simply having forgotten the date), so yeah, Nino’s the mastermind.

But, ultimately, they all chose to continue doing this. Ivan, Kim, and Max, however unsure they seemed at these excuses, all dove into this plan “for Adrien”, which is so hard for me to be invested in when they hardly know Adrien. Also, none of them stopped Nino from taking their phones and hanging up on Marinette, nor did they disagree when Nino tried to make this party about being “only boys.”

And I have to ask why. Why does it have to be only for boys if Nino was already pretending like the girl squad was doing their own thing and couldn’t make it (meaning that he must’ve had multiple reasons for doing this)? The whole point of this party is that they wanted Adrien to have a good time because Adrien doesn’t get to very often.

Exactly what is gender-exclusive about that? Like, Nino sees an opportunity to throw a little party for Adrien and he apparently goes, “WELP BETTER MAKE SURE IT’S A MAN’S PARTY”?

And I could understand if more parties were able to be planned, but Nino knows how horrible Adrien’s schedule can be! Gabriel has a habit of canceling Adrien’s personal plans for no reason and also dislikes anyone coming with Adrien to his house, not just girls. There’s no guarantee that they’ll get another chance like this!

Shouldn’t the idea here be “the more, the merrier”? Wouldn’t Adrien be happier with all of his supposed friends showing up and not just the guys?

Also, y’know, no girls allowed, but a bunch of grown men hanging out at a party for teenage boys isn’t even remotely weird, right? Who cares if they’re basically total strangers!

(Wait–Fred??? Is that Mylene’s dad??? …I know he’s just there to fill in the background but DUDE, YOUR DAUGHTER’S BOYFRIEND IS IN THE ROOM WHILE SHE’S OUT TAKING CARE OF PLANTS.)

And there was no reason for the party to interfere with the planting that the girls were doing unless Nino did it specifically to ensure that they were excluded and would be busy. Gabriel was gone for the whole weekend, so this party could’ve been done at any other time during then.

Even if Nino’s plan was to bribe Gorilla again with more figures on another day of the weekend, it’s ridiculous that he had to lie about it.

And to his girlfriend, no less! This entire season has continuously stressed how much Alya and Nino are dating (to the point where they asked Marinette more than once to babysit so they could go out together), and then this episode not only has them completely ignore that fact, but it doesn’t even make Alya–the supposed journalist who would naturally be suspicious of Nino not wanting to spend time with her for once in their dang relationship–question why all of the guys have an excuse that they texted at the same time? It’s not out-of-character for Marinette to investigate the matter, but seriously, Alya? You’re not even going to look into it?

(They could’ve at least made a joke about Nino trying to include Alya as “one of the guys” and have the others call him out for his hypocrisy.)

And regardless of his apology, Nino feeling bad about it by the end is practically irrelevant. He should’ve felt bad in the first place.

Like, how convenient is it that Nino only feels bad after they were caught red-handed and the party is already over?

It’s almost as if his initial lack of regret was for the sake of the plot and its comedy instead of being a damaging character trait to be corrected.

The show also completely skips over the detail of this boys-only party. Nino doesn’t feel bad about throwing this party; he just feels bad for lying about it.

So, leaving the girl squad to do hard labor so they can throw a party that could’ve been thrown at any other time during the weekend is okay as long as he tells the truth? I… okay?????

…This episode–this show, really–seems to have a thing towards lies and just lying in general. We’ve had multiple past episodes where a big deal has been made about lying, and the fact that a character lied usually overrides what caused the lie in the first place, causing the overridden thing to be ignored completely (hi, “Weredad”).

But of course, it doesn’t just come down to that alone because, no matter what, Marinette always seems to take more heat for it than she deserves.

When Nino left with the other boys, that was six less people who were working on the plants (Nino, Ivan, Kim, Max, Nathaniel, and Marc; plus Markov technically as a seventh). This meant that they doubled the work for everyone else.

Marinette leaving was only one less person, and she only left because she knew that something was up with the boys.

(and, y’know, she’d actually helped for a while before she left)

But the boys barely question Nino on the whole party thing. Oh, sure, they’re unsure at first, but they go along with it pretty easily.

What does Marinette get? Tikki, who is unable to let this situation go.

As usual, Tikki is freaking out about Marinette’s “lies” without looking at any of the possible context.

Like, okay, first, she’s upset that Marinette lied her way out of planting with the girls to investigate the boys’ lies (Tikki’s freak out is before Marinette explains this, but the point is that Tikki doesn’t even wait to hear Marinette’s reason).

Second, Tikki is upset when Marinette wants to be a part of Adrien’s party, and then freaks out again when Marinette suggests telling a half-truth to get in.

What Tikki fails to realize is that Marinette is trapped right now, and Tikki doesn’t bother to offer any sort of helpful advice on what they should do about it (as usual).

Looking at this from Marinette’s perspective, Marinette has realized that the boys have lied to the girls, and they’re also throwing a party without the girls even knowing about it.

In the process of confirming this, Marinette has taken a train ride in order to get to Adrien’s house. Getting back on another train to return to the girls without doing anything there now seems like a waste.

I’ve talked about this before, but Marinette has had no luck with spending time with Adrien. Now, she has a chance right in front of her.

And what else is she supposed to do? Like, sure, Tikki, let’s just have Marinette go back to Mylene and the others, then proceed to tell Mylene to her face, “By the way, I know that your boyfriend is lying to you and so were all the other boys.”

That would not go over well. Marinette has confirmed her suspicions, but the problem then lies in what she’s supposed to do about it. Even the boys know that the girls will be upset if they find out about this party and, if they’re not upset about the party, they’ll be upset by the boys lying.

(Also, we confirmed in “Chameleon” that not telling anyone about someone’s lying is totally okay as long as you can confide in someone about it, and Tikki would probably fit in that category, so why should Marinette do anything, right?)

Ideally, if it were me, then yes, I’d want the truth to come out. I’d still try to get into the party, but only to try and convince the guys to admit their own wrongdoing before I do it for them.

But I see Marinette’s thought process. She came all the way here in an extremely awkward situation. Alya would certainly stir up a fuss if she heard about what was going on, Mylene would be shocked, Alix would be livid, and Marinette would miss her moment to spend time with Adrien.

In a vacuum, yes, I’d be annoyed at what Marinette’s doing, but after all the episodes with Marinette’s failed attempts… yeah, I can at least see it. She’s desperate.

(Also, she was one of the girls who was lied to, thus and may feel like she deserves something for it.)

Not to mention… she’s probably a little miffed too? Here’s this party for Adrien, and Marinette is supposed to be his friend, yet she’s not even invited?

Then, she has to watch as other boys and also adult men get let in. When she’d tried to call the boys earlier, she’d been hung up on.

If this plot was taking itself seriously, that kind of thing would be hurtful. Nino was there for “Glaciator” when Marinette was depressed over Adrien, and now a free chance to hang out with Adrien was right there and she wasn’t offered it?

(Keep in mind that Marinette is presumably watching from afar and never sees other girls get turned away from entering. In the episode, the only girl that shows up is Marinette (Chloe doesn’t ring the bell and is only searching for her father and butler), so she could very easily presume that it’s not about girls, but about her, just because she has no evidence that other girls would get denied entry.)

That’s not even taking Marinette’s anxiety-driven freak-outs into account. It’s honestly impressive that she remained in “detective Marinette mode” instead of breaking down and imagining another one of her insane scenarios.

“T-tikki, what if they hate me? Wait, what if ADRIEN hates me?! That’s it, isn’t it?”

“Marinette, I’m sure that–”

“They didn’t answer because Adrien doesn’t want me there! That’s why I’m not allowed in! They’re having a ‘mock Marinette’ party where they make a list of all the embarrassing things I’ve ever done! They’re probably in there, laughing at me, and then they’re going to invite more and more people in just to tell them all about how laughable I am!”

“They wouldn’t do that.”

[some random guy proceeds to approach the front gate and is let in without any issue]

“…M-marinette–”

“[Marinette literally breaking into hysterics]”

Also, how in the world is Tikki not upset by what the guys have done? Marinette just proved that they lied and all Tikki cares about is what Marinette did.

“Guitar Villain” Tikki that actually got frustrated with Chloe was one of the best Tikki and I’ll stand by that.

But I guess the reason the narrative comes up with there is that Nino and Marinette apparently did the exact same thing, so they’re “equal.”

They’re not. Not even close.

Nino lied about a party that the girls very easily could’ve been a part of (Marinette even points out by the end of the episode that they might still have time to get back to tree planting, so yes, everyone could’ve gone to this party and then just done the tree planting afterward), then put steps in place to ensure that the girls didn’t get in even if they did stumble upon the mansion.

All Marinette wanted to do was figure out why they were lying, then got put in an awkward situation while also feeling a desire to be with Adrien at a party. She didn’t pull herself and six (possibly seven) other people out of an obligation that she’d agreed to.

Then, just adding to these false comparisons, Nino and Marinette also imply that what they did was okay because they were “only doing it for Adrien.”

No. No, they were not.

Marinette wanted to figure out why they were lying. She confirmed that it was about Adrien later. Her actions weren’t exactly right, but she is far better than Nino here.

Nino did not do it for Adrien. I simply do not believe that he was doing it for Adrien. Nino made that clear when Adrien was wondering why Marinette couldn’t come to the party and all Nino could come up with is that she was already spending time with the girls.

Y’know, some real quality time, straining their backs over plants and everything.

And I just wanna stop here for a moment to point out how this is going to affect Adrien, because this is freaking important.

I know I salt a lot about Adrien, but let’s consider his actions in this episode versus how much worse they can get with this set-up in mind.

At the very beginning of the episode, it’s established that Wayhem wants to hang out with Adrien. This is the same day as this party, yet even as people are pouring into Adrien’s room, the idea of calling Wayhem and telling him to come over doesn’t even occur to him.

He also volunteers a disguised Marinette into dancing with a bunch of other guys despite the fact that Marinette didn’t even remotely consent to it, but that’s not relevant to my point; I’m just salty about it.

Now, think about what Nino is doing. He knows that there’s no reason to make this a boys-only party. In fact, when Adrien questions him, Nino gets increasingly shifty-eyed, and eventually just goes straight to changing the topic.

I’ve complained about Adrien’s lack of friendship skills in the past. He claims to want friends, yet he doesn’t spend time with them and hardly even tries to. Friends often have to go to him to make it happen, despite how much more convenient it would be for Adrien to lay out his schedule and try to fit in free time with them himself.

And now there’s this? Nino’s garbage explanation as to why Marinette can’t come to the party despite being their friend? Him avoiding any conversation on the matter because (presumably) he’ll have to admit to Adrien that he and the other boys ditched the tree planting to do this party for him?

This will only further Adrien’s confusion on the concept of friendship. Adrien basically states right in the episode that he doesn’t understand, so it’s practically canon.

So, yeah, if Nino was really doing what Adrien wanted and kept Adrien in mind, he would’ve known before even entering the mansion that Adrien would’ve liked for all of his friends to be there. There was also the possibility that Adrien would’ve felt as if the girls had a problem with him since they “happened to be busy” with their own thing while Nino was planning a party for him, which Adrien would’ve assumed that they knew about.

By the way, Adrien is clearly bothered and covering his ears when the music is too loud, which Nino ignores and insists that it’s fine; that’s a good metaphor for what I just mentioned.

Ninos Before Bros, am I right?

(And by the way, not suggesting that this is canon, but if any of this happened to be due to Marinette–because not only is the timing of the party suspicious, but just the avoidance of Marinette in general despite their behavior very clearly throwing her off if she called all of them–and the fact that her crush might’ve meant that Nino himself would’ve had less time with Adrien, then Nino should’ve at least had the decency to say it to Marinette’s face.)

[Abrasive Tone]

The tone in this episode is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad. Like, really bad, and the pacing doesn’t do it any favors either.

I’m not going to list out the scenes and their timeframes, because the main problem ultimately comes from the tone, but I’ll just say this for the pacing: by the time Party Crasher finally shows up to crash the party, there are less than seven minutes left in the episode.

Now, this is perfectly acceptable for some episodes that have a lot of character going on. After all, not every episode has to be about the villain-of-the-day (in fact, I’d encourage the occasional episode that may feature the heroes/Hawk Moth but not have a villain-of-the-day at all).

But this episode has nothing! Aside from Gabriel confirming some stuff for us, there’s nothing here that warrants such a long waiting time for the villain-of-the-day to come in.

And the Gabriel scenes don’t even belong here! The episode is constantly switching back and forth between “party where the audience doesn’t know whether to laugh or feel uncomfortable” and “by the way, EMILIE ALMOST DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIED.”

Yikes.

The scenes are so jarring. There’s no time to breathe because the episode doesn’t know what to do with itself. It’s so confused about itself that it can’t even give focus to Wayhem, who becomes the villain-of-the-day, and worse, Kim, who GETS HIS MIRACULOUS IN THIS EPISODE.

Other temporary heroes also make appearances in this episode, and that’s equally pathetic. Luka is just there and hardly gets a single line, whereas Max is slightly better off but doesn’t stand out much before he gets his miraculous again (he hacks into Gabriel’s system, which is impressive, but none of this relates back to what he does as a hero). Nino gets to become Carapace again too, but that just gives me vague “Syren” vibes of “let’s reward the guy who is the worst offender in this episode”, y’know?

It’s not that I can’t see why Fu picked them, because I can (Carapace to help protect the cat miraculous from being taken, Pegase to teleport and thus avoid Party Crasher’s predictions, and Viperion to cover for potential errors), but they have little to no time to work with! The three of them regaining a miraculous and Kim getting his miraculous happen in the last, what, five minutes?

So… yeah, it was really clear where the episode’s priorities were, and it wasn’t anywhere good.

More on Kim and him getting his miraculous thought, I know I was upset at what the boys did in this episode, but I legitimately feel bad for Kim. He’s one of my more favorite classmates (and now has one of my favorite transformation sequences because oh my gosh, what a dork), but even disregarding any bias, he just doesn’t get the screentime he deserves for his miraculous debut episode. “Syren” did better for his character and actually was able to balance that with their villain-of-the-day!

And speaking of “Syren” actually, Kim was also one of the few people who actually talked about being a hero and how he wanted to be one, yet we don’t even get to see him give the miraculous back and properly react to being a hero. I mean, I’d presume that Fu would tell Ladybug who Roi Singe is, but did Kim even know that he’d have to give the miraculous back? Was he just happy that he got to save everyone? I don’t know because they didn’t show it!

Heck, “Syren” had him admitting that he can be a doofus sometimes, so the episode could’ve easily played off of that, showing Kim that what he may see as his less appealing traits (as people often laugh at him for them) actually benefit him when he’s given a miraculous.

It’s not that I can’t see why Fu would want to pick Kim. I mean, Kim did have a nice little speech about saving people and also laid down a metaphor, which I’m 90% sure Fu is weak for. It’s just a shame that the episode doesn’t give Kim much time before getting his miraculous.

But apparently, all those Gabriel scenes were so crucial to this party (if they wanted to do the “Emilie is in danger” scene, then the episode needed to be less comedic and feel more like there’s a constant tension of the party-goers getting caught somehow) and it was so important to put all this other plot in about how the girls get needlessly left out while Marinette goes detective-mode and then tries to get into the party.

…Now, all that said, I actually felt like this episode could’ve been saved if they’d removed the Gabriel scenes and the subplot about the boys skipping out on tree planting.

Like, okay, here me out. This episode is dumb and I’ll never deny that. Almost every decision made is questionable and the pacing is atrocious.

But!

But but but…

For once–JUST THIS ONCE–I’m going to give the writers some semblance of slack for a few of their choices. I talk a lot about the writers and the terrible decisions they make, but I’ll be completely honest here…

I do not think that some of their decisions are meant to be taken seriously. I legitimately believe that at least the party half of this episode (excluding everything Marinette does outside of her disguise; speaking of which, WASTED opportunity to see Marinette put her creative skills to use in disguising herself as a boy, just sayin’) was meant to be another “Mr. Pigeon” or “Christmaster.”

I mean, let’s look at what this episode does outside of its more “””””serious“”””” details:

- Nino and the others bribe Gorilla with action figures so he lets them in, and there is no explanation as to how they got this information that Gorilla not only collects them, but is also missing specific ones (that they have) from his collection.

- I’m positive that this part wasn’t supposed to be funny, but the way the sad music just kicks in as “Adrien Angst” ruins the cheery mood made me snort

- When Nino blows on the rainbow-colored record, it sheds tiny rainbow confetti and sparkles instead of dust.

- Gabriel wears some sort of butterfly-collecting gear that makes him look ridiculous.

- Roger comes to stop the boys from playing their music too loud, then gets distracted by their foosball table. This leads to multiple adult men coming by for literally no reason just to join the party. Gorilla lets all of them in despite Nino having never instructed him to do so.

- Both Mayor Bourgeois and Butler Jean show up with their faces covered in make-up; they also never remove it. The principal, similarly, shows up in his Dark Owl costume (which I just presume he wears all the time when he’s not working and occasionally when he is working).

- Marinette: Aren’t you supposed to be careful and keep the miraculouses safe from Hawk Moth? | Fu: *confidently pats a cooler that contains the Miracle Box along with SODA AND ICE, WHICH IS NOW BEING KEPT IN THE HOUSE OF HAWK MOTH*

- Gabriel searches for negative emotions and is upset that there dares to be joy in his house.

- The villain-of-the-day is Wayhem, the guy who freaking took on Gorizilla with a perfume bottle while screaming “ADRIEN, THE FRAGRANCE”; his akumatized form looks exactly as ridiculous as you’d think.

- Fu’s expression of “god I hate my job” as Chat ignores the reality that Fu lays down, preferring to charge headfirst into battle.

- Xuppu and Kim

- Kim transforming in a bathing suit, having been completely missed by Party Crasher because he was busy swimming in Adrien’s bathtub.

- Also Kim

- Especially Kim

- “Actual Monkey” Kim

- Kim literally saves Ladybug and Chat from getting their miraculouses taken away by throwing a squeaky rubber banana at Party Crasher.

- The method to beating the villain-of-the-day is to play a knock-off of YMCA and dance as ridiculously unpredictably as possible so that they can’t be out-predicted

So… YEAH, THIS EPISODE IS DEFINITELY SOMETHING.

Now, of course, I will never excuse the “boy/girl squad” thing nor the actual set-up for the party, but the Gabriel scenes would’ve been fine in a more serious episode and, while it doesn’t save it, the episode becomes much better when it actually remembers that it’s supposed to be fun.

Like… yeah, the Fu thing would still be annoying because, ultimately, if this is Kim’s miraculous debut episode, it’s “canon” and thus “important” by default. The episode can’t be a one-off with that detail, but Kim also does best with silliness, so this is a great episode for him to debut in.

But, if this episode had actually been given more time by cutting out this “boys-girls” nonsense and trimming the Gabriel scenes to save the angstier parts for another episode, then it would’ve easily had room to give Kim the screen time he deserved, allow Fu more reason to be at the party (he could’ve seen Party Crasher on television considering HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE CELEBRATING AT THE MANSION THAT NO ONE EVER CELEBRATES AT SO WHY WOULDN’T SOMEONE BE DOCUMENTING IT; alternatively, Marinette could’ve foreseen that they’d need help and texted him), and let the episode just be the fun random mess that it’s supposed to be.

I think that’s why I’m particularly salty about this one. I mean, anyone who’s been following me for a while knows that I adore occasional campy cheesy random fun, since “Mr. Pigeon” is one of my favorite episodes of Season 1 for that reason.

And I see that this episode clearly wanted to do that, but it only did it halfway. It’s so busy being bogged down by tonal whiplash and scenes that were never necessary that it doesn’t get to embrace the sheer hilarity that it could’ve had.

*sigh* …It’s a shame.

[hufflepuffdean]

yanno I kept getting recommended some dude’s YouTube video about his Supernatural theory, so I decided to watch it

and no shade or anything

but it just kinda shows how much “male fandom” is dedicated to plot over literally anything else, including all characterization and themes lol.

so this dude’s big theory was that Chuck isn’t actually God, but part of a trio of godly siblings with Amara and the Empty guy. the theory says that the Empty guy is actually God, and he’s actually a good and caring guy, but he’s been banished by Chuck, who’s been fooling everyone since, because God has to be a good guy.

and his reasoning was weirdly like... giving the show too much credit and not giving the show enough credit at the same time.

like I forget all his evidence for Chuck not really being God, but one of the pieces of evidence was that Chuck didn’t know Gabriel hadn’t actually died back in S5. but like, I’ll put money on that being nothing other than simple inconsistency and the writers not knowing they were gonna bring Gabriel back several seasons later. most of the pieces of evidence were like that.

but mostly I’m just kinda baffled at how much dudes in fandom are soooo desperate for every little plot thing to have to fit together that they completely ignore some of the show’s big themes? it just would not fit this show for God to be an actual good guy and fight alongside the Winchesters in the end. it’s ignoring thematic consistency (SPN does plenty of that on its own lol) for a ... sorta cool twist? 

I’m sure the show will make lots of mistakes along the way, and Rob Benedict is pretty clearly beloved and they probably don’t wanna offend anyone too badly (I think I remember they wanted to kill him at the end of S11, but weren’t allowed by the network?) so I dunno just how ~evil God will end up. but it’s amazing how perfect God as the last Big Bad is on this show. that is a way better story than trying to force 10000 minor characters into THE LORE because you can’t see past the plot. 

I don’t want to say being into the plot is bad or wrong. there is no wrong way to fan. but I DO think male fans obsessively focus on plot and lore, usually while shitting on any shipping for “missing the point” (to be fair, this guy in particular did not bring up shipping at all), but then they end up baffled at character arcs that seem really obvious to parts of fandom that aren’t so hardcore fixated on nothing but how the plot is going to come together.

[angelofthequeers]

Papa Garou thoughts

It wasn’t the best episode but it was a lot better than I was expecting! It was pretty okay in the grand scheme of things. I don’t have screenshots because I’m running on little sleep and can’t be assed going back for them but whatevs.

• I’m glad they at least...tried to tackle that ‘possessive father with his pure daughter’ thing??? They did have Sabine call him out and him acknowledge that he went too far, at any rate. I’m still annoyed that Tom’s spotlight came from him being ‘Marinette’s father’ rather than fleshing out his personality, but we all know the only family that gets fleshing out is the Agrestes and their oh so dark family secret, so...whatever. I’m resigned to Marinette’s parents being props at this point. Though Sabine did get a little characterisation so that was fun.

• I’m also glad that Marinette wasn’t punished for fucking up, as usually happens literally every other time. She defused her dad by saying that Chat could love whoever he wanted, but she wasn’t punished for getting so flustered that she lied and I was fully expecting the narrative to dump on her and blame her for causing the akuma. I’m very glad that it was Tom’s possessiveness of Marinette that was blamed (while carefully not going “he got himself akumatised” because that’s pretty victim-blamey) and not Marinette for trying to protect her identity and messing up in the process.

• Tikki’s face when Marinette is going on about Marinette vs Ladybug is iconic. And Plagg shipping Marichat purely for cheese pastries made me laugh out loud. I swear to god, these kwamis are the best thing about the show.

•Hawkmoth clearly isn’t the brightest tool in the shed if he thinks that akumatising the baby again is a good idea.

• Hawkmoth going ‘of course’ when Tom wants to squash Chat Noir had me like 👀👀👀👀👀👀

• GABRIEL STOP BEING A FUCKFACE AND ACTUALLY BE A FATHER

• No but this is why the narrative’s insistence on a sympathetic Gabriel just does not work. You can’t have scenes like this, where Adrien’s eating alone again and is outright depressed and his own FATHER has to schedule to eat with him, and then toss in scenes of Gabriel being upset over Emilie or bonding with Nathalie. It just...doesn’t work. Pick a Gabriel and stick with it because he’s just all over the place.

• I was actually happily impressed with Chat in this episode. There was the usual flirting with Ladybug even though she’s turned him down, but he did show a super sweet side of him that clearly impressed Marinette when he said that he was in love with Ladybug and stuck to it despite having a girl confess her feelings for him. He’s still got a long way to go before he’s mature enough for a relationship, especially after the catastrophe that was S2 Adrien/Chat. But even though this ep didn’t go how I was hoping in terms of linking back to S2 and forcing Chat into a moment of maturity and realising what a brat he was, he was pleasantly mature in a different way by being respectful of Marinette’s “feelings” and wanting to let her down to her face rather than just avoiding her, along with clearly showing that he didn’t want to hurt her in any way. He did everything right in this episode and I very much hope that moving forward, the writers slide away from the status quo (despite their fear of doing so, even though the episodes that stepped outside the box were easily the best ones, like ‘Sandboy’) and have him realise that Ladybug has been in his position when he’s directed his affections at her and as a result, be less of a brat when she turns him down. There’s nothing wrong with having a formula for the show so long as you allow characters to grow within that formula; shows like Supernatural, while having their own problems with stubbornly sticking to the formula for fear of straying too far and out of desperation to stick with “what works”, still allow for growth and lessons within that formula that actually stick (even if SPN took like a decade to get to the point where the characters learned but eh, there was still development along the way)

• I loved Chat’s speeches to Papa Garou and how he kind of poked at that trope of the romantic prince in shining armour by extolling Marinette’s virtues as an individual and rightly calling out her father for being overly protective of her without painting her as a delicate flower. I also really loved his dedication to saving her, which we don’t see with any other akuma hostages or victims (sans Gabriel but ehhhh), because it really showed how much he cares for Marinette and values her friendship without the writers screaming “SEE LOOK FRIENDS!!!” in our faces. It wasn’t subtle but it wasn’t forced either, which is a good balance for a kid’s show. Even if Marichat isn’t romantic just yet (which won’t stop me from shipping them), it was respectfully handled and we Marichat shippers weren’t made the butt of jokes about how they’ll never work out. Instead, we got a super mature lesson about how friends are just as important as romance, and I’m really hoping they carry this message forward and it’s not just a one-off fluke because this is a fantastic message to teach kids (and yes my aro heart is happy but that’s not the point). There was a good leap in relationship development and I really hope they keep that going.

• Although I am annoyed that Chat finally gets an episode to shine and take down the akuma and he...gets smacked around. The speeches were great and saved it, and I get that Ladybug also gets slapped around when she’s solo, but...eh. It’s probably just me nitpicking because Chat’s always the punching bag and I was hoping for more than thy, but it’s also unfair to say that he did nothing but get bitchslapped because him holding off Papa Garou bought Marinette enough time to find the akuma while holding Papa Garou’s attention so he couldn’t go grab her off it. The episode did do a good job of showing that Ladybug and Chat Noir are a soulbound team even when detransformed and unknowingly working together, so I’m super happy about that carrying over of the “you and me against the world” from ‘Mayura’ but in a different form.

So yeah, this ep isn’t anywhere near the top, but it’s pleasantly nowhere near the bottom either. It’s a nice little passing episode that’s definitely a huge step-up from Chameleon but anything’s better than Chameleon soooo. I do hope that this maturity sticks with Adrien and he finally learns to not act so entitled to Ladybug, and I hope this trend of not crucifying Marinette for every tiny fuck-up also continues because it was pleasantly refreshing to not have the narrative dump on her.

[whatzaoverwatch]

Anything can happen in the Woods (Part 9)

Yuuuup so there are more Overwatch characters than I had lead on. Honestly when developing the story I wanted there to be a big surprise twist. And to answer some questions, yes you can consider the drunk at the tavern to be Gerard (sorta update: welp so like with the Blackwatch comic that came out, it makes the interaction at the tavern really interesting but this is an AU soooo who the heckin cares) First Previous Next

Note: Female Pronouns

You found yourself wandering within the mist. Isolated and silent to even your own steps. The red cape cascading down your figure while you tread through the forest. No breeze or voice to ease your solitude. Ahead you spotted a shadowed figure. Unsure of whether to approach, a wave of familiarity came over you. It reminded you of him. But it didn’t look like the one you assumed. This wasn’t a beast, it was a man. A black hooded person with his back facing you. Approaching with caution, you broke the silence.

“Gabriel?”

The man turned, almost quickly as if he hadn’t expected anyone else in his accompaniment. When he faced you, you found his hooded face covered by a white mask. Almost similar to a barn owls skull that hung in the small cottage. The holes of the mask holding nothing but darkness within. But you could feel him staring right at you. A twinge of fear and sadness pulsed in his presence.

“[Name]? Why are you here?” His voice sounded a lot less ragged and more soothing to the ears. Halting your steps when you were a few feet in front of him. Puzzled in your predicament, you responded.

“I…I don’t know. But I felt that I needed to. Why are you here?” You notice his hands tighten into a fist before facing away from you.

“It’s not safe here…you need to go back.” He ordered with a wave of pain in his voice. The uneasiness lurked in your stomach as you stepped forward.

“No…I can’t. I don’t want to, I don’t want to go alone. Not without you.” Reaching your hand out to try to reach him, you watched him step away with a grunt.

“You are no safer with me [Name]. I shouldn’t have brought you into this. I was a fool to think that this would work…but I’m nothing but a monster,” he hissed having a built up of smoke form onto his body, “the longer you stay, the more danger you will be in. She won’t leave you alone and me…I don’t want to hurt you. Not like them…”

“Who are you talking about?” You heard him growl to himself in irritation. The smoke enveloping the fog leaving nothing but the sight on him in your vision.

“[Name]…please…” He warned trying to keep his distance in his stance.

You felt your heart ache as he said this about himself. Stepping closer you couldn’t help but place your arms around him. Feeling his breath shake at your hold, you press your forehead onto his back. “Gabe, you will only hurt me if you leave me. Please…don’t leave me here by myself.”

His muscles eased into your touch, feeling him turn around to face you. Looking up to the expressionless mask, you could feel the tears stinging the corners of your eyes. Feeling a glove hand almost like claws stroking your cheek, you felt yourself lean into his touch. He exhaled before leaning down close.

“I will never leave you [Name]. I will fix this, I will stop her before it is too late,” His one arm wrapped around your torso while he softly spoke, “You will hear things about me. Things that I have done. What I did to end up like this. I never wanted you to know about it…but I feel that they can’t be hidden. You’ll know everything by the time the full moon comes. When it does, I want you to do one thing for me.”

“I’ll do anything…I swear.” You could almost feel his smile from the other side of the mask. He rested his forehead into the material of your hood, taking a deep inhale. His fingers gripped onto the red cape almost desperately. Leaving you unaware as the shadows began to cloak between both your bodies.

“I need you to trust me…”

 --

Opening your eyes slowly, you winced at the faded light that peeked in the corners of your iris. Blinking to adjust your vision, you found yourself laying on some sort of crafting table. The carved stone cool against your fingertips. It was hard against your back, leaving you stiff and uncomfortable in your position. Trying to shift in your movements, you found yourself restrained onto the table. There was no chains, nor straps, but it was as if a heavy force was put on top of you.

Regaining your focus, you found yourself in a dimly lit cave. Carvings among the wall showing various encryption and what looked to be different instructions. You had recognized them to be different spells that you had found in the books you read from Gabriels’ bookcase. Only able to gain a small peek of your surroundings, you spotted various tables scattered with books, potions, and even a cauldron planted at one point of the room. The more you regained your conscious, the more your thoughts began to fill. Questions and immense confusion on how you got here and why were you unable to move. Something didn’t feel right about this. It was as if a part of you wanted to escape. Before you could call for help, two pairs of voices caught your attention.

“And she was alone I presume?”

“She was, a mortal came to stop my escape, but I am sure he took care of her.”

“That girl that lives in that small cabin, the bait. She is of no use to me, makes you curious on why he hasn’t rid of her. She had also brought that ignorant hunter with her in the rescue I heard.”

“He was too busy playing with the mutt to even notice.”

“Was always out to shoot first and ask questions later, if only he had learned from his teacher. It’d be good to be rid of that problem. As of right now I want to take interest of our new subject.”

Hearing the footsteps come closer, you turned your gaze over to find two women standing by your confined side. One was a dark haired, pale woman with bright eyes. She looked as if she hadn’t slept in years and looked deadly. But the woman next to her sent a wave of fear in your restrained state. The other woman had red hair with two coloured eyes: blue and red. Her skin was pale up to her right arm which was covered in visible dark veins. Her black cloaked body with purple accents draped over some rather sharp looking fingertips. She looked frail but just as menacing. You felt your heart drop when her eyes fell onto you. Her pouting lips formed into a rather sinster smile. Dripping in horror and wickedness like you couldn’t even describe.

“Well, it appears that our subject has awakened,” she spoke calmly with a delight in a tone that made you shiver, “I would’ve hoped you’d sleep through into the evening. But this makes things rather interesting.”

“W-Who are you? Where’s Gabriel?” You asked watching the cloaked woman quirk her eyebrow curiously. The other woman scoffed, leaning folding her arms in disinterest while the other tapped her cheekbone.

“He managed to even tell you his name, how curious,” she hummed in wonder. The smile never leaving as she gave you a gentle bow, “Allow me to provide you with mine. I am Moira, master of the crafts and warlock of the shadows.”

You swallowed hard at her introduction. Her voice drenched in distrust leaving you to suddenly feel fear for your life. Even more than you did when you first met Gabriel. Looking over to the other woman, you saw her gaze locked with yours. Her eyes piercing yours as if she was eating you alive in her thoughts. Moira spoke up through your discomfort gesturing to the other woman.

“Do not mind Amelie, she is only here to fulfill a task for me,” You followed her movements as she went to grab something from one of the tables. A small bag of some sort as she handed it over to the woman, “this should be enough to place your target into a deep slumber. Consider it as thanks for bringing me my new pet.”

“Merci master.” Amelie gently spoke taking the content only to feel Moiras hand touch her cheek.

“Just look at you, an entire month of work to create the perfect vampire. Like the black widow hunting for her prey. Now it is time to rid of who you once were started with that foolish drunk,” Moira turned over to you presenting Amelie as if she was her prized possession, “imagine, just a simple woman who wandered into the woods only to become completely immortal by my hands. Such brilliant work, hopefully you will be just as successful.”

Feeling your breath quicken at her words, struggling a little more in your restraints as she turned back to Amelie.

“Do you wish for me to stay? In case he comes for her?” You heard Amelie ask watching Moira shake her head.

“I will handle him myself. Even if he tries, it’ll be too late to save her. You may return to your manor and await for any further instructions. Thank you again my pet.” You watched the slight grimace upon the womans face before turning and heading out of your vision. Leaving you alone with Moira. Suddenly recognizing the woman that she was speaking of, you widened your eyes and looked over to the warlock.

“She was from the village, she disappeared a month ago. She has a husband and a son.” Moira turned to face you, the smile never leaving her lips.

“Indeed. Amelie Lacroix. A wandering soul with a greater purpose. As did the several others who have come into these woods.” You looked at her horrified.

“It’s you, you’re the reason for the disappearances.” She hummed in amusement, walking across the room with no denial in her gaze.

“They all enter the same, they all have their different ends,” she admitted moving over to one of the tables to look at some papers scattered in the room, “I just simply guide them to their inevitable fates. Some become fairly successful experiments like Lacroix. Others, well they simply become sacrifices in the name of magic.”

“You murdered them.” You hissed catching her attention with amusement.

“Only if I desire to. But I don’t do it alone. Most of the collecting comes from Gabriel,” She admitted only to look delighted by your visible confusion, “oh? So he hasn’t told you that detail in your deal has he?”

You blinked in shock at her confession. Feeling a sudden sickness in your stomach, you shook away the truth with a scowl. You knew he was possibly involved, but the more you knew him the more you felt that it wasn’t true. But seeing your fears bloom before your eyes you grew uneasy at your emotions. His words still floating in your head, you swallowed your fear and looked back up to the ceiling.

“How do you know him?” You could feel her smile grow wider, hearing her shoes click against the stone as she approached where you laid.

“I was hired to look upon his condition back when he was a hunter. He had merely requested that I find a way to control the curse that was placed upon him long ago. But I saw an opportunity that he just didn’t comprehend. A mortal given eternal life openly, just to throw it away? I only helped him see the benefit of his powers,” she laughed in amusement stroking her hand across your cheek. Trying to pull away from the touch only to feel yourself forced closer to the sharpened nails, “When that witch decided to meddle with my work, I discovered a new stage of the supernatural that no being had ever witnessed. A monster among the shadows. Of course all he desired was to find a cure. So I cut him a deal. I would seek out a “reversal treatment” to his problem, so long as he guided the poor souls from that village of yours to my doorstep.”

“You’ve been using him all this time so you could have lab rats? Why couldn’t you just pick them out yourself?” She pressed her lips into a thin line only to tilt her head.

“I like to keep my reputation under the radar. Besides,” she brushed some of the strands of hair that fell over your face to the side, “only he is able to track down the perfect candidates for my work. He seems to have found a way to determine ones soul if they have the chance to survive my experimentation. Some have been strong enough while others I believe he merely takes them for his own gain. Which makes me wonder: why has he suddenly gotten a soft spot for you? You show some potential, and yet he does nothing.”

Watching her fingers curl under your chin, you sneered in disgust of her touch. Looking away from her, you caught the soft scent of smoke from the cloak you wore. Wondering when you had put this on between when you passed out to now, you couldn’t think of that knowing your current situation. All you wanted to do was to run back to him. You didn’t know why, he was a monster and threat to the village, but you wanted to be with him. He had brought you joy that you missed when you were with your best friend. Gabriel became a friend, he became your comfort, he became your home.

“How the hell am I supposed to know? He made a deal with me to spare my friend,” Looking back at her, you frowned at the frosty glare she sent your way, “He also said he wouldn’t be able to kill me until the full moon.”

Her nail dug into your skin as you hissed a little at the pain. She clicked her teeth unamused by the answer. Watching her eyes wander down the cloak, she hummed curiously before standing upright once again.

“Whatever the reason is, I am sure we shall find out together,” Weaving her fingers together, her index fingers tapped looking behind her, “That is, if you are able to survive tonight.”

“What are you talking about?” Feeling a wave of regret overcome you from the question, her smile grew wider at the question.

“He seems to have formed a pact with you involving the full moon. I do not know your expanded knowledge involving the supernatural, but I expect it to be very limited due to the constant disbelief the mortals tried to cram down your mindless throats,” She began to explain as you felt the restraints on your tighten more and more, “But under the full moon, the werewolf takes on an uncontrollable form that even they cannot restrain. Consumed by their animal instincts, they will seek their prey and completely devour them. Not many survive the week within the beasts perimeter, so if you remain by his side, consider your existence to be wiped out like the others.”

Feeling the blood drain from your face, you struggled in your position. The very thought of him having no control of killing you just made your heart ache. But this was the fate you expected, so why did you fear for it now? Would he feel anything after he killed you? Before you could protest, a familiar howl could be heard echoing the cave. Drawing both of your attentions immediately. Moira sneered glancing over towards the noise.

“Ah, we are about to find out the answers to our question ourselves. This shall be an interesting experiment indeed.”

To be continued

[unknown-de-mordor-blog]

The Dark-Lord Family, A.K.A. My Top 5 Favourite Villains

Melkor/Morgoth + Mairon/Sauron -- The Lord of the Rings+The Silmarillion

I know that’s two, but don’t make me separate them. I will not separate them.

They’re actually going to be the odd one out in this list because the rest are from anime/manga, but that’s because back when I was in middle school, I found villains from fantasy stories boring af and the notion that something external is the source of evil is just lazy. (Also because my obnoxious middle-school brain just went ‘Argh, blaming other people for your problems is soooo immature’ and shut down.) Arguably, I wasn’t well-versed in those kinds of literature, and stuff I did choose to read from that side of the globe don’t have villains in them.

And that’s kind of why these two makes the list -- they are more properly constructed than other dark lords that I know of. Yes, they serve as the personification of evil, but Tolkien also treated them as characters. They have reasons for becoming what they’ve become. And even though they are depicted as the epicentre of evil and destruction, evil isn’t actually their domain. Tolkien was pretty clear about that in his writing because he also examined and, to some degree, deconstructed evil in his universe. The Feanorians are chief examples of that. Turin is not really off the hook with some of his bad life choices (and I don’t mean marrying his sister; when intent in factored in, that’s actually not the worst Turin had done). And don’t get me started on how much I loathe Denethor.

In a way, I found Tolkien depiction of dark lords rather subversive. Having a dark lord really plays into a primal psychology that wants to blame the ill of the world to someone: capitalism, communism, Hitler, Stalin, Baby boomers, Millenials, the Jews, the Muslims, the conservative Christians, the patriarchy, cis white (American) males. But in the deconstruction of the dark lords, he was also saying, really, that evil without comes from the evil within and it’s complicated because evil is a part of nature. It doesn’t come from a box, an apple, a fallen angel, or a rebellious servant of God. And to win against the evil without, you have to fight the evil within. And that’s why Frodo is still one of my greatest heroes. He really did take the hardest job in the book, and I’m not talking about walking into Mordor.

Hao Asakura-- Shaman King (manga, not the anime)

Also known to me and my best friend as “Melkor and Sauron’s lovechild” because his character has things that reminded us of Melkor and Sauron. Hao is a personification of evil and destruction. His main power is Fire, and I’m capitalizing here because the spirit that is his main source of power is called the Spirit of Fire and it’s huge, like balrog huge.

But unlike with Melkor and Sauron, we got to hear directly from Hao why he thinks the destruction of humanity is a good idea. As it turns out, Hao actually has a shit-list on humanity collected over the last thousand years, and we look horrendous on it. It’s hard to argue that we are not cancerous, narrow-minded, selfish bunch of crap who frequently gives into the tendency to destroy each other and is going to destroy this one planet we have and take every other species who had not done any shit to deserve this with it. So, yes, Hao was saying, ‘I’m the necessary evil because you all are shitheads’. And he’s right. In some ways, he’s even more right now than he was back in the 90s.

But you might say that’s one particular lens of interpreting our complex and problematic (as in difficult) legacy. We’re not all bad! Well, true, but us doing good does not in anyway erase the fact that we’ve done some really shitty things as well. That’s why as extreme as Hao’s position might be, he’s about as logically wrong as saying we should keep humanity because we have done some nice things.

And the greatest thing in Shaman King to me is that Hiroyuki never went down that route of that oversimplified counter-argument. He actually had Yoh -- our hero, the personification of good, and Hao’s twin brother -- admitted to not liking human either. In fact, Yoh was the one most sympathetic to Hao’s position even though he disagreed that destroying humanity would solve any of Hao’s problems.

And Hao’s biggest problem was that he was isolated, dehumanized, and betrayed over such a long time that he lost the ability to trust and to love. And as time progressed and Hao becomes more powerful, you can even argue that he lost the ability to love himself. When Hao became God, he isolated himself from other souls, pushing even his most loyal followers away by displays worthy of an evil dark lord when they in fact contradicts how he had always treated them-- with kindness and understanding that they never received from others.

But that tactic wasn’t going to work on Yoh’s watch. The guy basically threw the biggest spirit party ever, invited everyone who ever crossed path with Hao, and gave the man the biggest metaphorical group hug. There were some stern talks about his past behaviour and ambitions, but all in all, everyone acknowledged that he was a person -- complicated and damaged but still a person worthy of friendship and love and loyalty. And after all the embarrassing reunion, including being enthusiastically called ‘nii-chan’ (that’s a cute way of calling someone ‘big-bro’) by his supposed mortal enemy and twin brother, Hao just kind of went ‘Fine! I warned you Earth sucks with humans on it, but if you want to make it better so much then go do it. I’ll watch you try!’

So, yep, that’s how you literally prevent apocalypse with the power of love. I wish more heroes adopt this strategy.

^Hao as God Almighty from the sequel to Shaman King. Art by Takei Hiroyuki. This is to say that Hao is also a crazy cat-person.

Gabriel -- Daemon Hunters

Speaking of gods, here’s another god you should not mess with. I have to admit that this guy scares the living daylight out of me. And it’s not because he’s evil or cruel or twisted. Gabriel is... nothing. Really nothing. He was born out of an experiment to create a living god. And when knowledge and power are chosen over compassion, this is the destructive result.

Gabriel was born more powerful than anything under the sky. And he knew everything -- past, present, and future. He looked into a person’s eyes and he knew the life that was and the life that still to come. Except for one thing, one moment at the end of the world when he would meet a creature more powerful than himself, a creature that knew the answer to one last question Gabriel did  not: why was he alive?

And for that answer, Gabriel would do anything -- kill people, play with their minds, break their souls, wipe out an entire city or country. Literally, nothing was off-limits. And he was like a force of nature. You couldn’t negotiate or bargain with this guy because he didn’t care about puny little humans with puny little minds. He’s looking for an answer, and nothing was going to stop him.

So yeah, evil is not scary at all in my book. The insatiable thirst that knows no love? Yeah, totally.

^The entire internet seriously just have this one picture of Gabriel. The sorrow of being in a non-existing fandom, I supposed.

Sebastian Michaelis -- Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji

Technically speaking, Sebastian is not a villain. He’s one of the two protagonists of Kuroshitsuji -- the other being my beloved anti-hero Ciel Phantomhive -- but considering that Sebastian (i) is a demon (ii) is after Ciel’s soul (iii) loves leading my dear boy astray, I count him as one.

Being treated in the narrative as one of the main characters is probably why he’s the most relatable on the list. Even though he’s a demon, he’s not treated as a personification of evil, just a corrupted creature serving as a vehicle for his master’s ambitions who likes to have fun along the way. That is not to say he’s not bad. He totally is. He would tear people to pieces as he kills them. He likes mind games and has no qualm manipulating people to get what he wants.

But the thing is, humans do that, too. Sebastian’s corruptness is not exceptional in anyway. We like to think we know what is right and wrong, but do we? We think we have made the best choices out of the goodness of our hearts, but were they, really? The matter of fact is a lot of our decisions are lazy, selfish, or just meanness dressed up as something else. There are moments when Sebastian demon’s ‘aesthetics’ seems more morally sound than the morality of a human being. And that’s kind of the theme of the series -- that the evil within clad in self-righteousness, desperation, and elitism can be more reprehensible than the evil without.

^Art by Yana Toboso. I feel compelled to mention that Sebastian is also a crazy cat-person.

Johan Liebert -- Monster

To me, there is rarely a personification of evil more terrifying and a deconstruction more nuanced and heartbreaking than that in Naoki Urasawa’s Monster.

And it’s not even his best work! It was his first work in psychological thriller, so you can kind of see him working out how to do thriller and play with with characters’ psychology on the go. And the psyche that governs the entire story is that of Johan Liebert -- arch-villain, evil-incarnate, the new Napoleon of Crime. He rarely made any appearance in the story, but every time he did, I literally wanted to hyperventilate.

But really, setting Johan up that way was kind of a red-herring on Urasawa’s part, a good red-herring, too, because he was giving what Tolkien gave us in Middle-earth -- a personification of evil, someone we can point the finger to and blame for all the wrong in the world. And Johan played the dark lord to the tee.

Except then Urasawa slowly pulled the rug from under us. Little by little, as Dr. Kenzou Tenma, our personification of good, uncovered Johan’s past, we come to realize that there were other evil that made Johan. But then when Dr. Tenma approached those people, the big-bads dwindled into an old deluded man, a woman hunted, a mad scientist trying to repent his sin -- people after people who had made a decision based on their beliefs and made the wrong one.

I think what made Monster so powerful is how it uses Johan as the focal point to deconstruct evil down to its origin, to the fact that there is no other evil in the world than us. The evil without really is just a manifest of the evil within, and that little moments where we might have let it win could snowball into something monumentally terrifying.

But Urasawa’s view of human nature is not all doom and gloom. Yes, we’re at times wretched and wicked, but we can be better when we choose to be. And that idea is actually what Dr. Tenma represents. Tenma didn’t start out being good. He lied about his history. He was motivated by reputation and ego rather than the well-being of his patients. He had to be confronted by the consequence of his decisions and have his entire world crashing down to the ground to find the path to being good. And after that, it still wasn’t easy, as trying to be good in a world full of shitty people often is.

But things had changed for him, and I think that’s why he thought Johan could, too. That’s why he could never shoot even though Johan let him.

So, is Johan evil? My answer is yes. After all, he had done grave wrongs to people knowingly. But could he turn from the path of evil? Well, I think the more appropriate question is, have you?

^Original design by Naoki Urasawa. I was once terrified of blue eyes because of this man.

[eisforeidolon]

Episode: Exodus

What is there to say about this episode, really?  It could have been worse?  At least we got a brother hug out of it?  Oh, look, it’s that part of the season where all the places the arc plot failed get desperately glossed over with even more flimflam?   ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yeah, I did appreciate the hug and how Sam and Dean had to look away from each other's eyes after and move on to deal with the crap they were still in the middle of.  Of course Dean figures it's all good if Sam is alive, even if he comes with such fugly baggage.  So there was that good moment. Although it was right after Sam set a timer on his phone for twenty one hours.  Which was a rough estimate, not a definitive timeline.  Given by Lucifer.  You know, Lucifer.  Sigh.

The main problem this episode had was that it really desperately wanted to show a conflict for Jack between everyone else and Lucifer trying to win him over.  Even if you take out the part where earlier this season Jack said he didn't actually feel anything in favor of him now having flashbacks o' guilt?  Which has its own issues in terms of the writers going for innately good woobie Jack instead of anything with more nuance?  Everyone in this episode acted as if Lucifer had pulled some kind of angel mojo off-screen to keep them from speaking against him. 

Dean just keeps yelling for Lucifer to shut up – without actually giving Jack any reason for the hostility.  Sam basically avoids the whole situation, as does Gabriel.  Castiel stands RIGHT THERE like a goddamn piece of furniture while Lucifer spews out his same old tired oh-poor-misunderstood-me spiel.  They don't have to engage with the bullshit claims about Lucifer corrupting humanity he’s whining about, just say all the shit he personally did!  Creating demons from twisting human souls.  Torturing Sam for keeping him from his plans to destroy the world.  Lying - including to, notably, Jack's mother.  There is no real conflict here and you can't make a believable one happen by just having everyone go suspiciously mute for reasons, ffs!

Also, remember all that nonsense in season eleven about how Lucifer turning against God wasn't entirely his fault, it was because he had the Mark of Cain?  Remember how we had the Winchesters bizarrely advocate for his ass to make God apologize to him for being such a meaniehead?  Except, oh, whoops, when they have their big talk, Gabriel is back to saying that it actually was all Lucifer's fault again.  Without any mention of the Mark's influence from him or in any of Lucifer's pity party speeches.  LOL!canon.  

Then we have the usual crap with Mary, the woman who is desperate to bond with anyone … who isn't blood related to her.  The Winchesters were worried all season about saving Mary, desperate enough to risk tearing the fabric of the universe – for reasons!  Despite how many other characters they had much closer actual good relationships to they've let go.  Here, they finally find Mary - who blithely (and rather insensitivity, considering Sam just died) goes on about how she totally understands how they went to so much trouble! Buuuut, fuck off home boys I will always find somebody I care about more than you!  That whole big, cathartic hug and resolve to have a real relationship with each other?  Oh, look, the writers turned that clock right back just to give us more bullshit shallow soap drama of the Winchesters being super invested in a Mary who clearly does not actually give a single fuck about them and isn't shy about letting that show.  I mean, if I felt like the writers were doing this on purpose, intending for us to feel like Mary is just a deeply shitty person at her core, at least that would be something.  Instead they keep trying to insist there's a relationship here both ends care about but, oops, ~*somehow*~ abandonment drama keeps happening!  I honestly don't know why I'm supposed to find Mary any less contemptuous than Samuel Campbell.  Seriously, why?  I question whether she would literally adopt Lucifer before she would be considerate of Sam and Dean's feelings at this point.  I don't get why they, or I, should care about her given the givens.  AT ALL, let alone to the point of risking reality - or are we forgetting about that whole warning thing from Billie completely?  Which is not even to mention the way Mary basically laughs at Dean's concern Jack could go dark side.  Oh yeah, the woman who spent last season being duped by the BMOL and schtupping Ketch obviously has superior judgment about things like that!  Not to mention the irony of her saying of course Jack will be interested, Lucifer's his father, no harm can come of that!  Or are we not supposed to draw a parallel between how much Sam and Dean risked this season in the name of their likewise shit mother for no more substantial connection?  

At this point I honestly wonder, does Singer or somebody else on staff have an unholy fuckton of mommy issues?  First there was that whole horrible tumor of a plotline with Crowley and Rowena and now this nonsense.   Oh, but look, Mary's soooo cool, she's such a “badass” fighter and keeps punching Lucifer in the face, LOL!  That totally makes up for it!  In short - fuck you, SPN writers, for once again making alive!Mary less of an understandable three-dimensional character than she was when she was dead.  

After the reunionating, we waste some time with some random Apocaworld NPCs.  Remember how Michael was supposedly amassing his forces at a weak point between realities and was going to break through and attack the regular world at any time?  On top of the whole rift spell thing?  Time sensitive, nah, the good guys are going to sit here waffling back and forth for a while with some nobodies and a replacement goldfish Bobby about whether they should stay in their burned out world.  Who cares?  I don't.  It’s especially comical following as it does after the previous week’s OMG NO TIME!!! malarkey.  Also feel pretty awkward about the celebration at the end, these people are either strangers or strangers wearing the faces of dead friends that they've just randomly invited into their supposedly secure bunker of magical artifacts.  Acting like being all blasé about it is not kinda creepy is ... really very creepy.

In terms of the whole Charlie and Ketch on a mission side plot, I think the writers were desperately trying to create some kind of meaningful parallel between regular Cas and Indiana Jones cartoon villian reject AU!Cas.  With them both doing the angel interrogation thing and the line about being the same, or whatever?  Like, if they can just desperately imply AU!Cas is actually badass then therefore vicariously...  Even still, I actually minded this ridiculous IHAVEANACCENTSOI'MADIFFERENTCHARACTER!Cas less than the previous ones?  Putting aside the part where it’s complete nonsense that he’s the only familiar angel with the same damn vessel, somehow, for reasons?  I could actually see a clueless alternate universe Cas trying to figure out how to be intimidating to humans and ending up doing a bad adventure film Nazi impression. 

Bad accent shenanigans and faux depth attempts aside, I did enjoy the rescue scene.  Not!Charlie's reaction to being hugged by a giant stranger and Ketch's look and quip at Dean particularly. While I think they missed a bit of an opportunity to make a direct Satan at the wheel joke when they had Lucifer drive the bus, I found it amusing for that nonetheless.  I also actually did like the scene between Sam and Jack and Lucifer there as they’re leaving.  Putting aside the general thrust of the episode's story and exactly why Jack figured he'd be able to pop off and kill Michael in five minutes or so, it was pretty apt to have Lucifer talk to him about thinking you're doing the right thing and having the right thing go wrong.  Of course Lucifer knows all about that - back when he was actually scary, it was how he manipulated everyone.  It's almost out of place for how much sense it makes here for him to sway Jack with that reasoning.  I also actually liked that Rowena had managed to find a way to bolster the spell and keep it open just that much longer.

Not so much in favor of how, of course, Michael shows up at the very last second.  Or how Gabriel offers to sacrifice himself by fighting more powerful AU!Michael with … basically zero grace power.  It made no sense at all, made his resurrection to ruin his redemption arc just to give him a different one even more essentially pointless, and literally the only reason Jack didn't stay behind as the most powerful member of their party to guard their retreat was scripted contrivance.  More specifically, to have Sam ditch Lucifer so Lucifer will team up with Michael and maybe to Jack be all upset?  Which, again, if it happens can only happen because no one was actually willing to tell him exactly why everyone knows his father is a dick. BECAUSE REASONS!  So much eye-rolling, so little time.

I mean, it's not like Michael wasn't already planning to come through elsewhere anyway.  It's not like they didn't already try ditching Lucifer in Apocaworld once already and saw how permanent of a solution that WASN'T (including how it gave Michael an extra source of archangel grace).  It's not like Lucifer is capable of ever figuring out redemption involves real remorse and might actually turn good so there was some real dilemma for him here beyond having to team up with someone he hates.  I guess there were actually some people that were all pissed off at Sam on Lucifer's behalf but that's incredibly gullible and weird, tbh.  Like, there are people who actually bought all that crocodile tears sad face self pity bullshit? Just … wow.

Anyway, maybe this dumb idea of an ending will have some non-contrived point that comes up in the finale episode that I haven't got to yet, but I seriously doubt it.  

[theboykingofhell]

can you tell us about some of your ocs?? :D

FJGKSGSGSG EEEEEEEEEEEEEE CERTAINLY

OK I,,, have a lot omg like so many random ocs who i throw into this rp group i’m in and they just float along but i have like.. THREE main novel series and the protags of each of those are like... the MAIN babies so i’ll talk about them!!!

so, there’s RED my fave awful devilchild i’ve had him since high school omfg. he’s the lil guy chilling on my sidebar!!! he comes from a (currently unnamed, oops) dystopic novel i’m writing atm, he’s the leader of an ‘extremist’ group that call themselves the cancer kids who are fighting this city’s intense need to control the world through medications and resource control (the landscape is cHOCK FULL of polluted water, you can only get clean water through them!). he started as an antihero but he’s actually the antichrist, INCREDIBLY chaotic, rly only fighting for the good side by accident because they just so happen to want the same people as him dead. have i mentioned he’s satan yet? he’s satan. beautiful unstable gay af satan.

i mentioned before but all my protags come in lil duos so red’s partner-in-crime is gabriel (aka black), who is the whatever-the-fuck-his-name-is to red’s gatsby. he’s a frail angel that red and the kids kidnapped saved who is now being indoctrinated taught the truth of the world and the conspiracy against the city and red shows him the world and black is a little in love with him? a lot in love with him??? you see the story through black’s eyes as he just kinda follows red around like a puppy as he dismantles, like, everything. its gay

-

next story is!!!!!!!!!!! called tsg (the slaughtering game) featuring rly gayass vampire lesbians nisha and nora.

nisha is the narrator and she is STRUGGLING. she’s ocd, she was adopted into a white family who had NO idea how to deal with her, and everyone she loves keeps dying and she blames herself every time??? she’s a cop-in-training and DEEEESPERATELY in love with her best friend, like, too in love to even cope with it. 

nora, her bestie, is a M E S S. along with all her other mental shits (i cant be bothered listing everyone’s mental illnesses, all my ocs have at least 3 each tbh), she’s suffering from rly bad ptsd and refuses to recover from it, she’s super self-destructive and pretty much exists to, in her head, get thrown into abuse until it kills her. nisha is the only one keeping her alive tbh. SO! one day nora goes missing and nisha’s story is her trying to find out what happened to her!!

spoiler alert: what happens is a vampire asshole named aaron, who is sheer piss. i hate him. i love him.

-

LAST STORY probably my oldest one cuz i started it like! end of middle school but, like tsg, i only just revamped it! this one also has the most amount of main characters oops

soooo main MAIN character is rachel! she is the. angriest. girl on the planet. ACTUALLY I SHOULD EXPLAIN. this story is called.. comet’s curse is the working title, lol, and it’s an alien scifi. the aliens, nicknamed ‘chimaera’, are a symbiotic race of parasites that quite literally crashed onto earth via an asteroid. long story short, the chimaeran parasite forces its hosts to mutate after a perceived threat of danger, and it has to cannibalize to maintain that form or burn out. OK COOL.

so, rACHEL’s parents worked for exodus, which is the military branch/project kind of trying to deal with the existence of chimaera? not necessarily kill ALL of them but find a cure, find uses for them, contain the problem, etc. rachel’s parents fucked up and got killed by a chimaera and rachel is hellbent on rEEEVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENGE.

her adopted brother, HER partner-in-crime, is caleb! caleb is a chimaeran host, referred to as a ‘catalyst’ as he hasnt ‘evolved’, or mutated, yet, altho he was born with some obvious nonhuman traits. since he was raised with her, he’s got this huge complex about being Other or seen as a Monster and desperately wants to be human and no one will LET HIM my poor sad baby. he fights alongside rachel +_+

NOW... caleb’s MOTHER is amara, aka the ‘hydra’, aka the most infamous dangerous chimaera out there, AKA the killer of rachel’s parents SO, AS YOU CAN SEE, there’s a TAD BIT OF TENSION and im absolutely in love with it. rachel and hydra wanna kill each other and caleb just wants them all to love each other without necessarily taking a side, it’s a mess and it’s great.

... ANYWAY THAT’S THE MAIN GIST i should put this under a read more but NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH