#i was robbed of a lot of things and this family dynamic was one of them

[conduitandconjurer]

How do I even articulate this?

Basically I continue to think Klaus is very fucked up but not in the same way that 90 percent of the fandom seems to think (or prefer) and it is the WEIRDEST experience. I'm just constantly like, "oh yeah, I guess that IS how most fans perceive this character."

Does ANYONE else (aside my long-trusted mutuals) get this?

[kitts-mechanix]

I just had a huge realisation yesterday and I wanted to share this after going through some pretty horrible stuff over the weekend: Something I've always asked myself ever since getting into G1 Transformers was "why do you like Starscream so much even though he's a narcissistic bully? Why are you, someone who is a victim of narcissistic abuse, taking comfort in a narcissistic character?" Well, I think I finally figured it out. Because Starscream is also a victim of that very same abuse. I mean, he's beaten, called names, bullied, unappreciated, abused, and put through the wringer…and he internalised all that abuse because he knew no other way. He had no one to turn to, and the few bots who did support him, he treated like dirt. Once he had that freedom and power, he abused it and became the very thing that abused him. I have no doubt he was always self-centred, selfish, had a huge ego, etc. before all that but honestly? I think Megatron's abuse caused him to turn out the way he did. I could have turned out that way and it's a little scary, some of the parallels I'm drawing with him.

@ichbinmeltdown wrote a great analysis on Starscream that I want to share here:

"Megatron was abusive as hell to Starscream. He treated him horribly, and I legitimately almost cried a few times watching it. There's an episode called Starscream's Brigade that introduces the Combaticons, and I think that perfectly demonstrates the cycle of abuse. The entire world is against Starscream at pretty much every turn throughout the series, but none more so than Megatron. Every word out of his speech synthesizer to Starscream is to berate him, and he's constantly throwing him around, beating him, even ripping out his speech synthesizer in a scene from a previous episode (Hoist Goes Hollywood, IIRC). His own teammates don't like him, and even his brothers- Skywarp and Thundercracker, going off of the idea they're brothers- just... allow Megatron to abuse him. (Not to get into headcanons here, but I personally believe that Megatron's abuse fractured the Elite Trine's family dynamic. They are still brothers and love each other, but they're all too afraid of Megatron to really... stand up for each other as they did in the past.) And Starscream seemed to just snap in this episode. He treated the Combaticons poorly, and even when teaming up with Shockwave, he subjected him to a lot of the same ridicule and torment that Megatron put him through. He failed to realize Shockwave was the one of the only bots who would give him a chance- and unfortunately lashed out at him, which ruined his chances of Shockwave ever being a true friend and ally to him. Once Starscream had finally gotten a taste of power and not being under another bot's boot, he too became the very thing that he lived in fear of. And that really is how the cycle goes- when you're finally free from abuse, it can be tempting to overcompensate and take back all the power you were robbed of, at any cost whatsoever. Starscream, like D16 in Transformers One, snapped up this opportunity."

And the sad thing is, I've seen this in real life and I've internalised some of the abuse I've dealt with too. I'm not proud of it. Like the Seeker Trine, my own family dynamic has been fractured by similar abuse. I know there's traces of narcissism in my behaviour too, and I'm NOT proud of it. Maybe this is why I can forgive Starscream for being a narc, because I can see a little bit of my own personality/attitude/behaviour in him. Maybe it's because I know where it came from, I get why he acts that way and it's not just random and out of the blue. Maybe it's because--and I know this is a bold statement--I don't think he would do some of the stuff my own family did to me (blah blah blah he's a fictional character).

I didn't mean for this to turn into a long rant, so

TLDR: I finally figured out that part of the reason I love and relate to Starscream so much despite him internalising some of the abuse I went through, is because he was the victim of that same abuse.

[qoldenskies]

Thinking about Rise Splinter hate… it always makes me kinda sad. Like YEAH, it wasn’t right the way he treated the boys. But like, Rise is really good at expressing subtle familial dynamics, and one of the big ones for me is the fact that like… there’s always an undercurrent of “It’s complicated” to their interaction with Splinter. IRL, it always pisses me off to see people casting judgments on people’s relationships with their family, because you don’t know!! Yeah, they hurt you, but not everything’s black and white. It’s complicated. Because you love them, and sometimes you get to understand a little bit better why things happened as you get older.

In a matter of smaller importance, hate for him loses so many opportunities in his character… even things that might just be kinda off-handedly mentioned.

He fought for SEVEN years—give me Splinter with chronic pain. Splinter relating to his boys with their neurodivergence—it’s HIS fault they have it!!!

That was seven years of imprisonment, or even simpler, an abusive relationship. What did he learn from that? How did he change? What things are skewed in his worldview?

His childhood! We saw his relationship with his grandfather a bit, but how did Splinter grow into his dream of being a movies star? HIM BEING A MOVIE STAR. He was both a rebellious team and a literal celebrity, this guy probably took empyrean at some point without knowing it, just like. Recreationally or something LMAO.

I maybe just need more of his old man knowledge. Him being so loser-core was a great move by the Rise team, and I could SEE where his story was going—ROBBED. We were ROBBED.

splinter hate is CRAAAAZY when he's such an INTERESTING character who does actually have a lot of obvious depth. like he's goofy and he's objectively flawed as a parent but he does go out of his way to improve himself and LEARN throughout the show, and he does listen and apologize when he knows he's messed up. his issues are so similar to leo's actually, leo's a kid so he's got more leeway to be shitty but idk when people act like its endearing on him and not on splinter. splinter's hilarious free my man

on the other side of the coin i dont really like when people make him a perfect loving parent either,,, i think people going for all kinds of interpretations in order to serve whatever story they need is fine but i do prefer kind of messy parent splinter, i think its kind of sad to see him reduced down to bad or good. he LOVES his boys so dearly and he would NEVER intentionally want to hurt them, but he's quick to cast judgement when he's angered/feels disrespected (evil league of mutants comes to mind, but also in turtle dega nights when donnie first stops the tank) and he's really a lot more inattentive than he should be. but there are REASONS behind this, coming out of an abusive relationship, fighting in bloodsports against his consent for years, you could probably count the whole draxum thing as traumatic (its presented as kind of silly in the show, but considering what it lead to,, its a pivotal moment in the backstory. its one of those things that i reasonably feel can be recontextualized because its so essential) and then dealing with crippling body dysmorphia and being forced into the sewers with no company other than his children,, it really adds up

idk like ,,,, you can still be extremely traumatized and be a horrible parent. in fact trauma can be a direct CAUSE of being a bad parent because that kind of thing influences every facet of your life and if youre unprepared emotionally, yeah. but splinter isn't the kind of person to double down and become more overtly nasty when he feels cornered. if he gets the feeling that his kids are actually upset with him, he backtracks. this is actually kind of a key trait of his, that he does try very hard to correct himself when he messes up. he's communicative and apologetic, and he tries very hard to be that way.

and also this is maybe something that i just have a wider problem with when it comes to the way people interpret things in cartoons at times but splinter's actions in eps like lair games (especially in lair games) and flushed but never forgotten are meant to be like. jokes. its absurdist comedy that's meant to catch you off guard. there are more serious emotional beats in rise you can use but i think when youre adapting this world and characters into a more serious tone you have to keep that kind of thing in mind because some things are meant to be surprising and absurd for the sake of making you laugh. i think the best comparison i can think of is how in musical movies they're not actually singing (in most cases, sometimes the fact that they actually are is played for laughs it depends. but yk what i mean). the joke is that this is kind of a shitty thing he's doing but taking the actions themselves seriously in a vacuum in order to cast shame on a character has always been odd to me. that'd be like calling raph abusive for rolling up the window on mikey's neck in late fee. or calling the teetz murderers because they caused a robot mass suicide that one time. it just doesnt make any sense

[whateverisbeautiful]

Do you think Rick ever attempted to tell Michonne how he felt about her? I wondered if he tried and got scared or someone interrupted them. How do you think Rick trying would have gone?

I really like this question too! I can absolutely see there being moments where Rick wanted to tell her how he feels and maybe even came close to before something stopped him. Since in TOWL he admitted he didn’t know what to do about being in love with her for a while there, I think those mints ended up being pretty important in helping him finally figure out how to let Michonne know how he feels about her.

This post actually feels like the perfect place to put my Part Two of what I think happened with Rick and Michonne during that time jump between No Way Out and The Next World because I address this question some more in my play-by-play. So this is Part Two - what I think happened in that time jump to make Rick and Michonne be like this the next time we see them in 6.10 ⬇️💗:

As always, my extra self has to start right from where they left off in No Way Out, which includes one of my favorite TWD episode endings when Rick speaks to Carl and then Carl ever-so-lightly takes his hand.

I’ve always loved the staging of that scene too with Michone holding Judith right outside the room. It’s such a visual confirmation of the family unit they are. And I can envision that when Rick notices that Carl took his hand he calls Michonne in to tell her about Carl’s movement and they're really happy and relieved and it’s a moment where it’s pretty hard to ignore how much the two of them feel like a mom and dad. 

So then I’d think that Carl probably has to stay at the infirmary for a certain amount of time for Denise to monitor him in the earliest stages of his recovery. And Rick and Michonne visit every single day to be with Carl and help look after him. I feel like the community probably agreed that after NWO, Rick needs a little break from leadership so that he can focus on tending to Carl. So during this time, others step up around the community while Rick and Michonne have a lot more time to tend to Carl and be at home with Judith. I think spending all that time together really tightens Rick and Michonne’s bond even more.

And one of the biggest things I’m convinced we were robbed of seeing during this time jump is the increase in Richonne’s physical touch. I think Rick and Michonne got a lot more comfortable with showing affection through touch during this time. Nothing blatantly romantic of course but like those little low fives or nudges on the couch. They start doing those types of touches a lot more often. Along with ramping up the flirtation and the little glances that suggest this dynamic isn’t nearly as platonic as they’ve tried to act like it is because there’s some real yearning and desire evident during this time.

I can picture that there’s one night where maybe Michonne puts Judith to bed while Rick is downstairs putting away dishes and then on the way to her room they both just end up sitting on the couch and staying up late talking - something they subconsciously might have been more hesitant to do when Carl was in the house prior considering the whole son’s best friend/best friend’s dad thing. But while Carl is still in the infirmary, they end up feeling a bit more comfortable to spend this time together at night. And those nighttime chats then become a staple part of their daily routine that Rick and Michonne both really look forward to.

Like it’s so a part of their routine that even when they’re tired after a long day, they go to the couch instead of going to bed because they want to make sure they still get that time to decompress together.

And I think their conversations just flow so easily and they operate so organically as best friends, while also knowing it’s getting harder and harder to act like all they are is best friends. Especially when Rick decides to officially remove his wedding ring during this time - something I imagine Michonne did notice.

I feel like Judith also starts really clinging to Michonne like a mom during this time. Like I always love it when the baby who plays Judith reaches for Michonne during that 6.10 scene on the porch and even sounds like she says Michonne’s name. I always like to think that Judith feels so bonded to Michonne by that point.

And maybe Rick and Michonne even like to make predictions on when they think Judith will start crawling as they often like to smile over watching her "practice" on the baby monitor during their nighttime chats.

I can picture that on one of those nights, Rick thanks Michonne for saving his and Carl’s life when Ron had that gun on him and notes how she’s saved his life quite a few times and he feels like he owes her. And she’d tell him that he doesn’t owe her and again the silence after is so clearly her “because I love you and you’ve given me a whole family” but she doesn’t say all that and Rick doesn’t profess his love yet either. They just let the nice moment be. 

So then there’s the portion of time when Carl can finally come home and Denise teaches Rick and Michonne what they’ll need to do with Carl home, like how to wrap his bandages and do physical therapy. With Carl home, I picture that Rick and Michonne get a good routine going of how to take care of him and help him during this time of adjusting to his new life with one eye. It's all just even more confirmation that the two of them parent and operate like a well-oiled machine.

Some days are smoother than others because I think Carl would understandably have some days where the recovery is frustrating for him. But Carl is a fighter too so overall he’s resilient and keeps a good spirit during recovery. And Rick and Michonne try to make things as smooth as possible for him and they’re able to lean on each other when it’s hard or emotional to see Carl struggling. They’re both just so grateful Carl is alive. 

I think the four of them would have family dinner together every night and Carl can even peep that the bonding Rick and Michonne have done lately is so clearly because they’re into each other. Like I just know that the look Carl gave Michonne the morning after she was with Rick has to do with Carl being like I knew I was picking up on the right vibes in this house all this time. 😂

In my mind, I imagine that Michonne is best at changing the bandages so she often is the one who does that for Carl in the mornings. I think one of those mornings she’s getting ready for the day and realizes she’s out of toothpaste. So, wearing her robe and towel, she initially is going to ask Carl to borrow his before bandaging him but then she sees Rick’s bedroom door is open so she just asks him.

And Rick does have some toothpaste left and gives it to her while trying very hard to just seem casual about her showing up in her robe the first time lol. But he’s definitely not mad at the sight he sees. 😋

And then soon it just becomes a thing for Michonne to borrow Rick’s toothpaste in the mornings during their family's little morning routine.

Rick and Michonne still of course want to contribute to the community so Rick starts going back out on those runs with Daryl and Michonne takes on some guard shifts at the gate. Once again, I think Daryl is observant that Rick has been real cheery lately and he knows that, on top of the good news of Carl surviving and the community proving they’re capable of surviving too, it’s whatever Rick has going with Michonne that plays a big part in why he’s smiling and snapping to music on their supply runs.

I also think on Rick and Daryl's supply runs, Rick would always somehow find ways to bring up Michonne in their conversations - because he’s a man in love. And Rick thinks he’s bringing Michonne up casually and subtly but it’s not either of those things to Daryl lol. But again, Daryl mostly keeps those observations to himself, even tho the thought "if this idiot doesn't make a damn move on her already" likely crossed his mind at minimum three times.

There was a time when I would have thought that maybe Rick never outright told Daryl that he had fallen for Michonne pre-canon. But honestly seeing the way Rick is a guy who can wear his heart on his sleeve at times, I wouldn't be surprised if maybe he did open up to Daryl more straightforwardly about how he's in love with his son's best friend and doesn't exactly know how to best proceed. And Daryl is a man of few words but I'd imagine that even the few words he'd offer up about the situation would be somehow helpful or reassuring to his brother.

And then, even with Carl home, Rick and Michonne definitely still continue to have their nighttime chats between just the two of them. Even tho now maybe sometimes Carl will come downstairs for water or a snack and be like 'you guys are still up talking?' 🤭

I do think there could have been one night where they were talking and laughing, and everything in Rick wanted to just tell Michonne how he feels and even lean in and kiss her. Because again, he’s aware during this time that he’s in love with her.

Like maybe there’s a moment where Michonne even asks about why he stopped wearing the ring, sorta like how she asked Carl why he stopped wearing the sherrif hat in season 4. And Rick is about to say something about how it didn’t feel right anymore to wear the ring while he’s in love with someone else and he’d turn that into the moment he tells Michonne how he feels about her…But I bet they do have something that interrupts his chance. Like maybe Judith starts crying or Carl or Daryl walks into the kitchen or something so they sorta have to just let the moment pass again.

While Michonne would have reacted really positively to Rick professing his feelings for her at any point during this time jump, I think the actual timing of how Richonne got together ended up being perfect for them. After all the build-up of their slow burn, I think it’s better that their first officially romantic moment didn’t have to be a whole conversation but rather them just leading with their hearts and being passionately in the moment, rather than Rick perhaps directly telling her he’s fallen for her and maybe nervously adding something like “if that’s too much right now I understand” like the talk they had in 4.11. 

But I think these unseen time jump exchanges where Rick hoped to “find his moment," is also part of why Rick had that look that he had just before he kissed Michonne in 6.10. In that scene, I always feel like he looked at her like I think this might finally be my uninterrupted chance to kiss her and oh wow she looks like she wants me to.

I also feel like some of Rick’s hesitation to make a move before 6.10 was because he really didn’t want to potentially ruin what they have now by moving too fast or escalating in a way that Michonne may not want. So I think he just decided in his mind that if ever she gives the green light then he won’t hold back in letting her know how he feels, but he’ll wait until she’s comfortable enough for that. 

Until then, he’s just loving all their little exchanges throughout the day. And Michonne loves it too. She’s also aware she’s fallen in love with him by this point, but Rick is her best friend’s dad and they have such a good thing going as a family that I think she too is hesitant to make her feelings known and find out if it’s mutual. So like Rick, she's working up to it. Especially with Deanna’s final words to her ringing through her mind often during this time - “What do you want? Now you go figure it out.”

But one morning, Michonne remembers that she still doesn’t have toothpaste of her own so she goes up to Rick’s room to borrow it like she normally does. However, this time he’s all out too. And so is Carl.

All of them being out of toothpaste ends up being a blessing in disguise tho. Because fortunately, this is also the same day Rick very intentionally finds the perfect minty alternative. 😌

And those mints lead to Rick and Michonne finally acting on all the blatant love, desire, and sexual tension that they’d been steaming up the house with the last few weeks. 

And that’s my 'little' detailed play-by-play of what I think life was like for Rick and Michonne during that very impactful Season 6 time jump. 👌🏽😊

Also, I had said in Part One that this Part Two would possibly be less lengthy, but I checked and this one is longer than the first. 😅 They were just too fun to write and imagine. Thanks for reading them! I really do appreciate each person who takes the time to read my thoughts. 🙏🏽💕

[zepskies]

The Boys S4: Is it just me or...

Okay, anyone who knows me knows I love this show. And I don't mean to be overly critical, but...there's something missing for me in season 4. 🤔

Episode 4 brought me back in a bit more this week, but I have thoughts and just wanted to get them out. Which of course you don't have to agree with, if you so choose to dive below the cut. 😂

So here we go! Highlights and lowlights (and **spoilers**): ⤵️

Sorry in advance for my slightly stream of conscious-style thought process.

Lowlights (so far):

Kimiko x Frenchie: Violently pushing down something you built up for 2.75 seasons? Because "being more than that/family" can also be romantic? Why do you hate the fans, Kripke? 😂

The political "satire" is getting a bit old for me. A lot of the same jokes over and over. However, the problem of taking out Victoria Neuman is a very intriguing conundrum (and Bob Singer sweating over it while trying to keep supes out of the military/law enforcement is keeping me hooked).

THAT Rob scene: lmfao come on now. This was for gross shock value and nothing else. Even the exploding dick and Love Sausage in S3 served a narrative purpose. (But I enjoyed the footnote commentary while watching it on Prime: Rob B. apparently wants to remind everyone that he's a Shakespearean-trained actor. 🤣) I’m actually more disappointed that he didn’t have a more meaningful role in the show, because he really is a fantastic actor and I was looking forward to seeing what his character would bring. (Not that lmao.)

Overall, the season just feels...emptier than seasons 1-3? Maybe that has to do with the lack of Soldier Boy's gravitas as a new antagonist, and connecting the entire narrative and various conflicts of the season -- all while shedding light on the grisly past of Payback, Grace Mallory, and Stan Edgar. Stormfront also brought that ante up in season 2 in a similar way, all while shedding light on Vought's sordid history with the creation of Compound V.

We're missing the layers here in season 4. Now, this could just be because we haven't seen the full season yet as well, but that's what I see so far.

I think it also has to do with the odd dynamic the boys side is in right now. With Butcher on the fringe of the group, and the others splintered off on their own side plots, it feels like the supes' side of things are more...for lack of a better term, "unified" in the narrative.

Which I realize is probably to reverse parallel the state of each side in season 3. But it just feels "off" to me somehow, since we're supposed to be just as invested in the boys side lol.

Highlights:

Butcher and Ryan: Butcher's doing his best there now, and it soothes my heart.

Ryan's slowly seeing the consequences of his choice to join Homelander. In fact, I'm wondering where Ryan is in episode 4. Hiding in his room?

The Khan Worm that appears to be inside Butcher is both frightening and intriguing. I wonder if this is the key to saving his life? Or just another lovely side effect of taking V24 long term. 🐛

JDM (Joe) and Butcher: All their scenes were golden. And that subtle John Winchester reference? Being willing to train up his son to be a killer? Being able to grieve at his son's funeral, knowing he "saved the world?" *Chef's kiss* 🤌🏽

(And if Butcher or Joe end up being the one to break Soldier Boy out of his cryo coffin, my fangirl heart will freak TF out. 🤣)

The way that Homelander is noticing his age is fucking hilarious. Bet you wish you had that life longevity from your father/sperm donor, dont'cha? 😂

But also the way Homelander "confronted" his past in E4 had some truly WTF/Holy Shit™️ moments, in a good way. As in, I'm once again afraid of this unhinged psychopath--kind of way. 😅

A-Train continuing to struggle internally with the place he's fought so hard to keep in the Seven, versus recognizing the evil around him, his own complicity, wanting forgiveness from Hughie, and wanting a true connection with others (namely his family).

It's interesting that Hughie's mom is being brought back in at this time. And even MORE interesting that she seems to be the one who gave her ex-husband Compound V. Her story of why she left her family seemed so normal that I actually got a little suspicious of her. But now, even more so. 🤨

M.M. doing his fucking best. (Except for the way he suddenly had a change of heart about Butcher in E4. Not sure about that one.)

Tilda effing Swinton voicing Ambrosius. PLEASE. My Queen. 😭🤣🤣

I actually had more lowlights before I watched episode 4. There were some really interesting moments that literally had me gasping in shock (this time in a good way), more so than in the first 3 episodes. However, I still think seasons 1-3 were stronger from the get-go.

But even with my lingering reservations, now I'm actually more so looking forward to getting into the meat of the season in this second-half coming up. 👏🏽

[descendant-of-truth]

On principle I don't really like the idea of Sonic being sent after Shadow at the request of G.U.N for two reasons:

It robs us of the god-tier cold open of the original game where Sonic busts out of a helicopter to escape arrest

I always loved the setup where Sonic and Shadow meeting was pretty incidental - neither of them had any idea who the other was, but Sonic thought Shadow was impersonating him on purpose while Shadow just thought he seemed fun to mess with

But depending on what the surrounding context is, I can see how the movie could make this plot point interesting in a completely different way that still complements these versions of the characters, even if I don't prefer it to the original.

So, some ideas:

G.U.N has been the villain of the last two movies, so in order for Sonic to be working with them, they must have a pretty good deal for him. My guess is that they promised to leave him and his family alone - no more schemes, no more kidnapping, nothing of the sort - on the one condition that "Team Sonic" helps them deal with Shadow.

This would already function as a narrative parallel to Sonic enlisting Robotnik's help later for the same thing. The name of the game becomes "we don't like each other, we're enemies, but we need to work together to deal with this guy because he's too powerful," which becomes a triple threat if the whole cast including Shadow gets to team up at the very end to save the world

I think it would also be very fun if Sonic is trying so hard to talk things out with Shadow in large part because he heard that there was another hedgehog on the loose, and wants so badly to be friends with someone like him that it takes at least one full-blown beating before he gives up on that idea

(The other reason he keeps trying is "it worked on Knuckles" of course)

Now, this puts Sonic in a fascinating position, particularly when using the game as a frame of reference. SA2 was very straightforward with how it presented its conflict at first: you have a Hero Story and a Dark Story, and as such you're primed to think of everyone on both sides as either being good or bad.

And most people, I think, were inclined to play the Hero Story first; it's the one with Sonic in it, and the select screen hovers over it by default, too. It tells a very simple story of Sonic and friends stopping Eggman's (admittedly very threatening) evil plan, developing some new rivalries along the way.

It's already a little bit of a twist for Sonic and Knuckles to have formed a respectful relationship with Shadow and Rouge by the end, since you see them as villains initially, but they still remain antagonists. Rouge returns the Master Emerald pieces, but she's still working with Robotnik. Shadow thinks Sonic is pretty impressive, but he still tries to kill him to stop him from saving the world.

But then you get to the Dark Story, and then the Final Story, and you think, oh. It's really not that simple.

For starters, you get to see more of Rouge's bond with Shadow. There's some conflict inherent to their relationship because Rouge is a spy and is only here to get information on Shadow, but after he saves her life, there's a definite shift to their dynamic. There's something genuine there, even if it doesn't get a lot of screentime dedicated to it.

But most important to the story is what we learn about who Shadow is, in part through his interactions with Rouge.

Shadow is cunning and ruthless - heck, his goal is to literally blow up the world. But whether out of compassion or survivor's guilt or both, he can't let Rouge die, so he saves her and then lies about his motivations for it to seem colder than he is.

And even though the things he's doing are definitely bad, his motivations are famously sympathetic; he wants revenge for his best friend, a young girl who was killed by the G.U.N military during a raid.

(It was implied that there was some sort of brainwashing done on him by Gerald after Maria died as well but that part of the story is incredibly vague)

By the end of the game, Shadow comes into his own as a hero and helps save the world instead of destroying it. And suddenly it makes sense why the stories weren't called Hero and Villain, because neither Shadow nor Rouge are especially villainous characters; Rouge is selfish, and Shadow is driven by grief and hatred, but they're ultimately kind at the end of the day. Both of them find people to care about - each other, as well as Knuckles and Sonic respectively.

But y'know, there wasn't a lot of ambiguity about who the heroes were in the Hero Story itself. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are pretty clearly The Good Guys, and nothing they do is really questioned because they're always fighting The Bad Guys.

So what I'm seeing here is an opportunity for Team Sonic to not be totally in the right for once. Yes, it's good to stop Shadow from going on a rampage and destroying the world, but look at who they're keeping for company here. G.U.N? Robotnik and Agent Stone? As if either of those groups are trustworthy enough to not stab them in the backs as soon as it's convenient. As if they're not going to find some way to exploit Sonic for their benefit.

And frankly, Shadow is totally in the right to hate G.U.N, and Team Sonic for working with them. Given that his backstory seems to be largely unchanged, it's kind of impossible not to be on board with him fighting the protagonists at least a little bit.

Besides, I don't think it's a coincidence that Shadow is doing the wrong thing for the right reason, while Sonic is doing the right thing with the wrong people (and maybe also for the wrong reason). That has the potential to be very clever if executed well.

I can only imagine the dawning horror on Sonic's face as he realizes just how much he's not on the right side of this conflict; when he learns about what happened to Maria and everyone else on the Ark. Especially if Tom's family was involved in it, like the current popular theory going around.

Also, last-second realization: what if there's something more to that line from Tom, "it wasn't always easy, but you didn't change who you are in here"? Most likely it's going to be used as a way to show how Shadow is different from Sonic, because he did change who he was in response to trauma and it'll be really poetic when he "finds himself" again

But also, consider: maybe Sonic does end up changing throughout the movie. Maybe he does something that goes against his core principles in order to get an advantage in some way, and they kind of play around with the idea that Sonic is similar to Shadow in ways that aren't always flattering to either of them. I want those hedgehogs to make each other worse before they get better

In any case, there's a lot of potential here, and I'm very curious to see what they ended up going with

[barren-heart]

We already know the ending of What We Do In The Shadows the show. The movie told us.

Spoilers from both the movie (2014) and the show (2024)

I think it’s obvious when Taika and Jemaine set out to make an American version of their vampire comedy, they weaved a lot of the same storylines into the show. We have vampire roommates, werewolves (not swearwolves) , familiars, an ancient vampire, vampire hypnosis, and a camera crew.

All the same ideas exist from movie to show, just presented differently.

Guillermo, the familiar turned vampire hunter turned bodyguard turned vampire turned back to human, is a combination of the movie’s familiar and vampire Hunter roles. I believe he’s also the love interest, Katherine.

I think the show, while becoming it’s own thing entirely, has a deep connection to the movie. I think they’ve been trying to follow viago’s love interest storyline since the show switched hands from Taika and Jemaine to Paul Simms.

While probably not known to most, Paul was instrumental in bringing the show over to the States, having helped to fund it.

He was already in the world of Shadows, and while I haven’t agreed on the way he’s said things and some direction the show had taken (season 4 had some growing pains), I do believe he’s understood the heart of the show.

Which is why I think they took such a dramatic shift in season 4 to tell and show the audience that Nandor doesn’t want to just date, but to really have a life or afterlife partner. That season had two “coming outs”. Guillermo obviously coming out as gay, and Nandor coming out as pansexual before he was turned.

I think this distinction was really important to build their romantic dynamic. They wanted to show Nandor’s interest in Guillermo wasn’t attributed to just horny vampireness, but actual true love and affection for him.

And having Guillermo formally come out as gay was more than just the Freddie gag (or the purpose of Guillermo having a boyfriend so that Nandor sleeps with him causing Guillermo to get upset about it which encourages Guillermo to take vampire turning into his own hands, leading to the events in season 5), but to show the audience that Guillermo’s not just a hero worshipper of his boss. He could very well have a crush that could become something more.

And while Simms’ execution of Nandermo so far has not been executed perfectly, (mostly because I think his version of Shadows uses jokes to cover or masque serious moments whereas Jemaine’s comedy often highlights and exposes the truth about life in funny situations), I think Paul’s vision is headed in the right direction.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Guillermo has a far larger familiar role than the one in the movie. Storytelling wise, it’s expected that Guillermo’s ending will solve the lingering vampire question that was halfway resolved in season 5. Because the show is telling the audience, “Wait. There’s more.” There’s more change to be had. I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that a part of Nandor’s arc is finding love. And part of his ending will have to be resolving this, as well.

And funny enough, Viago’s ending resolves both of these issues. He finds love with Katherine again and turns her into a vampire, but she got to have a full life first. There’s comedy there (he’s still older than her even though they don’t look it) but also there’s heart. She got to have a full life and agency of her own instead of being robbed of it.

I think Paul wants to set up this ending because it’s funny but also, to highlight his appreciation to the original. We expected from the jump that Nandor would turn Guillermo eventually and we can’t just have that without growth and change and conflict in between. It’s nice to get everything we want, but that’s not what sitcoms do. Sitcoms subvert expectations, and Paul is highly versed in sitcom structure. (Something that I think even Jemaine and Taika had to learn. )

Paul Simms’ isn’t just a writer in the room, he is a writer familiar (haha insert lame reference joke here) with the source material in a sitcom format. The movie wasn’t a sitcom. They could resolve Viago’s relationship because movies resolve arcs at the end of the movie.

Sitcoms don’t resolve anything at the end of an episode or even the end of a season. They resolve them at the end of the show. He knows Nandermo would end the show, because when characters get what they want (whatever their aspirations are) it completes the narrative. In sitcoms, the characters wants drive the purpose of the show.

And all good sitcoms don’t immediately give you (the audience) what you want until the end. And yes it can be frustrating, but when done right, the payoff is worth it. When the arcs are finished, the story ends. Even in sitcoms and comedy shows. So, Guillermo and Nandor being together and Nandor even eventually turning Guillermo, would have to be arc finishers. That would end the show. Which is why I think s6 is ending here, because the lead (Nandor) finished his arc.

Now whether that means Nandor will turn Guillermo on screen or not is yet to be seen. Maybe at some point down the road when Guillermo’s family is much older or have moved on from this earth and maybe when there is a new way to be a vampire without blood, Guillermo will be ready.

[nthspecialll]

Bill Williamson "being an asshole"

I hear quite a lot of people saying that they do not like Bill because he is an asshole but I actually don't think it is that true. Some of the points I am gonna run through are going to be shortened but I will link to longer explanations.

Let's drop directly into the one I hear the most "Bill is responsible for Sean's death," yes and no, but mostly no. A lot of people use the argument "how could Bill not see it was a trap?" however I think we forget it wasn't just him who couldn't. Micah, Bill, heck even Dutch could not see it, it is also mentioned around Lenny and Karen while they ride to Valentine, and they don't mention a problem with it either, actually, the only two characters who shows any concern are Sean and Arthur and yet they both go along with it anyways because they think they can handle it.

Quite a lot of times we see characters going on risky jobs even though it might not turn out well, including Arthur and Hosea going to the Braithewaite manor, which was literally turning up two people to a massive family with something they stole from them, but they do it anyways because they think they can handle it, and for the majority of the time they can. A job going wrong, a risky job, going wrong is not new, but as Bill points out "when you mess up it is just one of those things, but when I do it I am an idiot."

One of the many reasons why Bill is being called an idiot by many is because of the dynamite in chapter one that didn't go off, but a surprising amount of people forget that !!Arthur!! set that charge and even admit it! It is even stated other places that Bill is an explosives expert, now imagine some amature comes along, asks if you want help, you give them a simple task, they mess it up and now everyone blames you for the one thing they previously respected you for.

There are a lot of the others reason why he is being called an idiot in camp, but it is more complicated.

Bill is very eager to please, and that is not anyone, but Dutch, Bill owes Dutch everything. Bill got thrown out of the army for being homosexual and lost himself completely, completely lost faith in himself, completely lost confidence in himself, became the man he said he would never become, but Dutch saved him, pulled him out of that hole and gave him everything, just like Dutch gave Javier or Lenny everything they could dream of.

That said, Dutch does not replicate, he likes Bill, he trusts Bill, but he doesn't value Bill half as much as some of the others which weighs Bill down quite a lot. Bill also works hard for the gang, being of the gang members present at most jobs, six-point cabin, Valentine bank robbery, coach robbing, security job and so forth, he mentions it himself, while Arthur is out, so is he. He most likely does just as much coach robbing and stealing as we do.

The difference between Arthur and Bill though is that while they work about as much, Bill does not get the same recognition from the others, especially Dutch, whom he worships, this leads to a lot of jealousy and a feeling of unjustness. This is displayed as fustrated anger and snarking comments as well as the "when you mess up it is just one of those things, but when I do it I am an idiot," but also more visibly when he drunkenly speaks to John and says "everyone thinks you are Dutch's pet" - "or at least I do." He is jealous that those two have such a long leash and no consequences, yet a small mistake from him and he will never hear the end of it.

For seven entire years Bill tried to please Dutch but was only ever made fun of.

In chapter four if you meet Sonny (if you don't know who that is, be glad) Bill will come up and say "he seemed to know all about you!" a lot of people see this as Bill making fun of Arthur's sa, but taking in historical context and the dynamic between Bill and Arthur, that does not make sense, rather it sounds like Bill thinks Arthur had a consensual homosexual hookup and Bill sees a chance to bully Arthur with the very thing Arthur bullies him for. (A link to further explanation)

Then we have one of the reasons why I am not too fond of him and that while I can explain will not excuse, his abuse of Kieran. Now we are going back to the homosexuality because while this is a progressive gang, this is not a homosexual accepting gang, they bully him quite a lot and that isolates him quite a bit. Suddenly he finds a person in camp who he likes, but he doesn't know how to approach. The fustrations of being alone, as well as the lack of "protection" Kieran has, leads to these unfortunate events of him trying to flirt and show affection but not knowing how to. (Wonderful explanation)

I also see some comments on his general racism against Lenny and Javier (which he btw only does when drunk, otherwise he knows to keep his thoughts to himself), and this is very simple to explain. Bill is a man in 1899. That is it. We sometimes forget that people in 1899 were not like Dutch, they were not like Arthur, people in 1899 were racist. Finding an Arthur would be like finding a needle in a haystack, finding a Bill would be finding a haystraw in a haystack. Does that excuse it? No, but it explains it. (Edit; I have looked deeper into Bill's racism and realised it is not this easy, link to explaination here)

A Reddit post called "why I hate Bill Willimason" that I am using right now also mentions how he didn't get any leads at the majors party "because he is a massive idiot and struggles to fit in or get anyone to continue talking to him. Why on Earth was he even brought along to this event?" Because he wanted to, because he wanted to impress Dutch. Again, Bill feels in debt to Dutch, he looks up to Dutch and to some degree Hosea as well. Most likely it was only meant to be Dutch, Hosea and Arthur who went to the ball, but Bill valuneteered as well.

We hear how excited Sean is about going out with Charles, Arthur and John, saying "me and the big cheeses, love it!" This was most likely Bill's "big cheeses," he is used to going on jobs with Charles and John, but Dutch and Hosea? The important ones? That is special to him and he wanted to prove that he could do something, that he was worth something but he failed, why? Because he is not used to people, because he struggles fitting in, when you follow him around at the party you can hear him awkwardly trying to start a convosation but people judge him and ignore him. He is trying but the others are rejecting him.

I have also found this lovely sentence in the post: "Him not giving a damn about Lenny's death and never actually addressing it in the entire game reflects what a piece of trash he is." Bill Williamson grew up as a boy in the 1800, he was taught from childhood that showing emotion means he is weak, something physically beat into him in the military, and the fact that he is gay makes it even worse. Bill being gay, something seen as weak, makes him try to make up for it, he is not going to show a lot of emotion. It is not just Lenny who's death he doesn't comment on, and it is exactly because of this.

Then the redditor goes on to compare Micah and Bill and how they are both terrible but comes with this sentence: "The difference between them is that Bill is supposed to be one of the senior and more trusted gang members." But the thing this lovely person fails to acknowledge is that Bill is not given that seniority, he sleeps together with Lenny who says he "sleeps with the juniours" (even though he sleeps with Hosea? But point either way), Dutch mocks him by saying "yeah what about you Bill?" None of the other takes him seriously and he is talked down to.

Lastly there is the whole he sided with Dutch and he acused John of being the rat. Yeah, he sided with Dutch because Dutch is a god to him, Dutch is his savior, his everything and Bill trusts him, the idea of John being the rat itself was Dutch's idea that Bill just adopted. Now that said, he not completely blinded as some might think, as soon as the Pinkerton's show up in the end Javier and Bill are gone. You can use the camera to search all around camp and while Micah, Joe, Cleet and Dutch are very easy to find, Javier and Bill are not, you cannot find them. Most likely they ran away as soon as it started because they knew that the revenge was stupid and pointless and saw their own surivial more important, not to mention the clear, at least, annoyance that Bill has with Dutch in rdr1.

I am not going to go into talk about rdr1 because there he is a proper asshole, but rdr2 Bill is very defendable and I really dislike people just slapping the label "asshole" on him and calling it a day without looking deeper into who he is and why he does what he does.

Another not so fun fact, Bill's father was an alcoholist who lost his mind due to it, Bill hated it, hated all of it and his biggest fear was ending up like him... I don't think Bill ever liked himself for drinking.

(This is not a defending post and you can absolutely hate Bill if you want, this is an EXPLAINING post to make people understand him and his choices better)

[ceilidho]

there was a lot of moments in the movie where i was like “ceilidh mustve been screaming rn” bc you’re right it was just on the verge of a dark romance plot but this just makes me curious of all your thoughts on the movie. please spill i want to hear every thought in that sexy mind we all know and love

ahhahahha no for real, the friend I went with and I were GIGGLING the whole time.

Here r some of my thoughts in no particular order (spoilers ahead):

- james mcavoy is so fucking hot I’m going to chew my hands off. Like he oozes sexuality. (Also - I cant say what I know, but I have a friend that works in theatre in London who has it on good authority that he’s genuinely the best guy imaginable, like if you guys knew you’d stan him so fucking hard. But I’ve been sworn to shut my mouth lol)

- I thought the relationship dynamics were so interesting. Like there were times when I couldn’t be sure whether Paddy and Ciara genuinely liked Louise and Ben or if they never wavered in their plan to ultimately rob and kill them. Because that car scene with Paddy and Ben felt very much like Paddy’s feelings were genuinely hurt, like he was under the impression that he and Ben were buddies. And then them screaming together in the middle of nowhere?? I was so convinced there would be a twist where Paddy and Ciara offered them a choice to stay with them on the farm

- so so enjoyed the way Ben seemed to subconsciously mirror Paddy throughout the course of the movie (rubbing Louise’s shoulders and feet after Paddy did, saying things in a similar way, agreeing with Paddy, etc)…he wanted that male validation so fucking bad. It took him nearly losing his family to shake the mild male worship he had of Paddy. And it just goes to show the way men will sometimes protect each other even when they don’t know each other and have no real connection - I mean, his WIFE was telling him “we need to leave, these people - especially the husband - make me uncomfortable” and Ben kept making excuses for him!!!

- I can’t even say Ben as a character redeemed himself because even at the end he couldn’t kill Paddy??? Even after everything he did??? Just very odd.

- I don’t dislike the Dalton girl by any means (forget her name) but good fucking lord who CARES ABOUT THAT STUFFED RABBIT. They almost got away the first time and her making them go back almost killed them if it hadn’t been for Louise’s quick thinking and bravery. (On that note- I fucking adored Louise. I completely get why you semi cheated on your lame husband, queen)

- overall, I thought it was such a fun movie and PERSONALLY I enjoy good endings, so I’m glad that this movie didn’t try to completely replicate Speak No Evil (2022). It was that concept but with the “good ending” like in a video game. And it felt very earned and I was so so happy. The tension was CRAZY though, I for sure thought one of them would die before the end.

[tacitusk1llwhore]

It is possible that Mary loved Arthur — or rather, she loved an idealized version of him. I imagine she loved his humor, his thoughtfulness, his charm. I also believe she’s quite taken by his fierceness, his protective nature, his bravery, all while soundly rejecting the parts of him and his life that shaped him into that man.

I don’t blame her for not wanting to live the life of an outlaw wife. Constantly running from the law, sleeping in camps, robbing and killing their way across the country. We know that life didn’t spare Dutch’s love Annabelle, and Hosea’s wife Bessie also died — we don’t know how, but that it was sudden and devastating to Hosea. I don’t even blame her for wanting Arthur to leave that life behind and go honest. But she is selfish. She rejects Arthur for all those things while in the same breath would be asking him for help precisely because that dangerous nature of his is beneficial. I don’t mind about how later in the story, she writes to Arthur wanting to see him, only to ask for help regarding her little brother Jamie, I really don’t mind that. Jamie is young, and innocent, and liked Arthur, and she had no other good option. I mind a lot the asking of him to help her father, who is a grown man making his own terrible decisions, who told Arthur he was not good enough for his daughter. Her last words to Arthur after he brought Jamie back were “you’ll never change,” and calling him back again for another favor I can’t see as anything but selfish.

She asks Arthur to drop everything and run away with her after that, and then rejects him again when he tries to explain that he needs to wrap things up and help some people first. This is his family. He is an orphan and he’s been with this gang for twenty years. It is all he knows, all he loves. And because he’s not willing to step on a trolley with her and leave without so much as a goodbye, she breaks his heart again. It’s her way, all or nothing. She doesn’t care to consider what might be important to him, what he needs.

But I don’t think it’s calculated, or malicious. I think she loves a man who only exists in her mind, in a vacuum, divorced from the rest of the world. She wants so badly for that man to be all there is to Arthur Morgan, but it’s just not. It never was. Asking him to run away with her as they part is just one last desperate bid to try and excise the parts of him she loves from the rest of him and have the idealized life she always daydreamed about.

I really like that they wrote Mary to be messy, flawed, selfish, cares far too much about what her father thinks, in love with a good looking but dangerous outlaw, but not willing to give up her life to be with him on the realistic terms or even give him a chance. It seems like Mary loved the idealized version of him, perhaps loved the thrill of dating an outlaw and having him help her with the dullness of her life while also having him run her errands, but when Arthur and her actually became serious — she realized that it wouldn’t be worth the risk and instead chose the safe option while completely disregarding Arthur and enforcing the idea that he wasn’t good enough for her and his family, for anyone, to not even give him the chance of changing. 

Mary’s actions were a bit contradictory and self-serving, despite her genuine feelings for Arthur. Her inability to accept Arthur as he was, combined with her repeated calls for help, created a dynamic that sorta prevented both of them from healing or moving forward. And maybe if Arthur had run away with Mary, their relationship would have been marked by tension and frustration, with neither party ever fully satisfied or at peace with the choices they made.

huuuu </3 it all makes me so sad they both deserve happiness (but in my opinion they would have never worked out, not even in ‘normal’ circumstances) but

I don’t even need to add anything there. I’m just going to leave it here and move on. This is a glorious take on their relationship and dynamic.

[knickynoo]

Well, I was sufficiently enabled for the idea, so here it is: ✨Alex P. Keaton's Top Neurodivergent Moments✨

The funny thing is that the amount of time I put into scrolling through my encyclopedic mental inventory of Family Ties scenes, compiling these moments in a list, making gifs, and finding past gifsets/analysis to link back to makes creating this post one of my most neurodivergent moments. Good for me.

These will be organized by season (easier for me than trying to rank on a scale) and are in no way ALL of the moments. I'd need like...15 posts for that. Also, tumblr only allows 30 images/gifs per post, so I'm going to include links to past posts when possible.

ENJOY!

• Alex gets his first-ever failing grade and immediately decides to quit school

Exactly what it says. Alex strolls into college all bright-eyed and confident and ends up a broken shell of a guy just a week or so later. The prototypical Gifted Kid from the moment he learned to speak, Alex cannot handle anything less than perfection. Getting the first F of his life shatters his entire self-image, and he wants to drop out of college entirely.

• Alex's friend Doug announces he's getting married, and Alex spirals into despair. As one does.

The entirety of the "Best Man" episode is one big Alex displaying neurodivergent behaviors moment, honestly. There are a whole lot of Alex-centered plots that are set into motion because A Change happens, and he just cannot deal with it, and this is one of the best examples. Alex is so distraught at the suddenly altered dynamic that he wanders the house like a lost soul—sad and confused and needy. He walks in on Steven's shower just to give him a hug, offers to go shopping with Mal and play dolls with Jen, and also draws up a seven-year contract for his other friends to sign to ensure they stick to their regularly scheduled card games, lest they also run off to get married and destroy his life.

• Alex P. Keaton: child development expert

When faced with the news of another sibling on the way, Alex has some very nurturing advice at the ready for when the baby is crying.

• The Keatons all laugh at a funny story. Alex is not amused.

This is one of my favorite Alex scenes of the series. Uncle Rob shares a memory of the time Steven was young and got in trouble because he started rebelling against the system and refused to write his name in the designated spot on his school test papers. The family shares a hearty laugh. Alex, king of black-and-white thinking and lover of rules, is deeply upset.

I love him so much. He genuinely cannot see how they're enjoying such a story. The Name Spot is for names. And his father dared to write in the Not For Names Spot?? Jail for Steven.

He's so ridiculously autistic.

• Alex's favorite childhood toy

It was a cardboard box. I can't quite put into words why this sets off my ND radar, but it does. Maybe it's the being attached to unusual items thing that's common with autism? The intense fixations that make other people go ????

The Alex and Ba-ba plotline provides some wonderful Alex Lore.

• Mr. Mustache

Yeah, those intense fixations? In the "Fool for Love" episode, Alex grows a mustache and legitimately cannot speak about anything else for the several days that follow. He's asked to present a speech at Mallory's homecoming dance and centers his entire speech around his mustache. He's unable to have a conversation that doesn't involve mustaches. It's incredible.

• Everything in "Matchmaker"

Alex is so sweet in this one. After Mallory comes home crying after a bad date, Alex promises to help her find a great guy. Unfortunately, putting someone who struggles socially and with processing emotions in charge of your love life isn't exactly a great fit. Alex uses the power of science to craft a formula to find Mallory's perfect match (he isn't), then tags along on their date and helps foster a very natural environment (it isn't) for the relationship to flourish (it doesn't).

The episode ends with a great scene between Alex and Mallory that shows just how well Mal understands the inner-workings of her big brother's head.

• Divorce is tough. Alex has some advice.

The Keaton kids are shocked to learn that their Uncle Rob is divorcing their Aunt Maureen. As Jen and Mallory reel from the information, Alex helps to reframe things.

He then pulls out the Special Interest Card and compares the divorce of their aunt and uncle to a "failed merger, not unlike the breakup of the phone company—although obviously less emotional. Nothing more than a natural fluctuation in the marketplace of love and marriage."

And the thing is, he IS impacted by the news. He just hasn't the slightest clue how to actually process it. So, a simple failed merger it is!

• You had one job

Mallory needs some croissants for a fancy get-together she's having with her poetry class. Alex helpfully offers to go pick them up.

Now, I debated about this one because there's part of me that's like, "Hmm, did Alex purposely do this to annoy Mallory?" Is this just a jerk move? But you know what? It stays on the list because the whole "I personally don't like this thing and struggle to see how anyone else could. Therefore, I will get the thing I like" is (for me) a relatable aspect of being ND.

• Every single second of "A, My Name is Alex"

For real, though. This episode is a deep dive into how Alex became the person he is, and it is FILLED with "flashbacks" of an intensely neurodivergent child whose issues were made worse by the people around him. (Mostly teachers and peers. Steven and Elyse did their best with him, but I do also have some critiques of the way they parented him). Anyway, he represses his emotions to the point of a meltdown

And then there's this

Full coin gifset here. Also, I made posts on the full episode, which can be found here and here.

• "Alex has a weird body"

That's Mallory's explanation to Andy as to why Alex can't help her when she needs someone to model one of her latest clothing creations. She says Alex's head is too big for his body, and those words, unfortunately, find their way back to him. In a mini plot reminiscent of the mustache one, Alex proceeds to obsess over the comment.

And I mean, I think being told your head is too big for your body would make anyone insecure, but it's the way Alex handles it. He's unable to have regular conversations for a while because he can't stop fixating on the size of his noggin'.

Both of the "Read it and Weep" episodes fit in this list, to be honest

• An accurate statement by Lauren

I've got to include this because it really does neatly condense a lot of who Alex is

So true, bestie.

And then, to wrap this whole thing up, there's all of this

And this is just what I can fit in this here post without going over the limit lol. Obsessed with the way MJF played Alex.

Thanks for reading ✌️

This is me with Alex, btw

[zbengui]

I've grown to love Singed as a character after watching act 2, which I should've seen coming considering my proclivity for mad scientist archetypes. He stood out to me in the first season too but there wasn't quite enough for me to sink my teeth into back then, so I'm glad they've decided to reveal more details regarding his lore now even if it still remains rather vague. That's actually one of the aspects that I like about him, it's fascinating how much he influences the overall plot even though his character receives almost no focus. He is constantly instigating chaos and causing so much tragedy for the main characters, and yet he is never confronted. I was actually just thinking about how it's a little funny that Jayce is getting blamed for what happened to Vander, even though Singed was the one who injected him with that serum. He brought Vander back to life and offered Jinx and Vi the chance to rebuild their family, only to immediately and brutally take it away.

That's kind of his entire thing. He brings the dead back to life against their will and they come out of it deeply and irreversibly changed (Vander, Jinx, possibly Viktor...?). He keeps his subjects breathing even if being alive is nothing but torture for them (Rio), not necessarily out of sadistic pleasure but in service to his ultimate ambition. For progress, evolution. It is then revealed that the motive behind all of his horrendous experiments is to bring his daughter back to life. It's all because of love, as he admits. I don't know a whole lot about the lore behind this, but I have to wonder how Orianna herself feels about this. Is she in pain, just like her father's other subjects? Is she grateful or resentful for what he is doing to her? Did she have any say in this?

One thing I like about his scientific methods is that he is willing to put his own body on the line and experiment on himself, like when he pumped his blood into WarWick. It definitely goes to show how... passionate he is. I also appreciate that he doesn't let any specimens go to waste. He even preserved the decapitated head of that guy he tested Shimmer on back in S1:

I'm sure most people would agree that Singed has a very impactful screen presence. Almost every single line he says is relevant for the overarching themes of the story. It feels like he's always dominating the scene, even when he was being held prisoner because he knew that his captors would immensely benefit from having him on their side and that Ambessa, the opportunist that she is, was going to ask him to join her as an advisor sooner or later. It's horrifying to imagine the biochemical warfare he is going to unleash while working with the Noxian army. He's going to invent new war crimes.

I also wanted to mention how relevant he is for Caitlyn's character arc in this season because most people seem to be overlooking it. I may have my personal gripes with her character progression in act 2, but her interactions with Singed in episode 5 were excellent. Singed isn't just a "crazed Zaunite", he is actually a Piltovan alchemist that is using the people of Zaun as lab rats for the sake of a deceased family member. Caitlyn realises that she will end up like him if she continues walking down the path she is currently on. That realisation, I think, is what informs her decisions later on.

I find his relationship with Viktor very fascinating too but that dynamic deserves an entirely separate post. They are both scientists with similar interests but very different philosophies and work ethics (or lack thereof). As I've briefly mentioned already, I believe Singed is going to bring Viktor back to life, robbing him of his autonomy once again in the process.

That is to say, I'm very invested in this weird old man and I'm excited to dive into his League lore after this season is over and find out what other atrocities he has commited.

[wanderingmind867]

Here's my ideas for a Season 4 of Batman 1966: Season Four would get 70-80 episodes, max. I realize I didn't use Catwoman that much, but it wasn't intentional. So forgive me for that one. I did get a lot of Riddler, Penguin, Joker and Bookworm in here, though.

Episodes 1 and 2: Batman and Robin encounter The Riddler, who's dealing with a severe sense of outrage. A popular gotham city tv show has taken to mocking him lately (treating his laughter and his riddles like a joke), and he is not going to take that kind of talk lying down. He's hijacked the TV station, and he's now planning a dramatic variety show revue.

But all is not merely as simple as a case of airwave piracy. No, The Riddler is also doing a telethon to get people to vote on the fate of the Dynamic Duo. Death by electricity? Death by axe? C'mon people, vote now! And the question on every honest citizen's lips is: how are batman and robin going to escape now!?

Episodes 3 and 4: A story involving The Joker (as played by Cesar Romero). Angry that Batman and Robin managed to catch up to him via their Batmobile, he pulls a fake burglary to trap them and steal their priceless getaway car. He then rebuilds it and modifies it to suit his purposes, letting it become a bonafide Jokermobile! Thankfully, Batman and Robin escape (and have a backup, old model batmobile in their Batcave). So now it's an all out drag race between Joker and Batman!

Episodes 5 and 6: A story featuring The Penguin (Burgess Meredith), this time as he seeks to acquire the proper social standing amongst gotham's elite. This might be the first episode where i'd touch on penguin's backstory (that of the heir to an old money family who lost everything years ago). In his quest to prove himself worthy of idolization and of palatial mansions, he ends up trying to rob from all the other millionaires in Gotham. Naturally this eventually ends up leading him to Wayne Manor, where he almost ends up discovering the batcave.

Episodes 7 and 8: Introducing Signalman to the world of Batman '66! Signalman uses his gimmicks to try and trap Batman and Robin, while stealing as many symbols of good fortune as he possibly can. He eventually tries to tie them to the bat-signal at police headquarters, but they still escape and manage to end his patterns of crime.

Episodes 9 and 10: A Batgirl solo saga, focusing on her and her new partner (who she meets in this episode): Jason Bard. Her and Jason end up on the case of Louie the Lilac, who's running an illegal smuggling ring out of flower shops all across gotham. So while Barbara Gordon and Jason Bard begin dating, Batgirl and Jason end up wrapped in the mystery of Louie the Lilac's smuggling scheme.

Episodes 11 and 12: Batman and Robin are preparing to leave for Ivy Town to go see a research seminar, but they're held up by The Bookworm and his criminal gang, who planned to rob Gotham City of a priceless manuscript stored deep within Gotham City Hall. Only the dynamic duo can stop this marvelous mastermind before it's too late!

Episode 13: While Batman and Robin are busy travelling to Ivy Town, Jason Bard ends up hired to protect Miss Harriet Cooper from danger. She's helping organize a Gotham City Policeman's Ball, and she's afraid that all the attention is putting her in danger.

Meanwhile, Barbara Gordon is investigating the same mystery as Batgirl, trying to make sure that her parents aren't hurt in any way either. Batgirl and Jason end up running into each other again, and they decide to team up to protect the policeman's ball (with Batman and Robin away, consider them gotham's new defenders)!

In the end, these two tough investigators find the real crook behind this scheme: Catwoman! The strangest thing happens, though: since Jason and Barbara split up to search seperate areas of the auditorium, they both saw different Catwomen. Batgirl sees the Eartha Kitt one, while Jason Bard sees the Lee Meriwether one. And since both Catwomen successfully escape, Batgirl and Jason are left even more puzzled than ever. And if you're puzzled too, don't worry: the riddle of the three Catwomen will be answered at some later date.

Episodes 14 and 15: Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson arrive in Ivy Town for the Ivy Town University lecture. It's in this episode that we'd learn about Dick now being in his last year of high school (which is partially why him and bruce have come to visit universities together). At Ivy Town university, Bruce and Dick wind up running into Ray Palmer and Jean Loring (neither of them guessing that Ray Palmer is Batman's fellow JLA member, The Atom).

But at the Ivy Town seminar, the university's clocktower and accompanying bell both go off in a supersonic wave, causing mass hysteria and panic. A panic which some thieves use as cover under which to steal the university's many rare and valuable artifacts.

The people of Ivy Town are quick to blame the supervillian Chronos for this disaster, but it turns out that he's still in the Ivy Town penitentiary. The police check, and he says that he was framed! By who and for what purpose, none can say. But Jean Loring is reluctantly resigned to defending him in court. Meanwhile, Batman and Robin do some investigating of their own. And eventually, the truth comes to light: The true criminal was The Clock King! He sprung himself from jail back in England, and he was all set to make his grand return to supervilliany! How was he to know Batman and Robin would show up again!?

So the Clock King is sent back to jail, and The Atom never had to lift a finger to help Batman and Robin (which is great for the show, since they'd never have had enough effects to make The Atom work). But a scene at the very end of the episode hints at The Clock King working for someone else, and that this isn't the end of the dynamic duo's troubles…

Episode 16: While Batman and Robin are off in Ivy Town, Batgirl and Jason Bard run into Cluemaster (John Astin), a strange new villian who seems to have an odd vendetta against The Riddler. Although The Riddler doesn't actually show up in this episode (beyond maybe a cameo from Frank Gorshin in the last scene of the episode), we learn that Cluemaster is a minor villain who's always held a grudge. He wants to take the title of world's biggest riddle/clue/puzzle themed supervillian away from The Riddler!

They both have different backgrounds: The Riddler was a former GCPD officer who snapped after being constantly bullied for his mental issues and weird habits; while Cluemaster was a game show host who ended up going mocking a contestant on his show to an almost traumatic extent one day, and thus had his show cancelled and his career ruined. But as kids, both these men admired The original master of crime: The Puzzler. And now Cluemaster is trying to prove he's closer to The Puzzler than The Riddler ever was. And now it lies on Batgirl and Jason Bard's shoulders to stop him.

Episodes 17 and 18: Batman and Robin return to Gotham, just in time for a late september scheme hatched by Egghead, that diabolical master of eggs-pert larceny! Batman and Robin need to enlist the end of Batgirl and Jason Bard just to get him to be defeated before he commits the greatest crime of our time and era!

Episodes 19 and 20: Batman and Robin team up with Batgirl to deal with Simon the Pieman (Jonathan Winters), a bizarre criminal with a baking motif who's planning to get vengeance on all the people who criticized his bakery over the years. Can this trio defeat him and his diabolical desserts before it's too late!?

Episodes 21, 22 and 23: This story would be used to address the three catwomen and three mister freezes. The three Mister Freezes are all different men sharing the same name, but they all hate how batman has fouled up their schemes. So they trick Batman, Robin and Batgirl into a devious trap. Catwoman I (Julie Newmar) leads Batman into a trap by Mister Freeze I (George Sanders). Meanwhile, Robin and Batgirl are tricked by Catwoman III (Eartha Kitt) into being trapped by Mister Freeze II (Otto Preminger). And so by the time the three freezes have congregated, they betray the catwomen. And then it's six against three for the last story in our set.

Episodes 24 and 25: In the brisk early October air, False Face steals a new chemical designed to make a human being shapeshift. But one of his men steals it away from him! Matt Hagen (Rich Little), a greedy henchmen of the dastardly False Face, uses the machine and turns himself into a hideous being made of Clay! Remembering the case of an old villian Batman tangled with named Clayface, Matt Hagen decides to embrace his evil side and become Clayface the second!

Episodes 26 and 27: Batman, Robin and Batgirl all end up tangling with The Scarecrow (Anthony Perkins) on Halloween Night! A washed up former psychology teacher with a love for fear, Jonathan Crane has come to haunt Gotham as the one and only Scarecrow!

Episodes 28 and 29: Batman and Robin tangle with Blockbuster (Richard Kiel), a menace who's too mindless to actually mean any harm to anyone or anything. He's being used by his mad scientist brother Roland, but the dynamic duo don't figure that out until it's nearly too late…

Episodes 30 and 31: While hosting a Gotham City Beauty Contest to mark the beginning of November and the subsequent colder season, Batman, Robin and Batgirl tangle with Poison Ivy (Ann Margret), that powerful sorceress of seduction! Using her brilliant botanical wisdom, she snares all three of them inside of a horrible death trap. But they manage to escape, and successfully bring her to Justice.

Episodes 32 and 33: Batman and Robin deal with the Polka Dot Man (Paul Lynde), a bizarre new criminal capable of using polka dots as tools for committing new crimes to bedevil and beguile the people of Gotham City!

Episodes 34 and 35: Marsha, Queen of Diamonds returns to Gotham City, yet again seeking to obtain the Bat-Diamond from the Batcave. This episode would actually show her succeeding, however. Yes, she seemingly manages to steal the Bat-Diamond at the end of part one of this episode. But then she goes to examine it at her headquarters, and she finds out it's actually a fake! An impressively well put together fake, but a fake nonetheless! So once more, the Dynamic Duo have outsmarted the Queen of Diamonds and her witch of an aunt!

Episodes 36 and 37: Batman and Batgirl have to work together to fight off a mad team up of The Penguin and The Riddler. Robin is sick with the flu, so he's unable to help them. So it's up to Batman and Batgirl to save the day this time around!

Episodes 38 and 39: Batman, Robin and Batgirl deal with a counterfeiting ring run by a man named Senor Rekoj. Little do they suspect that Mr. Rekoj is actually Joker in surprise, since he's cunningly convinced the whole city he runs a beautiful charity. And now he's planning the biggest practical joke of the century: he's going to frame the terrific trio and blame them when his counterfeiting scheme comes to light. They still manage to stop him, of course. But he very successfully damages their public perception.

It's also an excuse for me to finally see Cesar Romero star on Batman without his makeup. Because, yes, Senor Rekoj is just Cesar Romero without any of his Joker makeup.

Episodes 40 and 41: A Christmas Special, featuring a series of Christmas Capers pulled off by The Riddler! Batman, Robin, Batgirl and Jason Bard all have to team up to defeat the foe this time. The Riddler is the one leading this scheme, but he's mostly breaking in a new tradition i'd want the show to have: Christmas episodes. And plenty of them. One every year, so we can have as many villians as possible trying to ruin Christmas.

But for this debut christmas special (where our four heroes face off against The Riddler and his men), the Mall Santa who's introduced at the beginning of the episode ends up helping to save the day. And in the end, it's left rather unclear if the mall santa was just a mall santa, or if they were the real santa all along…

Episodes 42, 43 and 44: Batman is challenged by his most dastardly foes yet; a terrible trio of crooks from Gotham's distant past! The Eraser, The Getaway Genius and Killer Moth! Batman hasn't tangled with them in years, not since the days of… Batwoman. Back when Robin was younger (a few years before the show started), Kathy Kane was a rich socialite who teamed up with Batman to fight crime. But she retired after an awful case involving Killer Moth. Yet now, she may be Gotham's only hope for surviving the Triumvirate's terror!

Episodes 45 and 46: Batman was set on edge by the Triumvirate (and by Batwoman's return), so he's gone on a brief vacation to the countryside to try and clear his head. While he's off on vacation, two different teams have to protect Gotham from ill will. Robin and Batwoman are who we're gonna focus on first. While Batman's away, they end up having to deal with Doctor Double-X, a horrible foe from years past, capable of creating duplicates of himself to fight his battles for him!

Episodes 47 and 48: Batgirl and Jason Bard end up having to deal with a new scheme by two of gotham's worst criminals: The Bookworm and Mister Camera (Tony Randall). They've started a dual crime wave, wherein Mister Camera delegitimizes the Gotham City Police Force, allowing Bookworm to run wild and free throughout Gotham. Batgirl insists on taking up this case solo, as it involves people trying to frame her father (something she can't stand for). And Jason Bard is dragged into it because he's been hired to investigate it.

Episode 49 and 50: Batman was off on vacation in the countryside just outside Gotham, when he accidentally ends up getting snared in a trap set by Olga, Queen of the Cossacks! She's moved on from Batman and Egghead, however. Yes, now she's partners with Catman, a big game hunter who lives for the thrill of the hunt. Catman appeals to Olga's warrior nature, and so they make a delightful team.

Catman and Olga prepare a death trap for Batman involving a fight with a massive tiger in a steep pit, but shockingly, Catwoman (Julie Newmar) comes to his rescue. Not for any altruistic reason, but mainly because she has a personal grudge against Catman. All three Catwomen hate him, and he hates them in kind. So this is really just an alliance of mutual benefit. Batman gets to deal with Olga, while Catwoman takes down Catman.

In the end, Olga and Catman are delivered to the authorities, but Catwoman successfully escapes. Which probably means this isn't the last time we'll see her (or one of her other two "partners" before the season is out).

Episodes 51 and 52: Robin and Batwoman team up to fight against Shame and his wife Calamity Jan. They've assembled a giant underground railroad system, and they plan to use it to tunnel into all the banks in Gotham! Can Batwoman and Robin clue in to their scheme in time?

Episodes 53 and 54: Batman comes back to Gotham just in time to learn of a new scheme being hatched by The Penguin, that crooked bird of crime. Frustrated and upset that his schemes on land have all been failing, Penguin has decided to turn to the high seas, running a piracy operation just outside of gotham's territorial waters. Batman, Robin and Batgirl have to stop him, before he can become the world's biggest pirate since Blackbeard or Captain Kidd!

Episodes 55 and 56: The Joker and Simon the Pieman team up to bring bizarre chaos to Gotham City; using elaborate cakes as weapons of destruction. Batman, Robin and Batgirl have to team up to solve the motive behind their mysterious and completely illogical crimes, before it's too late…

Episodes 57 and 58: Batman and Robin end up dealing with a new scheme by The Riddler, that prince of puzzlers himself. He's hatched a new mad scheme, and only Batman and Robin can stop him from bringing it to fruition. It all involves riddles in the form of morse code, to present the dynamic duo with an extra difficult new challenge.

Episodes 59 and 60: Batman, Robin and Batgirl have to handle a new crime wave by Catwoman. She leads our terrific trio on a mad chase all throughout the city, as she's hunting for a hidden cat's eye ruby apparently buried somewhere underneath Gotham City. A harmless enough crime, one would think. But as the hunt for Catwoman continues, it becomes clear she's willing to do anything to get her hands on this statue. Anything.

Episodes 61 and 62: A new TV show is airing in cities across the nation. A show about "The Black Knight", a violent and brooding vigilante who punishes criminals with his sword of darkness. Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson watch it with Aunt Harriet one night, and they're appalled. Bruce and Dick are also shocked though, since the villians of the show appear to be modelled after Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara.

Batman and Robin go to investigate the show, but they're trapped by the criminals behind the whole thing: Clayface and False Face. They were using the show's violent themes to promote a culture of violence citywide, and then they'd use their powers of disguise to instigate riots amongst the people of Gotham. The Black Knight would usurp Gotham's Caped Crusader in popularity, and then the city would be theirs for the taking! But unfortunately Batman and Robin found them out, and now all their schemes have come to naught.

Episodes 63 and 64: Batman, Robin, Batgirl and Jason Bard team up to fight off a gang war between Louie the Lilac and Poison Ivy. It turns out these two have some really personal grudges against each other, and Ivy clearly wants this man off her turf. So this tense standoff has to be resolved by our four heroes, before anything else goes disastrously wrong.

Episodes 65, 66 and 67: Batman has to go up against The Riddler, Cluemaster and The Puzzler, all of whom have gone on the attack against each other. There can only be one king of puzzles/riddles/clues, and they won't stop until one of them has successfully defeated the other!

Episodes 68 and 69: While Batman deals with the three puzzling champions, Batgirl and Robin end up fighting against The Bookworm and Scarecrow, both of whom have teamed up to try and steal some rare manuscripts for old time classic horror novels. It might be in this story that we get the first hints that robin is beginning to feel stifled by batman's authority. He wants to fly somewhat independently. To prove himself to Batman.

Episodes 70 and 71: Batman and Robin have to defeat The Joker, when he decides to challenge them to a game of wits. He commits crimes using the gimmicks of other criminals, and thusly tries to lure them off his trail. It almost works, until Batman and Robin finally get wise to the scheme.

Episodes 72 and 73: Batman and Robin have to deal with the one thing they never expected: The Penguin successfully seduces Aunt Harriet. She falls in love with him, and Penguin begins using this to try and capture a piece of the Wayne fortune. Batman and Robin have to somehow find a way to stop him, but how? When he's so close to their home ground, how can they possibly stop him!?

Episodes 74 and 75: Batman and Robin have to deal with King Tut, who's once again relapsed into his horrible criminal ways. He plans to flood Gotham City with sand, to finally bring the beautiful desert of thebes back to him. A pharaoh needs a home. And by Ra, he will make Gotham his new home!

After this, Season Four ends. Then we'd have the two animated movies (The Return of the Caped Crusaders and Batman vs Two-Face), and we'd also have the third movie which we were promised but which Adam West died before he could film (we were teased a film project with Harley Quinn, according to the Batman vs Two Face wikipedia page). So we'd have the Harley Quinn story (which might also feature Hugo Strange), and then we'd move into Season Five, where we'd introduce the League of Assassins. And after their story, I might consider having Dick Grayson leave for college. Because I want a pre-crisis Jason Todd in this show eventually, and I will reluctantly have Dick Grayson begin taking a more supporting role in order to get to that. But so far, i'm pretty happy with what i have here.

[chibishortdeath]

Alright I’ve thought about, I’m gonna actually start posting some of my criticisms of Netflixvania starting with the first season. I actually have a notepad document on my computer somewhere that’s just various rants about it that I’m gonna take from lol

Rant under a cut cause it’s long, spoilers, and also cause uh tldr I do not like the show 💀

Ok let’s start from the beginning of the show, episode one.

The first episode isn’t terrible, it’s a bit rocky, some red flags here and there for what was to come, but that’s kinda expected of animations like this. It usually takes them a couple episodes to pick up and grow into their own, so I was skeptical, but not gonna knock it entirely when I first saw it.

My biggest criticism of this episode was the complete missed opportunity to introduce certain characters from this section of the series’s story. Imagine if they had shown Isaac and Hector in the background of the castle or something at this point for foreshadowing later, as they would’ve already been studying under Dracula at that time. Imagine if that old woman Lisa helped ended up being one of Lyudmil’s family members, cementing them as friends of her for later. Alas, Netflix just decided not to use most of the already written backstories for most characters. But eh, that’s getting into nitpick territory.

And then the second episode happens… I honestly genuinely hate the concept of the Speakers and it’s because they completely replace a much more interesting (especially for the tone and themes they were going for) group for Sypha to be a part of: The Church. In the game, Sypha is a witch, something that’s currently not very good to be at this time, however the church employs a bunch of male wizard soldiers. This is already a perfect opportunity set up and ready to go for them to make their points of the church being hypocritical, add some intense dramatic irony with maybe the audience getting to know Sypha is a witch before anyone else does and seeing her interact with a bunch of people who would have her dead if they knew, and create a super conflicted situation where these church soldiers all die during their encounter with the cyclops, but yet they scrapped it for uh random group of magic users that kinda exist entirely for a plot that didn’t need a new device to work. And Sypha just being all hood down and no hiding just takes away something interesting about her character, making her kinda bland in the process. Like it’s one thing to have the Girl™️ who owns the braincell trope and another to have a character with some actual immediate conflicts. They totally could’ve played up the “oh no if Trevor knew would he kill me” dynamic, especially with witches being commonly lumped in with ‘monsters’ in a lot of other media and Trevor being ya know a monster hunter. And already just from this one design choice she completely loses her symbolic putting the hood down scene for much later in the story to show that she actually trusts people and feels safe enough to not need to hide anymore because she’s got people on her side now.

Also the lack of Grant is just a crime in itself. Grant could’ve worked perfectly as like the everyman of the group. Hell, with his background of being a former noble turned thief presumably after hard times to straight up losing his entire hometown to flames and leading a revolution about it, Grant literally has like almost every common not magical vampire hunter person experience. He could’ve given the group any of those perspectives and been told the perspectives of the vampire hunting life he hasn’t had, ya know? And he’d help differentiate the personalities and humors of the group in general. I literally can’t think of a negative to having Grant in the group.

So we were robbed of character development for Sypha and the existence of Grant, what’s next—

The Bishop character is someone that could’ve been interesting if he was written with any kind of nuance, but instead he’s extremely on the nose and blatantly laughably evil. Otherwise this guy is pretty forgettable besides how lame it was that they used Blue Fangs to kill him instead of ya know an actually recognizable enemy. Like the Blue Fangs design wouldn’t be bad if it was in literally anything else, but compared to the designs of most Castlevania monsters it’s just really lame. I’d’ve even accepted a Warg or something, idk. Personally I think having Death walk in taking the form of Zead and going through that speech while eventually turning into the skeleton form we know him as woulda gone hard but for some reason Death isn’t a thing until seasons later which sucks.

I also absolutely hate Alucard and the Cyclops being in the catacombs! Hate it! The Cyclops kinda had like a courtyard area for it and made sense being there since it was standing guard on the way to the castle. Literally what it is even doing in the catacombs 💀💀💀. Standing guard for… eepy Alucard? Why??? And the whole sleeping soldier thing or whatever they called him is just so obviously an excuse to have him appear faster and make it seem like it tied into the plot. Alucard absolutely should not have been introduced to the main group this early on because again that robs him of a bunch of opportunities for background and character development. He got maybe the one oh no dad don’t commit mass death that’s bad scene and nothing else when they had plenty of time to show him initially following his fathers orders and eventually growing to stand against him. And again??? Missed opportunity for anything radio drama related??? Like if there’s any opportunity to get any of that story more known it’s in an animation? And besides, it’s less work to just use whatever materials and supplemental materials already existed for the game!

Dracula’s Curse and CoD have:

Two games

Two manuals

Three manga (TokyoPop and Preorder)

A couple game guides

Flashback sequences in a radio drama

Flashback sequences in SotN AKA: the game everyone knows

A ton of references in later games cause IGA is a big Dracula’s Curse fanboy

Pachinkos

That is plenty of material to make an animation based on, especially because most games don’t get half of that, especially not NES games. They were literally handed like the NES game to adapt lottery and decided not to scratch like half the ticket 💀💀💀.

Alucard also being able to levitate kinda negates a lot of things. Like what the hell is the point of having a bat/mist form and a double jump then? If he can just be flying vampire Jesus immediately or whatever people call him idk. And you can’t tell me Alucard wouldn’t be painfully embarrassed if someone ever saw him shirtless come on this is the guy that wears like 5 layers of clothing in every game he’s in to the point that even in the modern era he’s choosing a suit over casual clothes. Every action he makes in this introduction to him is obviously fanservice for the sake of fanservice with very little thought behind it, except I’m not feeling very served right now. And having Trevor kinda lose that fight is a reoccurring problem this show ends up having: putting down other characters just to make certain ones get the cool fanservice moment. Contrary to what the writers of this show may believe, it actually doesn’t make me go “oh wow, Alucard is so cool and much badas”, it just feels weird and uncomfortable that Trevor is getting cheated out of one of his canon achievements because the writers preferred one character’s tits more than him.

So, basically, the show starts out with missed opportunities, concepts and characters getting cut out, watered down versions of characters that did make it in, cheap fanservice, poor explanations for things, etc etc. this all culminates into a resounding m e h + dread for later seasons being worse (boy was I correct on that fear lol).

Here’s some other things for the first season I didn’t know where else to fit:

None of the humor hit for me at all, like not a single joke. The humor was either a no response at best, but definitely a physically wincing from secondhand embarrassment at worst. Related to this, I feel like most of the dialogue reads like either someone who just learned what swear words are and thinks they’re really cool and funny or genuinely forced. At times most of the characters talk with the same delivery, cadence, personality, etc, it’s really obvious they were all written by the same person or group. And that even goes for background and side characters, too. This is a criticism I’ve never seen said: I really don’t like the voice acting in this show. I’m sure it’s no fault of the voice actors at all, but there were times in this where I either could not hear characters properly or could not understand characters properly and I had to watch it with closed captions on. The clearness and volume of the characters voices varies A LOT even just between scenes sometimes. And that combined with all the characters having really similar speech patterns, there were a lot of times where if I looked away from the screen, I genuinely could not tell if it was Alucard or Trevor speaking cause it sounded like it could reasonably have been either of them (and in some cases it literally didn’t even matter that much which character was saying what). It’s an absolute tragedy that the color schemes in this show are not remotely similar to Dracula’s Curse too. I understand why some color combos wouldn’t make it for eyestrain reasons, but the pixel artwork in all the NES titles is beautiful. Same goes for music, like I am never going to forgive this series for using Bloody Tears for a Dracula’s Curse ‘adaptation’ and not Beginning or Aquarius or Dead Beat or Ghost Ship or Clockwork or— ya know? These are two things that the series are really known for so you’d think with some of the fanservice they did they’d be all kinds of ready to use stuff like that for more of it.

Anyway, past season one is when I started watching the series primarily through clips/episodes reposted on YouTube or elsewhere cause I had completely lost any interest in it. I’ll probably go through synopsises online again for season 2 just to try to better remember what happened in that one because I do remember having very little good to say about season 2 as well and I gotta do that research so I can hate things properly :3.

There’s a certain part of this where I just kinda blanked on things to even say, partially because Season one is kinda bland in general, but partially because I started getting sleepy while typing. So if I feel like I missed anything season one specific I’ll just put it in the beginning of the season two post. d(_ _ )

[jurygarroth]

what your MCD/MYS fave says about YOU

from my jurygarroth experience

aphmau

endangered species. mostly on aphtwt?

tend to be younger

and also a little more defensive of your favs, not like picking fights but sensitive to negativity and avoid it at all costs

diaries fan? zoeymau. mystreet fan? aarmau

garroth

professional mcd overthinkers, physically unable to stop talking about analysis and interpretations. especially betrayal arc.

very emotional fans

garroth boobies

poly garlaurmau believers

have beef with laurance fans but like laurance

laurance

almost always more of a diaries fan

talkative. most vocal in a shooting the shit way

ginger laurance enjoyer. you’ll draw laurance with orange hair and at least 1 green eye until the end

long tumultuous history with laurmau as a diaries fan or garrance as a mystreet fan

have beef with garroth fans but neutral on garroth

dante

dante angst lockdown good heavens what are you guys doing to him!!

you project onto him a lot don't you.

mostly mystreet fans but you’ll also defend his diaries version with your life

danvis and/or daaron

lucinda

you’re gay

made you realize you like women

pretty quiet all things considered? not usually someone's #1 fav but everyone likes her so she's always high up on their lists

adore her voice actress. her voice is one of the reasons she caught your eye

katelyn

yeah you’re gay

also made you realize you like women

usually the most well-adjusted people, have nuanced takes

you project onto her don't you

travlyn is a comfort ship but you pick the parts of their dynamic you like

travis

you are just joyful peppy people

have a very obvious type in favorite characters, more often than not your favs are filled with other "silly guys with hidden depth" types

ninjago fans??? wonder why that is

trans travis enjoyers

aaron

mostly mystreeters

nobody gets him but you. you look into him and see the characterization he was robbed of and you want to save him

you guys have a lot of thoughts.

aaron boobies

derek lycan HATER derek lycan DEATH PENALTY

zane

literally all of you act a certain way and I don’t know how to explain it. not in a bad way but YOU ALL HAVE THE SAME BRAIN

whether it's zanana zanki zanus zanvis zanemau you have a zane otp that you will put your life on the line for

you want to see him slay. drawing him in indulgent outfits forever

you've put some kinda gender into him

kc

big fan of pink

put a lot of effort into making your online profiles look nice. terminally online and a little silly

involved in or appreciator of some type of subculture fashion like scene, emo, gyaru, lolita etc

usually also a zane liker

vylad

incredibly specific about vylad characterization and vylad headcanons you’ve imagined his whole life’s story in your mind already

obsessed with ro'meave family backstory

your nonbinary.

vylance believers

gene

you have a massive crush on him don’t you

[ewingstan]

Something else about Alec—when we first see him on the field, he’s remarkably less intimidating than the other Undersiders, with a costume much less fear-inspiring and more straight-up gimmicky. I’ve talked about the Undersider’s costumes before, but one of the subtler differences between Worm and more “traditional” superhero media is how the villains’ costumes and personas often don’t have the same level of camp to them that comic villains do. There’s much more focus on practicality, where the only thing that matters aesthetically about a costume is that it communicates “don’t fuck with me.” Every hero in worm has a detailed, practical-yet-aesthetically-pleasing costume, but you run into villain capes with no costume or only the bare bones of one all the time. Rachel’s dressed like a horror movie slasher, Brian doesn’t bother with more ornamentation than an intimidating helmet. Lisa looks the part of your Saturday-morning villain, but she’s more invested in doing that than most because her cops-and-robbers theory—plus, when she’s in action she’s nearly always the scariest person in the room. And Lung, the first supervillain we meet, doesn’t have a costume at all, just a commanding presence. In contrast, the next set of villains Taylor meets, Uber and Leet, are established as losers no one takes seriously partially through having costumes that are just gimmicky. Early worm establishes that the successful villains in this setting are focused on being scary before anything else. Considering the extend Taylor internalizes the “be feared or die” strategy as the story goes on, it’s important for Worm to set that dynamic up quickly at the beginning, even if later characters break this rule*.

But early Regent doesn’t care about being scary. He struts into the battlefield like he’s Gorgeous George**, complete with a costume that wouldn’t look out of place in professional wrestling. He spends less time trying to act intimidating when fighting people and more time trying to get people to forget he’s there until he can steal their cool canon. He’s not trying to scare heroes or rival villains off like the others are, and that’s largely because he didn’t create the Regent persona to scare away people and make crime easier—he made the Regent persona to have a life away from his horrible family. It’s an early indication that Alec’s motivation for being here are not the same as everyone else’s—the other Undersiders are criminals for a living, and are using their personas as tools for their job. Alec is in this to have a good time in a way he didn’t get to in his old life, and is using his Regent persona as a form of play.

*for the later successful villains who DO care a lot about aesthetics, such as Accord or Trickster, their motivation for bucking the trend tend to says a lot about them. But that’s a different post.

**now I have the image stuck in my head of Alec coming to an important villain meeting in an evening gown, puppeting his henchmen to spread a carpet of rose petals ahead of him. Fuck he’d love doing that. The real tragedy of the Behemoth fight is that it robbed us of Aisha and Alec forming the best tag-team heel duo the wrestling world has ever seen.